On Vaccines

Not to engage in a pointed and highly political debate, but I had to share this post by one of my favorite bloggers. She sums up my stance on the vaccine debate perfectly.

We choose to vaccinate Will because we believe in herd immunity. We believe in the good that vaccines do, and we believe in our responsibility to keep ourselves and others safe from serious illnesses.

That being said, the amount of toxins and preservatives in vaccines troubles us, so we do a delayed vaccine schedule. We choose to space out shots so that Will doesn't receive more than three vaccines at any one appointment. I know three sounds like a lot, but when you consider how often kids receive combo vaccines (MMR, DTaP, etc), we typically reach that three vaccine threshold in just one shot. At our last appointment, if we would have followed the recommended schedule, Will would have received three shots for a total of eight vaccines. That just seems like a lot for his little body to handle.

For us, the delayed schedule is the best of both worlds. It allows us to control the toxins being put into Will's body, as well as monitor any reactions or side effects more closely. Yet he's still fully vaccinated.

I know several families that don't elect to vaccinate. They are wonderful, caring people, who also care deeply for Will. This was not a decision they made lightly, and I respect their individual choice. But for us, herd immunity is a powerful thing. We're a community and we need to think like a community.