[candymosh]

When an investigation proved early this year that research linking autism and vaccines was fraudulent, it seemed the debate over when or whether to immunize children might quiet down. But new voices have piped up in the vaccine controversy, and this time, they belong to pediatricians.

While most parents do choose to vaccinate their children on schedule with their doctors' recommendations, the trend of delaying or opting out of scheduled shots worries many pediatricians. And some pediatric practices are responding by requiring patients to get immunized on schedule or to find another doctor -- no shots, no service.

Why would a pediatric practice show anti-vaccine families to the door? Dr. Scott J. Goldstein of the Northwestern Children's Practice in Chicago, where a vaccine policy was implemented June 1, said they do it to protect children and to provide better care for all the patients he and the seven other staff pediatricians see.

Pointing to a strong scientific record supporting vaccinations, Goldstein said his practice's policy serves the most vulnerable children -- like infants and those with critical illnesses who are not able to be immunized -- by protecting them from diseases. All of those children could be in the waiting room together, some pediatricians note, and the unvaccinated ones could be putting the more vulnerable ones at risk.

"Vaccines are safe and have been studied for a long time and continue to be studied," Dr. Goldstein told Shine. "Vaccines are responsible for saving millions of lives and keeping millions of other children safe and healthy."

Vaccinating most children contributes to "herd immunity," which helps kids who are too ill to be on the recommended schedule and lowers the overall risk of disease outbreaks.

"It is a minority of our patients who opt to go off the schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and CDC (Centers for Disease Control) or not have vaccines at all," Dr. Goldstein said. "This makes it very complicated for our staff to follow. We don't just ask those families to leave. We give them every opportunity to ask questions, to schedule vaccines, to work with us."

Some parents may not feel the need to put the brakes on vaccines, but do want to compromise by slowing the schedule. Dr. Goldstein said this also poses a danger.

"Vaccines are scheduled to be given at the time when children are most vulnerable to that disease. Slowing down the process only puts the child at a higher risk of contracting the illness," Dr. Goldstein said.

The main fear of vaccinating children, he said, is that kids will contract autism, even though research has put to rest those concerns. Other parents are simply afraid that their child will be exposed to too many things early on in their life. Dr. Goldstein said it will take better communication with parents to change the fear-based mindset against vaccinations.

So far, Dr. Goldstein's practice has mostly heard positive reactions from parents about the new vaccine policy.

"They are happy we are taking a stand," he said.

This stand might seem harsh but the wording and the strictness varies among pediatricians. One Massachusetts-based practice puts it bluntly in the policy that takes up a full page of their website: "Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children are not a good fit for our practice and will be referred elsewhere."

The policy goes on to offer parents who "insist on diverging from the recommended vaccine schedule" a waiver taking responsibility for any risks that result from delaying or opting out of vaccines and offers research, literature, and further conversation to parents on this "worrisome subject." They also thank parents for entrusting the practice with the care of their children, but the pro-vaccination message is clear.

A pediatric practice in New York takes a gentler, storytelling approach to explaining the historic debate and reasoning around vaccinating, but makes its position very clear (in bolded print on its website): "If, despite our recommendations, you feel you cannot follow the CDC and AAP recommendations for these vaccines, we will ask you to find another health care provider who shares your views."

The AAP warns that vaccination policies may undermine children's access to health care, stating: "Families with doubts about immunization should still have access to good medical care, and maintaining the relationship in the face of disagreement conveys respect and at the same time allows the child access to medical care. Furthermore, a continuing relationship allows additional opportunity to discuss the issue of immunization over time."

Although instituting a policy has been working well for Dr. Goldstein's practice, he said he hopes that refusing to see unvaccinated children does not become a trend nationwide.

"I know the AAP has cautioned against these policies. If I was the only doctor around, I certainly wouldn't want to throw these families to the wind. In our case, in a neighborhood and city with many pediatricians and options for families, we are choosing to protect kids' health," Goldstein said. "We are not making them sick. We are not forcing them. We are not neglecting them."

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/paren...nated-2509592/

[Hvergelmir]

So basically:
Your kid needs to have needles jabbed in his arm, because my kid is too weak to fight off the meazles?

[candymosh]

No. They are saying that the claims of vaccines causes conditions like Autism are meritless and people need to start vaccinating before serious diseases get out of hand. They are saying that if people would get their kids vaccinated, kids that are too weak to get vaccines would be protected because of "herd mentality"

[Tefik]

Since when is it mandatory to vaccinate? We pay for the shots, isn't it our choice? Many children had bad reactions to the infamous H1N1 vaccine, some children died. Whose children are they anyway? Forced vaccination is Draconian.

[candymosh]

They aren't being forced. The doctors are saying that you have the choice to go elsewhere.

I guess it depends on the doctors stance on the whole thing. I know a lot of doctors are against vaccines and a lot are all for

[mirrormere]

The ignorance about vaccinations is abhorrent. People want to blame their kid's autism on something so they blame antibiotics, vaccinations, the environment, TAB cola, etc. Shit happens people...no causal link has been proven from ANY source.

The one thing that HAS been proven by lack of vaccinations...global epidemics.

...Polio
...Tetanus
...Smallpox
...Meningitis
...Hepatitis A
...Pertussis (Whooping Cough) - mp3 attached
...Haemophillus Influenza (HiB)

It is irresponsible parents that will bring these conditions/disease back to the "civilized" world that worked so hard to eradicate/control them...

Thank you for spreading your ignorance like gonorrhea.




...and you're probably the same folks who'd rather give your kids amphetamines (like Adderall) to shut them up rather than spend time on teaching them how to deal with life, instilling in them a sense of dignity and responsibility, and giving them the love and support they need. Fucking nutters

[candymosh]

Who you calling a nutter?

~tidbit about Candy: my daughter IS autistic and she GETS her shots on time. A part of me wonders about the shots because that seed was planted by people after I got the diagnosis....so I can't 100% say I don't think the shots did it.....but I'd rather the shots be the reason for her condition than me be responsible for bringing a preventable disease here.

~shakes head at nutter~

[mirrormere]

Originally Posted by candymosh2 ↗

Who you calling a nutter?

~tidbit about Candy: my daughter IS autistic and she GETS her shots on time. A part of me wonders about the shots because that seed was planted by people after I got the diagnosis....so I can't 100% say I don't think the shots did it.....but I'd rather the shots be the reason for her condition than me be responsible for bringing a preventable disease here.

~shakes head at nutter~

Didn't mean you. Sort of jumped on my soapbox about the people who say vaccinations cause more harm than good.

Autism is truly a socially debilitating developmental condition. I have a friend with Asperger's which is on the lower end of the Autism spectrum and I see how difficult it is for him to socialize with "normal" people. I never meant the nutter thing towards anyone dealing with Autism or an autistic child, just those that blame a culprit that really doesn't exist.

BTW, Has your daughter gotten Oxytocin treatments?

[candymosh]

Oh...I get on the vaccine soapbox from time to time too I think one of the worst things that ever could have happened for Autism awareness is Jenny McCarthy getting involved. I watched the Frontline vaccine debate and it amazes me some of the things she was telling people.

I haven't had her on any medications. She gets a ton of speech, behavior and occupational therapy a week and so far that has worked wonders for her. I am waiting on an appointment with a neurologist to see if she is having seizure activity and to also get a referral for a sleep study.

[mirrormere]

Originally Posted by candymosh2 ↗

I haven't had her on any medications. She gets a ton of speech, behavior and occupational therapy a week and so far that has worked wonders for her. I am waiting on an appointment with a neurologist to see if she is having seizure activity and to also get a referral for a sleep study.

That's great that you've been able to do so much therapy with her. A sleep study and/or EEG are some of the best ways to determine seizures. Sounds like you are on top of it. Thank God there are parents as involved and caring as you!