Vaccinations Good or Bad?

It is so hard trying to be a good parent these days. Every time you think you make the right decision on something for your kids, they find out the next week or whatever that it was wrong or bad.

I go back and forth on the issue of vaccinations. I do believe they are a good thing as a whole, but every time I have to get my kids a set of shots I get knots of fear in my stomach. It angers me that there was a possible link to autism because of mercury or something like it used as a preservative in some vaccines. If this increases the chance of problems, then there should not be a preservative in the vaccines. SO they have a shorter shelf life, or you have to refrigerate them, so be it. Any risk that can be eliminated should be eliminated!

I got my kids all the traditional vaccines, but I am not ready to get any of the new ones. Like the one for cervical cancer or meningitis. On the commercial for the mengitis vaccine called Menactra is quickly mumbles something about an increased risk of Guillain Barre Syndrome, and that anyone with a history of this syndrome should not take Menactra. It made me curious about what Guillain Barre Syndrome was. I went to the CDC website and this is part of what it said....

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC are alerting consumers and health professionals to five reports of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) following administration of a quadrivalent (A, C, Y, and W135) meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Meningococcal Polysaccharide Diphtheria Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine, Menactra® (MCV4). It is not known yet whether these cases were caused by the vaccine, manufactured by sanofi pasteur, or if they were coincidental.
All five cases occurred among persons aged 17-18 years who were vaccinated during June 10-July 25 and had symptom onset 14-31 days after MCV4 vaccination. The five patients received vaccine from four different lots in four states: Pennsylvania (two), New York, Ohio, and New Jersey (one case each). A sixth report of a possible case was received on October 4th and is currently being investigated.
Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a serious neurological disorder that can occur, often in healthy individuals, either spontaneously or after certain infections. GBS typically causes increasing weakness in the legs and arms that can be severe and require hospitalization. The precise rate of GBS is unknown, but data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) indicates a background annual incidence of 1-2 cases per 100,000 person-years in 11-19 year olds.

You can read the whole article at the CDC website. Just scroll down to the paragraph headed FDA and CDC Issue Alert on MCV4 and Guillain Barre Syndrome.

I guess if your situation is that you have a higher risk of meningitis than this other disease, than you might choose to get the vaccine, but I just do not know how they can keep using something that they are pretty sure makes your risk of another health problem higher.