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.
This does happen, and for families who have children on the spectrum, this plays a role. However, there are many, many other effects that vaccines can have, and you should be aware of those, too. If you’re choosing not to vaccinate only because you heard a rumor that vaccines cause autism — and don’t understand why, or what else is an issue — you haven’t done the research yet.
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.
8) 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!
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.
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!
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
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.)
[…] This is the ninth post in my vaccine series. You may have missed Getting Serious, 10 Bad Reasons Not to Vaccinate, Why “Science” Should Be Carefully Evaluated, What is Herd Immunity All About, How the Immune […]
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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.
[…] 10 Bad Reasons Not to Vaccinate […]
Thanks for posting this. I really like how you brought sciene into this whole thing, this is an issue I struggle with often. I believe in the power of science. I think if there is a problem that needs fixing then science is our best tool to get us there. BUT i totally agree that some specialities in science have lost sight a bit, and mesing with nature will never pay off (I dont think).
I think science helps us in many ways, and it forms the basis of my belief system (let me be clear I am talking about GOOD science here). But my problem with the vaccine issue is that yes maybe they are relatively safe.. but are they truly necessary. If we were to vaccinate our children, maybe the current vaccines would be the best combination of safe and effective. BUT I just dont think I NEED to vaccinate. Its my natural default to follow nature, and if I need extra I turn to science. 🙂 Thanks anyways.
I love this article! Thanks for the honesty. The worst reason I have ever heard not to vaccinate was: ”I cannot take time off work to get to the clinic. I’m being considered for a promotion at work, if I take time off work for my kids all the time, they’ll skip over me and give it to someone else.”
Seriously!?
I’ll step out knowing many moms may criticize me for my choices. I vaccinated my first daughter, right on schedule, and she developed major speech articulation issues. It wasn’t until I took a class on clinical research that I realized I was just connecting the two coincidences. I then had my second daughter and we chose not to vaccinate but I can only tell you that it is because I believe that modern advances have created a situation where it is not as likely for children to get these diseases. The thing is, I am also poor. We are coming out of a deep recession and my husband is now making great money but we are climbing out of a hole. So, I guess, I am number 7. I don’t give my kids the best nutrition because for most of my toddlers life I could not afford to feed her. So, I relied on government for both of my kids and nutrition took a back burner for everyone. I can honestly say I get that vaccination isn’t for us but the nutrition and what to do if she does get sick…well, I am not up to speed on the part of the equation. Thanks for posting, so it reminds me that I need to start even if it isn’t at the same level that all of these blogs I follow, I need to start bringing nutrition back into my household.
Kate,
I love this series, I just found it and am reading them one by one. I understand your desire to approach the issue non-dogmatically, to assure your readers of your reasonableness. Since I, my daughter, my nephew, my cousin’s daughter, and my parents were all severely damaged by vaccines, I can’t really go along with the idea that if someone thinks vaccines are desirable and gets them, then that means that vaccines work for them, and that’s fine. With one in nine children now with asthma, one in ten with some kind of allergy, one in six with a learning disability, one in ten with ADHD, one in fifty with bowel disease, one in 250 with childhood diabetes, and one in fifty (according to some individual state and school district counts), I think that it’s often a case of people not connecting the resulting injury to the vaccines received. However, I know only too well that people who have been conditioned to accept and believe in vaccines will often just turn you off if you tell them about the studies (hundreds of them, if not thousands, see Neil Miller’s books, or Dr. Mayer Eisenstein’s) and epidemiological evidence that vaccines have done severe and irreparable damage in the past several generations of children. The author of The Spunky Coconut thinks that many people have a genetic propensity to react severely to vaccines, and a genetic reduced ability to detox the dangerous heavy metals in vaccines. I believe that this is so, but I think it’s a continuum rather than the presence or absence of certain genes, and everyone will succumb to damage if they get a vaccine when their immune system is sub-par or when they reach a certain toxic burden the level of which will vary for each individual.
[…] Damages The Liver Modern Alternative Mama’s Vaccine Series (These articles are awesome!) 10 Bad Reasons Not To Vaccinate Pediatrician Exposes Vaccine Myths 20 Times The Risk of Autism When You Make This Choice Decade […]
I disagree that it is only children who are medically fragile who may react to vaccines with autism. My daughter was born healthy, but reacted to the hep-B vax at birth (given without my permission) with four days and nights of endless screaming, vaccine-induced encephalitis. After four days of brain-damaging reaction, she stopped screaming, nursed avidly the way she had done in the first three days of life, gained back the weight she had lost, was healthy and happy, got the DTaP at 2, 4, and 6 months, caught pertussis anyway at 8 months, missed all her language milestones but had started saying two words by 18 months, uh for up and uff for dog, but as soon as she got the DTaP booster at 18 months, both words were erased and she didn’t say another word until 34 months. She was diagnosed with autism at 20 months. She has always been as healthy as a horse, I nursed her until she was five and a half, always strong, has always eaten voraciously, loves all veggies, but she is in a special autism class in a public school now, and can say very little when she speaks, despite years of speech therapy, and has very poor social skills. The point being that she has always been very healthy physically, but still reacted to the two vaccines mentioned with brain damage and autism. Most of the Lancet Twelve children in Dr. Wakefield’s study had been normal and healthy until regressing into autism and/or bowel disease within days or weeks of the MMR. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that a child’s health will protect him from reacting with brain damage/autoimmunity to a vaccine: I think there are genetic factors which predispose him/her to reacting, but everyone in my family has had severe vaccine reactions, and we were all very healthy before the reactions. And, with the increased onslaught of vaccines, increasing numbers of people are reaching their breaking point, and toppling over into vaccine damage.
I got autoimmune throid disease after a seried of hepatis shots. I wish i could take it back
[…] Welcome to my series on vaccines! This is the third post in the series. If you haven’t yet, go back and read Let’s Get Serious and Bad Reasons Not to Vaccinate. […]
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Thank you for posting this. I don’t have children but I am an Acupuncturist/Herbalist and answer a lot of questions about vaccines/flu shots, etc. I have some patients extremely pro-vaccination and it’s always good to have more research behind my stance. Honestly, I’ve never actually heard a good pro-vaccine argument (or maybe there is just no convincing me). I just look at the ingredients in vaccines and know I would never willingly eat or ingest any of those things. Just seems scary to me. Thank you again!
You just said it – “Those shots are full of heavy metals (aluminum)” 😀 Yes! There is so much scientific research and evidence (luckily) nowadays how badly these ingredients affect human health… Vaccines are full with chemicals and poisons… Maybe the quantities are not huge, but some people are more sensitive than others… and when you regularly vaccinate, what happens? I can’t believe that anyone would think such a ridiculous statement “10) Those shots are just useless/water/have no effect.” lol
FYI: Aluminum is not a heavy metal.
So Why do you not vacant? Because the reasons that you gave are the only ones I have ever heard.
[…] post in my vaccine series. You may have missed Getting Serious, 10 Bad Reasons Not to Vaccinate, Why “Science” Should Be Carefully Evaluated, What is Herd Immunity All […]
I think it is bad when people say that their faith doesn’t believe in it or God is against it. It is fine if that is your reason but it makes non vax people look stupid. Even if it is the reason then find out the fact of vaccines and list those instead. You have to fight science with science not religion.
Can anyone answer ….
Why kids need a total of 54 vaccines today [ when only 8 were given to our parents as kids in the 60’s to 80’s]?
Why aren’t we told many of the 54 vaccines are unnecessary?
We need to demand safer vaccines and should only give necessary vaccines, if we choose, to our kids.
Seems like kids today are sicker, have more allergies and autoimmune disorders than our parents generation.
Something is not quite right.