That's a tough one. I'm a big advocate for freedom on many fronts and don't like the idea of Mr. Government forcing vaccines on people. On the other hand, like Dr. Rodewald said, the decision to forgo vaccinations affects more than just that one child.

I guess ultimately, I would support a reevaluation of the shots we give our kids to ensure they are all actually necessary (I'm guessing some aren't). For the ones that are really important, though, getting exempted is probably best kept a difficult thing.

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I'm really teeter tottering on this issue. I tend to agree with Caeligh.

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Vaccines are not one size fit all. My Daughter has Cerebral Palsy (just diagnosed) and I recently read that the DTaP vaccine should not be given to children with neurological conditions. My Daughter had a horrid reaction to the DTaP at four months and has not had a vaccine since. Why in the world should I endanger her health on the off chance that she will infect someone else. No way.

If you are such a big believer in vaccines and you and your children are vaccinated, then why in the world would you be concerned about children who are not?

If I had to lie about religion or anything else to make sure my daughter doesn't have another vaccination, I would, and I will.

Reactions to vaccinations do happen, and the herd mentality regarding them has to be changed.

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There is considerable irony in supporting a religious exemption without any check that the religious claim is genuine.

The military had that problem during the Vietnam War.

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It really bothers me that the government (or anyone for that matter) feels that it is their job to make medical decisions regarding my child. I believe that it is a personal decision between me, my husband, and my child's doctor. I think it is wrong that it is necessary to lie to circumvent governmental controls, but if I thought that a required vaccine was not in the best interest of my child I would absolutely lie.

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Seriously, I have had to almost through a fit in our pediatrition's office just becuase I did not want my children to receive the flu shot! Finally I looked the nurse in the eye and asked her if she had done the research and actually realize what was in this shot? She did not comment and then asked me to sign some paper saying that I would not allow the shot. Finding out the junk that is in .vaccinations and other shots are absolutely scary! I feel bad that I did not do the research before my children had started receiving their vaccinations. But now, I will not allow my children receive any "extra" shots that they say are now recommended

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I completely agree with Jamie.

Vaccinations are not just about your child, but the others they come in contact with. Unless there is a specific, proven, medical reason that a child should not be vaccinated then all children should receive them. That way we keep the occurrences of say, measles (occurrences of which are up lately), to a minimum which in itself reduces the chance of exposure to those children who truly can not have the vaccine.

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The irony here is that were it not for the "herd mentality" that led to so many being vaccinated in the years prior to now, there wouldn't BE this sense that it's perfectly safe to skip vaccines. The reason it feels like such a low-risk that your child will contract some deadly disease if you skip their vaccinations is BECAUSE of those vaccinations so dramatically lowering the rate of contraction of those diseases in the general population. We're already starting to see increases in rates of communicable diseases like whooping cough and measles because of parents who are too afraid to vaccinate, and these diseases CAN KILL YOUR CHILDREN. So, yes, I'm sorry -- your refusal to vaccinate your children is not just about YOUR children.

That said, the CDC has the right attitude about this, I think. They recognize parents are scared and are continuing to fund more and more research about vaccines, despite the fact all the research so far seems to support the idea they are perfectly safe. They and other research groups are also working on alternatives to thimersol, the chemical in the MMR vaccine many seem to believe to be related to autism (despite the fact research doesn't appear to support such a connection (yet?)). I'm hopeful that in a few years, they'll be able to successfully dispel the fears (or replace whatever they find is connected, if a connection is truly determined) and we can all get back to working hard to eradicate these horrible diseases from our population.

This is a very personal decision, and I understand why parents are scared. However, your decision DOES impact your entire society, and if you choose not to vaccinate your child, you should be willing to suffer the consequences of that (in terms of your child not being allowed in public schools, e.g.). The fact remains that were it not for these vaccines, we'd be losing a lot of our children (ask your parents or grandparents! They can tell you what it was like before these vaccines were so common). I'm shocked at how willing people seem to be to go back there.

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I want a list of those schools so I can be sure my children don't attend any of them! I am from Texas, which is a big ol' "don't tell me what to do" kind of state. Regardless, I am a big believer in vaccines. These illnesses used to be a prime factor in infant and child mortality. Further, they are not a remnant of the distant past. My father in-law can easily recall that summers used to be a time of fear, not fun, because of polio.

I generally try to refrain from being snarky, but I do have to wonder how many of the parents who refuse vaccines insist on antibiotics every time their child is sick, regardless of whether an illness is bacterial or viral. Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it - it would behoove all parents to research the histories of the diseases we now vaccinate against and the part our government (among others) played in eradicating them.

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I have not had the last three of my four children vaccinated and I never will.
If a child is not vaccinated and gets measles (or mumps or pertussis or chickenpox) and sits in a classroom full of vaccinated children, the children who have been given the shots are clearly not going to contract the disease. Isn't that why parents vaccinate their children?
I have done a LOT of reasearch in the past fourteen and a half years since I first gave birth and there is plenty out there to prove that vaccines can not be proven to be 100% safe. The Pertussis vaccine almost killed my oldest child at six months of age due to an allergic reaction.
I can understand, especially in this day of chemical warfare, the reasons that some parents accept and have administered vaccinations to their children. However, please understand that perhaps you don't have all the facts on all the vaccines and by doing something blindly because it has been recommended or because you "feel" it is the right thing to do, that does not make my choice wrong. Getting the facts from BOTH sides is truly the only way to make an informed decision.
I also use the religious exemption when enrolling my children in public school. I do not necessarily adhere to any religion, but I do feel that, in addition to my medical reasons I can comfortably say that I feel that my "god" would not have put my children on this earth needing poison injected into their bodies. It goes along with my choosing not to circumsize my three boys and not to give birth medically.
These are my thoughts, nothing else.

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The parents who choose not to vaccinate are free-riding on the rest of us who do. What if all of us stopped vaccinating and your child (and many others) contracted polio, whooping cough, measles, etc.? I would bet the chances of a child getting and dying (or in the case of polio, being paralyzed) from one of those diseases in a world without vaccines would be greater than the chances of dying from getting the vaccines. Why should some of us accept the risks and get vaccines -- which is for the benefit of all children -- when others without a good medical reason refuse and reap all the benefit without any of the risk?

That said, I do think the CDC and the government have alot -- and I mean alot -- of work to do in the area of vaccines. They need to clean up the ingredients, eliminate the unnecessary vaccines, provide testing to make sure an infant's immune system can handle the vaccines, and get a better schedule. I do not think that children need to get 25 vaccinations before they're two years old. And, come on, unless they are in some risk group, do newborns really need to get a Hep B shot before they even leave the hospital? I would eliminate Hep B and maybe the varicella vaccines altogether (unless there is some specific risk), and spread the other vaccinations out. Most kids don't start school before they are four or five, so I don't see why they all need to be crammed into the first year or two when the immune systems are weakest.

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My best friend has a son who almost died at one month old. See he was to young to have been vacinated against pertussis. He was in NICU for two months and had to be revived several times. It was so painful for their family. Thank God he survived, but some dont. If only the person who had given it to him had been vaccinated instead of depending on others to be.

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First of all, the only people at risk if my kids are not vaccinated are my kids and the other kids whose parents chose not to vaccinate. If we make that choice, we make it knowing the risks, and subject NO ONE else to any danger they have not knowingly accepted already.

Secondly, as far as "research proving that vaccinations don't cause autism," there was also lots of research that cigarrettes didn't cause cancer. For years the cigarrette companies spouted this research. I was shocked to learn that some die-hard smokers actually believe the old research over the new research. Is it really such a sure thing if the medical / pharmaceutical industries claim to have "proven" that vaccines don't cause autism? They have a HUGE HUUUGE conflict of interest. And by the way, after various studies "disproved" that a certain ingredient in vaccines did not cause autism, finally someone proved there was a link, although they then said they have stopped using that ingredient. Whatever. I am sorry, but I am skeptical of research done by people with a conflict of interest.

For the record, my kids are immunized - they are adopted and the immunizations were done before I had custody. Nevertheless, I still think parents should have a right not to immunize THEIR OWN kids. And I won't be getting my kids any non-essential immunizations such as flu, chicken pox, and HPV. If the law tries to force it, I will fight that law.

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SKL, a lot of the latest research on vaccines is NOT being done by vaccine makers and pharm companies, but instead by independent research or government agencies like the CDC. It's quite different from the pseudo-science put out by tobacco companies (which was, as we know, strongly contradicted by independent studies coordinated by agencies like. . . the CDC!). It's not JUST pharmaceutical companies who are finding no link between vaccines and autism -- your information on that is outdated.

The CDC has a great web site with links to a lot of information about vaccines and autism: http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/iso/concerns/mmr_autism.htm. I'd strongly encourage people on both sides of this argument to get the latest information from as many sources as they can, because if the last article you read on this was even six months old, your knowledge is already out-of-date. This is a hot topic in the research world -- which is a great thing! But I think to argue rationally about this issue, you have to be willing to keep an open mind about the science, as well as the personal anecdotes, and stay up-to-date on both.

Also, for those who think vaccines shouldn't be mandatory because a very small number of children have dangerous allergic reactions to them -- this is true of ANY medication. In fact, it's true of EVERY medication. Your child can have a deadly reaction to antibiotics the first time they take them too -- but somehow I suspect you would not refuse necessary antibiotics for your child out of fear of allergic reaction too. This argument makes little sense to me.

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I'm in the 'vaccinate for the necessary illnesses' camp - and by necessary, I mean Whooping Cough, Polio, SmallPox.. those things that can KILL a child.

Chicken pox? Please. Most of us had it as a kid, and the worst thing that happened is that we spent a week in a calamine bath watching Sesame Street while our moms dumped apple juice down our throats. I remember having "Pox Parties" as a kid - I never had so many kids in my house as I did the week I had chicken pox - every parent in the neighborhood wanted their kid to get it, so they would be NATURALLY vaccinated against it.

But things change. And now we live in a society where we are afraid of any sickness that comes our way. Colds requre antibiotics (even though they don't work). Young girls are given a vaccination to prevent cancer, even though precious little study has been done on it. And we're vaccinating against a childhood disease that, in the past, the human body has proven to be most capable of dealing with on it's own.

Would I lie about my religion to avoid the vaccines? Probably not. But then, I'm lucky enough to have a child who, so far, has been healthy as a horse, and hasn't reacted to the vaccines he HAS been given.

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"First of all, the only people at risk if my kids are not vaccinated are my kids and the other kids whose parents chose not to vaccinate."

SKL -- you are so wrong. Elderly people, infants who have not been vaccinated yet (see karena's post, above), people who are immuno-compromised and were not vaccinated and children could not be vaccinated for some other reason (e.g., they had a severe allergic reaction to the first one so couldn't get the boosters). By refusing to vaccinate your child you are putting all of those other people at risk of illness or death from the diseases your child might be carrying.

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Fine with me if they don't vaccinate as long as they homeschool and their kid stays away from mine. Vaccines don't prevent disease, they only reduce the severity. I'd prefer my children were not exposed at all, if possible.

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To anyone who thinks it should be mandatory to have vaccines - who the hell are you to tell me what to inject my child with? Do I tell you what kind of foods to put in your child?

Yes, I know that she is at a higher risk of contracting a disease, but for now that is a risk I am willing to take. All I know is that I did the research, educated myself and am taking calculated risk – you know that thing every parent does every moment of everyday.

Vaccinations DO NOT guarantee that a child will not get sick. I had the chicken pox vaccination as a child, still got a wicked case of pox at age 5 (and half of my kindergarten class came to visit me in the hopes of getting chicken pox, too). And kids with vaccinations can still carry a disease and pass it on to those with weakened immune systems (like the child in karena’s story).

The moment that the government makes everyone walking into a school wash their hands, and then makes every child wash their hands every hour (and makes is 100% mandatory), is the day I will give my child a vaccine.

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How about the state won't require children to be vaccinated, but if they aren't, they can't attend state-run schools, or use state-owned playgrounds. If they want to take a class, they have to inform the school which then, if they accept them, has to carry appropriate insurance to cover the increased risk? Works for me, I guess.

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As I understand it, a person can use the religious exemption even if their particular religious faith doesn't condemn vaccination (I can only think of one that does, Christian Scientist, they don't believe in going to Doctors of any kind.)

I could be wrong, but I understand that if vaccinating goes against a parent's deeply held *convictions* (that which they are convinced of), the religious exemption holds.

And if vaccines are so effective, why worry about unvaccinated kids?

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