MMR Vaccine

Thimerosol was taken out of vaccines some years ago.

B.,

there is a plethora of information on vaccines at the www.CDC.gov website. Also the american academy of pediatrics.

also, Dr. Sears website (www.askdrsears.com) has a modified schedule of vaccines.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal_faqs...

the above link is specifically about thimerosal...

here is a snippet from the above article:
What progress has been made in removing thimerosal from vaccines for infants?
Substantial progress has been made in the effort to reduce thimerosal exposure from vaccines. Today, with the exception of some flu vaccines, none of the vaccines used in the U.S. to protect preschool aged children against 12 infectious diseases contain thimerosal as a preservative. The vaccines with trace amounts of thimerosal licensed to date contain less than 0.5 micrograms of mercury per dose, that is, a given dose of vaccine contains less than 1 part per million. Two hepatitis B vaccines, four Hib vaccines, and two DTaP vaccines are thimerosal-free.

Prior to the recent initiative to reduce or eliminate thimerosal from childhood vaccines, the maximum cumulative exposure to mercury via routine childhood vaccinations during the first six months of life was 187.5 micrograms. With the newly formulated vaccines, the maximum cumulative exposure during the first six months of life will now be less than three micrograms of mercury; this represents a greater than 98% reduction in the amount of mercury a child would receive from vaccines in the first six months of life. [Influenza (flu) vaccine is not given until six months or older.]

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I am a vaccinating mom, I do not have any delusions that I can keep my children safe from everything, but I also know that if my child were to contract one of these terrible diseases, it could mean losing them forever and I would never forgive myself. I am even taking my older kids (10 and 12) to have their blood tested for immunity and getting whatever shots they are in need of.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you educate yourself with CREDIBLE information. from multiple sources. if two or more credible sources are conflicting on a subject, then maybe hold off until you can find more info. but definitely do real research on your own and make this very important decision with as much education as you can. many moms are now saying they will not vaccinate and i just can't wrap my mind around that, because of all the credible research i have done, it just doesn't make any sense. If you take a walk thru what some of these diseases look like, and how some can be fatal, i am willing to risk the non-existent risk that my child might be exposed to some thimerosol and could possibly, in-an-extremely-far-fetched-possibility be diagnosed with autism. but, that's just me :)

good luck - you will get a lot of responses from this... hot button subject :)

Jennifer R could not have written a better response regarding the vaccinations. I agree completely with her sentiments.

Ask your dr. if thimersol is in their vaccines. I think all drug makers had to remove it a couple years ago, but ask your dr. to be sure. My ped said their vaccines hadn't had thimersol for the past 2 yrs. Do your own research & make your own informed decision. Thimersol was my main concern. Since the vaccine didn't have it, I gave my son the MMRV (Varicella for chicken pox) all in one. I know moms who are spacing them out b/c they're worried about autism or b/c if their child has a side effect they want to know from which vaccine it was. For my 2nd child (I'm preggo) I may space them out simply for the side effect reason (I personally don't think the vaccines cause autism). I do think if you space them out you are delaying their immunity, so you have to weigh risks/benefits of both. Good luck w/ your decision.

Hi there-

I completely understand your concern. The MMR vaccine is what scares me too. While they haven't linked autism to this vaccine, I don't want to take any chances. Without sounding paranoid, I don't believe that we will ever know what causes autism as it would hit the medical and pharmaceutical companies too hard if we did.

There is a lot of documentation out there about vaccinations and how extreme you can get with it. I personally try not to get wrapped up in it but try to proceed with caution. I too have two children, my son is almost 5 and my daughter is 14 months. Unfortunately, we didn't space things out with my son (thankful that he is fine) but we are doing so with my daughter. Since I am a SAHM, I have spaced all of her vaccines out but I'm holding off on the MMR until she is 3. I feel that as long as she is not in a daycare setting and exposed to a lot of things, that this is a safe thing to do. This will allow her time to start developing and give us a good baseline of her personality and development before giving her (what I feel) to be a controversial vaccine.

In the end, you *need* to do some research and make the best decision for you and your family. Reaching out to this Mom's group is good but not enough. Research shows that boys are more often affected by Autism...almost 3 to 1. Additionally, schools won't accept your child in their environment if the kids aren't vaccinated. So, if you work and need to use a daycare facility, you will be forced into vaccinating fully. You can buy time if there is a medical reason or if you claim religious beliefs but fighting the system is hard to do.

Here is a great article that I recently read (the whole website is good) but it gives an alternative approach to vaccinating and gives you some resources into finding Pediatrician's that accept this method. Here it is: http://generationrescue.org/vaccines.html

Hope this helps. Good luck in making this very difficult decision.

Kind regards,
N.

Thimerosol/mercury was removed from the vaccine ingredients itself but the process of making it still contains Thimerosol/Mercury to there are still trace amounts...and no one knows what the "safe" amount is. But you need to do more research on your own to make this decision. Personally for us our kids will not get it until starting school, and it will be broken down into three shots, with a month in between each one. Better more quick pokes then chancing neurological problems I say. I don't personally believe vaccines cause autism....but i do think the way/rate/amount we give vaccines are causing issues.

B.,

I won't go on and on, though I am capable. I have done alot of research into this myself and with my first I held off on the MMR until he was 2.5 years old. My thinking, besides research, was that his little brain was growing the fastest in the these first two years of life than they ever will so why interfere. He's fine, and now I space out more with my second and choose not to have some of the vaccines at this time due to several reasons. I am not saying not to vaccinate, do become as educated as possible, but also go with your gut.
J.