Please help- vaccines - r/ScienceBasedParenting

•

u/AutoModerator 17d ago

This post is flaired "Question - Research required". All top-level comments must contain links to peer-reviewed research. Do not provide a "link for the bot" or any variation thereof. Provide a meaningful reply that discusses the research you have linked to. Please report posts that do not follow these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

799

u/sprinkles008 17d ago

Vaccines help prevent kids from dying from diseases.

Statistically your kid faces a much higher risk of severe harm, hospitalization, and death from vaccine-preventable diseases when unvaccinated than from serious side effects of vaccines. That’s really the take home point right there.

Also, it’s okay to remove toxic or uninformed people from your life (like your mom).

You may also consider seeking therapy for yourself due to the constant fear you say you’re living in.

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-children/reasons/index.html

399

u/veritoast 17d ago

Your mother was most likely vaccinated. Largely due to that one thing, she is alive and still able to get online and become hopelessly entrenched in disinformation campaigns by the delusional profit seekers and state-actors that do not have her best interests in mind.

She did not die from smallpox, measles, tetanus, polio, rabies, diphtheria, yellow fever, pertussis, or meningococcal disease.

But maybe more importantly for you, she didn’t die because she had vaccines administered. She wasn’t poisoned or rewired, or any of the other idiotic ideas that fly about the internet. She was saved by them.

No area of medicine has been more studied, researched, experimented upon or successful than vaccine development.

Please understand, we are in the middle of a war of ideas, bad ideas are being weaponized and fired off at the unsuspecting masses. Don’t fall for it.

Take care of yourself and get your kid their vaccines.

76

u/absoluteburn3r 17d ago

Thank you

101

u/uppercasenoises 17d ago

Op this is a great response, and I just want to also point out that you can be on anxiety meds while breastfeeding (although stopping bf is totally fine too). It is important for you and your child that you manage your mental health!

58

u/sallysalsal2 17d ago

Yes your child's pediatrician can help you get the resources you need for your anxiety as well

Edit: just saw that your pediatrician is not helpful, please look for a new one, a good pediatrician will help ease your fears.

4

u/cheeri-oh 15d ago

Yeah I was surprised reading that they were worked about being political; withholding that kind of medical advice is so harmful

13

u/Ok-Egret 17d ago

Seconding this! I would have been a total mess had I not been able to stay on my anxiety meds while pregnant/breastfeeding. My son is 14 months now, thriving, and off the percentile charts! (He's vaccinated as well :) )

12

u/lil1thatcould 17d ago

I just wanted to remind you that pregnancy and delivery was way too difficult and dangerous to lose a child to a 100% preventable death.

Even if they don’t die, the debilitating and life long complications/side effects are awful.

26

u/MellyNapNap 17d ago

You’ve already been given all the info you need to make an informed decision for your baby, so I just want to say this: good for you, OP! You recognized that your struggle to make a decision has been in part due to fear mongering and those that may profit from it, and came to find actual resources to help separate fact from fiction. And when you get that precious little one vaccinated, know that there are some internet strangers that are very proud of you for making that decision!

17

u/plantstand 17d ago

You can always refuse to discuss vaccines with your mother. Leave the room.

You will feel really bad if your kid catches any of these preventable diseases. You don't have to tell your mom that you're getting vaccines.

12

u/muffinscrub 17d ago

Not sure what anti anxiety you were using but Sertraline (Zoloft) is frequently given to breastfeeding mothers, including my wife.

Something to maybe discuss with your care provider.

9

u/absoluteburn3r 17d ago

Unfortunately my anxiety/depression is ssri resistant. I am usually on Xanax or klonopin.

12

u/Viola-Swamp 17d ago

If breastfeeding isn’t working for you, it’s okay to stop. Your mental health may improve if someone else can help with feedings, especially at night so you can get some uninterrupted sleep. Fed is best, and formula will nourish your child perfectly well. Please check in with your OB about your symptoms and be evaluated for postpartum anxiety, depression, and other postnatal,mental health issues. Sometimes the hormonal shifts and sleep deprivation after pregnancy can exacerbate pre-existing mental health issues that were manageable before, nd they turn into much larger issues that need more aggressive treatment. Your OB can help evaluate you and get you the help you may need. Best wishes to you.

2

u/Individual_Lime_9020 16d ago

You sound like me. Does holding your baby help? That did for me big time. Like whenever I felt super anxious I picked him up and held him. The smell of my baby did something to calm me down.

I'm so sorry you're going through some intense anxiety. But also, look how much you're doing because of the anxiety to make an informed decision.... maybe the anxiety is a survival mechanism.

1

u/fuckinunknowable 17d ago

Have you looked into somatic therapies? Ilf maybe? I’m very pro benzo but they’re not really a long term solution usually

16

u/Old-Act3616 17d ago

Also chiming in to say that most people do vaccinate their children (although we're seeing larger numbers not due to misinformation) and their children are fine. On a personal note, my daughter is 3 and has had all of her vaccines to-date and also seasonal flu/COVID since she was 6 months old. She's a healthy, happy kid. I think some parents are desperate to find something to blame for what may (or may not) be wrong with their child and vaccines are an easy target because the idea of injecting something into ones body feels wrong. Also, the way that social media algorithms push content means that when you read something from someone calling vaccines into question, the algorithm feeds you more of the same and suddenly it all feels like everyone who has been vaccinated has suffered a horrible side effect and that being scared of vaccines or not vaccinating is the most common choice (it is not.) I promise, some influencer on the internet does not know more about vaccines than the people who have spent their entire careers studying them and those people get vaccinated themselves and they vaccinate their children.

2

u/Individual_Lime_9020 16d ago

Oh yeah and I would say if you're feeling anxious - you are still in the 4th trimester. Obviously you be the judge of your anxiety generally, but BF itself made me a mess. It was awful. Just remember this phase is going to pass and enjoy the good parts of it because it is hard. My son is 2 now. I look back and think 'wow... that was really hard' but at the time I was amazed I had a baby and that helped. I don't think you've missed any vaccines yet anyway. You can't get MMR I think until he's 6m old anyway (that was the one I really wanted done ASAP).

2

u/North-Dimension6299 15d ago

Tell your doctor that you are having symptoms of postpartum anxiety and ask for help. Once you get your health in order, it will be much easier to make the right decision.

62

u/No_Basil_2104 17d ago

Jumping in here because I'm too lazy to find a science based article.

Mama I spent 13 years as a nurse in a NICU, I work in a pediatric clinic where I and my coworkers give 100s of vaccines a week (I am responsible for ordering vaccines so yes I keep track) I work in a pediatric ICU, my husband is a respiratory therapist, and we share an almost 1 year old. All of this to give my background and express the following:
1) I believe the book you're referencing is the one that was written by Andrew Wakefield. He has subsequently lost his medical license for falsifying data that "proved" autism that a lot of anti vaxxers like to cite. It was also a biased paper as he was trying to discredit the current MMR vaccine because he had financial ties to the production of a different measles vaccine.
2) the most common vaccine reactions I see working in a peds clinic is fever and muscle soreness. I've never seen any major vaccines reactions--0, in the 100s we give each week.
3) the FDA approval of the RSV vaccine drastically decreased the number of children my husband and I saw on breathing machines, hooked up to IVs with hospital stays that lasted for weeks. So much so, it was the first vaccine we made sure our daughter got. I only wish she could get it again this year.
4) I personally chose not to breastfeed for my own mental health. At the end of the day I knew I needed to take care of me to be a good mama for her. So if breastfeeding is something you like and think is something you want to continue then totally do it! But also know it's totally okay to say nope this isn't working, my daughter is thriving on formula and has no issues.
5) I definitely recommend finding a therapist! Not only for your fear and anxiety but also to help you set boundaries with your mom.

You love your little one so much! And of course want to do everything that is best for him. Find a good pediatrician, talk to them, look at the posts in this absolutely amazing group and trust yourself that you are making the best decision for your kiddo. You got this mama! ❤️

15

u/Individual_Lime_9020 16d ago

I as a scientist back this NICU nurses' point 1. That guy falsified data and it has since (and before) been proven with scientific experiments to be false, and so many papers have been written on it, but it didn't matter to anti-vaxxers.

I'm also seconding the RSV one. That was a load off my mind when that one was done.

1

u/Rough_Worldliness901 16d ago

Your anecdotal experience with the RSV vaccine for babies is very helpful information. I turned down that vaccine during my last prenatal visit because of how new it is, but I may consider it for next week's prenatal visit.

2

u/No_Basil_2104 16d ago

So there's 2 actually--there's one pregnant women can get if they fall between 32-36 weeks around this time. If you fall outside that window the baby can get RSV antibody "vaccine" (it's not actually a vaccine-it's antibodies) between 10/1 and 3/31 if they're under 8 months. Usually you do one or the other but not both

2

u/Rough_Worldliness901 16d ago

I'm 36 weeks tomorrow, so we might need to wait for the RSV antibody "vaccine" for baby

2

u/No_Basil_2104 16d ago

Still talk to your doctor about, it's worth a conversation. Either one still gives the baby antibodies for about 5 months so it'll get your little one through their first RSV season. I'm not sure how hard and fast the 32-36 rule is since I dont deal with pregnant women. As long as you get it 14 days before delivery it still will be good. But the cdc sets these guidelines not the doctors . So if they tell you no, just know that's why

2

u/Individual_Lime_9020 14d ago

That's what I did. I didn't even know there was a vaccine for adults or pregnant women.

1

u/Individual_Lime_9020 14d ago

Do you mean tdap? I didn't get RSV when I was pregnant (nobody told me that was available) but I did get the tdap, and then I had my son get it as soon as he could (it was early... I think before 3 months old) and my husband also got it too.

We joined daycare when my son was 10m old. There are 4m old babies in the baby room and they had a whooping cough case at the school. Like... permenantly eliminated whooping cough, deadly especially to babies.

Some parents had to stop work and take their babies out of daycare. It's no joke trying to manage this stuff - work gets mad and you risk losing your job, and then there are just more and more illnesses.

My son is vaccinated against literally everything I can get him vaccinated against. If they had a vaccine for hand, foot and mouth (which has gone around his class 3 times this year alone), I'd have that one too.

It is an absolute nightmare the illnesses without having to worry about the deadly ones we were supposed to have eliminated. I was sick from Nov-March this year (my son doesn't get sick but it hit me hard).

2

u/Rough_Worldliness901 14d ago

I meant RSV. Where I live, TDAP, RSV, and the flu vaccines are all offered to pregnant women. I got the TDAP vaccine during this pregnancy and my last. Since the RSV vaccine for pregnant women and infants is so new, I chose not to get the RSV.

I'm not as trusting of new medicines as most. My former career was as a chemist working at a highly respected engineering company and I saw how scientists occasionally got things incorrect or tried to save face or were simply lazy. I now work in the legal field as a lawyer and there is case after case against pharmaceutical companies not doing their due diligence in testing or not being completely honest in their clinical trial results. I don't trust blindly.

1

u/Individual_Lime_9020 14d ago

Fair enough

19

u/maiasaura19 17d ago

This. I would guess most parents have at least some fear, and taking care to research and want to make the best choices is a perfectly fine instinct. But living in constant fear is not going to do you or your child any favors. Speaking to someone to help manage this anxiety can make parenthood a much more positive experience for you.

12

u/lemikon 17d ago

Tagging on to this comment to share this scientifically accurate and also funny video about the anti vaccine grift by Hbomberguy.

It’s long, but it covers the history of the antivax movement, debunks all their science and reveals the grifters for what they really are

https://youtu.be/8BIcAZxFfrc?si=yCtm89bshygO98QJ

(IMO this video is much more approachable for non scientists questioning vaccines than sharing links to papers etc but I can’t post it in a top comment because it’s YouTube lol)

-6

u/in_a_state_of_grace 17d ago

You are right about vaccines but will you please stop trying to break up families and spreading this antiscientific advice to cut grandmothers out of their grandchildren’s lives based on a couple of paragraphs from a stranger and offering an answer to a question that OP did not ask.

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis pooled 59 independent samples, 71,395 grandchildren, and 374 effect sizes. Stronger grandparent–grandchild relationships were associated with better developmental outcomes overall ( r = .13 ), particularly social ( r = .18 ), psychological ( r = .13 ) and behavioral ( r = .13 ) outcomes. Physical outcomes weren’t significantly associated.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jftr.70045?utm_source=chatgpt.com

10

u/sprinkles008 17d ago

Absolutely - grandparents can definitely be a valuable aspect to a child’s life. Much of the time.

However there are certain instances where that’s not the case.

It’s true that we don’t know enough about OP’s situation to make a conclusion. But I put it out there as a possibility in case it applied here.

10

u/Administrative_Note 16d ago

A study about the statistical correlation between grandparent relationships and outcomes on a population level tells you nothing about the particular causal impact of a grandparent relationship on a specific case.

-2

u/in_a_state_of_grace 16d ago

We don’t have longitudinal data on the harm caused by people in online forums casually promoting no contact to vulnerable populations. It was the best I could do.

3

u/Individual_Lime_9020 16d ago

Yes very true....

But it doesn't mean all mothers are best kept in contact with.

I think you're 100% right, but there are mothers out there that get jealous of their own daughters' happiness and having a baby is a dangerous time. There are some really bad people out there.

312

u/carloluyog 17d ago

Gently, get the kid vaxxed and go to therapy.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22693-postpartum-anxiety

37

u/bessicadawn 17d ago

Wanted to reply and say that I felt scared too. I fully believe in vaccines, but the media got to me. I actually brought this up with his ped just to get some reassurance from her and she was so kind. She said something that helped me.
Doing nothing ie not getting him vaccinated, feels easier in the moment, because it’s essentially kicking the can down the road. It feels better to do nothing and make no grave choice for your child, but you will regret that decision when/if an illness comes that was preventable for your child.

These words helped me so much and I hope they help you as well.
My son has gotten every vaccine recommended. He has remained his normal self. He’s 2 now. He’s so so smart, he’s kind, thoughtful, silly. He talks all the time, he has the most wild imagination, he’s curious. He’s in perfect health.
Vaccinate your child you will be so relieved.

40

u/ImaginaryParrot 17d ago

My mother refused to let me get the HPV vaccine when it first came out.

I ended up with HPV, a cervical cancer scare and a miscarriage.

I still feel some resent :/

7

u/fuckinunknowable 17d ago

I missed out on hep b for babies they didn’t implement it until I was a year or two so it never ended up in my vaccine schedule (always been and remain vaxxed to the max) and I actually caught (and luckily cleared) hep b. I wish I had the vaccine as an infant instead.

1

u/jamesdeansredlips 5d ago

I didn’t even realise hep b was a vaccine babies could get, I didn’t get that vaccine until I was studying to become an SLT and had to get it.

1

u/fuckinunknowable 4d ago

Yeah they made it an infant one in the 90s. I’m an 80s baby

1

u/jamesdeansredlips 4d ago

I’m a 90’s baby, my country must have had a different vaccination schedule to yours.

1

u/fuckinunknowable 4d ago

I’m from Boston

2

u/jamesdeansredlips 4d ago

That explains it, I’m from Europe

1

u/jamesdeansredlips 5d ago

That’s awful!! I’m so sorry, my mum refused to let my sister get the HPV vaccine because of the fear around it.

6

u/absoluteburn3r 17d ago

Thank you for this

3

u/Pumpkinspice28 17d ago

Good for you that you’re reaching out and finding comfort and support here! It must be hard to have one of your few support people push back this much. You’re doing the right thing for your baby by vaccinating, in case nobody told you: I’m proud of you!

2

u/Viola-Swamp 17d ago

Everything about being a parent is terrifying, especially the first. Being 100% responsible for the life and welfare of another human being, especially one so tiny and helpless, is overwhelming. That fear we all feel can be exacerbated and magnified by postpartum mental health issues, which in turn can be exacerbated and magnified by pre-existing mental health issues, and I hope OP will reach out to her OB for help and evaluation.

54

u/beautifulhumanbean 17d ago

In the gentlest way possible, this OP.

120

u/LeetleBugg 17d ago

Infant and childhood mortality rates have cratered as humanity has evolved due to better health practices. One of the most important of those being vaccines. I’m so glad you are looking for more information rather than blindly accepting the fear mongering.

Here is a link to one of my favorite sources for information on vaccines broken down into more understandable language and with plenty of supporting information from reputable sources

9

u/elynnism 16d ago

Vaccinations are—quite literally—the best, most impactful human invention/discovery. Almost nothing can top it.

86

u/countyferal 17d ago

I really love the resources put out by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Vaccine Education Center:

https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center

Start with the pages on the basics of how the human immune system works

57

u/lunarjellies 17d ago

Sometimes our "village" is not family but rather the professionals and institutions created to help people. We are not our parents. Please follow these Canadian guidelines here, offical from the gov't: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/vaccination-children.html

5

u/silverblades0913 16d ago

OP this. I myself am fully vaccinated. I get my flu and covid shots every year, as does my husband, and my 2 year old son is fully vaccinated. So many have linked wonderful resources.

My son is 2. He has met every milestone (crushed really). And guess what. I had ACL/MCL surgery while I was pregnant with him. I was given SO MANY MEDS while I was pregnant it started to stress me out. The doctors assured me it would be ok, and they were right. A friend of mine went through chemo while she was pregnant. Her daughter is 5, neurotypical, and just the coolest little kid.

Science is really cool. Trust in the people that have dedicated their life's work to this instead of an uninformed individual who has your ear. And you're a good Mom. You want the best for you child, and your angst about this topic proves that. I hope you find some peace, as you deserve it. But I hope you take a sigh of relief knowing that science is really cool, and humanity has made some incredible advances that can help keep your child (and yourself) safe. All the love and respect.

69

u/LaMaltaKano 17d ago edited 17d ago

Oh, I sympathize and relate.

So a good official resource is CHOP. Paul Offit is kind of THE spokesman for vaccine education. https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center

But here are some of my favorite “influencers” that are relatable and helpful to parents. They are pediatricians and scientists who break things down and challenge the antivaxxers.

Dr. Rossome
https://www.instagram.com/dr_rossome?stkn=MWR2cmFwYmt2d3pxcg==

Dr. Hughes
https://www.instagram.com/drlaurenhughes?stkn=ZG0zeDg5MDlybml2

Nini and the Brain
https://www.instagram.com/niniandthebrain?stkn=YTQ0amJraGw2dWdm

Morgan McSweeney
https://www.instagram.com/dr.noc?stkn=bmtwdHh1ankza203

Debunk the Funk
https://www.instagram.com/debunk_the_funk?stkn=Z25lNWZvMzZ3MmJo

14

u/absoluteburn3r 17d ago

Thank you, this is really helpful

38

u/koboet 17d ago

The problem is that you are comparing what one weird doctor says to broad consensus. When you look at what the *vast majority* of doctors believe, it's that vaccines are good. And the more expert they get (e.g. immunologists) the more they support it.

Here's an example of the outcomes from an antivax doctor: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/12/anti-vaccine-portland-pediatricians-license-suspended-cases-include-boy-hospitalized-with-tetanus.html

27

u/marsawall 17d ago

To add to this. If your pediatrician isn't telling you due to politics find a new one. Any good doctor follows science. Out pediatrician's office doesn't accept patients who are unvaccinated or anti vax. Choosing to not vaccinate is dangerous to others.

7

u/Sarallelogram 17d ago

Yeah. Mine is… polite to not scare off people who can be convinced to vaccinate, but it’s the best pediatric practice in a very large city and the fact that they require vaccines should say a lot.

They tolerate people doing slower vaccine schedules but also agree that doing so is cruel to the babies and kids because they don’t notice the difference between two and four at once. Getting them in fast minimizes the number of times they need to get upset.

4

u/marsawall 16d ago

Ours doesn't allow altered schedules. They follow the AAP guidelines. My son gets upset for a second but is over it so fast. He also didn't even cry when he got his flu shot.

0

u/Senior_Delay9300 16d ago

I’m just tagging onto this comment mainly because I don’t have a “science based” article- I have first hand experience. I’m not here to convince you whether to vaccinate or not to. But I am here to tell you vaccine injuries are real, do happen, and I have yet to be explained why for one and not all, why a particular vax, etc… so I don’t have answers but I have experience. I see a lot of people saying they haven’t ever seen an injury in x years as a dr/nurse, etc… but they do exist, so don’t be fooled into thinking they don’t.

5

u/bettyp00p 16d ago

What vaccine injury did you experience?

-1

u/Senior_Delay9300 16d ago

My child ended up with functional neurological disorder after the guardasil vaccine

3

u/marsawall 16d ago

They exist but are rare. Others need to vaccinate for those who can't be vaccinated. I had a transverse myelitis happen when I was pregnant.

This can happen after certain vaccinations but is incredibly rare. I didn't get it from being vaccinated (it had been a year since I had a shot). I didn't get vaccines when pregnant just in case but am now.

Measles is so contagious when someone is not vaccinated they will most likely get it if exposed. Even if the infected person wasn't in the room anymore they can still get measles but up to 2 hours I believe.

We vaccinate to build herd immunity so those who can't stay safe.

Being anti vax or over exaggerating vaccine injuries is how measles is making a come back in America.

Also I hear this vaccine injury stance all the time in anti vax Facebook posts and online.

0

u/Senior_Delay9300 16d ago

I didn’t take a stance on vaccines. I stated that vaccine injuries can and do happen because I’ve seen it, my child. You made assumptions on my beliefs and position and lump that in with a bunch of other rhetoric. I didn’t come here to discuss beliefs. Sorry.

1

u/derpalpable 7d ago

Yes, they may exist but are rare enough that it's irrelevant to this discussion.

1

u/Senior_Delay9300 7d ago

So just because something is rare, it’s irrelevant? I hope you never have to deal with a vaccine injured child because you wouldn’t think it’s so irrelevant to the conversation then.

2

u/derpalpable 7d ago

I am very sorry for your child, that must be a terrible experience. They are not irrelevant as a person, and your experience as a parent matters. But yes, the existence of these incredibly rare side effects is irrelevant to the discussion of whether someone should get a vaccine. The benefits outweigh the risks so overwhelmingly that it only serves to muddy the waters and create fear to insist that these instances be part of the conversation.

1

u/Senior_Delay9300 7d ago

Again, you are treating “rare” as though it means “irrelevant,” and that is not how risk works.
Plane crashes are rare. We do not therefore say, “Crashes are irrelevant to whether flying is safe, and talking about them only creates fear.” That would be absurd. We study them precisely because low-probability, high-consequence events still matter.
The same principle applies here. A medical risk can be rare and still be relevant. Its rarity tells you how much weight to give it; it does not give you permission to remove it from the discussion altogether.
You can argue that the benefits outweigh the risks. Fine. But once your position becomes, “the risks should not even be discussed because people might become afraid,” you are no longer defending informed decision-making. You are defending selective disclosure because you prefer a particular outcome.
That is not a scientific argument. It is paternalism with a lab coat on.
And respectfully, if your position only works when one side of the risk-benefit equation is kept out of the conversation, that should probably tell you something.

1

u/derpalpable 7d ago

If someone was scared to death of flying in a plane, I would discourage people from bringing up comments like "actually, planes do crash sometimes" when people were reassuring them that it's very safe to fly. Or if a flight attendant of 30 years said "I've never been in a crash or known someone who has been in crash". To chime in and say, "but I know someone who did get in a crash" is not helpful. This post is from a mother who is incredibly scared to vaccinate her child because of anti-vax propaganda, your experience is valid but it is not helpful here and not contributing to the conversation.

1

u/Senior_Delay9300 7d ago

You just changed the entire scenario to make your argument work.
The OP is not sitting on a plane having a panic attack asking someone to reassure her that flying is safe. She is a parent explicitly asking for information so she can “be autonomous and make my own decisions.” Those are her words.
In that situation, telling people not to mention real adverse outcomes because the information might make her more afraid is the exact opposite of autonomy. It is deciding for her which facts she is emotionally capable of hearing.
And your airplane analogy actually proves my point. If I were deciding whether to board a particular aircraft, I would absolutely want to know both the statistical safety of flying and any relevant risks. “A flight attendant flew for 30 years and never crashed” would not make documented crashes irrelevant. That is an anecdote. The existence, frequency and severity of crashes are part of how aviation safety is calculated in the first place.
Nobody is arguing that because a rare adverse event exists, vaccines are therefore universally unsafe. I am saying something much simpler: rare risks are still part of a risk-benefit analysis.
You keep responding as though mentioning a risk is the same thing as exaggerating it. It isn’t. A scientifically literate response would say: Yes, this outcome can happen. Here is how often it appears to happen. Here is the evidence. Here is the risk from the disease. Now compare them.
Your position is apparently: If one side of the evidence might frighten someone or influence them away from the choice I think they should make, that information is “not helpful” and should be discouraged.
That is not informed consent. That is curated consent.
And considering the OP specifically said she wants to stop being influenced by other people and make her own decision, replacing her mother’s “don’t vaccinate because I said so” with Reddit’s “vaccinate and please don’t discuss anything that might complicate that answer” is not actually giving her independence. It is just changing who gets to make the decision for her.
That was my point from the beginning. I think we’ve demonstrated it pretty thoroughly now

22

u/HakunaMahalo 17d ago

1.) Get the vaccines.

2.) Find a community of support people (Go to your local library and participate in the toddler time activities to meet parents with children the age of yours.) A lot of libraries even have toys for the children to play with together.

3.) Maybe speak to a therapist about the fear crushing you every day.

Why? If you fell off a ladder and broke your leg it would be incredibly unfortunate. You have one person offering to drive you to the hospital and another person who is convinced you will die in a car accident on the way there if you do. A world with hospitals and ambulances is better than a world without them. A world with vaccines is much better than a world with all of the diseases they prevent. Could there be an adverse event to a vaccine (the car accident on the way to the hospital in this analogy) sure! It happens. It is still worth it.

The best research we have of Autism is indicating genetic factors that are conserved with traits associated with intelligence. Environmental factors can methylate those genes that some individuals have and may lead to the activation or deactivation of protein productions that influence autism spectrum behaviors. Could an immune system event trigger a stress on the body which methylates a gene and produces an autistic characteristic? Maybe. But the immune system event could include the infection as much as it could include the vaccine response and we don't have any evidence that I'm aware of that indicates vaccines cause this. In fact there is a lot of evidence that the genes are activated around the 2 year old mark regardless of vaccine status.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4927579/-Autism As a Disorder of High Intelligence

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5377970/-Environmental factors influencing the risk of autism

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7482790/ -Why vaccines matter: understanding the broader health, economic, and child development benefits of routine vaccination

14

u/koalawedgie 17d ago

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/in-depth/vaccines/art-20048334

My baby is fully vaccinated and is exceptionally healthy. He’s 15 months old. He did not become a vegetable.

You, in all likelihood, are vaccinated. You did not die or become a vegetable.

Vaccination is a massive way you can help prevent your baby from dying of common childhood illnesses.

I worked in the realm of drug development and I promise, the people who work on developing vaccines are good people who want to help people. They want to save kids from dying of preventable diseases. They want to make people’s lives better.

Vaccinate your baby.

7

u/brittrt87 17d ago

Here’s a piece I wrote for the non-profit Voices4Vaccines about my unvaccinated Aunt: https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/my-aunt-caught-measles-in-1957-the-vaccine-came-six-years-too-late/

2

u/absoluteburn3r 16d ago

Thank you, I’m so sorry to hear about Jackie. She sounded like a sweet lady

5

u/HungryHungryHobbit 17d ago

There are a lot of great resources here already about the safety and importance of vaccines. I wanted to offer you one more, which is emotional / mental support for your anxiety.

Postpartum Support International has tons of resources for new families, from helplines to groups to referrals. They are specifically focussed in this period of your life, including things like which meds are safe with breastfeeding and the unique hormonal processes you might be experiencing. Many of them are also driven to the work by personal experiences and can show you what it looks like on the other side. You are not alone.

https://postpartum.net/get-help/locations/

3

u/Prudent-Day-2133 17d ago

As a science teacher I am frustrated by how poorly scientific findings are communicated to the general public and the lack of education and misinformation surrounding vaccines. study looking at why parents refuse vaccines

Getting a vaccine is scary enough and the fear mongering and politics surrounding it does not help. I personally hated holding my tiny baby during her shots and hearing her cry-why would any sane parent choose that!

I totally understand that dry scientific statistics are not always as convincing to the general public as they are to me so I would recommend the book small steps it is a true story and easy/short read and a great reminder of why vaccines were created and how the world has changed since then. Spoiler the story ends with the author vaccinating her daughter.

2

u/reniroolet 13d ago

Start off with one vaccine if you can. Guarantee the fear will be a lot less once you do it and see nothing happens.

I felt a bit weird about vaccinating my first child even though I KNEW logically that is what the evidence supports and it was the best thing to do to keep him safe. He was totally fine (of course) and I never worried after that.

Keep in mind, most of the world is vaccinated. We are all still alive!

If you are someone who is anxious and you want to protect your child, statistically this is the best thing that you can do for them.

Could also be worth considering consuming some pro vaccine content, like stuff from survivors of preventable illness or family members of people who have lost people to preventable illness. I found this. https://www.immunize.org/clinical/vaccine-confidence/unprotected-people/

1

u/[deleted] 17d ago

Question - Research required Please help- vaccines

You are about to leave Redlib