Dear Anti Vaccine Campaigners,
We all have the right to life!
As I sat reading through some old post on the blog (as you do) I was drawn to a post I had published in March this year, “With the rise in Measles it’s decision time”
It was clear from reading the post that the issues I had raised were ones other mothers had felt the need to contemplate at a stage in their children(s) earlier years. It was of an issue full of controversy and remains to be this very day. I wrote it because I needed to express my fears, yet I knew the possibility of a debate could be raised, it was clear I didn’t need nor want one! I was lucky the post didn’t become overloaded with anti vaccine debate, (Shame the same can’t be said for Facebook).
However, given some of the more recent events that have occurred in my life, I felt the need to write this now and have done so without fear of a verbal battering from overbearing “Anti vaccine campaigners” At this moment in time I’m ready for you, So bring it on!
So, what is there to say now that couldn’t be said in March?
OK, here it goes!
Dear Anti Vaccine Campaigners (Yes, those whom have chosen to campaign against the use of vaccine as a way to immunise our children)
I do ask you ever so politely to please refrain from sending me emails requesting my signature on your anti vaccine petition! Please do not try to add me to your anti vaccine groups on Facebook! I do not want to Re-tweet your anti vaccine tweets when on twitter, nor do I wish to hound those who have chosen to vaccinate their children preaching to them what it is that you believe!
Why?
Because It’s not my belief , nor do I intend to make it mine!
So, here’s why
On the very first day of October some ten, almost eleven years ago, I gave birth to the beautiful baby you all know as, “Little Man” It was the year off a new Millennium it was the year 2000. “Me”, I was just a teen, a very young eighteen (Yes, mum I know that now)
As the months passed quickly Little man grew and before I blinked he was a toddler. I grew a great deal too! Yes, of course I grew older, “Don’t we all” the growing I’m referring to, is that of the person I was becoming. Little man was a blessing a baby that never cried,(Except for when he had horrid colic) he was a baby that my mother referred to as a, “Little angel” He was easily fixated to the colours that flashed from the telly, the trains at the station and the wheels on his toy car. I weaned him with little problems (apart from his particulars for finely mashed food). He was a baby and toddler that met all his developmental milestones, even exceeding a few! Yet looking back it was there! The clues, yet so little… What first time mother would notice?
My Little man did certain little special things (Yer, they were different, different but oh so bloody amazing all the same)! Admires would glance at him cooing about how clever he was. He walked at a reasonable age through never crawled. He spoke, he spoke too well at times. I considered him a cheeky little monkey as he took my hand using it as a tool to point and pick things up for him. Lazy I had thought! But how wrong, how lazy he was not! Fully potty trained throughout the day and night before the age of two isn’t what most would describe as “LAZY!”
My Little man had all his required vaccinations at all the required times! Of course this included that of the MMR and although he almost broke that nurses nose when he delivered an almighty head-butt right on the shaft of her hooter, when attempting his getaway plan. There were no complications at that moment or during the days, months even years that followed.
Age 4 years was the age in which I began to notice significant differences between that of Little man and his pre schooling peers (Differences that his then nursery had noted too)! Yes, I knew he was somewhat different prior to this age, but in all honesty I didn’t have much to compare his behaviours to. It was the arrival of baby number two, “My little girl, Little mans sister and rival” as he all to often treats her, who was born when Little man was 2 and 6 months old that many issue were raised.
Sadly we moved, “Good bye nursery that was so willing to help” Instead we started the long four year battle with the primary school his now escaped. It was only after much upheaval, tiresome and challenging battles that Little man finally got the diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome just as he turned nine. This was a diagnosis that we had first been told about at our very first CAMHS appointment back when he was just 7 years old. Oh yes, we were told way back then that, “Our little man was very likely to be on the autism spectrum, with Aspergers being the most fitting diagnosis! Gosh what happened in them two years between them words and that final diagnosis is scattered all over this very blog!
As for his educational needs, It wasn’t till this year January that we final got the LEA to agree to statement and after the mother of all fights, he was placed in a special school for children with autism! This was just one month ago!
Back when Little man first attend CAMHS age 7, when I first heard the words Autism My world changed for ever (for one it lead me to this blog back in 2008) I knew that there was a massive controversy surrounding the possible links between vaccines and that of autism. Though this was mainly targeted at the MMR due to it’s administrating of three vaccines within the same time deterioration. I would be lying if I said I didn’t wonder or question the MMR at this point in time, “Of course I bloody did!” but I had a healthy daughter who received that same vaccination, besides, it wouldn’t change the fact he was on the spectrum… I decided to bury it somewhere in my head. I didn’t need answers, I needed to concentrate on the now, for all our sakes!
But that changed when my third child was born, my now 20 m old son “Harley” When that time came, I had to dig the question back out and ask my self… Do I want my child to contract a virus such as measles and quite possibly die? Hell NO
Do I want my child to develop autism? Again NO
Then I asked myself, Do I want my son to catch measles and maybe DIE or do I want to take the chance of my child possibly developing autism therefore avoiding the risk of measles allowing him to LIVE?
I instantly had my answer! God I called the doctors receptionist within minutes! Two weeks later he was vaccinated.
I don’t regret my decision, there is NO proven link between that of autism and the MMR! But it’s a known fact that measles can be fatal! Yet despite the, “No Link” being proven you anti vaccine campaigners argue it as being wrong or somehow fixed….I think some just want something, someone to blame! Without that link you have no answers and that hurts! But isn’t it time you focused on what’s important here,”The child” You’re not going to change who they are by embanking on your mission… Its time to embrace your child and deal with the diagnosis.
I will be outspoken and now share my opinion by stating that, “Those that leave their child totally unprotected, opting not to vaccinate a child in fear of autism, are playing Russian Roulette with their own children’s life, as well as that of the life of those at risk like new-born babies to young for vaccination. (I am sorry if I’m offending supporters of the blog, fellow followers on twitter & friends on Facebook, but it’s a view I feel so strongly about.)
How would you feel if your child passed on rubella to a pregnant woman who ended up giving birth to a baby who was severely disabled including the loss of sight due to the mothers contamination of Rubella during her pregnancy? Would you feel guilty?
Last month I received the news that a friend who sadly I had lost contact with 3 years back had lost her daughter to Meningitis (another vaccine that is avoided) her daughter was not yet old enough for that first Jab. This was contracted on her 8th day off life! God this saddens me!
I hold no guilt! I can hold my head high as I walk the streets with my children by my side. I know that when a life is lost or a baby is born disabled due to the mother contracting Rubella, It didn’t come from me or my children.
I told myself, “If the MMR or any other Jab causes my youngest to develop autism then so be it” I’d rather that then risk him never having the opportunity to experience life!
There are children in disadvantaged countries that are dyeing every single day. They don’t have that choice, the choice to be vaccinated. Why? Because there is no vaccine, there is no choice, its all about luck, an unwanted gamble, one you all so knowing have no choice in taking. Please Ask them if they had the choice what would they chose! I think we all know the answer.
Your child was brought into this world by you, its mother!!!!
Do you want to risk the life of that beautiful child you created, being crawly taken away? Or do you want to do what a mother is there to do, protect!
raise their child, giving them every chance off a full and happy life (with or without autism)
Anti Vaccine Campaigners, I do not apologize for my outspokenness nor do I apologize for giving my children the right to life
Amen
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So happy to see this article. I strongly agree with you. Autism is a big deal and we should be concerned about finding what causes it, not focusing on some made up connection (did we all forget that the study showing the link was completely falsified?). I am very happy to have been vaccinated (with no ill effects) for all the usual stuff.
Wow, wow, wow, Just reading this brings back memories of my experiences with my son now 8. He was diagnosed April 2008 with Autism and ADHD. I knew something was different throughout my pregnancy and have no regrets for letting him be vaccinated. Everyone has a choice, but with so much diseases flying around, I would prefer to protect him. I battled with the LEA through the tribunal (4 times), the LEA and school just did not understand Autism to a child being naughty, ignored all the specialist reports and seem to just look at his academics and ignore his conditions. Whilst he struggled to just be accepted. Now that he is in a specialist school what a great change. Love him to bits and would not change him for no one. No one is perfect, he is loving, articulate and rough at times, but that is my son!
My elder son has Aspergers. The signs were there when he was just a tiny baby, the diagnosis finally made when he turned 10. He didn’t have the MMR as it was at the height of the controversy, so we opted for single vaccines (not vaxing wasn’t an option, we just preferred to space it out).
My younger son doesn’t have Aspergers, he also had the sepvax. My daughter was born after the research was thoroughly discredited, she had the MMR and she doesn’t appear to have Aspergers (she is 2).
I didn’t have the measles vaccination as I responded very badly to previous vaccinations. I got measles when I was around 6 years old and my very poor eyesight tells its own tale. My parents had a horrible decision to make – they were told that if I had the measles jab (it was separate in those days) I would probably suffer from febrile convulsions and most likely get brain damage. Given that sort of choice they decided to take the chance that I might one day get actual measles and they put their faith in herd immunity. Luckily it was only my eyesight that was damaged when I got measles, not my brain, not my life.
My dad and his brother are almost certainly on the Aspergers end of the Autistic spectrum. With both of them being on the wrong side of 60, they obviously didn’t have the MMR, so there is a good pointer here for a genetic component in Autism.
My own view is that vaccinations can cause problems in susceptible people. Unfortunately, the research into who is going to be affected isn’t being done, probably because of the MMR fiasco, I imagine scientists are frightened to even approach the subject. Just as some people are allergic to peanuts or bee stings or milk, there are likely to be some who will react badly to vaccines or some of the ingredients (or combinations of ingredients) in certain vaccines, just as I did. I think the pressure should always be on the drug companies to make their vaccines as safe as they can be, and I know that mercury has been taken out of a lot of children’s vaccines in the last decade or so. I think the anti-vax campaigners are making the issue too black and white. Vaccines save lives. Children in this country are no longer dying of polio, whooping cough, diptheria and yes, measles. Children are no longer being born with terrible birth defects as a result of their mothers contracting rubella whilst pregnant. Herd immunity only stretches so far though, and anti-vax campaigners would do well to change their focus, to campaign for more research into safe vaccines. Just my opinion.
@thepsychoticraccoon@xanga – Nope, but it’s a simple answer and those who want to have someone or something to blame, keep it alive.
@cmdr_keen@xanga – Thanks.
The best point that has been raised on here so far is @lightnindan@xanga‘s: diagnoses of children who are on the autism spectrum are a relatively new development, and one that is rapidly becoming over-diagnosed, especially for rambunctious kids who are diagnosed with ADHD and it’s siblings, just because either the parents are lazy or the doctors are lazy and it’s an easy diagnosis to make. It’s not surprising that high school and college-aged teenagers are faking the symptoms to get the prescriptions for Ritalin to help them in school – which is then only exacerbated by the immense pressure parents and society places on them to do extraordinarily well lest they be labeled a failure and “given-up” on.
Am I the only one who seems to remember that a study showing the link between vaccines and autism was shown to be a fraud?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960277,00.html
Good and thoughtful article. From what I’ve read recently, the correlation between vaccines and autism is not what they thought, and the guy who originally caused all the controversy was found to have lied. But either way, I would rather my child be alive and have autism from vaccines than to die from the diseases they prevent.
@grim_truth@xanga – “The decision should be left up to the parents, not the gov’t. “
Except that this isn’t just a decision about your child and your personal views – it’s putting other people and their children at risk of permanent disability or DEATH. That changes things – this isn’t a cosmetic thing like circumcision where you can say “Oh, just let parents decide and if they’re batshit crazy, well it’s not harming anyone else”.
We’ve had vaccines for a LONG time. If vaccines caused autism then the majority of the population would have it. The whole reason for the rise in autism is a matter of it being diagnosed now where it wasn’t before. Before they’d just be labeled mentally retarded, unusually aggressive, whatever instead of being properly diagnosed. Just like how people died of cancer long ago before they knew what cancer was.
I am not a mother but I have plenty of friends who are and this discussion comes up quite a lot; to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. I myself think that vaccinations are important, without them I’m sure there would be plenty of diseases and infections running rampant. That being said, I do believe that vaccinations should be re-worked. I am a huge supporter of Green Our Vaccines; we have the technology to not make vaccines with things such as mercury in them, and to do so–in my opinion–would be tax dollars well spent.
xx
I hate the “That’s poison. I’m not gonna inject that crap into my body. ” argument. It’s simplistic bull. Iodine is poison, but we need a certain level in our diet to stay healthy. Chlorine is poison, but all of you drink water that has been chlorinated at some point in your life. Yes, there are risks associated with vaccinations, but they are infinitesimally smaller than the risks to which you expose your child if you do not have him vaccinated. Heck, water and oxygen are both poisonous if you get too much of them. Let’s stop exposing our kids to either of those, too.
Someone said that chicken pox is not bad enough to justify the risk. Anyone who has had chicken pox, which is bad enough by itself, can at any point later in life, develop shingles which can blind them and is extremely painful. I know. I had it. I was lucky enough not to get it near my eye.
I really find it irritating that people cannot see that there is a rise in autism because most of these autistic diagnosis are relativity new. Even 10 years ago we didn’t know as much as we know about autism, but we jump to make some kind of correlation between vaccines and autism that has no proven link. Why wasn’t this a big deal decades ago when most of the mandated vaccines where being introduced?
@grim_truth@xanga – it’s true that measles hasn’t killed anyone in the U.S. yet this year but infection rates are higher this year than ever before, with 105 out of the 118 infections being to unvaccinated individuals. (i was thinking of infection rates rather than death rates, my mistake)
there is no treatment for measles. if your body doesn’t naturally fight it off you die. some complications from it are treatable but others are not.
ex: acute measles encephalitis is an untreatable complication of measles with a 15% mortality rate. If you’re unlikely enough to get measles and then get this complication you’re either lucky or you’re not, no amount of advanced medicine will help.
the high survival rate for measles is mostly because most people can fight it off rather than because of modern medicine.
In a developed country where we can treat the treatable complications of measles, the mortality rate for measles and it’s complications is roughly one in a thousand, but there are 330 million people in the U.S. alone, so one in a thousand is a lot of dead kids. as the number of unvaccinated people goes up the number of cases is going to go up exponentially, as currently the herd immunity is protecting most unvaccinated individuals
so in summation: as a direct result of less vaccination infection rates are going up and it’s only a matter of time before the untreatable disease and its untreatable complications begin killing people. and this is only one of the 14 diseases children are vaccinated against routinely. it adds up fast
@grim_truth@xanga – Just because there is corruption in pharmaceuticals, doesn’t mean the vaccines are faulty.
The problem with the “parents should have final say” mentality is that it doesn’t quite work for vaccines, which affect more than just your child. Again, the whole “herd immunity” approach…
“Diseases are usually spread long before symptoms even arise. “
And with vaccines, they are often halted long before symptoms arise, too. Your point?
“Again, folks who died decades and hundreds of years ago did not have access to the medical treatments we have today. “
And?
@QuantumStorm@xanga – The same gov’t tells us to get these vaccines, then turns around and tells us how greedy and corrupt the pharmaceutical companies are. Doesn’t that make you wonder? Devestating diseases like polio, I’m all for vaccines. However, for chicken pox? Mumps?
I will not trade my freedom for anything. The decision should be left up to the parents, not the gov’t. When we allow the gov’t to make personal decisions for us, we have lost what was given to us.
Diseases are usually spread long before symptoms even arise.
Again, folks who died decades and hundreds of years ago did not have access to the medical treatments we have today. Especially for the bullshit vaccines forced upon us.
@jenessa1889@xanga – How are measles deaths on the rise, when there has not been one death this year from measles in the US? Even with a 3 year high, that’s a testament to the medical treatments this nation offers.
@RainDropPixie@xanga – Yes. We also know that there are limits to personal hygiene that vaccines can easily compensate for. The “modern treatments” you speak of, that caused such a drop in childhood deaths, happen to be vaccines.
“Most childhood diseases have a low
morality rate in healthy children. Some are more dangerous as adults,
which is why exposure at younger ages is better.
I’ve researched this subject for years.”
Unfortunately, not all children are born with the best immune systems. You’re once more downplaying the dangerous nature of these viruses. Google the childhood diseases and see exactly how “low” the mortality rates were.
As for toxicology – it’s not enough that certain chemicals are injected into the bloodstream. It’s not as simplistic as you’re making it out to be. In order for something to be toxic, it is dependent on much more than just the nature of exposure, too.
@grim_truth@xanga – “There has been a rise in vaccinations, there
has been a rise with Autism. I’m not saying it’s definite, but it is
worth a serious study by a third party.”
Yeah, and there’s been a drop in the economy. Maybe there should be third party studies done. I’m convinced there’s a link between our economy and autism.
@QuantumStorm@xanga – That was also a time prior to modern treatments and personal hygiene. We know how disease transmission works now.
Most childhood diseases have a low morality rate in healthy children. Some are more dangerous as adults, which is why exposure at younger ages is better.
I’ve researched this subject for years.
I don’t deny that there are naturally occuring chemicals, and man made ones that we encounter daily…but they’re not injected into our blood stream. Our bodies have things like skin, hair, etc for a reason. It is to prevent those sorts of things from entering our bodies. So we’re bypassing all our natural defenses when those types of chemicals are injected into us.
i’m not stressing. people have forgotten what big, ugly disease is like, and when it comes knocking on their doors and kills hordes of children, they will come running back to vaccinations.
in california, we have declared a whooping cough epidemic because people refusing the TDaP vaccine helped the disease resurface – and with a vengeance. we have had atleast 10 100% preventable deaths in our state because of this bullshit and some of those parents are on trial for murder. this really isn’t an issue of “you make your choice & i’ll make mine” anymore.
the sad fact, though, is that some vaccinations aren’t 100% disease prevention – some of them only lessen the severity / deadliness of a disease. when vaccinated kids start getting sick because of unvaccinated kids, all hell is going to break out, i promise.
in the mean time, please take a bloody statistics course. correlation does NOT mean causation – but even if it DID, about a million new chemicals, compounds and practices have been introduced to our lifestyles in the recent years which correlate with the increase in autism.
@grim_truth@xanga – chicken pox sure, but diseases like measles do kill perfectly healthy children. in fact, measles deaths in the united states are on the rise due to lack of vaccination. additionally, there are people in our population, like the very young and immune compromised, who are both likely to die of a disease like measles and cannot be vaccinated. their safety relies on living in a vaccinated population where they can’t catch it.
@RainDropPixie@xanga – We’re exposed to far more ominous materials in our environment on a daily basis than anything thiomersal and formaldehyde can ever be.
Natural antibodies? Tell that to the children who died of polio, smallpox, measles, etc, before the vaccines were developed. You’re downplaying the dangerous nature of these viruses.
As for transmission – yeah, you can – but if your body already has a sufficient defense against them, thanks to vaccines, it will inhibit their transmission anyhow. Your body will work more quickly to recognize the threat and dismiss it than it would if the body didn’t recognize it beforehand. The timetable of contagiousness is reduced significantly.
@QuantumStorm@xanga – Well, if you want Thimerasol and Formaldehyde in your and your children’s body…more power to you. I’d rather have the natural antibodies.
And you can transmit illness without exhibiting symptoms. As that is how most illnesses are transmitted. Typically if you have symptoms you’ve already been contagious for weeks.
When my son was less than a few minutes old, they asked me if I wanted to vaccinate him with the HepB, since it was recommended. I was a new mother and didn’t really read into, nor had I officially made up my mind about vaccinations at the time. But a few weeks later I got to thinking…why did he need the HepB? They tested me for it beforehand, and it’s not like he will be sharing needles with anyone or having sex anytime soon. Anyway, I’ve decided to in fact NOT vaccinate my child any further. It’s my right and belief. I don’t think children or infants should be subjected to that many vaccinations, especially when they’re still in the crucial developmental stages of their lives. Vaccinations HAVE been proven to cause damage, the funny thing is that in court, you have to specify “brain damage” which is essentially what most people call autism. Funny how so many parents have experienced a drastic change in their toddlers/infants as early as 48 hours later. One woman told me that her five year old went from walking and talking like any normal five year old, to limping around and barely able to speak. She sued the Vaccine company and won.
@RainDropPixie@xanga – Being a carrier is different from exhibiting the symptoms of a disease. It means there’s a significantly reduced chance of it being transmitted from person to person, because of the reduced levels of the virus. Herd immunity works excellently in suppressing the transmissions this way.
What specifically concerns you about the “Shit” being injected? That it’s got an “ick” factor associated with it? That’s a ridiculous reason to reject life-saving treatment, because it’s “icky”.
@grim_truth@xanga – These are KNOWN substances – and the diseases are preventable with vaccines. If you have a “cure” for them, by all means, share it on the open market and make them afforable for families, cheaper than vaccines, even. There is this thing called “herd immunity” which is why governments enforce vaccinations. Are you seriously going to trade the lives of children for small government?
@RainDropPixie@xanga – those are the reasons vaccines worry me.
@jenessa1889@xanga – most of the vaccines given to children are for diseases that are easily treatable in this day and age of modern medicine. Chicken Pox? Very treatable. The gov’t should not be forcing parents to inject their children with unknown substances. It should be an informed choice for the parent to make.
excellent point, even if those vaccines were proven to cause autism in 1 out of 100 cases the vaccines still save the lives of 20 out of 100 cases so it’s worth it
@grim_truth@xanga – I have to agree with you. Though, vaccines are not retained as natural immunity is. And the retention rate can be as low as MONTHS with anyone under 2 years old. So vaccinating infants can be pointless.
And the whole herd immunity subject. Even vaccinated you can be, and more than likely are, a carrier. That means that herd immunity is a fallacy.
I don’t even care about the link of autism. I’m more concerned with the shit being injected into our kids. The CDC has a list of ingredients right on their page. Some of those include formaldehyde, Thimerosal, and MRC-5 DNA (aka fetal stem cells).
@joejoev – You’re an idiot. Vaccines work by the herd having immunity — for every person that “survives” the measles, there are massive graves full of those that didn’t. You treat not getting a vaccine as being on par with not getting the measles — that’s not the case. One is a very real and very likely scenario in an unvaccinated population (measles) and one is a link which has no proven support (autism).
I typically try to respect differing opinions, but sometimes – the other opinion is just wrong.
I still believe there is a link. There has been a rise in vaccinations, there has been a rise with Autism. I’m not saying it’s definite, but it is worth a serious study by a third party. Personally, I’m more concerned with the effects on the immune system. Too many antibiotics weakens the immune system. It’s a proven fact. Too many vaccines given to children, is also worthy of wonder of the effect on the immune system. Forced vaccines for chicken pox? Can one die from chicken pox? Yes. Can one die playing on the playground? Yes.
The issue I have with vaccines is really more with them being forced upon our children. Forced by a government who turns around and tells us how evil the pharmaceutical companies are. The same companies who make these vaccines. It just doesn’t sit right with me.
@Pickwick12@xanga – If your child is vaccinated, then they are no longer at risk of coming down with the illness. If they are, then the vaccine is useless anyway. A vaccine does not erradicate a disease. It merely forces the body to introduce it’s natural anti-biotics to fight off what it thinks is an infection. Most times, these anti-bodies remain in the body. If the person is introduced to the real virus, the anti-bodies attack the virus and stop it from spreading throughout the body. Even when vaccinated, a person can still be a carrier until the anti-bodies attack and kill every virus cell. So no, you’re children are not at risk because others do not vaccinate unless they themselves are not vaccinated.
Thank you for this post. I strongly believe that people who don’t vaccinate are opening the door for death. It saddens me to know that my children will be at risk even though I have them vaccinated, because of people who choose not to do so. You made a wonderful point. Do we want our children alive with autism, or dead because of preventable medical conditions? You made the right choice.
Vaccines cause more than autism, here’s your proof, NVICP, paid billions in vaccine death, and damage yet you’re worried about a very, very slim chance of death with the measles. I had the measles and survived, so did all my 5 sisters, my mother and father etc. Measles aren’t bad, but necessary for our immune system to build immunity naturally, that’s how it was designed. It wasn’t designed any other way.
Everyone should be able to make their own choices for their children’s health. If you think the choice of having your children is a good one then do it. I don’t think you or anyone else should make the choice for someone else’s children. There are risks on both sides. I don’t know why people on both sides of this issue get so vitriolic with anyone that doesn’t agree with them. Make your choice, live by it and everyone else can do the same.