Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Pervasive Parenting 

By Kodey Toney

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

There has been a ton of controversy lately in the news over vaccinations. Celebrities, comedians, and politicians are all weighing in over immunizations. It's easy to see why with the mumps outbreak in recent months it is easy to see why. I feel that it is time for me to share my thoughts on immunizations. 

This actually comes from something that I wrote a couple years ago, but my feelings have not changed. 

While I’m not entirely sure of my stance on the subject, I will tell you my thoughts on the situation, and what my wife and I have done as parents.

Let me start by saying that I’m not opposed to vaccinating children. In fact, I am all for it. This may seem unusual for an advocate for people with autism. I have friends that work to advocate for people with disabilities, and opinions vary greatly depending on who you talk to. 

However, it is a very effective way to help children fight off diseases that could potentially kill them. I feel that we should continue to vaccinate our children. 

I just wonder what we are injecting into their tiny bodies. 

Think about this; within an hour of your child being born in a hospital someone will give them a shot. Their bodies are anywhere between 4 pounds to 11 pounds on average. Is there a reason why we need to? Well, the short answer is maybe. This is a vitamin K shot that helps with blood clotting. This will help keep children from hemorrhaging. This was a major concern years ago, prior to the shots. However, the need for a shot is questioned. There are oral vitamin K drops that can be given to prevent the vaccine from being given. Another is the Hepatitis B shot which we will get to later. 

Let’s start by asking a question. Do we really know what is in the shots we are giving our children? 

The main shot that has caused all the controversy in the past few years is the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine. According to the FDA, MMR-II never contained thimerosal, a potentially dangerous chemical used in some vaccines. Other shots still include the thimerosal though. The flu shots include this. However, the mist that is given through the nose does not. The FDA also stated trace amounts of mercury were detected in an earlier MMR formulation. We all know that mercury is poisonous to our bodies. It is said that there is no mercury in the shots any longer. Guess we’ll just have to take "their" word for it. 

And what about aluminum, which is used as a preservative? 

While there is a decrease in cases of these childhood diseases following the vaccinations, they do not stop all children from getting them. Just like the flu shot, you can actually contract the diseases from a live strand. 

I’m not saying that vaccines cause autism; I’m also not saying they don’t. Truth is we just don’t know. The only thing we do know is that studies provided by pharmaceutical companies say that there is no link. I’ve yet to find a study from an independent company with no bias toward the money generated by these drug corporations. 

My stance is this: until we know more about what we are injecting in our children it is better to be safe than sorry. 

This is why, with our second child, we have spread out his shots. We don’t do them all at once. This caused a little trouble at first. Our pediatrician said that he would not spread the shots out, so we had to seek a second way of getting them. The Health Department was kind enough to give them in whatever order we wanted them (within their guidelines of course).  This does not mean that we are always behind on his shots. In fact we are on schedule with what is required by the State Health Department. 

The truth is we just don’t know, and when you have one child that has autism you do what you can to help the other one. The main thing that we wanted to do was to guard his little body from too many chemicals. 

With the MMR, should we give them all at once? Experts have said that we do not need to give them all at once. The only reason behind this is convenience. So, it is more convenient for the doctors and drug companies to give doses of who-knows-what than to keep our children safe? After all, isn’t that the most important thing, and their jobs? Instead they just load our children with a solution that, I suspect, they probably don’t really know the full ingredients of themselves. 

I’m not a doctor. I don’t pretend to be one. However, I am very concerned about what goes into my childrens' bodies. I’ve said this before; I don’t even like to take an aspirin if I don’t have too. I really don’t want to pump my child full of unnecessary chemicals. 

All of this of course is just my opinion and in no way expert advice. Get your child immunized, but be smart with how you do it.