Should You Vaccinate?

This is not necessarily a vegan issue, but I thought I would share this since so many vegan parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children. I had an interesting conversation about vaccines with my daughter's doctor today. If you haven't heard, a young child recently died of whooping cough in Austin. For the life of me, I cannot understand why people choose not to protect their children from very dangerous diseases. I can understand a debate about whether the ingredients in the vaccines are safe, but that has not been the focus. It seems that you are either for or against vaccines. The doctor did mention that manufacturers are removing some of the questionable ingredients from vaccines, such as thiomersal, so that is a positive. Just a coincidence, but on the way home, I ran across this article about vaccines in the Texas Observer: http://www.texasobserver.org/worth-shot/. I highly recommend it. And on top of that, my wife sent me this article about how children who are not vaccinated are threatening the lives of vulnerable children: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Anti+vaccination+parents+risking+toddler+life+mother+says/9642041/story.html. Please consider all of the information closely before choosing not to vaccinate.