My opinion on vaccinations

Okay, I just need to vent a little and you may disagree with my opinions, I guess, but right now I'm feeling a little angry and would be more receptive to agreement.
I know a lot of women who are pregnant right now, coinciding with a time when there's a lot of fear and panic about the H1N1 flu vaccination. So, a lot of people that I know are discussing whether this vaccination is safe and whether vaccines in general are safe. I have heard and read a lot of arguments from critics that say that vaccinations contain toxins, used as preservatives, that cause medical issues. The ones most sited are allergies, asthma, and autism (the 3 A's). There are people out there, doctors and medical professionals and scientists, telling people vaccines are the causes of these three diseases in many to most instances.
First, let me just say that I've read absolutely no medical research, ever, that puts a causational link between vaccinations and the 3 A's. Sure, there appears to be some correlation between vaccination and the 3 A's, but correlation is not causation. I mean, during the same span of time young children are more likely to be watching TV, but I don't see anyone turning off their TV sets. I've seen some research that shows some evidence that when children have certain mitochondrial issues and are given vaccines that they can develop autism, but that's about it. But that's still mitigated by the genetics of the individual, not a one-for-one cause like the panic-spreaders say vaccines are. (Oh and my favorite, that the evidence is out there, but the pharmaceutical companies and the government have conspired to keep the evidence from the public because they want you and your children to get vaccinated and develop long-term chronic and, sometimes expensive, medical illnesses... oh brother.)
There's also a more personal reason that I don't believe that vaccines cause the 3 A's in most cases. David. I received no vaccinations during my pregnancy with David. I didn't get a flu shot that year. Nothing. David started showing symptoms of his allergic disease before his two month boosters, so the only shot he received before he showed symptoms were those given to him in his first days of life in the hospital. If that first shot was enough to cause allergic disease in him and other children you'd think someone would have noticed by now since the instance of the 3 A's as increased drastically over the past 10 years and still no one can point to that first vaccine as the cause.
I watched a video this morning that made my blood boil. Anti-vaccine scientists using a mother of five unvaccinated children as evidence that vaccines are the problem. All five of her children were described as "healthy" which I guess the audience is suppose to understand as "they don't have any of the 3 A's." People take that kind of evidence and run with it, when really it proves nothing. I know at least three families with six or more children, all of whom are vaccinated, none of whom have any of the 3 A's. Doesn't that prove the opposite - that vaccination leads to healthy children?
I try to be a reasonable person. I try to see both sides, especially when it comes to the health of my family. I've learned over the course of David's short life that doctors are not always right and do not always know what is in the best interest of their patient. I've learned to question the procedures and the medications. Why does he need them? What will them do for him? What are the side effects? What is the long-term prognosis of people taking these medications? I've had to learn to weigh the pros and cons of medical decisions to protect my child from both his illness on the one hand and over-medicating his spirit on the other hand. We've made tough choices and sacrifices, such as David's weight, in order to keep him healthy.
So, it's time to play my favorite medical game with vaccinations: Would You Rather? Even though I see very little to no scholarly scientific evidence of vaccines causing the 3 A's, let's say, just for the sake of argument that there was some merit to it. Then let's take the specific example of pregnant women and H1N1. Would you rather get vaccinated and risk that your child develops allergies, asthma or autism (which they might anyways) or would you rather not get vaccinated and take the risk that you get H1N1 while pregnant, robbing your unborn child of precious nutrients while your body fights the flu, and take the risk that you become so ill that you end up going into premature labor and your child dies? Get vaccine, risk livable medical illnesses. Don't get vaccinated, risk death. Not a tough choice.
Okay, now back to the woman with five unvaccinated "healthy" children from the video I saw and play Would You Rather again. Would you rather get your child vaccinated to what were once common and deadly illnesses and run the risk that your child develops allergies, asthma or autism (which they might anyways) or would you rather not get your child vaccinated and run the risk that they develop one of a host of disfiguring, disabling, and deadly illnesses that those vaccines protect against? Get vaccine, risk livable medical illnesses. Don't get vaccinated, risk awful, slow, painful death. Again, not a tough choice.
I feel better now.