To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate ... THAT is the question!

Remember when we were kids?? I'm sure some of you do. We all got vaccinated. Pretty much. And our parents were LUCKY that they had vaccines. And our grandparents, well they didn't get vaccinated and many of them developed debilitating illnesses. Polio what? Awful. And before that Settlers handed over smallpox infected blankets to Native Americans and literally wiped out entire races of people. But then came advances, as they tend to happen, in science and medicine. WOOT! But what's happening now? A new kind of epidemic. Parents not vaccinating their kids. There has been some information out there in the world that says if you vaccinate your kids they will  be Autistic. And parents in fear of a trending disease, have decided it best to either not vaccinate or to hold off on vaccinations. After reading an article in Parade you may change your mind about what you knew about vaccinations!

The information I'm going to relay to you is taken from Parade Sunday, October 7, 2012 edition, article The Vaccine Controversy: Truth and Consequences by Seth Mnookin. ( Read the entire article here: http://www.parade.com/health/2012/10/07-why-so-many-parents-are-delaying-vaccines.html )

The fact of the matter remains, do I elevate the risk of my child being Autistic. New information you heard here first! Or last or somewhere in the middle. No. WHA?! Yeah no. Your child has just as much chance developing Autism with or with out vaccines. In fact they have a better chance of developing Autism than they do of becoming a professional athlete. Okay so Christie give me some facts! Right. The fact is that the rumor started with a British gastroenterologist named Andrew Wakefield. He interviewed 12 ... yep JUST 12 parents with Autistic children who were vaccinated and said there was a connection. No research, no additional snooping. Just jumped to that conclusion. Neat huh? Didn't matter the information caught hold and spread like wildfire. Some people have even devoted websites and time and energy to back the theory. But, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and several universities have done numerous studies to discover there is NO ... lets repeat NO causal link between vaccinations and Autism.

So where does that leave us? What difference does it make and why do you care so much Christie? I'm so glad you asked! Not having your children vaccinated does NOT only affect your child, but literally everyone around you. Yeah weird huh? Doctors and the super folks over that the CDC - who if you don't know tend to take their jobs SUPER seriously because they prevent little things like Pandemics and whatnot - work off of a theory called "Herd Immunity." Yeah I don't care for the name either, but that's why I'm not a scientist. It means that 85-95% of the population need to be immunized to prevent the spread of illness. Take for example France, the annual number of measles cases jumped from 40-50 to 15,000 in just a few years. Nearly 4,000 people have been diagnosed with pertussis (Whooping cough - highly deadly to infants) in Washington State this year where a full-blown epidemic is under way. Basically medical professionals say that if enough people accumulate that aren't vaccinated, an explosion of illness starts. Illnesses that haven't been seen in decades are breaking out in record numbers. Like whooping cough or Hib meningitis. Seriously, the last thing we want is smallpox runnin rampant!

To make matters worse, many states have adopted new legislation relaxing laws on early childhood vaccinations and allowing parents to opt out for reasons other than health or religion. This has caused a lot of problems in and of itself and many states have began to retract that legislation. Not only does anti-vaccination  or delayed vaccination affect that child, but also young babies too young for vaccination, the elderly and those who have immune deficiencies to certain vaccines.

So after all that, whatever happened to the guy who started it all? Well he had to retract his paper AND the UK took away his medical license. Yeah. That's how wrong he was. No longer a doctor. That's like getting a shot from Doctor Phil ... not wise.

So if you are the parent of children or planning to be a parent, READ this article in it's entirety and do additional research. Basically vaccinate your kids or we're all at risk! The decision is ultimately yours, but the science speaks for itself. Your kid will grow up happier and healthier vaccinated, and so will all the other kids in your neighborhood.

Happy parenting and happy shots everyone!!