To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate--there is a safer middle ground

Many parents have been plagued by whether or not to vaccinate (even me), but a better question might be: How can my child receive the maximum benefit from critical immunizations while reducing potential risks and unnecessary exposures? The key is to know there is a middle ground that recognizes an individual child’s risk factors for getting sick and assesses the most appropriate timing to vaccinate based upon the least neurologically vulnerable time and the most competent time for a proper immunologic response.

Immunizations have had a tremendously positive effect on the spread of contagious disease in the world. However, the current vaccination schedule does not take individual health and risk factors of a child into consideration. In addition, the current immunization campaign is rather aggressive with a child receiving about 48 vaccinations in the first few years of life. Considerable immunologic and neurologic development is occurring during these same first few years. Susceptible individuals may be significantly and adversely affected.

A safer way would be to tailor the immunization choices and timing through careful assessment of an individual child's risk factors (i.e. full term vs premature, breastfed, etc), other environmental risk factors (i.e. smoker in household, daycare, other school age children in house, etc), best timing for appropriate immune response while avoiding the most vulnerable time of neurological development, and risk of getting disease.

I urge you to avoid the "all or none" stance which leaves your child vulnerable in either extreme choice--there really is a safer scientifically based holistic middle ground.