People who Don't Immunize their children?

Question

I get really frustrated with this one. Can someone who has opted not to immunize their children plaese explain to me their rationale? Doesn't it matter that your children will not be able to attend school, summer camp, sports teams, college? Why not give the shots when the only reason we have these diseases under control is because we immunized against them.?

In fact, if I had one child with adverse reactions to a shot I would still immunize my next child. It seems horribly unfair to exclude a child from society because you have fears, or a bad experience. I've gone so far (with my first child) to buy a list of all shot batch numbers that have had bad reactions, then checked each vial he received. You can't be informed, and once you are it seems the logical conclusion to immunize.

I've never seen a school that allowed children without immunizations...could you find a case where that's allowed?

Immunization has cut measles incidence in the U.S. by 99.9%. Vaccination still is important-measles kills 950,000 people each year in countries without comprehensive immunization.
Immunization wiped out smallpox in 1979. Before smallpox was eradicated, it killed over 300 million people in the 20th Century-more than all wars combined.
Vaccination eradicated paralytic polio from the Western Hemisphere. Before a vaccine was available, polio affected as many as 57,000 Americans per year with paralytic disease.
Without routine vaccination, infectious diseases can quickly return and cause widespread harm. In Russia, diphtheria cases jumped from 900 in 1989 to 50,000 in 1994 after a drop in vaccination rates.
Immunization has nearly eliminated a major cause of childhood meningitis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, everywhere the vaccine is used. Before the vaccine became available, 20,000 cases of the disease were reported and nearly 600 died each year in the United States.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It was enlightening...exactly what I hoped to find out. I didn't know about exceptions, and felt it was worth the risks if a child would be forced out of schools and experiences. Thanks for the information.

Answer 1

Every state has exemptions
http://www.909shot.com/state-site/state-exemptions.htm

My husbands entire family has not immunized, they have attended school, college, worked overseas, camp, sports, you name it. They have had nearly every disease you can immunize for, healed on their own, and been fine. and in fact, most diseases that we vaccinate children for have cycles, and were on a downward cycle even as vaccines were being created
http://www.whale.to/vaccines/kent.html

Having two children with verifiable brain damage and autism from the vaccines, two kids who will be dependent on me and require millions of dollars in taxpayers money, I can assure you that if you lived with the struggle from day to day, you would never risk additional children with that. Please don't call me stupid, or uneducated, because I've probably spent more time online and in university studying this than you have read online. I've made an educated choice to protect my children from a KNOWN factor for our family, rather than a fear of disease that we haven't encountered. My kids have had measles, mumps and rubella. They've had pertussis and the chicken pox. Would you believe that it was no worse than the common cold for them? No, because you've been brainwashed by sixty years of programming by the CDC and the manufacturers of the vaccines.

And countries without 'comprehensive immunization programs' usually don't have clean water, more than one bowl of rice a day, and no access to any other type of medical care. Yeah, they are ALREADY immunocompromised.

Answer 2

One of my patients got her daughter immunized when she was a baby. The batch was bad, and now her daughter is severely brain damaged, has very severe physical problems, and probably won't live to be over 30. Her daughter is in her mid 20's. It was all because of a bad batch of a vaccine.

I think stories like that, are part of the reason some mothers choose not to.

I still chose to vaccinate my kids, because the risks of not doing it far out weigh the small chance that something will go wrong.

Answer 3

FYI

Schools have a card you can sign that allow a child to attend without immunizations. They don't share this info for obvious reasons, but as parents you can sign a waiver for personal or religious reasons. It then goes in the child's file and if at any time an outbreak of disease occurs that child has to be kept out of school "quarantined". Most Dr.s and schools say you can not attend without the shots but it is just a scare tactic and if parents were educated about the papers they sign and choices they made about their children they would better know their options.

Answer 4

I was not immunized as a child. I was able to attend school, camp, participate in sports teams, etc. The reason I was not immunized was b/c of my mother's religious beliefs, and this is recognized by federal law for religious freedom. When I changed religion as a teenager, I received my vaccinations then. BTW, I got a chicken pox shot as an adult, but still got chicken pox.

Answer 5

My children are all immunized, we are in the army so we have no choice since we have to go over seas and such. My oldest though ended up in the hospital and almost died form the DTAP shot, he is exempt for medical reasons from completing the series. He can't by doctors orders continue the series. I was so scared for my next two to recieve these shots. IT is easy for you to critique these women since you have never had to sit next to a hospital bed holding your little ones limp hands, not knowing if he would ever open his eyes again, or if he did, not knowing if he would have mental issues, be retarded or have physical problems. The stories are not a bunch of rubbish and it can be very scary. You need to take in consideration stories and experiences before assuming that these women don't care or are irresponsible.

Answer 6

I immunized my child but I can understand why some people don't. Scientists are finding out that lots of children with autism are getting it from certain vaccines. If I had known that before getting my son vaccinated I would have checked out other options before making my decision. But mostly I think the reason people don't get their kids immunized is because they either can't afford it or don't have any information on the subject.

Answer 7

2 of my 3 girls are fully vaccinated...my youngest is not as it is in her best interest not to at this point.(she is a very sick little girl and when she has gotten her vaccinations they make her even sicker) I have done alot of research on them as I believe they are partly to blame for my daughter health issues. They technically are not safe for anyone and they do have high risk groups of people who should not recieve them(my daughter falls into like 3 of them) If you actually read some info most of the diseases were almost eradicated before immunizations. And I do not agree with some like the chicken pox as the vaccination only lasts around 10 years when our children are more likely to have serious complications from having them while being older...when they are young the side affects are much less severe and it offers lifelong immunity.

Just because she is not vaccinated does not mean she cannot go to school, camp, play sports, or college as they do have medical, religous, and phylisophical(which just basically means you found it to be in the best interest of your child not to give them their vaccinations) exemptions.


Uvaccinated children are allowed in schools almost anywhere...check with your local school district on their policy...I am willing to bet they allow children to atten with the proper exemptions. In Ohio like I said there are 3 different exemptions allowing your child to attend public school without vaccinations...do your research!

Answer 8

immunizations have been linked to some very bad side effects! and while your Dr. says its a 1 in a million chance new studies show it to be more common up until just a few years ago they were giving vaccines with danger doses of mercury so babies (Mercury's still in flu shots) also most vaccines are not completely effective...in the break outs of childhood illness that are vaccinate against most of the children who get sick have already been vacinated! i recieved chicken pox vaccine and i got chicken pox 4 friggin times it was horriable! my neice was devolping noramlly starting to walk and talk and then she got vaccinated and suddenly she stopped all progression and was latter diagonsed with autisum....that was it i said no vaccines...if my little ones get sick they get better thats how it goes....and if it ever was to get bad i can always go to the hospital meical advances have come along way since the 40-50s im not worried! heres a documentary that u may be intrested in its very informative

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8610554679207090010&q=Vaccination+-+The+Hidden+Truth

Answer 9

my ex-boyfriend and I had this debate many times because his kids were never immunized for anything and of course mine were. He and his ex-wife didn't have any religious beliefs, she just decided that there was more chance of them getting sick from the vaccinations than the actual disease itself. And yes she is an educated woman with a masters and everything - he told me that she won that argument and there was nothing he could do about it. I think people who don't are just idiots - I'll do whatever I can to protect my children. More people die from not being vaccinated than from being vaccinated. Plus with all the foreign people and travelers, there are so many strains of diseases now that not all are curable anyway! It was a major bone of contention, that's for sure - needless to say I broke up with him - a man who can't help make the right decision when it comes to his kids isn't going to be involved with mine!

Answer 10

a lot of people are afraid of the terrible side effects that immunizations can cause. yeah, the chances are very slim, but i bet if you had a child who had bad side effects from a shot, you probably wouldnt immunize any future children of yours. this is why people dont immunize. and some of the shots dont even totally prevent you from getting it, like the flu shot. i honestly dont see the point in getting a flu shot so i dont make my daughter get one either. however, she and i both have all of the regular shots.