I was vaccinated against a whole bunch of things from childhood to my teens. When I was in my mid-20s, they did an immunology test to figure out if I had indeed never had chicken pox. I had no antibodies for it (as opposed to Rubella, which was the only childhood disease I had, at 4 years old).

So I was vaccinated for chicken pox at the age of 26. The first dose gave me only a localized reaction. The repeat dose, a month later, had me feverish, migraine-y, with diarrhea and intense nausea, in the middle of a heat wave. But I would do it again in an instant, if I were told the batch was bad and would not protect me. Because I heard it is one really awful thing to catch once you are an adult. The weird thing was that I was in contact with chicken pox so many times, prior to being vaccinated, that it's almost unnatural that I never caught it.

Same went with the H1N1 influenza vaccine from last year. I got the vaccination, and barely had any side effects from it. A mild headache and some drowsiness the next day. Nothing to be alarmed about.

So I will vaccinate my kids, no questions asked, unless they have a known allergy to one of the components of the vaccine.