I received a question under the “Comments” section of my “Why We Don’t Vaccinate” post and my reply got too long to fit under there, so I am posting my reply here instead. Maybe someone else has had a similar question. I know this comes up when thinking about international travel for mission trips, which is something I have had to consider myself. But the question was basically about whether or not the same beliefs about vaccination hold true if you live outside the U.S. where these diseases are more rampant and you are at more risk for the disease. Below is the question left and my response:
Question:
i would love to know your thoughts. we have 4 children, ages 1-5. since our first child’s birth, we’ve investigated and sought out counsel and research about vaccinations. i feel like if we lived in the united states, we would be more likely to not vaccinate. we live in brazil. the living conditions are poor where we live, there is not the improvement in hygeine that people talk about when the diseases declined. some diseases have been on the decline in recent years, but i seriously doubt it is because of improved conditions as the united states can point to for the decline in disease there…it’s because of vaccinations. and, for example, polio has been stated to have been practically eradicated except for in africa, southeast asia, and the eastern mediterranean, from what i’ve read. but, what about contact with people from those places? if you aren’t vaccinated and come into contact with someone who is ‘contaminated’…
we come into contact in our work here with so many different people from so many different countries and living situations…very close contact. we are missionaries here and are constantly doing medical/dental clinics, etc. these places are not at all the way the states seems…sterilized from all disease (comparatively speaking). disease is rampant in lesser developed countries. what do you suggest about that scenario?
even things like the hep b vaccine. we thought it preposterous to give to our children when we were first approached, but the more we thought about it, the more it seemed to ‘fit’ our needs. my husband is a pilot. our mission does flight evacs out of the jungle at times…people within the tribes. our children will likely be helping with that work in some capacity in the future…or are much more likely to be subjected to blood and bodily fluids in our work even now than, say, if we lived in the suburbs of the united states.
i am asking this because i truly am seeking answers…i’m not trying to be accusatory or play the devil’s advocate here at all. i have a long history of seeking answers out about this, so i’d be interested in hearing your thoughts. thank you.
Michawn.
My Response:
Hi Michawn. My reasons for not vaccinating are two-fold. One being that I don’t believe my children are at more risk for getting these diseases than they are at getting autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes, Alzheimers later in life (it is estimated by 2050, 1 in 8 people will suffer from Alheimers), etc. All of these have been linked to vaccines, and the mercury and aluminum used in these vaccines. (There are other causes, but vaccines are definitely one major contributor).
1 in 100 now in the U.S. have been diagnosed with autism. The # of cases in IL has risen by 700% in the last 12 years. If you combine the # of cases of just the four A’s – autism, ADHD, allergies, and asthma, that number goes up to 1 in 33, if not higher.
Even if you are in a third world country, I would doubt that the rates of getting one of these diseases that they vaccinate for is higher than 1 in 100 or 1 in 33, but I don’t know those statistics. However, if your child did get one of these diseases (the only one I’m familiar with is malaria b/c I have friends in Africa), I’m assuming you have enough money to take your child to a doctor and have the means to get there as well. The people who are affected by these diseases may get the diseases because of poor hygiene (ie. – no running water or soap so they rarely bathe or wash their hands – one of the number one ways to prevent the spread of disease). But, they die from the disease because they have no money to go to the doctor to be treated, or they have no means to get to the doctor (no money for bus fare or no doctor close enough), and lastly because they’re uneducated.
If they come down with a fever, sore throat, rash, etc. some of them are not educated enough to know that they need to go to a doctor and be treated right away (if they had the money). I’m not sure if that is how things are in Brazil, but I know in Malawi, Africa, that is the case.
Our friends there told us that they know the signs of malaria, and if you start to come down with it, you just have to go to the doctor right away and get a pill and you will be fine. I just read about Tuberculosis in third world countries the other day from a ministry. In order to stop the spread of the disease, they are not vaccinating, but instead educating the people.
They need to be educated on how to recognize the signs and go to the doctor and get antibiotics, and stay away from others so they do not spread it. They believe this will stop the spread of this deadly (though it needs not be) disease.
If you think about strep or staph infections here in the U.S., parents know that they need to give antibiotics or treat the child in some way to prevent the mild infection. However, if you don’t treat strep at all, it could become very serious.
In some ways, your children are better off not living in the U.S., because they are not exposed to the other rampant toxins in our environment from factories, pesticides from farms (though maybe you have that there too), a horrible food supply loaded with chemicals and toxins. You probably eat much less prepackaged foods and sweets than the kids do here. I’m guessing your air is much less polluted. We have a lot of mercury in the air from coal mines, factories, and I don’t even know what. Still researching that, but I know Chicago and the coasts have the most amount of mercury in the air, thus the higher levels of autism. The mercury comes down in the rain, which is why areas with high amounts of rainfall like California and Seattle have higher amounts of autism.
Other causes of immune dysfunction and autism is a lack of Vitamin D (from the sun), so you are at a advantage there as well. But, getting back to vaccines and diseases – I still believe that should your children get these diseases, I don’t believe they are as lethal as most people think they are, provided you are educated on the symptoms, and have the means to take your child to the doctor if they get sick.
I believe many of these diseases are treatable. The disorders that they could get from the garbage in the vaccines, are much harder to treat and I believe the effects of them are much worse than these diseases might be. I would definitely stay away from chicken pox and flu vaccines. Maybe look in to vaccinating just for those diseases that are very common in the area you live and work in. I certainly don’t think kids need all 36 shots that they recommend for kids today – all under the age of 2. You can also wait to vaccinate your kids until they are older, when they are more likely to come in to contact with these diseases. The older they are, the more capable they are to handle the toxins from the vaccines. I just don’t believe that any newborn baby is able to or should handle all the toxins we are injecting into them at such an early age.
My second reason for not vaccinating is because of my faith. The Bible says over and over to trust him.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5.
That doesn’t mean that we walk through life blindly of course. We still research and make the wisest decisions possible for ourselves and our kids because we are responsible for them before God.
Psalm 84:12 “O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.”
Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
Psalm 86:2 “Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.”
There were no vaccines in the Bible times. There were no vaccines 200 or maybe even 100 years ago. I think if God wanted us to have vaccines, he would have provided them in nature. There are some homeopathic vaccine type things out there that have been effective in other countries to prevent the spread of infectious diseases but they are not profitable for pharmaceutical companies, so we don’t have them here.
God did give us food and herbs to be used as medicine, and to be used in prevention, but we have brushed that to the side, thinking that we as men have found a better way on our own and with own devices – most of which today is motivated by greed. There are instances in the Bible of plagues and diseases that were clearly stated came upon the people as a judgement from God.
Think about the plague that came upon the people of Egypt when Pharaoh would not let the people go. Now what if man came up with some of kind of way to prevent these plagues from coming upon them? Do you think God would sit in heaven and say, “Oh, they got me there. I guess I can’t pass judgement on them.” No, God cannot be mocked and no one can escape his judgement. What if some of these diseases are a judgement on us? Do we think because we have found a vaccine that we will not receive the judgment that God intended, or will our judgment now come in some other form?
Yes, we have almost eradicated these diseases – polio, whooping cough, etc., but do we not also in the same time frame have a HUGE increase in the number of cases of autism……the list goes on. So have we outsmarted God in our quest to be like God? AIDS is another case. AIDS is spread and possibly started because of man’s perversity and sexual immorality. I believe AIDS is a form of judgement from God for man’s sin. God is just and sin will not go unpunished forever.
Now I know that some people and innocent children are affected by God’s judgement who didn’t do a thing wrong, but that is just the consequence of other people’s sins. The firstborn sons of those in Egypt died because of Pharaoh’s sins, not because of anything they or their parents did.
In the end, I just have to believe that God is in control of everything. I have to believe that is just and kind at the same time. It would be easy to be angry if your child is the one who is affected by one of these diseases, from either side – whether you got the vaccines, and your child got autism or cancer, or whether you didn’t get the vaccines and your child got Hepatitis.
Personally, I’m thankful that we obeyed and trusted God, and didn’t get the vaccines – even though we are affected by autism, ADHD, and seizures. I am thankful beyond measure that my children do not have severe autism or cancer. I am thankful that God can use this in my life to help other families, and to spread the word that there are other ways to treat these disorders without resorting to man-made drugs that hurt our children. I am thankful that God can use this to bring out characteristics in me that otherwise would not have come out, and I am thankful that he has used this to bring me to my knees, closer to Him, and more like His Son.
If God does choose to bring one of these diseases upon our family, I will still praise Him. We don’t know why suffering comes – sometimes God is testing us (as in the case of Job in the Bible), sometimes he is judging us (Pharaoh), sometimes he is using it to bring glory to his name (the raising up of Lazarus).
I have to stick to obeying His Word that says that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and we should treat it as such. I know that what they put in vaccines is bad (mercury and aluminum and more), comes from bad sources (some from aborted babies, unclean, diseased animals), and causes all kinds of adverse side effects, causing some of our children to become less useful in God’s Kingdom.
I have to think that Satan must be sitting back enjoying seeing God’s children getting vaccines, thinking of what havoc lies ahead for at least 1 out of 100 of them, the marriages that will be broken up because of the chaos it causes, the families that will go into debt because of the treatment costs, and the number of people that will shake their fists at God and turn their backs on Him, thinking that He allowed this to happen to their child. (That’s a whole nother long post, but I know you probably already understand why suffering happens – because of sin (yours or another’s).
I don’t come across many people even at church or in my son’s Christian school who do not vaccinate their children and I have to think that it is partly because they are not educated on what exactly is in those vaccines, and they are just going by what everyone else in the world is doing.
The Bible says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2. We can’t do something just because everyone else is doing it. We have to look and see what God’s Word says.
I have to think that the Amish have it right. They don’t vaccinate because of personal Biblical convictions and they have nearly zero rates of autism in their children. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I think God protects His children who walk in obedience and trust Him fully (Psalm 145:20b – “The Lord watches over all who love him…”), knowing that we don’t know everything and God works out everything for the good of those who love him. There are some things we just don’t know and we have to trust that He has our best interest at heart.
So, for me, not vaccinating is a matter of conviction, and whether or not we are at more risk for a disease or not. The chances of protection over my children with God – 100% (in the overall scheme of things). The chances of protection by a vaccine – ?. I’d rather place my trust in God. He has a better track record.
But, I believe this is something each parent needs to decide for their own families and decide what they are convicted of, through prayer and Bible study. If someone is convicted that they are protecting their children by vaccinating, and they have done the research and been in prayer about it, and feel comfortable with it, I am not saying that they are wrong or in conflict with the Bible. But, this is how I have interpreted the Bible, and my personal convictions based on the Holy Spirit’s leading.
If they ever find a way to vaccinate that involves using God given natural ingredients that do not impose harm on our bodies, I might consider it for international travel where we might be at risk. But, for now, for where we are living today, and the ingredients that are in our vaccines, I have to pass on them.
I don’t know if I have answered your question, or just given you even more to think about! Sorry. But, I guess I can just share what I believe, and then you can determine from there, where the Holy Spirit leads you. You are definitely in a different situation than our family is in. I know that if you seek God, He will provide an answer for your family.
Good luck and God bless!
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Don't all children need all of their vaccinations to start school?
Fully agree with you on educating people about recognizing diseases and treatment options than blindly mass vaccinate unneeded vaccines. If you start vaccinating against each and every disease, then one day you will need to invent a vaccine for "Vaccine Injury" too.
Seriously?!?!?! AIDS is spread by our sexual immorality?? What about those who get HIV from blood transfusions at no fault of their own, you should remove that language from that.