Parents Opting Out of Vaccines

There is an upsurge of parents opting out of vaccinating their children.Their reasoning is their unfounded fear that vaccines cause autism. Their fear is that a preservative called Thermasil causes Autism. Despite all studies to the contrary, this preservative was still removed from vaccines. So although the fear was unfounded, the preservative is no longer used anyway, so there is no reason to continue with the irresponsible action of not vaccinating our children. Another reason parents started "suspecting" vaccines as a cause of Autism, is because the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine is given at 12-15 months of age. Unfortunately this is coincidentally the same time Autism would normally start to show in a child.

"Doctors say this shows that if too many people choose not to vaccinate, we could see the return of some very serious diseases such as the measles and hepatitis. Parents who opt out argue that they are not interested in the general public health; they are concerned with their own child's health." Is this the state of our society today? I'll only worry about my own? To me that's the same as saying "so what if millions of people die again from diseases once eradicated" Well that not only leads to their very own also getting sick, but puts communities at great risk.

As United States Citizens, we have countless freedoms and benefits. One of these benefits is our medical care, and the eradication of diseases that used to kill millions due to diligent vaccination campaigns. These diseases still kill every year in countries not as fortunate as ours. Children are still crippled by Polio, and permanently disabled, or meet early deaths due to the fact they could not be vaccinated against these diseases.

The diseases our children are protected against by vaccines are as follows:

Hepatitis B - Causes a long illness. Can lead to liver disease or cancer.
Rotavirus - Causes watery diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting.
Diphtheria - Causes a thick coating in the nose, throat and airway. Can lead to breathing problems, heart failure, paralysis or even death. Now only one case a year is reported due to the success of the vaccine.
Tetanus (lockjaw) - Causes serious, painful spasms of all muscles. Can cause the jaw to "lock" so that the patient cannot open the mouth or swallow. Some patients with tetanus die.
Pertussis (whooping cough) - Causes coughing and choking for several weeks. Can lead to pneumonia, seizures, brain damage or even death.
Haemophilus influenzae Type b - Causes meningitis, pneumonia and other infections. (Meningitis is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.) Can lead to brain damage or even death. Haemophilus influenzae Type b is not the illness commonly known as the flu.
Pneumococcus - Causes pneumonia, meningitis, bloodstream infections and some ear infections. Can lead to brain damage or even death.
Polio - Causes fever, sore throat, nausea, headache, diarrhea, stomachache, and stiffness in the neck, back and legs. Can lead to breathing problems, paralysis or even death. Up until the 1950's,thousands of children around the world were permanently disabled by polio. By early 1960s, an effective vaccine was developed that nearly eradicated polio as a public health problem in industrialized countries.
Influenza- Causes fever (usually high), muscle aches, extreme tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and, less commonly, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The flu can be serious in young children. Can lead to pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus and ear infections, or even death. From 1918 to 1919, a flu pandemic hit the U.S. on three different occasions. By the time that panedemic was over, the lives of 20 million people were lost.
Measles - Causes rash, cough and fever. Can lead to diarrhea, ear infection, pneumonia, brain damage or even death. less than 150 cases have been reported in the us since 1997, again due to the vaccination campaign. Because worldwide, the deaths are still over 20,000 a year, where the vaccine is either not available, or people choose against it.
Mumps - Causes fever, headache and swollen glands around the jaw. Can lead to hearing loss; painful, swollen testicles; or meningitis. Since 1967, reported mumps cases had declined to fewer than 1,000 per year in the U.S. In recent years, however, mumps cases have increased, perhaps due to the parents opting out of this vaccine.
Rubella (German Measles) - Causes rash, mild fever, swollen glands and arthritis. Rubella can cause pregnant women to lose their babies or have babies with birth defects, such as deafness, blindness, heart disease and brain damage.
Varicella (chicken pox) - Causes fever, itchy blisters and sometimes more serious illness. Skin and lung infections may also occur.
Hepatitis A - Causes fever, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). Can lead to serious liver disease.
Meningococcal disease - Causes high fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting. Can lead to deafness, brain problems and even death.
Smallpox- is a serious, contagious, and sometimes fatal infectious disease caused by the variola virus. There is no specific treatment for smallpox disease, and the only prevention is vaccination. In the past Small pox millions of deaths until its eradication due to vaccinations in 1979. In the 18th century, Smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans. During the 20th century, it is estimated that Small Pox was responsible for over 300 million deaths in the US. Finally due to our intense vaccination campaign, small pox was completely eradicated by 1979.

Autism affects nearly 1 out of 150 children, a number that is frighteningly high. Scientists and doctors alike believe the rise in numbers is due to the awareness today, so diagnosis is more common place. These unfortunate children that truly suffer Autism will suffer their whole lives. Autism needs to be taken very seriously, and research need to continue, but scientists are making great strides. The cause of Autism is fleeting, however, scientists have found it is a biological disorder, with abnormalities in certain structures and functions in the brain. Scientists also believe the possibility of twelve different genes factoring in on the problem of Autism. One in particular, is chromosome 16, when there are abnormalities in that particular chromosome, the child's risk of Autism is raised one hundred times!

Unfortunately misdiagnosis does happen. There are many more, but these are seven conditions that mock Autism: Mild to high lead levels, Hearing and vision problems, Hyper or hypothyroidism, Learning disabilities, Allergies, Hypoglycemia, and the biggest culprit, celiac disease.

One example of this is, a five year old Canadian boy who had been diagnosed with autism by a clinic specializing in Autistic disorders. After further investigating, it was found that he indeed had Celiac Disease. Once the boy followed the recommended diet for Celiac sufferers, which is a gluten free diet, he was cured. You cannot be cured of Autism, so this was an obvious case of misdiagnosis. This is just one of many, many cases of Autism being mistaken for Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease can cause poor balance, tremors, migraines, chronic fatigue, schizophrenia, epilepsy, apathy, depression, insomnia, behavioral disorders, inability to concentrate and anxiety. Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease, and anyone having this disease cannot tolerate eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. It causes damage to the small intestine, and in turn, malabsorption of necessary nutrients, which in turn robs not only their bodies, but their minds

Unfortunately it isn't until a parent either loses a child, or almost loses a child due to the very disease that a vaccine would have prevented, do they understand the importance of these vaccines. Because of the fact that vaccines have worked so well, parents in this age, have not seen the devastating effects and deaths, and the crippling of children that these diseases cause. This is probably part of the reason parents have become to take vaccines so lightly. I wonder how many children have to fall ill, become disabled or the worst, die, before this trend stops. Expecting parents should be given easily read, no holds barred information on these diseases and their effects, including true case pictures at first appointment with their OB/GYN. Perhaps nine months, and an arsenal of information will encourage more parents to make the intelligent, responsible decision to vaccinate.

I know as a young mother of 19, I was terrified when it was time to start vaccinating my first child. I hadn't even heard of any link to Autism, or any of the sort, just the thought of how the vaccines worked scared me enough. Even at that young age, and even though true fear existed, I knew I had to outweigh the good to the bad, and research. My conclusion was undoubtedly, my child must be vaccinated. One child, out of three had a reaction to one of the last doses of vaccines, she was very ill, and had a fever over 104. After conferring with the doctor, we both came to the decision to skip the last dose. This was medically necessary, as the next reaction could have been much worse. My other two children never had any reaction at all to the vaccines. So not only do I understand the medical opt out, I've been there myself. She was lucky enough to have had all but one last vaccine though, so she is protected.

Vaccines are state mandated for school age children, but because of an easily accessed loophole, more and more children go to school without being vaccinated. All the parents have to say is it's against their religious beliefs, or medical reasons. Both of which are perfectly acceptable, except when they are abused. It may seem intrusive, but honestly this intrusion wouldn't be necessary if parents stopped being dishonest, but parents should have to have documentation from their church, including how long they've been a member, to have the religious beliefs opt out accepted. As for a medical opt out parents should have to provide medical history, documentation, and a brief from the doctor before their opt out is accepted. Both should be followed with no exceptions.

I hope that through information, parents start to understand the gravity of this situation. As parents, we are responsible for our children and their health. A baby certainly cannot make any choices of their own, that is what we are here for. I am sure, that if you asked that child once he/she was in their twenties, "would you like to risk getting any of these diseases?" and show them a list of what they could have contracted without the vaccine, undoubtedly they would say no. For now we have to be their voices, and do the responsible thing, and vaccinate.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/diphtheria/DS00495.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15568260

http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2010.pdf

http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/298_9087.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/04/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main531638.shtml