Oral Immunotherapy vs. Anti-Vaxxers

I’m sure the title of this post catches many off guard. What could oral immunotherapy have in comparison to those who wish to refrain from vaccinations (or as many refer to as Anti-Vaxxers)? You would think not much correlation there, but I encourage you to read on.

I was on Facebook and came across a post about parents who had never allowed their child to receive any vaccinations. They were basically just telling their story. One comment made was similar to the statement ‘Why would you inject a virus into your child that could cause them harm?’ Well, many would agree that the statement has truthful meaning, but most would argue that the statistics of positive results most certainly outweigh the bad.

Its certainly a parent’s decision to raise their children according to their beliefs. I myself, am not an Anti-Vaxxer. My children have been vaccinated for anything and everything that’s available. My son is active military and has had more vaccinations than you can shake a stick at. So let me add (having said all that), none of them have ever been sick with any disease they’ve ever been vaccinated for. That doesn’t necessarily mean I should look down on those who do not wish to vaccinate. Its their decision. Some would say that those parents have made a terrible decision for their child who can’t speak for themselves. Well, they in turn, can say the same about us who do.

I started thinking about all this, then had that light bulb moment.

I can actually give a testament to why I believe in vaccinating more now than ever before. I have PROOF! Well, I think it’s proof, but I’ll let you make up your own mind.

This is where that strange title comes into play. A few years ago, we decided to enroll our daughter in the Desensitization study at UNC located in Chapel Hill, NC. You can read about our entire journey here. This study is also referred to as Oral Immunotherapy. Our daughter is allergic to peanuts eggs and milk, with the peanut allergy being quite severe. The study consisted of feeding her peanut protein for a year with the hope of helping her tolerate an allergic reaction a little better should she ever come in contact with peanuts, and it worked! She now eats two peanuts a day to maintain that level of immunity. Now, if you read the post of our journey, you can see that it most definitely is not an easy feat. Plus, watching your child go through allergic reactions and needle pricking and all the lab work can be absolutely heartbreaking. Nevertheless, you do what you can to make your child’s life safer and better.

So here’s the correlation, as best as I can explain it. We fed our daughter’s body a substance for an entire year that could have possibly killed her. However, that substance in turn, made her life better and safer. So I don’t really see the harm in vaccinations. My past experience shows me that injecting, perhaps a harmful substance into your body, is actually a good thing.

Now, as stated, that’s my opinion. This is our experience and our journey. I can’t technically say that anti-vaxxers are wrong. However, I will take this opportunity to say that I now believe even more in vaccinating and hope my story helps others make a better choice.