Making the Choice: Vaccination Options and Alternatives
By: Jessica Black, N.D.
Choosing to vaccinate or not to vaccinate your child is a significant decision. Because of our current health care model and due to the pressure from doctors and other health officials, most parents may not even know that they have a choice. Often, parents are led to believe that vaccination is governmentally mandated for all children in the United States, but it is not and can be avoided if that is the wish of the parent(s). Many parents choose not to vaccinate their children or they adopt a modified schedule of vaccinations that fits their beliefs.
Immune Response
Vaccinations can have a potentially harmful effect on an infant or child’s immune response. Vaccines, if given too early, have the potential of creating a more complex and specific response from the immune system, which is normally not present at the age the vaccines are given. Because we are forcing early development of this reactive part of the immune system, it is possible that vaccines are creating a hyper-responsive system that can lead to allergies, autoimmune conditions, or other degenerative diseases.
Vaccines also contain many additives and/or allergens such as heavy metals, egg protein, and formaldehyde, which may be harmful to an infant or child. It is important to remember we are injecting these substances directly into the bloodstream without the important filtering of the gastrointestinal tract and in an infant, prior to having a mature liver for detoxifying.
Negative Reactions
Many vaccines have been documented with negative side effects. There are presumably many more negative effects that have not been documented. There may be many more problems or chronic illnesses present later in life that are due to the disruption of the immune system balance at such a young age (before it had a chance to fully mature). Minor reactions can occur such as redness at injection site, fever, cold symptoms, or cough and fatigue. Some negative reactions that have been directly correlated with vaccinations include allergies, anaphylaxis, encephalitis, autoimmunity, autism, and some neurological diseases such as Guillain Barre.
Getting the Disease Vs. Getting the Vaccination
The idea behind vaccinations is to create a memory immune response to a safer form of the microorganism so that if you are at risk of being exposed to a dangerous illness, you are immune. Vaccinations have been proven effective for many dangerous diseases, but are also being used for very simple diseases in which the vaccine may pose more risks than actually contracting the disease.
Chicken pox, for example, is a very simple illness if contracted in childhood, but can pose greater risks if contracted as an older child, teenager, or adult. The chickenpox vaccine may provide protection, but a booster shot is needed at age 10. If that booster shot is missed, it is possible a more dangerous situation is created if an older child who missed his or her booster contracts the disease.
For this reason, parents may choose to vaccinate for certain, more dangerous diseases, but to avoid vaccinations for more simple and self-limiting diseases. Self-limiting means a disease that usually is allowed to run its course and goes away on its own.
Keeping Informed
Thinking outside the box of mainstream medicine is often difficult when faced with questioning family members, doctors, friends, parents, etc…therefore it is important to educate yourself on this very important life decision for your children.
It is our choice, as a educated parents to make the decision about vaccinations. If we choose not to vaccinate our children, we are making a commitment to raising them with a healthier diet and healthier lifestyle. For parents wanting to do partial vaccinations, using a modified schedule is helpful to reduce reactions and promote a better response to the vaccines.
