AIBU to think non vaccination is child abuse

[alittlevoice]

There was this discussion in another thread and i thought i would make a new thread so it doesn't over taken someone elses

To me not vaccinating your child is akin to child abuse because you are putting them at undue risk of disease which is preventable due to scare mongering or from quack doctors that have long been struck off the medical register and shunned from the medical community

I hate the assumption that because there has been no reported cases it means you shouldn't vaccinate your children it's because children have been vaccinated regularly that there has not been a epidemic

leading doctors (not the quacks) have been worried for some time about the rise of mumps because of the scare mongering and children not getting vaccinated and get seriously Ill and have to be saved by modern medicine (which quack parents are always keen to take up on with there anti vaccination stance)

rubella has a incubation period as many other diseases so if your child has it and you dont know and child is near a pregnant woman and she loses her child due to non immunisation I don't understand how as a parent you'd do that to another person

So the long and short of it is why are some parents touched in the head and think they have the right for there child to possibly kill unborn children and infect younger babies too young to have the choice (and for those saying this is far fetched its as plausible of something going wrong from immunisations)

• Sorry, that should read "... I resent the implication that I am using my decision not to vaccinate for the reasons given both in this post and previously as an excuse to demonstrate my VIEWS ON animal welfare".

I will add that my brother nearly died from whooping cough in the 1970s because my Mum had been scared out of vaccinating him. He still has issues with respiratory problems now as a result. I think we have forgotten how severe these illnsses can be in some cases.

It's about risks versus benefits which is something we all have to weigh up. Certainly my brother's problems swung the balance in favour of vaccination.

Recently (in the past three years)I saw a healthy child who died from the compliations of measles - she had not received the MMR as her parents had been worried by the media. So serious illness and death can and does occur. It's about balancing therisk of hat happening with te much saller (imo) risk of complications from vaccination. Who is to decide what is a reasonable risk or not - only the parents can do this with (and here's the crucial bit) the CORRECT information - not the dodgy research I have seen quoted at times.

Drug companies DO make money from these vaccines naturally but I'd ratgher they did so than leave the populaton unprotected.

Valhalla - do not deceive yourself - measles is highly highly infectious and if you or your children come into contact with it (nvaccinated) the chances of contracting the illness are extremely high. Hopefully the chances of your healthy children developing complication as a result is small but it does happen - even with healthy children which was why the measles vaccine was introduced.

Dillydaydreaming Absolutely! I too had my DC vaccinated but I lost sleep over it and I'm very grateful that they did not suffer any side-effects. DH and I argued debated it over several months. To suggest that parents who decide not to take that risk are child-abusers is quite frankly VERY NASTY INDEED.

I dont think its child abuse. Child abuse is something entirely different and shouldnt be minimized.

I do feel strongly about vaccination though and my children have been fully vaccinated. I dont understand why people dont do it but then I havent read up on it to a large extent. I assume that parents have very good reasons not to do it. I like to think they do.

I come at it from a biased standpoint because I had a child with no immunity due to chemotherapy. The rarely fatal diseases were all fatal to her.

I do see it as a collective responsiblity and I always have, having an immunosupressed child only increased that feeling.

Its easy to condem parents who dont vaccinate but I would prefer to find out their reasons before judging.

But I DO feel very strongly that we shouldnt hide behind 'my kids are more important than everyone else' although I do sympathise with that feeling.

It feels a bit like we are all taking the 'risk' so you dont have to IYSWIM. Because the majority vaccinate there is much less risk of epidemics so your children are protected by our actions.

To the non vaccinators - do you really not feel polio is worth vaccinating against?

I am being sincere, I am interested.

Vallhala, you're healthy because everyone else around you was vaccinated. If everyone stopped vaccinating themselves you'd have caught things and so would your kids.

It's like taxes. If you earn money, you pay taxes to provide money for the people who can't. If you are healthy, you get a vaccine to provide immunity for the people who can't. It's illegal to not pay taxes unless you're not earning enough money and I think it should be illegal to not have vaccinations if you are healthy enough to have them.

Being an old hag, when I was young there was no such thing as a measles vaccine - LOADS of us got it .... never heard of anyone dying from it ..... I had it, so did my siblings; it was no big deal.

You all need to stop being hysterical about every little thing and get a grip IMO.

Gorgeousx I think you might be confused with German measles (Rubella). Normal measles is a very serious illness.

I dont think its abuse to not vaccinate your child, but you have a responsibility to your child and the wider society to do so. I do agree with what the op has said but disagree about the child abuse bit.

faxittome No, I'm not so old that I'm senile. We were vaccinated against Rubella - even back then in 'the olden days'.

Measles was extremely common and no big deal at all. Ask your parents/grandparents if they are still alive.

gorgeous

when I was a kid, we all used to bounce around in the back of the car with no seat belts, car seats or that kind of stuff. Great fun it was too - LOADS of us did it and whad'ya know, I'm fine, so are my siblings. No big deal. We all need to stop being hysterical about having children restrained in the car and get a grip IMO

I could ask my grandmother if she were still alive - her firstborn child died of measles in 1917. My grandfather never saw her because he was away due to WWI

Is it the US where children have to have a complete vaccination certificate before you enter state education? Or have I imagined that?

faxittome Sorry, I meant to say I AM NOT CONFUSED.

Sorry, before they enter state ed.

It's no myth that Andrew Wakefield has been struck off.

Statalover Ah, but putting a seat-belt on your child does not put him at risk so it's not a suitable analogy.

gorgeousx really? I got encephalitis which is a common complication of viral illnesses. It almost killed me. I still affects me 42 years on.

One of the reasons they started mass vaccination against measles is because it did kill and maim children.

Out of interest how old are you? I am nearly 44 and it was already in place when I was a baby. My mum didnt get round to it though.

Measles has always been a fairly big deal.

When they first introduced seat belt laws, I remember people arguing that they wouldn't be able to get out of a car if the car was on fire.

Anyway, the analogy was to show the inappropriate nature of anecdotal evidence in this kind of debate. So you were lucky enough not to get sick, great. Doesn't mean that it's not an avoidable and potentially fatal disease. I agree that hysteria isn't needed. The world wouldn't collapse if we didn't immunise against measles, the vast majority of children would get through it unscathed - apart from the ones that don't of course.

OK, unethical behaviour and falsifying data. Not lying.

I have three doctors in my family, one is a neurologist, and none have had their children vaccinated. According to them, there is no definitive studies that prove vaccinations have done what they have have claimed to do from day one; eradicate the disease. The formulas have changed extensively over the years because it is an ongoing study, vaccinations and disease. Studies from Germany and Japan have proved though that they are harmful (they start at 2 months old now) as they create instant high fevers in infants and this creates brain swelling and inhibits neurons firing for development. Because the masses become dependent on mass media hype, we are lead to believe that side affects are normal. They are not. If your child suffers from any side affect from a vaccination or if you suffer from any side affect from a medication, it is your duty to report that to the health industry so it can be recorded. You are not completely immune just because you have had your vaccinations either. They are a false sense of security.