I sit across from my pediatrician, describing my plan to delay immunizations and then selectively vaccinate my son. I tell him that two of my son’s cousins (one on my side, one on my husband’s) may have been damaged by vaccines. Both have autistic symptoms. A possible genetic susceptibility had occurred to my husband and me. I tell him I’m worried that vaccines might cause my son to become autistic.
“Okay, prove it,” he says to me, striking his clipboard exaggeratedly with a pointed index finger. “Prove to me that vaccines cause autism.” Not wanting to argue, I just stare at him quizzically. Surely in this situation the onus is on him to prove to me that vaccines are not harmful, not the other way around. After all, I am the one with something to lose.
Doctors know that vaccines can cause injury to some children, but some subscribe to the notion that it is acceptable to sacrifice a few for the good of all. This may ring true to parents, too, except when faced with the possibility that their child may be one of the ones sacrificed.
Pediatricians are indoctrinated in the belief that vaccines are a near absolute good. Indeed, they can and do prevent the spread of epidemics and deadly illnesses. But since they involve danger and an element of the unknown, they are a choice that is not to be taken lightly. Your health care provider himself may have deviated from the recommended schedule in the vaccination of his own children. For example, only a minority of doctors personally believe that it is a good idea to start the hepatitis B series just hours after birth. In reality, hepatitis B is a blood-borne, sexually-transmitted disease (STD), and your baby’s only real risk of acquiring it during his infancy is through the milk of an infected mother. In addition, it is unknown how much immunity to this STD will remain by the time the infant reaches puberty, when it is really needed.
Pediatricians may feel it is their duty to accomplish the goals of government agency guidelines in vaccinating children. In the United Kingdom, some doctors receive monetary compensation for higher vaccination percentages. In the United States, pediatricians are not legally liable for vaccine injuries, but can be sued if a child is damaged by a vaccine-preventable illness. In addition, doctors may try to administer as many vaccinations as possible during one visit because once the child leaves the office, there is no guarantee that he will come back in for his next scheduled checkup.