Soap Box

I really don't want to get political or debate a hot topic, because I don't want this blog to be about those things. I know they're out there, though, and we all have our take. But I've been prompted in thinking to share my little Two Cents, so bear with me.
Please consider immunizing your children.
I know there's a lot of stuff out there geared toward parents about the theorized correlation between autism and vaccines. This is what I've come to realize and some- possibly not all- the components that lead me to my plea:
1) It is easy to forget how it used to be- children would contract painful diseases, with increasing risk at activities we take for granted today, like playing at a community swimming pool. Just because no one seems to have Polio, it does not mean that we don't need to keep actively protect all members of society from getting it. Just a few years ago, Whooping Cough (Pertussis) nearly quarantined (my own words) Camano Island, WA because neighborhood parents chose not to vaccinate albeit collectively. I do not speak alarmingly, just factually; there are currents all around us: water, air, bacteria and viruses. Do you remember high school biology? We are covered in stuff and can pass it around all the time. It ebbs and flows, but does not go away.
2) No one knows, no data correlates any vaccine (which do not use mercury and haven't for many years) to autism. That is a fact. I wholly sympathize with Dear and loving parents who want answers for autism. However, I do not believe that vaccines are that criminal. That does not mean I do not think autism causes turmoil and isn't real. It is. It does and it worries me just like you. My mother in law is an autisim class school teacher for a district in the Tacoma area. She works with autism every day with those that would be otherwise average sixth graders. She doesn't believe vaccines cause it either. Her job is not easy. And she is heroic, too. -And I think the kids are heroes in their very own lives. It's not easy.
3) Doctors can diagnose autism based on their own assessment and autism is defined on many levels of communication, social interaction, and behavior development. This leads me to believe as doctors are more aware that autism is a potential diagnosis, more are inclined to use it as such. That makes complete sense. Though I don't mean they do it casually. Often difficult to define autism is in fact on the rise, but diagnosis is subject to no chemistry testing and therefore can in deed be defined differently for an array of socially disruptive symptoms.
4)Jenny McCarthy is a nice person with conviction and is brave for putting herself out there, but I quote another mother with an autistic child in a nationally publicized periodical: "I love Jenny McCarthy. But her new book, 'Healing and Preventing Autism' is misleading. As the mother of a 12-year-old with the disease, I've learned there's no one-size-fits-all 'cure.' A better title? 'This Worked for Me, Maybe It Will Work for You."
5) I know those who don't vaccinate don't make the decision lightly, I don't either. (I'm not "following blindly.")
6) Non-Immunized communicable diseases hurt worse than a needle ever will.
7) Vaccines are not 100% effective. This means that there are those around us that could get a disease like Polio but don't. Why? Because their risk and probability of contracting is very low; as the rest of us have been vaccinated and are immune. This also means that if I choose to vaccinate my child as recommended, and one of the doses proves ineffective (mostly not a potential issue), and is around a group of people who chose not to vaccinate, my child would be at a very high risk of get it! If you choose not to vaccinate, I can say it doesn't just effect your child.
I hope you don't feel as I did at one point at being audience for every study and news feed- do I want my kids to suffer from a crippling physical disease, or alternatively, have the light go out? It doesn't have to be that way. Vaccinate because there is not proof to the contrary. Data suggestion and other parents (parents in the same debacle as I, conviction like mine) are not enough to scare me about terrible vaccines and schedules that have also proven to have saved lives and generations. More than I, at least, will ever know.
8) If you want to ask your resident expert to help you with the sea of information, talk to your doctor, your pediatrician about your concerns! They are sifting through the data to stay in the know. They are professionals for you and your family's well being. They will help you weigh your options and maybe put it better than I have.
So Thank you. Please lets still be friends!! We have the one and same concern, so it really is Us against this thing that is out there. Promise.