Vaccinations

Amelia is scheduled for her first shot this afternoon. Before meeting a remarkable group of mamas that have challenged me to research and question "routine" baby care in this country, I would only have concerned myself with Amelia's shock and momentary pain of receiving a shot. However, after reading "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Sears, Joe and I are feeling concerned about the ingredients of each vaccine. I wasn't aware that there was aluminum (and no research on how much is too much and thus possibly causing neurological harm to babies), or cow blood, etc. As we educated ourselves on the 5 recommended shots for 2 months old (we skipped Hep B at birth), we reluctantly chose 2 vaccines today. If the doctor doesn't carry the brand of vaccine with less aluminum, we will ask him to order it and reschedule.

I feel that we've chosen a cautious, but responsible, route for us. I very much understand parents declining vaccines altogether. If there is a concern for the health and safety of their child, they need to be empowered to make that choice. There is an argument about social and moral responsibility to erradicate disease altogether. Personally, I don't believe that parents should inject ingredients that they feel are harmful into their children for the sake of the greater good. The moral responsibiliity lies in the drug companies creating vaccines that are safe and well-tested.

For us, our decision down to whether diseases were common, treatable, and severe, and also looking at the ingredients and side effects. I still do not feel comfortable vaccinating, but I feel slightly less comfortable not vaccinating at all. We are going to only do one or two at a time, and skip some vaccines that do not seem worth the risk.

Ignorance really is, momentarily, bliss. I know that I will worry about Amelia's reaction to the immunization, and be carefully watching her. Its very much like circumcision. Until I took the time to read about it, watch a video, and educate myself on the reasons for it (vs. the "justifications" for it...), I would not have thought twice if we had given birth to a boy. Now, I can't imagine choosing to cut a piece of my son's penis off, with no way to numb the pain, for no good reason (even the Pediatric Association does not recommend it any longer, but rather has "no recommendation".) I should save my thoughts on this for another posting...

Anyways, we are off to the doctor very soon, and I am feeling anxious about it. Amelia is awake, so signing off...