Image by USACE Europe District
My new series on vaccination wouldn’t be complete without this post. While I strongly believe, personally, that vaccination isn’t the answer, I more strongly believe in making an informed choice. I don’t think that choosing to vaccinate, or not to vaccinate, is something one should take lightly. No — it’s important to do research and to know that you feel 100% confident in the decision you are making.
With that said, I need to share some “bad reasons” to choose not to vaccinate. Even if these aren’t you major reasons for making this decision, please pay attention. If you say these in an argument with a pro-vaccinator (and I advise you not to even get into that argument to begin with, but it happens), you will lose. Don’t say them. They’re weak and some of them are actually false. I see them being mentioned all the time, though, so I want to address that.
Bad Reasons Not to Vaccinate
1) Those diseases aren’t around anymore, so we don’t need to bother.
It’s true that diseases like measles are not common anymore. But children do still get them, as any pro-vax person would be quick to point out. If you don’t vaccinate your child, you need to understand that your child may, in fact, catch the measles — or mumps, or pertussis. It can happen. And you need to be willing to accept that risk, and know how to mitigate both the risk of infection, and the risk of complications. I don’t believe that most of these illnesses are really terrible in most cases, and I know different ways to boost my kids’ immune system and potentially treat the illnesses, should they occur. It’s blase and foolish to think that your kid simply won’t get sick because it’s not common.
2) Everyone else vaccinates, so I don’t need to.
They’ll smack you right in the face with herd immunity and selfishness. Which are two good responses to that reason (though none of it is particularly compelling). Your decision to vaccinate or not should be based on what you feel will help your child be the healthiest as an individual, not what the rest of society is or isn’t doing. Thinking that herd immunity is real and that you will ride on the backs of others who are vaccinated is very foolish, indeed. (We’ll talk more about herd immunity and why it’s not all it’s cracked up to be soon.)
3) Those shots will give you autism.
No, they likely won’t. If your child is in fragile health — autoimmune disease, several allergies, frequently ill — yes, the shots could be the tipping point. If your child is in generally good health, it’s unlikely that vaccines will cause obvious and immediate damage. You should be aware that for the fragile, autism is a possibility, but there are so many confounding factors (pesticides, ultrasound in utero, pollution, BPA, etc.) that we can’t solely blame vaccines for it (although I believe they do play a role).
4) My friend/neighbor/cousin’s kid got a shot and was permanently damaged/killed.
That’s really tragic. But you probably don’t know the whole story — was it just the vaccine, or were there antibiotics, allergies, autoimmune, etc. involved too? Relying on “that one story” is a scare tactic, an emotional response, plain and simple. If that’s the story that motivates you to begin your research, great! If that’s the story that makes the final decision for you, not so great.
5) Those shots are eugenics/a conspiracy by the government to hurt and kill us all!
Okay, we’re all accused of being conspiracy theorists no matter what, since we’re stepping outside the mainstream. Don’t make it worse by saying alarmist things. I believe the truth is that the doctors and researchers are completely fascinated with what science can do, with the possibility that different types of chemicals can change how our bodies react to environmental stimuli (vaccines prevent illness, antibiotics kill it, hormones prevent pregnancy, etc.). They are searching for ways that they can improve our lives by helping us to avoid these things that are “annoying” or potentially harmful to us. The problem is, they are so interested in this possibility that they don’t fully consider the unintended ramifications of messing with nature. These don’t become apparent sometimes for months or years. They’re also — like many on the anti-vax side — so wrapped up in their worldview that they automatically dismiss information that doesn’t support their position, and they trumpet research that does. It’s called confirmation bias and we all do it. They mean well, and I don’t think it’s ultimately a conspiracy. I do believe that because they think it is such a good idea, that they let the government and the pharmaceutical companies get a little carried away in their recommendations.
6) But Jenny McCarthy said…!
…or any other celebrity or single person. Don’t make a decision so important because your friend, neighbor, mom, or even doctor told you to. Read for yourself, come to your own conclusion.
7) I don’t know what to do…so I’ll do nothing.
This is an okay place temporarily, while you do some research and make your final decision. It’s better to wait than to start and wish you hadn’t. However, there is a lot of responsibility that goes along with not vaccinating (being able to recognize symptoms of disease, knowing how to treat it, knowing how to boost your child’s immunity naturally through diet and alternative medicine, etc.) and if you are just in a place of “I don’t know,” you’re not going to proactively take those precautions, and you’re leaving your child vulnerable. It is so, so important to protect your child’s health through nutrition.
I can’t afford it.
Cost should never be the decision-making factor in any health or safety issue. Would you skip buying your child a car seat because you can’t afford it? Don’t skip vaccines for that reason, either. Cost is going to come into play in any decision that you make, because you will still need to take your child to a medical professional, and you will need to get vitamins or medicine at some point. Not to mention the cost of healthy food! Any option is going to cost you — so don’t let that be a reason either way.
9) I don’t want to see my baby cry/in pain.
Nobody does. But sometimes we have to do things that will cause them pain, for their own good. I once had to hold my daughter down (she was about 18 months at the time) to get blood drawn for a test. That test was critical for us in figuring out what issues she had, and solving them with GAPS. But, I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t gotten that blood draw. She screamed, she cried, and she got over it. The decision you make must be for your child’s health and well-being, not with a mind towards momentary pain and suffering.
10) Those shots are just useless/water/have no effect.
Those shots are full of heavy metals (aluminum), preservatives, and biologic material. They’re going to do something. Whether or not they have the intended effect, or if they do it without causing more problems than they save, is the issue. I believe vaccines are ultimately ineffective, but I don’t think dismissing them out-of-hand as “cause no effect” is smart. It’s more important to look at how they actually work, what they actually do in the body. On a related note, in an argument, it’s not smart to say “it was just nutrition and sanitation” without any follow-up. I believe this is true. But there’s a lot more to it than that (i.e. serious complications dropped off, but cases often did not — it’s a critical point).
That’s a summary of what not to say!
What you should gather from this isn’t that vaccination is a great idea. That’s not my intention. What you should gather is that vaccination is a complicated decision, and there are no simple answers and no simple reasons. It’s a complicated look at diseases, risk/benefits of each situation, how the immune system functions, etc. We’ll be talking more about those issues soon!
What is the worst reason not to vaccinate that you’ve heard?
Awesome. As a science-oriented mom with two kids on the autism spectrum (and the three of us have autoimmune disease, as well), this summarizes my thoughts on the issue. Thanks!
These seem to be the only reasons to not vaccinate I hear.
That is unfortunate! There are much better reasons to not vax and I hope you come in contact with people who have done their research.
Abbey Wallace — Yes, it’s unfortunate, the whole issue is reduced to scare tactics and sound bites. My concerns lay with the way vaccines act on the immune system and the whole thing gets a bit complicated…lol. We’ll get into all of that.
Well said! I’m thankful I didn’t vaccinate and it wasn’t for any of those lousy reasons you listed.
What a good post.
I don’t agree with the first 5. If you look at the science you’ll see that there is absolutley zero evidence they work, and also in outbreaks of things such as the measles it’s usually 95-99% vaccinated people/children. The number one reason not to vaccinate is the dishonesty and greed these companies are backed by– not something I trust my children to. God designed our bodies perfectly! And also, if it’s in His will for my child to get sick….it’s going to happen no matter what. But really, find the graphs that show how disease went down in accordance to other countries that didn’t vaccinate. There’s so much evidence!
*except number 2 lol. I don’t believe in herd immunity whatsoever…
We saw and called in reactions. He started getting sick around 6 months with sensory freak outs and problems, possible stroke. We should have stopped then (he was healthy before that). We called in two reactions…he has Autism now. If your child is healthy and starts getting diarrhea (when they said it was SUPPOSED TO AVOID diarrhea) and he didn’t have this beforehand. Please STOP! It just got worse every time! Take data for MONTHS afterwards. If all of a sudden the child is waking up in the middle of the night (when he slept through peacefully) and is suddenly walking on his toes. PAY ATTN! Any inflammation that won’t go down (months) please stop and get the baby tested. Most likely they are injecting things that he is sensitive or allergic to and it may affect his brain and body and how it functions. Do No HARM!
Well, I’m from Ecuador and measles just came back after 15 years! I know the same thing happened in other countries like Spain… don’t get me wrong, I’m not pro-vaccine, actually I’m doing a lot of research before making a decision BUT I do believe that some vaccines have greater benefits than risks… like I was saying, after Ecuador did a vaccine campaing measles is almost gone. How do you explain that???
Hi Paz, I don’t know much about that particular situation. However, there is benefit to children getting the measles when they are young (2 to 10ish — not as infants, but before they are teens). It helps to train the immune system and I believe I’ve seen research showing that children who had the measles had lower rates of cancer. I’ll dig it all up when I get to talking indepth about the MMR in a few weeks.
I read the book ‘Don’t Vaccinate Before You Educate’ and also did a ton of my own research in addition to that book. You can’t go into not vaccinating without having all of the information because not only will friends and family question and potentially push you into vaccinating, but so will any and all doctors you see over the course of your child’s life. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to go to the doctor’s office (my kids are hard on their bodies in play!) and heard not only the doctors but also the nurses in the hallways talking about how horrible of a mother you are for not vaccinating your child. They have used every possible scare tactic to get me to vaccinate my children telling me I’m going to kill them because I choose not to use their life-saving vaccines.
You can only stay strong with your resolution to not vaccinate if you have the information to counter accusations.
What a wonderful article. It’s thoughtful and nonjudgemental about either side of the argument (difficult to do these days!). I like that we, the readers, know where you stand without feeling overwhelmed by your opinion. Mostly, though, I hope it gives people cause to think about why they’re making a particular decision. Kudos to you!
lol I was a little worried when I read the topic to the article! Thankfully none of those are my reasons for not vaccinating! Thank you!
Couldn’t agree more. I am soo tired of the autism-argument which isn’t one since it’s not true. Thanks for this.
Nev
Good post Kate! I don’t remember the worst reasons I’ve seen but the worst formulated were certainly on AV-basher’s sites. I wouldn’t be surprised if some provaxers post commentaries pretending to be against vaccines with ridiculous arguments so the pack can happily jump on them, while they ignore all the posts with valid arguments. This indeed is an extremely complex issue, 21st century immunology discovering new things about the immune system every months if not weeks and certainly the underlying science is far from overwhelmingly supporting the assumption that the «benefits far outweigh the risks» applies indiscriminately to every vaccine that pops out of the factories. The truth will prevail whatever it may be.
Wow, those reasons are all spot on! Many pro-vaxers assume that anti-vaxers are simply listening to the latest “scare story”, but in truth it’s them thats listening to whatever propaganda the medical establishment chooses to spout out. Learning about the immune system and how viruses really work is the real way to discovering the truth about vaccines.
Kelli,
I don’t like being lumped into “it’s them” I happen to believe in the use of vaccines, but not all of them. I do not use the medical establishments sounding board to influence my decisions. And I work in the medical field.
I also get a bit defensive when I read from (Jaime) that nurses scare parents into giving the vaccines. Again, placing all nurses into a category is wrong. I have NEVER given nor have I ever tried to persuade a parent to except something they were not comfortable. I have stood up to my doctors on my parents behalf.
Parents are the consumer. If you don’t like your doctors policy then look for another doctor. Why stay somewhere that is not willing to listen to you concerns. Instead, the only thing that happens is the complaints about those who do vaccinate and how unhappy parents are with their doctors.
As parents, whether we agree or not with each other, does not give reason enough to be so hateful to either side of this debate. I get so tired of being accused of killing or maiming someones child when I didn’t make the decision. As a matter of fact, I’m not the one to even give the kid the shot. It most often is the first time I have ever seen them.
I don’t bash parents for not vaccinating and sure do expect the same courtesy. Don’t place me and hundreds of thousands like me in the same category as those who are looking to make a buck from these shots.
I think the best argument is the fact that vaccines don’t do anything and don’t protect from getting the disease. 70% of the kids in california who got the whooping cough, were vaccinated against it. Most of the time, the same kids who are contracting the diseases, are the ones who received the vaccines to stop it. Not sure how you could just dismiss this. VACCINES DO NOT WORK!!! That’s the only reason to not get them.
By the way I LOVE your blog!! It has great info about natural living but without being extremist (like most blog are), with you it is not black or white, I love that =)
I thought this was very well written. I have three boys, and two of which are twins (fraternal). After the one year vaccination one of my twins started regressing and showing autistic signs. I too have done a LOT of research that I wish I would have done sooner. Our son has been doing better with MANY changes, but it doesn’t change the fact that we felt like we were losing him, and that is heart breaking for a parent. I disagree that vaccinations will possibly only cause autism in those with already weak immune system. I too agree there are other confounding factors, but my son was very healthy, and watching that slip away from you is by far the worse thing I have experienced as a parent. Don’t be afraid to say I will get back to you or I can’t answer that now, if you are pushed by others to vaccinate or do anything else you are unsure about. Study more and then get back to them.
I think this is a ridiculous article. What is your point or goal by publishing this? I chose not to vaccinate after 3 doctors went crazy on me for asking questions…. My instincts told me nobody would care that much about my child unless there was money involved for them. I also have over 600 parents on my Fb page of parents that ALL have vaccine injured children. Read my newsfeed for a day and then see if any parent in their right mind would want to vaccinate. How about trusting your gut ?is that a good enough reason ? How about the fact I can tell right off the bat of a child has been vaccinated just by looking at their eyes and behavior. Where is your list of reAsons showing why parents should not vaccinate and if your child does in fact get an illness what to do to treat it yourself
Hi Liz, the point in publishing this is to encourage people to do their research. It bothers me when I see parents arguing points that I know aren’t true as their reasons for not vaccinating. It unfortunately makes our “case” look weak to those on the pro-vaccine side. And no, I am NOT pro-vaccine. It’s so important to know the realities of not vaccinating (yes, your kid MIGHT get measles…but in my opinion that’s not a bad thing. Still, parents have to be aware). My articles on how to deal with these illnesses and boosting the immune system in general are coming in the next few weeks. I’ll be discussing MMR (and each disease separately) on Wed., Mar. 28, if you’re curious.
How are vaccinates “ultimately ineffective” if we don’t have diseases today that killed people in the millions just a short time ago? Like, what happened to Polio? Did it decide to go on vacation to like, Mars or something?
I’m totally lost. Not being sarcastic. Truly lost. (Okay maybe the Mars bit was a little sarcastic but I was lost otherwise.)
The same year that the polio vaccine came out, doctors changed the definition of the disease polio. Previously, anyone who had been paralyzed at all for any length of time was diagnosed with polio. At the same time that the vaccine came out, to be diagnosed with polio, a person had to be paralyzed for a much longer period of time. I used to know all of the numbers, back when I researched the vaccines, but I no longer remember them.
Basically, cases of polio would have gone down without the vaccine due to the change in the definition of the disease.
The oral polio vaccine (OPV) has been known to cause polio, which is why it was replaced with the IPV (inactive polio vaccine).
I know.
I did a whole post on polio awhile back. http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2012/01/25/is-polio-a-threat/
I liked the article for its honesty.
It would be good to have a vaccine for AIDS which is a killer disease and very expensive to treat properly.
As a child the smallpox jab ONCE ONLY ensured the eradication following many years where NO ONE was vaccinated.
Vaccines do work but are they SAFE?
Nobel Scientists have shown repeat vaccines cause ANAPHYLAXIS.
A reason to restrict drastically the vaccines we get.
Having had measles and many illnesses now with vaccines they all give natural immunity while man made vaccines get accused of causing autism etc and certainly do not give the 100 per cent immunity which comes naturally after getting an illness. If man made immunity is not as good then this gives credibility issues.
My own private studies are with sudden death after vaccines and where harm after vaccines causes other doctors to convince courts that parents are baby bashing.
While this applies to a very tiny majority, autism is reckoned to be tens of millions, sudden infant deaths over one million and shaken babies are at a level of 900 000 per year.
While it is good to hope that vaccines and or medication taken at this time is not responsible it would be good to know what are the causes before increasing yet further a policy challenged for the entire length of its history.
In this context 80 per cent of all vaccines to date have eventually been found to cause illness, be unsafe and need to be withdrawn.
As a chemist the withdrawal of mercury laden vaccines, oil based vaccines and todays use of aluminium vaccines rather than calcium which is safer show that vaccine issues are not all good even to those in the trade.
Comments about people because they are this that or something else are a distraction from their expertise.
Diarrhoea straight after a vaccine to prevent such a thing is BIZARRE.