Why Some Parents Differ Over Vaccinations
July 25, 2006 | Allergies and Immune System
This year, all kindergarteners and 6th graders will be required to receive the chickenpox vaccine. While many parents will comply, many others in Washington will opt out of vaccines altogether.
Two close friends made opposite choices on vaccinating their children. Mary-Clayton Enderlein, a public health nurse, says the choice to vaccinate was clear for her.
“My stepmother had polio, my sister-in-law had polio, I mean I had lots of people with polio in my life over the years … I’ve seen what it’s done to them,” she said.
When Tina Bystrom thoroughly researched vaccines she said she found too little reassurance about their safety. She relies instead on nutrition and good hygiene to help her kids battle illness.
“I just decided in the end that the risks were greater than the benefits, so I chose not to do any of the vaccines,” she said.
She said her mind was not changed when whooping cough swept through a play group and infected several families, including her own. Without booster shots, even vaccinated adults can get whooping cough.
“It was never horrible, horrible, horrible,” she said. “We were lucky I think in terms of it not being so scary.”
Children’s Hospital Dr. Edgar Marcuse is a nationally recognized vaccine expert. He warns parents not to underestimate the risks children face if they’re not vaccinated.
“Many of these diseases most often cause mild illness, but sometimes they cause very severe illness,” he said.
It happened to Mary Clayton’s newborn son. She passed whooping cough to him after she was exposed to an unvaccinated child. He spent months in intensive care and recovery.
“It was a very difficult time for us, and very frightening, because he was so tiny, and so sick,” she said.
Despite profoundly different views, as their children grow up the two moms have kept their friendship intact.
Dr. Marcuse says parents should seek out impartial information on vaccinations. But he emphasizes, today’s vaccines are safer than they ever have been.
The vaccine rate in Washington state is higher than it has been in 10 years, but still among the lowest of all states.