Vaccines and a Single Blueberry

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . Daniel getting excited that his baby brother walked all the way across the room. 

. . . Anna sampling a blueberry.  I don't know what flavor she was anticipating from it, but the stunned  and dismayed expression on her face clearly showed that she didn't expect what she got.  I laughed out loud, then offered her something else instead, which she gladly accepted.

And another thing . . .

. . . I recently read an article entitled "Immunization Misconceptions" in BYU Magazine.  It used solid, scientific data to address three common concerns about child vaccination.

1) Vaccines do not cause autism.  Only one study has ever linked a single vaccine (the MMR) to autism, and that study was later found to be fraudulent.

2) Multiple vaccines won't overwhelm a baby's immune system.  Babies encounter far more germs in their surroundings than they do through vaccines, and one study found that it would take about 100,000 vaccines administered at once to overtax a child's immune system.

3) Vaccines don't contain toxic mercury.  Many vaccines used to contain a preservative called thimerosal that broke down into ethylmercury, which quickly clears out of the body (as opposed to the more well-known methylmercury, which can build up and become toxic).  The article noted that "because of public concern, thimerosal has been eliminated or reduced to trace amounts in vaccines.  Today, no vaccine for children age 6 and under contains thimerosal except the flu vaccine."

I include all this partly for your information, but also for my own reference.  I've chosen to immunize all of my children because I feel that the benefits outweigh the risks (real or perceived), but occasionally I find someone who has sincere concerns about vaccines.  It's nice to have clear explanations based on solid science to address their concerns.