To immunise or not to immunise? That is the question

This topic is such a wide and important one. It manages to split the opinions of people right down the middle. It is a common topic of discussion that arises when you have a child. At some point you are presented with a list of immunisations that your child apparently needs to take from birth. I would like to make this clear from the onset that I am in no way shape or form a medical professional. Neither am I qualified to offer advice, I am simply sharing my thoughts, views and opinions. 

Immunisation is the process of making a person immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically via vaccination. There is much conspiracy surrounding this topic which makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. There are several reasons why people do or do not allow their children to be immunised. For some, it is for religious reasons, for others its from their own personal experience or safety concerns. I l know of some whom believe they simply do not work and it’s just a scam for doctor’s and pharmaceutical companies to make a lot of money. For others it is lifestyle choice, also a rise in cases of autism has increased the likelihood of non acceptance. There are many other reasons but for now we shall focus on those mentioned. I am not one to judge as to whether you should choose to immunise your child or not. The most important thing is the child’s health and wellbeing.

My husband and I chose to have all our children immunised, with our first child I can admit that we chose to proceed as we simply never knew any better and believed that it was part of the childhood process. Another reason was that we had been immunised as children ourselves and we are just fine, and we just believed it was the right thing to do. We wished to grant our children the best possible start in life, and if that meant having them immunised so that they would be protected again infectious diseases then so be it.

 
As we embarked on this parental journey and spoke to other parents, the topic of immunisations always kept coming up, some felt very strongly about not having their child immunised and I started hearing horror stories of why immunisations were bad and that they were affecting children in a negative way. This slightly got me worried and I left me panicking as to what stance to take in the future with the children to come. Our first child was fine, so this reassured me to some extent, but it made me question everything concerning my second child, especially with the health issues he was already experiencing.  So, I started doing my research, and third child on I am still doing my research, so far, I have not found any proven evidence to back up the negative things I have heard and read about immunisations.

As far as I know the concern of autism dates back to the 1990’s. Other concerns  came from the publication of one study in the prestigious medical journal The Lances in 1997 by British surgeon Andrew Wakefield, he suggested that MMR vaccines were increasing the risk of autism in British children. The paper was later retracted after it was discovered that Wakefield committed serious procedural errors, ethical violations and had received funding from groups apposed to vaccine manufacturers. What a mess.

As far as I know autism is rooted in very early brain development although no one case can be identified.

 What do you do then when the medical professionals are saying one thing and parents are saying another? I’m a big believer of parents going with their gut instincts because they know their child better than anyone, so if they notice that after an immunisation their child is different than that should definitely lead to further investigation.

I think we should all support and respect one another in the decisions we make concerning our children, and not look at each other sideways just because they don’t agree with your views or do what you would do.

Knowledge is power. With that in mind, if you really wish to give your child the best start in life then make sure you conduct some thorough research before rushing head first into making such a big decisions that can affect their lives.

          Guardians of the precious- Here to support you, so you may support your precious.