Some Parents are Homeschooling Their Kids to Avoid Vaccinations A growing network of parents have decided to homeschool their

children, in part because of their belief that mandated vaccinations for public and private school children are a dangerous overreach by state governments. A group of about 200 parents around the state of Mississippi, for example, home school their kids because they have problems with the states mandated vaccination schedule. All states allow unvaccinated children to attend school with a medical doctor s excuse. Mississippi and !est "irginia, however, allow no exemptions beyond medical necessity, leaving parents with homeschooling as the only option if they do not want to have their children vaccinated.

#ources$
%larion &edger 'ctober 2(, 200)

Dr Mercola comments: &ess than (0 years ago, *0 million students attended public schools, yet fewer than +00,000 children were home,educated. According to the -.#. .epartment of /ducation, over *) million students enrolled in public schools in 2000, while the number of children being homeschooled has been estimated at 1ust over 2 million. 2he numbers of homeschooled children has increased at the rate of about 34 a year, and more than +04 in some states, outpacing the growth of public schools, which has been about +.(4. 5amilies homeschool for a wide range of reasons, but at the heart of the matter is what is best for each individual child. Avoiding vaccines is typically not the driving force behind this big decision. 6owever, more parents are clearly opposed to the 7mandatory7 vaccine laws and understand that vaccinations are not the heavily promoted miracle cure,all that will keep their children from getting sick. 8nstead, they are seeing the truth$ that vaccines carry the risk of serious side effects such as crippling neurological damage like autism and even death. 5or example, unexplained allergies and asthma are also on the rise. According to the brand new State of World Allergy Report 2008: Allergy and Chronic Respiratory Diseases, our 9eal to reduce infectious disease has led to rapidly increasing allergic diseases that are becoming ever more complex. %ould the increasing number of childhood vaccinations be part of the problem: Absolutely; As one study published in 2000 by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology found, unvaccinated children suffer lower rates of asthma 1

and allergies than vaccinated children. Allergies and asthma can severely diminish <uality of life and work productivity, and should not be ignored. #o when we discuss the overuse of vaccinations, autism is not the only health ha9ard worthy of note and serious consideration. Contrary to Popular Belie ! Avoiding Vaccinations is "ot a Sign o #gnorance As illustrated in this %larion &edger article, the topic of vaccinations is often emotional for both sides of the camp. =eople who have not done their research are <uick to say that it is highly irresponsible and foolish to avoid vaccinations. 6owever, this is <uite the oxymoron because mothers with college educations and higher incomes are actually &/## likely to vaccinate their children than those with less education. 'ne 200> study published in the American ournal of !u"lic #ealth found that children whose mothers have less than a high school education are +> percent more likely to have received vaccinations than toddlers whose mothers have graduated college. 'f course, anyone, regardless of education level or income, is capable of making an educated decision about whether or not to vaccinate their children. ?ut college,educated women are perhaps more likely to have read articles <uestioning vaccine safety ,, or at least to have heard about such controversies. 2he trend toward not vaccinating has been growing for some time now. %lose to 30 percent of physicians say that the number of concerns from parents have increased significantly in recent years. And rightfully so. "accines given to newborns contain an array of potentially toxic chemicals including$

5ormaldehyde Aluminum phosphate @toxic and carcinogenicA Antibiotics =henols @corrosive to skin and toxicA &ive viruses and various other components

The #nsanity o the $ecommended Childhood #mmuni%ation Schedule 8 published .r. .onald Miller s excellent article, A $ser%&riendly 'accination Schedule in 200*. At that time, +2 different vaccines were given to children before they reached the age of two.

As of 200), the Becommended %hildhood 8mmuni9ation #chedule put out by the %enters for .isease %ontrol and =revention @%.%A, that number has risen to +* in the first 2* months, plus the meningococcal vaccine, which is to be administered between the age of two and six. 8nfants and toddlers aged 0 to > years of age are now given vaccines to prevent the following diseases$

Hepatitis B Hepatitis A Diphtheria Tetanus &loc'(a)* Pertussis &)hooping cough* Polio Pneumococcal in ections

$otavirus Measles Mumps $u+ella &,erman measles* Varicella &chic'enpo-* Meningococcal #n luen%a &yearly lu shots*

Hemophilus in luen%ae type + in ections 8f your child is vaccinated according to the %.% s recommended schedule, by the time your child starts kindergarten he or she will have received *) doses of +* vaccines. 'f these, (> doses will be given during the irst ./ months o li e. And now consider this$ one vaccine in1ected into a +(,pound, two,month old infant is e<uivalent to +0 doses of the same in a +(0,pound adult. !here is the common sense in these guidelines: 0ould any adult concede to +eing in(ected )ith 123 doses o vaccines )ithin a couple o years4 span5 e6ual to one in(ection every other day or t)o years7 =ublic health officials have "8V8$ proven that it is indeed safe to in1ect this number and volume of vaccines into infants. !hat s more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurological and immune system disorders in American children.

There are 9ther 9ptions As the trends indicate, many parents are so concerned about the potential dangers of overloading their children with this massive load of vaccines that they resort to home schooling. 6owever, not all parents have the ability to make that type of commitment. 5ortunately, if you are unable to home school, you still have other options. As 8ve stated before, 8m not anti,vaccine, but rather pro,vaccine safety. 8 also believe it is extremely important to have the right to chooseC to be allowed to make informed consent decisions about what you want to in1ect into your child, and yourself, and when. .r. .onald Miller is a cardiac surgeon and =rofessor of #urgery at the -niversity of !ashington in #eattle and a member of .octors for .isaster =reparedness. 6is more sensible vaccination schedule, which 8 published back in 200*, is worthy of being revisited at this time. 6is guidelines can help you devise a more appropriate vaccination plan for your child D a schedule that takes the best interests of your child into consideration rather than what biased government planners cite as being best for society. 6is is a far better approach than the 7one,si9e,fits,all7 dogma foisted on Americans by the %.% panel. Devising a Sensi+le Vaccination Plan or :our Child Eour brain has its own speciali9ed immune system, separate from that of the rest of your body. !hen you are vaccinated, speciali9ed immune cells in your brain, the microglia, become activated. Multiple vaccinations spaced close together over,stimulate the microglia, causing them to release a variety of toxic elements ,, cytokines, chemokines, excitotoxins, proteases, complement, free radicals ,, that damage brain cells and their synaptic connections. @2he damage caused by these toxic substances is sometimes referred to as 7bystander in1ury.7A 8n humans, the most rapid period of brain development begins in the third trimester and continues over the first two years. @?y then, brain development is )0 percent complete.A 5rom a risk,benefit perspective, there is little doubt that the risk of neurological and autoimmune diseases from vaccinations at this stage ar out)eigh the benefits of avoiding the childhood infections that they @supposedlyA prevent. @'ne exception is the hepatitis ? vaccine, 85 the mother tests positive for hepatitis ?.A As a more sensible, Fuser,friendlyG vaccination schedule, .r. Miller advises the following$ 4

+. 2. (. 4.

Ho vaccinations until your child is two years old. Ho vaccines that contain thimerosal @mercuryA. Ho live virus vaccines. 2he following vaccines can be given one at a time @not as a combination vaccineA, every six months, +eginning at age 2$ o =ertussis @acellular, not whole cellA o .iphtheria o 2etanus o =olio @the #alk vaccine, cultured in human cellsA

And that would be pretty much it as far as vaccinations. Eour pediatrician will not like this schedule, but if you have reviewed the evidence and still feel your child should be inoculated to a certain degree, this is a far safer alternative to the standard vaccination schedule. Ho) to Avoid the Vaccinations :ou Don4t 0ant Bemember, although exemptions for religious beliefs are becoming harder to obtain in some states like Hew Eork. All 00 states have vaccination re<uirements but all states provide exemptions for medical reasons while *) states allow exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs. Another +) states allow parents to opt out for personal, conscientious or philosophical beliefs as well. Mississippi and !est "irginia only allow exemptions for medical reasons. 8n some states medical exemptions written by a licensed M... or ..'. must conform to %.% contraindication guidelines or public health officials will challenge them. Maryland, despite their handling of the issue, also still offers the right to opt out for religious beliefs. My previous article, 6ow 2o &egally Avoid -nwanted 8mmuni9ations 'f All Iinds, spells out how you go about practicing this right. Bemember, you need to educate yourself on the dangers of the vaccines that your doctor or pediatrician insists on administering., as well as the vaccine laws in your state. 8 have numerous articles detailing the dangers of various vaccines on this site, and you have the entire internet at your disposal in addition to what 8 have documented through the years. 2here is also an entire chapter in my book 2ake %ontrol of Eour 6ealth devoted to this very topic, including what you should know before vaccinating, and what to do if you decide not to. Support the "V#C ;; Support Vaccine Sa ety $e orm 2he Hational "accine 8nformation %enter @H"8%A is the American vaccine safety watchdog. 2hey are currently being flooded with vaccine reaction reports and parents reporting that their vaccine exemptions are being pulled 5

or they can t get one. 8 highly recommend you make a donation to the H"8% to help support them in their efforts to raise awareness about these vital issues and implement vaccine safety reform. 5unds are urgently needed to$ +. &aunch a national education campaign about vaccine risks and wellness alternatives to vaccination 2. %ontinue to work for vaccine freedom , protect and expand state vaccine exemption laws (. /xpand counseling services for parents reporting vaccine reactions, in1uries and deaths *. 6old the 8nternational =ublic %onference on "accination 'ct. 2,*, 200J in !ashington, ..%. 0. /ducate %ongress about the need to separate out the vaccine safety monitoring mechanism from federal health agencies responsible for developing, regulating, making policy for and promoting mass use of vaccines, and make the agency reportable to %ongress $elated Articles: 2he .anger of /xcessive "accination .uring ?rain .evelopment =arents 2old to Ket Iids "accinated or Ko to Lail 6ow 2o &egally Avoid -nwanted 8mmuni9ations 'f All Iinds