Monday, October 13, 2008

Vaccine Overload


The companies that develop and manufacture vaccines for profit and the clinics that provide the vaccines also for profit, would have us believe that vaccines will save us from disease while causing negligible harm. They point to the dramatic drop in disease as evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines and claim that risks in taking vaccines are minimal and well worth the benefit.

But a closer and independent look at the data paints a different picture. While some vaccines may confer a reduced likelihood of infection, all vaccines have significant side effects, with substanitial numbers of severe adverse reactions, sometimes resulting in death. Not surprisingly, there have been no long-term safety studies for vaccines where the health of vaccinated children is compared with an unvaccinated control group! We need to take a very careful and unbiased look at the benefits and risks of any vaccine before accepting it.

Most infectious diseases were already declining rapidly before vaccines were introduced, with little evidence that vaccines have made an improvement. Some vaccines are notoriously ineffective, such as the influenza vaccine. Many people who take the vaccine get the flu anyway. Even the most effective vaccines offer no more than about 40 to 60 percent effectiveness and some vaccines are actually suspected of causing cases of the disease they are supposed to prevent.

Against this backdrop of uncertainty about the effectiveness of the vaccines, we have the problem of side effects caused by vaccines. In order to make a vaccine work, it must strongly stimulate the immune system into responding to the target agent given in the vaccine, usually a disabled version of the target infectious agent. But strongly stimulating the immune system has its own hazards, one of which is possible triggering of allergies to other non-infectious agents that just happen to be present when the vaccine is given or shortly thereafter. The rapid rise in asthma and allergies in recent years could be one of the consequences. Another hazard is the possible triggering of auto-immune problems like lupus and type I diabetes, and neurological problems, like autism. The pertussis vaccine has actually been used to induce auto-immune disease in laboratory animals. Another problem is that vaccines are often given several at a time to young children. This practice is likely to compound the effect on the immune system, which is not fully developed in young children. Yet another problem is that some of the adjuvants used to stimulate the immune system are poisons in their own right and can cause harmful side effects, such as aluminum hydroxide and aluminum phosphate. Finally, the production and preservation of vaccines introduces even more potentially harmful compounds directly into the blood, such as foreign animal proteins used to incubate the infectious agent, poisonous formaldehyde used to deactivate live infectious agents, and thimerosal with poisonous mercury which is still used to preserve some vaccines.

An excellent resource for vaccine information is the National Vaccine Information Center. They have information about individual vaccines as well as state laws and exceptions regarding vaccines.
Further Reading

An Introduction to the Vaccination Controversy

Vaccines and Autism

Why Vaccines Aren't Safe

Do Vaccines Work and Are They Safe?

Vaccines: A Second Opinion

Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead

Significant Harm from Just ONE Mercury-Containing Vaccine

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent post. When my son was born, we thought we understood the pros and cons of vaccination, but we didn't. We stopped vaccinating him at 4 months, but we were too late as he'd already developed a reaction that resulted in a large, abnormal mass developing on his leg that grew and grew until it was the size of a large lemon. 4 ultrasounds and 2 MRIs later, it was definitively determined to be a vax reaction and we were pressured into choosing surgery by both our MD and our ND; fortunately, we elected to see a homeopath who was able to heal his leg and all that's left is a scar and deep guilt. Since that time, we've educated ourselves more and more.

Bryan - oz4caster said...

Thanks Jenny. I wish I had done this research before my daughter was born in 1997. She is among a very large number of children in the late 1990's and early 2000's who were shamefully exposed to large amounts of very poisonous mercury in vaccines at a tender young age. The mercury preservative thimerosal has now been replaced with other preservatives in most vaccines, but they may not be much better. And some vaccines, like the flu shot, still have thimerosal and the flu vaccine is now recommended for children.

Erica said...

Thanks, Bryan for the great post! I will have to check out the links more closely tomorrow.

I have a 99' baby (well no longer a baby), but remember him getting the Rotovirus vaccine, then remember it being pulled because of it's side effects and it being related to infant deaths. I was so blissfully unaware of all the mercury.

It's such a shame, I have few regrets as a parent, but not researching vaccines from the anti standpoint, instead of only the pros.....is something I really regret. It's amazing how one issue, can really make you re-evaluate and make major changes in your lifestyle.

Bryan - oz4caster said...

Thanks Erica! Hind sight is 20/20. We have to learn from our mistakes and help others not to make the same mistakes. Yes, it's important to realize that a lot of health information is really biased propaganda to promote commercial interests. It's important to do research about any and all important health decisions. Beware of information sources peddling advice that will help to sell their product or service. It's often difficult to find good independent health advice, but thanks to the internet, it's now easier than it used to be.