Should parents have a say in what vaccination/immunization thier child can receive ?

I don't know becuz it opens up a whole can of worms. We don't have many of the diseases of the 3rd world countries I believe becuz of these inoculations on one side but I do believe that a parent should have the right to choose. We had to take our children to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for these "mandatory" shots as they go into their teen years and my doctor sat and read off a sheet given to him by the state on what he is to check for in a child's welfare. Again, on one side I can see where sometimes it could be needed the way some parents do to their own flesh and blood but I bristle whenever the state personally thinks I need a hand raising my child and knowing what's best for him/her based on the opinion of some doctor who did a study on however many test subjects.

Very well put...i do not believe in some of the shots that my children have to be given yet if i can not find any evidence to back my dislike of that certien shot i just deal with it i rather have my child healthy, and protected just in case!

Sure, the parents should be able to refuse a vaccination or immunization for their child, but they damn well better be held responsible when/if they get incredibly sick.

Amen to that!!!!

And if your child has moderate to severe reactions they should be forced to endure more and more? I don't think so.

We should all be given a choice. And if there is a break-out then those who chose to have vaccinations/immunizations won't be affected.

I think parents should definitely choose. My mom just refused gardisil for me and my sister. It was not needed, so why get it?

Unless you are going to keep your children away from all other children it has to be manditory. Then only your kids will get sick

if your kid is vaccinated, then what's the problem... unless you believe that vaccines aren't effective... then what's the point of vaccinating?

I was vaccinated and so were all my children. I do not know if it is still true or not but here children have to show proof of all shots to be enrolled in public & private schools.
The problem is vaccines prevent the worst case of the desease. If other children are not vaccinated they MAY be carriers. The unvaccinated children are who I wworry about getting sick and dying.

there are religious/philosophical and medical exemptions in nearly every state... schools wont tell you about it, but they exist...

Never knew that. I am older and I remember my cousin being in an iron lung. He did recover. My parents took vaccines very seriously and so did I with my kids.

in some ways yes in some ways not maybe sometimes cuz ur parents may know more then u in somethings it really depends on the specific situation

I want the power to be able to stop a vaccine from having to be put into my precious loved one's body if it contains mercury, aluminum, or ANYTHING toxic or dangerous! It's just that simple.

very good point!

Parents ought to act responsibly when it comes to immunizations, but I don't agree with the current method of application.

When I was a kid, the number of immunizations given before the age of two was 7. Currently it's 32. Do all children really need to be vaccinated against HepB before leaving the hospital? Are they sharing needles that early?

I fully plan to get Ophelia her shots, but I don't see the reason for giving them all at once. Sure it's easier on the doc, but it increases the risk of complications to a level I'd rather not take.

it is better to research and make an educated decision than to blindly follow becuase it is what you have been told to do... I hate it when parents get their kid vax'd because their doc said so, without any thought in it whatsoever... or those people who think that because they vax'd and I didn't that I should keep my kid at home... if they believe vax's are effective then their kid is safe, right... why do they care?

Those so called "vanquished" diseases are making a comeback.

like what...

Ever hear of smallpox or malaria? Sure its not in our country but there's no reason why the diseases should "cross" the border. I take it you don't believe in vaccinations.

those things aren't vaccinated for in the US... I don't believe in blindly vaccinating... I believe in delayed, selective vaccines... why vaccinate my kid against chicken pox when the vax will wear off and leave him vulnerable when the disease is life threatening? Better to have him get the chicken pox as a kid and have lifetime natural immunity...

those things aren't vaccinated for in the US

Yeah I'm aware of that. On the contrary Smallpox "was" but the CDC declared that disease vanquished. I don't believe in "blindly" vaccinating either.

Chicken pox is vax'd against in the US, as riverbeuaty noted.

Smallpox has been vanquished and hasn't resurfaced; strains of monkey pox with similar traits to smallpox have been reported however.

measels, chicken pox

neither are serious... and lifetime immunity is achieved by a natural exposure to the disease... if you get the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine as a child you will lose immunity as a teen/young adult. Getting chicken pox later can be deadly, getting it as a child is an inconvenience.... same with measles.

Healthcare is such that vaccines do more harm than good now. If your kid gets an illness it can be managed by a doctor with little or no side effects... vaccines kill people daily. http://vaers.hhs.gov/ this is a government funded and controlled reporting agency for adverse reactions to vaccines... the website itself says that only 10% of adverse reactions are reported in the USA... scary...

The returning baddie that they're scratching for is whooping cough (pertussis), which was never vanquished, but was down in numbers for a long time until more parents stopped blindly giving large-batch vaccs to their kids.

The issue I have with the bundled vaccs is their potential to cause reactions in children. My wife and I have friends in Vermont whose son Skylar was a precocious child up until he developed a severe fever from one of the bundled immunizations (I don't recall which one at this moment). The kid is now developmentally autistic.

Very few of the diseases we vaccinate against are all that deadly these days.

>>>Very few of the diseases we vaccinate against are all that deadly these days.

That is why I don't vax my kid... yet... I have looked into Meningitis...

Pertussis (Whooping Cough) can be deadly without proper medical care... but a concerned parent doesn't just sit on their thumbs when their child gets sick...

I'll consider vaccines in relation to risk factor. The idea that we should vax girls for HPV at age 8 says more about parents not wanting to openly discuss sex with kids than it does about trying to contain a malady.

AMEN!

Some vaccines can be dangerous if taken along with other vaccines!

TRUE DUDE!!

Why wouldn't you want your kids to have it?

why?

there are religious/philosophical and/or medical exemptions in nearly every state... schools wont tell you about it, but they exist... In no state is it a hard LAW to vaccinate your children in order to attend school... in many states the school will make your kids stay out of classes if there is an outbreak... but that doesn't happen more than once a year in the usa...

I understand your viewpoint though :)

http://www.unhinderedliving.c...

Vaccine Exemption Forms Online - by State or Country

immunizations should be required. Diseases we conquered long ago are coming back due to some parents not immunizing their children.

name some...

measles, Scarlet fever, Pertussis.. just to name a few.