Vaccine Questions-Advice needed | Autism PDD

Reposting questions from another thread (as it seems no one is looking at it)

 

Questions:

1. If a parent feels strongly about NOT vaccinating his/her child and is NOT ABLE to get an exemption, what is the consequence if he/she does not get the shots? Will schools refuse to take the child? Does the child have to be homeschooled? Are there legal penalties?

2.If you believed that the vaccines carry a risk to your child because you know certain substances used in the vaccine can be dangerous in certain doses and because you feel there are too many chemicals being injected into your child at one time, what would you do? Would you suggest getting one vaccine at a time and space out the shots over weeks/months?

3. Would it look bad in a custody dispute if a parent (the one trying to keep custody) was trying to get their child exempt from vaccines/not getting the child vaccinated in the recommended sequence?

4. If I ask for individual vaccines (one thing at a time), will insurance cover the individual vaccines (going like 5 times for each shot instead of once for 5 shots)? Does anyone know how much a vaccine out of pocket may cost?

5. Has anyone here personally seen any adverse reactions in their kids after shots?

THANK YOU for any advice and info! I am so worried about Ali getting her shots in a couple weeks. I am finding more and more info about kids who have had problems (not just autism) resultant from their vaccines and it petrifies me. Kids are getting paralyzed, having seizures and even dying from vaccines (VAERS). Autism is the least of my worries concerning shots.....I would be no good if my child died from something I am told I HAVE to have her get. I am in MD and the only way out of the shots is a medical or religious exemption which I am not sure I can get for Ali. I know everyone feels differently about shots.....I do not want to start a debate, I just want some advice based on the way I feel. THANKS!

Anna - I answered your questions in the other thread, but in case you do not go back there, here is what I wrote ...

You're asking some very good and very tough questions. I'll address the ones that I can:

1) Depends on what state you are in. Every state offers at least a medical exemption, but you have to get a doctor to vouch for you (not an easy task) and it needs to be renewed each year. Many states offer a religious exemption, and by law a school cannot ask you your religion. Some states offer a personal belief exemption. This website shows which states allow which exemptions: http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/cc-exem.htm

2) Personally, we are not vacc'ing my DS anymore for the reason you state and more. From what I've seen, the ASD parents who believe in the vaccine connecton have stopped vacc'ing altogether. The parents who delay/space out vacc's tend to be those who don't have an ASD child but for whatever reason believe that the CDC recommended schedule is too much for an infant/child to handle.

3) Depends on your ped. I've heard of many peds charging only the copay for the vac itself, since your child would only need to see a nurse and not hte doctor him/herself to have the vacc administered.

4) Wish I could help you with this one. I would hope that the judge wouldn't factor this into any custody decision, but you never know.  It sounds like you haven't made any decisions yet, so it wouldn't be a lie to say that you are still evaluating available 'literature' and your options with the best interests of your child in mind.

5) About 3 hours after DS's 2 month shots he cried inconsolably for just shy of 3 hours. After his 4 month shots he had a fever for ~24 hours which did not worry me. After his 6 month shots he had a hard red welt at the injection site which also did not concern me. After his 9 month shots (including a flu shot

Lots of luck to you.

Hi!
I don't have answers to all your questions, but have thoughts on a couple of them. 

1st-regarding custody -- why mention the vaccines at all to your spouse?  If he's like mine, he leaves all that to me and wouldn't have any idea about vaccines unless I mentioned it to him.   Also, at your child's age, she should already have almost all of them anyway, wouldn't she?

2nd-on the religious exemption thing, I would think you would have a valid religious reason anyway, with your Catholic background since some of the vaccines are made with aborted fetal cells supposedly.  See this site http://www.cogforlife.org/

Marilyn
Mom of Jay (age 3 pdd-nos), plus 3 other NT kids

Edited because I had called your daughter a he (sorry!)

marilyna39268.5677777778

ANYONE should be able to get an exemption - just stae 'religious reasons'.

I personally would NEVER vaccinate!

Both my babies are way past due with shots and I keep delaying them but their doc seems to think there is no connection so he wants to go ahead with them all...I am nervous!!!!!!What do they ask for, do you know, for a religious exemption?  I am thinking it may not be possible....cause I am Catholic, but do not go to church reg. (I have since classified myself as Christian and when I do go to church it is a nondenominational one).  The school Ali is going to attend is Catholic and is stating they require up to date vaccs to attend.

. If a parent feels strongly about NOT vaccinating his/her child and is NOT ABLE to get an exemption, what is the consequence if he/she does not get the shots? Will schools refuse to take the child? Does the child have to be homeschooled? Are there legal penalties?

I am just going to add onto what Nate's mom said:

Most states offer medical and religious exemptions, except VA which I believe only offers medical.  There are states that offer philisophical exemptions, whihc is nice.  The publics schools and organizations that contract out with the schools/ state must accept the child.  As for childcare, it varies among the states.  A private facility may have the right to refuse a child, but I know in some states if the facility is licensed by the state it is obligated to accept the child.  The only thing the school will require is an exemption card that you obtain from your county health department.  Then the county health department will tell you that if there is an outbreak, you will have to pull your child from the school until the outbreak is gone.

A good website is www.909shot.com and www.generationrescue.org

2.If you believed that the vaccines carry a risk to your child because you know certain substances used in the vaccine can be dangerous in certain doses and because you feel there are too many chemicals being injected into your child at one time, what would you do? Would you suggest getting one vaccine at a time and space out the shots over weeks/months?

Since both my kids have autism, we ahave decided treating them biomedically and have seen significant improvement.  I would have to say I believe that there is some connection b/w my kids and the vaccines.  #3 is due any day now and DH and I have decided to hold off on vaccinations until his immune system is completely developed at the age of 2 yrs.  Then we will do selective vaccinations for the diseases we feel are important.  We will space them out and do them one at a time.  However, I am not sure which ones and I want to look at the ingredients first.  If it has aluminum, we will probably not use that vaccine...it just depends.

3. Would it look bad in a custody dispute if a parent (the one trying to keep custody) was trying to get their child exempt from vaccines/not getting the child vaccinated in the recommended sequence?

Not sure, but it might w/ all the pro-vaccine propaganda going around.  What you could do is do delayed vaccinations through your doctor.  So long as you are indicating that you are vaccinating, but doing it slowly and safely through a doctor, I wouldn't think that would be a negative image...just shows you are educated:)

Also keep in mind that many, if not all, of the county health departments will grant you extensions on getting vaccinations if you decide to do a delayed vaccination schedule.  You can even get your doctor to write a note to the county health department, if they require it.

 

4. If I ask for individual vaccines (one thing at a time), will insurance cover the individual vaccines (going like 5 times for each shot instead of once for 5 shots)? Does anyone know how much a vaccine out of pocket may cost?

I have no idea, but from my experience w/ other parents...their insurance refused to cover it.  Of course, some parents had doctors who refused to order it.  There are at least 2 compounding pharmacies in the US that does provide the vaccinations split up...at least for the MMR.  I think it was around -60 an injection.  There is a mom I know who had it split up and only paid when her doctor ordered it. 

Both of the pharmacies will ship overnight.

Hopewell Pharmacy in NY http://www.hopewellrx.com/

Wellness Health Pharmacy in Birmingham, AL http://www.wellnesshealth.com/wellness.asp?ID=2

5. Has anyone here personally seen any adverse reactions in their kids after shots?

Yes.  I saw a negative reaction to the chicken pox and the MMR with my #2.

To get exempt is SOOOOO easy, you go to the health department and fill otu a little form, tada! You just state 'because of religious reasons I choose not to vaccinate'. Good luck!

I just called the Dr's office to ask some questions about the vaccines and it was a little disturbing how much resisitance I met to three simple questions I posed. I askd 1) WHo manufactures the vaccines you use? 2) Can the vaccines be broken into several doses instead of all 5 things at once? (THIS WAS THE ONE THEY GAVE ME A VERY HARD TIME ABOUT) and 3) Can I get the lot # for the vaccines? (THEY WERE ALMOST ANGERED BY THIS ONE AND BASICALLY REFUSED TO GIVE IT TO ME SAYING THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A RECALL AND VACCINES ARE TOTALLY SAFE.

Did you speak to a physician, or a nurse, or ... ?  I suspect someone who had more education and was aware of the controversy would have been more helpful.  Staff are so overworked some places ... they probably felt  threatened and too busy to help?

They had BETTER be able to give you lot numbers -- they must chart them, anyhow!

It was a nurse and she spent a few minutes on the phone with me....but spent all the time basically saying how safe vaccines are, whoever says otherwise is uneducated, and that it would be horrible for me to think of splitting her shots up because that would be traumatic for her  and though it may make me feel better it is not good for the child and the doctor does not reccomend that because they are more concerned with the best interest of the child  My Dr. let us split up the shots and we delayed them as well. Got more grieve from the office workers than the Dr. I think they don't like it because it makes extra work for them. Well too bad, get all the info you need, that's their job.

Also I don't think my dd was negatively impacted by the vaccine's. Nothing changed with her after the shots and ASD runs in my family so I think what's going on with her is genetic. However, I would still advise being cautious with the vaccines, just because some children aren't affected doesn't mean they are safe for all children.

Good luck and way to go for doing what's best for your child.