Dear Mirkam,
You're not the only one who has researched this topic intently. Please don;t fall into the trap of thinking that just because I'll go with the statuts quo on this one, means that I haven't done my research.

As someone who professes to have done so much research on vaccines, you should know that like birth control, they are not 100% effective, The whole point of vaccination practice is that it minimises the risk of a disease entering a population. Once one child is unvaccinated, the risk that the others come into contact with it is heightened, and so increases their risk of catching it.

Umm, the SCMP (I think?) had an article not two months ago that there were cases of polio being reported in Western China, out near Urumuqui. And it's certaibly been reported world wide atht smallpox is on the rise in several Asian countries.

Drug companies be damned - the NYTimes reported last year that two separate studies, neither funded by pharmceutical companies, had 'disproven' any links between MMR and autism.

If your child, or a child you know is autistic, then I am truly sorry - but I believe (and I think it's current medical theory at the moment) that the MMR vaccine is usually given at a time when certain developmental 'pathways' change. One article I remember reading argued (on the basis of these studies) that for autistic children these pathways didn't 'fuse' properly (fuse wasn't the work in the article, but I have a mental blank here) - and that there was no medical evidence that anything in the current MMR vaccines could be responsible for these developments.

And MMR/autism aside - what about diptheria, tetanus? Are you going to argue that THEY don't exist?

And it's not a 'stupid' comment to say that unvaccinated children raise the statistical risk to other children. Even MDs who disagree with current vaccination practice should acknowledge that the way the immune system works means that this is true.

Perhaps you woud like to inform the other Geobaby readers of these 'many' risks you speak of? Running a temperature, even a high one for a day or two is not life threatening in itself, and this is the most common short-term side effect of vaccinations (along with mild swelling). If you have inside knowledge of some long-term detrimental side effect of the tetanus shot, then I'd love to hear about it........

I am sorry that you feel that you feel that I am 'totally ignorant' on the matter. I assure you, I am not. Due to a medical condition of mine, we had to evaluate some various different forms of the vaccines for my son, and with all the research we could dig up from three continents, we decided that vaccination is, on the whole, safer for our child, and for the wider community.

I'm not saying that there are NO risks - but that the risks to your child, statistically, medically, are minute, and that I find the choice not to vaccinate, especially without underlying medical cause, to be reprehensible.