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Yesterday, the medical journal the Lancet retracted a study it published back in 1998 that linked the MMR vaccine to Autism. The study kicked off a major discussion of vaccinations, and led many parents to leave their children vulnerable to preventable diseases for fear of consequences from the vaccine.
You can read more on the story from CNN here. As a parent, this reinforces my belief that you should be as informed as possible, but not overly reactive. I lost a childhood friend to measles because she wasn't vaccinated, and so I know that has impacted my views on vaccination.
I don't ever doubt that things we put in our food, products, bodies, can affect us in adverse ways. We have made more and more of an effort to eliminate processed foods from our diet, and to find more natural skin, hair and cleaning products. That being said, I look at how much vaccinations have completely eradicated childhood illnesses that were at one point in time commonplace and often ended many otherwise healthy lives very prematurely. My husband and I read as much as we could, discussed it with our doctor and each other, and ultimately decided that the benefits far outweighed the risks and that we must vaccinate our children. We have, though, spread some of the injections out a little further apart, rather than 4 or 5 different vaccinations all being given at the same time...that always seemed to be a lot for a little body to handle to me.
It will be interesting to see if this development will change any opinions.
