I recently attended a family event given for an out of state cousin and his wife, who were bringing their twin 15 month old girls from Texas to visit with family. At the time, my own daughter Lauren was 17 months old. During that visit, while munching on all of the goodies provided to satisfy your appetite, I had a conversation with my cousin's wife about Lauren's pediatrician. I believe I mentioned to her that I had disagreed with the pediatrician about an issue regarding my daughter during her twelve month check up and haven't been back to him since. She then promptly asked how I was getting Lauren her vaccinations, if I wasn't taking her back to the pediatrician. After she heard me state that we weren't vaccinating Lauren, she looked like a deer in headlights. It was at this moment, I truly realized that there are still people who just don't know.
No matter which side of the vaccination debate you're on, you know the other side exists. Even though you don't agree with the other side, you know it's there. From the way her face looked when I told her about not vaccinating, it appeared to be the first time she'd heard of such a thing. She drew in a surprised, deep breath and said, "Why?" She didn't give me one of those 'oh, you're one of them' looks, it was genuine 'why would you not vaccinate your child' look. At a family get together, between bites of food, I found it impossible to give a more detailed answer besides "We don't think it's safe." What an understatement!
Four months later, this evening, I received an email from my aunt. She forwarded it to me from said cousin's wife. Within the email was a link to an article regarding the story of the Lancet retracting the study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield regarding a possible link between the MMR vaccine and an intestinal disease which may cause autistic symptoms in some children. As much as I respect Dr. Wakefield's research, it was not the reason we decided not to vaccinate. I only learned of his research after we had made our decision.
I have done over a year and a half of research on this subject, and it continues to this day. My mind is flexible, and I am open to all arguments on either side of the vaccine debate. I respect opinions which differ from my own. However, to have an intelligent conversation or debate regarding vaccines, one has to be educated on the subject itself. Forming an opinion strictly on the information provided by the child's pediatrician or a headline in the news simply isn't enough. You can't go from not paying attention to the vaccine debate, to one day catching the headline of the retraction of the Wakefield study by the Lancet, and assume that you know all there is to know to make an informed decision regarding vaccines.
My cousin's wife is a smart, pretty, wonderful mother of two beautiful twin girls. There is no doubt in my mind that the email containing to the Wakefield retraction story was sent to me with the best of intentions to show me that vaccines are safe. If only that were enough...
In conclusion to this post, I would like to say that if anyone would use "the Lancet retracted the Wakefield study" as proof that vaccines don't cause neurological damage, then that person obviously doesn't know enough about the subject.
No comments:
Post a Comment