Daycare, Immunizations and Autism

I have to sign M.D up for the childcare at my school for fall semester. That doesn't seem like a big deal right? The only problem is that he is not current on all of his immunizations. Well that's not totally true, the only vaccination he hasn't had is his MMR vaccine. With all of the controversy surrounding this vaccine, I have always had doubts about giving it to my children.

P.C got his MMR shot at 15 months against better judgement. I tried to explain to the doctor that I would rather wait till he got a little older, but the doctor practically berated me and made me feel like I was putting my son's health at risk if I didn't get him vaccinated that day. Medi-Cal doctors tend to be very pushy and it seems like they think that because we are low income, we are uninformed and do not know what is best for our children. Luckily he had no negative effects from it.

When it came time to have Lil B's 15 month shots, I finally worked up the courage at the last minute to tell the nurses I had decided not to have him get the MMR vaccine. I informed them that I would wait until after he turned 2, to have him vaccinated against MMR. Because the nurses were all ready in the room and had already gave me his shot record back, they never crossed it off his record, so he didn't actually receive it until he was 5 years old when they gave him the booster for kindergarten.

With M.D.,(like the other boys) we also had Medi-Cal. When he got his first shots, he had such a bad reaction to them, we almost had to take him to the emergency room. That made us double weary about the quantity and quality of shots kids receive. When it came time for his 18 month appointment, I was all ready to put up a fight. I had decided to wait until he had more time to develop before he got his MMR shot. Luckily, I ended up getting an older doctor that was running 1 1/2 hours late, so he didn't really have time to argue with me, he just gave in. It was more or less, "wham-bam thank you mam", and on to the next patient.

We were able to get off Medi-Cal last year when my husband got a job working construction and joined Carpenters Union. And I hate to say it but the quality of care you get with private insurance is so different than when you have Medi-Cal. The doctors and nurses don't seem so over-worked and rushed. They are more friendly and actually seem to care about the patients. The boys new doctor is AMAZING! She actually take the time to listen to my concerns and is willing to talk me through them. She is soooo good with the boys and they really like her, which makes it easier all around. She has also believes that children are given too many vaccines at once and even recommends splitting them up. (Wait, you mean I don't even have to put up a fight or feel like I'm a bad parent anymore?)

So I called the boys doctor to get her opinion about everything. She asked if I knew that there had been an outbreak of measles in one of the major cities near our town, and it has been spreading to other cities nearby. (I had heard it previously heard it on the news). She also informed me that Measles is one of the most contagious diseased around, and can have some devastating effects on the children that become infected with it. M.D. would be at a higher risk of being contracting illnesses once he started daycare, because the number of children he would be exposed to, would increase greatly. She told me that she understood my concerns, but in her opinion, (as a doctor and a mother), it would probably be better to have him vaccinated.

Update: I made M.D. an appointment for this Friday with the Injections Nurse to get his MMR shot. I am still not 100% sure about it, but I do feel better about it after talking to his doctor. I also found out that the doctor who published the infamous article linking the rise in Autism to the MMR Vaccine, had his article retracted because of fraudulent evidence. I guess all we can really do is pray and hope for the best.