MMR Vaccine Poll

I thought this article was interesting. I did not give my first son the MMR until he was 3 1/2. Based on this article, I will probably just wait til 4 years old for my 2nd son. I also use slower schedule for all the vaccines I give my kids, basically no more than 1 or 2 at a time and no less than a few months apart.

http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/

I was going to wait till 2 for my son, but he was entering school at 18 months and NYC required it, so i did it then. It was the ONLY shot i gave that day. He was on a delayed schedule for vaccines, I too planned on splitting it up but could not get them anywhere.

From my understanding, if you are going to give the MMR and chickenpox separately they have to be at least a month apart.

Dr Sears wrote a vaccine book and I found it very good in helping decide what to do. Very impartial.
You can see some of his recommendations on his website

i go with whatever the schedule is

As a new grandmother with friends affected by autism and their active and vocal involvement against immunizations, we did a lot of research and reading.

It's such a gamble, isn't it? What is responsible for autism in some kids and not in others. Is it a genetic component that a small percentage have? Most doctors seem to be all on board at taking vaccinations without questions, but they look at evidence and it doesn't seem that anyone is paying for the studies on kids that got autism after getting the MMR shot. If you read the package information, it will say who shouldn't get the shot. No doctor I know of advised their patient's mothers about that. Why is that? No one gains money from an expensive study so the government would have to do it and the government usually fiercely protects corporations and "herd immunity."

I'd find a pediatrition that knows that when there's smoke there's fire and help guide you to what vaccines are needed because the disease is here. Like pertusis, ec. Which ones to start later (after the blood brain barrior has a chance to form). Which ones you can split up and space out.

Yes, Merck has apparently stopped producing the MMR separately. The government may have backed or pushed them to do that. I love our country but our politicians are questionable.

To keep it real, I wouldn't want to compare troublesome itching and little scars to autism. They have better meds now anyway for itching now. It is known that some vaccinations don't even work on a percentage of people. The immunity from getting the disease is better and passed down a bit; but again, which disease should you gamble that on? I am a fifties child who had chicken pox, the measles, and the mumps. No big deal for me. Course, mother's back then didn't usually have to work outside the home so it wasn't an issue for them to be at home with you.

My neice has two kids. She has spent a fortune on getting them back to talking and trying to get them up to speed with other children after taking the MMR. Insurance doesn't cover any of it. She had to turn to a holistic doctor and has made some headway -- but she could afford it. I don't know many who could.

Because of Merck's decision, well, perhaps someone should start a real petition to pressure them and the politicians to make it available. Of course, they will respond that there are no studies to back that but that last lawsuit or two I think proved that some people have a genetic background for it when combined with a vaccine. What is the percentage? We don't know because our government won't do the study. Could be 15% or more? With autism rates going up so fast, we should do something.

my kids have it at 15 months with no problems

I personally would choose to vaccinate, though I would delay as long as possible. The guy who started the whole vaccine scare on questionable evidence has been discredited, with his original study being retracted by The Lancet in February of this year, though the scare sure does go on. (http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2010/02/brit...)

My grandson had all his vaccs on schedule with absolutely no problems, though it was a concern for all of us. My own daughter was vaccinated long before autism was on anyone's radar. She and all her friends were fine. A friend of mine whose son is severely autistic had received only one no-mercury vaccine before his symptoms showed up. That mother knows two moms who refused to get their children vaccinated and who developed autism anyway, with the problem becoming evident at about the time their children would have been vaccinated.

I'm in my 60's and had some of the childhood diseases kids are now being vaccinated for. One of those illnesses was severe and had me down for weeks, and one of my sister's, even longer. Another childhood illness I don't recall had another sister on the verge of hospitalization with fever. Several of my adult friends have significant facial scarring from childhood rashes, and one is partially deaf. And of course, significant numbers of folks in my age group have some degree of disability or aftereffects of polio – that vaccine became available when I was in grade school.

And I've seen tragic photos of children who become ill with diseases for which they could have been vaccinated. Those diseases are on the rise again because so many parents are choosing to keep their children unvaccinated.

All risks taken into account, I think I would do the shots if I had to make that choice now.

My son had his per the standard vaccine schedule. We now have an appointment for his 11 yr checkup and he needs a DTaP booster in order to be able to start Junior High (6th grade) in the fall. Without that shot (and the paperwork filed with the school nurse) he will be pulled out of class and not allowed to attend school. The chicken pox vaccine came out when he was a baby and I was so glad he'd never have to itch and scratch like I had to when I had it (at 7 yrs old - I still have 1 or 2 scars from it).

I would not give any at all. So many kids "change" within days of vaccines and then you can never get your child back. There are so many studies that show that the majority of kids who are vaccinated for any kind of disease still get the disease when they come in contact with it. And it's harder for them to fight it off because their immune systems have been compromised. There are always outbreaks of measles still in the U.S. and no one who is perfectly healthy dies from them. It's the people who live in 3rd world countries who die from the diseases becasue they have contaminated water and they are malnourished.

Mine got it without chicken pox at 15months with no problems.

I would not do either personally but definitely not chicken pox! They've said that they don't know how long the cp immunity lasts, and it's much more dangerous to get it as an adult. See what the Dr. sears vaccine book recommends if you choose to do these shots. In my stte at least there are waivers that allow your child to attend school with little or no vaccination history, it's not very well advertised of course so many people mistakenly believe your child can't go to school without all their shots when it's simply not true. be sure to look up your state's rule on exemptions!

We got it closer to 20 months, before entering a new daycare. We got MMR and Chickenpox seperately in two seperate appts.
MMR went over fine. With the chickenpox vax she got a chickenpox-like rash a week or so later, that our doctor said wasn't related... but it was a pretty big coincidence...
We space out all the vaccines and get only one shot at a time (we will accept combos like MMR though).
Our pediatrician has no problems with not adhering to the CDC schedule.

My first son got all his shorts on time. And had no problems. Our second one is 3 1/2 and still has not gotten his. I am thinking 4.

We are going to wait and give him the MMR when he goes to kindergarten.

My 6 yr old autistic son had his MMR at 15 months, just days before a huge regression. That could have very well been coincidental, but who really knows. I was planning on having my 21 month old get hers separated at 24 months, as she is on a delayed schedule, but that isn't possible now becuase they don't make it that way anymore. Her ped is Ok with her getting it at age 4.

Both of my sons had the MMR and chicken pox at 12 months which is when our pedi recommended them(he did the same for his 3 children, also). No problems.

My son was on a regular vaccination schedule: split MMR - first at 22 months, second shot at 4 years old. Varicella (chicken pox) at 12 months.