Not vaccinating your kid?

In the New York Times today was an article about parents who have rejected to vaccinate their children.  Why?  Stupidity would be the first thing that comes to my mind but I am not sure that is it. 

There has been much speculation in the past years about autism being tied to vaccinations.  Many pediatricians have said that the onset of autism actually happens at the time when kids are entering the age where they are being vaccinated for multiple things.  I remember when the kids were young being amazed at the vaccination schedules.  These are one of many things you learn about being a parent.  I always thought it was fascinating how out of the womb comes this perfect human being who is completely untouched and then over the process of the first few years of their life they are inoculated  from a variety of harmful diseases that could harm them.  Historically many of these diseases such as small pox, measles, tuberculosis and now even chicken pox have medications that will hopefully make sure that nobody gets these harmful diseases again.  Actually it is quite brilliant.  The downside is as we inoculate ourselves against disease, other diseases crop up. 

I made the decision to inoculate the kids against chicken pox because every time I tried to expose them to chicken pox they never got it.  As more and more kids get inoculated against chicken pox, the chances of them getting it gets smaller and smaller.  Chicken pox is a no brainer as a kid except for itching yourself like crazy but as an adult it can be quite serious.  Leaving yourself open as an adult to get chicken pox is not smart.  I also had the girls take the latest vaccination which prevents cervical cancer.  This particular virus is one that many women had and did not even realize it.  It didn't turn into cervical cancer but it was definitely a hindrance for some women trying to get pregnant. 

There was a recent case of a young girl who was awarded by the courts ( through her parents)  that she became autistic after taking a vaccination.  Supposedly this kid had a very rare virus that reacted to the vaccination.  Maybe there could be a simple way for every kid to be tested for this prior to their vaccination so parents feel safe. 

I was vaccinated as a kid and my generation did not see as much autism as there is today nor did we see as many kids being allergic to peanuts.  Why?  My guess it has to do with what we have been feeding ourselves over many years.  It is not easy to feed as many people as we do without using drugs in our food.  Everything is cyclical. We see many people returning to organic food and local green markets.  Whole Foods defines the times. 

The amount of information to be read on the web is probably another reason people have decided not to vaccinate their kids.  Articles about possible side effects, etc.  But, in the end, I firmly believe that not vaccinating your kid is not only harmful to others in the community (case and point that you need to prove your kids vaccination charts when entering the school system yearly) but it is wrong.  To me, it is a form of child abuse.  How can you raise a kid without vaccinating them against disease that the medical community has worked so hard to prevent. 

The picture of these nice looking organic mothers in the New York Times makes me want to scream out loud ( it is the one on this post).  There are different laws state by state but there should be a federal law that one must vaccinate their child based on the Food and Drug Administrations schedule. 

I take it back, parents not having their kids vaccinated are just stupid.