Don't let your kids be bitten by a neighbor's cat. Especially if the neighbor hasn't had the cat vaccinated since he was a bitty kitty.
Kitty is now at the humane society under quarantine and being watched for rabies. Kid is taking antibiotics and had to have a tetanus shot.
Here's the thing. We are delaying vaccines for kid. The other day I looked up the vaccine schedule from when I was born and compared it to the current schedule. Our kids have over twice as many vaccines as we did when we were kids. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccines were combined sometime between the mid-70s and now into the MMR.
The Hep B vaccine is now required for newborns. Here's the deal, I was tested for Hep B when I was pregnant and it is a blood or other fluid transmitted disease. Why would I give this to my newborn? Why not wait until she was older and her body was mature enough to handle it?
A lot of people I know don't vaccinate their kids at all for various reasons. Some due to serious or fatal vaccine complications, severe allergies, religious or philosophical reasons. I, myself love science. I think it is great that my child won't have to go through certain things, like measles. I just don't think that scientists are infallible.
We were on a delayed schedule when we moved. Our excellent pediatrician was very thoughtful about which vaccines were important right away and which ones could be put off. We only wanted to give one vaccine at a time and none when kid was sick so her system wasn't overloaded. Then we moved and had to find a new pedi. We went through a few and TBH, I don't really like any of them.
I've probably done a little more research than the average parent and I recognize lies right away. As soon as I hear a lie, I will never trust the pedi again.
Well, today I heard a few mistruths and now I need yet another pediatrician.
