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We vaccinate. However, we did delay the rotovirus because LO seems to react poorly to that one. He is fully vaccinated for it, we just chose not to do it with the 4 shots he was already getting.

I absolutely will. I think when people choose not to vaccinate at all they're taking advantage of all the people who get vaccines and provide herd immunity. And that herd immunity will disappear if everyone just assumes all the other kids will get vaccinated and that they don't need to.

We do, but on a modified schedule.

Yes. For all the health and social issues listed by previous posters.

@Mrs. Pen: for one, because she hasn't had her full schedule yet and there is no way I'd risk her health.

Two, because I think herd immunity is very important and have had family members need to rely on herd immunity for their own well being. I'm uncomfortable with a few parents making decisions that could hurt the weakest members of our society.

Three, when I was in elementary school an unvaccinated student contracted the measles and infected our school with it. Another student (vaccinated) brought the germs home and infected her newborn brother who ended up in the NICU for weeks.

We do on schedule.

@MrsCB: I totally agree with you.

We vaccinate on the schedule recommended by the CDC. To the best of my knowledge, there is no well-supported reason not to vaccinate an otherwise healthy child.

Because we are so lucky to have modern medicine that prevents countless deaths worldwide and because I'd be a very strange pediatrician if I didn't understand what the scientific literature definitively says!

Yes, I believe very strongly in it.

Selectively and very delayed. Because no one has yet to convince that it's ok to shoot a tiny baby up with all those chemicals and toxins, never MIND so many at once. But it's such a hard thing to research, there is SO much conflicting research out there, I respect any parent's choice, particularly a well-educated one, regardless if it differs with mine.

We vaccinate and vaccinate on schedule! We also have a pedi that will not take you as a patient without vaccinating. Our pedi did converse with LO's allergist on a few vaccines but she gave her blessing for all of them. We did give the varicella by itself 30 days before the MMR because I'm allergic to the varicella vaccine and I wanted to know if LO was reacting it was to which vaccine and the MMR was one the pedi needed to confirm with the allergist, but everything was technically on schedule.

@MrsCB: this is the one argument for not vaccinating that really gets under my skin. I cannot stand when someone says my child is vaccinated so their child is protected. It is like if they believe vaccines are so evil then my child's life has no value to them since I, in their minds, put my child at risk by vaccinating.

@oliviaoblivia: I have these same thoughts

@Silva: this. Well said! Couldn't agree more!

I believe in what is called "Mindful Vaccination". This means that I have individually researched each vaccine, and made a decision on each one based on my personal study weighing the benefit of each disease vs vaccine.

We will be giving some vaccines on the typical schedule, delaying some, and forgoing a couple completely.

I understand this is not a popular choice and many people strongly disagree with my decision, but it's something my husband and I did not choose lightly and we believe after many months of research that we have made the decision that is best for our child.

@Arden: This is similar to our process.

@Arden: The same here....we have researched, and discussed with our pediatrician and came up with a modified plan together. Some are on time, some are delayed, and some might be omitted.

We are vaccinating on schedule for all of the reasons that previous posters have mentioned, and also because there have been some scary pertussis outbreaks in our area recently and we want to make sure our son is as protected as he can be.

@googly-eyes: That's a good question, but I'm not sure I can give you the answer you were looking for here on hellobee.

I'm always very careful (especially on public forums) not to tell people the vaccine schedule we've decided on because I think it's SO different for each person and their individual situation.
I don't want anyone to take my schedule and say "that sounds good, I'll do that" without doing their own research - because the decisions I made were based on family history, our living situation (overseas travel, etc), and our beliefs.

There are some vaccines I would not have chosen to give my child if we were staying in the USA, but because we travel and these particular diseases are prevalent in areas where we'll be living, I decided that in our case the benefit outweighed the risk.

The vaccines we chose to forgo altogether were mostly because I believed the potential risk of the vaccine (% of negative reactions and the severity of those reactions) was greater than that of the disease (extremely rare, easily treated, low incidence of severe complications, etc).

Some vaccines we've also chosen to "delay" because I don't want my child receiving multiple vaccinations on the same day. Very little research has been done into the effects of "double-barreled" vaccines, and I'm not comfortable with the potential for reaction. The simple solution is to just divide up the schedule and give them little by little instead of overwhelming my child's system with a cocktail of vaccines.

The concept of "herd immunity" is something I'm not going to go into on this thread at the moment, because I have a feeling it will cause some arguments and I'm just heading to bed. I'll be happy to talk about it another day though!

@oliviaoblivia: +1000 on the herd immunity. A lot of people who don't vaccinate don't understand they are not only putting their kids at risk but other people's children as well. Many people rely on herd immunity due to vaccine allergies or illness, and the more we weaken herd immunity by not vaccinating healthy children, the more we put vulnerable people's lives at risk. This article is now almost four years old but it has really stuck with me. I just feel so bad for this poor mother: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2009/10/a_pox_on_you.html