Parents Who Choose Not to Vaccinate Children Upset with Some in the Medical Community

kcrg ^

[chance33_98]

Parents Who Choose Not to Vaccinate Children Upset with Some in the Medical Community

Friday, April 09, 2004, 9:49:53 PM

By KCRG-TV9 News Anchor/Reporter Renee Chou – TV9 Cedar Rapids Newsroom

Some eastern Iowa parents feel they're treated with hostility because they refuse to immunize their children. They've discovered that saying no to vaccines means that pediatric offices can say no to providing care to their children.

At 19 months old, Ambryia Mulnix has never felt a needle poke into her skin. Her mother, Arielle, says she's done her own research and comes to this conclusion on vaccines. Arielle told TV9, “I don't feel there's a need for them. And I’ve seen it can cause deaths too, so more safety, and my belief." But she soon discovered her belief shuts out pediatric care for Ambryia. Arielle says, "I’ve been turned down at pediatricians, I can only go to the emergency room, or family doctor."

Iowa Health Physicians Clinic has had a policy for three years now, it does not provide routine, pediatric care to non-immunized children. Ken Anderson told TV9, “It comes from the feeling that the immunizations are so important to children that it's such a strong feeling of ours, that if we can't come to an agreement of that fact, we feel it's unlikely we'll be a match on many other things."

Arielle says, "It's hurtful because I’d rather not be judged on my belief and what I believe is best for my child." As a result, Arielle uses her health insurance to cover emergency room and urgent care center visits when Ambryia's sick.

Arielle feels fighting off infections will only make her baby stronger. But pediatricians see it differently. One doctor says, “The germs are out there, and your body has to be able to fight it, if the body comes into contact. The immunizations are a way for your body to recognize that in a very safe way."

But this mom feels her beliefs, even if it means no pediatric care, are the safest for her child. “It's better than getting pressured into getting her shots, and not being judged going in there."

Mercy Care Community Physicians do not have pediatricians, but say their family doctors provide routine care to non-immunized children.

[netmilsmom]

This mother could be a Catholic. There is a Catholic exemption for vaccines.

[carmody]

The trained pediatricians I know admit there are pros and cons to the chicken pox vaccine. They admit that the economical reason is one of the main benefits, and they admit that it's up to us whether or not to vaccinate for chicken pox. If we decide against the vaccination they are okay with that decision. When it comes to polio, tetanus, and mmr vaccines they are more convincing. If the chicken pox vaccine were a serious public health issue they would more strongly recommend it and they don't. The doctor's only concern is a healthy child. He has no ulterior motive.

Ulterior motive for local schools in my state: They lose funds every time a child is absent. Promoting a vaccine which prevents a child from missing a week of school is indeed a policy local politicians would embrace. Afterall, if a politician can make the claim that he supported an initiative that caused the local school to get extra money, he could turn that in to votes. (That would be the politicians ulterior motive.)

Pharmaceutical companies make decisions that will make them money. That's not an ulterior motive, it is their purpose. They support politicians (not governments)who promote policies that will help the company to make more money. They don't have to meet in a back alley to "conspire" to make a deal. They don't even have to hide the fact that they want to make money. Their secondary goal is to help people. If their first goal was to help people they would operate as non-profit organizations.

You apparently believe that the state is encouraging 100% participation of the pox vaccine because their number one concern is for the people in their community. They have no ulterior motives and pharmaceutical companies don't have a vested interest in 100% participation in the program. I believe that this vaccination became an issue because many parties believed there was money to be made and the health of the children was not the primary consideration. In as much as you cannot prove the recommendation for the pox vaccination had pure motives, any more than I can prove they did not, we can agree to disagree.

Who could possibly imagine that politicians and corporations would encourage a vaccination program that would mean profit for both? Especially when it benefits the children.

[funnynurse]

no, I dont' EXPECT my kids to be gay, or IV drug users. I also don't EXPECT them to come into contact with Hep B, but I am AWARE Of how long it can live outside the human body, are you???????

[TomB]

The trained pediatricians I know admit there are pros and cons to the chicken pox vaccine. They admit that the economical reason is one of the main benefits, and they admit that it's up to us whether or not to vaccinate for chicken pox. If we decide against the vaccination they are okay with that decision. When it comes to polio, tetanus, and mmr vaccines they are more convincing. If the chicken pox vaccine were a serious public health issue they would more strongly recommend it and they don't. The doctor's only concern is a healthy child. He has no ulterior motive.

Here is your initial post on the subject:

FWIW ... My children were 3 & 1 when the chicken pox vaccine first showed up at the pediatrician's office. He had a pamphlet for me to read. The pamphlet, and the doctor, promoted the vaccine as beneficial to working parents who could not afford to stay home from work while their children were in quarantine. He advised that since our children were not in day care or school, the vaccine wasn't necessary. It was only later that the pox vaccine became urgent. I guess when the pharmacy profits were added in to the equation.

Which is it? You keep changing the subject to politicians and school districts. The decision between the patient and doctor. Is it "urgent" or not?

BTW, if there was a change in recommendations from when the chickenpox vaccine was released and "later", it would be easy to look up, the CDC vaccine recommendations are public record.

[funnynurse]

btw, are you suggesting that only gays and IV drug abusers are at risk for blood borne pathogens??? that kind of thinking fueled the aids epidmeic.

[funnynurse]

Of course you have the right to refuse vaccinations. I will be praying that your children never contract diseases such as pertussis, diptheria or tetanus; they are most assuredly still out there.

[netmilsmom]

>>Can you please tell me the rational of getting my newborn a Hep B shot? Bloodborne and sexual contact???? <<

You never answered the question.

[netmilsmom]

>>How could I get hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B spreads by contact with an infected person's blood, semen, or other body fluid.
You could get hepatitis B by
having sex with an infected person without using a condom


sharing drug needles


having a tattoo or body piercing done with dirty tools that were used on someone else


getting pricked with a needle that has infected blood on it (health care workers can get hepatitis B this way)


living with someone who has hepatitis B


sharing a toothbrush or razor with an infected person


traveling to countries where hepatitis B is common
An infected woman can give hepatitis B to her baby at birth or through her breast milk.<<

My newborn??

[carmody]

Which is it? When the vaccine was first available the pediatrician and I discussed the issue. He and I agreed that it was unnecessary. Years later, when the children were already in school, the state (school) sent paperwork home requesting that we provide proof that they were vaccinated or proof that they had chicken pox. The issue has been revisited with the doctor and he does not have a problem with not vaccinating for chicken pox. It's not an issue to him. When I said "only later did the vaccine become urgent", I was not referring to the doctor. I meant it became urgent to the school. My fault. I should have been more clear about that point.

The state/school (run by politicians who require votes and money)wants all children to be vaccinated. I question their motives. We're back to my original point. The urgency for chicken pox vaccine was driven by???? Not MY doctor. My guess is still politicians & drug companies. They can sell the policy to the public because it benefits families, but I still believe the primary reason for the shift in policy was both political and private profit. And you're right; I can't prove it.

[Sabertooth]

btw, are you suggesting that only gays and IV drug abusers are at risk for blood borne pathogens??? that kind of thinking fueled the aids epidmeic.

180 degrees wrong, actually.

It was the "everyone is at equal risk" panic started by the homosexual activists that made AIDS a civil rights issue, rather than one of public health. The three primary vectors for AIDS in the early 1980s were the two you mentioned and blood transfusions. The latter has been eliminated, and the former two populations should have been quarantined rather than allowed to infect their self-destructive brethren.

As early as 1985 is was irrefutably clear that anal sex and needle swapping were the behaviors most suitable for AIDS transmission, and that the "heterosexual AIDS epidemic" would never materialize. The politically correct denial of the facts is what fueled the AIDS epidemic, and led to several hundred thousand unnecessary deaths.

But hey, same-sex marriage is just around the corner, so it's all good, right?

[Sabertooth]

I will NOT vaccinate my children, and I am not an ignorant parent.

< -snip- >

I think you should be forced to view before and after pictures of my vaccine damaged nephew.

By not vaccinating your children you are parasitizing off the the herd immunity provided by the vaccinated children of responsible parents.

Should you choose not to homeschool your kids, you ought to put their health and your theories to the test, and have your children attend schools that only admit unvaccinated children. Let that little petri dish fester for a few years, and then come back to me with the before and after pics.

[Sabertooth]

It's more and more clear that the answer to the anti-vaccine hysteria is a school voucher system whereby unvaccinated children are herded into schools that admit only unvaccinated children.

If any of them get sick with any of the infectious childhood diseases against which their parents' decided not to innoculate, let their patents pay for it out of their own pockets.

[aruanan]

" I would like to know the effects of not vaccinating children."

They get sick and/or die - of polio, DPT, measles, hepatitis C, etc, etc, etc. DOLT

Heh heh heh. Too many people today, like the author of the first line above, haven't visited an old graveyard that antedates widespread vaccination and the advent of antibiotics in order to count all the little graves in the family plots.

[TomB]

The state/school (run by politicians who require votes and money)wants all children to be vaccinated. I question their motives. We're back to my original point.

Yes, but practically EVERY PHYSICIAN "wants all children to be vaccinated" too, why must they have different motivations than the government?

[TomB]

It's more and more clear that the answer to the anti-vaccine hysteria is a school voucher system whereby unvaccinated children are herded into schools that admit only unvaccinated children.

Like our clueless chiropractor friend from a few months ago, most people have no clue of how "herd immunity" works. They like to boast that their children weren't vaccinated and never got one of the protected diseases, but they don't realize they are freeloading off the immunity of others. You're right. Concentrate the unvaccinated where these "rare" diseases suddenly become the norm, and see how quickly they change their mind.

[TomB]

Heh heh heh. Too many people today, like the author of the first line above, haven't visited an old graveyard that antedates widespread vaccination and the advent of antibiotics in order to count all the little graves in the family plots.

Come on now aruanan, we all know that "improvements in sanitation" cured all those diseases....

;-)

[AdamSelene235]

There is not insignificant evidence that a small percentage of the population has a genetic defect that effectively eliminates the natural defenses that most humans have against small doses of mercury compounds.

Yes, some people excrete Hg better than others. I recall hearing a talk by Boyd Haley on a study of young students whose intelligence was proportional to the level of mercury in their hair. I.E. those with more mercury in their hair had higher intelligence because they were better excreters. Dr. Haley also claimed there were numerous synergistic Hg toxicities such as testosterone and certain antibiotics.

[Katya]

"This woman is an ignorant narcissist who endangers everyones children."

How is she endangering other people's children?
Aren't they all immunized?
Geez...the only children who are at danger, (although that's a bit of a hyperbolic word) are her children and other non-immunized children.

Speaking entirely as an ignorant narcissist, who only immunized one of her children.

[Katya]

"I have one daughter (21) who had all of her vaccines and one son(19) who had only a few. My daughter catches EVERYTHING and takes a lot longer to recover. Her immune system is not nearly as effective as my son's.

I have experienced the same. Older child was immunized, and younger non-immunized child never catches anything. At birth she showed signs of allergies, so I opted against stressing her system. Since age two, she's been allergy and disease free.

[Katya]

It probably depends on the physician....my pediatrician has worked with me on all our medical decisions. She has been administering the chicken pox vaccine to school age children here in Maryland for quite a few years. She recently mentioned to me that she's seeing a larger number of cases of shingles in middle school, something she only rarely dealt with previously. "Coincidentally", all of her shingles cases are children who were given the chicken pox vaccine. Perhaps this is an anomaly, but she has privately told me that she did not give her daughters the vaccine.