Vaccination rant

My parents, when I was growing up, made the choice not to get us our shots. When I became a mother, I knew I would have to make decisions regarding vaccinations as well. As soon as my daughter was born, I began searching for information.

I feel like I was pretty rational about the decisions I made. I felt I could strike a balance between the danger of getting the vaccine and the danger of not getting the vaccine. There were some vaccines that I felt were important, and some that I felt weren't necessary and just added a chance of an adverse reaction.

The MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) was one that I felt was probably necessary. Since my children were getting it, and since they offered it to me in the hospital just after my son was born two weeks ago (and getting rubella while I'm pregnant makes me a little nervous), I decided to get the shot.

A few days ago, I had a mild fever and I felt like crap. I just thought I was sick. Then I started to break out with the worst case of hives that I have ever seen Friday night. By Saturday morning, I looked awful. I went into the local community care center (not my regular family doctor, since his office was closed).

The staff was great, the wait was short and the doctor was polite and nice. BUT he refused to admit that the hives could be a reaction to the vaccination. According to the information sheet I had received at the hospital (written by the CDC, by the way) breaking out with hives within 14 days of receiving the vaccination is considered an adverse reaction. It's a serious allergic reaction.

But the doctor only went on a spill about how he trusted vaccinations, had vaccinated all 6 of his kids, how he'd never seen an adverse reaction in 14 years of practice, how it was like Russian roulettte to not vaccinate ... yada yada ...

Yeah, he probably hadn't seen any adverse reactions if he'd closed his eyes to it like that every time. I hadn't eaten, worn, or used anything different in the last few weeks. There wasn't anything else it could be. It was well within the time frame given by the CDC, and HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPORTING IT TO THE CDC, LIKE THE INFORMATION SHEET INSTRUCTS.

The information sheet says that less than one out of a million doses causes an allergic reaction. But how accurate is that number? If doctors are ignoring your reactions because of their blind allegiance to herd immunity and this irrational fear that parents won't vaccinate, they probably aren't reporting all the cases. The number could be a lot larger than that.

Luckily, I knew how to report it myself, and I did. Luckily, I'd done my research and I knew what I was talking about, even if the doctor didn't.

THIS is why you can't turn your health care entirely over to a health care professional. We have to educate OURSELVES and take responsibility for our own health. We have to know what's going on.

Sunday citation

Here is a great quote that I found in the Old Testament institute manual. It's by President Joseph F. Smith:

"One of the highest qualities of all true leadership is a high standard of courage. When we speak of courage and leadership we are using terms that stand for the quality of life by which men determine consciously the proper course to pursue and stand  with fidelity to their convictions. There has never been a time in the Church when its leaders were not required to be courageous men; not alone courageous in the sense that they were able to meet physical dangers, but also in the sense that they were steadfast and true to a clear and upright conviction.

"Leaders of the Church, then, should be men not easily discouraged, not without hope, and not given to forebodings of all sorts of evil to come. Above all things the leaders of the people should never disseminate a spirit of gloom in the hearts of the people. If men standing in high places sometimes feel the weight and anxiety of momentous times, they should be all the firmer and all the more resolute in those convictions which come from a God-fearing conscience and pure lives. Men in their private lives should feel the necessity of extending encouragement to the people by their own hopeful and cheerful intercourse with them, as they do by their utterances in public places. It is a matter of the greatest importance that the people be educated to appreciate and cultivate the bright side of life rather than to permit its darkness and shadows to hover over them.

"In order to successfully overcome anxieties in reference to questions that require time for their solution, an absolute faith and confidence in God and in the triumph of His work are essential." (Gospel Doctrine, p. 155)

I love this quote because we all are leaders. As parents we are leaders, as friends we can be leaders as we stick to our convictions, as grandparents and family we are all leaders. By influence we can lead those around us to the true Leader, Christ. And since we can all be leaders, this quote applies to us in a particular way.

I believe that if we truly have faith in Christ, then despite what others around us may do with their agency, we can still have hope. This is possible because Christ has already overcome the world for us.