easy, Dr. Nancy Snyderman

I watch The Today Show every morning from 8am to about 8:45am when I grudgingly make my way out the door to work. I could watch The Today Show all day. There are some correspondents I could do without. Mainly Anne Curry, Tiki Barber (WTF? Tiki Barber?!) and Luke Russert (I'm sorry, you're probably not supposed to say that, but c'mon. He had no real experience before reporting on The Today Show. It shows). I've never had a problem with the health correspondent, Dr. Nancy Snyderman. Until today.

She did a segment on the inventor of the rotavirus vaccine. I thought the purpose of the segment was to give pro-vaccination a voice. But the doctor took it too far. After the segment was done and Matt Lauer tried to go to commercial by saying something like thanks for reporting on that controversial issue, Dr. Nancy Snyderman went batshit crazy.

"NO ITS NOT CONTROVERSIAL"
Matt: "Well....for some parents it is"
"NOT IT IS NOT"

This continued for several seconds. We get it, you are pro-vaccination.

To vaccinate or not vaccinate? I'm kind of on the fence.
The main controversy behind the question is whether or not vaccinations lead to autism, but the main reason I'm on the fence is that I think we tend to over-sterilize, over-sanitize, over-vaccinate.

I found out today six different vaccinations are given between the time a child is born and 6 months. One each for:
Hepatitis B
Polio
Pneumococcal Disease
Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis
Rotavirus
Hib
I'm not sure all these are necessary, especially given that at least two of them are new since I was last vaccinated. I'm sure super-annoying Jenny McCarthy would tell me my kid doesn't need any of them.

Anyway, this plus several other things lately make me think I don't want to have children. I am not saying you shouldn't have kids either, its a personal choice, but I just don't think I want one. For me, not having a child at all would mean I didn't need to get vaccinations for diseases that might make my child deathly ill. Not having a child would mean not contributing to over population. And finally not having a child would mean I'd spare my spawn from all the suck things that tend to happen in life.

I know this is the ultra cynical way of looking at things. I know there is a flipside, but to me, maybe the flipside is too much to be responsible for and maybe I'd be better off with a dog or a hamster for that matter.