As someone who has worked in the healthcare industry for my entire adult life, I have always believed that vaccines were safe and effective. I received all of my vaccinations and my daughter received all of hers. When I had my son, 13 years later, I started to have questions about the necessity of giving our little ones so many vaccines at such a young age. I wondered if kids really needed to be vaccinated against chicken pox. I had the chicken pox as a child and from what I could remember it seemed to be pretty harmless. I wondered why it was so important for babies to receive a vaccination against Hepatitis B, that we give it to them on their first day of life. I knew that babies weren't at risk of Hepatitis B infection unless their mothers were Hep B positive. I wondered about the necessity of so many vaccines but I never validated these thoughts by asking questions or looking into them further. I believed that there was no way to really find honest answers around the topic of vaccinating, because any information that I would find would be biased one way or the other. So I pushed those questions to the back of my mind and I continued to follow the guidance of my government regulatory agencies and my doctors. When I was pregnant with my son I was given the Rhogam shot called Rhophylac® due to having Rh- blood type. No one ever told me that the warnings on the package insert included things like, “Rhophylac® is made from human plasma. Products made from human plasma may contain infectious agents, e.g., viruses and, theoretically, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) agent, that can cause disease” or, “such products can still potentially transmit disease. There is also the possibility that unknown infectious agents may be present in such products” or, “as reported in the literature, some patients treated with Rh0(D) immune globulin (anti-D) developed clinically compromising anemia, acute renal insufficiency, and, very rarely, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and death“. At the same time I was also given a vaccine for Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis called Boostrix. This vaccine is only authorized for use in people age 10+. To determine the safety in pregnant women there was one study done using the non US formulation of Boostrix. In this study they gave half of the pregnant women Boostrix and half got a saline placebo. AN ACTUAL SALINE PLACEBO! Except once the babies in the placebo group were born they were also given Boostrix (again Boostrix is only authorized for children ages 10 and up). Researchers then compared the outcomes of babies who's mothers received Boostrix while pregnant with the babies who received Boostrix after delivery. Since the outcomes were similar in both groups it was determined Boostrix was safe to give during pregnancy and is now given to every pregnant woman routinely. I did not know this at the time and I did not know to ask. I did not know to read the vaccine insert before allowing myself and my unborn child to be exposed to vaccines. If I would have known I would have saw that right in the 38 page vaccine insert it states side effects such as, “Convulsions (with and without fever), encephalitis, facial palsy, loss of consciousness, paresthesia”. I would have seen that none of the safety studies were ever truly testing Boostrix against an actual placebo. Or that the longest follow up period looking for adverse events was 6 months. If I would have known I might have made a different choice. In fact, if I would have known I absolutely WOULD have made a different choice. My son was born August 8, 2018. Within hours of being born he was vaccinated with the Hepatitis B vaccine. The package insert states that, “In 36 clinical studies, a total of 13,495 doses of ENGERIX-B were administered to 5,071 healthy adults and children who were initially seronegative for hepatitis B markers, and healthy neonates. All subjects were monitored for 4 days post-administration.” They monitored subjects for 4 days. Take a moment to think about that. 4 DAYS. Also, how many of these subjects were born just a few hours before receiving the vaccine? The post marketing surveillance lists side effects such as, “Herpes zoster, meningitis, Encephalitis; encephalopathy; migraine; multiple sclerosis; neuritis; neuropathy including hypoesthesia, paresthesia, Guillain-Barré syndrome and Bell’s palsy; optic neuritis; paralysis; paresis; seizures; syncope; transverse myelitis.“ In a quick review of the FDA licensing documents I was unable to find any real information regarding the safety studies done prior to approval of this vaccine for use in babies on their first day of life. However, I was able to find a study while searching PubMed* that shows boys who are vaccinated with Hepatitis B vaccine within the first month of life have a three fold higher risk of autism than boys who are not vaccinated until after one month. Why in the world would we not wait? Two months later, I received a flu shot. I normally never got the flu shot but this year I did. I was told it was the best way to protect my new baby, by forming a cocoon around him so-to-speak. Once again, had I read the package insert I would have seen that it stated, “It is not known whether Fluzone Quadrivalent is excreted in human milk. Data are not available to assess the effects of Fluzone Quadrivalent on the breastfed infant or on milk production/excretion.The developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother’s clinical need for Fluzone Quadrivalent and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed child from Fluzone Quadrivalent or from the underlying maternal condition. For preventive vaccines, the underlying maternal condition is susceptibility to the disease prevented by the vaccine”. I was never told about any risks or lack of safety studies done on receiving this vaccine while breastfeeding. I was only encouraged to take it. A week later my son received 5 more vaccines. He was seen in urgent care 4 times following that visit and finally diagnosed as failure to thrive by the Emergency Room doctor at Children’s Hospital. A week later, 5 more vaccinations. He stopped eating, stopped sleeping, stopped gaining weight, and screamed non-stop. After that we decided to do a delayed vaccination schedule. Only doing one vaccine at each well-child visit. Our doctor was not supportive of this and we were forced to find a new doctor. After every vaccine he would scream inconsolably for a week. But I continued to get him vaccinated as if there wasn’t another choice. He started to show developmental delays. Despite scoring 109 during a developmental assessment at two months old, well above the cutoff score of 78, he was no longer meeting milestones. A year later he received the same developmental assessment and this time he scored 62. My concerns about my son were validated when he was 19 months old. He was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Global Developmental Delay, and Speech Disorder. I don’t believe that my sons life had to go this way. I believe that we were never informed about the real dangers associated with vaccinating and that if we had not vaccinated he would be healthier today. Vaccinating him is a decision I wish very much that I could take back. I believe that due to my lack of knowledge around vaccines I failed to protect my son and that he faces many struggles today that were unnecessary. I would never tell another parent what decisions to make when it comes to their kids medical care. But I do want parents to have the information before making those decisions. The information is not always biased like I thought. Most of the information I have found comes directly from the manufacturers of the products themselves, or from our regulatory agencies like the CDC and the FDA. The truth is out there you just have to know how to find it. So I decided to put all of the information I have collected into one place that’s easy for people to find and share. That is what this website is. If it helps just one parent feel more informed and empowered to speak up and ask questions about what is being given to their children then it's served it's purpose.