Vaccines for kids have been all over the news for years now. When I was growing up (mom had polio as a kid) we got every vaccine known to man. You knew every kid in the whole class had done the same thing. Look, small pox was all but wiped out in America. and today...

We have a line up of folks refusing to vaccinate their children. With autism, and immune responses, and political views, and religious views on the rise, we now have a 50/50 mix in many young classes.

One study says vaccines cause autism, and we get Jenny McCarthy pushing moms to not do it. Then we get the next study saying no way do vaccines cause autism and we get local MDs pushing for all to get them.

Would LOVE to hear your views. Are vaccines a good idea or a bad idea?

I started it off by saying yes. we should vaccinate our children. After seeing my mom struggle with a disease that could have been prevented by a vaccine, I went pro vaccine for a long time.

I DID vaccinate my children.

now, comes my hitch in my thinking. I am seeing vaccines for things like chicken pox and HPV virus and other stuff. I am not sure I would have gotten a chicken pox shot for my kids. I KNOW I would not have gotten my daughter that HPV shot.

what do the rest of you think?

My opinion on childhood vaccines is that the parents that don't get them for their children don't really like them. JMHO

The major doctor working for the CDC pushing vaccines and saying they do not cause autism was found to be a fraud and provided false information and took millions of dollars to do so!

So that "evidence" is flawed on that side of the argument!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert..._b_494303.html

I got every vaccine known to man. That was just the way things were done when I was growing up. I'm thinking that might have played a role in me getting MS.

My own kids were vaccinated, too. This was in the 80's and the big hoopla about vaccines being dangerous hadn't surfaced yet. I just did what the pediatrician advised.

If I had young children today I'd be doing alot of research on the various vaccines that are suggested and even those that are deemed mandatory.

I know alot of people who are home-schooling their kids because of the fact they don't want to vaccinate for some of the mandatory shots that are required for entry to public schools. They have many more reasons for not wanting their kids in public schools but this is just one of them.

Chicken Pox and HPV are ones that are very questionable to me. I would not take them or subject my children to them. Same with the Flu vaccine.

I think the CDC and other health organizations use scare tactics to try and convince people to be vaccinated. Frankly, I have lost trust in the whole medical community.

I had every vaccine known to man as well and so did my kids. If the chicken pox vaccine was available for my kids I would have done it because Jim had to move out for two weeks when my kids were exposed. AND I would get the HPV for my kids as well because it is running rampant these days. I am leaning more toward the belief that vaccines do not cause diseases like autism, ms, etc. If they did wouldn't we all have it? I believe the disease was already there and maybe, just maybe the vaccine encouraged the disease to come out?

I am not a doctor but no way would I chance not vaccinating my kids and hope parents stop being scared and vaccinate. How are we going to feel if small pox or something worse affects one of our own and they die as a result of someone not being vaccinated? I would feel terrible as a parent if I made a decision not to vaccinate and then my child got sick and made others sick. Jim had even more vaccines when he went overseas and who knows? maybe they did encourage his ms to come out? Or maybe it was the chemical exposure? Or maybe it was there all along and came out as a result of age? We will never know for sure so taking the risk of not vaccinating to me is more harmful than vaccinating. It's my honest opinion and not meant to cause debate because I am not a doctor, just a parent.

Not everyone has the immune markers that make them vulnerable to vaccines. The most obvious case was with the LymeRx vaccine which stimulated autoimmune inflammatory arthritis (which put many people in wheelchairs for life). Some estimates were that up to 40% of people vaccinated were affected. But they had to have certain genetic markers which could be tested for. LymeRx was voluntarily withdrawn from the market by Glaxo, and there was a hoohaa about it, because they KNEW this side effect and did not warn doctors to pretest people.

What I find alarming today, after being on the net for 10 yrs now, is that younger and younger people are showing up on some of our boards here in more commonly. The Peripheral Neuropathy board and the Myasthenia Gravis board have many new younger posters. (3 young men of college age have posted on MG in the last year--- and MG is typically only found statistically in males 50 and older! )

Our PN board has many young members now, and years ago that was very uncommon!

Not EVERYONE is going to react to vaccines. But many more do now than ever IMO.

I believe in vaccines. I think any increases we see in any disease (autism, etc.) is because more is recognized and diagnosed and earlier, giving an increase in numbers that support a no-immunization view for some.
I believe autism is born with (there is a spectrum of behaviors and Mental retardization to high
IQ also), recognized at a certain stage because certain things are not recognizable at younger ages. Way before his pediatrician recognized it, our play group made up of Special Ed. teachers and speech pathologists now Moms,suspected it in our friend's 11 month old. His mom, a speech pathologist never saw it in her own child who was diagnosed at 3 yo with it after having no speech. She later blamed immunizations for it although she also had her second child immunized.
I've had my daughter have the HPV vaccine.

I refuse to think, as too many do, MY daughter wiould never have sex. 16 is the average age for girls in the US, Don't fool yourselves.

I agree. And the makers of these vaccines (especially the newer ones) push their products out the door and recommend them to the general public before making sure they are safe. Scare tactics and alarming "statistics" are used. What's the big rush?? I know......$$$. That drives everything.

I'm so glad I don't have small children now. It would be difficult to know which vaccines are truly safe and which are just a big hype by the mfg. It's such a shame that it all comes down to the mighty dollar.

I believe flu vaccines get pushed out the door and I would never get for my kids, nor live vaccines and maybe too HPV but I think Routine childhood vaccines do more good (eradicating terrible diseases) I'm glad were prevented in me and my children. I am old enough to know some who suffered Polio, but as they die as as they age, I know no new ones. I remember as a child how we stood in line for the Polio Vaccine when it first came out, knowing too many who fell victim before.