One of the major fallacies with herd immunity is that people are under the impression that if you are vaccinated, you now live in a magical germ-repelling bubble. Just because you are vaccinated and cannot get sick from certain infectious diseases, does not protect those around you. People who are immune to the measles, for example, can still come into contact with the disease and carry it on their person, and spread it to other susceptible people. The measles can live for several hours on surfaces, hands and door knobs. Barring unvaccinated children from school, will not keep infectious diseases off the premises. Vaccines were designed to confer individual protection only. It’s like wearing a hazmat suit everywhere you go. It may protect you, but the outside of your suit is still going to be covered in germs. For this reason alone, it would appear that unvaccinated kids pose no bigger threat than everyone else, but that’s incorrect. Unvaccinated kids cannot spread what they do not have. Vaccinated kids on the other hand, will shed live viruses for several weeks after receiving a live virus vaccine. They can spread what they don’t have. If you have a classroom full of children and one of them is medically fragile, a few of them are unvaccinated and another handful just got caught up on their vaccines and are now actively shedding live viruses, who is putting whom at the greatest risk here? If the point of barring children with personal belief exemptions from school is to protect these hypothetical immunosupressed kids from infectious diseases, why would they allow recently vaccinated kids in school? Unvaccinated kids are not harbingers of disease. They are not born with these viruses inside of them. They would first have to come into contact with the disease, catch the disease and then expose others. Where is the most common place to come into contact with these diseases? Immigrants? Tourists? Or perhaps it’s the classroom full of recently vaccinated children?
My point is, germs are everywhere. They are not limited to a host. They are not limited to a school building. If we were to disallow unvaccinated kids from school, what about other public places? Unvaccinated kids go to the grocery store, church, playgrounds, Chuck E Cheese’s. Does the responsibility of protecting medically fragile children fall on the community? Or is that the responsibility of that child’s parents? If my child was medically fragile to the point that they could not be vaccinated (which very few are), then I would not want them in school, period. There are a lot more things out there that could kill an immunocompromised child than what we vaccinate for.
Not all immunocompromised children cannot be vaccinated. Most immunocompromised kids have either already been vaccinated, or have to temporarily delay certain live virus vaccines. These children are also under strict guidelines to avoid anyone who has recently been vaccinated with a live virus.
Another major fallacy with eliminating personal belief exemptions, is that a significant part of the school population is being overlooked. Teacher and staff make up around 10-20% of the school population, but they are not required to disclose their vaccine status. You know, because that would be a violation of privacy. If these teachers are my age or older, they have had about a third or less of the shots our children are required to get. It makes no goddamn sense. I would be forced to homeschool my healthy child if she misses one DTaP booster, so that we don’t put the unhealthy unvaccinated medically fragile kid at risk, but Mrs. Katherine-Hepburn’s-Mother, the music teacher who has only had the oral polio vaccine half a century ago is cleared to enter the premises? I feel like I’m living in a strange, backwards world, where up is down, we wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people. Did anyone actually take the time to think this through at all? Demanding that other people risk their child’s health to potentially protect the health of another is both pointless and selfish. We are each responsible for our own child’s health. We do not have to poison our own bodies for the greater good. Discriminating against children who’s parent’s care enough about them to research what goes into their bodies, by barring those children from school is un-American. This is supposed to be a free country where we are granted the right to a free public education, as well as medical freedom. If we give up those things, what will we give up later on down the road? If your state is one of the many looking to eliminate personal belief exemptions, or is trying to gain more control over your rights as a parent, you need to stand up and let your voice be heard. Everyone should be opposed to government coercion regarding potentially dangerous medical procedures. These are our children and the government can fuck right off when it comes to how we raise them.
For more information on this subject, please read this amazing article from Immunologist Tetyana Obukhanych, PhD. http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/an-open-letter-to-legislators-currently-considering-vaccine-legislation-from-tetyana-obukhanych-phd-in-immunology/
California is seeing red. Red shirts, that is. People showed up in droves to oppose California’s SB 277, which would remove the personal belief exemption for children attending public and private school, as well as daycare. They waited for hours, filling the halls, seven overflow rooms, an employee cafeteria and a basement room. All for a moment to stand at a microphone, say their name and that they oppose SB 277. Many of them families of the vaccine injured, or vaccine injured, themselves. It was a sea of red shirts. The largest turnout in 15 years. Unfortunately those parent’s pleas fell on deaf ears, as SB 277 was passed 6-2 and will go on to the next committee. The good news? You still have a chance to stand up and fight for parental rights!
To be clear, all parents should oppose SB277. The issue is not about whether or not you support vaccines, it’s about who own your child’s body. We teach our children that their body is their own, and no one is allowed to touch their bodies without their permission, or put anything in or on them that makes them uncomfortable. This would include medical procedures and pharmaceutical drugs. It is a basic human right to decline taking something into yours or your child’s body, especially if it carries the risk of injury and death. Where there is risk, there must be choice. And there is undoubtedly risks associated with vaccines. Because the vaccine manufacturers and doctors are exempt from legal recourse if a vaccine injures or kills your child, the money paid out to these families comes from our tax dollars. Yeah, that’s right. WE pay for these children’s injuries and deaths. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical companies rake in billions of dollars each year. These companies have zero incentive to make safer, more effective products. They have it made. The government mandates their products, and then picks up the tab when it kills your baby. So far that tab exceeds $3 billion. Not surprisingly, since the drug companies were granted immunity from law suits, the vaccine schedule has more than tripled. When I was a kid, I got around 12 vaccines. Kids these days get up to 36 by age six.
Have I mentioned that there are over 200 new vaccines in development? Are you comfortable signing your kids up for the vaccine schedule of the future, sight unseen? Would you be okay with the current vaccine schedule (the most aggressive schedule in the world) if it tripled again? What if they mandated a vaccine for balding or athletes foot? This may sound crazy, but the fact is, we are already vaccinating babies on their first day of life against a sexually transmitted disease; Hep B. This shot won’t even provide them protection long enough for them to be sexually active. To me, that sounds crazy. Should you decide for any reason that even one of the required vaccines isn’t a good fit for your child, they will be considered exempt and would then have to be homeschooled. Even if you only miss one booster shot. Exempt DOESNOT equal unvaccinated. Very few kids are completely unvaccinated.
But what about the immunocompromised kids? I’m glad you asked! Most immunocompromised children have either already been vaccinated, or can still be vaccinated. There are only rare circumstances when a child temporarily cannot receive certain live virus vaccines. They also cannot be around anyone who has recently been vaccinated with a live virus vaccine. So tell me, who is putting that immunocompromised child at greater risk; the healthy unvaccinated child, or the recently vaccinated child who is shedding live virus for several weeks? Let us not forget about the teachers. Teachers and school staff make up around 10-25% of the school population. What good is the “herd immunity” hypothesis (and it is a hypothesis) if the vaccine status of 10-25% of the school’s population is not held to the same standard? Furthermore, having vaccine induced immunity does not surround you in a protective, germ-proof bubble. Kids who are immune to infectious disease can still pick up and spread those same diseases. Just because it doesn’t make that child sick, doesn’t mean it won’t infect a susceptible child. The measles can live for several hours on surfaces, hands, door handles etc. Doesn’t it seem a little odd to bar healthy unvaccinated children from school, when infectious diseases can still be spread in spite of their attendance?
This is an extremely important time in California for parental rights and medical freedom. This is not a pro-anti vaccine thing. This is a time for all parents, regardless of your views on vaccination, to stand up and fight against medical coercion. Every child deserves a public education. There currently is no state of emergency that warrants taking away a parent’s right to refuse a medical procedure. In fact, California’s personal belief exemption rates have dropped 19% in the last year. Vaccination rates are currently at an all-time high.
I can tell you right now, as someone who lives with a vaccine injured person, parents who have already damaged or lost a child to a vaccine will not risk maiming their other children. It will not happen. We take this very seriously, because we have personally witnessed the damage that can come from vaccines. If you vaccinated your kids and they came out unscathed, consider yourself lucky. Not all of us can say the same. You cannot ask us to set our children on fire to keep yours warm.
If you are in support of parental rights and medical freedom, please let your voice be heard! Now is the time to speak up. Please contact your senators and attend the next committee hearing on Wednesday, April 15th at 9am. Be strong. Be heard. And make them see red!!
“The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.
“This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved, as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision.” -The Nuremberg Code
In this, the third installment of our research guide, we will cover vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs), their symptoms and complications; as well as the potential complications from the vaccines and who is most at risk for developing them. To refresh our memory, here is the CDC chart containing the vaccine schedule, and below it is the list of VPDs with their symptoms and complications listed beside them.
Here is a link to the vaccines, with their ingredients and adverse events listed side-by side:
Hepatitis B- The Hep B shot is given to newborn babies on the first day of life. It is becoming more and more common for well educated parents to forego this particular shot. A lot of the kindergartners in the US who have non-medical vaccine exemptions are not exempt because they are completely unvaccinated, but because their parents decided to skip or delay certain vaccines. Hep B commonly being one of those. The reason for this, is the immune system of a newborn baby has not been established. No one knows if this baby has an underlying medical condition that might cause an adverse reaction. This shot is given prior to the results of the baby’s “foot poke” test results coming back. A lot of parents would rather err on the side of caution and not vaccinate their baby on day one. Another reason that parents often forego this shot, is that hepatitis B is extremely rare in newborn babies in the US. According to the CDC “Hepatitis B is spread when blood, semen, or other body fluid infected with the Hepatitis B virus enters the body of a person who is not infected. People can become infected with the virus during activities such as:
Birth (spread from an infected mother to her baby during birth)
Sex with an infected partner
Sharing needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment
Sharing items such as razors or toothbrushes with an infected person
Direct contact with the blood or open sores of an infected person
Exposure to blood from needlesticks or other sharp instruments”
The CDC also states “Although anyone can get Hepatitis B, some people are at greater risk, such as those who:
Have sex with an infected person
Have multiple sex partners
Have a sexually transmitted disease
Are men who have sexual contact with other men
Inject drugs or share needles, syringes, or other drug equipment
Live with a person who has chronic Hepatitis B
Are infants born to infected mothers
Are exposed to blood on the job
Are hemodialysis patients
Travel to countries with moderate to high rates of Hepatitis B”
Hepatitis B virus is not spread by sharing eating utensils, breastfeeding, hugging, kissing, holding hands, coughing, or sneezing. Here is what Dr. Sears has to say:
Potential complications of Hepatitis B include: Chronic liver infection, liver failure and liver cancer.
Potential adverse events from the Hep B vaccine include: Fever, insomnia, hypotension, abdominal pain, stiffness, drowsiness, loss of appetite, irritability.
Rotavirus- According to the CDC “Rotavirus disease is most common in infants and young children. However, older children and adults and can also become infected with rotavirus. Once a person has been exposed to rotavirus, it takes about 2 days for the symptoms to appear. “Children who get infected may have severe watery diarrhea, often with vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain. Vomiting and watery diarrhea can last from 3 to 8 days. Additional symptoms include loss of appetite and dehydration (loss of body fluids), which can be especially harmful for infants and young children.” “Children, even those that are vaccinated, may develop rotavirus disease more than once. That is because neither natural infection with rotavirus nor rotavirus vaccination provides full immunity (protection) from future infections. Usually a person’s first infection with rotavirus causes the most severe symptoms.”
Potential complications from Rotavirus include: Severe diarrhea, dehydration.
Potential adverse events from Rotavirus vaccine include: Diarrhea, vomiting, irritability, otitis media, nasopharyngitis, bronchospasm, bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis, pneumonia, fever, urinary tract infection, allergic reactions, and a serious problem called intussusception, which may be indicated by: vomiting, bad diarrhea, severe stomach pain, and blood in the stool.
A note on Intussusception: Intussusception is a condition that causes part of the intestine to fold into itself like a telescope. According to Mayo Clinic “Intussusception (in-tuh-suh-SEP-shun) is a serious disorder in which part of the intestine slides into an adjacent part of the intestine. This “telescoping” often blocks food or fluid from passing through. Intussusception also cuts off the blood supply to the part of the intestine that’s affected. Intussusception can lead to a tear in the bowel (perforation), infection and death of bowel tissue.”
DTaP- DTap is a three-in-one combo shot for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough).
Diphtheria: A serious bacterial infection usually affecting the mucous membranes of your nose and throat. Diphtheria typically causes a sore throat, fever, swollen glands and weakness. But the hallmark sign is a sheet of thick, gray material covering the back of your throat, which can block your airway, causing you to struggle for breath.
Potential complications of diphtheria include: Swelling of the heart muscle, heart failure, coma, paralysis, death.
Tetanus- Tetanus is a serious bacterial disease that affects your nervous system, leading to painful muscle contractions, particularly of your jaw and neck muscles. Tetanus can interfere with your ability to breathe and, ultimately, threaten your life. Tetanus is commonly known as “lockjaw.” Tetanus is caused by a bacterium that is mostly present in soil, manure, and in the digestive tracts of animals and humans. Tetanus is not contagious and cannot be transmitted from person to person. The bacteria often enter the body through a puncture wound, which can be a small as a pin prick, or wounds made by rusty nails or dirty knives. Tetanus bacteria do not survive in the presence of oxygen, which is why puncture wounds, which do not bleed very much and are protected by tissue and skin from direct exposure to the air, are a perfect environment for tetanus bacteria to multiply and cause infection. Image Source: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/images/chapt16-figure01-view.gif
Potential complications from tetanus include: Broken bones, breathing difficulty, death.
Pertussis- “Pertussis, a respiratory illness commonly known as whooping cough, is a very contagious disease caused by a type of bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. These bacteria attach to the cilia (tiny, hair-like extensions) that line part of the upper respiratory system. The bacteria release toxins, which damage the cilia and cause inflammation (swelling).”-CDC.
Recently there has been an increase in the number of pertussis cases in the US. It appears that the acellular pertussis vaccine protection not only wanes at a very quick rate, but that it can also cause people to become asymptomatic carriers. Meaning, it will give you temporary protection for yourself, but you can still pass the bacteria on to others. According to one study: “We reviewed 400 bacteriologically confirmed cases of pertussis in infants and children during the past 18 years. Several changes in the epidemiology have occurred in the most recent six-year period. The incidence of whooping cough in children has decreased by at least 50%, but the proportion of cases occurring in infants younger than 12 weeks of age has doubled to 30% of all cases. Formerly most young infants acquired their illness from siblings or other children, but in the recent period adults in the household were the most common source of infection to neonates and young infants. This observation plus the increasingly high level of immunization in preschool and school-aged children suggest that young adults with waning immunity and mild illness are a major reservoir for transmission of pertussis to infants too young to be immunized.”
“Our data suggests that the current schedule of acellular pertussis vaccine doses is insufficient to prevent outbreaks of pertussis. We noted a markedly increased rate of disease from age 8 through 12, proportionate to the interval since the last scheduled vaccine. Stable rates of testing ruled out selection bias. The possibility of earlier or more numerous booster doses of acellular pertussis vaccine either as part of routine immunization or for outbreak control should be entertained.”
“Pertussis has reemerged as an important public health concern since current acellular pertussis vaccines (aP) replaced older whole-cell vaccines (wP). In this study, we show nonhuman primates vaccinated with aP were protected from severe symptoms but not infection and readily transmitted Bordetella pertussis to contacts. Vaccination with wP and previous infection induced a more rapid clearance compared with naïve and aP-vaccinated animals. While all groups possessed robust antibody responses, key differences in T-cell memory suggest that aP vaccination induces a suboptimal immune response that is unable to prevent infection. These data provide a plausible explanation for pertussis resurgence and suggest that attaining herd immunity will require the development of improved vaccination strategies that prevent B. pertussis colonization and transmission.”
Let’s reflect on what’s being said here. We already give 5 doses of DTaP to children before entering kindergarten. The vaccine is not providing sufficient immunity and can cause some people to become asymptomatic carriers. Yet their solution is to add more shots? You have to ask yourself if that is worth it.
Potential complications of pertussis include: Pneumonia (infection in the lungs), death.
A note about pertussis death: Although pertussis can lead to complications in adolescents and adults, it’s usually only fatal for babies under 6 months old. Pertussis is treated with antibiotics.
Complications of pertussis in infants include: Pneumonia (infection in the lungs), death. Complications in adolescents and adults include: loss of bladder control, fainting, and rib fractures.
Potential adverse events from DTaP vaccine include: Vomiting, redness or swelling, fever, tiredness or poor appetite, seizures, serious allergic reaction, brain damage (very rare).
Hib- “Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease is a serious disease caused by bacteria. It usually strikes children under 5 years old. Your child can get Hib disease by being around other children or adults who may have the bacteria and not know it. The germs spread from person to person. If the germs stay in the child’s nose and throat, the child probably will not get sick. But sometimes the germs spread into the lungs or the bloodstream, and then Hib can cause serious problems.” -CDC
Hib is mostly a disease of young children under the age of 5 years old. Before the vaccine was introduced in the U.S., children who became sick from Hib were usually under 2 years old, and mostly between 6 and 7 months old. In general, Hib disease is not considered very contagious. Before the vaccine most children acquired natural immunity by the time they were 5 or 6 years old. While the CDC reports that the risk of Hib vaccine causing serious harm or death is extremely small, as of May 2012 there have been a total of 12,140 adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). Most of these reports were in children under age 3.
Potential complications of Hib include: Meningitis (infection of the covering around the brain and spinal cord), intellectual disability, epiglottitis (life threatening infection that can block the windpipe and lead to serious breathing problems), pneumonia (infection in the lungs), death.
Potential adverse events from Hib Vaccine include: Fever, diarrhea, erythema, tenderness, swelling, irritability, loss of appetite, sleepiness, seizures, vomiting.
Pneumococcal- “Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by a type of bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus). There are different types of pneumococcal disease, such as pneumococcal pneumonia, blood infections (bacteremia), brain infections (pneumoccocal meningitis), and middle ear infections (otitis media). There are more than 90 types of pneumococcal bacteria. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) protects against 13 of them. These bacteria types are responsible for most common severe pneumococcal infections among children.” -vaccines.gov. Pneumococcus bacteria is in many people’s noses and throats and is spread by coughing, sneezing, or contact with respiratory secretions. Why it suddenly invades the body and causes disease is unknown.
Potential complications from pneumococcal include: Bacteremia (blood infection), meningitis (infection of the covering around the brain and spinal cord), death.
Potential adverse events from the pneumococcal vaccine include: Irritability, tenderness, decreased appetite, decreased sleep, increased sleep, fever, redness, pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, swelling, limitation of arm movement, chills, rash, bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis, pneumonia.
Inactivated Polio Virus (IPV)- Polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death. In the U.S., the last case of naturally occurring polio happened in 1979. Polio is transmitted when the virus enters the mouth or nose and infects the throat and gastrointestinal tract. In 90-95% of cases, polio infection is subclinical and does not cause symptoms. In some cases there may be minor symptoms, such as sore throat, low grade fever, headache, fatigue and nausea followed by stiff neck, meningitis (brain inflammation) and temporary paralysis of an arm or leg but there is full recovery within a few weeks. In about 1-2% of cases, the polio virus infects the central nervous system and paralyzes the muscles of the arms and legs or muscles needed for breathing and swallowing, which can lead to permanent paralysis or death. Some adults, who appear to have fully recovered from polio as children, have developed post-polio syndrome (PPS) and experience weakness and pain in muscles and joints. Although it is believed that polio was eradicated in the US through mass vaccination, there is evidence to the contrary. Diagnostic criteria was changed shortly after the introduction of the vaccine, giving a less-than-honest perception of the effects that the vaccine had on paralytic polio. “In order to qualify for classification as paralytic poliomyelitis, the patient had to exhibit paralytic symptoms for at least 60 days after the onset of the disease. Prior to 1954, the patient had to exhibit paralytic symptoms for only 24 hours. Laboratory confirmation and the presence of residual paralysis were not required. After 1954, residual paralysis was determined 10 to 20 days and again 50 to 70 days after the onset of the disease. This change in definition meant that in 1955 we started reporting a new disease, namely, paralytic poliomyelitis with a longer lasting paralysis.” -Dr. Bernard Greenberg “Cocksackie virus and aseptic meningitis have been distinguished from paralytic poliomyelitis, whereas prior to 1954 large numbers of these cases undoubtedly were mislabeled as paralytic polio,” -Dr. Bernard Greenberg During this time, they also began using heavy amounts of DDT, a toxic pesticide. “Acute effects likely in humans due to low to moderate exposure may include nausea, diarrhea, increased liver enzyme activity, irritation (of the eyes, nose or throat), disturbed gait, malaise and excitability; at higher doses, tremors and convulsions are possible. While adults appear to tolerate moderate to high ingested doses of up to 280 mg/kg, a case of fatal poisoning was seen in a child who ingested one ounce of a 5% DDT:kerosene solution.”
Potential complications from polio include: Paralysis, death.
Potential adverse reactions from IPV vaccine include: Erythema, induration, pain, fever, irritability, sleepiness, fussiness, persistent crying, swelling, loss of appetite, vomiting, tenderness.
Influenza- According to the Nation Vaccine Information Center “Influenza, often referred to as ‘flu,’ is an infectious respiratory disease caused by type A or type B influenza viruses, which are present in the mucus membranes and secretions of the nose, throat and lungs. There are other viruses and bacteria associated with ‘flu-like’ symptoms and it is estimated that about 80 percent of all flu-like illness that occurs every year during the ‘flu season’ is not type A or type B influenza. Only lab confirmation can detect whether flu-like symptoms, including serious complications like pneumonia, are caused by influenza viruses or other types of viral or bacterial organisms.” Symptoms of influenza include fever, chills, headache, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, coughing, sneezing, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.
Flu shots are suggested for everyone 6 months old and up. Nasal flu vaccine is available for people 2-49 years old. A new flu shot has to be administered each year due to the rapid mutation of the influenza virus. Each year, the seasonal flu shot protects against 3-4 strains of influenza. These strains are selected based on which strains of flu virus The World Health Origination believes will be prevalent in the upcoming flu season. In a year when the vaccine is considered a “good match”, the CDC estimates that it is, at best, 50-60% effective in adults and older children, and even less so in the elderly. This previous flu season (2014-15), the vaccine was said to be only 18% effective.
“‘The vaccine-effectiveness percentage is just an average. The real effectiveness probably sits in a range between 6% and 29%’, says Brendan Flannery, PhD, of the Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.
“When the vaccine is a good match to the strains of flu making people sick, vaccine effectiveness has been as high as 60%.” -Brenda Goodman, MA
Not only was the flu shot a total flop this year, but the nasal flu mist given to children two and up was also a complete failure.
“Early numbers show that for the second flu season in a row, the FluMist nasal spray, aimed mainly at children, didn’t work at all for kids ages 2 through 8.” -Brenda Goodman, MA
Since the flu can only truly be diagnosed through a blood test, it is impossible to know just how many people each year die from it. The CDC essentially makes an educated guess based on the number of people who die from flu-like symptoms. According to their website, between 3,000 and 49,000 people die each year from influenza. According to an article in the BMJ titled Are US flu death figures more PR than science?
“US data on influenza deaths are a mess. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges a difference between flu death and flu associated death yet uses the terms interchangeably. Additionally, there are significant statistical incompatibilities between official estimates and national vital statistics data. Compounding these problems is a marketing of fear—a CDC communications strategy in which medical experts “predict dire outcomes” during flu seasons.”
“According to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), “influenza and pneumonia” took 62 034 lives in 2001—61 777 of which were attributed to pneumonia and 257 to flu, and in only 18 cases was flu virus positively identified. Between 1979 and 2002, NCHS data show an average 1348 flu deaths per year (range 257 to 3006).”
It makes you wonder, who is the CDC working for; us or the drug manufacturers? The deeper you dig on that subject, the more disappointed you will become. It doesn’t take a tin-foil-hat wearing conspiracy theorist to see how the government is putting the drug company’s profits above our health. Can you believe there are doctors and nurses who are being fired for refusing their flu shot?
Aside from being quite ineffective at preventing the flu, the vaccine itself has one of the highest number of adverse events reported to VAERS.
“As of November 2013, there have been more than 93,000 reports of reactions, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following influenza vaccinations made to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), including 1,080 related deaths, 8,888 hospitalizations, 1,801 related disabilities and over 1,700 cases of GBS. In 2013 the Federal Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) voted to add GBS to the Vaccine Injury Table within the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).” -NVIC
According to this study, the highest number of vaccine induced Guillian Barre Syndrome were from the flu shot. Guillain Barre Syndrome is a condition similar to paralytic polio. From the NIH website:
“Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The first symptoms of this disorder include varying degrees of weakness or tingling sensations in the legs. In many instances the symmetrical weakness and abnormal sensations spread to the arms and upper body. These symptoms can increase in intensity until certain muscles cannot be used at all and, when severe, the person is almost totally paralyzed. In these cases the disorder is life threatening – potentially interfering with breathing and, at times, with blood pressure or heart rate – and is considered a medical emergency. Such an individual is often put on a ventilator to assist with breathing and is watched closely for problems such as an abnormal heart beat, infections, blood clots, and high or low blood pressure. Most individuals, however, have good recovery from even the most severe cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, although some continue to have a certain degree of weakness.
“Guillain-Barré syndrome can affect anybody. It can strike at any age and both sexes are equally prone to the disorder. The syndrome is rare, however, afflicting only about one person in 100,000. Usually Guillain-Barré occurs a few days or weeks after the patient has had symptoms of a respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infection. Occasionally surgery will trigger the syndrome. In rare instances vaccinations may increase the risk of GBS.”
Potential complications of the flu include: Pneumonia (infection in the lungs).
Potential adverse events from the flu shot include: Tenderness, erythema, swelling, induration, ecchymosis, fever, vomiting, abnormal crying, drowsiness, loss of appetite, irritability, pain, pruritus, headache, malaise, myalgia.
Potential adverse events from nasal Flumist include: Runny nose or nasal congestion, fever, sore throat, wheezing, decreased appetite, irritability, lethargy, headache, muscle aches, chills, cough.
A note about the flu shot: While many of today’s vaccines are claimed to have had the mercury removed from them, the seasonal flu shot still contains 25mcgs of this toxic metal. more info in the following video clip.
MMR- The MMR shot is a three in one combo shot for measles, mumps and rubella.
Measles- The measles is a highly contagious virus that causes a rash all over your entire body. It is also known as rubeola or red measles. “The first symptoms of measles are like a bad cold—a high fever, a runny nose, sneezing, a sore throat, and a hacking cough. The lymph nodes in your neck may swell. You also may feel very tired and have diarrhea and red, sore eyes. As these symptoms start to go away, you will get red spots inside your mouth, followed by a rash all over your body.” -WebMD
People who acquire the measles naturally as a child have lifelong immunity, whereas a person who is vaccinated against the measles will only be immune for ten years at most. The term “herd immunity” was coined by a doctor named A W hedrich back in the the early 1900’s while observing wild measles outbreaks in Baltimore, MD. He observed that measles outbreaks only occurred when less than 65% of the community was immune to the measles. This theory was falsely applied to the measles vaccine. It was hypothesized that if 65% of the population was vaccinated against the measles, it would keep others from catching it as well. The problem with this theory, is that the measles vaccine does not provide protection for a certain percentage of recipients, and what protection it offers to the others, tends to be very short-lived. Since herd immunity wasn’t achieved after 65% of people had received the vaccine, the recommendation was raised to 85% of the population and then again to 95%. Still, we continue to see outbreaks of measles in highly vaccinated communities. China for example, has a vaccination coverage of 99% for the measles, and still does not have herd immunity.
“This outbreak demonstrates that transmission of measles can occur within a school population with a documented immunization level of 100%.” -CDC document.
Like all infectious diseases, the measles was far from the deadly plague that we have been lead to believe it is by the media. In fact, death from measles was nearly unheard of in the years leading up to the introduction of the vaccine.
It has been hypothesized that even with no vaccine, the measles would have been entirely eradicated on it’s own around the year 2000 because not only were measles deaths declining at a steady pace, but so were overall measles cases.
In the last ten years there have been zero deaths from the measles in the us, and prior to that, there was an average of one or two deaths per year. During the last ten years, there have been over a hundred reported cases of death from the measles vaccine. Often times the media uses the worldwide death rates of the measles to scare people into vaccinating. The reason people still die from the measles in developing countries is because they are often malnourished (namely, deficient in vitamin A) and do not have access to clean drinking water. In the US, prior to the vaccine, it was common practice for parents to have “measles parties” so that their kids would be sure to have it before adulthood, when there is a higher chance of complications. Once their kids contracted the measles, they were treated with plenty of fluids and cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is high in Vitamin A. To this day, children who contract the measles are treated with fluids and vitamin A because it has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of complications associated with the measles.
Potential complications of the measles include: Encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia (infection in
the lungs), death.
Mumps- Mumps is a contagious virus that starts with a fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, and loss of appetite, and is followed by swelling of salivary glands. Most people who get the mumps will fully recover and gain lifelong immunity, but there is an increased chance of complications for people who contract mumps after puberty. In very rare circumstances, it can lead to sterility in males.
Merck, the manufacturer of the MMR vaccine, is currently in hot water over allegedly falsifying data on the efficacy of the mumps portion of the MMR. According to this Huffington Post article “Merck’s misconduct was far-ranging: It ‘failed to disclose that its mumps vaccine was not as effective as Merck represented, (ii) used improper testing techniques, (iii) manipulated testing methodology, (iv) abandoned undesirable test results, (v) falsified test data, (vi) failed to adequately investigate and report the diminished efficacy of its mumps vaccine, (vii) falsely verified that each manufacturing lot of mumps vaccine would be as effective as identified in the labeling, (viii) falsely certified the accuracy of applications filed with the FDA, (ix) falsely certified compliance with the terms of the CDC purchase contract, (x) engaged in the fraud and concealment describe herein for the purpose of illegally monopolizing the U.S. market for mumps vaccine, (xi) mislabeled, misbranded, and falsely certified its mumps vaccine, and (xii) engaged in the other acts described herein to conceal the diminished efficacy of the vaccine the government was purchasing.'”
Potential complications of the mumps include: Meningitis (infection of the covering around the brain
and spinal cord) , encephalitis (brain swelling), inflammation
of testicles or ovaries, deafness.
Rubella- Rubella, also called German measles or three-day measles, is a contagious viral infection. Rubella is similar to the measles, but less contagious and severe. In 2004, the CDC declared that rubella had been eliminated in the US, but still encourages people to be vaccinated. According to Mayo Clinic “The signs and symptoms of rubella are often so mild they’re difficult to notice, especially in children. If signs and symptoms do occur, they generally appear between two and three weeks after exposure to the virus.” Symptoms include mild fever, runny/stuffy nose, swollen lymph nodes, red eyes and a rash. You may be wondering why we are encouraged to vaccinate for something seemingly so mild. The danger isn’t to the general public, but to pregnant women who are not immune. Catching rubella in childhood offers lifelong immunity. Pregnant women who have never had rubella, nor the vaccine are at risk of contracting the disease, which can lead to fetal death or serious birth defects, especially in the first trimester.
A note on the MMR vaccine: Along with whistleblowers coming forward regarding the alleged falsified data for the mumps portion of the MMR, another whistleblower has recently spoken out. William Thompson, Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a statement from his lawyer regarding information from a 2004 article that he and his co-authors submitted. In the statement, he alleges that a significant increase in the rate of autism in African American boys vaccinated with the MMR prior to 36 months of age.
“My name is William Thompson. I am a Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where I have worked since 1998.
“I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed.”
Varicella- Varicella, also known as chickenpox, is a contagious disease that causes an itchy blister-like rash over the entire body. Chickenpox isn’t usually serious, but it does require your child to be out of school for several weeks. After recovering from chickenpox, the virus lays dormant in your body and can reappear later in life in the form of shingles. Shingles is a very painful rash that affects only one side of the body usually in a long stripe of blisters and can lead to a condition known as Postherpetic Neuralgia. Postherpetic Neuralgia is a lingering nerve pain condition that can be very debilitating. Prior to the introduction of the varicella vaccine, shingles was commonly a disease in the elderly. This was due to waning immunity to chickenpox from a lack of exposure to the wild virus. Since the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine, there has been a rise in cases of shingles among young adults. It is because of the potential rise in shingles, that Great Britain does not vaccinate against chickenpox.
Potential complications of varicella include: Infected blisters, bleeding disorders, encephalitis (brain
swelling), pneumonia (infection in the lungs).
Potential adverse reactions to the varicella vaccine include: Headache, Varicella-like rash, fatigue, cough, myalgia, disturbed sleep, nausea, diarrhea, chills, eye complaints, loss of appetite, itching, vomiting, constipation, rashes, respiratory illness, cold/canker sore, seizures, secondary bacterial infections.
Hepatitis A- Hep A is a highly contagious viral infection that can cause inflammation that may interfere with liver function.
“You’re most likely to contract hepatitis A from contaminated food or water or from close contact with someone who’s infected. Mild cases of hepatitis A don’t require treatment, and most people who are infected recover completely with no permanent liver damage.
Practicing good hygiene, including washing hands frequently, is one of the best ways to protect against hepatitis A.” -Mayo Clinic.
Not everyone who develops Hepatitis A will have signs or symptoms. Some people may experience fatigue, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, low grade fever and yellowing of the skin.
Potential complications from hepatitis A include: Liver failure, arthralgia (joint pain), kidney, pancreatic, and blood disorders.
Potential adverse events from the hepatitis A vaccine include: Fever, erythema, drowsiness, loss of appetite, irritability, allergic reaction (very rare).
Meningoccocal- Meningococcal meningitis is a rare but serious infection. It causes the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord to become inflamed. Each year, approximately 1,000 people in the U.S. get meningococcal disease, which includes meningitis and septicemia (blood infection). About 10% of people have Neisseria meningitidis bacteria in the back of their nose and throat with no signs or symptoms of disease.
“Neisseria meningitidis bacteria are spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions like spit (e.g., by living in close quarters, kissing). Fortunately, these bacteria are not as contagious as germs that cause the common cold or the flu. The bacteria are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where a person with meningococcal disease has been.
“Sometimes Neisseria meningitidis bacteria spread to people who have had close or lengthy contact with a patient with meningococcal disease. People in the same household, roommates, or anyone with direct contact with a patient’s oral secretions, meaning saliva or spit, (such as a boyfriend or girlfriend) would be considered at increased risk of getting the infection.” -CDC
Potential complications of Meningococcal include: Brain damage, hearing loss, hydrocephalus, myocarditis, seizures, subdural effusion (buildup of fluid between the skull and brain).
This concludes part three of my Research Guide. I hope you enjoyed it and found it informative. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I wish you good luck and good health. Remember, there is no one more qualified to make decisions regarding your baby’s health than their parents. I urge you to do whatever you feel most comfortable with; all vaccines on time, some vaccines on a delayed schedule or no vaccines at all. Ultimately it is up to you.
In part 2 of our vaccine research, I will go over the American vaccine schedule and see how it compares to other countries. We will also go over death rates prior to vaccines, and discuss the effects the vaccines and other factors had on those death rates.
The United States is the most vaccinated country in the world. You would think that because of our high vaccination rates, we would also have the least disease outbreaks as well as the healthiest children, but that is simply not true. The Untied States has the highest infant mortality rates (IMR) out of all the 27 developed countries. A baby born in the US is almost three times more likely to die during their first year of life, than if they had been born in Finland or Japan.
Another interesting statistic to note, is that Mississippi (who does not allow non-medical exemptions to attend school) has the highest vaccine coverage in the US, and also the highest IMR. There are of course many factors to consider, but it does make you wonder. According to The Washington Post “The U.S. rate of 6.1 infant deaths per 1,000 live births masks considerable state-level variation. If Alabama were a country, its rate of 8.7 infant deaths per 1,000 would place it slightly behind Lebanon in the world rankings. Mississippi, with its 9.6 deaths, would be somewhere between Botswana and Bahrain.”
Notice where Finland and Japan fall on both graphs? If all of the vaccines on the US schedule are so vitally important, why aren’t the countries with the lowest number of vaccines suffering huge losses? According to one study from the National Institute of Health, the number of vaccines given by one year of age, directly relates to the number of infant deaths.
“It appears that at a certain stage in nations’ movement up the socio-economic scale—after the basic necessities for infant survival (proper nutrition, sanitation, clean water, and access to health care) have been met—a counter-intuitive relationship occurs between the number of vaccines given to infants and infant mortality rates: nations with higher (worse) infant mortality rates give their infants, on average, more vaccine doses. This positive correlation, derived from the data and demonstrated in Figures 1 and and2,2, elicits an important inquiry: are some infant deaths associated with over-vaccination?”
Are vaccines really conducive to better health? Were they even responsible for eradicating or reducing mortality from infectious disease? Let’s see what the data shows. One of the things I have noticed over the span of my vaccine research, is that all the graphs from “pro-vaccine” websites start around the 1940s-1950s. I believe this is very deceptive. When you zoom in on such a small window of data, it shows a relatively steep decline in deaths after a vaccine is introduced. But if you zoom out on that data, to show mortality rates starting in the late 1800s-early 1900s, you’ll notice a drastic decline of mortality from infectious diseases prior to the introduction of the vaccines. Case and point:
Pretty shady, right? But that’s not all. It turns out that ALL infectious diseases have a similar decline prior to the vaccine being introduced. Including the ones that no vaccine was ever administered for, like Scarlet Fever.
So, If vaccines aren’t really responsible for the decline in disease, then what was? The simple answer: Better sanitation and nutrition. Please take the time to watch this 5 minute video.
Gone are the days of throwing your chamber pot out into the street where children play. Now we bathe regularly, wash our hands after we use the restroom and have access to clean water anywhere we are in the country. The only places where there are still outbreaks of polio in the world, are places where people are still lacking in those necessities. They often bathe in the same water they drink. They don’t have access to a proper toilet. They are malnourished. And, above all, they are still using the oral polio vaccine in these countries. The oral polio vaccine is illegal to use in the US because it sheds in the feces of the recently vaccinated and was shown to be a major contributing factor in the spread of polio here in the US. Why do these developing countries not deserve the same standards we have here in America? Why are we vaccinating these poor malnourished babies with a vaccine that we know will contaminate their drinking water? A quote from Patricia Doyle, PhD “No one realizes that at the same time polio cases began to wane, the first world was improving sewage and water systems. I would liken the reduction in cases to improved potent water supplies and to improved sewage treatment. I remember in the early 1950’s the city of Yonkers, NY came to the suburb of Yonkers, Sherwood Park, east yonkers and actually required us to hook up to the sewer system. At that time our home was using a cess pool and well water. Many homes, mostly older, in my area used the cess pool and well water systems.
“Polio is actually spread via feces/oral route. I would wager that President Roosevelt got his polio swimming in the Hudson river which is where many of my neighbors got their polio. I remember seeing signs which read “No Swimming due to Polio” in Alpine NJ along beaches on the Hudson River. The Hudson was notorious for having raw sewage enter it.
“If polio vaccine is the sole reason for ending the spread of polio in the first world, then why hasn’t polio ended in India, the Congo and other countries? There have been countless polio vaccine campaigns year after year in Africa, India etc yet we keep hearing about outbreaks, currently, India and Africa have polio outbreaks. The answer is not vaccine but sanitation. In countries that have raw sewage entering the rivers, lakes etc where people use these same waterways for drinking and cooking the disease will never die away. The money spent on vaccine is only a fraction of what it would cost to put in decent sanitation which would include sewers and sewage treatment along with providing potable safe drinking water in the third world, so, consequently, the pharma industry with a lot to lose talks about the reduction of polio via vaccine. Ergo, the myth is perpetrated.”
What about smallpox? Smallpox was was the original vaccine, and has been hailed over the years as being a roaring success at vanquishing the disease. Again, historically, we find this to be untrue. And again, we find that the vaccine actually aided in the spread of the disease, as well as caused many deaths in and of itself. When you consider that the original smallpox vaccination consisted of cutting open a vein, and then smearing infected pus from a smallpox blister into the wound, Gandhi couldn’t have said this better:
More information on the history of the smallpox vaccine here:
Let’s backtrack a bit. Why does the US have the highest number of vaccines? This is a very easy question to answer: Why wouldn’t it? In 1986 a federal law was passed, protecting the drug manufacturers from being sued by the families of vaccine injured or killed children. The drug companies have zero liability. If your child is injured or killed by a vaccine, you have to petition a “vaccine court” and prove that the vaccine, in fact, caused your child’s health condition. The vaccine court isn’t really a court. There is no jury. You go through a lengthy process, and jump through hoops and hope that they will rule in your favor. Since this law was passed, more than $3 billion has been paid out to these families (including families of autistic children [see Hannah Poling]). Yet we hear over and over again “Vaccines are safe and effective.” The Supreme Court classifies vaccines as an “unavoidably unsafe” product. They are not safe for every person.
Not surprisingly, since the drug companies cannot be held liable for injuring your child or killing them, the vaccine schedule has more than tripled since 1986. Meanwhile, the vaccine industry has raked in billions of dollars each year. They get all the profit, with none of the accountability.
Our children are not being vaccinated on the same schedule that we were as children. Not by a long shot. When I was a kid, I got around 10-12 shots and that was considered safe enough to go to school. Now, if a child was vaccinated on that schedule, they would be considered a threat to public health. They would not be part of “the herd.” Why was this schedule adequate thirty years ago, but now we would have to sign an exemption to get our kids into school if they only get ten shots? Are they all necessary? Does a baby need to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B on it’s first day of life? Hepatitis B is only spread through unprotected sex and intravenous drug use. How many junkie baby hookers do you know? By the time these children are old enough to engage in those sort of risky behaviors, the vaccine would have long since worn off.
That brings us to our final lessons in this installment: Herd Immunity and Waning Vaccine Immunity. It used to be thought that if you got a vaccine, that you would have lifelong protection. Over time that was proven to be untrue, thus the increase in vaccine boosters. Unfortunately, that is also showing to be ineffective at providing lifelong protection. Herd Immunity was discovered by A W Hedrich in the early 1900s. According to Immunologist Tetyana Obukhanych, Ph.D.
“Early research performed by A.W. Hedrich has been deemed instrumental to the idea that herd immunity is readily attainable. Dr. Hedrich analyzed measles outbreaks occurring in Baltimore, MD every 2-3 years between 1900 and 1931. He found that just prior to a major outbreak in that city, the proportion of susceptible children under the age of 15 was about 45-50%. At the end of any outbreak, the proportion of still susceptible children never fell below 32%. Nevertheless, 95-97% of children experienced measles before they reached the age of 15.[iii] For this reason adults were immune from measles.
“The finding that a rather large number of susceptible children routinely escaped measles during any particular outbreak gave optimism to the United States Public Health Service that herd immunity works at a threshold, which is considerably less than 100%. An official prediction was made that measles would be swiftly eradicated in the USA as early as 1967 by establishing and maintaining this readily attainable threshold via mass vaccination, which already started in 1963. This prediction failed to materialize and measles epidemics in the U.S. did not stop in 1967. The concept that vaccine-based herd immunity is readily attainable for the purposes of rapid disease eradication appeared to be invalid.”
Not only is herd immunity based on natural immunity (which lasts a lifetime), but it has never been proven to be attainable through vaccination. According to Neurosurgeon, Dr. Russell Blaylock “That vaccine-induced herd immunity is mostly myth can be proven quite simply. When I was in medical school, we were taught that all of the childhood vaccines lasted a lifetime. This thinking existed for over 70 years. It was not until relatively recently that it was discovered that most of these vaccines lost their effectiveness 2 to 10 years after being given. What this means is that at least half the population, that is the baby boomers, have had no vaccine-induced immunity against any of these diseases for which they had been vaccinated very early in life. In essence, at least 50% or more of the population was unprotected for decades.”
More information on natural vs vaccine induced immunity here (It’s long, but so worth it):
Some final thoughts to consider:
– Vaccine induced immunity is temporary, at best. Lasting between 2-10 years.
-Natural immunity lasts a lifetime.
-Both vaccines and infectious disease carry the risk of injury or death, which may be greater for some than others.
-Historically, it would appear that vaccines had little to nothing to do with the decline of death rates from infectious disease. Rather, sanitation, nutrition and clean drinking water are responsible for lower death rates.
-Vaccines have been known to spread the disease they were supposed to prevent.
This concludes this installment of our vaccine research. I hope you learned a lot. In the next (and probably final) installment we will learn the risks associated with infectious disease and the potential adverse reactions that can be caused by vaccines and then weigh the risks of both. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to share!
I’m about to bestow unto you what so many pre-internet parents of decades past wish they had had access to before making the decision to vaccinate their kids. Even now, with all the information at our fingertips, it can be quite the daunting task to find good, credible sources that aren’t riddled with scare tactics and propaganda. You get that on either side of the vaccine debate, but I’m going to do my best not to bog you down with all that bullshit.
As you may or may not know, I do not vaccinate my kids. With that said, I’m a huge supporter of all parents, no matter what path they choose in life. I’m really not a fan of the whole “Mommy Wars” thing. We should all try to educate, but also respect. We all have the same goal: to do what’s best for our kids. The reason I don’t vaccinate my kids (well, there’s lots of reasons) but the MAIN reason I don’t vax them, is because my husband and his mother both have vaccine injuries, and that tends to run in families. Both of them were injured later in life by a single vaccine (flu shot for my MIL, Hep B for my husband) which caused them to develop an autoimmune disease. When you think of autoimmune disease, you may think MS, Parkinson and the like, but what a lot of people don’t know is that autoimmune disease is much more common than that. Conditions like asthma, allergies, eczema, chronic sinusitis and food allergies are all autoimmune diseases, and they are all on the rise. People who have a history of these conditions are at a much higher risk of having an adverse event after vaccination. See Predicting Post-Vaccination Autoimmunity: Who Might Be At Risk?
With that said, the first step that every parent should take when considering whether or not to vaccinate, is to read the package inserts. These are the product inserts that contain the information for each vaccine. This is not the same thing as the sheet of paper that the doctor gives you. All of the inserts are pretty similar, so I suggest choosing a minimum of four vaccines from the current schedule and reading them all the way through, making sure to read the ingredients, the contraindications and the adverse events. Be sure not to miss the rare adverse events listed towards the bottom.
Now let us discuss. You may have noticed a lot of really toxic and off-putting ingredients in the package inserts. Things like Aluminum, Mercury (thimerosal), formaldehyde, neomycin, monosodium glutamate (MSG), MRC-5 DNA and cellular protein (aborted human fetal lung fibroblast cells), just to name a few. Let’s discuss each one a little further.
Aluminum– Aluminum is put into vaccines as an adjuvant. An adjuvant is an ingredient of a vaccine that helps create a stronger immune response in the patient’s body. It’s job is to rile up the immune system. Aluminum is a heavy metal that, in high enough quantities, can cause serious health problems. Here is what MedScape had to say:
“All metals can cause disease through excess. In addition, essential metals can affect the human body in the case of deficiency or imbalance.Malabsorption through diarrheal states can result in essential metal and trace element deficiencies. Toxic effects are dependent upon the amount of metal ingested, entry rate, tissue distribution, concentration achieved, and excretion rate. Mechanisms of toxicity include inhibition of enzyme activity and protein synthesis, alterations in nucleic acid function, and changes in cell membrane permeability.
“Approximately 95% of an aluminum load becomes bound to transferrin and albumin intravascularly and is then eliminated renally. In healthy subjects, only 0.3% of orally administered aluminum is absorbed via the GI tract, and the kidneys effectively eliminate aluminum from the human body. Only when the GI barrier is bypassed, such as by intravenous infusion or in the presence of advanced renal dysfunction, does aluminum have the potential to accumulate. As an example, with intravenously infused aluminum, 40% is retained in adults and up to 75% is retained in neonates.”
The signs and symptoms of aluminum toxicity are usually nonspecific. Typical presentations may include proximal muscle weakness, bone pain, multiple nonhealing fractures, acute or subacute alteration in mental status, and premature osteoporosis. These patients almost always have some degree of renal disease. Most patients are on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.
The CDC says “Aluminum salts, such as aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, and aluminum potassium sulfate have been used safely in vaccines for more than 70 years. Aluminum salts were initially used in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s with diphtheria and tetanus vaccines after it was found that this addition strengthened the body’s immune response to these vaccines.”
According to this Pub Med article “Aluminum is an experimentally demonstrated neurotoxin and the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant. Despite almost 90 years of widespread use of aluminum adjuvants, medical science’s understanding about their mechanisms of action is still remarkably poor. There is also a concerning scarcity of data on toxicology and pharmacokinetics of these compounds. In spite of this, the notion that aluminum in vaccines is safe appears to be widely accepted. Experimental research, however, clearly shows that aluminum adjuvants have a potential to induce serious immunological disorders in humans. In particular, aluminum in adjuvant form carries a risk for autoimmunity, long-term brain inflammation and associated neurological complications and may thus have profound and widespread adverse health consequences. In our opinion, the possibility that vaccine benefits may have been overrated and the risk of potential adverse effects underestimated, has not been rigorously evaluated in the medical and scientific community. We hope that the present paper will provide a framework for a much needed and long overdue assessment of this highly contentious medical issue.”
According to the FDA “Aluminum may reach toxic levels with prolonged parenteral (injected) administration if kidney function is impaired. Premature neonates are particularly at risk because their kidneys are immature, and they require large amounts of calcium and phosphorous solutions, which contain aluminum. Research indicates that patients with impaired kidney function, including premature neonates, who receive parenteral levels of aluminum at greater than 4 to 5mcg/kg/day accumulate aluminum at levels associated with central nervous system and bone toxicity. Tissue loading may occur at even lower rates of administration.”
Basically, The CDC says it’s perfectly safe, but cites no safety studies, and the FDA says that a healthy 8lb newborn baby shouldn’t receive anymore than 4-5mcg/kg/day, which equals 18.16mcg in one day. On the first day of life, newborn babies are given the Hep B vaccine (the one that injured my husband when he was 14). According to RXlist.com, the Hep B vaccine contains 25mg of aluminum, which is equal to 2500mcg. I’m not sure how this is legal, but that is definitely a toxic dose. Referring back to the vaccine schedule, the Hep B vaccine is given on the first day of life, at 2 months and again at 6 months. At their 6 month appointment, they may also be given shots for Rotavirus, DTaP (which is a three in one shot for Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis), Hib, PCV, IPV and a flu shot. Of these shots, the DTap, the Hib and PCV may also contain aluminum. Here is Dr. Paul Thomas on this subject:
Mercury(thimerosal)– Thimerosal, which is approximately 50% mercury by weight, has been one of the most widely used preservatives in vaccines. It is metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate. Ethylmercury is an organomercurial that should be distinguished from methylmercury, a related substance that has been the focus of considerable study. You may have heard that mercury has been removed from vaccines. And this may or may not be the truth. Like so many things that the CDC says, this is at best a half-truth. One thing is for sure, the flu shot still contains 25mcg of ethylmercury. As well as any multi-dose vaccine vials, to prevent contamination. Thimerosal’s main use is as an antiseptic and antifungal agent. Here are a few short video clips from the documentary Trace Amounts regarding mercury.
People are being told that mercury was “phased out” to err on the side of caution. This is not true. Several years back, there was the Simpsonwood Hearing, which was a secret gathering of CDC officials, scientists and vaccine manufacturers to discuss the possible link between mercury and autism. The transcripts are available online, but it is very lengthy. I will link it anyways. During this hearing, they discussed the available science regarding ethylmercury (the type in vaccines) and discovered that there were almost no safety studies done. A lot of standards for ethylmercury are based on studies done on methylmercury, which is quite different. The conclusions that they drew were that there was a sizable gap in safety studies, but based on the standards of methylmercury, children at that time were receiving over 400 times the safe limits of mercury all together. Then, a large portion of this hearing was dedicated to how they would be able to keep this information from the American public. One of the attendees of the hearing was even quoted in the transcripts as saying “I won’t be getting my grandson vaccinated until this is all worked out.” Here is RFK Jr. speaking about it (skip ahead one minute).
Formaldehyde– According to the FDA “Formaldehyde has a long history of safe use in the manufacture of certain viral and bacterial vaccines. It is used to inactivate viruses so that they don’t cause disease (e.g., polio virus used to make polio vaccine) and to detoxify bacterial toxins, such as the toxin used to make diphtheria vaccine. Formaldehyde is diluted during the vaccine manufacturing process, but residual quantities of formaldehyde may be found in some current vaccines. The amount of formaldehyde present in some vaccines is so small compared to the concentration that occurs naturally in the body that it does not pose a safety concern.” With that said, Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. And while a pear may contain more formaldehyde than a vaccine, keep in mind that there is a huge difference in injecting a toxin and ingesting a toxin. When you ingest something, it has to go through your mucosal immune system. From there, it is passed through your digestive tract, where it is filtered by you liver and kidneys. When a toxin is injected, it completely bypasses all of your body’s natural filtration. When you inject heavy metals, they tend to accumulate in the nervous system and brain.
Neomycin– According to Medscape “Neomycin is an antibiotic that interferes with bacterial protein synthesis by binding primarily to the 30S subunit of bacterial ribosomes. Many vaccines contain trace amounts of neomycin to prevent bacterial contamination during the manufacturing process.
According to the NACDG, neomycin is the third most prevalent allergen that often manifests as a delayed-type contact dermatitis.
There is little reason to believe that high sensitization rates to neomycin are attributable to vaccines. To date, no cases of local or generalized eczematous reactions to neomycin-containing vaccines have been reported. One case of anaphylaxis has been attributed to neomycin in a vaccine although the causal relationship is uncertain.”
According to the package insert for oral Neomycin “Patients with a history of hypersensitivity or serious toxic reaction to other aminoglycosides may have a cross-sensitivity to neomycin.”
“Additional manifestations of neurotoxicity may include numbness, skin tingling, muscle twitching and convulsions.
“The risk of hearing loss continues after drug withdrawal.
“Aminoglycosides can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Aminoglycoside antibiotics cross the placenta and there have been several reports of total irreversible bilateral congenital deafness in children whose mothers received streptomycin during pregnancy. Although serious side effects to fetus or newborn have not been reported in the treatment of pregnant women with other aminoglycosides, the potential for harm exists. Animal reproduction studies of neomycin have not been conducted. If neomycin is used during pregnancy, or if the patient becomes pregnant while taking this drug, the patient should be apprised of the potential hazard to the fetus.”
“Neomycin is quickly and almost totally absorbed from body surfaces (except the urinary bladder) after local irrigation and when applied topically in association with surgical procedures. Delayed-onset irreversible deafness, renal failure and death due to neuromuscular blockade (regardless of the status of renal function) have been reported following irrigation of both small and large surgical fields with minute quantities of neomycin.”
“Before administering the drug, patients or members of their families should be informed of possible toxic effects on the eighth nerve. The possibility of acute toxicity increases in premature infants and neonates.”
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)– MSG is used as a stabilizer in a few vaccines to help the vaccine remain unchanged when the vaccine is exposed to heat, light, acidity, or humidity. According to this Pubmed study, “Higher amounts of individual MSG consumption are associated with the risk of having the metabolic syndrome and being overweight independent of other major determinants.”
MSG is what’s known as an excitotoxin. Excitotoxins are a class of chemicals (usually amino acids) that overstimulate neuron receptors. Neuron receptors allow brain cells to communicate with each other, but when they’re exposed to excitotoxins, they fire impulses at such a rapid rate that they become exhausted. More about excitotoxins here:
WI-38 and MRC-5 DNA and cellular protein (aborted human fetal lung fibroblast cells)– According to catholiceducation.org “In the United States, 10 different vaccines for chicken pox, hepatitis A, polio, rabies, and rubella are cultured on aborted tissue from two fetal cell lines known as WI-38 and MRC-5. These vaccines are Varivax (chicken pox), Havrix (hep-A), Vaqta (hep-A), Twinrix (hep-A/hep-B), Poliovax (polio), Imovax (rabies), Meruvax II (rubella), MR-VAX (measles/rubella), Biavax II (mumps/rubella), and MMR II (measles/mumps/rubella). Alternative, pro-life vaccines are available in this country for all but the chicken pox, hepatitis A, and rubella inoculations.
“The WI-38 ‘human-diploid’ cell culture was developed in July 1962 from a ‘therapeutically aborted’ three-month-old girl. ‘WI’ is an acronym used by the Wistar Institute, an aggressive proponent of embryonic stem cell research. The August 1969 issue of the American Journal of Diseases of Children explains WI-38 was taken from a voluntary abortion performed in Sweden: ‘This fetus was chosen by Dr. Sven Gard, specifically for this purpose [use as a vaccine culture]. Both parents are known, and unfortunately for the story, they are married to each other, still alive and well, and living in Stockholm, presumably. The abortion was done because they felt they had too many children.’
“MRC-5 is derived from the lung tissue of a 14-week-old baby boy. MRC stands for Medical Research Council, a research center funded by British taxpayers. According to Coriell Cell Repositories, “The MRC-5 cell line was developed in September 1966 from lung tissue taken from a 14-week fetus aborted for psychiatric reasons from a 27-year-old physically healthy woman.”
“Development of the rubella vaccine actually involved not one, but 28 abortions. Twenty-seven abortions were performed to isolate the virus and one abortion (WI-38) to culture the vaccine. The vaccine’s strain is called RA 27/3 (R=Rubella, A=Abortus, 27=27th fetus tested, 3=3rd tissue explanted). Rubella, or “German measles,” is usually a harmless childhood disease. Ironically, rubella is most dangerous for preborn infants, who have a 20 to 25 percent chance of contracting congenital rubella syndrome if their mothers catch rubella during the first trimester. Scientists at the Wistar Institute took advantage of the 1964-65 rubella epidemic to legally acquire fetal tissue from at least 27 so-called therapeutic abortions conducted on women at risk for rubella. Since the live virus was not detected until the 27th abortion, the preceding 26 abortions were apparently performed on perfectly healthy babies. By contrast, Japanese researchers obtained a live virus by swabbing the throat of an infected child.”
More information on the religious implications of aborted fetal cells here:
Feeling overwhelmed yet? Me too. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Since we are on the topic of ingredients, we should also probably cover food allergies. According to the website smartvax.com, the words “allergy” and “anaphylaxis” were created to describe vaccine injury.
“The terms ‘allergy’ and ‘anaphylaxis’ were created following a strange illness that affected up to 50% of vaccinated children at the close of the 1800s. This illness was simply called ‘serum sickness’ and followed the first mass administration of diphtheria anti-toxin sera. Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet studied the illness at length and observed that the symptoms of this sickness resembled those in people who were hypersensitive to pollens and bee stings. To better describe this ‘altered reactivity’ to the sera he created the Latin derived word allergy in 1906.
“In 1901, another doctor Charles Richet had stumbled on the same phenomenon during attempts to vaccinate dogs to a jellyfish poison. He began by injecting dogs with trace amounts of the poison to create a level of tolerance to it. However, when he injected the animals a second time, he provoked a violent reaction that quickly killed the dogs. For this reaction he used a Latin term ana-phylaxis or anti-protection, because the outcome was the opposite of the protection that the vaccine was supposed to provide.
“Richet experimented further. He quickly discovered that any protein including those from foods injected into the bloodstream results in sensitization and anaphylaxis on subsequent exposure to the food. Richet injected minute quantities of milk and meat proteins into cats, rabbits and horses and showed that anaphylaxis is a universal immune system defense.
“Prior to the advent of vaccination, mass allergy such as serum sickness was unknown. At the dawn of the 20th century, doctors identified the problem of allergy as an outcome of mass vaccination – on which government relied. The dilemma of serum-induced allergy was summarized by allergist Warren Vaughan in 1941:
“‘Serum disease, as this is called, is a man-made malady. If we had no curative serums and if there were no such thing as a hypodermic syringe with which to introduce the material under the skin, there would be no serum disease. Instead multitudes would still be dying from diphtheria and lockjaw … Thus, we find ourselves in somewhat of a dilemma, faced with the necessity for choosing the lesser of two potential evils.’ Warren Vaughan, Strange Malady (1941)
“As vaccine ingredients became better refined to reduce the sensitizing proteins, prevalence of serum sickness decreased. With the 20th century expansion of vaccination programs and schedules to include food proteins and adjuvants, however, other unforeseen problems arose to take its place. One of these was a rise in food allergy.” More info on the origins of allergy and anaphylaxis here:
In this document from The World Health Organization, they discuss the potential for an adjuvant to cause hypersensitivity to its own ingredients (oil and water emulsion adjuvants commonly use peanut oil [i.e. peanut allergy]) or hypersensitivity to ones own tissues (i.e. Autoimmunity). (See sections 2.1.2, 7.1 and 7.2)
This concludes Part 1 of your vaccine research. Thank you for reading and learning! In the next installment, we will discuss, among other things, the controversial American vaccine schedule.
Today the girls and I will drive with my husband’s parents to our state capitol to protest SB 442. If this bill passes, it will eliminate all non-medical vaccine exemptions in Oregon. Only two other states allow only non-medical exemptions; West Virginia and Mississippi. Personally, (and no disrespect to these states) I would never want to model the health of our people after those two states. Mississippi has the highest vaccine coverage among kindergartners in the country, and the highest infant mortality rate to go with it. Coincidentally, (or not) The United States is the most vaccinated country in the world, and has one of the highest infant mortality rates, as well. Correlation doesn’t equal causation? I’ll let you decide. I mean, obviously there are other factors at play here, but it does seem a little weird that Finland and Japan have the lowest infant mortality rates and give 11 to 12 vaccines to Americas 36 vaccines by age 6.
The point I’m trying to make is, wouldn’t you like to have the power to look at all the data and decide for yourself what is necessary for your children? Who knows them better than you? Those decisions should be between you and your doctor. (But ultimately you, since you have to live with the consequences.) The government is trying to tell you what is best for your kid, and when has our government gotten anything right in recent times? Not only will this be taking away our power as parents to decline a medical procedure that carries the risk of injury and death, but it also takes away the power of the doctors to treat you on a patient-by-patient basis. Believe it or not, but not all doctors agree with the CDC’s bloated, aggressive vaccine schedule.
Not only does this violate the religious beliefs of many people, it also violates the Nuremberg Code, which was put into place after the atrocious forced medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors.
“The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.
This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved, as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision.”
No one should be in support of forced vaccination. We have a broken system in place, as it is. Did you know that a parent cannot sue the drug companies if a vaccine injures or kills their child? Since 1986, the drug companies have been protected by the government (whom I was under the impression works for us.) so they cannot be held liable, even for a faulty product. When this law was enacted in 1986, a tax was added to every dose of vaccine, and that tax goes towards a government fund. When someone is injured or killed by a vaccine, their family has to petition the court to review their case, and after a process that can take years, they may or may not receive a settlement. Let me give this to you strait: Our tax dollars are paying for these children’s injuries and deaths, while the billion dollar pharmaceutical companies get to rake in the profits. They have zero accountability. So, it’s really no big surprise, then, that the vaccine schedule has more than tripled since that time. Why wouldn’t it have? As last month, over $3 billion has been paid out to the families of vaccine injured and killed children.
Right now, there are over 200 new vaccines in development. If you are okay with today’s vaccine schedule, will you be okay with it in another thirty years? What if it triples again? Who owns your body? Who owns your child’s body? Who stands to lose the most if your child is damaged by a vaccine? Will you be okay with vaccinating your other children, if your first child dies from a vaccine reaction? If we allow laws like SB442 to pass, we will be forcing Jews to inject themselves with pork, Hindus to inject themselves with beef and Christians to inject themselves with aborted human fetal cells. Now is the time to stand up for our rights; our rights to pick and choose what we wish to put inside our bodies. A very fundamental right, if you ask me. Learn more about vaccines ingredients and side effects, by reading the vaccine package inserts.
It used to be thought that if you got a vaccine, you had lifelong immunity. Eventually it became more and more evident that this was not true, which is why everyone is required to get so many booster shots, now. Unfortunately, this is also proving to be ineffective at providing lifelong immunity. When I was a kid, I got around ten vaccines and that was considered adequate to go to school and be around my classmates. Now, if a child is vaccinated on that same schedule, he is considered a danger to public health. How does that make any sense? I can remember having the chickenpox as a kid, because this was on the heels of that vaccine being introduced. Other than that, I don’t recall knowing anyone falling down and dying from VPDs (vaccine preventable diseases). These days, children are required to get between 36-38 shots by age six. To me, this is horrible. How many needles are we going to be required to stick into our babies in another thirty years in the name of disease prevention? Could it be that this is a losing battle?
According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, “In the original description of herd immunity, the protection to the population at large occurred only if people contracted the infections naturally. The reason for this is that naturally-acquired immunity lasts for a lifetime. The vaccine proponents quickly latched onto this concept and applied it to vaccine-induced immunity. But, there was one major problem – vaccine-induced immunity lasted for only a relatively short period, from 2 to 10 years at most, and then this applies only to humoral immunity. This is why they began, silently, to suggest boosters for most vaccines, even the common childhood infections such as chickenpox, measles, mumps, and rubella.”
I will link more info on the history of herd immunity at the bottom. I also plan on doing a blog post dedicated to just that issue.
Back to vaccine-induced immunity…. Do you see a problem there? Vaccines only provide 2-10 years of protection. Meaning, if you haven’t been vaccinated in the last 10 years, you are no longer immune to anything. In other words, more than HALF the population of America is not immune. Why aren’t people dropping like flies? What a lot of people don’t know, is that all of the VPDs were on their way to eradication, all on their own BEFORE vaccines.
What was the cause of these diseases declining, if not for vaccines, then? For info on that, please watch this short video.
Now that we have established how inadequate vaccine induce immunity is, lets talk about all the wonderful benefits of natural immunity. Unlike vaccine induced immunity, which is temporary and carries the risk of injury or death, natural immunity is almost always lifelong. And, while naturally acquiring these infectious diseases also carries the risk of injury and death, it is very rare in the United States. Did you know that prior to vaccination, 95% of polio cases were completely asymptomatic? meaning, that 95% of people who tested positive for polio antibodies, had no recollection of ever having it. Only 0.5-2% of polio resulted in paralysis, and of those cases, half would fully recover. Obviously no one wants their child to be paralyzed by polio, but wouldn’t it make more sense to figure out why some people are more susceptible to paralysis, when 95% are asymptomatic? Doesn’t it seem a little extreme to medicate every single baby born to protect such a small percentage? Especially knowing that vaccines can, among other things, cause a condition known as Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is a condition that causes paralysis eerily similar to paralytic polio. According to one study, there were 1000 cases of GBS reported after vaccination in the United States between 1990 and 2005.
Now let’s talk about measles. Prior to vaccination, there were only a few hundred deaths from measles each year in the US. We now know that people who are vitamin A deficient, are more likely to die or develop serious side effects. This is why cod liver oil was a popular treatment for the measles prior to the vaccine being introduced. Cod liver oil is high in vitamin A.
Nowadays, the measles is about as far from fatal as you can get. No one has died from the measles in the US in about a decade, and before that, we averaged about one to two deaths a year. To put that into perspective, NSAID pain relievers such as ibuprofen cause 103,000 hospitalizations and 11,000 deaths a year. More people die from falling out of bed, getting stung by insects and receiving the MMR vaccine, than from the measles. How crazy is that? We’re at the point were the prevention of the disease causes more deaths than the disease itself. In the last ten years, there have been 0 deaths from the measles, but 108 deaths from the vaccine. This reason alone is why we as parents need to retain our right to pick and choose which vaccines we want our children to receive, based on our own individual risks. One may argue that if we stop vaccinating, eventually the deaths from the measles will once again outweigh the deaths from MMR. To that, I would have to point out that our advancement in modern medicine has come a very long way since the pre-vaccine era. (yes, I know. It’s shocking that someone who doesn’t vaccinate their own children would be in support of modern medicine! Kinda puts a damper on that whole anti-science stigma, huh? But, yes. We hippies are big fans of modern medicine, we just tend to be more cautious and only use it when necessary.)
One of the other advantages natural immunity has over vaccine acquired immunity, is that it can be passed on to our babies through breast milk. This cannot be achieved through vaccination. A baby gets it immune system from it’s mother. So, as long as you are breast feeding, you are passing on antibodies to your baby that will help prevent them from catching these infectious diseases while they are most vulnerable. Something that cannot be said for vaccines. While pro-vaxxers are constantly repeating “herd immunity, because herd immunity!!” They have no idea that not only are most people not immune anymore, but that herd immunity can only be achieved through catching the natural disease.
“Early research performed by A.W. Hedrich has been deemed instrumental to the idea that herd immunity is readily attainable. Dr. Hedrich analyzed measles outbreaks occurring in Baltimore, MD every 2-3 years between 1900 and 1931. He found that just prior to a major outbreak in that city, the proportion of susceptible children under the age of 15 was about 45-50%. At the end of any outbreak, the proportion of still susceptible children never fell below 32%. Nevertheless, 95-97% of children experienced measles before they reached the age of 15. For this reason adults were immune from measles.
“The finding that a rather large number of susceptible children routinely escaped measles during any particular outbreak gave optimism to the United States Public Health Service that herd immunity works at a threshold, which is considerably less than 100%. An official prediction was made that measles would be swiftly eradicated in the USA as early as 1967 by establishing and maintaining this readily attainable threshold via mass vaccination, which already started in 1963. This prediction failed to materialize and measles epidemics in the U.S. did not stop in 1967. The concept that vaccine-based herd immunity is readily attainable for the purposes of rapid disease eradication appeared to be invalid.”
Basically this means that the only people benefiting from vaccines are school-aged children, (the age group most likely to fully recover from an infectious disease) and leaves the most vulnerable age groups, babies and the elderly, at the highest risk. If we were all allowed to contract these diseases as children, we would not only be immune for life, but babies would be protected through breast feeding. Isn’t nature fantastic?
Recent studies have also shown that there are other benefits to contracting these diseases naturally. It has been shown that having the measles as a child, reduces your risk of developing certain kinds of cancer later in life.
“When infectious diseases of childhood are not mismanaged by the administration of antibiotics, or by suppressing fever, the diseases prime and mature the immune system and also represent developmental milestones.
Having measles not only results in life-long specific immunity to measles, but also in life-long non-specific immunity to degenerative diseases of bone and cartilage, sebaceous skin diseases, immunoreactive diseases and certain tumours as demonstrated by Ronne (1985).”
This is also true of contracting the mumps. Mumps has been shown to prevent ovarian cancer.
“Epidemiologic studies found childhood mumps might protect against ovarian cancer. To explain this association, we investigated whether mumps might engender immunity to ovarian cancer through antibodies against the cancer-associated antigen MUC1 abnormally expressed in the inflamed parotid gland.”
“Mumps parotitis may lead to expression and immune recognition of a tumor-associated form of MUC1 and create effective immune surveillance of ovarian cancer cells that express this form of MUC1.”
We were on our annual family camping trip, when Ben was walking back from the bathrooms and all of a sudden he couldn’t breath. He tried to call for help, but no one could hear him. He managed to make it back to our campsite, where we scrambled to get his nebulizer up and running. He spent the next few hours doing treatment after treatment, but couldn’t stop his asthma attack from coming back each time his treatment ended. We raced to the ER while he was still on his nebulizer. When we got there, we had a $500 copay. After treating him, the doctor told us to go home immediately. Five minutes down the road on our way home, my Cyborg of a husband, who never shows any sort of extreme emotion, curls up in the fetal position and starts shaking uncontrollably from a full-blown panic attack. He feared for his life. His mother cut her camping trip short, as well, just so she could drive us 6 hours through the night to our house. It took him about a month to recover from just this one asthma attack. Asthma that he got from the hepatitis B shot when he was in his early teens. He was neither sexually active nor doing intravenous drugs when he received the shot, and was in no way at risk of getting hep b. His mother is also vaccine injured. I’ve watched him panic, suffocate and lose consciousness on several occasions. I’ve had many sleepless nights, listening to him struggle to breathe while sucking down rescue inhalers, just from a chest cold. Both Ben and his mom were injured by a single vaccine administered later in life. It isn’t a matter of spacing them out for us. It’s not “too much, too soon” that overloads their bodies. Vaccines cause an autoimmune response in our family. But that in no way guarantees us a medical exemption for our kids. I’m not the selfish one for refusing to vaccinate our kids. The selfish ones are the ones who ask families of the vaccine injured to risk their other children to protect their babies or immunocompromised children. It’s like asking us to set our kids on fire to keep yours warm. Every child has a right to a public education. If your child is immunocompromised, then keep THAT child home until they are healthy again. There are more things out there that can kill a child with a suppressed immune system, than what we vaccinate for. I mean, seriously, how much sense does it make to keep a group of healthy unvaccinated kids out of school so that one unhealthy unvaccinated person can attend? Furthermore, you’re not allowed to criticize me for not understanding how science works, when you haven’t even taken the time to read a single package insert. If you’re a parent and you have not read the package inserts for the vaccines, you have no right to judge my decision regarding vaccination. I believe in science. I understand how vaccines are supposed to work. I understand how natural immunity works, as well. Vaccine acquired immunity is temporary, at best. If you have not been vaccinated according to the current CDC schedule in the last ten years, you’re not immune to DICK! So don’t go pointing fingers at my kids for not being part of the “herd”, when over half the population is walking around without any immunity themselves. Don’t believe me? Go get your titers checked. Until then, stop calling families of vaccine injured people “anti-science conspiracy theorist baby killers”. If my husband had been born with little flipper arms because his mother has taken medication for morning sickness, people would be going out of their way to open doors for him. But because he suffers from an invisible vaccine injury, as many people do, it’s somehow okay to ridicule us for not vaccinating our children. Even though the manufacturer’s insert recommends that we carefully weigh the decision to vaccinate if there is a history of autoimmune disease (check) and vaccine injury (double check) in our family, we are still expected by the government and society to line our children up and sacrifice them for the greater good. They must first be injured for us to obtain a medical exemption, and then their reward will be a lifetime of harassment and ridicule for questioning science. The same science that said cigarettes are healthy and that Vioxx and Risperdal are safe. Thanks, but no thanks. This isn’t to say that we are anti-medicine, or even anti-vaccine. I think that each family has a responsibility to weigh the risks and rewards for their own personal situation. I wouldn’t try to pray away a bladder infection, when antibiotics are very effective at treating it. Nor would I automatically give my kids an antibiotic the second they get a fever because I would be doing a disservice to their immune system by not letting it flex it’s muscles. Each person needs to assess their own risks. Educate yourselves on the risk of vaccination, just as you would any other medical procedure. And for the love of God, stop trying to take away our right as parents to decline vaccines. Nothing that carries the risk of injury and death should ever be mandated. One-size-fits-all medicine is not safe.
I will definitely be posting more on this topic later on, but for now, here are some links for you to peruse at your own leisure.
Image Source: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/images/chapt16-figure01-view.gif
Image Source: http://www.whale.to/a/bystrianyk3.html
CarolAnn, Badass Mommy 