Immunizations - Shakopee, MN

E.

Wow you have had all aspects to look at. I am on the same page and work with someone who also agrees shots are not that great and she does not do any of them. When going to school say it is something you do not believe in and they have to be ok with that. I started out with shots but we will not do anymore. They have even come out with a new one for babies so they won't get as many colds. Sounds kind of fishy to me. I am staying away from all of them. Good luck!

E.:

I am a mother of 3 small children as well as an OT with the autism population. Until someone tells me where Autism comes from, I can not rule out the possibility that vaccinations have some connection. I have chosen to space out all my vaccinations with support from the book "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations" It is written by a physician who supports vaccinations but believes the frequency of the shots is too much for a child's developing nervous system. In the book, she provides a schedule of when to give the shots. Based on this information, in addition to my wonderful pediatrician's input, I am able to bring my kids in once a month and sometimes less frequently in order to space out my kids shots. My Dr. will write the upcoming shots in my kids' charts and then I just make a nurses visit. My 5 year old is up to date on all her shots for kindergarden and has had them spaced out since she was 4 months. Takes time but it's worth it. My Physician is at Fairview Children's Clinic in Minneapolis. Dr. Goel & Dr. Griffin have both been supportive and wonderful. I hope this helps!! Good Luck!!!

http://www.amazon.com/What-Doctor-About-Childrens-Vaccina...

hi E.,
props to you for questioning vaccines in the first place and wanting to educate yourself! where to start? people that are so strongly pro-vaccine are most likely not well informed. if they had taken the time to understand where they come from, how they're made, what long term problems they cause, the fact that most of the diseases stopped on their own before the vaccine was made, the fact that there are many homeopathic remeidies for all the diseases that are vaccinated for...so many things! bottom line is that it's your choice. i have a great pediatrician that does suggest them, but respects you and doesn't try to force anything on you. remember, you are hiring the dr., they shouldn't be rude to you! i'll pass that name on to you if you want:) i went to a few classes hosted by an chiropractor and a homeopath. info can be found at www.y-chiropractic.com. it was very helpful. i've got some websites to pass on to you...
www.909shot.com
www.whale.to/v/phillips.html
www.rtl.org/html/pdf/vaccines.pdf
a good book is...A Parents Guide to Childhood Shots

you can wait on the shots until you feel more comfortable. take your time, educate yourself and you will find the right answer for you and your family. good luck with everything!

I don't know A LOT about this when it comes to science, but I have been a preschool teacher for the last 18 years and as the reports suggest there has been a tremendous jump in the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Two things may have something to do with this: 1. There was a change in the diagnosis criteria. 2. There are more vaccinations being given then ever before. And, yes the vaccination have been a miracle life saver for many years. The concern is the amount and the combinations in which they are being administered has not been tested. There are children who are developing perfectly normally who take an abrupt turn following a vaccination series.

My children are now grown, but if I had little ones now, I would choose very carefully. When my children were little they were received Polio, MMR, Perusus, TB and HIB series. Now there are many many more given all together. Look on the website Austism Speaks - if you are looking for some articles to support your right to choose which vaccinations your children receive.

And remember it does not seem to be the "vaccination" but the preservative that is put in it that may be causing troubles. I applaud you for doing the research, given all the research piling up, I am sure you will be able to find a pediatrician who is open to options.

E.,
Immunize your children! Protect them. I used to be an insurance agent one of my insured client's had a child that died from a common childhood illness because she opposed immunization.
I just took a psyc class in prep for nursing school. My prof (who is a clinical psycologist) spoke on this very subject, he said that there is absolutely no link proven between childhood immunizations and autism.
Actually our text book said that boys are more likely to be diagnosed. Diagnosis criteria has changed over the last 20 or so years.
Protect your little girls. Immunize them! They won't be able to be exposed to any other children for fear of exposure to a disease that the other child might be a carrier of an illness, but who won't get sick because that child has been immunized. The risk just isn't worth it.
H. - mother of 5 immunized sons.

There is NO scientific evidence linking immunizations as the cause of Autism or Autism-related disorders. The age that these disorders are diagnosed is the same age that children are being vaccinated. This does not prove "cause and effect". PLEASE research the effects of these diseases on children. I knew a mother who did not vaccinate her children, they were exposed to whooping cough, and THEN she was saying "oh my god, they could be very sick for a MONTH" - she hadn't even bothered to learn about these diseases. They KILL people, that's why we vaccinate. The unfounded fear of Autism or similar non-proven side effects could lead to outbreaks of diseases we think don't exist anymore, but they DO. Imagine dealing with an an outbreak of Smallpox in your child's school. Please do! The only way your child is safe from these diseases if not vaccinated is if EVERYONE else vaccinates their children.

Please also read about the possible "overdiagnosis" of Autism and Asberger's syndrome, the second of which Doctors and reasearchers don't agree as to whether it is a real disorder. Check out the websites that are taking advantage of this by selling you loads of stuff to work with, improve, or cure your child of these symptoms. Let's get real here, please.

We delayed vaccinations due to autism in our family. My nephew is autistic & I have volunteered with kids w/ autism. In my nephew's case, they do not think it was caused by vaccinations. Some of the kids I worked with the parents did feel it was caused by the preservitive in the vaccinations (thymeresol i.e. mercury).

My daughter only received one vaccination at a time. In her first two years, she received one vaccination every 3 mos. We delayed the MMR vaccination until she was 4 & delayed the chicken pox until she started kindergarten.

I do believe kids should be vaccinated. I think there are too many given at one time & some like Hepitis B are not necessary until they are older.

Our doctor is very understanding of our vaccination concerns & so is the clinic, which is in Edina. I can pass along the name if you are interested.

Best wishes!!

Do not do this. Immunize your children. This is riduculous. More data supports the decision to do this than not (you can always find data to support any ridiculous claim one wants to make, so be careful). No longer is there mercury in infant immunizations. The risks associated with not getting immunizations (ie: getting sick or spreading disease to others) are much greater than the risk of having an adverse event.

I'm struggling with this same issue. I just got The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears and am finding it really informative. He goes through each vaccine, gives information about the disease it protects against, risks of the vaccine, and then the reasons for and against getting it. It's very science based and doesn't try to persuade you one way or the other. Good luck with your decision!

I appreciate your concerns because I have had the same. With my first I was concerned because we had family allergies to vaccines which made it even more scary. I did delayed vaccines for my eldest and I chose my pediatrician because she believes in parents making educated decisions about their child's vaccines instead of guilt tripping them for choosing not to. When I have had other pediatricians in the same office I have gotten a lecture. Sounds like your pediatrician is in the latter category. I would encourage you to stick to your guns and make it clear to your pediatrician that it is your responsibility to take the risk either way not hers/his. Also, we decided to do limited vaccines, because of the research I did the connection to autism is linked to Thermosal which was a mercury based preservative. This is no longer used (or significantly reduced. Also, active cultures are not used as often, this also reduces risk. I looked at each vaccine, evaluated the risk of getting the illness with the risk of the vaccine. Some I will not give my kids like Hep B and some I think are wise like Hemophilus influenzae. Ultimately, it is YOUR job to evaluate your risk and benefits. Their is so much hype about this and it is hard to know what is true anymore. For me, it was very beneficial to have a pediatrician who was willing to give me the information I needed that was not emotionally based and I knew that she would support my decision no matter what. Good Luck

E.,
I have heard a lot lately about spacing out the shots (as someone else has mentioned). Instead of getting 3 vaccines at once, maybe try one at a time. As for the school thing... I wanted to point out that someone was wrong in stating the school has to accept it if you don't immunize your children. If your children go to a public or private school there are certain immunizations that they REQUIRE before you're allowed to go. I had to miss a week of high school b/c I was not allowed to go until I was immunized for something that apparently was missed ( I grew up in Europe). Also, if your child went to a public school without immunizations, they'd probably end up the one getting sick. Remember these germs and viruses are all around us but we don't get sick b/c we've been immunized. If your child is around it, they may get sick. Just look at the chicken pox outbreak in all of those FLDS kids in Texas. They weren't immunized and just coming out of their community they came across it and all got sick. My daughter is 4 and has all her shots, which I didn't space out, but I say do what is best for your child but know the risks of not getting them vaccinated as well. I'm a nurse and I've seen really sad cases :(

Two resources to check out are www.cogforlife.org and www.onemoresoul.org.

You'll probably be surprised to find these are Catholic sites, while the Church overall supports and encourages vaccinations, it isn't supportive of the conditions in which they are currently being administered in the U.S.

You'll find as you read them that this is a big deal with Catholics for many reasons, including preserving parental rights (which the Church teaches is an inherent God-given right) in regard to whether a parent can choose whether to vaccinate vs. a school district demanding that they vaccinate.

The second reason you may or may not be aware of is that Catholics do not support abortion (it goes against Church teaching), therefore, the Church recommends for Catholics who wish to remain in good standing to purposefully look for and attempt to use alternatives to the current vaccines for childhood diseases available in the US because they were formulated using fetal stem cell lines.

To remedy this issue the Church encourages parents to have their doctors special order vaccines from Europe that don't use these lines, or to file an exemption for religious reasons, and to lobby the pharmaceuticals to formulate non-stem cell versions of these vaccines. Unfortunately, there are some vaccines that do not have an alternative, but there are some companies that are working on finding an alternative.

One piece of information that may be helpful to you is that both sites provide information where to find doctors and clinics nationwide that support parental rights and therefore would be willing to help a parent sign a valid waiver form to be given to their school district. The "COG" site in particular lists which states have exemption laws, and what you need to do specifically to file one. Just go to the left column and click on "Vaccine Resources" to get started. On the onemoresoul.org site, click on "NFP Directory" to get to the list of clinics/docs nationwide.

The same clinics and doctors listed will also special order vaccines and administer them on a schedule to your request, just as long as they don't use fetal stem lines. Many foreign countries like France for instance produce what some medical experts say are safer vaccines than what are available in the U.S. (No mercury, no allergens, extra chemicals etc.) Many of these doctors and clinics would be willing to help you secure them. If you read the research on these sites regarding what's in these vaccines, you will also discover hard to find information and studies regarding chemicals linked to autism and other medical concerns such as severe allergies because many vaccines are egg based, for instance. So if you don't mind going to a Catholic doctor or a Catholic clinic these might be an option for you.

Hope this helps.

E.,

I advise you look into all the information out there before making you decision. That is what I have done and for now am not vaccinating my son who is 11 months. The rate of autism in the US is currently about 1/150 children with it being about 1/60 boys and that worries me. He hasn't had a vaccination yet. What many people don't know is that in the state of MN you just need to sign a waiver form that states that you chose not to vaccinate your child when they enroll into school. My son is currently in a daycare center and we have had no problem with him not being vaccinated. There are many resources out there, but you must be sure they aren't giving you biased information and that the research and comments are valid.

Once place to check is www.icpa4kids.org, also look into Jenny Mc Carthy's books and talks she's done recently on shows like Larry King. You can find them online.

K.

I think the autism/immunization is a bunch of bullcrap.

I think when people choose not to vaccinate they are putting everyone else in this country at risk.

If we all stopped vaccinating everyone don't you think all those horrible diseases would come back and we'd have epidemics again?

Why do I have to vaccinate my child make my child go through it if your not going to? I not only vaccinate my child to protect her but also I feel it's my obligation as a citizen in this country to do my part and help the spread of disease.

Most of the diseases we vaccinate against are deadly and are far worse than autism.

I have no problem with people spreading the shots out or delaying them but I have a big problem with people not vaccinating.