I am back though just dosed on panadeine forte so my response may not be up to par.

To establish my position - I do not vaccinate my babies. My oldest DD had a severe reaction to her immunisations (whooping cough was not included) - she now has aspergers which may or may not be related to this. (I suspect not as she was very "aspy" in her early babyhood ) I live in a rural area and tetnus spores are still found int he ground up here. I immunise at school entry for tetanus, measles, mumps and chicken pox.

I am a nurse and I have witnessed child hood illnesses - and despite common thought they are not necessarily "mild". The public has a misconception that measles, mumps, chicken pox are very mild illnesses that have few if any problems. This can be very far from the triuth. Deciding not to immunise should not be done without facing the reality that contracting these illnesses can and does present a risk to life and can affect quality of life.
I have also travelled to third world countries and have seen first hand what it looks like when the "herd" are not vaccinated.

We are living in a country where approx 40% of the population are immunised. This affords a cover to the rest of us who are not.

I fully understand why parents immunise their babies - and I understand why parents don't. I just ask that people make INFORMED choices. Contracting the illness is a form of vaccination - albiet a very dangerous one. Measles followed by meningitis is not pretty and it happens. Whooping cough kills children still in this country. Some of those that die are too young to be immunised.

I am a fence sitter. I sit on the fence as I have seen far too many reactions to immunisation that scare the brown stuff out of me. I have also watched children die of complications of immunisable diseases...

We need to be less careless with our herd. We need to restrict our babies to who they are subjected to. Shopping centres in strollers = sitting baby duck. Whooping cough is highly contagious. When there is an outbreak we need to be very aware. Children should be kept home when they have runny snotty noses - this is the first sign of many communicable immunisable diseases. We need to use preventative herbs, vitamins and wholesome foods.

It's a really tough decision but it needs to be made not out of fear, but out of education and intuition.

I had the wrath of the Gods on me when I refused immunisation of Imogen (very rare for a baby to leave NICU unimmunised). She was neutropenic so thank Goodness I listened to my intuition. So far so good - she has had her share of chest infections but touch wood no "childhood illnesses".

Again, read read read - educate yourself and make a decision from a clear place not a fearful one. Goodluck!