After the recent Hanna Polling court case, many parents are wondering if vaccines are safe. I read The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears a few months ago, when it first came out, and was very impressed with the details he gave from the product insert of every vaccine currently made for children and what his take is regarding how needed the vaccine is or if it can be given at a later age and what brands have lots of aluminum in them (mercury except in the tiniest amounts have been removed from childhood vaccines except some flu shots, but many have aluminum which has been shown to be toxic above certain levels when given through an IV).
If you DO choose to give your child vaccines, Dr. Sears has a great Alternative Vaccine Schedule to help spread the vaccines out and help minimize possible risk to your child. If you choose to SELECTIVELY vaccinate, he also has some good recommendations for which ones he thinks are the most important for children living in the U.S.
Here is Dr. Sears' response to the Vaccine Discussion on Larry King:
"Well, my Alternative Vaccine Schedule is the answer Larry King is looking for. The three main worries that connect vaccines with autism involve mercury, the measles component of the MMR vaccine, and vaccine chemical overload when too many shots are given at once. My vaccine approach circumvents all three worries and allows parents to fully vaccinate their children in the safest manner possible. Keep in mind that science hasn’t proven that any of these worries are even warranted. Yet, every parent with a young baby is concerned nonetheless. So here’s how my vaccine schedule addresses these issues:
First, mercury has been taken out of all vaccines as of 2002, except for some brands of the flu shot. As long as a parent knows to make sure their baby gets a mercury-free flu shot, this particular toxic metal isn’t a risk anymore.
Second, the measles component of the MMR vaccine can be delayed until age 3 years or later. Next to the mercury worry, this live virus vaccine (given at age 1) has come under the most fire. Because autism seems to occur or become most apparent between age 1 and 3 years, my vaccine schedule doesn’t give the measles vaccine until AFTER that age. Once a baby’s neurological system has matured for a few years, and normal language and social development are in place by age three, autism would be extremely unlikely to then be triggered by a measles vaccine given at that later age.
Third, many parents worry about overloading a baby’s little system with so many vaccine chemicals and germ ingredients in the large groups of vaccines given at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. Why not spread those vaccines out? Give 2 shots at a time instead of the recommended 6. Spread the shots out over several years instead of bunching them all together in the first 18 months. Give the most important vaccines first, and follow up with the less critical ones later on. My Alternative Vaccine Schedule does just that."
I highly recommend the book!
Best,
Rebecca