Vaccination & epidemic

[DanaC]

I have always felt, instinctively, and please, don't jump all over me for that, I am not a medic, I have no reason or desire to become an expert; but I always felt, that it seems an awful risk to throw so much at a youngster's immune system in one fell swoop.

Whether it was the vaccinations that sent my baby eczema mental or not, it occurred within a couple of days of the first lot and then stayed like that for 15 years, before calming down some. Given the immuno connection with eczema, and a bunch of other conditions of a similar nature, I am inclined to think, instinctively that it may have been connected. It's very difficult to show a clear path of causality in a lot of these conditions. But we have higher than ever, and rising, levels of such conditions.

I think there is a case to be made for giving vaccinations at a higher age, and one at a time. I don't know about over there. But over here we put our children into the social scene of playgroup/nursery/school, at a very young age. Personally, I think we should be holding off an extra year (or two) before sending them into the fray, and then perhaps we don't have to vaccinate so quickly?

Originally Posted by DanaC

I have always felt, instinctively, and please, don't jump all over me for that, I am not a medic, I have no reason or desire to become an expert; but I always felt, that it seems an awful risk to throw so much at a youngster's immune system in one fell swoop.

Whether it was the vaccinations that sent my baby eczema mental or not, it occurred within a couple of days of the first lot and then stayed like that for 15 years, before calming down some. Given the immuno connection with eczema, and a bunch of other conditions of a similar nature, I am inclined to think, instinctively that it may have been connected. It's very difficult to show a clear path of causality in a lot of these conditions. But we have higher than ever, and rising, levels of such conditions.

I think there is a case to be made for giving vaccinations at a higher age, and one at a time.

I agree with parts of this... and that's how I handled my kids' vaccinations. At a higher age, and one at a time. There are clear risks, and known ways to minimize them.

However, "thinking instinctively" that a vaccine caused your child's eczema is a sort of magical thinking.

If there is a directly chartable correlation between specific vaccinations and increasing rates of eczema, it makes sense to suspect that the vaccinations are at fault... that's one aspect of science. But it's a long step from "These vaccines have the potential side effect of causing eczema so we should be aware and cautious about giving them in combination or at too early an age" to "These vaccines have the potential side effect of causing eczema so we should stop using them and put our children, and others, at risk of contracting some horrific diseases with far greater potential for severe harm".

That's my sole point. Thanks to the anti-vaccination mob, kids are getting measles again, and mumps. And POLIO, for fuck sake! Polio! WTF.

It's pretty screwed-up.