Vaccines

(photo from www.lipmantimes.com)

I mentioned that I'd be posting about vaccines, and I'm finally ready to do so! Disclaimer: This isn't a post to start a debate. It's to share how we came to our decision about vaccines, because I know a few people would be interested in it.

The standard for most people is to follow their doctor's recommendation of sticking with the American Academy of Pediatric's schedule of vaccines. There are currently 11 vaccines recommended, with a total of 26 doses of vaccines, including an annual flu shot, from 1-6 years of age.

Since I started learning and educating myself to take control of my body, health, and healthcare, I wasn't going to let this be something that I followed blindly. Jason agreed, so we (mostly me) started doing research about vaccines. I wanted to find out more about the diseases, what the vaccines contain, how they are made, and how effective they are. I got some great recommendations from friends and our pediatrician about books to read and websites to visit. The overarching recommendation from friends was to start with The Vaccine Book, by Dr. Sears. My pediatrician, Dr. Melvin at Carle, recommended the CDC's website, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's vaccine education center on their website. I also did some reading on Mothering.com, a website geared towards natural parenting, checked out the Frontline documentary and information about vaccines, and watched a documentary from Dr. Tenpenny (a medical doctor in Emergency Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) about vaccines. Obviously, I tried to make my reading and research as well-rounded and inclusive as possible, not wanting to lean drastically one way or the other.

So, what?

I learned A LOT. A lot about diseases, and a lot about vaccines. I also learned that a lot of people out there are wacko, on both sides of the issue, saying things that are blatantly not true, or drastically over-emphasizing truths to scare people into making decisions. It's amazing what a hot-button issues this is. One of the things I researched was the link between autism and vaccines that a lot of anti-vaxing people hang on to. While the CDC and drug companies will say that vaccines don't cause autism, they have not proved that. They have done studies on mercury and thimerosol in vaccines, and don't show a link between autism and those ingredients. They have not, however, done longitudinal studies on vaccines as a whole and the link to autism. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't find any research or studies for that.

I could go on forever talking about what I learned. Instead, I'll link to the spreadsheet I made. I wanted all of the FACTS, not opinions, down in one place. It was getting too complicated jumping all over the place. So, I made a spreadsheet with each childhood vaccine, information about the disease, epidemiology, information about the vaccine, and efficacy of the vaccines. The baseline of information was taken from The Vaccine Book, but then I cross-checked his facts and data with the CDC website and the CHOP website. I didn't put any information on there from the Frontline show, because I didn't have sources for it. Be default, some of Dr. Tenpenny's research is on the spreadsheet, because she used the CDC's Pink Book for her facts, which is also what I was looking at.

So, what are we doing?


This took a lot of talking and prayer for us to make a decision. Our faith does play into it, but it may not for you, and that's okay. We believe that God made our bodies to fight infections naturally, but we also believe that we live in a fallen world and there is obviously sickness, disease, and death. We also believe that God uses medicine to do amazing things, but that we can't put our faith fully in medicine without also having faith in God's miraculous healing.

Ultimately, we decided to do a selective, delayed vaccine schedule. We are going to be getting Annabelle immunized for DTaP, Hib, and Pc. When she is older she will get Hep B, and when she is even older, Meningococcal. She will be getting the DTaP this week (11 weeks old), and will be getting Hib and Pc at her 3 month appointment. We are choosing NOT to do Rotavirus, Polio, MMR, Varicella, Hep A, or Flu. It will be up to her if she wants to get the HPV vaccine when she is older and we explain it to her.

Here are the main reasons we made our decisions:
Hib can be very, very serious. It's rare, but when it does strike, it can be deadly or cause permanent brain damage. There was a 2nd grader in my school when I was in 5th grade that died from Meningitis (which is caused by Hib). The vaccine has a very low side-effect profile, and 2 of the 3 brands are chemical and preservative free. Annabelle will get this vaccine at 3 mos, 5 mos, 7 mos, and 15 mos.

Pc causes pneumonia and meningitis (among other things), which are very dangerous for babies and toddlers, with a 20-30% fatality. There are tens of thousands of cases each year, so it is relatively common. The vaccine doesn't have a lot of chemicals or preservatives. We are doing it when we do Hib, because it does have a slightly higher side-effect profile, so we wanted to pair it with a vaccine that has a lower profile in the hopes that it is easier on Annabelle. She will be getting Pc at 3 mos, 5 mos, 7 mos, and 15 mos.

DTaP vaccinates against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. Ideally, we would have liked to separate these and only vaccinate against pertussis, but unfortunately there is no pertussis-only vaccine. Pertussis is the reason we are doing this vaccine. It is relatively common, and is very dangerous for babies. 75% of babies that get pertussis are hospitalized because they can't breathe or eat on their own. Unfortunately, there are quite a few chemicals and preservatives in this vaccine. There are three brands to choose from, and we are going to use the one (Daptacel) that has fewer chemicals, and is not processed with bovine (cow) serum. Annabelle will be getting this vaccine at 2 mos, 4 mos, 6 mos, and 18 mos, and maybe a booster at 5 years.

HepB is a sexually transmitted disease, transmitted through infected needles, and is very, very rarely transmitted through blood transfusion. Annabelle is clearly not sexually active, and the risk of transmitting it otherwise is so rare that we are choosing to skip HepB. She will probably get it when she is older.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis (diarrhea and vomiting) in kids under age 5. Even with the vaccine, 95% of children will get rotavirus by the time they are 5 years old. Additionally, the virus can be transmitted through children from the vaccine itself up to 15 days after being vaccinated. Rotavirus isn't very dangerous. The most serious issue is dehydration, which is treated by IV fluids. Because the virus is so common, isn't that serious, and Annabelle is not in daycare (where it is most commonly transmitted), we are choosing to skip this one.

Polio has been completely eradicated in the US since 1979. There have been a few cases since then, but they were found to have been brought in by someone from another country, so they aren't counted as "naturally occurring polio," and it is still considered extinguished in our country. Because of this, the vaccine's chemical/preservative content, and because we aren't planning on doing any international travel, we're skipping this vaccine.

MMR is the vaccine that is most often "linked" to autism by parents. It vaccinates against measles, mumps, and rubella. All three diseases have fewer than 50 cases per year nationwide, and it's rare that the diseases are serious. The vaccine is processed using cow, chicken, and human cells, and has quite a few chemicals and preservatives. It's list of rare but severe side effects is very long. Because of all of these things, we are not going to do the MMR vaccine.

Varicella, or Chickenpox is a relatively new vaccine, out since the mid-90s. Chickenpox isn't a serious disease (although complications can develop in adults or children with suppressed immune systems). The vaccine is only 70-90% effective, and has a few chemicals and preservatives. We all survived the chickenpox with nothing more but some discomfort, so we're not going to do this vaccine.

HepA protects against Hepatitis A, which is transmitted through stools and affects the liver. It is rarely a serious disease, but can cause liver cancer in a very small percentage of people. The vaccine has a higher side-effect profile, as well as higher percentage of chemicals/preservatives. Since it is not very common or dangerous, we are skipping this one.

Flu shots are not given to babies under 6 months of age. There are two different vaccines, a live vaccine (nasal spray) and an injection that is not live. There is a much higher chance of actually having flu-like side effects with this vaccine, and the vaccine is not all that effective. Jason and I aren't getting the flu vaccine, and neither will Annabelle when she is old enough to.

Meningococcol and HPV are both vaccines that she can get when she is older if she/we decide to.


So, what about the doctor?
Well, I originally chose our pediatrician after a few people recommended him, and I interviewed 5 different doctors. He seemed the most flexible when it came to vaccine schedules and holistic medicine. Unfortunately after our 2 month visit, he has proven himself to be a little less flexible than I originally thought. He was very condescending and almost rude to us when we explained why we would/wouldn't be doing certain vaccines. I also had a very hard time when I told him we wanted a certain brand of DTaP, and he refused to write a prescription for us to pick it up at the pharmacy and bring to him. We are going to be switching to my "second choice," a really nice family medicine doctor at Christie Clinic. There are NO doctors that I know of who in the area who will just let parents make vaccine decisions without attempting to educate them and challenge them a little bit to make sure they aren't just making the decision on a whim. I can appreciate that--it's their job. But, we are firm in our decisions, and are quite prepared and armed with information should we have to defend our choice. We are planning on getting a religious exemption when it comes time for school (I realize our decision isn't entirely based on our religion, but it's the only kind of exemption out there that I know of!)

Phew! Long post, I know. But, it's super important to me to be educated about decisions that I make for myself and now my daughter's health-care. I've talked to a LOT of people in the last few weeks about vaccines, and it was helpful to get other people's opinions and experiences. Hopefully all of this information helps educate some of you for your own decision making.