Having a new baby is such a privilege and new moms want to ensure they do everything right. Naturally you follow protocol and take your newborn to their routine checkups. You receive positive feedback on how well your baby is developing. By her eighth week you are encouraged by pediatricians to start vaccinating your child. Most moms follow modus operandi, as nearly 95% of public school students are vaccinated.
Opponents have been urging the public to not vaccinate so readily. Since the early 1990s outraged parents began linking vaccinations as the cause for autism and other neurological disorders. At that time a main component of vaccinations was thimerosal, a preservative containing ethyl-mercury. Since 1999 vaccinations produced in the U.S. stopped containing thimerosal, yet the autism rates continue to climb and are over 1,000 percent higher then they were prior to the 1990s.
There are countless websites attacking vaccinations as the cause of severe allergic reactions, neurological damage, and in some cases death. Yet nearly every medical website claims that vaccinations are not linked to autism, and are a matter of public health and safety.
When parents decide whether or not to vaccinate, they shouldn’t just do as their doctor recommends. If a child is in daycare or Headstart at a very early age, then some vaccinations make sense. Babies who remain exclusively in the care of their mothers, who are breastfed, and are in clean, safe, and loving environments don’t especially need vaccinations right away.
There is currently an international debate about the use of thimerosal. Banning it could mean underdeveloped countries that desperately need vaccinations might not get them.
It seems that this chemical alone is not necessarily the cause of autism, but something about twenty-two shots in the first 18 months of a baby’s life seems extreme. Parents should base their decisions on vaccinations out of necessity not fear, for some of the risks outweigh the symptoms of the diseases.
There is no doubt that modern medicine has made some miraculous breakthroughs. Realize too, that our current state of vigor is not just the result of vaccinations but our criteria for public sanitation.
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