A few things I didn't know about vaccines

Recently a friend sent me an anti-vaccination pamphlet to consider. My first thought was "what a load of garbage - people who don't get their kids vaccinated are a menace to society", but remembering back to my last post about taking time to consider both sides of an issue before passing judgment, I took some time to do a little research on the subject, and was surprised at my findings.

One of the outrageous sounding claims on the pamphlet was that vaccines contain "human cells from aborted fetal tissue". Now, regardless of your stance on abortion, I have to think that the idea of aborting babies to make vaccines, or even using already aborted dead babies to make vaccines would make most people uncomfortable. One wouldn't make a claim that is so obviously controversial without having some kind of backup, and sure enough, my research (ok, my Googling) provided some interesting details. The vast majority of vaccines, and pretty much all of the ones that are on my baby's vaccination schedule do indeed contain "human diploid cells". In order to cultivate a virus for use in a vaccine, it has to have host cells, and the cells that are used in most vaccines in the US (and therefore Canada) can be traced back to three aborted fetuses from the 1960s. Cells were removed from the deceased infants (which were not aborted for scientific purposes), and have been cultured (grown) in labs and used for various medical and research purposes ever since. Now, I don't know about everyone else, but it is unsettling to me that this is something that is not common knowledge.

This was probably the most shocking of the items on the list. There were several more recognizable ingredients (a mercury derivative and formaldehyde for example), and a lot of menacing and inedible sounding ingredients. I looked around at the details for these, but the reality is, children are exposed to varying levels toxins in their environment every day through vehicle exhaust, second & third hand smoke, building materials, and possibly, food. There is strong anecdotal evidence that points to devastating and even deadly reactions in some individuals, but mortality rates from preventable diseases in countries with strong immunization rates provide convincing evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks posed by injections of small amounts of potentially toxic stabilizers and preservatives.

My biggest concern arising from this mini-research project was that as parents, we are really making the decision to vaccinate our children quite blindly. It is one thing to make an educated decision based on a solid grasp of individual and societal benefits and risks, but it is quite another to simply show up, read the limited materials provided, authorize injections of heaven knows what into our precious babies, and make the next appointment (exactly what I did for the first three immunization appointments for my son).

Am I saying that I am not going to continue with scheduled vaccinations? No (although this no is a lot more shaky than it would have previously been). I still believe (based on my somewhat limited knowledge) that on a societal level, the mass benefits of reduction and elimination of dangerous diseases outweighs the risks to the individual, however, I do feel that this topic warrants more research, and that my opinion on this topic is not nearly as black and white as it was before.