One of my favorite girlfriends wrote me recently concerned about giving a slew of vaccinations to her 15-month old daughter. “I know a mom with a daughter she is sure is autistic and who knows another mom who woke up to 2 of her 3 triplets rocking in there crib after vaccines, 1 now with severe autism and the other mild autism and 1 child with no problems.”

Here’s my very personal view that I will share with you and her about vaccinating my own children.

Although I chose our pediatrician in part because the practice would let us decide to vaccinate or not, I chose to vaccinate my children for a couple reasons.

First, while there is a lot of talk about the link between vaccinations and autism, particularly concerning the mercury (thimerosal) used as a preservative in the vaccines, there has yet to be definitive proof of the link. Still, I made sure our pediatrician was using thimerosal-free vaccines in single-use vials.

Thimerosal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and younger, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine. Here’s my post on how I felt about flu shots this year.

Second, as a world traveler I believe it is part of my social responsibility to vaccinate my children against these particularly heinous diseases that have caused much death and disfigurement throughout history. The reason you don’t see more kids and young adults walking with braces and physically disabled from polio is due to the near-universal polio vaccination campaign in this country. I want my children to walk freely on this earth, wherever they please, as protected from harm as possible.

I found firsthand that vaccines are not foolproof when my son came down with chickenpox last year even though he had already been vaccinated against them. While the vaccine did not block the virus, it did mitigate the course of the disease so that he was merely uncomfortable instead of miserable, and he avoided the pox scars that we see all over his father’s torso.

While my heart goes out to those families affected by autism, and I know that many of them desperately believe the vaccines caused this condition, I am not convinced. Many pediatricians have told me, and I have seen with my own eyes, that babies who turn into autistic children usually show signs much earlier that “something is off.” These signs are visible long before the vaccination cycle begins but are often overlooked by exhausted new parents.

Even though I did vaccinate my children, I also wanted to help their bodies deal with the toxicity, so I administered Liddell Homeopathic Anti-Tox Vaccine afterward to help counter the negative effects and clear the body of toxins. This is an easy-to-use, under-the-tongue spray. Additionally, I requested the vaccines not be given all together in a single visit – 3-5 vaccines at once is a lot for a little body of less than 20 lbs. to handle! I would rather make more visits and spread out the vaccines then give such a megadose at once.

So this is my very personal take on why I chose to vaccinate my kids. I’d love to hear your thoughts about vaccinating and what you decided to do.