babyblog

MMR

Dylan was born at the beginning of 1999, right in the middle of the MMR scare that came about after a publication suggested a link between the vaccine and Autism. As a result of all the publicity I was something of a nervous wreck when it came to making the decision about whether to vaccinate him. I did a ton of research at the time and the conclusion I came to was that I couldn't reach a conclusion which I was 100% happy with.

When you're a first time parent to a new born baby - not being 100% happy with a decision is something incredibly frightening. I just didn't know what to do. I talked to everyone I could talk to, I read everything I could read. Eventually I decided to go privately & have the separate dose vaccines as they became available - which involved something of a waiting list.

Unfortunately we moved to Canada before we got to the top of that waiting list. There, the Montessori School that we enrolled Dylan had a very strict policy on vaccinations and refused to admit him unless we had it done. As he was now 2.5 and past the age where Autism generally becomes apparent - I reluctantly took him in to have his MMR. Thankfully there was no subsequent problem to doing so. I have to say that going and having that vaccine done was a horrid thing for me, it didn't sit well with me at all what with all the scares going on, but I also didn't want him to get any of the 3 diseases and single dose vaccines were not available in Ontario.

After that the MMR issue obviously was no longer present in my mind until it became time for Harry to be vaccinated at age 1. With my 5 year old information in mind I decided to wait until Harry was 2.5, as I had done with Dylan. Also present in mind was that where we lived in Canada there seemed to be a high number of boys with Autism disorders. 4 on our street alone, including the boy that used to live in our house. As there's concern that there are environmental factors triggering the disorder I was quite petrified and really determined not to have the MMR until Harry was past the age of concern.

Moving to the Seattle area I took Harry to register at the Pediatrician and was immediately foisted upon with requests to vaccinate him against all sorts of things. Chicken Pox, Ear Infections, Hepititis A, MMR, etc. I refused all of them at the appointment and wasn't very popular for doing so. I definitely don't agree with the Chicken Pox vaccine. It's a mild disease which if you are vaccinated against as a child does not protect you as an adult and is far more serious to catch as an adult and can lead to shingles. The Ear Infection vaccine is for a rare type of infection. Hep A? Maybe later. MMR? Same.

When we booked our vacation to Mexico I had a look at the Tourist advisory and it recommended being up to date with Measles vaccines. I became a little concerned that Harry wouldn't be covered. We'd be taking him into a third world country and through airports. I dithered. Then I thought well, we're going to a 4 star hotel and we're not going to be travelling through backwaters so it'll probably be OK. But then this week I happened to be listening to the Womens Hour Podcast from Radio 4 and there was a discussion about the MMR. They said that there are alarming numbers of Measles in Sussex and Surrey in the UK - almost an epidemic - due to poor takeup of the MMR. Those counties were advising parents to bring forward the MMR vaccine to 9 months old and have the booster at 15 months! I listened with some horror until they had an expert come in and explain that the age reasons were really only there for convenience and also because of the fact that until 1 most babies will be covered maternally. They also went into some detail about the Autism scare and (obviously) said it was rubbish.

Whether I believe that or not, and maybe I am beginning to, my fear then grew because not only will we be going to Mexico this summer but we'll also be visiting my sister in Sussex (and again going through the airports) so I decided maybe I would just bite the bullet and get him vaccinated with his MMR. Which I did. This morning. He cried. I cried. It's done.