I need help. During Covid and my research/talking to friends prior then my husband prior to the birth of our children we decided not to vaccinate our kids with anything. Now my oldest is 3 and I'm thinking of putting her in preschool because it'll be good for her and she has a 1 year old sister so i need a break. Only, some of them require vaccines and maybe school..doesn't seem they accept religious exemptions but some do. I really like this school am I overthinking the vaccine thing? I need prospective, are some necessary? I feel I'm succumbing to societal pressure when I've been good this long.
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Honestly I am reluctant these days to even get my dogs vaxed so I don't think you are overthinking at all. I actually think you may be under-thinking.
Eventually if she is going to public school you'll have to get her vaxed. Probably private school, too. Each state varies on their "requirements" and then you have the pediatricians pushing every new vaccine that is developed even if not currently required.
Before enrolling her in preschool, I'd suggest you research your state's vaccine requirements and exemption laws. Maybe start at your state's health department website. Then you also want to look at the batches of which vaccines have a history of bad reactions. The VAER site would be good site for starters: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System but I wouldn't stop there.
Also search out "vaccine hesitant" or "anti-vax" parents' groups and join them for their perspectives.
This site may give you an idea where to start, too: Children's Health Defense (Yea, yea, it was started by RFK, Jr. but it's a good source.)
Forewarned is forearmed. I just don't think you're armed enough to make an informed decision. While you research and deliberate, you may also look into private daycare providers which women run out of their homes for cash. Maybe they take 5-6 kids. If they're good, they will have references, welcome visits, and often have "wait" list. My children are all adults, but back in the day I had far better experiences with these type of providers than I did with larger daycare and "certified" preschool providers. There were far fewer kids, they were cleaner, gave more personalized attention, provided nutritious snacks and lunches, and conducted small group learning activities that were as beneficial as any "certified" preschool teacher. They just had a common-sense approach to things that you just can't buy in larger settings. And in fact, their clients frequently included teachers' kids from neighboring public schools. This, in itself, is very telling.
My last piece of advice is that after researching and exploring options, if you DO decide to go ahead and get her the required vaccines, at the very least insist on ONE at a time with a minimum of a month in between. And don't let your doc talk you into any optional ones. If the doctor gets offended by your wariness, fire them and seek a new doc. Good luck!