Wednesday, February 25, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Anti-vaccine mothers discuss their thinking amid backlash
By Gosia Wozniaka
Associated Press
LAKE OSWEGO (AP) —
One is a businesswoman and
an MBA graduate. Another
is a corporate vice president.
The third is a registered nurse.
These three mothers — all
of them educated, middle-
class professionals — are
among the vaccine skeptics
who have been widely ridi-
culed since more than 100
people fell ill in a measles out-
break traced to Disneyland.
Critics question their intel-
ligence, their parenting, even
their sanity. Some have been
called criminals for foregoing
shots for their children that
are overwhelmingly shown to
be safe and effective.
“Contrary to the common
sentiment, we are not anti-sci-
ence,” said Michelle Moore,
a businesswoman who lives
in the affluent Portland sub-
urb of Lake Oswego with
her 2-1/2-year-old twin girls.
“I’m not opposed to medicine,
and I think vaccines have a
place. We think it’s a medi-
cal choice, and it should be
researched carefully.”
The backlash, much of it
from people who fear unvac-
cinated children could infect
their own kids, has been so
severe that dozens of anti-
vaccine parents contacted by
The Associated Press were
afraid to speak out. But a
handful of mothers agreed to
discuss their thinking.
Moore, an MBA gradu-
ate who runs an agricul-
ture-related business, traces
her feelings to the time she
took Lariam, a supposedly
safe anti-malaria medica-
tion. Instead, she said, the
drug saddled her with mul-
tiple health complications.
She questions whether the
government knew about
the risks at the time. Health
officials now acknowledge
Lariam can cause severe side
effects, some of which can be
permanent.
That experience broke
Moore’s trust in the medical
establishment and launched
her on years of research into
how vaccines can affect peo-
ple’s health. When she got
pregnant, Moore and her hus-
band delayed immunization
for Sierra and Savannah.
It was not an easy
decision. the thought of
something happening
to them because we
chose not to vaccinate
is terrifying. But I have
so many questions, and
I do think it’s the right
decision for our family.
— Michelle Moore
“It was not an easy deci-
sion,” she said. “The thought
of something happening to
them because we chose not to
vaccinate is terrifying. But I
have so many questions, and I
do think it’s the right decision
for our family.”
Nancy Babcock of
Spokane, Washington, says
people who share her opin-
ions “are being vilified and
ostracized.” Babcock, a vice
president at a bank, told her
daughter about her doubts.
Then her daughter and her
husband looked into the issue,
and they decided not to immu-
nize their two children.
“In a community with
many young people, those
who don’t vaccinate are feel-
ing a lot of pressure,” she
said.
Nationwide, parents who
seek an exemption from vac-
cine requirements are still in
a tiny minority. The median
total exemption rate for kin-
dergartners during the 2013-
14 school year was just 1.8
percent, according to the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. But some
individual schools or commu-
nities have higher exemption
rates, at times approaching 60
percent or more.
The parents who spoke
to AP recounted spending
hundreds of hours reviewing
medical studies, books and
news stories and networking
on social media. They cited
cases of children who were
supposedly hurt by vaccines
and the existence of a govern-
ment-run vaccine injury-com-
pensation program. And they
worried about the oversight
of pharmaceutical companies
that reap profits from vaccines
and are shielded from liability
when a vaccine causes harm.
Moore said she read a
1998 study published in The
Lancet journal by Dr. Andrew
Wakefield, who raised the
possibility of a link between
the measles-mumps-rubella
vaccine, bowel disease and
autism. She said she knows
the study was later discredited
and retracted. She believes the
research was inconclusive.
Moore concedes that the
vast majority of studies show
vaccines are safe, but she
says some research points to
inconsistencies, unknowns or
negative effects that deserve
further investigation.
And while autism is still
a concern, Moore and oth-
ers also worry about how
exposure to chemicals, bad
nutrition and stress can affect
genes and health. They say
large doses of synthetic
additives found in vaccines,
including aluminum and mer-
cury, can harm the immune
and digestive systems and
brain.
The CDC has phased out
a mercury-containing preser-
vative in vaccines as a pre-
cautionary measure, and the
agency says vaccines contain-
ing aluminum pose extremely
low risk to infants.
These parents say they
should be able to decide
whether their child under-
goes a medical procedure — a
decision, they say, that goes to
the core of what it means to
have freedom of choice.
“I have the right to decide
what to put into my child’s
body,” said Heather Dillard, a
mom in Springfield, Missouri,
who is also a registered nurse.
“Nobody has the right to put
toxic chemicals into my son’s
bloodstream. That’s taking
my rights away, and it’s very
scary to me.”
Dillard said she decided
against vaccinating because
her first child was born a
preemie and has autism.
Dillard does not believe vac-
cines caused the autism, but
the disease led her to do a lot
of research about health. She
says she now chooses to build
her son’s immunity naturally,
through diet, while avoiding
shots or other medication.
Moore said she does worry
about affecting children who
are immune-compromised
and cannot be vaccinated.
Before visiting friends with
babies or young children,
she said, she always informs
them her twins are not vacci-
nated “so they have the power
to make a choice.” She also
keeps the girls home at any
sign of sickness.
If Oregon were to take
away the right to a vaccine
exemption, Moore said, she
would likely home-school her
twins. She’s keeping an open
mind about vaccinating as her
children get older, but hopes
more studies on the long-term
effects of vaccines can help
dispel her doubts.
I worry about living
in a society that’s
progressively more
intolerant toward any
dissent. all scientific
advances have come
from questioning
the status quo.
— Michelle Moore
“I worry about living in a
society that’s progressively
more intolerant toward any
dissent,” Moore said. “All
scientific advances have come
from questioning the status
quo.”