What is your opinion about vaccinating your children?

We no longer vaccinate our son. I did research after two rounds, stupid I know, but I'm a first time mother. Many people just take a blanket statement from a doctor that they are safe. I have experienced first hand from a dear friend that they aren't always safe, her son got seizures after his first round of shots, now he is mentally retarded and still has seizures years later. I feel it's very important no matter what you do, vaccinate or not, to research on your own. www.vaccinetruth.com has a list of exemptions (no they are not required for schooling) and has great anti-vax info. Also thinktwice.com has real stories of vaccine reactions. Mothering.com has discussions on it on their message board. You can also look into delaying the vaccines too. My son is now 19 months old and has a super immune system. Compared to other fully vaccinated children in our family, he gets over the same colds within days while his cousins struggle and usually have it turn into sinus or ear infections. My grandfather who went through the whole polio epidimic even agrees with the non vaccinating choice. My mother will even tell me the MMR vaccine is stupid since kids in her day went through that and survived much like we probably went through chicken pox. Natural life long immunity is best for my family, no vaccine is 100% effective and it may not last for your whole life. I suspect that a lot of adults will be sick from chicken pox in the future since they came out with that vaccine, I'd rather my son face it as a child versus as an adult since it's very scary and dangerous for adults. Whoah that was long but send me a message if you have any other questions!

Yeah, I am against vaccines. I just wrote a discussion myself on this topic. My twins were bore at 32 weeks and that time in the NICU, they were given the Hep B shot!! Oh my goodness, I do not even recall signing a form telling the nurses they could do this. I mean, my twins were only two weeks old and their brains are still developing... I will not give my twins the MMR at ALL!! I had given them the Hib (3x) and some other ones which are on their charts. My hubby and I went round and round about this vaccine issue. And, it is a issue. Today, my twins are 17 going on 18 months and are doing fine. Praise the Lord!! We will not be giving them anymore shots though. My baby's doctor said we do not have to and, we do have waivers that can be signed for school...many parents do not have their babies vaccinated and they are still able to attend scool. It is a fallacy if anyone thinks their children will not be able to attend. But, I will be homeschooling my twins in preschool.. Yeah, my twins love me to read to them and they play and run and walk and use sippy cups and hug each other...if they did not of this, then yes, I would be worried.

i believe wholeheartedly in vaccinations because they work. We don't have all those diseases running rampid now BECAUSE of the vaccinations. So people actually are having the option to not vaccinate because of the very thing they are against-vaccines. Yea there can be side effects, there's side effects with every medication you may take too. And honestly, i've never heard of anyone i know having any side effects (other than a sore arm lol). But I'd feel terrible if for some reason my child got the actual disease becuase I decided to be ne-age or trendy or "different" and not get them vacinated. These diseases are NOT eradicated, they are still around us. I have a friend who isnt vax'd and in the 4 years i've known her has gotten ill twice, she got the measles once and something else the other time (i cant remember) but it was things that everyone else was vax'd for. At least the measles arent life threatening in this day and age, but she still felt like crud and it disrupted her life. I just wouldnt feel secure knowing my kid was open to all those infectious diseases, I want them vax'd for peace of mind.

vaccinations are the safest way to prevent diseases. Prevention is always better than cure. It is also a social responsibility because your child is likely to pass on a disease if not vaccinated.

I'm a nurse. I get frustrated when healthcare personnel minimize or deny the risks of vaccines, b/c they are real. Some kids are harmed and even killed by vaccines. BUT, most of the diseases we vaccinate against are much more harmful. I choose to vaccinate my kids b/c I've seen the alternative.

Based on my experience, I believe that vaccinations really help in protecting our children from certain diseases. Vaccinations do not guarantee complete protection, but it nevertheless strengthens the immune system of children.

All of my 5 were vaccinated and never had any problems with them, my grandson has also started his and was fine.Well maybe a minor fever and thats about it, a little tylenol or ibuprofen takes care of that and any aches and pains.Where i live you cannot put your children in school without vaccinations.

I have both my kids vaccinated. They can't attend daycare or school if they are not vaccinated. Some states require it and it's a must that all parents have to vaccinate in most places. I don't know any school that will allow a child to attend school without being vaccinated and I want my kids to go to school and I want them healthy. My kids never experienced anything bad..

My son is almost 11 months old and he has had all the shots that he's supposed to up to this point. I do believe in vaccinating your children. I know some people that don't want to and that's fine with me if that's what they wish to do because it's their child. I just want my son to stay healthy and not get sick so that's why I have it done.

i don`t have a child yet but i know that vaccines do good for babies. i myself have been vaccinated at least 3 times as what my mom said when i was a baby. of no arguments, i am in a very good health condition during my growing up years until now. the pain is really traumatizing i may say but its just a matter of getting through the process. nurses are good enough to divert the attention of the child to the piercing process not realizing that the needle has already been inserted.considering how vulnerable babies are on birth complications, vaccines are really indispensable for babies nowadays.

Im all for it!! In Australia, we get paid just over $200 when the child is 18 months old and is fully vaccinated. The money doesnt phase me though. All of my children have been vaccinated on the days that they were due to be. Id hate for my child to get a disease when it couldve been avoided.

I'm about to have my first child and this is a hard decision for me. But I believe overall that there are more risks involved in not vaccinating. Plus, there are just so many institutional obstacles to overcome if you don't vaccinate your child. It's not worth it unless you have some real solid proof that not vaccinating is safer and healthier. However, I'm defianlty not going to vaccinate my child for something like chicken pox. It's almost never life-threatening and I'd rather my child build natural immunity to disease as much as possible.

Rather vaccinating your kid is seriously an important thing to do because you are playing with a kids life. As there are few vaccinations that are really important for the kids

Im a medical student and im very sure that all new born and children should be vaccinated.If you don't want your kid to get later some dreaded disease like tuberculosis,measles,diphtheria,polio,tetanus,mumps etc.. It's better to do vaccination as it at least reduces the risk of getting the infection to minimum.I have seen new born and children getting vaccination in my medical college and there is no significant damage that can be caused by it.The risk of damage associated are minimal provided a competent nurse or health professionals are doing it.

Vaccination is very important because it prevents the child from many incurable diseases such as Polio, Meningetis, Hepatitis, tetanus. So don't take it as silly.

when i was a kid, my mom always had us go to clinics for vaccinations. it was for our protection. it always made me feel safe coz we were made immune from hepatitis, polio, and other diseases that would have otherwise been very damaging. when i was a kid, i used to hate it coz the needles stung like heck but now that i've grown up to be a really healthy individual, i feel grateful that i got immunization.

i think it's a good practice to vaccinate children to prevent serious infections when they grow older. there side effects, yes, but only little ones. if it is being done in your country free, then that's good for you..in some countries you need to pay for it.

Its absolutely necessary for all the children.Its needed to provide the children immunity against all the common killer and disabling diseases in the nature..We cant give vaccination against all the diseases which can affect babies/children..But we can prevent them from being getting affected by the major disastrous ones arpund like polio,hepatitis etc...

We have both our daughters complete vaccinated. It really gives us peace of mind -otherwise, we may have to be very careful with whom they come in contact with. Like going to the playground or visiting friends - one never knew if the other child is feeling bad or not. Our eldest is visiting Kindergarten since more than half year and thank God she is not bringing home any sickness apart from common colds a few times. Vaccination in my opinion is a form of protection for the children because in our modern world there are simply too many forms of viruses and diseases spreading around and it is good to know that they are at least protected.

I was a young child many years ago,in my memory, i had some kinds of vaccination. And now, i also believe that it is very necessary for young children. Because they are too weak to protect themselves. To some extent, it's helpful for them. We are adults, we should do something to protect them.