God seems to be beating me up with the irony stick. Today - of all days - The Times of London published an article reporting that Dr. Andrew Wakefield's study linking autism and the MMR vaccine was based on falsified data. According to the Sunday Times investigation, the research published in an article in the February 1998 edition of the medical journal Lancet was based on twelve cases, and Dr. Wakefield even lied about the ailments of the few children who were part of his study.
Fast forward to approximately one hour after having read the article. My husband called to tell me that our son's daycare had sent him home with a note threatening expulsion if we didn't prove that all of our son's shots were up to date. My husband and I, like many parents, have been hesitant about giving our son the MMR. He doesn't have this vaccination, and I had also balked at getting him the PCV (pneumonia) and flu shots which the state of New Jersey requires. And, despite the investigative report by The Sunday Times, I remain skeptical.
So, I've decided to ... Well, apparently, the state of New Jersey like many states also has medical and religious exemptions to the vaccine requirement. I've decided to draft a religious exemption and submit it to the school. I'm a member of a fairly ... very liberal religious denomination. I could probably cite a few of its tenets to support the notion that our religious beliefs don't permit vaccination of our son. Even so, I feel a tad guilty. But, I have to protect my son. Right??
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