Why did you choose to vaccinate your child?

[LuluHB]

I have done for pretty much all the reasons outlined above:

1. Herd vaccination works.
2. We are now free of so many terrible diseases still prevalent in many places around the world
3. The risks are by far outweighed by the benefits (doesn't mean I don't still feel sick every time I take one of my kids for an injection, but I do so in the knowledge that I am doing what I think absolutely the best thing by my child)
4. Its more important now than it was when I was a child because as a result of vaccines and programmes being so successful, there are now too many people choosing not to vaccinate purely because "X doesn't exist anymore". It only will continue to not exist if people continue to vaccinate.

[Livinthedream]

Because I am more scared of the diseases than I am of the vaccines.
It was an agonising descision though, especially the 6 week ones.
They are so tiny and perfect, it seems so wrong.

[SunnyRain]

I will admit I didn't do a lot of research into all the risks. I know the basic side effects which I don't consider very bad (compared with the diseases). I have researched the supposed link to autism and have concluded that is harmful nonsense.

My biggest reason for vaccinating my children is that sometimes vaccinations don't work in individuals, so even though we believe we are protected we may not be. We therefore rely on each other to be vaccinated as a whole to try to protect those who are not vaccinated effectively.

I believed I was vaccinated against rubella and got pregnant happily thinking I was all caught up with boosters, then discovered after I had ds that I had no rubella antibodies. If I had contracted rubella while pregnant it could have been devastating. So I'm very glad that is not such a common disease.

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[HotI]

i began vaccinations for my DD despite my uncomfortableness because of grandparental pressure to get her vaccinated.

[Mrs P]

I never considered not vaccinating. A combination of reasons, many mentioned above already but also the additional insight provided by my tertiary education (I have a PhD in microbiology) and having a friend die from meningococcal 15 years ago aged just 18. Her parents started an amazing foundation in her memory and what they do for medical research is commendable. I couldn't imagine going through the pain of losing my DD the way they had too, so I did what I could to protect my DD and got her vaccinated.

[~me~]

Initially I didn't choose to vaccinate if that makes sense, I'll explain myself

With DS1 we were in the flush of pregnancy. There was only a few of us at the time having babies. Through the pregnancy all the information sessions was about birth, labour, antenatal and post natal, and the changes that may occur to your relationship with your partner.
When DS1 was born it was about, settling, feeding, SIDS, post natal and again about caring for the relationship with your partner. We were looked after well, given a little yellow health book with lots of different information including an immunisation schedule. I looked at it, put it up on my fridge and followed it religously.
Maternal Health appointments were again about settling and feeding. I was matched up with MG and the first 6 sessions were held with the Maternal Health Nurse at the centre so we could get to know each better on common ground. Each session focussed on certain apsects of parenting, again, settling, feeding and so on. The MG I was matched with were similar to myself. New parents. None of them mentioned about not immunising their child and my circle of friends didn't mention not immunising either. So DS1 is fully immunised. In fact, menigicocal (sp) was arising fast around his time, it was not going to be on the schedule for another 6wks or so after they had released the vaccine. I weighed up the risks and went to the GP, got a script, paid $150 for the vaccine and had him immunised for that as well before it went on the 'free' schedule.

With DS2 it was similar to DS1, no education classes this time as I was a 2nd time Mum. I was handed a Blue health book and off I went and followed the immunisation schedule. Again, I hadn't come across anyone who didn't immunise or when I mentioned I was on my way to an appointment, ask me If I had done my research.

With DD it was a different story. I was more active with BB, I had a wider circle of friends and it was discussed quite a bit. One in particular had a little boy with Autism and had also had a reaction to one of the immunisations. I still remember being given the little blue health book and looking at the immunisation schedule and really looking at it this time. I also remember thinking, thank goodness, there is one now for Rotavirus. I had nursed both my boys with Rotavirus as the same time. It was terrible.
So with DD I made the choice to immunise. She was in the age group recently that needed an extra pneumococal (sp) as the first one was for a differnt strain and this one included another.

None of my kids had any adverse reactions to the immunisations. Now when I think about it, I am glad I followed the schedule. Even if the vaccine is for a certain strain and new strains come along, I am still comfortable with having immunised. I would not have a clear conscience if one of my kids had one of the viruses that can be immunised against and either lost his/her life or even if they survived, the secondary long term complications that can come with some of these of viruses is frightening.

Hope that all makes sense.

[Beautiful Disaster]

For us it was never an option not too. They have been proven time and time again that they work and I wasnt prepared to risk my childs health over something preventable. Leaving it up to other people to vaccinate their children so that mine doesnt get sick because I chose not too? No thanks, thats too big a gamble for me!

Same

[Phteven]

Because I believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

The benefits to my children include not being killed or crippled by polio and having a mild case of a childhood illness rather than a severe case.
Also we have traveled to less developed countries than Australia and hope to do so again. I wouldn't want my children to live with the guilt of infecting children who don't have the nutritional benefits to throw off something like measles. Some diseases that are rare in Australia are common in other countries and if we are traveling in areas with a higher incidence of disease I prefer my children to have some measure of protection.
I prefer to provide herd immunity rather than to rely on other people to provide it for me. If everyone relies on other people to provide immunity pretty soon herd immunity will be a thing of the past.
I have never yet met a scientist with a genuine understanding of micro-biology and disease control that has chosen not to vaccinate although I know a few who have followed different schedules that better suited their circumstances.

I do wish that vaccines weren't given in bulk and that each disease had it's own vaccination rather than being combined but I do understand that from an economic perspective that it makes more sense to have the kind of vaccination schedule that we do have.

[ellasmummy]

For us the benefits outweigh the risks. Although vaccinating doesnt guarantee my child won't ever get the illness, the severity would be decreased. I could never forgive myself if my child died from a preventable disease or gave an illness to a baby too young or unable to be immunised.

[meow]

My mother was a nurse and very pro-vaccination and she told terrible stories of nursing dying children with tetanus etc. She did tell me that she felt babies were being given too many vaccines at a younger and younger age though.

I think this point of view greatly shaped my opinion as I felt vaccines were effective and important, but I tried to do a lot of research to determine how to vaccinate my first son. Based on that we did vaccinate him, but we delayed the vaccines one needle at a time and skipped some we didn't feel he needed (such as rotavirus and chicken pox). So I'd say we were pro-vaccine but not pro-vaccine schedule.

We have a history of autism in the family so we delayed the MMR vaccine till 2 years old and I tried to read a lot about the autism-MMR link. I found the Wakefield study to be an incredibly poor piece of research so based on that we dismissed the link as a problem.

Now that our eldest son is autistic I have done more reading and we have decided to stop vaccinating our children. I know this question is not about why you don't vaccinate but I feel the evolution of our decision is important in understanding why we did vaccinate.

We only found out our first son was autistic just before our second son was due to have his first vaccinations and we were travelling overseas. Based upon what we had already researched, and my concern about travelling through international airports with an unvaccinated baby we decided to vaccinate him and those are the only vaccinations he has had.

[Inertia]

To be perfectly honest, with the first four there as no higher well informed decision making going on. It is just what people did.

I started delay vaxing following my nieces passing using less than 24 hours after her 2mo needles. She was the first of the kids in my family to get the new infanrix hexa that they started using in NSW and I simply could not bring myself to let them stick it in the arms of my 2mo baby. They couldn't find proof that it contributed, but they couldn't find proof of anything, so that is not proof that it didn't contribute, iykwim.

Anyway, I didn't even look into vaccines until after that happened. I was just being a good lemming. And on that part, you can quote me, lol.

[Ambersky]

Sorry to be brief..

I think we are incredibly privileged and lucky to live in a time and place where we don't have to expect to loose one or more of our children to illness, My Great-grandmother lost 3 of her 8 children to disease that is now preventable, My mothers eldest brother also died of the side effects of an illness we now vaccinate for.

Herd Immunity works, i want to do my part in a society trying to minimise disease.
No amount of reading has found facts that convince me the potential risks outweigh the potential benifits.

[Muraho]

a) Benefits far outweigh the risks IMHO

b) I did enough research of my own to be comfortable with my decision before going ahead

c) Spending a lot of time with sick kids in Africa does kinda sway you into the very very very PRO camp...

I will say though that I have delayed certain ones; and I don't necessarily go along with the 'oh he's 18 months, so he needs blah blah blah' stuff the MCHN/Doctors might say. I tend to look at a wide range of things before deciding what's a good time for him to get his next vaccination.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I chose to vaccinate.

The dangers of my son contracting a vaccinatable illness were greater than giving him a vaccine. Although I did delay a few vaccines and he hasn't had all the Aussie standard ones, he is vaccinated for the really nasty ones.

I am aware that he can be vaccinated and still contract the illness - this is unusual and he will have some level of protection with the vaccine he would not have had without it.

Plus, the worst thing that vaccinating apparantly does is "give you autism". I refuse to see autism as worse than dying from a preventable disease. We need heavy metals in our system, OK so in vaccines there are quite a few but that doesn't mean that's a bad thing. Heavy metals are in vitamin tablets and they're deemed OK/good. Bacterial cultures are eaten/drunk as they're "really good for you" - um, no, not really. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a scientist who vaccinates her child.

[Lila]

I chose to vaccinate my DD. I didnt really do any thorough research into it either way, I just believed that the benefits would outweigh the risks otherwise it wouldnt be so highly recommended and pushed in the medical world. Maybe this is a naive of me though? Anyway, I am comfortable with my decision and DD hasnt had any adverse reactions to any of her immunisations. Same can't be said for mummy though, I remember tears falling down my face at those 8 week needles!

[*EJ*]

I never considered not to. It may be naive of me also but i put my trust in the medical world. You would like to think our children would not be endangered knowingly. As a PP said we have now been able to immunise against diseases that in the earlier years where wiping out familes. I'm greatful of that for sure.

[blondedoctor]

I fully intended not to immunise my DS. I was not immunised as a child for anything, and made it through ok (although I did contract german measles as a child but don't remember it being that bad). For my career I've had to get rabies and tetanus shots, and I also chose to get a chicken pox shot after I was exposed to a child in the infectious stage. I have never given any time to the notion of vaccines causing autism, it is completely unrelated, but have been brought up to believe that it is better for the body to contract and fight disease than it is to vaccinate. I have a science degree so started to research my decision so that I could defend it with DH (who is pro-vax).

I could not find a single valid reason NOT to vaccinate. I really tried to find some but couldn't find one reputable paper. I now sadly realise the disservice my mother did by not vaccinating me, and also I feel terrible for anyone who contracted german measles from me. My mother still sends me 'pseudo-scientific' articles about why I shouldn't be vaccninating and it just perplexes me why a woman who grew up and saw the devastation of disaeses like polio (and their subsequent -almost- eradication) finds vaccinations dangerous.

My son is fully vaxxed, on schedule, never a single reaction, and he is healthy and full of joy

[Butterfly Dawn]

All my 3 are fully vac. I believe in the greater good. If we can wipe out diseases through vacinations its good. Living in a 3rd world country for a few years where they have diseases we don't- I can really see the benefits