Vaccines

I want to chime in about vaccinations and the idea of people not giving them to their children. In my opinion it is reckless and dangerous. Vaccines are relatively harmless, in fact even if you have an egg allergy you can still get the MMR. Vaccines work on a herd principle to keep levels of disease low. The theory being that every person does not have the same immune responce to the vaccine. So, if I am only 25% protected against measles but the people around me are 99% protected my chances of getting measles is low. When you start to include significant numbers of people who have 0% protection, my chances start to go up. So, if your kids don't have vaccines stay away from Quentin :) The number of cases of measles and mumps are climbing very high in parts of Europe where people have decided not to vaccinate their children. As for austism, the original person who reported a link between vaccines and autism has been fully discredited and I believe is no longer employed! One of the biggest concerns was a potential link between a Mercury containing compound in vaccines (thimerosal) and autism. Not only is it no longer in vaccines, no study has been able to show a direct link. Here is one from the New England Journal of Medicine. Please email me if you want more. The impetus for this post was something we saw on the news up here. They had a piece talking about vaccines and basically had a point counter-point type thing. The advocate for vaccines was a pediatric infectious disease specialist from Mass General. The opponent was a.........wait for it......................Chiropractor. Chiropractors are wonderful for your back but are as qualified as Bailey to give out advice about vaccinations. So for everyone who reads this and has children, please please vaccinate them because if you vaccinate your child, you are not only protecting them, but you are protecting Quentin, and your child's friends etc etc.