I was not given the smallpox vaccine as a child (born 1962) because of being lactose intolerant. They stopped giving it by 1970 (at least where I grew up) and there was a lot of talk about smallpox having been "eradicated." And yet I know that there are "samples" (not the word I want, but you know what I mean) in the CDC. I think this is madness. Could it not have been destroyed for good and all? All it needs is one industrial spy to steal the test tubes and start a pandemic. And in these days nothing would surprise me less (see anthrax).
My mother was one of those who didn't believe in vaccines, but in her case she said it was just a waste of money, in her words "booster shots are just a money- maker for the doctors." Which meant that in order to be allowed to go to summer camp at age 13 i had to have all of the vaccines I'd never had--polio, measles, rubella--the lot. I was very ill for a day or so with the reaction to all of that stuff zipping around in my system at the same time.
I too know a girl who is younger than me that had polio and is now partially paralyzed because her parents "didn't hold with" vaccines.  I think at least some of them are valuable.
Now having said that, I never understood how they can come out with a valid "flu vaccine" each year--how do they know beforehand what's going to be this year's virus? Also I see so many older folks rush to get them--and then come down with the flu. You never got that with the polio/rubella etc. vaccines! Doesn't seem to be very helpful.

just be sure you remember that if you do decide to vaccinate, that they aren't 100%. I was vaccinated against everything as a child but I studied in SPain about a year ago and got the Mumps. No one here gets the mumps. I didn't even know what they were! So just keep that in mind.

This thread will be of interest to you: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=13681.0

you would have to look around on http://www.pregnancyweekly.com for the info but the women on there are friendly and will help. u might want to try the natural part of the board. i sometimes go there b/c i had merrick naturally at our old apartment and will do it again in a birth center with midwives if we can find one for when that time comes again. sry really tired right now b/c ive been up since 5 yesterday afternoon.

I never questioned vaccines and all my kids have had all of theirs, including the HPV vaccine.

My mother had polio in 1952 when she was just shy of 9 years old.  She has been confined to a wheelchair for 55 years this summer.  The bones in her legs have decalcified and her muscles are atrophied.  If she should fall when she is transferring from the toilet to the wheelchair and breaks a leg, they will have to amputate.  Because of the timing of her polio, she developed the most severe type of scoliosis there is and when they fused her spine at age 14, it didn't straighten and is fused into a very extreme curve.  One of her kidneys has traveled because of her spine and no longer functions.  She is 63 and has long since had to use oxygen at night because, after all of these years, they discovered that the polio had gotten the lower lobes of her lungs.  Her shoulders are so deteriorated that she lives in constant 10/10 pain. She suffers a great deal.

I have also had cervical cancer myself.  I chose to treat it homeopathically and I am fine.  It was NOT HPV type of cancer either.  There are only 4 varieties of HPV that cause cervical cancer, so that is all the vaccine was designed to cover.  Some of the types cause genital warts and other problems, but not cervical cancer.  The problem is that many people may not be as careful about Paps as they should if they have the vaccine.  I am among the one-third of all cases of cervical cancer that are "garden variety" cancer and not related to HPV.  This one-third is also twice as likely to due of cervical cancer.  It ain't exactly rocket science.

My brother and I had measles.  I have had rubella, chickenpox and whooping cough.  I have had a small pox vaccine myself. SOme of my kids have had chickenpox, some the vaccine and one of them has had both. 

I can't tell you what vaccines are "killed" vaccine and which are still "live" vaccine these days.  The Sabin vaccine for polio was a live vaccine and because it caused 10 cases of polio in the US every year it was given, they no longer give it.  All polio is given as Salk these days because as Jonas Salk was one to say...no one ever got polio from the Salk vaccine.  If vaccines were still being given as "live" vaccine I'd say no to them, but not to "killed" virus vaccines.

Vegan or not, I'd make the same choices again.  These so-called childhood illnesses can be deadly, that is why they are required for school children.  I know first hand what polio can do and I would NEVER risk someone I loved by not making sure they were vaccinated and that includes my dog (of note, we had distemper running though a town nearby last month and dozens of dogs got sick from lack of vaccine). 

By the way, the large study conducted of whether or not there is a link between DPT and autism has concluded that there is no link whatsoever, it is a coincidence of timing. 

Oh and um, I choose not to get the flu vaccine myself, although I have lupus, moderate to severe asthma and a couple of other problems.  I have an allergy to eggs and I have not had the flu since I quit getting shots.  However, since I have had 8 cases of pneumonia in my adult life and I have broken ribs coughing, I jumped at the opportunity to have a pneumonia vaccine because I viewed it as a potentially life saving vaccine for ME.

The autism rate is so high it's scary....1 in 150  :(

Um... that's the autism diagnosis rate. You know? ;)
I overheard someone the other day saying how their son was JUST diagnosed with austim AND ADHD.... uh... both?? That's when I'd run for a second opinion. I'm thinking... if the child truely did have autism (and maybe he/she does!) but don't you think that the "ADHD" diagnosis could be from the parents lack of creative communitcation with the child???
ADHD diagnosis had risen over 400% in the last few years.... I don't think that more kids are suddenly getting it, I think Big Pharma makes it easy for docs to hand out meds like candy cures. Some people go to the doc and if they don't have something wrong with them they don't feel like they got their money's worth. You know?? Sorry cuz that's a rant that's not really about vax at all... :)

Let me be VERY CLEAR about HPV and the ramifications here.  I am extremely FOR giving this vaccine. 

1) HPV treatment is not minor.  It is no longer treated with cryotherapy (freezing like a wart).  THe current treatment requires general anesthesia and a laser treatment, or possibly a knife and cautery.  It is minor surgery, but comes with the risks of general anesthesia.

2) It is insidious.  It tends to come back and come back and come back, each time requiring more and more tissue to be removed.  By the 2nd conization, future fertility is in question and at the very least, would require the woman in question to have a cervical circlage, which is also a procedure under anesthetic.

3) I transcribe LEEP conizations (cutting with a wire loop) and cold knife cones on a daily basis, most days several of each.  While not violating anyone's privacy, I can tell you that about 95% of these procedures are done on girls aged 15 to 22.  I know that about 15 to 20% of those I do are repeat procedures, see #2.

4) Condoms are good protection against HIV and not too bad in preventing HPV.  HPV IS a sexually transmitted disease and men harbor it, but the medical profession being what it is, men are seldom if ever treated for HPV.  There isn't a simple blood test to detect the infection either.  Given the fact that there are still a fair number of new HIV infections even in the US among heteros, what makes anyone think that young women are going to insist that their partners use condoms?  The power balance between young men and young women doesn't speak to her being in charge of these things.

Lastly, if there were an HIV vaccine, would you refuse it for yourself or those you love?  My children would all have it, period and so would I, though I live like a nun. I would NEVER tell my kids...okay there is a vaccine for AIDS and I don't think it is safe or vegan, so I want you to use condoms every single time.  I doesn't work quite like that.

My only disappointment about the HPV vaccine is that they are only recommending it for GIRLS when girls get it from BOYS and BOYS are not being treated.  Now, if we find that the same HPV that causes cervical cancer also causes prostate cancer, every single boy in the US will have it and they will all be screaming for girls to get it so that they don't "infect" fellas!!!  It just happens to be the other way around and so it is not that important to some people.