Do you immunize your kids?
 

(Or would you if you had them?)

Anonymous answers, so I don't have to single anyone out for their irresponsibility towards their children and our herd immunity...

I'm just curious.

Is this a push poll, SU?

We did.

Arent immunizations required before they start public school?

Why would you not immunize your kids? Are you talking MMR, etc?

You're asking the wrong person. I have no idea why you wouldn't immunize your kids, although there's this very questionable Rubella-Autism link that people occasionally cite. Also, people tend to think measles, mumps, polio are extinct and so they don't really need them.

I don't know how people avoid the school requirement, but there's obviously a loophole somewhere.

No I dont want them to get autism.

A lot of the anti-immunizers out there are also homeschoolers.

My 3 elementary school kids had to get some additional shots that were required in Utah but not in Texas in order to register for school. I told Mrs. FM she should just say immunizations are against our religion but she didn't go for it.

And we all know how homeschooled kids turn out.

We vaccinate our kids, but there are a lot of families who selectively, or delay vaccinations for their kids. Besides the possible autism link, they object to a lot of the additives (formaldehyde). They are uncomfortable with such a small baby getting a barage of shots at once, so they delay some of them until older.

The polio vaccine is a whole other can of worms. People say that the only cases of polio contracted now are from the vaccine themselves, that we would easily be able to treat polio in this day and age, that many cases of polio were misdiagnosed in it's day (even President Roosevelt).

Underlying all this, I think there is a movement of general distrust of the professional medical community.

As far as getting out of shots, I think you just send in an exemption form.

People can claim it is against their religious beliefs to get around the requirement for school.

Does anybody else think it's really self-centered to not vaccinate your kids. I mean, not vaccinating your kids really only works if you expect that everybody else will vaccinate theirs and thus your kids won't actually be at risk of contracting polio or whatever.

Am I being unreasonable?

I have a friend whose church doesn't believe in vaccination. Last year the congregation experienced a nasty outbreak of whooping cough.

I agree with you Babs. Especially now that I have a newborn who would be vulnerable if there was an outbreak of one of those illnesses.

exactly. I've got a kid who's immuno-compromised. It seems kinda selfish of these people. "Well, I don't want to expose my kid to mercury (or whatever), but I'm putting yours at risk of contracting diphtheria. Hope you don't mind."

there is a family in our ward with a Primary aged boy.....the boy contracted herpes (cold sores) from his grandmother. The knucklehead grandmother kissed the boy when she had an outbreak on her face (GROSS) and the boy wound up contracting it.

Needless to say, the parents were furious and it caused a bit of a rift between the husband (his mom kissed the boy) and the wife (who was pissed at the MIL).

The parents didnt want people in the ward to ostracize their boy, so they decided to tell few people. My wife is good friends with the boy's mom, so the mom told my wife.

Our kids all play together regularly...every week. However, I notice that when he has an outbreak, they still bring him to Church and send him off to nursery.

It pisses me off because they have zero control over what a 3.5 year old will do....touch his mouth, touch other kids, put toys in his mouth and then lay them down, etc...

One of my pet peeves is knuckelhead parents that bring their sick kids to Church (he isnt contagious...his snot is clear!), but this seems to raise the bar to a new level.

It isn't the boy's fault that he has this issue. But keep him home when he is having an outbreak....until he is old enough to understand what he has and that he needs to act accordingly. I find it terribly inconsiderate of the parents.

Sounds like both you and your friend's wife need to take a chill pill. So a grandmother has a lapse of judgment and kisses her grandson, obviously acting from a loving impulse before thinking. The frustration is understandable, but to choose to have this be the cause of a family rift? Ridiculous.

I agree that parents shouldn't bring their sick kids to church, but generally parents are all a little bit too uptight and judgmental about these things, as your post exemplifies. I can just hear you in "alternative Sunday School" saying, "I find it just terribly inconsiderate of the parents." Oh wait, that's what you did write. Do you have a high-pitched whiny voice?

lol, that was the EXACT argument my idiot sister told me when she was originally not going to have her son immunized. She is a huge racist since she got married though and decided to get him immunized after all because of "all the illegal bringing their diseases up here".

My children have weaker immune systems as a result of their preemie-ness. As such, when your 2 year old gets a cold, mine develop RSV and go to the hospital for 9 days. They get intubated in extreme cases, but on average, they have to have a nose canula for several days and lay there will crap gets suctioned out of their nose and throat.

So yes, I do care if some kid shows up to nursery with a snotty nose and gets my kids sick. I also get annoyed when the dipstick parent tells me that the kid is not contagious because the snot is clear.

Once they are bit older and can fight it all off on their own, they know to avoid kids that are coughing and sneezing, they know to wash their hands frequently, etc...then it isnt as much of a concern. But for now, yes....if your kid has a snot nose, keep him home. He isnt missing much and you can teach him whatever song they are singing that day in Primary.

As for the cold sore thing, I have a hard time believing that if one of your relatives had an active outbreak/lesions on their mouth and kissed your child, thereby resulting in incurable herpes for the rest of your child's life, that you would take a chill pill and write it off to a momentary lapse of reason. Not saying you would file a lawsuit, but every parent would get annoyed. The husband in this case was also annoyed at his mom. The rift was not because he felt the mom was innocent....he also thought her behavior was stupid. He was annoyed at his wife because his wife wanted to punish the mom and withhold visitation privileges for awhile (an admittedly stupid resonse).

Perhaps you dont care if your kids get herpes, though. I cant be sure.

We're in agreement on the wrongheaded reaction by your friend's wife, who wanted to punish her MIL. I said I'd be frustrated with my mom for doing it, but life's too short to heap more guilt on her when she surely already feels a healthy dose.

We keep our kids home when they're sick; it isn't our favorite thing when parents bring kids who may show outward signs of illness to Church (even though the parents reassure everyone their kid is past the contagious stage or is fine).

But I don't think they're dipsticks or deserve the pitch of outrage you show.

It makes no sense to me why anybody pass up a free get out church pass.

So that every other parent can acquire a get a free get out of church pass? Maybe somebody's bribing them.

I was on a group date with a girl once while at the Y. We started playing that game two truths and a lie. Well one of her truths was that she was valedictorian. Then I called her out by saying that everyone who is home schooled is valedictorian. She was so embarrassed and upset she didn't talk to me the rest of the evening.

That my friend, is hilarious. Well done.

Absolutely right. It is selfish, both towards the child and towards the community--hence the comment about disregarding the herd immunity.

I always manage to make some snide remark to parents when I treat their unimmunized kids. Yesterday, I was sewing up a kids head laceration and when I discharged them, I said "I hope he can open his mouth tomorrow". Not all that clever, and I'm sure it went over her head, but it makes me feel better.

I'm with you too. Our daughter was born 10 weeks premature, and vaccinations were a must for me. I never thought twice about it.

here's what is sure to be a heated cougarboard discussion about this.
http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=3952544

We have immunized our kids...but I also believe that there are chances that autism can be triggered by some of the vaccinations. With that said, that percentage is obviously very small and the greater good of vaccines outweighs the small percentage of 'side effects.'

Actually, despite the ridiculously emotional and non-rational plea (implying that the difference before and after the shot was "noticeable"--don't get me started on how ridiculous this notion is), he was fairly soundly shot down. Pleasant surprise from cougarboard.

I can accept this approach, although I can't quite agree with your assessment of the chances of autism being caused by vaccinations. Erectile dysfunction could be caused by vaccinations as well. "YOU deal with erectile dysfunction and THEN you come tell me that I should risk something that I deeply believe has already hurt our family once. " Hypothetically speaking of course.

The reason this autism link is even being considered (that's a fairly generous term), is that we are much more aware of autism (and Asperger's and the like) than we ever have been before. We give more vaccinations than ever before and therefore it's a convenient link to draw (and it allows us to ignore the increasing prevalence of TV, video games, etc).