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KellyJ
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| Posted: Jan 04 2007 at 3:47pm | IP Logged
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Our oldest is about to hit the age at which the school system requires children be vaccinated if they haven't yet had chicken pox. Obviously, as homeschoolers, we don't need to worry about that requirement; but what have you all done if you've managed to get to this age (12) with a child who hasn't had chicken pox?
Our regular doc has previously only said that if we don't manage to get chicken pox by that age that he would recommend the vax due to the complications if one gets chicken pox after that point. Our naturopath doesn't have a problem with that recommendation from his point of view.
If I remember correctly, there may be a moral issue relating to the vaccination itself. I don't remember the details on the vaccine; are aborted babies used in every vaccine, or in the development of the vaccine (forgive my ignorance!)? If this is a moral issue, is this one of those areas of remote material cooperation?
Thoughts? Experiences? Advice? Prayers that we get a real case of chicken pox here soon so we can avoid the question? Hmm... not sure whether I want that last one.... 
Thank you in advance. 
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KellyJ
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Maddie
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| Posted: Jan 04 2007 at 4:50pm | IP Logged
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This website may be of some help to you. If I remember right, the other rub about the vaccine is they're not sure how long it's effective.
I'd be interested to see what others say, I have an eleven yo who's never had chickenpox either.
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mommylori
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| Posted: Jan 04 2007 at 6:21pm | IP Logged
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We don't do it because they use aborted stem cells in it, have you checked out Cogforlife.org ? It has tons of information on it and other vaccines that do also. And even an exemption for catholic families. We did all the vaccines with the first 2 but we stopped certain ones with Adam and aren't doing those at all with the new baby.
But it is a pretty neat site with tons of information and a petition to sign to manufactor alternatives in the few vaccines there isn't one available for.
My oldest is 6 though, so I am not at all in your shoes.
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Paula in MN
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My children all received the vaccinations. This was before I ever even thought to question it. The vaccination doesn't always work, as both kids got chicken pox a year ago.
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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ALmom
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| Posted: Jan 05 2007 at 1:36pm | IP Logged
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I believe my son, the only child in our family that got a bad case of chicken pox, got the chicken pox from the epidimec in the schools from all the recently vacinated children. Actually they closed the school because of all the chicken pox - every one of the cases in the schools were vaccinated children. Chicken pox vaccine does use aborted babies and last I looked, there were no alternatives - not that we were even interested in ever getting the vaccine (just so you know my bias!).
From what I have seen from personal experience the vaccine is really ineffective, the chicken pox is generally mild and for that and other reasons (or own personal judgement about the prudence of it for our family) we simply won't do it. I now know there are homeopathic preventatives and remedies and though I'm not sure what I think about these in terms of reason - it did seem to be effective for our son when he did get a case that the pediatrician said sounded like "chicken pox on the brain - but not worrisome since he was always coming out of his talking out of his head." Honestly, it made me nervous, and I wasn't so sure doing nothing was the way to go - and when the homeopathic doc treating his foot found the chicken pox in the nervous system on his machine (my son no longer had any signs of chicken pox on the body and was supposedly recovered from them), I admit I was impressed and we had him take the remedy with the knowledge that it would do no harm.
The concern about chicken pox is that it is more uncomfortable and any complications are a bit more likely if you get it when you are older, so it tends to be more serious. The biggest concern with chicken pox is that the virus can sit in your system and then pop up as shingles in an adult exposed. This is more likely if your case is extremely mild and you are very, very young at the time of initial chicken pox. In shingles, you can end up with permanent damage - though this is not a given result.
What I see, is that chicken pox vaccine isn't terribly effective even at preventing it early on - and then you don't have lifelong immunity from the vaccine. I wonder if it makes you more vulnerable to shingles or somehow is encouraging different strains of the virus not a part of our immune genetic past (but that is my own personal ponderings).
Another point is that it is possible that your son had chicken pox and you missed it. I certainly would have missed it with one of mine (only had 3 spots and never acted any differently and the spots were gone in 3 days - but I was actively looking for it due to consideration for a mom from India in my dd gymnastics class who was terrified of the thing when a couple of girls in the gym class got it because it wasn't common in India - she expressed total bafflement to me that she had to get a measles vaccine for her dd as evidently that isn't done in her part of India and everyone gets measles as a child and they consider it no big deal - just takes a week to get over). I just made sure my dd case was identified/confirmed so I wouldn't be pressured later to get the vaccine for my dd so I do know for sure that she did have chicken pox - albeit mild. From everything I was told, I never had chicken pox - but when my children got it, I was a little nervous waiting for being really sick - and never got it. After 6 children and no chicken pox even after nursing them through the disease, etc. , we finally concluded that I simply must have had it as a child/infant and we just missed it.
I really don't want to impose our own conclusions on anyone else as to the effectiveness debate. I do know there is plenty of room for legitimate debate - most of the information out there is not terribly unbiased in either direction and I do not in any way want to make folks uncomfortable with whatever prudential judgement the arrive at for their own family. The sites others linked will tell you if there is a current alternative to the aborted baby vaccine - but there has not been in the past.
Janet
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kingvozzo
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| Posted: Jan 05 2007 at 2:12pm | IP Logged
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KellyJ wrote:
| but what have you all done if you've managed to get to this age (12) with a child who hasn't had chicken pox? |
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My oldest 2 have had the chicken pox vaccine(or is it just my oldest? I'd have to check...  ) Anyway, I know for sure my youngest has NOT had it, nor will any subsequent children, unless they come up with an alternative which is ethical. I have been praying that one becomes available. We have come slowly to believe that we ought not to use the "tainted" vaccines if at all possible, which is why my children's vaccinations are not consistent.
Having said that, I would probably re-visit the issue when my children start gettting to the age where it becomes more harmful to have illnesses such as chickenpox. Like Janet, I had no recorded case of c-pox as a child; I was quite concerned about contracting it as an adult, and was willing to submit to the vaccine for myself if neccessary. I had a titre, which showed that I did have immunity (who knows where it came from? But I have it nonetheless  )
Anyway, I guess my long-winded point is that I believe the decision can be made on different ground depending on the ages involved.
Also, while I would not deliberately expose my kids to c-pox, it seems that the likelihood of them contracting it naturally is practically nil, because no-one seems to get it around here.
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Noreen
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: Jan 07 2007 at 11:27am | IP Logged
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My 4 oldest had the chicken pox *together*; then we had 2 more dc. Number 5 got the cp when number 6 was 8 months old; #6 escaped somehow, even though they were licking the same popsicles, etc. There is a possiblity that the youngest was protected by nursing, but I don't necessarily believe that, as #4 had a whopping case at that age while bfing also. I just don't like the idea of vaccines that may prove unnecessary. Our family doc agrees with this and is willing to draw blood and run a titer to see whether she is already immune, which is entirely possible from exposure to her sister, even though she never got the rash. I haven't done anything about it yet, but will probably do the titer rather than assuming she needs the vaccine. I guess if the titer comes back too low, we will get the shot. Even though she won't need it for school, there are lots of other group activities where they ask for immunization records (we live in Montgomery County, Maryland, the home of all invasive governmental practices). I was amazed, actually, when my 22 yo daughter asked me for a copy of her shot records because her graduate school (American University) required that documentation of anyone under 25 (some new DC health department rule).
Peace,
Nancy
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Lisbet
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| Posted: Jan 08 2007 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
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My 4 oldest have had them at the same time. The 'second' batch of kids have not had them yet, so we are on the look out for them to hit our area. The local Catholic school was hit in the fall, all the kids had been vaxed too.
FWIW, I had them when I was 14, it was miserable, but I survived.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Speaking of Chicken Pox -- A Vaccine ?
