To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate: What a Question!!

'Sigh' When becoming a parent there are so many decisions to make. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate...that is the question on my mind right now. Talk about a big fat pain in the ass. I've mentioned in my previous posts that I really hate going to the doctor. And I hate even more when the doctor tells me I have to do something that I don't want to do. If I want to get sick and die, that's my damn business and they can butt out. I've decided to start my research now on vaccinations. So far the people who tend to be more leery about vaccinations but also don't totally rule them out either (which I kind of consider myself in this category) say that you can always get a vaccination. You can never un-get one.

Now the common recommendation is to give you baby his/her first vaccination when they are two months old. Part of me has such a hard time accepting this. I mean really, why do you have to give your baby a shot when he's that young?? It seems a little rash to me. I've seen several people recommend waiting to give your child their vaccines until after they are at least two years old because their immune systems are much more developed and the chance of SIDS is much less common. I've also seen others that say four or five years old. And why do kids need a vaccination for the chicken pox?? I got them as a kid and look at me, I'm still chugging along, healthy as a horse. I can maybe see an adult male who has never had the chicken pox getting the vaccination, seeing as he could lose his chance of reproducing should he contract them. But really? A four year old needing the chicken pox vaccine. Please.

Since I do have some time to do my research, that's exactly what I'm going to do. This book comes highly recommended The Vaccine Book as an impartial study on what exactly we know about vaccines. If I do decide to vaccinate (or not vaccinate) my child, I want it to be because I have done my research and made an educated decision. Not because a doctor tells me it has to be done and not because a radical extremist group tells me that they are bad.

Here are a few other articles

9 Questions To Ask About Vaccines

Vaccine Side Effects

Hepatitis B Vaccine

Tetanus Shots