Vaccines

Hello everyone!

We've been having a very fun, restful week, but unfortunately it ends tomorrow. Maisie has to go back to the hospital to continue testing and treatment tomorrow morning. 

Today, however, I want to talk about vaccines.

There are two reasons I'm bringing this up

1. A dear friend of ours had a baby a few weeks ago and recently announced that she would not be vaccinating the infant. 

2. One of the girls Maisie roomed with during our last hospital stay died last night of meningitis.

It is true that Maisie was not vaccinated against anything until she was eleven months old (except whooping cough - Charlotte got the vaccine during her pregnancy). This was only because she was too weak to defeat the weak/dead pathogens in the vaccines until that point. We were afraid that, far from protecting her, she would get very sick. She has now been vaccinated against all the usual things (hepatitis, chickenpox, diptheria, meningitis, measles, mumps, flu, polio, pertussis, rubella, pneumonococcus...I'm missing a few). She did contract some interpretation of measles and pneumonia very briefly, but she was hospitalized for two days, given some assistance in fighting the weak pathogens, and was fine. 

My friend, who will remain nameless, is choosing not to vaccinate because her older son was vaccinated and now has autism. She believes, as so many do, that the immunizations cause ASD (autism spectrum disorder). This is not true. There is a wealth of scientific information to back this up, as you can read here, and, if you need any more convincing, my niece was not vaccinated against anything until the age of two but was born with autism. There is no connection between vaccinations and autism. Furthermore, as this beautiful and eloquent young lady says, autism is not a death sentence. These vaccine-preventable disease could be.

To my darling second-time mother L, please listen to me. I cannot respect your decision because it means the end of our contact. I cannot risk exposing my weak granddaughter, who already has a compromised immune system, to the germs and bacteria that could be carried by your precious baby. By not vaccinating sweet little D, you are not only risking the health of your baby, which is one thing, but also the health of all children who could contract these hideous diseases from D. Please listen to reason and take that bundle of joy for her vaccines.

I do not mean to be disrespectful or rude. I understand there are health complications that can delay or prevent vaccines. But if you have a healthy child, or even an unhealthy one, vaccinate as soon as you can.

Thank you.

Eleanor.