Part 1: Back To School Vaccines

Like all medications, there are benefits and risks to vaccination. Among other more common and less severe risks, a certain number of people given vaccines will die from the vaccine itself. And, a certain number of people who get the illness, will die of the illness. This risk, along with the more common and less severe ones, can be weighed for each child to determine what is best for that specific child.

For most vaccines, I can see the logic to vaccinate, the logic to not, and the logic to do something in the middle (delayed schedule, etc). I get mad when parents are made to feel guilty about researching and choosing not to vaccinate, and I get equally mad when people who do choose to vaccinate are made to feel guilty by the non-vaccinating. For some of the reasons parents choose not to vaccinate, read this article from Mothering Magazine. The American Academy of Pediatrics provides reasons some parents choose to vaccinate.

If you would like to attend a class that gives a balanced view on the reasons to and not to choose each vaccine individually, Dr. Ed Hoffman-Smith holds monthly classes on the subject at The Natural Childbirth & Family Clinic. I know the classes give a balanced view, because the parents I have sent to them have chosen a variety of options afterwards!

If you have chosen not to vaccinate your child, and are confused on what to do at the start of this school year, fear not! It is very easy - there is a place to sign at the bottom of the form that they give you.