5.7 Story: From: Diane Lin
Description
This article is from the Childhood Vaccinations FAQ, by Lynn Gazis-Sax lynng@alsirat.com with numerous contributions by others.
5.7 Story: From: Diane Lin
Our son has been given the full range of immunizations--polio, DPT
(diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), MMR (measles, mumps, rubella),
Hib (meningitis), and Hepatitis-B. We made the decision to have our
son vaccinated for all of these because (a) we felt there was a moral duty
to have him vaccinated, both to escape the free-rider problem, and
to contribute to the herd immunity**, (b) the risk of serious side-effects
did not outweigh the benefits of immunization, and (c) the increased
numbers of children who are not immunized is steadily going up,
which increases the chances of an epidemic, and while most of the
diseases are fairly minor, we didn't see the point in exposing our son
unnecessarily. In making our decision, we spoke to our
pediatrician, other parents, and read the views expressed in misc.kids :-).
When our son got his first DPT shot, he cried for about 4 hours
afterwards, and I was at a loss to comfort him. After calling my
husband to come home, we were finally able to get a little bit of
Infant Tylenol into our son's system. That helped tremendously so
that he could nurse and be comforted. After that, we made sure we
gave him some Infant Tylenol just before he got his shots, to ease
the discomfort. Also, after his first MMR shot, I had forgotten
that some kids display symptoms of measles anywhere from a few days
to a week after the immunization. I didn't panic, but I wish I had
kept that in mind!
--
Diane C. Lin=09=09=09"The only rational way of educating
dlin@weber.ucsd.edu=09 is to be an example."
(Dylan's mom, 2-3/4 years)=09 -- Albert Einstein
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