Vaccinations - does anyone support the alternative view?

[Evo]

I'm new to this - and my DD is just approaching two months and thus the first vaccine (DTP) hurdle. Myself & my wife have been reading up (including past threads on this site) but have yet to make a decision. We are considering no vaccines at all, based around some of the arguments that are presented by the homeopathic / non-orthodox medical community, such as
many serious diseases were delining or had gone before the intrduction of vaccines; vaccines by pass a large part of the immune system which has been finely tuned over millions of years (the membranes of the stomache etc; there is no such thing as herd immunity; vaccines are not tested to the same standards as many other drugs;orthodox medecine works by 'suppressing' symtoms rather than helping the body to do its job.

I am firmly sat on the fence at the moment but have not yet managed to find what I would call a balanced view of the arguments from the orthodox and non-orthodox viewpoints. Indeed, most of the orthodox material seems to be almost contemptuous of anyone trying to suggest that there may be another way of looking at things.

Any views and suggestions of quality reading material would be most welcome.

BTW Evo I'm an ex-scientist (biology) training to be a homeopath so I straddle the 2 camps a bit (can be uncomfortable )

We had the usual Vit K at birth - Does that contain thimerosil? If it does that is really outragious. Then the 2,3,4 month jabs which WERE NOT the thimerosil free ones. The singles for MMR. Will also be having immunity tests later on.

I can't believe I took my son for all those early jabs and had absolutley no idea that they contained thimerosil. I would have asked for the thimerosil free ones had I known.

Sorry Jimjams, should have thought! It was late, my nightie had laddered and I was feeling cranky!

don't worry davros! Straight out into the road AGAIN this morning, caught by his coat hood (screaming ds2 in the other hand). He's so sly, I hold his coat hood all the way out to the car, then have to let go as we manoevre to get him in his seat- this morning he was half way in then out like a flash! Agggghhhhh Our road is quite busy as its used as a rat run.

The good news is I bumped into the head yesterday as I was guiltily parking in the staff car park, and she said she had been told and it was fine.

Sorry not vaccination at all, but Davros is right, autistic children do die from accidental death more often than NT's. I know of a little girl in blackpool who drowned whilst on a school swimming trip (inadequate supervision she was at a special school and LEA's won't fund one to ones at special school without a battle). And if your autistic child does die from an accident you get less compensation than if your NT child dies. Bit of a kick in the teeth if a govt supported vaccination programme has tipped them over the edge in the first place. And yes that is as bitter and twisted as it sounds.

Can I just comment (as I often do) that although there may be unscrupulous GPs out there who try to hit targets for vaccination for purely financial reasons, that the majority dont, and will give as much time and space as possible to parents who are unsure.
My dh is a GP and our children have been vaccinated. DD1 and DS have had the first vaccinations and the MMR but we decided not to have the Hib booster, as they were old enough to fight any of the infections and had been breastfed past a year. DD2 has had her first of the infant vaccinations and we are going mercury free too - in fact, dh's surgery routinely offer Infarix now to all babies which I am very proud of!
There is a new contract for GPs which comes into force at the start of August. Dh thinks that vaccine inducement payments are not part of the new contract, but he's not sure and will find out.

My first dd, born in the 70's was given the 3 sets of DTP jabs over a timescale of 18 months, plus polio orally, which was the norm then. No hib, didn't exist. No mmr, didn't exist. She had the diseases of mumps and measles to no lasting ill effect. Had rubella jab at 14 at school.
My second dd, born in the 90's had the 3 sets of DTP jabs over a timescale of 5 months. I opted out of meningitis and mmr (mmr because she had a sensitivity to eggs and my GP said he wouldn't do it but dd could have it in hospital - I declined).

Cam, I remember that sort of schedule when my boys were born in the 70's. That's why I was shocked to learn my dniece had her first jabs at 4wks of age. They still seem so tiny then.

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Evo - you have my sympathies, we found this such a difficult issue to resolve, and sometimes the more you read all the different points of view, the harder it is to make a decision! It is best to be well informed though, of course. I would put in another vote for the Neustaedter book (The Vaccine Guide) - it isn't rabidly for or against and goes through each vaccination one by one, and is also straightforward to read (essential for those 11pm reads!). Good luck.

With the new contract GP's will still be paid to hit targets, which they don't like any more than you do. The only exception is those practices who have opted into a scheme called 'PMS', which pays for quality rather than quantity (my dh runs this scheme in his practice).
They still get paid no matter what kind of vaccine you have for the early ones, so you can ask for the thiermosil free ones and it doesnt affect them at all, payment wise, though it can be a bit awkward as they have to order it in specially.
I just dont know enough about the single jags to be honest. We were happy with MMR.

Hi I feel so stupid now because I just got back home from surgery ( dd had first set of jabs, she is 11 weeks old ) and I know nothing about mercury free jabs and thimerosil ? ( what is it and why it can be harmfull ?? I am paniking at the moment , tried to contact my hv about jabs but she is away. Dd got jabs called - DTP/hib=W1520-2 and Polio S127hk . Anyone out there ( doctor mum or HV ) who knows if these have mercury or not ? HEEEEEEEEEEEELP

Hhahahaha... I would have thought the "alternative view" on vax on Mumsnet (indeed, on most the Internet), would be "I think they're all great and won't hesitate to get any of them for my child!"

DD got ACT-HiB dTP that contains less than 0.05 milligram of THIOMERSAL ( so they say ... )I thought that thiomersal had nothing to do with thimerosal but after checking internet I know that thiomersal is also known as thimerosal or mercuriothiolate and is mercury based substance added to some vaccines. Does anyone know safe dose of mercury in infant body ??? How much over the limit is that vaccine ) I mean dose of mercury ??