4 ms·

Everyone is pro-vaccine until you have to jam 3 or 4 vaccines into your own child seemingly every doctors visit and sometimes have to suffer through a "sickness

Everyone is pro-vaccine until you have to jam 3 or 4 vaccines into your own child seemingly every doctors visit and sometimes have to suffer through a "sickness" (but let's not call it that) post shot reaction. I'm not speculating here, just speaking from experience as a parent of two children who knows and speaks with parents of other young children. We're not anti-vaccine but I'm not dancing into the Dr. office with my kids to get it done.

joosters 13y ago
Why isn't that anti-vaccine?
- Sharlin 13y ago
  Because being for something, at the same time recognizing there are also downsides, is not being against something.
eitally 13y ago
Kids get sick all the time anyway, and almost nothing is directly attributable to vaccine administration. I thought I was really lucky when my household had a healthy stretch between last July and mid-December. That may have been record since my son was born 5 years ago and my daughter 3.
nairteashop 13y ago
It most certainly is unpleasant, for the parent and for the child. One thing that helps is to keep it mind what the alternative is - having your child actually getting the disease. One of my middle school classmates (from India) had leg deformities from polio, and could not walk without the help of crutches. He couldn't participate in most school activities, and was teased often. I wasn't able to find out why he wasn't vaccinated, but he was from a wealthy family so we always assumed they were in the anti-vaccination camp. Can you imagine being in his place? He has to suffer for his entire life because of a dumb decision that his parents made. BTW I realize that polio vaccination does not require painful injections, but just pointing out that there are severe downsides to not vaccinating your child. Most certainly severe than a few jabs.
tptacek 13y ago
I'm a parent, I have a sibling who is a parent, and friends with kids. I don't know a parent who wasn't aware that there are side effects to vaccination; any time a doctor does anything to your infant, you're going to be asking questions and they're going to be overcommunicating, and a mild fever after vaccination is an extremely common side effect. I'm definitely dancing to the Dr's office with my kids to get them vaccinated (when scheduled). There are a lot of vaccines early on, which makes sense, because little kids are highly vulnerable. It eases up as they get older; it's been years since either of my kids got jabbed.
cafard 13y ago
And many of us not just until but beyond. I can recall an impressive antibiotic reaction, but never a vaccine one.
sureshv 13y ago
Most of the scheduled vaccines end around 5 years old other than those you take to go into certain parts of the world. There's a booster every so often but those are infrequent. Most kids just cry for a bit and get a sore arm, a statistically small percent get a true adverse reaction. It's simply not worth the risk to not vaccinate.
sanj 13y ago
I dance into my pediatricians office to get my kids vaccinated. Then we get some shots. Then we do another dance, which has an accompanying song entitled "I just extended you lifespan!" We also talk about how we're going to get more vaccinations before our next trip because the India has crazy mosquitos and Costa Rica could have bad water. Vaccinations are wondrous. It isn't that much work to get your expectations to match.
brady747 13y ago
I don't get it. So if things are not fun we don't do them? Is someone claiming they love to dance to the doctor to see their child in pain? I have a newborn. He has been upset, in pain, and sick in his first 6 months - we always try to do what is best for him, our family, his health, and public health. Dancing or allowing his discomfort to heavily bias our decisions never even remotely occurred to us.

joosters 13y ago

Why isn't that anti-vaccine?

Sharlin 13y ago
Because being for something, at the same time recognizing there are also downsides, is not being against something.

eitally 13y ago

Kids get sick all the time anyway, and almost nothing is directly attributable to vaccine administration. I thought I was really lucky when my household had a healthy stretch between last July and mid-December. That may have been record since my son was born 5 years ago and my daughter 3.

nairteashop 13y ago

It most certainly is unpleasant, for the parent and for the child. One thing that helps is to keep it mind what the alternative is - having your child actually getting the disease. One of my middle school classmates (from India) had leg deformities from polio, and could not walk without the help of crutches. He couldn't participate in most school activities, and was teased often. I wasn't able to find out why he wasn't vaccinated, but he was from a wealthy family so we always assumed they were in the anti-vaccination camp. Can you imagine being in his place? He has to suffer for his entire life because of a dumb decision that his parents made. BTW I realize that polio vaccination does not require painful injections, but just pointing out that there are severe downsides to not vaccinating your child. Most certainly severe than a few jabs.

tptacek 13y ago

I'm a parent, I have a sibling who is a parent, and friends with kids. I don't know a parent who wasn't aware that there are side effects to vaccination; any time a doctor does anything to your infant, you're going to be asking questions and they're going to be overcommunicating, and a mild fever after vaccination is an extremely common side effect. I'm definitely dancing to the Dr's office with my kids to get them vaccinated (when scheduled). There are a lot of vaccines early on, which makes sense, because little kids are highly vulnerable. It eases up as they get older; it's been years since either of my kids got jabbed.

cafard 13y ago

And many of us not just until but beyond. I can recall an impressive antibiotic reaction, but never a vaccine one.

sureshv 13y ago

Most of the scheduled vaccines end around 5 years old other than those you take to go into certain parts of the world. There's a booster every so often but those are infrequent. Most kids just cry for a bit and get a sore arm, a statistically small percent get a true adverse reaction. It's simply not worth the risk to not vaccinate.

sanj 13y ago

I dance into my pediatricians office to get my kids vaccinated. Then we get some shots. Then we do another dance, which has an accompanying song entitled "I just extended you lifespan!" We also talk about how we're going to get more vaccinations before our next trip because the India has crazy mosquitos and Costa Rica could have bad water. Vaccinations are wondrous. It isn't that much work to get your expectations to match.

brady747 13y ago

I don't get it. So if things are not fun we don't do them? Is someone claiming they love to dance to the doctor to see their child in pain? I have a newborn. He has been upset, in pain, and sick in his first 6 months - we always try to do what is best for him, our family, his health, and public health. Dancing or allowing his discomfort to heavily bias our decisions never even remotely occurred to us.