[.ca] Vaccinations (ISBN 0892819316)

Make this your first book on vaccinations:
Objectivity in the controversy of vaccinations is almost non-existent. Aviva Jill Romm has accomplished a singular feat in providing parents with an intelligent discussion of the issues without telling the parent which they should choose. Rather, she presents summaries of the most pertinent vaccination studies, analyzes difficulties in interpreting existing data, and explores thoughtful questions involved in the decision. She makes it clear that "to vaccinate or not to vaccinate" is not an easy question, and it has no easy answers that will suit everybody. To help parents make an educated decision, Romm also offers a succinct primer on how the immune system works, what symptoms and risks present with each "vaccine-preventable disease," and standard treatments for each disease. The last half of the book includes herbal remedies and recipes for common childhood diseases, as a supplement to other healthy choices to improve immune system functioning. This book serves as an outstanding reference on vaccination-related facts, a balanced decision guide for parents, and a handy cookbook for home remedies. I buy this book for my friends who are seriously and genuinely investigating the vaccination decision without prejudice.

This is painful:
I haven't finished reading this book yet - I just can't. I have picked it up several times, and it makes me frustrated with the run on sentences and the technical bla bla bla. I'm a masters level university grad with alot of education, and I feel so frustrated with this book. When I go to Public Health or read about vaccinations on the internet, I feel frustrated just like this - that's why I need a book to sort these out and come down to my level (probably what most parents need) and explain it in a way that is not so intimidating. I know historical data about the vaccinations is necessary to give the reader some terms of reference, but some of it in this book seems like it was thrown in just to make the book fatter - it sure isn't relevant, and the scientific terms and greek words for things don't really interest me. If I wanted that, I'd buy a book on vaccination history. The words are too big in this book to make it approachable, and the sentences are too long to keep my attention. I love the fact that there is info provided on alternative remedies, but where the hell am I going to get 1/2 ounce Chinese skullcap and 1/2 ounce cleavers tincture, forsythia, scrophularia, and dried lemongrass. I live in a small town in Canada for pete's sake. I also bought "What your doctor may not tell you about children's vaccinations" by Cave and Mitchell, and this book I found to be alot better if you want to have a better idea what you should do with your precious child, I would recommend this book way over the above-mentioned. I gave this book 2 stars because I think it might be worth owning just for the reference and some of the referrals to boosting immunity naturally and herbal and homeopathic approaches to same. Good luck!!

From a father of a 2-yr old boy:
I am a father of a two-year old boy. Until the baby was born, I had never been aware of any issues surrounding pro or anti vaccination. My wife, I found out, is adamantly against just about every vaccination. Being deeply confused and frustrated when my wife simply refused to have the boy vaccinated, I decided to educate myself on the issue - so I can actually have civilized and educated discussions with my wife. In summer 2002 the reviewer below freedom2think kindly replied to me by stating that this book was the only non-biased book she had found on the subject issue. One by one, the book breaks down and discusses every major vaccine preventable disease and its respective vaccine known today in America in a manner that is easy to understand. It talks about the bio-chemical mechanism of how vaccines are supposed to work, its history, risks involved in both cases of vaccinated versus non-vaccinated, statistics, data, symptoms to watch and what-to-do in both cases where symptoms are observed. If does not tell you which side you should join, but rather helps you understand what really the issue is about and perhaps decide more comfortably. I would strongly recommend this book to you especially if you are a novice on the topic.

Balanced, Informative, Well Documented, Essential:
Amidst the plethora of fanatical and unbalanced writing on vaccinations (both pro and anti), this book is the ONE book you should read on vaccinations. The author, a midwife who is supposedly working on her MD, covers the history of vaccinations, including the mistakes made. She covers each disease, it's risks and likelihood of complications, as well as each vaccine, it's risks and efficacy. It also provides a section on naturopathic approaches to immunity. What I like about this book is: - it does NOT tell you what to do - it presents the pros and cons in a balanced fashion, almost to the point that you can't tell which side the author takes (in the end, I think she is mostly - it discusses how to approach exemption, and how to deal with schools etc. - it is fairly complete and up to date, and includes discussions of the more recent DTaP (v. DTP), and the chicken pox vaccine. Check out this quote: " I have made an effort to substantiate the information in this book by relying heavily on medical literature and not vaccine-critical books or popular health books so that you have a fairly objective view of vaccine issues." p. 151. What I don't like about this book is: - it does NOT tell you what to do ;) - if you decide to selectively vaccinate, it doesn't tell you enough about how you can deal with finding, for instance, vaccines that are just Diptheria and Tetanus, without Perstussis, or just one of the three of MMR. WHAT I DECIDED TO DO -------------------- I have a 6 month old daughter, who has not had any vaccinations yet. Here's a per vaccine list that I have decided so far: - Hepatitis B: NO. They recommend that all children get this at birth, but according to Romm, this is because they can't actually vaccinate the real at-risk patients ahead of time, those who are IV-drug users and sexually promiscuous. I figure that the risks of getting Hep-B when the baby is so small are not worth it. She may get it when she approaches puberty, when her body is stronger. Romm also reports that between 10 and 17 percent of pediatricians are against hep-B immunization at birth. - DTaP: Selective. First of all, the goverment's own guideline says that this can be given as early as 2 months (which most pediatricians do), but that the *optimal* time is 15 months! Not only that, it's 2 years old in Japan, and in Europe, the Pertussis vaccine is no longer given. Imagine that! However, since Diptheria and Tetanus are pretty serious, we plan on getting just those, but NOT pertussis. One of the problems with all vaccines, btw, is that they do NOT give you life-long immunity (with Pertussis, it's as low as 50%), so you are often better off getting the disease as a child - most of the diseases we vaccinate for, including chicken pox, measles, and mumps, have almost no long term affects for healthy children who get standard and timely medical attention. And, if you get the disease, you usually get lifetime immunity. - Polio: NO. We may get this before we travel overseas, but there is no risk of getting it here in the States, and again, every time you inject a vaccine into the bloodstream, not only are you injecting all of the *other* ingredients (including other animal genetic material from the culture of the vaccines, and often metals such as mercury and aluminum) in a vaccine, but you are tampering with the immune system, and conferring questionable immunity (may not last). Of course, we no longer use the live OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine), and the non-live IPV can not give you polio. - MMR: Still deciding, probably NOT. - Chicken Pox: Still deciding, probably NOT. - HiB (influenza B): Still deciding, probably YES. Anyway, you get the idea. Now get this book!

SOME ADVICE (for the guy from a small town in Canada):
You CAN find those things in Canada. I live there too and you, obviously, have a computer so you can purchase all these things online. You can go into your local yellow pages and look under the "HOLISTIC" or "NATUROPATH" categories and you will surely find places that sell all those items you mentioned. For everyone else, I recommend you read the book Vaccines: Are They Really Safe & Effective by Neil Z. Miller