Yesterday morning, Mallory and I were out getting groceries prior to our doctor's appointment. We checked out at a lane with a 50-something cashier who commented on how smiley and happy Mallory was behaving. And then, my mistake, I replied that she might look happy now, but from here we are headed out to get her shots - i.e. she will not be so happy in about 20 minutes' time.The cashier immediately launched into a diatribe about how vaccinations are poison, and her sister's neighbour's cousin's friend's little boy went in for his shots as a happy, normal little boy and came out - and I quote here - "100% retarded." I listened to her with a few "mmm hmms" here and there, bagging my stuff as fast as I could. When I was done being checked out, she said, "Well, are you still going to take her?" And I said yes, and got the hell out of there.
It was later, at home, when I was still stewing as I unpacked the groceries, that I thought of what I should have said, had I only been a quicker thinker - something along the lines of how did she expect me to take the highly educated expert medical opinion of a grocery store clerk over that of a doctor? The fact is, when Liam was tiny I did do a bunch of looking into the provincial vaccination program and the suggested-but-unsubstantiated link between mercury in vaccines and autism, including the Thimerosal that contained the mercury. And I was fine with what I found. They don't use Thimerosal anymore, and nobody has ever proven a link between it and autism anyway. I would definitely reconsider my position if new information came to light, but right now what I do know is that vaccines greatly prolong life expectency - just look at any third-world country for the proof.
So, rightly or wrongly, Mallory got her four month shots yesterday. She weighed in at 13 lbs 13 oz and is 25 inches long, according to the nurse. Too bad I was still preoccupied with my grocery store encounter as she measured Mal - I could have saved her the exercise had I remembered this highly scientific measurement from last week:
3 comments:
Ugh. Talk about an unpleasant conversation.
It's been my experience that often the "anti-vac" folks consider this a sort of pet issue, and as a result they will tell anyone and everyone their feelings and experiences about it, and as a rsult make you feel like a shit for even considering it.
And seriously, the grocery line is not a place to be having this conversation .. with a perfect stranger no less!
If it makes you feel any better about your decision to vaccinate and the whole Autism issue......
There is a mom in my support group whose son has Autism and SPD and she is a total crunchy mom, no vaccines, all organic food and they are vegans.............so it can happen to anyone!
I have a very strong feeling that woman was vaccinated when she was younger and she turned out just - oh wait, maybe she's not a good example of someone turning out okay after bein vaccinated. Maybe her vaccines did something to her impulse control and common sense.
Why do people think everyone else in the world should know and agree with what they think? I did the same type of research recently and decided the VERY small risks were worth it to have Aiden vaccinated and he was a happy, smiley baby before and after the shots.
LOVE the scientific pic - too cute!
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