A generation of stolen children
Aug. 1st, 2005 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
celticdragonflyI saw a link today to this: http://buggydoo.blogspot.com/2005/07/i-am-very-sad-today.html
which really struck home with me. I followed her link to this:
http://www.generationrescue.org/pdf/news/rfk.pdf
Go read it. Really, read the whole thing.
It just makes me so sick and so sad. I have three children who fall into what they're describing as the "Thimerosal Generation". I've kept two of them safe. I wish I'd known more before the first one was born.
which really struck home with me. I followed her link to this:
http://www.generationrescue.org/pdf/news/rfk.pdf
Go read it. Really, read the whole thing.
It just makes me so sick and so sad. I have three children who fall into what they're describing as the "Thimerosal Generation". I've kept two of them safe. I wish I'd known more before the first one was born.
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Re: I've wondered...
Date: 2005-08-02 02:44 pm (UTC)1. A vaccine is a whack to the immune system, and can put a grown-up (such as me) on his butt for a day. At what age can a child handle that kind of impact w/o lasting damage? What's the range of variation?
2. Even if a kid can handle one vaccine fine, a whole bunch will have a bigger impact on the system. The current recommended schedule is 24 vaccinations in 18 months (including some triple shots). Is this above or below the threshold a kid can tolerate? How much variation is there in the threshold? There's research on the safety of individual vaccines but I've never seen anything on total number, just lots of belief that more is better.
3. How much difference does it make if the vaccinations are spaced out in time versus all at once? One shot per month over six months is probably a lot easier to handle than getting an MMR and DTP in the same office visit. I've never seen any research on the best rate for giving vaccinations.
It's also hard to discuss this with a doctor because of how the regulation and malpractice system are set up. You can sue a doctor into oblivion because he skipped a shot and your kid got sick, but if giving the shot hurts the kid it's the federal government's problem.
I remember getting very annoyed with a pediatrician who was claiming that all improvement in the rate of childhood diseases is due to vaccination. I think the illiterate men who laid sewer pipes saved more kids from disease than any doctor.
Re: I've wondered...
Date: 2005-08-03 04:13 am (UTC)I agree with you about the sewer pipes in general, but he's spot on with polio and smallpox. Peg Kerr (local author, your kids will probably go ape for her stuff when they get elementary-school-age) has a wonderful story Small Steps about her recovery from childhood polio.
It's one of those cases where, yes, I'm risking my daughter a bit for the common good, because the common good (herd immunity to polio) is so compelling and the cost/benefit to her as well, despite our family history, is sound.
YMMV, of course.
Re: I've wondered...
Date: 2005-08-03 04:26 am (UTC)