The ‘New’ Anti-Vaccination Movement

Most people nowadays think that the anti-vaccination movement started with Jenny McCarthy in the 1990s

But they’re wrong. So, so, WRONG.

Vaccines have been a subject of conflict since their inception. Here are a few examples of historical protests against vaccination, especially where it was becoming compulsory (read – MANDATORY).

1807 – From an anti-vaccination flyer:

 

1853-1889; Leicester, England

 

1885; Montreal, Quebec, Canada

 

1894 – from another anti-vaccination flyer:

 

The Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League launched in London in 1867. This image is from the front page o a publication from 1916 out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

 

 

1919; Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 

In 1926, a group of health officers visited Georgetown, Delaware, to vaccinate the townspeople. A retired Army lieutenant and a city councilman led an armed mob to force them out, successfully preventing the vaccination attempt.

 

1986; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Centers for Disease Control

In the spring of 1986, NVIC co-founder Kathi Williams and [Barbara Loe Fisher] gathered with a small group of parents in Atlanta, Georgia to hold the first public demonstration demanding that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) be truthful with the American public about vaccine injuries and deaths. [They] held up signs with photos of children who had died or been brain injured by toxic whole cell DPT vaccine to witness and honor them, the children who had no voice and had no choice.

 

Instead of breaking it down and re-citing everything on the following page, I’ll just link it here:

History of Anti-Vaccination Movements

 

There are many, many more out there. Does this mean the anti-vaccination movement is right? Does it mean it’s wrong? Nope. It just means it’s NOT NEW.

I am speechless!

In 2012 I wrote a post detailing our experience in trying to get an exemption for the childcare on base when we were at Hill AFB in Utah. Emma was  almost 3 and Eion was 4. It had been such a detailed experience that I wanted to ‘map it out’, so to speak, for anyone going through it in the future (even though it wound up being much more complicated that it really should have been).

Military Vaccine Exemptions for Children

(spoiler alert, it was APPROVED)

We only wound up using the CDC (Child Development Center, not Center for Disease Control…) maybe a handful of times. Since then, we have moved to Japan (no issues with PCSing overseas, vaccines were barely even mentioned), my kids have started public school (no issues with the DoDEA school there, one sentence stating “We do not vaccinate for religious reasons” on the DoDEA Form 2492), have had to see military doctors (no pressures there) and have moved back to the states (where the kids are, again, registered in a public school with a simple state exemption form).

The biggest issue in the last 4 years since that ordeal with the CDC has been when Eion got a nasty gash on his forehead at a GoCart track last weekend. The ER nurses really were worried that he had not had a tetanus shot.

Anyway.

On a regular basis I get emails notifying me that someone has commented on that post. I’m amazed and humbled that 4+ years later that post still gets so much attention!

I was curious and looked at the stats for just that post. Since I first posted it, it has had over 900 views! Now, I know that those views can be misleading. Multiple views by the same people but on different days, multiple views by the same people but on different IP addresses (phone vs computer, etc.), but still.

In March 2016, that’s just 2 months ago, it had the highest views in one month at 249.

I feel bad some times that I’m not more active on this blog. I rarely post anymore just due to life. Then I see another comment request and I don’t feel bad any more. One of the things I feel the strongest about is still out there and still reaching people.

I call that good.

Measles… again.

Another article blaming those who don’t vaccinate is making the rounds. Most of the time I try to stay away, but there are too many things NOT being said this time to do so, IMO.

Here is the article:

Measles Outbreak Traced Back To A Single Unvaccinated Child

To add to the ever-growing list of examples that highlight the necessity of vaccination, a new study published in Pediatrics has demonstrated that the source of the 2011 outbreak of measles in Minnesota was an unvaccinated child that contracted the infection whilst visiting Kenya.

Let’s look at what *is* being said, but break it down a little:

According to the study, 16 out of the 21 cases were not vaccinated, 9 of whom were age-eligible for the MMR. Of these 9 individuals, 7 were not vaccinated because of safety concerns.

So, here are the numbers broken down a bit more.

5 were vaccinated.

7 were not age-eligible for vaccination (likely too young)

7 were not vaccinated due to safety concerns (this gets turned into them not being able to be vaccinated due to medical reasons, but that is NOT stated, so the reason may be NOT medical)

This leaves 2 that were not vaccinated for unknown reasons.

5+7+7+2 = 21. Just so we’re clear.

Let’s look at the first one.

*5* were vaccinated. That means, of the 21 that were infected, almost 25%, that’s 1/4, were vaccinated and got sick anyway. With that alone, it questions whether this article would be passed around so hotly or even exist if it had been a VACCINATED individual that had traveled to Kenya, been infected, and brought the virus back. This case alone shows it is absolutely possible.

Now, let’s talk about the circumstances of infection.

KENYA.

This family traveled with an unvaccinated child (others in the family were also among those infected upon return, although reports don’t talk about if those individuals were also on the initial trip) to an area of the world where measles is still a large problem.

Here’s some more numbers.

First off, this occurred in 2011, so let’s look at some 2011 numbers, or as close as can be found.

Kenya’s reported measles cases for 2011: 3,554      Kenya’s population in 2011: 38.6 million (taken from 2009)             92 cases / million people

USA’s reported measles cases for 2011: 222            USA’s population in 2011: 308.7 million (taken from 2010 census)    0.72 cases / million people

See the difference? Believe it or not, most people who research and choose not to vaccinate for whatever reason, are also smart enough to know better than to travel to a country with such a high incidence of measles. In this incidence, that was not the case.

My main point? Well, I have two I guess.

1. This ‘outbreak’ could just as likely have been caused by a person traveling to Kenya who was vaccinated and got sick anyway, and I’m pretty sure THAT article would have been written off as a fluke.

2. I’m not planning on traveling to any 3rd world countries with my unvaccinated children any time soon, and neither are most people who choose not to vaccinate.

We’re not the devil.

We’re just parents doing what we feel is best for our children, JUST LIKE YOU.

CDC & FDA Resources for Vaccine Information

In all vaccine discussions the request eventually comes up for information from ‘trusted’ sources. These are on the CDC and FDA websites about the ingredients and side effects of vaccines.

I’ll try to update this as I gather more information, for myself as well as others.

Ingredients in Vaccines showing animal and human derived ingredients, egg protein, milk protein, MSG, Thimerasol, formaldehyde & formaline, neomycin sulfate (antibiotic),  and others:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf

List of Flu vaccines, showing the amount of mercury (listed *as* mercury) in those that contain it:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/vaccines.htm

Possible side effects from various vaccines including seizures, severe allergic reaction, Guillain-Barré Syndrome, deafness, permanent brain damage, Intussusception (a type of bowel blockage that is treated in a hospital, and could require surgery), pneumonia, & organ failure.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm

Vaccine inserts themselves for certain vaccines refer to SIDS and, yes, even Autism as possible side effect:

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm101580.pdf

All package inserts available on the FDA website. People are very big on reading food labels, I think these should be read as well as these are something else being put in bodies.

http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm093830.htm

Why we don’t vaccinate

UPDATE: 02/01/2019
Believe it or not, I actually had to update this post. NOT because my beliefs have changed, but because when I was detailing the vaccines that use human cells, I left a few out. Updates are below in GREEN.

Every few months there is a story about an ‘outbreak’ that sparks off the vaccination debate, quite often more frequently. I follow a lot of different pages in regards to vaccines and I actually see articles on a daily basis about vaccines, quite often from both sides. Most of the time I can just let it slide past me as I know that I have made the right choice for my family, but sometimes…

The hardest for me are when people accuse me of endangering others, or when they assume that the only reason that I don’t vaccinate is because Jenny McCarthy told me not to.

That’s NOT true, on either account. The ‘endangering others’ I believe I covered before, so I’m not going to here, so let’s talk about the other.

The number one belief that pro-vaccine people have is that anti-vaccine people are afraid their children will become Autistic if they vaccinate (BTW, you may notice that that is the ONLY time any variation of the word Autism appears in this post). For most, this is the only reason they know of so they apply it to everyone.

That’s NOT true. It’s not true for us and it’s not true for many more.

Our reasons for not vaccinating are simple and strong.

We do not vaccinate for religious reasons.

I’ll say that again.

WE DO NOT VACCINATE FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS.

I’m sure many are confused, so let me elaborate. I’ve touched on some of this before (https://lboosmommy.wordpress.com/tag/vaccines/), but let me expand on that.

1 – There are many vaccines that were developed with the use of aborted fetal cells (notice I didn’t say “that contain aborted fetuses”). Look at this document from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf. Please note that this is a direct link found on the cdc.gov website, not something posted elsewhere. People always want links directly from the CDC, here you go. In the Contains column, any reference to MRC-5 or WI-38 means those aborted human fetal cells. (Sadly the CDC seems to have removed their articles discussing this issue, but, I assure you, they used to be there). Also notice that there ARE references to the vaccines CONTAINING these cells, not just having been cultured on them.

For quick reference, here is a list of those vaccines:

• Adenovirus
• Shingles
• Varicella (Chicken Pox)
• Rabies
• MMR
• MMRV (Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Varicella)
• Hep A / Hep B combo
• Hep A
• DTaP – IPV (Quardacel brand for Diptheria, Tetanus, Polio)
• DTaP – IPV – Hib (Petnacel brand for Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b)
• Smallpox (although not on the regular schedule, it is still used in certain circumstances and so I decided to add it to the list)

It should be able to go without saying that my personal beliefs have a problem with this. But, just in case it’s not clear:

I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS.

Got it? Okay, moving on.

2 – Kind of a sub of #1, but did you notice the other animal cells / derivatives in the list? In case you didn’t:

• Bovine Casein (cow milk protein)
• Bovine protein
• Bovine extract
• Chicken embryo
• Chicken kidney cells
• Mouse brain culture
• Rhesus fetal lung tissue culture (rhesus monkey)
• Vero cell culture (monkey kidney cells)
• Madin Darby Canine (dog) Kidney cell protein

Now, we’re not vegetarian or vegan, but this list should be of concern to people who are vegan and want nothing to do with animals in their products.

This brings me to:

3 – Thou shalt not lie

Okay, so the quote is actually “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” but it is commonly interpreted as said.

You can argue that no one ever lied about the ingredients in vaccines, but I choose to argue that not disclosing this information so that those that need it can know is akin to lying about it.

Federal law says that Vaccine Information Statements must be handed out when vaccination is performed. Every. Single. Time. (http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2027.pdf)

I know that I personally have NOT received these for every vaccination for myself, nor for the few that my children received. Have you? Even if you have, there is a problem with them. Look at this one for Varicella (Chicken Pox): http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/varicella.pdf

You may remember from the list above that the Varicella vaccine is one that contains MRC-5 and other animal related ingredients:

sucrose, phosphate, glutamate, gelatin, monosodium L-glutamate, sodium
phosphate dibasic, potassium phosphate monobasic, potassium chloride,
sodium phosphate monobasic, EDTA, residual components of MRC-5
cells including DNA and protein, neomycin, fetal bovine serum, human
diploid cell cultures

This information should be in those VIS for vegans and people who follow religions regarding human cells and animal cells, but it isn’t. This is information that should be available to everyone, every time, so that they can make an informed choice. Since it’s not, too many people simply don’t have that option.

When people look at #1, they see that there ARE vaccines that are not associated with aborted fetal cells and they wonder why I don’t then go ahead and use those. To be honest, THIS is why. IF there was full disclosure in these mandatory VIS about ingredients in vaccines, then I might consider it. Until then…

To many this may seem petty. They see it as my endangering my children and others all because I don’t like being lied to. So, again, I point you to other posts I have made about vaccines in regards to the whole ‘endangering others’ thing – https://lboosmommy.wordpress.com/tag/vaccines/

A question that was posed to me recently is “Would there ever be a reason you would vaccinate?” Or, in other words, what would change my mind. The answer is simple and complex at the same time.

1 – No more aborted fetal cell lines.  Re-develop the vaccines that used them FROM SCRATCH. That means start over, as if you were creating the vaccine the first time. It’s the closest thing to making it not have happened that can happen at this point. For those where there ARE alternatives (ie, instead of combos for DTaP / IPV / Hib when individual DTaP, IPV, and Hib vaccines are available) take those out of rotation completely. Discontinue those vaccines. In some cases this is a simple as taking certain brands of vaccines out of the rotation and using other brands. Will is cost a crap ton of money? Maybe… but the vaccine industry is about saving lives, not money, so… anything that will get more people to vaccinate has to be worth the money.

2 – Full disclosure of ingredients. Those VIS are supposed to be used every time. For now, let’s assume they always will be. Let them include the list of ingredients. The FDA requires ingredients be listed on just about everything we put into our bodies from the grocery store, let’s do the same with things injected into our bodies by doctors. If there is too much concern about more people refusing vaccinations with this, maybe more vaccines need to be re-developed. There are vaccines that don’t include animal cultures (if I’m fully understanding the referenced list), so it must be possible to do so. Re-iterating what I said above, will is cost a crap ton of money? Maybe… but the vaccine industry is about saving lives, not money, so… anything that will get more people to vaccinate has to be worth the money.

3 – I guess this kind of goes with 2, but I really think there needs to be more independent (ie, not funded by the CDC, WHO, FDA or pharmaceutical companies) research on the safety of not only the vaccines as a whole, but on the safety of the individual ingredients, in the amounts used. I’ve seen too many statistics about the ‘small’ amount of mercury in vaccines that do contain it, and not enough about how those small amounts exceed established toxic levels. (Remember, mercury = thimerosal which IS listed in the referenced list on the CDC’s website for certain vaccines).

Vaccines with 1:10,000 or 0.01 percent Thimerosal have about 50 mg/L mercury, which exceeds the 0.2 mg/L hazardous waste toxicity characteristic regulatory level for mercury.

Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer’s in the past and is a known neurotoxin. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of data as to how much aluminum is contained in a vaccine. It’s considered a trade secret and therefore protected. It’d be like saying “we can’t tell you how much mercury is in our canned tuna, it’s a trade secret”.

There are many more ingredients that are concerning and not fully disclosed like MSG, formalin, and various antibiotics. People need to know what they’re dealing with to really be able to make an informed decision. Antibiotics are of special concern due to the apparent upswing in antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. I think it needs to be considered whether antibiotics in vaccinations have contributed to that.

4 – Effectiveness: Time and time again vaccine preventable diseases pop up in populations where there was a high rate of vaccination. Vaccines just don’t seem to be as effective and therefore as necessary as all the popular literature says. If a middle school in Texas can have a 99% vaccination rate and children there can still contract measles, something has to be not working right. In the ‘great pertussis outbreak’ in California, a favorite among pro-vaccinators, a staggering number of those who were diagnosed with pertussis were considered up-to-date on their vaccines. If it could be proven unequivocally that vaccines were completely effective, that there were NO break through events, that would be a reason, along with the other reasons, to consider vaccination.

5 – Necessity. This is a big one and one that gets debated A LOT. Are vaccines necessary? It kind of goes with #4 and #3. Let’s just stick with the measles, shall we? Now, I’ve never had the measles, so I cannot speak from personal experience. My father had them and he said, and I quote “It sucked. Big time.” Of course, this was in the middle of a vaccine discussion so… not sure what his response would have been if I vaccinated and just asked in passing, but there you have it. Here’s what the CDC says about measles (http://www.cdc.gov/measles/):

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus. The disease of measles and the virus that causes it share the same name. The disease is also called rubeola.

Measles causes fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. About one out of 10 children with measles also gets an ear infection, and up to one out of 20 gets pneumonia. For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die.

So, most get a fever, runny rose, cough and rash which is uncomfortable, but not life threatening in and of itself.

~ 10% get ear infections

~ 8% get diarrhea (this number is found on a different page on the CDC’s site)

Up to 5% get pneumonia

~ 0.1% get encephalitis (this number is found on a different page on the CDC’s site)

0.1% – 0.2% die

The point is, the majority who get the measles will be ill and uncomfortable for a few weeks, and that’s it. Yes, people do die from it. People die from walking across the street as well, but we don’t prevent people from walking across streets.

In developing countries, where malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency are common, measles has been known to kill as many as one out of four people.

While this is much higher than the other rate, there’s a difference that should be noted. Malnutrition and Vitamin A deficiency. This would lead to an argument that those the most at risk from the measles are those who are malnourished or vitamin deficient (Vitamin A is found in leafy greens and fruits and vegetables that are yellow in color).

The CDC’s stance is “Vaccines save lives”. The graphs shown on my previous post (https://lboosmommy.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/the-big-bad-vaccine-post/)  show that *mortality* rates from diseases (ie. those who died, not those who were considered infected) were already on the decline before vaccination. Pro-vaccination people like to point to the CDC’s graphs which are INFECTION RATE graphs. I’m not saying that the infection rate is completely unimportant, I’m just saying that if the CDC wants to emphasize the “saving lives” part, why are they merely showing the infection rate graphs instead of showing the mortality rate graphs? That goes with that indirectly lying thing.

I’m starting to ramble (hence the previous name of this blog, lol), so, quick recap. I don’t vaccinate because of religious reasons.

Yes, I might consider vaccinating if I could get vaccines that don’t have abortions attached to their history, if everyone injected knew exactly what was in their vaccines, and if all ingredients had been independently researched as to their safely and necessity.

One last thing I get asked is about school for my children. ALL states allow for medical exemptions, all but two (three now since California went to ONLY medical exemptions) allow for religious exemptions and many allow for ‘philosophical’ exemptions. In short, YES, YOU CAN ENROLL YOUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL WITHOUT VACCINATIONS. My children are enrolled in the school here in Japan under a religious exemption. If there is an incidence of a “vaccine preventable” disease such as Chicken Pox, they may be required to stay home until is passes. NOT because they think they caused it, but to protect them from contracting the disease, whether I think it’s a big deal or not.

Since moving back from Japan, my children have been easily and legally registered for public school in two different states under those individual states’ own exemption regulations.

I do have a post specifically about military exemptions including the regulations regarding them, here: https://lboosmommy.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/military-vaccine-exemptions-for-children/

Military Vaccine Exemptions for Children

(05/22/2017) I know there have been a lot of requests to join the ‘Secret’ Facebook groups. However, there is a reason they are secret. Those who choose to no longer vaccinate come under fire a lot and the groups that I am in were all simply ‘Closed’ at one point or another. All had to change to ‘Secret’ to keep out those with less-than-good-intentions. Unfortunately, this means that the ONLY way to add people is to friend them on Facebook first. I am not comfortable doing this. 

HOWEVER, I was given the name of a ‘Closed’ group as a recommendation for those looking for a place on Facebook to start. My suggestion would be to Join this group, hang out for a while and post. It could be an excellent way to show that you’re ‘safe’ and get added to some of the other groups.

I know this sounds harsh, but, unfortunately with vaccine choice under fire, it’s the way things kind of need to be at the moment to protect ourselves and our children.

UPDATED 06/20/2018 – Joint Instruction (previously updated 03/19/2017, 10/06/2016, 03/18/14. They REALLY like to move this one…)

UPDATED 09/19/2017 – DoDEA Exemption form link updated (previously updated 10/16/2016, 03/18/14) NOTE: There is a new form that does NOT require an explanation, but I have not yet found that form on the DoDEA website. This is still the old form with the explanation section.

UPDATED 8/21/2015 with DoDEA school registration information (at the end)

Last year with hubby deploying I wanted to be able to use the Child Development Center’s drop in service for appointments and their Give Parents a Break ‘date nights’. With my children not up to date on their vaccinations according to regulations, I needed to get their exemptions in line. Although we live in Utah and Utah has all three exemptions (medical, religious, and philosophical), the military only accepts medical and religious (I was told initially that they would ONLY accept medical, but knowing that wasn’t true, I researched further on what I would need).

Although the question doesn’t come up very often, it does come up. It’s not too hard to explain, just involves a lot of forms (thankyoumilitary) so I thought I’d just write a post I can refer people to.

The regulation is in the following PDF:

https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Policies/2013/10/07/Immunizations-and-Chemoprophylaxis-for-the-Prevention-of-Infectious-Diseases(UPDATED LINK 06/20/2018)

The section pertaining to the CDC, FCC and other base activities is on page 12, section 3-5b:

(b) Children attending DOD and USCG-sponsored primary and secondary schools, childcare centers, or similar facilites are required to be up to date on all age appropriate ACIP-recommended vaccines for children unless there is a documentation of previous immunization, religious exemption, or medical contraindication. For foreign-national children outside of the United States, observe host country recommendations or requirements.

What I did for my process is started with DoDEA Form 2943. I filled it out, and in the ‘reason’ section (section 4) I wrote:

(Form is now http://www.dodea.edu/DeLalioES/upload/H-2-2-DoDEA-Form-2942-0-G-F4-Exemption-of-Immunizations.pdf) (UPDATED 09/19/2017)

*The following has been updated to reflect changes in the regulation structure and reference numbers. RED are changes, BLUE STRIKEOUT are parts that have been removed. A cleaned up paragraph for copy and paste will be just below. I wanted to keep the integrity of the original as used while reflecting changes that should be made for any future use.*

To whom it may concern;
(We / I) {First and Last name(s)}, as the {(parent (s) / guardian(s)} of ______________________(name of child) are exercising (our/my) rights under the US Constitution and Army Regulation 40-562, BUMEDINST 6230.15A, AF JI 48-110, CG COMDTINST M6230.4F AR 40–562/BUMEDINST 6230.15B/AFI 48–110_IP/CG COMDTINST M6230.4G, section 3-5b, para4, and Army Regulation 608-10, section 4-6, para 2, to receive Religious Exemption from Vaccination, due to our genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required.
The U.S. Supreme Court held in Frazee V. Illinois Dept. of Security, 489 U.S. 829, that a religious belief is subject to protection even though no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not advocate or require such belief. This ruling is also reflected in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended Nov. 1, 1980; Part 1605.1-Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion.
Sincerely,
Your signature.
Date

*Here is the cleaned up paragraph for copy/paste purposes*

To whom it may concern;
(We / I) {First and Last name(s)}, as the {(parent (s) / guardian(s)} of ______________________(name of child) are exercising (our/my) rights under the US Constitution and AR 40–562/BUMEDINST 6230.15B/AFI 48–110_IP/CG COMDTINST M6230.4G, section 3-5b, to receive Religious Exemption from Vaccination, due to our genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required.
The U.S. Supreme Court held in Frazee V. Illinois Dept. of Security, 489 U.S. 829, that a religious belief is subject to protection even though no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not advocate or require such belief. This ruling is also reflected in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended Nov. 1, 1980; Part 1605.1-Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion.
Sincerely,
Your signature.
Date

After turning in the form with page 12 & 13 from the regulations, with the religious exemption part highlighted, they requested a letter from clergy. According to what I know, a letter from clergy is NOT required for civilians, only for active duty, but I complied with the request. While I was working on getting that letter, I sent them the following:

To Whom It May Concern:

I understand that you have requested a letter from my clergy regarding my religious reasons for not vaccinating my children for their exemption forms for the CDC and FCC offices here at Hill Air Force Base.

I wanted to update you and let you know that although it is my understanding that clergy / chaplain letters are ONLY required for those who are ACTIVE DUTY and requesting exemption (NOT their dependents), I am in the process of acquiring the requested letter. My leader is in contact with the local higher-ups to confirm what the official stance is.

However, I’d like to remind you of the following, found in the 2006 edition of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, part 1605 (enclosed) which states:

“The fact that no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not accept such belief will not determine whether the belief is a religious belief…”

So, should it come back that the local heads of my church have no official stance that backs my religious beliefs, that does not negate them.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly.

I felt it was important to remind them that should it turn out that there is no official stance my church leaders can take (which was the case) that that did NOT negate my beliefs. In my case, I was fortunate in that one of the base chaplains that we had been in contact with was willing to write a letter to the effect that he had talked with us and believed that our beliefs that our children should not be vaccinated were sincere.

The letter and all the forms or whatever they fill out went up the chain of command and we eventually got a response back that our exemptions were processed.

Now. Does this mean all is peaches and roses? No. The CDC has the right (which they have exercised) to refuse my children admittance in the case of an ‘outbreak’. The one time I was ready to drop them off for Give Parents a Break, there had been a case of chicken pox. It didn’t matter that I didn’t feel it was an issue, they were still allowed to / required to not admit my children since they had not been vaccinated for chicken pox.

UPDATE: AUGUST 2015

It’s been a few years since I wrote this and our situation as changed a bit with both kids being school age now and with having moved overseas (which was NO issue at all, the questions of vaccines didn’t even really come up).

I just wanted to quickly say that so far our experience with registering the kids for school has been a piece of cake. For an on base DoDEA school overseas in Japan, all I had to do was fill out the DoDEA form (http://www.dodea.edu/StudentServices/upload/2011_2942_0_M_F4.pdf) and wrote “We do not vaccinate for religious reasons” in section 4.

That’s it. School nurse didn’t bat an eyelash, just said ‘thank you’.

We’ve done this three times now with no issue at all. In fact, I wound up having a nice short conversation the last time and it basically came down that the nurse agreed that parents had the right to refuse and that was okay. 🙂

I have not yet attempted to register them with the CDC here for either Give Parents a Break or for the School Age program as it simply hasn’t come up yet. If I do, I will update this again to reflect my experience.

The big bad VACCINE post.

I haven’t written anything that could be classified as ‘controversial’ in a while, but really felt the need to write this all out. Facebook status is too short, lol.

You’ve been give fair warning.

My 3 1/2 year old DS (Dear Son for those not familiar with internet acronyms) is vaccinated up to his 18 month vaccinations, minus the varicella. When he got his MMR, he got a rash. Nothing severe, but it started the gears in my head turning. When he was 18 months old I was less than a month from my due date with my daughter. DS was born 2 months early so I knew that DD (Dear Daughter) could come at any time. Since DS had gotten the rash with his MMR (something like only 6% of kids get that rash), I felt it increased his chance of getting the chicken pox from the vaccination. Since I could have a newborn in the house any day, I didn’t feel comfortable with him getting that one. His ped agreed that it was a valid concern, although she was pro-vacc, and didn’t push the varicella vaccination any further.

My 2 year old DD is vaccinated through her 3 month vaccinations. When she was born I was just starting serious vaccination research so she still got her HepB at birth. DH (Damn Dear Husband) brought her in for her 3 month Well Baby check up in our new home state (we moved when she was 3 months old) and got her her 3 month vaccinations at that time. However, she was *6* months old and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the idea of trying to get her caught up. It REALLY got those gears turning and I decided I couldn’t do that to her without a lot more research. He says the reason she got even her 3 month are because I didn’t know he was doing it and that I got mad at him, lol. Possible, but I don’t remember that. I do know that he’s anti-vaccination now, though maybe not as passionately as I am 🙂

My research after seeing how many vaccinations she’d need to ‘catch up’ led me to choose to NOT VACCINATE.

For starters, the CDC would have you believe that vaccinations caused a massive decline in disease. NOT TRUE. Those diseases were already on a massive decline BEFORE THERE WERE VACCINES FOR THEM.

Pre-vaccine declination of incidences VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

The CDC will also have you believe that vaccines are highly effective. Also NOT TRUE. There are mulitple cases of outbreaks in highly vaccinated areas.

Outbreaks in highly vaccinated areas VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

I hate being lied to.

I didn’t feel the risk from exposure to the chemical and biological components of vaccines was outweighed by the not very evident ‘benefits’.

Then I found out something else that cemented my decision further, in ways that NOTHING before had.

I found out that many vaccines were developed by growing the culture on aborted human fetal cells.

True, those abortions happened decades ago, but they happened and the vaccines in use today are from those original cultures. I can’t condone abortion for something that doesn’t seem to be as necessary as TPTB would have you believe. Other vaccines were cultured in cells from other animals, which I’m not that hot on either.

On the health issue, since pro-vaccine people generally believe that non-vaccinated kids are walking time-bombs spreading disease all over the country / world – When we pass a cold, etc. around the house, 99% of the time DH, DS and myself get it the worst and DD’s is milder or she doesn’t get it. Let me say that again. THE MOST VACCINATED GET THE SICKEST AND THE LEAST VACCINATED DOESN’T, NOT the other way around.

I also find it interesting that although both of my children are smart, the least vaccinated is light years ahead of where her more vaccinated brother was at the same age, and way ahead of where she ‘should’ be. Emma is just a couple months past her 2nd birthday and can count to 20, knows her upper and lower case letters by sight, this past week learned her single digit numbers by sight, has known her colors for a very long time, and in some ways is more articulate than her brother who is 19 months OLDER, but more vaccinated. When Eion was her age we were still counting his words and he had about 20-30. I never bothered to count Emma’s.

Coincidence? Probably, but I can’t help but wonder.

Confidence

The fact that I’m writing this on my phone speaks to how profoundly it affects me.

Have you ever noticed that people decide to stop a discussion only when it’s leading away from their beliefs on a subject? Never mind that there are tons of posts that agree with them that are downright NASTY mean.

If the discussion is about circumcision and they’re positive you’re dooming your child to a disgusting, infected penis and HIV, they think the time to stop is right after someone posts that they feel circumcision is unnecessary, not after yet *another* post that circumcision is “a good thing” and that anyone that doesn’t circ is a moron.

If the discussion is about cloth diapers, it’s always after the post about how easy cloth diapering actually is, not after someone says that people that use cloth must go around stinking like poop all the time because their washer can’t *possibly* be clean.

If it’s a discussion about vaccinations, they always want to stop the discussion after solid information showing that vaccinations are dangerous and unnecessary, not after all the posts blaming non-vaccinating parents for their child’s sneeze and saying how they have to vaccinate to protect their child from your child that will kill their child, or some other such absolute nonsense.

I dunno, if you can’t defend your decisions without getting nasty, seems to me you’re probably not that confident in your decision and may need to rethink it, eh?

And, yes, if you think this is pointed at you, it probably is.

Vaccines – say WHAT?!

The subject of vaccines seems to come up in a cycle. It comes up before we have our babies, shortly after birth, when they are supposed to be getting them (3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc.), as well as, of course, any time they’re in the news. So, as Emma is now a year old, the issue has come up on her birth board again.

Just for clarification, my decision to NOT vaccinate has NOTHING to do with a possible link with the increase in Autism cases. That’s a post for another day, but in short I believe there are many many reasons for the increase in diagnosis of Autism and I don’t believe that vaccines can be blamed for all of it, if any.

So. Here’s the argument that confuses me the most:

“If you don’t vaccinate your child, you’re putting my child at risk”

Huh?

If your vaccinated child and my unvaccinated child are at school together, and my child happens to get one of the childhood diseases that vaccines are supposed to protect against, if your child gets it, then doesn’t it stand to reason that your child’s vaccine wasn’t the miracle you thought it was? To me, this emphasizes a reason to NOT vaccinate. If someone is concerned enough about their fully vaccinated child getting sick from my non-vaccinated child, then, to me, that shows that that parent KNOWS that the vaccines are ineffective and unnecessary.

“No, no, it’s because when a child is one, they’re not fully vaccinated, that’s why they can get sick from an unvaccinated child”

Right. Okay. So, you have a chemically-injected unprotected child and I have a chemical-free unprotected child. Well then, I’ll get right on injecting my child with dangerous chemicals just so they can be as UNprotected as your chemical-laden child. Uh huh.

“Well, at least if you vaccinate your child it will reduce their risk of getting sick and reduce the possiblilty that they’ll pass it on to my child”. (who is vaccinated and supposedly protected anyway)

Huh?!

So, in this case somehow my child’s vaccinations will be more effective than your own.

Wait. Why am I injecting chemicals into my child again? Nope. Still can’t figure it out.

Oh right. I’m not!

I have not heard anything yet – that makes sense – that shows that vaccinating my child will protect yours, or that vaccinating your child somehow protects mine. But, if anyone wants to try, feel free 🙂

Gossip

I was recently watching the movie Doubt. At one point the character of Father Flynn says the following during one of his homilies. It really struck me so I thought I’d share it here.

A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man they hardly knew – I know none of you have ever done this… That night, she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her, and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day, she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing.

“Is gossiping a sin?” She asked the old man. “Was that the hand of God All Mighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution, Father? Tell me, have I done something wrong?”

“Yes.” Father O’Rourke answered her. “Yes, you ignorant, badly brought up female. You have borne false witness against your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.”

So the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness.

“Not so fast.” says O’Rourke. “I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.”

So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.

“Did you gut the pillow with a knife?” He says.

“Yes, Father.”

“And what was the result?”

“Feathers.” she said.

“Feathers.” he repeated.

“Feathers. Everywhere, Father.”

“Now I want you to go back, and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind.”

“Well,” she said, “It can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.”

“And that,” said Father O’Rourke, “is gossip.”