Can vaccinations be harmful even though they are so essential to human development?

There is much controversy on whether vaccinations are in fact necessary for healthy growth. This has been causing many parents to even decline them over recent years. One of the main concerns of many parents is if these vaccines do in fact cause the early development of disorders such as autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or other harmful side effects. Many major medical institutions such as the US Food and Drug Administration (USDA) claim these drugs are safe and are vital to a child’s health, but if this is so, then why are some parents so quick to reject them?

One of the most common questions is whether most, if not all, vaccinations required by the government are necessary. Vaccinations work by using a weakened version of the disease and imitating it, thus forcing the body to develop an immunity to the disease. The government advocates and persuades the public to use the standard vaccination schedule. Contrarily, many parents are currently beginning to create their own schedules, making the decision to wait on certain vaccines to be “safe”. Furthermore, there are many studies proving that diseases are becoming vaccine-resistant such as the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. There is also speculation that many vaccines could be in direct correlation with the early development of autism. Andrea Finkel is a teacher and a parent who believes her eldest child developed autism due to vaccines as a child.

Do you believe that vaccines caused one or more of your children to develop autism or other disorders?

“Yes, I believe that vaccines combined with genetic factors caused my son’s autism.  From what I have witnessed in watching his regression from a healthy, social, developmentally appropriate infant and young toddler to a child displaying severe characteristics of autism combined with reasoning what basic knowledge of medical health and genetics teaches us, I can reach no other logical conclusion.”

Do you believe it could have been a specific vaccine or just in general?

“I believe my son’s autism is the result of a combined attack on his immune system and his body’s inability to kick out the toxins from both vaccines and too many antibiotics. Did one specific shot push him over the threshold? Probably, but if it wasn’t one it would have been another. In his case, I believe it was the culmination of too many assaults to his immune system causing neurological damage.”

How old were your children when they received the vaccines that caused these abnormal side effects?

“My first three children received each shot exactly on schedule with the recommendations made.  I was very meticulous about making sure I followed the protocol as I trusted that this was one of the best ways to safeguard my children’s health. Tommy began to regress after his 18 month shots. He developed a fever, rashes and even a few chicken pox after his first vaccines. All three of my first children had issues with digesting their formula. Mary had unexplained bruising all over her body 2 separate times. After Grace, my third child, developed severe acid reflux blatantly after her six months shots leaving her in screaming fits and Tommy slipped away from us in the biggest jump backwards that he ever had after the same visit for shots, I swore off immunizing my children. My last two children have never received a vaccine. Without question they have been my healthiest children.”

What prompted you to come to the conclusion that vaccines caused your children’s disorders?

“I believe that the cause of my son’s autism, sensory problems in my one daughter, and ‘other’ neurological complications in my other daughter are tied to the overdose of vaccines that they were given early in their development. I believe that this is most simply illustrated by observing that my two children who did not receive vaccines do not suffer from any of the symptoms associated with people on the spectrum. My daughter with mild spectrum qualities was vaccinated, but only up to six months of age. This is just too much evidence to reach a different conclusion.”

Mrs. Finkel claims that her children were perfectly healthy until they were vaccinated and this link could be due to genetics. She believes that something in the vaccines does not react well with her families genes causing one of her children to develop autism, and the others, learning impairments. Here is another mom, Paula Myers, who believes her children were affected by vaccines and developed side effects as a result.

Do you believe a vaccine caused your child to develop autism or some other disorder?

“I believe a vaccination triggered my son’s autism; I do not believe it caused it.”

What led you to the conclusion that vaccines caused these harmful effects?

“Before the said vaccination in question, my son was developmentally on track or even slightly above other children his age. He hit all of the milestones and was hitting some of them before the average. He was walking, had a large vocabulary, was laughing, and making eye contact.”

How old was your child when he received the MMR vaccine and what were the side effects that led you to believe the vaccine caused his disorder?

“He was 18 months. As stated above, he was progressing right on track, but the day after the vaccination, he withdrew. He did not want to be around people, he lost most of his language, he stopped making eye contact, and he began to only desire to eat a few items of food. When he was diagnosed, the doctor told me my child would never regain most of his language, would never attend school in a regular classroom, never play sports with peers, get a driver’s license, or hold a job. He encouraged me to place him in a residential facility for children with autism. My son instead led a normal life and attended regular classes, received academic awards, got his license, got a job, graduated from high school and Grand Valley State University with a double major in finance and marketing. He went on mission trips, was an officer on the Executive Board for the American Marketing Association, and he currently is working full time in his field.”

Both Myers and Finkel, like many parents, have spoken out against vaccines and the harmful side effects they could cause as a result of these viruses, along with other chemicals being injected into children at such a young age. Dr. Mercola outlines that U.S. children are expected to receive 48 doses of 14 vaccines before they are six years old, and 69 does of 16 vaccines before 18. Parents and pediatricians are questioning whether these copious amounts of strong chemicals should be injected into young children before they are done developing. Furthermore, children who are vaccinated have proven to have a much higher rate of ear infections, allergies, asthma, fever, ADHD, sinuses and autism than children who are unvaccinated. All of these studies are hard to ignore, but as of now, it is uncertain as to whether vaccinations are indeed the cause of these developments.

Along with the debate over whether vaccinations are harmful, is the debate over whether the government has the right or authority to intervene in the parents medical choices. Finkel believes that it is a parents inherent right to decide whether to vaccinate their child.

Contrarily, the popular debate is that by allowing parents this right, it is endangering the rest of the vaccinated community. One influential spokeswoman against vaccines is Mary Tocco. Tocco  is a major influence in the nonprofit organization, Michigan Opposing Mandatory Vaccines (MOM) and fights to protect the right of a parent’s choice to reject them if they so choose. This nonprofit was formed after Michigan attempted to pass a bill removing the right to waive vaccinations in the state. Is it fair to take away a parent’s right to protect their children from what they believe could be harmful?

Vaccinations are made to help people fight off diseases by developing an immunity to them. Although, many people believe this method is not as efficient as just letting children and adults attract these diseases, thus acquiring a natural immunity. Vaccines only provide a temporary immunity, compared to the permanent protection the body obtains after it naturally experiences and recovers from the disease. Mercola states that in a previous year, the United States faced an outbreak of mumps with 77 percent of the total infected having received the MMR vaccine as a child. This is ironic as this vaccine is supposed to make you completely immune to the ailment causing many parents to question the effectiveness of these vaccinations.

The controversy between whether vaccines are helpful or harmful to the human body remains a highly disputed topic. Furthermore, there are numerous amounts of research and studies depicting both points of views with new studies coming out daily. Although vaccines have cured many epidemic diseases in the past and have prevented new illnesses from ever arising, they can still be harmful in some cases as a result of a negative reaction to genetics and a role in the development of disorders or impairments in young children.Vaccines should not be removed, but there should be more steps made to attempt to make these vaccines safer with the hope of  decreasing the negative results or side effects permanently changing a child’s life in an instant.