I work with pregnant women and their families. A considerable number of mothers and fathers that I work with have significant concerns about infant vaccinations. Some of these concerns are due to the prevalence of misinformation available on the internet—-both published “articles” and through expectant mother support groups where horror stories are passed around like after dinner mints. Regardless of the fact that there is absolutely no evidence that infant vaccinations cause autism (in fact, they do prevent diseases that are known to cause autism), “facts” are not meaningful in such an emotionally charged issue. The idea that we, as parents, could make a choice that would turn our otherwise incredibly healthy, strong and “perfect” baby into something less than perfect and reduce their chances for having the quality of life that we assumed would be accessible to them at their birth is terrifying. Fear is no friend to the intellect. And, who is to say that the intelligence of the heart or the gut is not as valuable as that knowledge that can be obtained through logic or peer reviewed journals? In addition, the fact that pediatricians have so very little time to meet with potential future clients and discuss these issues without judgement is very difficult. As a parent, you have every right to question procedures, treatments and actions towards your newborn and infant. As a matter of fact, you owe your child a thorough investigation and the questioning of what is done to them. But, I believe that due to time constraints, many pediatric practices tell you that they are not flexible and that they can only work with you if you do exactly as they say regarding vaccinations. This leaves parents with very little information and feeling as though their ability to make decisions on behalf of their child are diminished. Terrified and uninformed parents are not likely to be pushed around because they are already pushed into a corner. From that corner, the decision to do something “alternative” like choose an alternative vaccination schedule or to not vaccinate at all seems like the only decision that allows parents to maintain their agency.
Additionally, I find that there is a lot of concern about the protections provided by government organizations such as the CDC and the FDA because these very same organizations that claim that vaccinations are safe have also made other claims about drugs, diseases and food that have not been true. It’s hard to trust a government organization that refuses to recognize that there is a difference between milk from cows treated with rBGH and from cows not treated with rBGH. The scientist in me looks at this research and even I have to admit that there are a whole lot of people who are researching this milk and synthetic hormone issue and they have all independently come to the conclusion that there is nothing different about the milk. My own intelligence regarding energy leads me to believe that for every action there is a reaction—-there can’ t be a way that adding synthetic hormones to the milk production system does not impact the quality of the product. Never mind the challenges that we will face from genetically modified foods and the fact that the FDA allows toxic chemicals to be put in the cosmetics and beauty products that women use each and every day—-ingredients that are not permitted in many other countries! So, parents are concerned because they can’t get the information that they need, their honest questions are belittled and the source of information that supports vaccinations is not necessarily trustworthy.
Many public health professionals have argued that the problem is that vaccinations have worked too well and this is a problem. For example, if we all knew a couple of women that had babies with CRS (congenital rubella syndrome) and a few families who lost a child to polio, then we would be terrified of these diseases. The fear of this would be so great that we would do anything to avoid it. But, most of us don’t have a clue what the symptoms of these preventable diseases are, what the risks are, or even the full names of diseases that we are immunized against. The majority of us don’t know how an immune system works, the differences between the immune system of an infant and that of an adult or why the vaccination schedule is prescribed the way that it is. New parents today do have cultural and social commitments to newly defined phrases like “natural” and we have a lot of pressure to not only micro-manage our own consumption of food, beverages and medicines, but also watch our infant’s consumption. I do not mean to suggest that there aren’t parents out there who are making informed decisions—-either to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. I am sure they exist. What I am suggesting is that the majority of parents are making decisions about vaccinations based on factors that are not rooted in “information” and are therefore not truly “informed decisions.” This is true for both parents who vaccinate and those who do not.
Not only that, but social media and networks of complete strangers band together in their decisions and make this a “lifestyle” or “personality” choice——-are you pro-vaccination? Well, then you can’t be a “hip/radical/modern mamma”! Anti-vaccination? Well, then clearly you don’t know the value of “evidence based medicine”! There is very little middle ground available and when those who are “pro-vaccine” post something on Facebook, someone who isn’t immediately jumps in with great enthusiasm and presents some “evidence” about the value of “natural” immunity or the “dangers” of vaccines. When someone who questions the safety of vaccinations posts something on Facebook, those who are pro-vaccination shove statistics in their face like a sock in their mouth as if somehow a “fact” will ease the concerns of a new parent. This cultural polarization of mothers and parents has an effect that is even worse than the exhausted doctor with no time for questions.
Here is what is missing from the dialogue. Vaccinations are a public health issue and not an individual decision. Your decision to use certain vitamin supplements, to eat or not eat certain food, to express your gender this way or that, to go to school or home school or allow your children to stay up late and have all the ice cream they want or sleep train your kiddo or……….all of these decisions are decisions that impact you, your child, your family and, well, almost no one else. You don’t want to eat meat? This does not impact me in any way. You want to eat grasshoppers? Well, let’s be honest—-I don’t want to watch. But, really, this does not impact me in any way. Your choice to vaccinate or not vaccinate your children. Well, this decision is one that has a direct impact on not only your health, but also your community. Choosing to vaccinate or not vaccinate your children is really one of the first decisions you make on behalf of your child that changes the nature of their relationship to the greater public. This isn’t just about you and your politics or whether or not your baby is going to have a bad reaction or has a strong natural immunity and doesn’t need it—-this is about the health of the public. I don’t usually hear parents talking about this decision this way and I find it curious that this significant aspect of vaccination is generally missing from the conversation.
At this point, I’m sure that I’ve already hit some sore spots with my dear readers. All you anti-vaccinating moms and dads are all hot and ready to point me in the direction of some “real” information—–the experts, doctors, scientists and others who are absolutely sure that injecting garbage (including known toxins!) into your baby is a terrible, no good, awful idea that can have little to no benefit and the parents who say that it was the day that they stopped vaccinating their children that their health improved or to the mom who is absolutely sure that it was the MMR vaccination that caused her son to become autistic. And, all you vaccinating moms and dads are all excited because it sounds at this point like I might be building an argument here on your side. It looks like I might be headed in a paragraph or two to validating your decision to allow your pediatrician, without question, to inject your innocent little infant with all those toxins that you aren’t even sure how they work. Well, I hate to disappoint everyone, but this is not my intent. I want to step out of the current polarized arguments and suggest that we consider what it would mean to make decisions about our children’s health from the perspective of “public health” rather than from the perspective of the “individual” (ie. I’m not letting anyone inject that crap into my baby! or If my baby got polio and died I’d never recover from my grief.) I want to take the “MY” out of the dialogue for just a moment. And listen reader, I’m all about the MY (in as much as I admire the Dalai Lama, but have failed to release my ego long enough to truly chuckle at a “Let go my Ego” waffle advertisement……). It is just that I feel strongly that in order to move forward and to recognize what is really at stake, we have to drop the “my” and consider for a moment the “we”—–the greatest “we” there is.
Let’s start with Rubella. Do you know what rubella is? I just learned while I was researching this blog entry. Both of my children are vaccinated against it and I’m vaccinated against it. I even got a booster as an adult the last time I traveled to China! But, honestly, I don’t know what it is. This further illustrates my point that even the decision to vaccinate is often an uneducated one! So, rubella is this generally mild illness—low grade fever, swollen lymph glands, perhaps some joint pain or even arthritis like pain, a temporary decrease in platelets and some people get encephalitis (brain swelling). This list of symptoms is quite mild compared to the list of possible side effects of taking most common pharmaceuticals. I found myself flabbergasted by a list of potential side effects given in a television advertisement for a drug used to stop diabetes related nerve pain—-“dizziness, blurry vision, weight gain, sleepiness, trouble concentrating, swelling of your hands and feet, dry mouth, and feeling ‘high’ (this list and many more symptoms and complications can be found directly on the LYRICA website). Let’s be honest—-rubella just doesn’t sound all that bad. So, why would I even consider taking any risks at all by having my child injected with the MMR vaccination when the risks of the disease sound so, well, mild?
The answer lies in the public aspect of what needs to be considered. When you get beyond the “MY child, MY decision, MY health, MY family” and you get to the consideration of how your vaccination decisions are going to make an impact on the health of others, then all of a sudden, it just isn’t as clear. The rubella vaccination was licensed in 1969. In 1963-1964 over 12 million people in the United States developed the rubella disease. In that one year period, over 11,000 fetuses died and 20,000 babies were born with permanent disabilities as a result of exposure to the virus. (Rubella and MMR information source)In 1998, 20-fetuses died in the United States as a result of Listeria infections (source). I’m not suggesting that each fetal death wasn’t traumatic, awful and the source of incredible sadness and grief for those families, but pregnant women today are terrified of Listeria infections and are told to avoid all cold cuts, soft cheeses, sushi, etc. due to this incredible risk. Yet, no one finds the time to value the amazing benefit of 40+ years of rubella vaccination! There was not one time in either of my pregnancies that I found gratitude in my heart for this vaccination. Yet, evidence shows that before the vaccination there was a lot of pregnancy loss and disability caused by this virus and now this is not the case. The public aspect of this issue suggests to me that we need to consider that my child’s very mild rubella virus may be spread to a pregnant woman (it’s spread by sneezing or coughing) at the bank who then loses her baby or spends the rest of her life mothering a baby who is deaf, has autism, heart defects and problems with the liver and spleen because my child exposed them to this illness. The argument about how much healthier my child will be if I allow them to get a few childhood illnesses and naturally build their immune system is nothing in the face of a woman who loses her baby because she caught the disease from my child.
Please, dear reader, I do not, in any way, mean to suggest that if you do not vaccinate your child that you are selfish. I imagine, actually, that you are making your decisions due to the greatest love of all——the love, commitment and adoration of a parent for their child. I know, especially if you are still reading this, that you care A LOT. And, it’s likely that if you haven’t vaccinated your children that you have a lot of commitments to things I also honor—-natural health, the well-being of the earth, the rights and responsibilities of families and children, an alternative view of medicine and health in general, genetically modified foods, the risks of environmental toxins, concerns about the overuse of antibiotics and more. You may have a significant commitment to a lifestyle, a form of medicine, an alternative understanding that is so meaningful to you that the idea that this commitment may be endangering your neighbor is offensive. I do not doubt for even a moment the validity of your commitment, your sincerity or the actual value of your knowledge. I only mean to suggest that there is a lot at stake here that is generally not discussed when vaccinations are being discussed.
Do you know what Hib is? Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is a bacterium that can infect the outer lining of the brain causing meningitis. Prior to universal Hib immunization, Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in infants and preschool-age children, and caused approximately 20,000 cases of invasive disease annually. This is a relatively new vaccination and was licensed in 1985. Hib can cause a wide variety of serious infections, including pneumonia, severe throat swelling that makes breathing difficult (epiglottis), and infections of blood, bones, joints, and the covering of the heart. Complications of Hib meningitis include blindness, deafness, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and death. About 5% of children (500 out of every 10,000) with Hib meningitis die despite antibiotic treatment. (Source for all Hib information can be found here)That is about 1,000 children that would die every year from Hib and it is now preventable. The truth is that 1,000 just isn’t that many. More than 28,000 infants die before their first birthday every year in the United States (source). So, I think that you have to consider what it means that 1,000 infants live each year that might not have before 1985. For those 1,000 infants’ parents and families, it means EVERYTHING. Sure, you can shrug your shoulders and convince yourself that your baby’s immune system would be strong enough to fight it or your baby’s diet or environment or your most excellent care and love will protect it. But, I know that if someone I know lost an infant to Hib (or anything else), then I’d rush out to prevent it from happening to my baby. Fortunately, I don’t know anyone who has lost an infant to Hib. But, I have my children vaccinated anyway because I just don’t want to take the risk. Yes, I am aware that there may be some risks to having the vaccination, including, but certainly not limited to the introduction of a foreign substance into my child’s body that I really don’t understand and may or may not actually do what it is intended to do, but could potentially cause unpredictable problems.
I have a dear friend who is not only one of the best friends that someone can have because she is so thoughtful, intuitive, generous, caring and sensitive to how she relates to me and my family, but she is also incredibly smart about health, nutrition and the power of energy and alternative understandings about the body and medicine. I trust her a great deal, but we definitely disagree on vaccinations. During our disagreement, which was focused on the public health aspect of vaccinations, my friend wanted me to engage with her Facebook social groups and professionals that she trusts and believes in deeply who are anti-vaccination. She was sure that they would have proof, data and references that would help me be more understanding of their position. Unfortunately, I am not to be swayed. For me, we have evidence of what life was like before vaccinations because we just haven’t had access to them for all that long. This isn’t some smoke and mirrors situation or pure conspiracy! We have a considerable amount of data about what public health was like before vaccinations and what it is like now. The vaccinations worked and cause less harm than benefit. For any individual that is injured by a vaccination, this statement about public health is irrelevant. On an individual basis, it may be that the risks outweigh the benefits, but this is only true today because most people over the past 50-years have been vaccinated. Yes, it is likely the case in the United States that your baby will not get measles, mumps, rubella, Hib, polio or any of these other preventable diseases regardless of whether you vaccinate them or not. But, to believe that this is because you are doing something uniquely beneficial nutritionally, or have superior parenting skills or that your somehow empowering your child’s natural immunity is leaving out the benefits you are receiving because the rest of your “herd” has been vaccinated. It’s like you didn’t buy a ticket to Disneyland, but you get to ride the bus anyway.
Obviously, my bias is clear. I believe that choosing to vaccinate your infant is the first time you have to accept that they aren’t just “yours.” Your infant is part of the great herd of humanity and you and, eventually, they, will make personal decisions that impact the health and well-being of people outside of your immediate family, community, city, state or even country. If you choose not to vaccinate your infant, I hope that you have spent some time understanding vaccinations that are available, the diseases they prevent and what the greater implications are for your decision. You should also understand the potential risks you are and are not exposing your infant to. A few months ago, a lovely friend of mine who had a new infant herself agreed to provide some childcare for me in an emergency. My friend chooses not to vaccinate her children. I was really surprised though when I informed her that my own daughter had a vaccination induced fever and a mild rash, but was otherwise completely well and my friend became nervous that perhaps it wasn’t safe for her to have her children in my house. What this meant to me was that her decision not to vaccinate her children was not an informed one. It was certainly not informed with the knowledge that her children can’t catch the disease from my vaccinated child whose immune system is responding to the stimulation of the vaccination—it would be impossible! But, she does bring her children to the park, to museums, to music and art festivals and……you get the picture.
As I said, I work with expectant parents and I have some really excellent resources for parents that are considering not vaccinating their children. Not just books by pediatricians I trust and admire, but real people in my area that are doctors, parents, nurses, nutritionists, yogis, acupuncturists and more—–people I think are very intelligent, who have made their decisions wisely and who I trust to counsel my students and clients in an appropriate and supportive way. After reading this, you might think that it is impossible for me to provide support for parents who choose not to vaccinate and you are right. I’m not the right person to go to for support once you’ve chosen not to vaccinate because I’ve decided to think about this as a social and public responsibility. But, I think that everyone has the right to ask without being judged. I think that everyone has a right to find sources that they find valid and it is not my job to determine what set of “facts” is more correct than any other set of “facts.” Just because I can’t provide support doesn’t mean that I can’t listen and then direct expectant parents to the best resources I know of for more information. If I deny your right to question, to seek answers, to talk with others who have a variety of opinions and ideas………well, then this is a crime on its own. I know and trust that when we sit with this question and frame it as not just a pubic health issue, but as evidence that we are all connected—-we are all one on this earth!—–that the peace and well-being that comes from re-framing the question will benefit us all. And, regardless of your decision, I also continue to honor you as a parent because, honestly, parenting is the hardest job. To know that a human life is depending on you to make these types of decisions about their health and well-being, these can’t be simple decisions. We shouldn’t force anyone to pretend that they are easy decisions. Every single mother and parent that I have had the honor to work with, to support and to stand by during their pregnancies, is so special to me. The wisdom of this work and my yoga practice informs my ability to have a strong opinion, but also recognize that other opinions exist. You can’t fight with facts, evidence, math, science or data when the stakes are so high. We have to address this issue at the level of the heart.
May you be happy and well. May you be free of suffering. May you be peace.
If you are in the Pittsburgh area and want to know who I refer to when my students have questions about vaccinations, please feel free to give me a call (412) 855-5692 or send me an e-mail: sharon@yogamatrika.com. I don’t engage in arguments about vaccinations because I have an opinion and, quite honestly, nothing you say is going to sway me from it. And, I have no interest in swaying you from your position. I do answer questions. I do provide referrals. I do not judge anyone who is seeking information.
If you would like science-based research that is presented in an informative way, then I recommend:
