to vaccinate or not to vaccinate...that is the question!

I recently did a little poll to find out what some people's opinions are on vaccinating their children. I've always felt understanding towards both sides of the argument.

Out of seven of the responses, only 1 person was against vaccinations. Here are some of the comments that people had:

"We vaccinate for a reason, so that extremely dangerous diseases don't threaten epidemics. Whooping cough is on the rise especially in places like southern California where it's trendy to not vaccinate and some speculate that this is the cause of the spike in cases both in adults and children."

"I think the risk of getting a deadly disease while not vaccinated is greater than having a negative reaction to the vaccination."

"The ingredients are toxic and there are horrible adverse reactions ( nothing new to many but sadly too often overlooked) , which do not merit being outeweighed by any supposed benefits. Our children are sicker than ever with the rise in vaccines and I'm not afraid of the diseases vaccines are said to prevent ( btw there are no studies that have been done to show their effectiveness or causation of a decline in preventable diseases, just correlation). I don't believe a healthy immune system is found through a needle."

On one hand, there are some pretty terrible diseases out there and we have an obligation to protect both our own children as well as others from contracting them.

On the other hand, there really is no way to show what the ultimate effects of vaccinations will be on our children.

But what if you're sitting on the fence? Or you just don't know very much about either side of the dilemma?

I pulled up a few good articles both for and against infant and child vaccinations.

PRO VACCINATION

1. Anti-Vaccination Movement Causes a Deadly Year in the U.S.

2. The Dangers of the Antivaccine Movement

3. How Vaccines Prevent Diseases

4. Anti Vaccine Body Count

ANTI VACCINATION

5. Mum stands by her decision not to vaccinate kids

6. Should Any Vaccines be Required for Children?

As I was doing this research, I actually discovered that there are quite a few more articles supporting vaccinations than discouraging them. Personally, I choose to vaccinate my daughter but I think it's important for each of us to actually ask our children's doctors to explain each vaccination they are receiving and to research and understand them. I chose not to have Savannah given the flu shot. I'm sure many people are going to look down on that decision, but I feel like it was the right one for us.

So what do you think? Comment and share your thoughts on infant and child vaccinations!