Immunizations and Alternate Schedules
Human babies are born with protection against most diseases because antibodies from the mother are passed on to them through the placenta at birth; and after birth, breastfed babies continue to be protected by additional antibodies in breast milk. But in both cases, the protection is temporary, and eventually babies need to be vaccinated in order to be protected from disease. But any vaccine or medicine can possibly cause serious health problems in children, even causing serious harm or death, especially when given at very young ages.
In a report summarizing a meeting at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center in Atlanta, Georgia that was presented to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Dr. Weil, a vaccine and vaccine safety researcher and expert who met to review data regarding thimerosal in vaccines and nervous system disorders noted: “But from all of the other studies of toxic substances, the earlier you work with the central nervous system, the more likely you are to run into a sensitive period for one of these effects, so that moving from one month or one day of birth to six months of birth changes enormously the potential for toxicity.” There are some who feel that the immune systems of children are at risk because of the age at which immunizations are given, the number of immunizations given in such a short time period, the various components in the vaccines, and because some contain human fetal tissue cell lines.
For several years now, information has circulated among prolife groups regarding the development of vaccines through the use of cell lines taken from the tissue of aborted babies in the 60’s. While these reports were not well documented at first, further research by several prolife groups has shown a connection between aborted fetal tissue cell lines and most vaccines. Polio, Hepatitis A and B, MMR, Chickenpox, and Smallpox are all created with cell lines that came from these aborted fetuses, though alternatives made with animal cell lines are available for some. For more information on this topic see these websites:
The recommended Immunization Schedule of shots for Newborns and children can be found at http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/medical/immunization_chart.html?tracking=P_RelatedArticle . These vaccines are usually started around 2 months of age, with the exception of Hepatitis B, which is given at birth. Children are given up to 33 doses of several different vaccines, and the combined amount of mercury in all these doses was at a very dangerous level in the 90’s according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines. Even though the risk of having a severe health issue with taking multiple shots at young ages is relatively small at about 1 in a million, many children have had and still do have severe health problems such as Autism as a result of taking their childhood shots on this schedule. Some people advocate a slower and later schedule for health immunizations, in order to minimize the chances of children being adversely affected. Dr. Bob Sears has an alternative vaccine schedule in his book The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child at http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/labels/Alternative%20Vaccine%20Schedule.asp.
Dr. Donald Miller wrote Mercury on the Mind and the article about vaccinations at http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller15.html tells which ones could be dangerous and which ones children may not need at all. Dr. Miller states, “New knowledge in neuroimmunology (the study of how the brain’s immune system works) raises serious questions about the wisdom of injecting vaccines in children less than two years of age.” In summary, this is a vaccination schedule that Dr. Miller recommends:
- No vaccinations until a child is two years old.
- No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury).
- No live virus vaccines (except for smallpox, should it recur).
- These vaccines, to be given one at a time, every six months, beginning at age 2:
- Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell)
- Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells)
The Safety and Morality of Vaccines for Children
How Immunizations can be Dangerous
There are several ways vaccines can cause problems for those who get them. Live or weakened (attenuated) virus vaccination can actually produce the infection that the vaccine is supposed to prevent. Only those immunizations made from weakened live viruses (polio, chickenpox, or measles-mumps-rubella vaccine) can make the child or others who come in contact with them develop a mild form of the disease. Reports exist of normal parents who have developed polio from the viral vaccine given to their children.
Another way damage occurs comes from neurotoxic materials found in vaccines, such as Thimerosal, which contains mercury and has been removed from many vaccines, though it is still in some. All US vaccines were supposed to be thimerosal-free by 2002, but Thimerosal is still contained in some children’s vaccines as well as many flu shots as of 7/4/2008.
The third way vaccines can be dangerous relates to allergic reactions and the development of an auto-immune response, stimulated by the vaccine and its adjuvant. Vaccines always contain adjuvants, which are substances known to amplify the body’s response to the vaccine. These adjuvants are known to sometimes cause allergic and auto-immune responses in children who get them. Common adjuvants used in vaccines are aluminum hydroxide and aluminum potassium sulfate. In the body, formalin coating around the injected material dissolves, releasing all bacterial and viral particles from animal or human culture sources. These adjuvant chemicals irritate body tissues and increase the action of accompanying bacteria and viruses, as well as the reaction of the immune system to the foreign protein antigens, potentially damaging neurological membranes where the myelin sheath has only partially protected the nervous system. This can result in mild to severe neurological damage, leading to learning disabilities and other nervous system disorders, or death, especially with further injections which promote increasingly severe allergic reactions.
If your child or anyone coming in contact with someone having a vaccination shot suffers any severe symptoms, you should seek medical help immediately from your doctor or the emergency room. After attending to your child or someone else, a report of the incident should be made to insure accurate records of complications. To report complications of vaccinations your doctor, nurse, or health department personnel should file a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) form or you can file it on the VAERS website at http://www.vaers.hhs.gov. Reporting reactions to shots helps doctors and other experts learn about problems associated with the vaccines.
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was created in1986 for people who are injured or killed by vaccines. The website for this program is http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation. Note that this is a government entity, and does not affect the drug manufacturers in any way. Drug manufacturers make billions of dollars off vaccines and are largely protected from law suits by a provision inserted into The Homeland Security Act that exempts the pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly, from any liability for their use of the potentially harmful substances in their vaccines. Congressman Dan Burton feels that the public trust has been violated and found that the chairmen and many of the members of advisory committees which approve vaccines own stock in vaccine manufacturing firms, and have research funded with funds from them. Several members of the advisory committees hold patents for the vaccines as well, which is certainly a conflict of interest.
The Safety and Morality of Vaccines for Children
Adverse Effects of Various Immunizations
Listed below are some of the adverse effects of various immunizations:
DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis) is claimed to be safer than the old DTP shot, which is no longer used in the United States. Those who suffered allergic reactions experienced severe swelling of the entire arm or leg where the shot was given (1in 30 children), vomiting, non-stop crying for 3 or more hours, fever over 105 º, brain and nervous system disorders such as seizures, collapse, coma, and permanent brain damage, usually within 7-14 days.
Polio – No Polio has been reported in the United States for over 20 years, though it is still common in other parts of the world. The oral Polio vaccine is no longer recommended, which had a live bacteria and actually caused the disease in some people who had it and those exposed to them. The IPV is the shot that is recommended today, but those who have had severe allergic reactions to a polio shot, neomycin, streptomycin, or polymyxin B should not get it.
In the PCV 13 (pneumococcal conjugate) 1 in every 20 children suffered high fever over 102º F. Those who suffered allergic reactions had behavior changes such as difficulty breathing, hoarseness or wheezing, hives, paleness, weakness, a fast heartbeat, and/or dizziness.
Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae) – This shot sometimes causes fever over 101º F.
Rotavirus – Those who suffered allergic reactions had behavior changes such as irritability, diarrhea, vomiting.
Hepatitis B – is a sexually transmitted disease, which is spread through contact with blood or other body fluids of an infected person, including breast milk. It is recommended that this vaccine be given at birth, but unless someone who will come in close contact with the child is infected with Hepatitis B, this one is probably not necessary. Those who have had serious allergic reactions to baker’s yeast or any component of the vaccine should not get it. There have been some serious allergic reactions to this vaccine. When the vaccine began to be administered at birth during the 1990s, more children began to get sick in their first month of life.
MMR- many cases of autism have been associated with the MMR. Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI) points to studies showing an environmental factor that brings on the Autism disorder. While some scientists pointed to the presence of mercury in the MMR vaccines, SCPI says that autism continued to rise after mercury was removed. The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines introduced to the US and UK in 1979 and 1988 respectively, were produced using aborted fetal cells, while previous versions were made using only animal cells. There are some who feel that the immune systems of children are at risk because of the human fetal tissue cell lines in the vaccines. SCPI says that this switch coincides with the extraordinary increases in the rates of regressive autism in children, in which the child’s social and verbal development halts.
Smallpox- is a live vaccine that is now given to military personnel and sometimes causes reactions in them and those close to them. Smallpox vaccination sometimes produces a lesion at the vaccination site. If the lesion is touched, virus can be transferred to another part of the body or even another person, which is called autoinoculation. Autoinoculation or inadvertent inoculation is the most frequent complication of smallpox vaccination. It is caused when live vaccinia virus is transferred from the inoculation site to another part of the body or someone else. Lesions can occur anywhere on the body, but the most common sites involved were the face, eyelid, nose, mouth, genitalia and rectum. Death resulting from smallpox vaccination is rare, with approximately 1 death per million primary vaccinations. Death is most often the result of postvaccinial encephalitis or progressive vaccinia. Progressive vaccinia, also known as Vaccinia Necrosum or Vaccinia Gangrenosa, is a potential major complication of smallpox vaccination, which is a severe and potentially fatal illness characterized by progressive necrosis in the area of vaccination. It occurs mostly among persons with immunodeficiency problems, like the very young or old. People with progressive vaccinia usually present with a non-healing, expanding vaccination site. The site often ulcerates and central necrosis, or death of the surrounding skin can occur. There is generally little or no inflammation at the site initially, because of the poor local immune response to the infection that is induced by vaccination. This lack of immune response presumably allows the virus to spread locally and systemically. Medical conditions or medications that suppress the immune system would put a person at risk for this complication. Postvaccinial encephalitis is also a major unavoidable complication, which was frequently seen in vaccinated infants less than 1 year old or in older adolescents or adults receiving their first vaccination. Most cases are believed to result from autoimmune or allergic reactions, rather than direct viral invasion of the nervous system. Usually within two weeks after vaccination, encephalitic symptoms developed with fever, headache, vomiting, drowsiness, and sometimes, spastic paralysis, meningitic signs, seizures, coma, convulsions, and even death.
A couple of good books to read for more info are Vaccination is not Immunization and What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccines, by Stephanie Cave, M.D. A good website to look at is http://www.healing-arts.org/children/vaccines/ . Another source for information about the various diseases is the CDC or the Center for Disease Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines . The Center for Disease Control (as its name implies) represents one answer to these questions, while the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) champions the rights of individual families to refuse vaccines. The NVIC makes a very important statement:
“Vaccination is a medical procedure which carries a risk of injury or death. As a parent, it is your responsibility to become educated about the benefits and risks of vaccines in order to make the most informed, responsible vaccination decisions.”
- To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate? (education.com)