Book Review: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Children's Vaccinations

It was a very informative read. I really wish this book had been written before my children were born. I thought I was informed on Vaccines when I was making decisions, but I wasn't as informed as I should have been. There are some things I would do differently now.

Again, this book is not an anti-vaccination book. Her purpose is to inform parents on what is in the vaccination, some complications, the risks of both the diseases and the shots, and how best to protect YOUR child. Each vaccination has a list of who shouldn't receive it and how best to protect your child if they do receive it. She also has a recommended vaccine schedule to minimize risk. The only vax she recommends receiving together are the Hib and IPV. Other than that she has parents split up all the vax into single dosages spread out at least a month apart. Yes, more shots for you child, more visits to the doctor, but in the long run, I think it is WELL worth it to protect your child!

She also has a chapter on vaccine laws and our rights. I am frustrated that Missouri does not have a philosophical exemption, but after reading this, I am glad of the ease of Religious exemption we have. Some states do not have it as easy. I am sad that several states lost their philosophical exemption due to lack of a fight. We need to advocate for our rights. Some law makers are a little to zealous about insuring that the government has more rights to our child than we do. I am glad that I refused to be put on the "reminder" list for vaccines when my kids were born. The lady offering it to me was a nice lady. She obviously wasn't on the nazi vaccine board. She said something to the affect that she knew I was going to take care of my kids. But, I knew even then that that list was a bad thing!

The book was written in 2001 so some of the vaccines we have now (Flumist, HPV) are in the "vaccines of the future" chapter. Obviously not as much info on them as they were in the developmental stage when this came out. I was a little dissapointed that she didn't list all the cultures and such for all the vaccines. Some chapters were more in depth on the shots than others. But the back of the book has an exetensive list of books and articles and websites to research more.

I highly recommend this book to all parents, whether you are past the vaccinating stage or not. And actually, many of the new vaccines are coming out for our teens, it's not too late to start researching!
(Review written April 2007)