A local mother in a letter to the editor went to the heart of questions and doubts about vaccinating our children in my opinion. Here is what she shared:

… I am a parent who has chosen to delay my child's vaccinations. Not because I think the science is bunk or that I have contempt for our government but because of preservatives like thimerosal and metals like tin and aluminum that pharmaceutical companies needlessly add to some vaccines.
Injecting these chemicals into my child when his body and brain are developing exponentially in his first two years is as scary to me as the actual diseases the vaccines prevent.
It's neither science nor government for which I have contempt. It's pharmaceutical companies that put profits before patient safety that scare me.

For inside information about the pharmaceutical industry, check this link (also this one). The author of this book is a practicing physician and lecturer in a medical school. She was for years executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. Her book is a must read for information about pharmaceutical industry practices. In her closing chapter she lists and explains reforms she things must be made now.

When our son and daughter were the young age for vaccinations decades ago we had them done without question, because we knew so little about the pharmaceutical industry. For parents of young children today I think the mother who wrote that letter is sensitive and insightful. If our's were young today, I'd have a heart to heart with their doctor, including asking for full information about every ingredient in the vaccine and its purpose.

Copyright © 2009 John F. Yeaman