You are two years and nine months old now and your dad and I are researching and applying to preschools for you to attend in the fall. At the same time, our country is experiencing hysteria over a measles outbreak and it seems everyone is divided about whether to vaccinate (specifically for measles, but in general, as well) and whether the goverment should force all parents to vaccinate their children in order to attend public schools. This issue is the most divisive issue we have encountered since you were born and we have unfortunately lost friends over our decision to keep you vaccine-free.
Your health and education have always been priorities for you, because without either of those, we fear you will not be able to reach your full potential and thrive. As you know, you were born at home after a pregnancy in which I exercised and ate better than I ever have and avoided anything potentially dangerous. You had only breastmilk for the first six months (and you're still breastfeeding!), we used cloth diapers, we held you in our arms or wore you on our bodies, and not a single chemical touched your skin for the first year of your life. You also slept next to us from the first night you were born and you have very few plastic toys. While non of this was uncommon in our little community of friends and family, it was still very unusual for most families at the time. What was uncommon was that we declined the vitamin k shot, erythromycin eye ointment, newborn screen, and hearing screen after birth because we knew they were all unnecessary.
Mama and Lala, along with a core group of trusted midwives, were your primary care providers when you were a baby. We weighed and measured you at home, kept track of all your milestones, and since you were always so healthy, we didn't actually feel a need to take you to a pediatrician. When you were one year old, we visited the pediatrician we chose for you just so we could all say hello and establish a relationship. He was gentle and nice and supportive of our decision to not vaccinate. We were glad to meet him and also knew we wouldn't be back to see him unless and until something was seriously wrong.
Since you've been born, you've had a handful of runny noses ("mocos" was your first Spanish word) and a few fevers, but nothing serious. Mostly we held you close and I nursed you as often as possible and every illness passed within just a couple days. In the past few months we had started giving you small doses of herbs to prevent or fight off illnesses (you love the taste of elderberry syrup!). We've also changed our family diet to include lots more organic vegetables, bone broth, raw milk, and high-quality fish, chicken, and meat. As far as we know, you have never eaten high-fructose corn syrup or MSG (yucky things we grew up with) because we've tried to be so careful about avoiding any processed food. Because of you, our whole family's health has improved.
Your dad and I have been in agreement about vaccinations for you since before you were born. We knew we wanted to avoid the shots that are standard immediately after birth and our plan evolved into a heavy weighing of risks versus benefits for each vaccine on the CDC recommended schedule from then on. We are not "anti-vaccine." We have evaluated every single dose on the schedule and put considerable time and effort into researching our options, agreeing that we would choose the vaccines that made sense for you at the time. What it comes down to for us, however, is that we are not convinced of the safety of the vaccines and that the benefits outweigh the risks. So far, there have been no studies comparing the health of vaccinated versus unvaccinated kids but we know the organization responsible for reporting adverse reactions to vaccines has paid out more than three billion dollars to families who could prove their child was injured by a vaccine. According to the statistics we have seen, there have been no deaths from measles in our country in the past 15 years, but several people have had their deaths linked to the MMR vaccine. The number of doses on the recommended schedule has tripled since the 1980s (when we were vaccinated) while rates of autism and auto-immune disorders have exploded. The link is much too "coincidental" for us.
Plus, we are not afraid of the diseases the vaccines are supposed to prevent. Okay, maybe your dad is a little. I am not afraid of the measles. I am not afraid of chicken pox. I want you to get both, actually, so you can develop natural lifelong immunity, which is something the vaccine cannot offer. Your immune system is strong and you are as healthy as you can be.
The vaccine debate is a huge deal right now and people are very emotional about it. We have recently lost friends over our decision, which is really hard. What would be harder, though, would be watching you suffer from an injury caused by a vaccine. We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves. So, when you are able, we'll all have a conversation about vaccines and you can decide for yourself if you would like to receive any. In the meantime, we will do all we can to keep you healthy. We will also do whatever we can to ensure that families continue to have the right to philosophically object to vaccines, because the world without exemptions for an invasive medical procedure for which death is a side effect, is not a world we want to live in.
The vaccine question will be a factor in the preschool we choose for you, it seems, depending on how the laws of our state will change in this next year. Please know that you are so precious to us and we truly want only the best for you, now and always.
Love,
Mama and Daddy
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