On vaccines, fear, and leaps of faith

This is not a post about whether you should or should not vaccinate your children.

It’s not a post about whether vaccines are inherently good, or inherently evil.

It’s not even a post about the risks of vaccinating … or choosing not to do so.

This is a post about parents, the choices we make, and the wars we wage inside our own soul every day as we struggle and seek and try our darndest to do the right thing for the little outpost of humanity entrusted to our care.

This is a post about why the mother whose baby receives every single recommended shot on the schedule loves her child as much as the mother whose teenage son has to fill out waiver forms and jump through hoops in his college entrance paperwork to explain why he’s never had a needle pierce his skin.

This is a post about why we’re all just doing the best that we can in the face of overwhelming voices encouraging, condemning, swaying, shouting.

With the most recent outbreak of measles, the propaganda has gotten fierce on both sides. “Measles is no big deal.” “Not vaccinating your kids threatens mine.” “The vaccines are more dangerous than the disease.” “You’re more likely to encounter a complication from measles than from the shot itself.” Statistics, personal horror stories, studies, emotional diatribes.

As a parent, it’s discouraging to witness rational, loving people engage in a war they cannot, will not win.

Here’s the thing:

When it comes to our kids, we’re all motivated, on some level, by both fear and faith. We act out of a place where we are trying to prevent a negative outcome, placing our belief in one road or another as we journey to a place where we find either peace or an uneasy truce with the messy evils of the world.

In the world of vaccination, you’re either more afraid of the disease or the prevention. Your eyes are either fixed on the lurking germs waiting to infect your child or the Dr. Strangelove brew inside the syringe. You are either swayed by the agony of generations past or by the labels you see being lived out in front of you.

In the world of vaccination, your faith is either in the voices proclaiming prevailing medical thought sound or suspect. You either think God placed the formulas in the hands of scientists to save us from misery, or that His creation doesn’t need any help when it comes to protecting itself. Either way, you’ve weighed the costs and chosen where your feet land in this particular leap of faith.

When you strip it all away, though– when you boil it down to the most basic, most feral instinct we house in our hearts– we are all, every one, trying to make choices that will make our children (and, by proxy, ourselves) winners in the uncertain, precarious calling of parenthood. When matters of personal choice and public health collide, tensions run high. Assumptions are made. And as the stakes eek ever higher … we lose something.

As a community, we all, eventually, suffer. And I’m not talking about from the ever-shrinking advantage herd immunity once offered or the devastating numbers of autistic children now in our ranks.

We all suffer because we lose sight of the love we have for our children– each of us.

If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Matthew 5:47

Be gentle with one another, even in the midst of different choices. Love one another, even as you walk a different path. Sow seeds of grace with your words, and mind the little priesthood entrusted to you and yours. Remember that you have only been asked to walk in your own shoes; you have no idea what has brought another parent to a place of such passionate conviction. Name-calling, accusations of ignorance or willful idiocy … not helpful. Be kind. Always. 

Untitled (8)

 
Shared at: Hip Homeschooling Moms

4 thoughts on “On vaccines, fear, and leaps of faith

  1. YES! What a wonderful post. A breath of fresh air, though still on a difficult subject. And for these reasons, I believe that we all should have our own choices and let them be ours, no input and opinionating and hating and disrespecting one another because we may have made a different choice, no matter the subject. It’s really up to us as parents, as individuals, as guardians of ourselves and our families to do what we see fit based on whatever knowledge and beliefs we have. :)

    Stopping by from Mama Moments Monday!

  2. Yes! My 7 bio kids (and my stepdaughter) are all unvaccinated, but I have long said that I respect the decision of any parent who does the research and comes to their own conclusion… even if their decision differs from mine.

  3. I vaccinate my son not out of fear but because it could kill him. He has a weak immune system. He was hospitalized 9 times last year for various things like constipation, teething, and the common cold. I’m not afraid of measles; I just realize the repercussions of not vaccinating. It’s like wearing a seatbelt. I’m not afraid of getting in an accident, but I’m still going to take precautions just in case. My ultimate problem with your argument is that not vaccinating your kids is a death sentence for children like my son. The bible teaches to love your neighbor as yourself. If I make choices that endanger the lives of my neighbor’s children, how am I showing them the love of God? from corinthians chapter 10 – “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. There is nothing wrong with rebuking someone when they are doing something wrong. Even Jesus angrily confronted the peddlers at the temple. I agree we need to be loving in our responses, but this is a life or death situation for some children. That is why I will continue to fight about the antivaccination movement. We will never win atheists to Christ when we neglect to protect the weak in our society from these deadly diseases.

    • I completely respect your argument that the erosion of herd immunity potentially compromises your child’s safety. I also understand, as I parent a child who reacted violently to a vaccination at 2 months of age and deals with related issues to this day, that this is not a black and white issue for many. I agree– it IS a life and death issue for many… on both sides. We all come from a place where our own experiences, biases, and convictions will weigh heavily on our hearts, and the Lord will use them to guide us in our individual journey. No one was every swayed by name calling, being accused of being a thoughtless parent, or being maligned. When in doubt, my motto is to do as Jesus recommended: shake the dust from your feet and move onwards.

Comments are closed.