TO VACCINATE OR NOT VACCINATE; THAT IS THE QUESTION

DISCLAIMER: Before I get into everything, I just want everyone to know that this post is in no way shape or form posted to encourage you to vaccinate your kids. I also want to inform all the readers that I absolutely do not judge parents who choose NOT to vaccinate their kids in the slightest. What you do with your children is your business. This is just my take on vaccinating.

Is it just me or do you get anxiety talking about this subject with other parents? There are so many conspiracy theorist amongst my Armenian community and their thoughts on vaccinating kids that I just shut the subject down when its brought up because it is not something I am interested in debunking or carrying on. There are so many ridiculous theories are thrown at your face when you bring it up: “you would inject your kid with that poison?” “You are willing to have your kid tested on like a lab rat?” “You want the government to track your baby with a microchip?” No, I just don’t want my kid getting measles when I take them to Disneyland. My personal favorite is “vaccines cause autism, don’t vaccinate your kids!” According to everydayhealth.com, a british doctor by the name of Andrew Wakefield claimed he found a link between autism and the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella.) He claimed he found the link just by studying 12 people in total. Investigators later found out that he had fudged with his “data.” Wakefield later retracted his data claiming it to be false and lost his license to practice medicine forever.

I believe it is super important for any parent to do their research before assuming the worst. I completely understand that it may make you nervous to give your baby a vaccine, that is why we have to do our research. You, as a parent, have every single right to ask your child’s pediatrician about the vaccines and ask to be educated on them; what it prevents, what the side effects are and what are the ingredients in them. I have done my own research before my first born was born. I have asked every medical professionals such as RN’s, Doctors, Pediatricians, Pharmacists that I personally know and trust wholeheartedly whether or not to vaccinate, and their response is always to vaccinate your kids. I have read medical studies, articles, youtube videos and anything else you can imagine. These professionals have informed me that anything that I may have heard about vaccines and any harm they may cause our kids are completely false. There is absolutely no medical study, published articles or any data to date that proves vaccines have a direct correlation with Autism or ASD. There are certainly no microchips being injected into your child either. I MEAN COME ON....MICRO CHIP?!?!? That’s a little ridiculous and warrants judgement. 😉

I do not recommend anyone to vaccinate their kids nor do I like it when people push you to do either or. I truly feel that it is not my place or anyones place to tell another parent to vaccinate or not vaccinate their kid. All I recommend is that you, as a parent do some heavy research and educate yourself; ask fellow parents, doctors or nurses you may know. Its important to get other peoples perspective. Don’t just make a decision based on rumors or what your neighbors daughter said. After doing plenty of research, my wife and I chose to vaccinate our kids because we believe it is the right decision for them. I would never be able to live with myself if my child got sick because of something that was preventable. To vaccinate or to not vaccinate? I would love to hear from you, hit me up on my instagram @thehonestdadd