The Start of Our Vaccine Conversation

I’ll first start off by saying that I am not expert on vaccines by any means. I read and listened to a few topics that didn't sit well with me so I decided to dig deeper. I started researching vaccines years ago because I knew it was an important decision my husband and I would have to make for our future children. And it was important to me to have the information and have a good grasp on what that decision would be before becoming pregnant. I didn’t want to have mounds of vaccine research and decisions on top of all the other pregnancy and birth decisions there are to make. ( That is how I chose to approach many decisions of pregnancy and birth because it worked for me! )

“ Vaccines- just like everything should be individualized. They aren’t a one size fits all thing. "

This blog isn’t to persuade you one way or the other. It isn't to change your mind or views. It’s simply to inform and empower you to know you have a choice either way. This all may be new to you or may be just the beginning of your research on this topic but either way hope you enjoy and learn something new!  This conversation is very long and ongoing but will keep it as short as possible for this first blog. This will not be the end of the vaccine blog and conversation because it is a lengthy topic. If you follow us on Instagram then you know we don't talk about vaccines or our opinions on them to the public. Unfortunately we cannot because IG likes to censor those topics and threats to delete our account. So blogging gives us the freedom of speech we need for a topic like this!

Maybe vaccines are something you’ve really never thought about. Because they are just a  “normal”  thing and “everyone” does them.  Or maybe you’ve heard that we have to have “herd immunity” so you have to do your part and get them. This blog isn’t to change your mind either way. Simply to get you to think about them regardless and not just do them because they are “normal” or you “should”. It should be your CHOICE - either way you get to choose!

Vaccines- just like everything should be individualized. They aren’t a one size fits all thing.  Diets, exercise, other pharmaceuticals (yes vaccines are a pharmaceutical), supplements, etc don’t all work for every person. And need to be monitored, changed, adjusted based on the person and how their body responds to each. This is one reason why we started Balanced Friends because we believe everyone deserves and should be treated as an individual and there isn’t a one size fits all for everyone.  But that is not the way we approach vaccines. We have a schedule based on the ACIP and CDC and we follow it for everyone. There is vaccines given at birth and continue from there. They are not based on age, size, weight- the same dose is given to all. All other medications are based on those circumstances but not vaccines.

Most of the time we aren’t ASKED if we want the vaccine or aren’t told about any risk factors that come from them. We are just TOLD we are "due" for them and that’s the end of the conversation. We aren’t getting all the information before giving consent to this medical intervention.  Vaccines are a medical invention so why don't we have to give consent before ever receiving them? The handouts that you may or may not receive underestimate the risks of vaccines. Medical consent with vaccines is a whole topic on its own. Once we start questioning vaccines or the schedule, we are threatened to be kicked out of the doctors office for not following the schedule and being up to date. This happens all the time. Why can't we ask questions or ask about injuries that we noticed previously. Parents start researching or have had other kids or family members with a vaccine injury and ask their provider questions or decide they want to skip some but that provider decides to kick them out of their practice. Doctors need a certain percentage of their practice to be fully vaccinated or their licenses are threatened as well. Health insurance companies penalize doctors by giving them lower reimbursement rates for each patient if they are not following “the standard of care.” Why are we threatened to do vaccines? What if we don’t want to do some of the 69 doses that kids are given now. Why aren’t we allowed to ask questions, why aren’t the risks given to us first so that we can make an informed decision that we feel good about?   Yes kids are given 69 DOSES if they’re fully vaccinated. That doesn’t include the vaccines given to pregnant Mama! That is triple the amount given when we were kids! We have vaccines for several illnesses but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the most harmful or fatal diseases for kids. It’s just the ones that a pharmaceutical company developed and  patented. And then the ACIP and CDC put it on the vaccine schedule. There are plenty of other diseases and illnesses that we can contract that may be more harmful or fatal that we don’t vaccinate against. But we don’t talk about those diseases or illness and “all the kids dying from those”.

All pharmaceuticals (vaccines are a pharmaceutical) have risks and side effects for some people. Maybe not for everyone. But for some people. We don’t know if our child will be one of those people who they affect until it’s too late. We don’t know how our children will respond to each dose they are given. We aren't told by the person giving the vaccine what could potentially happen after our child gets a vaccine. Is it because they don't know? Are they allowed to tell us? Or does that create too much fear and questions regarding a multi billion industry? Even if we do ask and are told about risks, we don’t know the full chances of our children being hurt because only a small fraction of injuries are reported to VAERS.  It’s like roulette with each dose. The immune system is so so complex and everyone’s immune system is different. So how can we say that they are safe for every child and guarantee that our child won't have a reaction?  The CDC's current one size fits all vaccine schedule is not appropriate for most babies. And side note - there isn’t enough research ( if any ) on the combination of doses that kids receive! They don’t study vaccines in the combinations that are actually given. Let me repeat that. The CDC vaccine schedule has never been tested for safety in the actual combination that children receive them! We are not here to place all the blame on our doctors. They are taught vaccines are safe and effective. How they should be given and to move along. They are taught how to help apprehensive or hesitant parents to accept vaccines. They are trained to minimize the discussion of possible side effects and to not really explain that vaccines are a choice. This is exactly how dental hygiene school was for Sam and I. We were taught fluoride is safe for everyone and we were taught how to talk and reassure it's safety to those that question it. Doctors are taught so many things in medical school so they don’t question things they learn like vaccines because why should they?! The doctors that question vaccines, allow different schedules, or are ok with denials, have done the research on their own, or have had clinical/personal experience with vaccine reactions to know they are real and do happen. Back to the fluoride example- I didn't start to question it until I researched on my own! There is so much more to health then the rigid one size fits all approach we often buy into during our training/schooling. Let's touch a little more on pharmaceutical companies since they are responsible for making vaccines. One thing I learned that made me sooo angry was that in 1986 liability was taken away from vaccine companies. Meaning if there is an injury the company who made the vaccine is not liable for it. They won't be held accountable for a product that is causing many injuries. That’s beyond concerning because they have no reason to change the product, to make safer, or to do more testing. Vaccines are the only product that a manufacturer is exempt from liability if the product injures or kills someone. To put that into perspective, even cosmetic companies are held responsible if your child gets a rash after using a lotion. Toy companies are held responsible if there is a choking hazard. You get the point! Have you ever read the ingredients in a vaccine or looked at disclaimers in a package insert? Because it is alarming! For example- SIDs is listed as a side effect in DTaP. DTaP is tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis given to pregnant Mamas and babies. ( Side note- vaccines - yes flu vaccine included- have never been tested on pregnant women. How can we say they are safe for us to receive? ) DTaP is also one that many parents ask their family members to get before visiting baby. I love this podcast on pertussis because it talks about how this can actually make baby more susceptible. This a great resource for information about vaccines!

Podcast on Pertussis and many more!

Some alarming ingredients that vaccines can contain include aluminum (which is a known neurotoxin) and it crosses the blood brain barrier. Aborted fetal cell, mercury, polysorbate 80, glyphosate, formaldehyde, gelatin, egg protein, MSG, fetal bovine serum. There are many more harmful ingredients but these are enough to open anyone's eyes to for now. Another sad fact is that if you ask your Provider for the insert they may not give it to you or they may give you a shortened version that does not include all the information. There is a "reason" for each of these ingredients in a vaccine that we will dive into on another day- such as a preservative or to mimic an immune reaction.

Just like with everything else we recommend at Balanced Friends, we highly encourage you to do your own research and decide what works best for you and your family. But know WHY you are CHOOSING and making decisions and don’t just go with the “norm”. You don’t have to be “anti vaxx” but we believe that everyone should be pro informed consent. Why does my vet ask so many questions about my dogs response to vaccines but doctors don’t ask parents the same questions about their babies? Or if parents say things like my baby was extremely tired, uncontrollably crying, fever, etc. they are told that’s normal but in reality that's a vaccine reaction. We didn’t even touch on the problem with mandates yet or the flu vaccine push, the amount of injuries from vaccines, what injuries occur, the efficacy, risk vs reward, kids being denied an education, more ingredients, adverse reactions, that fact that some of these diseases were dramatically decreased or almost disappeared before the vaccine was even implemented, fully unvaccinated children being so rare but get used as an excuse for the vaccines not being effective, and truly so much more! See I told you this is a GIANT topic! But I understand for some of us this is information overload already so this conversation will continue. This is just the beginning of the vaccine conversation on our blog. It's a topic that has been highly requested and this first post is simply to get you thinking about vaccines and to empower you to start asking questions. Vaccines are a medical intervention- a big, controversial, confusing one- and it requires some decision making, investigation, and medical consent.

You may hear a lot that the science is settled and vaccines don't cause autism. This couldn't be farther from the truth! The science is not settled and probably never will be.

I'm not anti vaccine. I’m pro informed consent, pro more safety testing, pro science, pro individualized approach, pro transparency, pro liability and accountability, pro choice. But I am anti mandate and anti hiding the truth. Asking questions doesn’t make you anti vaccine. Vaccines are a medical intervention and just like all interventions they deserve some questions and research. All medical interventions involves some risk!

Thanks for joining in on this conversation. If there is more on this topic you want to discuss send us an email or message us on Instagram!

In good health,

Alyssa

-Balanced Friends

More Helpful Links Related To This Post

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Some of the Vaccine Books as a Resource

The Best Water Filter For Removing Toxins From Tap Water

Schedule A Free 30 Minute Consultation With The Balanced Friends

Podcast on Vaccines

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