WRT the vaccination discussion: The kids have had all of them, and I don't believe the possible autism claims because there are far more plausible explanations for the increase in diagnoses. But I do have one issue with the vaccinations. Given that they do cause pain to my poor wee babies, there are too many of them. By 2 years my kids must have had 20 shots, and not all of them were for life threatening illnesses.

Measles, polio, hep B, etc, yeah of course, give my kid the dang shot. But chicken pox? That shot HURTS. And chicken pox is annoying, but it ain't gonna kill the kid. AND it turns out the vaccination doesn't actually provide immunity to it, it just lessens the severity of the illness. And there are other vaccinations that I wondered about. It wasn't worth pulling my kids out of daycare, but I did question the value of some of those shots.

I suppose Sri Lanka's in mourning.

Yes, but if enough children are vaccinated against chicken pox, there's the possibility that it will disappear. When chicken pox recurs as shingles, it's not pretty.

...I kinda wonder about Hep B. I mean...it's a blood borne and sexually transmitted illness. You can't wait until you're older for that vaccine? (Sure, if you're at risk for some reason, but...)

Chicken pox does kill kids every year, though it's WAY more dangerous if you get it as an adult. But I can still see the argument, it does seem like a bit of a silly thing to vaccinate against sometimes. ("About one of every 100 children infected with chickenpox will develop a severe lung infection (pneumonia), an infection of the brain (encephalitis), or a problem with the liver. Dangerous skin infections also can occur. Before the introduction of the vaccine, about 100,000 people were hospitalized and 100 people in the United States died each year of chickenpox, most of them previously healthy children. Adolescents and adults who develop chickenpox are also at high risk of developing serious complications.")

Pants have seasons?! Freaky.

And they don't even have crinnolines!

("About one of every 100 children infected with chickenpox will develop a severe lung infection (pneumonia), an infection of the brain (encephalitis), or a problem with the liver. Dangerous skin infections also can occur. Before the introduction of the vaccine, about 100,000 people were hospitalized and 100 people in the United States died each year of chickenpox, most of them previously healthy children. Adolescents and adults who develop chickenpox are also at high risk of developing serious complications.")

OK, I know my analysis isn't exactly scientific here but I'm going to say "the above seems off to me -- 1 in 100 with serious complications? I don't know a single person who ever had anything worse "THEY WERE IN MY THROAT!!!!" of the roughly seven bajillion people I know who had chicken pox."

Before the introduction of the vaccine, about 100,000 people were hospitalized and 100 people in the United States died each year of chickenpox, most of them previously healthy children.

100 a year? That's really not many, is it? I mean, yeah I don't want it to be my kid either, but they take bigger risks every day. They don't vaccinate because the virus is possibly fatal, they vaccinate for some other reason, like the virus was responsible for too many missed school days or something like that.

I'm okay with hep B just because some people who are exposed develop chronic hepatitis. And when the time comes, I'm okay with Gardasil too.

The hepatitus B vaccine is given because the CDC is trying to eliminate it as a disease.

When do they give the Hep B, though, is what I was wondering--like, is it a little-kid one, or an older-kid one, or what? Doesn't seem like you'd really need to do it as a small child.

I do worry about the sheer numbers of vaccines we're giving very, very tiny babies. The schedule is packed with all kinds of stuff, and if we were not going to daycare, I think I'd have chosen selective vaccination instead of the full course.

When do they give the Hep B, though, is what I was wondering--like, is it a little-kid one, or an older-kid one, or what? Doesn't seem like you'd really need to do it as a small child.

Right away. I think they could probably delay it, but it's one of the ones you get before you're even on solids.