A Conundrum

You can read this article first if you'd like to know what I'm ranting about:  

Analysis:  Vaccine Payment No Landmark

I've always wondered about vaccine safety in this country.  Each time I took my daughter for a vaccine, she would become sick as hell.  It was almost as though her little immune system just couldn't bear the insult.  I was a good mom though, always doing what the doctors told me to do.  Rachel was always slow, but worsened a bit after each well visit trip.  Now though, I wonder, was she really always slow?  Vaccination began in utero with her.  I was 7 months pregnant when they gave me Rhogam.  She was just 2 months old when her other immunizations began.

I don't know what to think about this family and this article.  Are we sacrificing a few in favor of the many?  Is there a connection?  Could we count on our leaders to tell us the truth if there was?  I don't know.  There is a part of me that recognizes that we have been lied to in the past about clinical research, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to know it is done in this case too.

Don't get me wrong here, I am not an advocate for no vaccination. I can only tell you that to parent a child like this has been the single most challenging thing I've done in my life.  It would make me ill to discover it could have been prevented.  If there was a link between  Autism and vaccines, it would be ideal if we could identify these kids BEFORE we vaccinate them and then make a decision about what to do.  An INFORMED consent to take the plunge.  After all, we do some genetic testing on babies at birth-before they leave the hospital.  We treat them for STD eye infections at birth and we test them for preventable forms of retardation.   If we could invest some REAL money into getting to the bottom of Autism, we could prevent not only the heartbreak, but the terrible burden this problem places on society.

I'd like to see an answer to this puzzle in my lifetime.  I'd like for everyone who reads this here not to have to walk my walk.