Vaccinations---

Well up until about a month ago, Brad and I were anti vaccines. What changed??? Well I met a mom who told me that her daughter got meningitis so bad that she is permanently severely disabled and just today learned of a boy who is suspected to have whooping cough. Both of these kids are right here in our town. So, am I officially scared into believing that vaccines are what is best----uh, YEAH!!!! Do I still question this whole vaccine thing---how could I not???!!!! I have been reading about vaccines and which ones are recommended and which ones are required for about 2 months now. For one, there are many more vaccines that the CDC recommends than are required for entry into a Florida school. You can find a complete list of required ones at the Florida Department of Health website. The CDC website has the recommended vaccines with a proposed schedule. The ones that are required for entry into a Florida school are: Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine; Polio vaccine; Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine; Hepatitis B vaccine; and Varicella vaccine. My kids have not had any shots yet, but they will be getting them in the near future. I am not exactly thrilled about this, and neither is Brad. The things we considered are: where we live, the fact that our kids go to daycare, and the fact that I work at a high school with a student population of about 1,800. These things influenced the way we looked at this topic for sure. NOW, if I were a stay at home mom and my kids were with me all the time and I was going to home school my kids, I would probably stand firm behind the anti-vaccination mentality that I so strongly support. But reality is, I work, Brad works, the kids have to go to school. I can't afford to quite my job, nor do I want to---I LOVE working in the schools, I just don't want to bring something home to my kids that could have been prevented entirely by something as simple as a vaccine.