Vaccinations

I'm a little late.
Josh is 15 months and still hasn't gotten his 12-month vaccinations.  So Wednesday we'll go and get them.
Honestly, I forgot.  I've thought about it off and on, but just hadn't called and made an appointment.  But then August is immunization awareness month, and I talked to my sister, who has a 19-month-old son. They live on an army base, and baby Nate missed his 18-month shots.  Even though he's only a few weeks late, he can't even attend Sunday school at the base church.  He can't go to base day care or the child care center at the gym.  Basically, my sister said, baby Nate isn't allowed anywhere on base around other children because he's a few weeks late on his vaccinations.  They don't care if you have a religious exemption, that's fine, don't vaccinate your kids, the military says--but they can't be around the rest of our kids.

So I called and made an appointment.

I've steered away from talking about vaccinations because it seems everyone is talking about vaccinations, some rationally, some not-so-rationally.  And I didn't want to get into the controversy. But honestly, what's another person talking about shots? And after thinking about it, I don't feel there is a controversy.  Vaccinations have been repeatedly proven safe, serious childhood illness has become rare since the advent of immunizations, and there are serious flaws in the arguments against immunizations. 

So the next few weeks, I'm going to talk about it. Wade through the science and hopefully explain it in easy-to-understand, yet accurate, terms.  Discuss the arguments against vaccination and why they don't hold up.  Look at actual scientific studies and discuss what makes them solid and reliable. 

And in case you're wondering, yes, I will talk about the very real side effects that vaccinations can come with.  I am pro-vaccination; I also had a seizure after my own twelve month shots and a serious reaction to the chicken pox vaccine at age 16.  But frankly, I would rather deal with my child having a febrile seizure than the side effects of measles, mumps, and rubella.
And you should, too.