I received the following question that I thought was important to address:
"I really appreciate your non-judgmental attitude when it comes to vaccines, and your unbiased info. And I totally believe in parental choice when it comes to most things. But I struggle with this when it comes to vaccines. If mass vaccination is what’s keeping the diseases at bay then if everyone stops vaccinating won’t we risk them coming back? I hate to admit it, but I really have a hard time not judging parents who don’t vaccinate because of this 😭"
Please note this is my word rambling response just trying to get my thoughts out in a somewhat coherent manner...so please excuse all grammar and spelling errors. Lol! When I have time I will hopefully come back and edit ;)
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I just had a GREAT conversation with someone with a very similar feeling this weekend.
First, I think it’s so important that we have these discussions (in a civil, loving, and understanding manner). We aren’t going to see any change and improvement unless we do so.
Now into the nitty gritty…I don’t believe vaccines are a complete hoax. I do believe there is effectiveness in there. However, I also don’t think the government should dictate parental choice when it comes to their child’s health (unless it’s just straight up abuse, of course). So, I don’t have the right answer. We live in a broken world, and unfortunately I don’t think there is ever going to be a perfect answer.
When it comes to the “JUDGEMENT” side of things I think it’s important to remember that the core of both sides of the vax parenting spectrum is the overall wellbeing of children - whether you agree with one parents decisions or not.
For parents who feel strongly that their children (or all children) should be vaccinated, it’s because they want to protect them from terrible disease and sickness. Who could blame them! You also have to remember some parents have kiddos with extreme health concerns, preemies, etc., and are feeling even more anxiety when it comes to illnesses that could be even more exacerbated in their child. Unless you are a parent with a child like this, we cannot even begin to comprehend those feelings and emotions.
Now let’s look at the parents who choose to not vaccinate…some of them may have children who have experienced a previous vaccine injury. This DOES happen! I’m all for modern medicine. There is absolutely a time and a place. BUT when you take a look at the big pharma industry when it comes to vaccines it’s easy to see why many parents would have a distrust and uneasiness. The fact we give a vaccine (Hep B) at just a few hours old for a virus that essentially is spread through sex or sharing of needles is understandable (at least to me) of why parents might have pause/ask questions, gain some distrust. Also the fact that providers often times want to mega load kids up with multiple vaccines, combo vaccines, etc., at one time may give parents pause. I find this uneasiness perfectly understandable! And the fact that there are incentives in place for providers to load up kids on vaccines makes parents uneasy. Again, understandable! And of course, although typically in very small amounts, there are some non-ideal ingredients in vaccines. Even if they are necessary to make them effective.
So whether you agree with a decision or not, try and put yourself in the mindset of the other parent and at least try to understand and say, “okay while I don’t agree I CAN see where they’re coming from.”
Like I said, I don’t think there’s ever going to be a perfect answer we can all agree on. But I think the closest we can get to a somewhat happy medium is to advocate for reform on the pharma side of things instead of trying to change the minds of other parents. I think we should…
-stop incentivizing providers to push vaccines
-educate providers on detox methods for post vaccination
-stop loading up kids with multiple vaccines at once and space them out
-encourage providers to only give one aluminum containing vaccine at a time
And this is only going to happen if we can continue to have respectful conversations on both sides and work together for the betterment of our kiddos!
There are still going to be parents who wish to get all the vaccines in as quick as possible and parents who wish to not vaccinate at all. This is their convictions for their specific familial circumstances and it is to be respected.
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