NOTE: The author of this page is not a doctor, or a medical professional. This page contains her personal opinion only, and should not be construed as medical or legal advice.

Attachment Parenting :: Articles :: Information on Vaccinations and Immunizations

Everybody knows that you should have your children vaccinated; it protects them from horrible diseases, keeps the diseases from being spread to others, and besides, immunizations are completely safe and harmless. Or, are they?

Consider this:

• Japan has done away with the MMR immunization, instead having children receive individual ("monovalent") forms of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, because of known complications related to the MMR which include brain swelling and, some believe, autism.
• The DPT vaccine has the lowest rate of efficacy, and the highest rate of serious adverse reactions. The efficacy rate is only about 70%.

  After having been constantly reassured that these vaccines are safe for our babies and children, a new acellular version of the DPT (specifically the P [Pertussis] portion) was introduced because it is safer, and less problematic (causing fewer adverse reactions) than the older, whole cell version. But why replace it with a safer version if the old version was, as we were told, perfectly safe? [In reality children have *died* from the DPT!]

• Medical and goverment officials have steadfastly insisted that the immunizations administered in the United States are safe, and do not damage children. So why has the government established a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)? Why have 1300 families been awarded $920,000,000 under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program? And Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler stated in 1993 that only about one percent of serious vaccine reactions are even reported! Of the adverse reactions reported to VAERS every year, fully 15% describe serious events, such as seizures, high fever life-threatening illnesses, or deaths!

One thing that many people don't realize is that you can insist on the monovalent (one disease only) form of vaccines, where available! For example, measles, rubella, and mumps vaccines are available separately from Merck & Co. The measles-only vaccine is called Attenuvax, the rubella-only is Meruvax, and the mumps-only is Mumpsvax. With all the concern over the MMR, some parents are assessing which diseases they are most concerned about, and vaccinating for that disease only. For example, mumps, while no fun, is not generally a fatal or life-altering disease if contracted as a child, so some parents are choosing to hold off on the mumps vaccine until the child is older (but before the age when contracting mumps can be problematic), when the child's immune and general system are better able to handle yet another vaccine.

Many parents are now also insisting on thimerosal-free, individual vaccines, due to the serious and legitimate concern about the thimerosal/mercury poisoning, and its possible link to autism and other problems. (Thimerosal is a preservative, used to preserve the vaccine in a large, multi-use vial of vaccine.)

If your pediatrician won't allow you to make informed immunization decisions, or will not order monovalent vaccines for you, or thimerosal-free versions where available - well, your pediatrician can always be replaced - your child can't.

More Information About Immunizations:

• Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)
• The Law Creating the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
• National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Vaccine Injury Table (a list of recognized acknowledged injuries from vaccines for which the government may compensate parents!)
• Vaccination Nation: Children On The Frontline
• The Law of Vaccination - Toward Radical Reform

More Information About The Thimerosal Issue:

• Joint Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the United States Public Health Service re: Thimerosal
• Thimerosal in Vaccines: An Interrim Report to Clinicians [American Academy of Pediatrics]
• Limiting Infant Exposure to Thimerosal in Vaccines and Other Sources of Mercury by Neal A. Halsey, MD, Institute for Vaccine Safety, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Md., as printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association
• Letter by Dr. William T. Redwood, and Mrs. Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, CRNP to Dr. Neal A. Halsey, Division of Disease Control, regarding recommendation to remove Thimeresol from vaccines, and their own autistic child.

Is There a Connection Between the MMR and Autism?

• Joint House Panel Asks for Study of Possible Link Between MMR and Autism
• Testimony of Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Before House Committee on Government Reform April 6, 2000
• Testimony of Vijendra K. Singh, Ph.D., Before House Committee on Government Reform April 6, 2000
• Testimony of Dr. Andrew J. Wakefield, Before House Committee on Government Reform April 6, 2000 (PDF)
• Autism and Mercury - A paper prepared by Sallie Bernard, Albert Enayati, B.S., Ch.E., M.S.M.E., Heidi Roger, Teresa Binstock, Lyn Redwood, R.N., M.S.N., C.R.N.P., Woody McGinnis, M.D.
• The Redwood's Excellent "Austim and Mercury" website

NOTE: The author of this page is not a doctor, or a medical professional. This editorial contains her personal opinion only, and should not be construed as medical or legal advice.