Vaccinations - Nashua,NH

I talked to my pedi about this today since my son has a bunch of shots coming up at his 1yr appt. He said that Hep A isn't required in schools because it's not really a risk after 2yrs - this is MA but I would guess NH is the same. Hep B is required in MA (probably in NH) so you would have to fill out some sort of conscientious objector form possibly - your pedi should be able to help.

I'm not giving my kids Hep A because (according to my pedi) the only way you typically see it in the US is in a daycare situation where they are changing diaper after diaper and one kid has it. My kids aren't in daycare, so it seemed like a non-issue. I gave my kids the chickenpox vaccine because as a kid one of my sisters nearly went blind after getting chickenpox - but I know this is a very rare occurrence. Hep B I gave because my pedi was very pro it (we spent an hour discussing the issue). I agree with you though that I don't really see the necessity...

I think MMR, DTap and Polio are the most important shots to get. I lived in the UK for a while, and I remember there was a wave of students who hadn't gotten the MMR shot (because of the later discounted-by-most autism-MMR study that it sounds like you are familiar with). A bunch of them missed a lot of school because they got mumps, a couple that I knew of had pretty severe cases.

You don't mention the rotavirus, but I've been told it's a non-issue if you're kids aren't in daycare or if you're breastfeeding. Apparently breastmilk kind of counteracts the vaccine too?

My dad had to work overseas when I was a kid and for us to come along his work required that we get just about every vaccine on the planet (rabies, lyme's disease malaria, yellow fever, you name it and I've been vaccinated for it). There were ten of us and no problems, so that probably influences my vaccine stance...

Good luck figuring out what to do...

Hi A.,

Boy do I know what you're going through. I started researching vaccinations when I was pregnant with my first child who is now 5 1/2. I didn't feel comfortable with them at all, but I sort of felt pressure from the nurses when he was born to give him the Hepatitis vaccine. Then I kept him on schedule until he was 18 months. I did more research when I was pregnant with my second who will be 3 next week. By this time I was resolved that my children weren't getting vaccines. I do all of the research, but my husband agrees with me and is very supportive. I realize that there may be risks in not getting them, but there are risks with them too. They are not as safe as the proverbial "they" would like us all to think. One thing that helped me make the decision was a DVD and workbook that I ordered from Dr. Sherry Tenpenny. I found her name online. She is a medical doctor! She does a seminar about vaccines that is realistic and informative and the statistics that she provides are staggering. I honestly don't know about the laws and school yet. We're homeschooling our son for grade K since we don't have public K in our town. But he'll go to first grade. I know of other people who don't vaccinate either and their kid are in school, so there must me some waivers or exemption forms to fill out. I don't see that it can be legal to force anyone to take something into their bodies that they don't want to take. Besides if all the other kids are immunized wouldn't my child be the one at risk to get something? I know how difficult a decision this is, it's agony. Just a side note - my daughter has never had any vaccines and my son had them until 18 months (which I regret), but both of them are very healthy. They get colds sometimes and have had Bronchitis once or twice but that's it. They've never had antibiotics or anything. I wish you all the best.

Jen

My best friend in California was going through hell because her son was showing signs of autism. This was around the same time my son was born so she sent me this article she found. We were "in between" like you, and couldn't find straight answers till we read this article. We decided to follow this advice. Do your research and follow your heart (and gut). Good luck.

http://sacramentoparent.com/In_This_Issue/07%2011/Is%20th...

Hi there- I've also done *a lot* of research on the topic, deciding which vaccines seemed necessary, and which could wait- and which we probably didn't need at all. You can ask your doctor's office staff to read the vaccine box inserts (take them home with you)- there is actually a lot of great info there in the small print! Some important questions to ask are: is your child in day care? exposed to smoke? breastfed? The answers to these can impact how susceptible they can be to things like HIB, PCV and rotavirus. Other important questions are: was child born underweight, or failure to thrive? allergies? family history of autoimmune disease or neurological disease? These can all raise (the albeit small) risks of an adverse reaction to a vaccine. Also, not a bad idea to wait until your child has gotten over a cold or flu before receiving any particular vaccination.

The reason many of these diseases are "non-issues" is because so many people, for generations back have HAD these vaccines!! We as a country, as a world, have modern medicine to thank for our healthy children and elderly. If everyone started denying the vaccines, then we would backslide into epidemics. Don't get me wrong, I don't blindly accept everything that the dr. offers me, but I certainly look out for everyone my baby will be around in her life, and for future generations.

MY understanding is that studies have shown over and over that vaccinations are safe and do not cause autism. Kids that do not get vaccinated still have the autism with loss of milestones at 18 months old. The people who say that their child got autism from the 18 month vaccines see the same loss of abilities that the parents who did not vaccinate their autistic children see. The amount that kids get now is actually less than they used to because the quality of the vaccines is better.

I honestly worry more about my child getting one of the diseases than the side effects. There have been outbreaks of diseases due to lack of vaccinatons over the last couple years and there have been children that have died. I would never forgive myself if my child died from one of these preventable diseases. If you are concerned you can spread out the vaccination schedule. I know many people that choose to do that.

I believe that the laws vary in NH by school district.