Green Child Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 33

Vaccination: Let’s put the judgement to rest. |by Anne Michelsen Any debate can get ugly. The vaccine debate just did. Recent stories in the mainstream media stories – including articles published by USA Today and The Washington Post – dish out the blame, accusing parents who don’t vaccinate of being “hysterical,” “hostile,” “irrational”, and a threat to public health. Horror stories abound, featuring babies and children maimed for life or killed by vaccine-preventable diseases. On the other side of the issue, anti-vaccine proponents offer plenty of horror stories of their own. The entire scene has begun to resemble a football game, where parents are expected to root for one team or the other. Bring on the nachos! Pressure From Both Sides Unfortunately, when the “ball” is your child, it’s hard to know which side to take – or whether to take sides at all. No matter what decision you make, someone is bound to tell you you’re wrong – implying, of course, that you’re a horrible parent. No wonder so many parents feel pressured and confused about vaccination. The problem is that instead of supporting parents to weigh the evidence and make the best possible decision for their own families, this “ball game gone bad” atmosphere tends to pressure them into choosing a position and defending it . Sadly, children are rarely the winners when this happens. The following true stories illustrate my point. Possible Vaccine Injury Goes Unreported When I first met McKenzie,* she was a bright, active two year old. She was highly verbal and loved to play and laugh. The next time I saw her, she could not speak or even swallow on her own. Her muscle control was erratic, and she no longer responded to her name. McKenzie had suffered a bout of encephalitis, shortly after a routine MMR vaccination. Was the vaccine at fault? No way to know. McKenzie’s mother refused to question her doctors’ and nurses’ assertion that there could not possibly be a connection. She undoubtedly couldn’t face the thought that her decision to vaccinate could have led to her child’s injury. This is totally understandable, but what if there really was a connection? If so, allowing the incident to go unreported could potentially contribute to additional tragedies, since vaccine safety improvement depends largely on feedback from the field. Also, if McKenzie’s illness was determined to have been vaccine-related, her family might have 33