I am not a doctor. I live with one. I supported one through medical school. He is smart. He is an ophthalmologist. He went to college for 4 years. He went to medical school for 4 years. He did 1 year of an internal medicine internship. He did 3 more years of training to complete his ophthalmology residency. He does Lasik and cataract surgery, operates on children, treats diabetes, and is a Board Certified MD, and Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He loves his children. He would not do anything to harm them.
I have a Master's degree in Special Education. I have taught many, many children with autism and other disabilities. I have sat with parents as they have searched and searched for answers to unlock the mysteries of their vacant children, reaching for a cause, and looking for a place to point a finger. When at age 2, they claim that their child disappeared after their vaccines. I have never read a case report of an autistic child that supported that fact. When I asked my pediatrician about that happening, she assured me that in the 40+ collective number of years of all of the physicians in their group, they have never met a child who did not show signs of delays before they were vaccinated.
We vaccinate our children. We defer to the people who are trained and educated about taking care of our children's health. We realize the benefit to eradicating measles, smallpox, polio, and mumps. We have a child with a congenital heart defect. One who has had open heart surgery. It is a huge recurrent medical issue that I hope none of you ever have to deal with. We educate ourselves, we speak to people who are educated about our son's problems, like cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and pediatricians, and we make medical decisions based on medical recommendations. We would not base decisions about the health of our son's heart based on pop culture, unsupported evidence, blogs, message boards, or studies that had not been replicated and reviewed.
The American Academy of Pediatrics puts out a vaccination schedule for the good and welfare of our children and the general population. Visit their website (http://www.cispimmunize.org/) for your information. Allow the experts to make the decisions. And then visit Autism Speaks, the March of Dimes, or sites like these to support families and children who are suffering.