Strife over shots: Should our kids play together?

Worries go both ways
In some cases, it’s not the vaccinating parents who are worried. It’s those who’ve opted against immunizing and are afraid their kids might get sick from exposure to viruses used in certain vaccines.

“If I know of someone whose child has been recently vaccinated, I will share with them the fact that my children have not ever been and ask that they help me keep our children from making direct contact,” says Gretchen McMurry, 27, of Jefferson City, Tenn.

Brown says any such risk would be with “live attenuated” vaccines, which are made from weakened forms of the germs that cause infection.

“I have not seen any cases reported of vaccine-associated exposure causing disease in MMR or rotavirus,” she says. “There have been three documented cases of vaccine-associated exposure with chicken pox — three cases in 30 million doses given.”

Even if parents within the same social circle freely discussed vaccination status and schedules, it wouldn’t eliminate exposure concerns at airports, grocery stores or the mall, for example.

Amid all the controversy, some mothers on both sides of the vaccine divide say they just don’t worry too much about what the other side is doing.

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Chantal Ouellette, 40, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, hasn’t encountered instances of outright rejection because her kids aren’t vaccinated. When the subject comes up, though, she’s sometimes viewed as “weird, unresponsible or naïve.”

But it doesn’t really faze her. “It rubs off like water on a duck's feathers,” she says. “I have made an informed decision and I'm sticking to it.

Angela Corry, 33, of Shirley, N.Y., has faith that vaccinations are going to protect both of her girls, no matter who they encounter.

“I have no problem welcoming unvaccinated children into a play group, and I have no problem with them attending school,” she says. “Simply put, my children are vaccinated, the risk is minimal. I may not agree with [other] parents' choices, but there's no reason to hold that against the child.”

Jacqueline Stenson is a freelance writer in Los Angeles. A former senior health producer for msnbc.com, her work also has appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Health, Shape, Women’s Health, Fit Pregnancy and Reuters Health.

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