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Should we as parents be able to stop the mercury content from being used in our vacines?http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm
http://www.mercuryexposure.org/index.php?page_id=29
Scary huh?Now go and read what mercury causes!We can handle lil doses but look how many lil doses we get a day! |
| Posted by Lexi on 12/14/2007 05:22 PM
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I personally am against ALL vaccines. I will not let anyone inject posions into my baby. It's not just the mercury that worries me. Check out this mercury calculator.
http://nvic.org/calc.htm
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| posted by on 12/14/2007 06:04 PM
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| There are Mercury free vaccines, as a matter of fact, in speaking with my daughter's doctor she told me mercury is not used anymore. At first I was worried because I heard so many stories about the mmr and autism. I did my research on all of it. Autism is genetic, and not something that can come on like a head cold. The reason parents are "finding" links to autism and the MMR are this: The MMR is giving at the same time when autism starts to rear its head and show major signs. In reality, a lot of these parents missed small signs prior to that. It seems as though there are more cases of autism in babies and kids now, but in reality, there are more diagnosed than before. They were only diagnosing severe cases before, and now there are so many different variations of autism and different severities. Vaccinations are good, at first I wasn't so sure, then a girl I worked with, her daughter wasn't accinated for chicken pox, she came down with such a sever case she almost died. Even though we are not in a pandemic right now, what is to say that it won't happen, I would rather have my daughter vaccinated. I look at it this way. Our country has this open door policy in which anyone or group can travel over here being carriers of whatever, and start the spread of something. All of the people coming to this country illegally are not being checked or properly vaccinated. Their kids are in school with our lkids. It is scary. I guess everyone has their own opinions and reasons why they will or won't....These are mine. |
| posted by on 12/15/2007 07:34 PM
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Here is a link and some of the ingredents.
http://www.vacinfo.org/ingredients.htm
Vaccines contain ingredients such as antifreeze, phenol (used as a disinfectant), formaldehyde (cancer causing and used to embalm), aluminum (associated with alzheimer’s disease and seizures), glycerin (toxic to the kidney, liver, can cause lung damage, gastrointestinal damage and death), lead, cadmium, sulfates, yeast proteins, antibiotics, acetone (used in nail polish remover), neomycin and streptomycin. And the ingredient making the press is thimerosol (more toxic than mercury, a preservative still used in many vaccines, not easily eliminated, can cause severe neurological damage as well as other life threatening autoimmune disease). These vaccines are grown and strained through animal or human tissue, like monkey and dog kidney tissue, chick embryo, calf serum, human diploid cells (the dissected organs of aborted fetuses), pig blood, horse blood and rabbit brain.
here is another link that I use for quick reference.
http://nvic.org/
(National Vaccine Information Center) |
| posted by on 12/16/2007 08:50 AM
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| There are no studies that prove that mercury in vaccines cause Autism. Autism is genetic and there are many articles and studies about this these days. My Pediatrician told me that they don't put mercury in vaccines any longer. I rather have the vaccine in my child than a deadly disease or illness. |
| posted by Kara on 12/16/2007 10:14 AM
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| I agree Kara. There are contaminates in everything we use, eat, drink. Aluminum and alzheimers do have a relationship, in the type of alzheimers that is not familial, but environmental. My grandmother dies of alzheimers and in college I did a very lengthy research paper on alzheimers. In autopsied alzheimer patients, they found a large amount of aluminum build up in brain tissue. There is aluminum in a lot of things, lip balm, coffee if it was kept in a can, soda, anything you wrap in foil, certain pots and pans, anything canned, deoderant......You would have to avoid all and live in a bubble to avoid everything. Since that is not realistic. sweat the big things and not the small things. It is much safer to vaccinate than to not. |
| posted by on 12/16/2007 10:57 AM
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| It is parental accusation when it comes down to autism....When something goes wrong for or with your child, as a parent, as a human you look for something of someone to blame, thus the mmr has gotten a bad rap. Autism is definately genetic, and ranges in severity. Nothing but ones own genetic make up can cause it or bring it on, time does that if you have it, not a vaccine. |
| posted by on 12/16/2007 11:00 AM
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| I am sorry ladies, I just don't agree. I have been doing my own research for years now. I feel that every parent must do whats best for their own family. |
| posted by on 12/16/2007 07:36 PM
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| Agreed Jackie B. |
| posted by caitlin on 12/17/2007 01:42 AM
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| Jackie, I agree with your reasoning and the way you feel, I just disagree with your info and decision, however, that is our own individual right. I am not downing you I just feel differently, and have done my own research to back how I feel. We all have our own right to make decisions in the best interest of our family, and I respect that. |
| posted by on 12/17/2007 07:29 AM
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| I hope my replies did not offend anyone that was not my intention. I grew up in a different time, there were only about 5 vaccines when I was born and now there are 74. All of which are given by the age of 5, to me that is way too many for babies. Also getting chicken pox when I was young was like a right of passage through childhood. It was very rarely deadly and like most of the other diseases it is treatable. I know that my daughter may catch something, but vaxed kids can also catch it too. There is nothing in this world that is 100% effective. |
| posted by on 12/17/2007 11:10 AM
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| Jackie,dont worry about offending anyone.We get on these boards and we all ask for advice and we make friends.I know my friend in real life doesnt agree w/ me and she tells me so;I love her for it even more ,lol.Id hate to make friends and they tell me what Ii want to hear just because.Everyone out there has a different way of thinking ;thats what makes us unique.If ppl dont like some 1s advice then they wont take it.But that doesnt mean that in another category they may love your advice.I had very bad experiences with vaccines.Then I read that article about Minn.It made me think ;I wasnt alone out there in some of my thinking. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/17/2007 11:23 AM
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| Hey DJM how you doing today gf?Havent seen you much last few days.And where is my Co.gf w the twins?Havent seen her much either. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/17/2007 11:26 AM
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| Running around like a chicken without a head, lol. Getting ready to leave for New York for the holidays, that is where our family is. How are you doing? |
| posted by on 12/17/2007 06:56 PM
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| I am good trying to swallow Tinas good advice cause omg thats me.I am a slob from heck lol. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/18/2007 11:11 AM
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To all: Please read the following. I know we all have our own ideas about vaccinations, but it's not just about mercury and contaminates. It is also how the vaccines pass the blood brain barrier and activate certain mechanisms within the brain. The following article contains a lot of medical jargon, but please try to stay with it as it relays a lot of important information. The following is a research article that the general public would not normally find if 'googling' vaccinations. --Allison
What They Don't Tell You About Vaccination Dangers:
Article by Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
Advanced Nutritional Concepts, LLC
www.russellblaylockmd.com
After 30 years of intensive research, much has been learned about how brain cells work and what goes wrong when disease arises. One of the great enigmas has been the connection between vaccinations and certain brain disorders such as:
Autism
ADD
ADHD
Gulf War Syndrome
More common neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s dementia and ALS)
As we learned more and more about how brain cells should work, we discovered that often normal processes, such as metabolism, could result in the accumulation of powerful chemical byproducts, called free radicals, that have the capacity to destroy these cells.
Free radicals, basically, are very reactive particles that bounce all around the cell damaging everything they touch. Most originate during the process of metabolism but can also arise from toxin exposure, irradiation and toxic metals. Because they are so destructive, cells have a network of defenses designed to neutralize them. This antioxidant network is composed of numerous components that include vitamins, minerals and special chemicals called thiols (glutathione and alpha-lipoic acid).
What Causes the Free Radicals:
The idea that free radicals play a major role in all of the conditions listed above is now proven--the big question is why are so many free radicals being generated? In the case of autism, ADD and ADHD many came to support the idea that mercury derived from vaccines was the source of the radicals. And it was known that mercury could cause free radicals to be generated in large numbers within the brain. Evidence connecting mercury to the autism spectrum disorders, neurodegeneration and the Gulf War Syndrome is strong, but not exclusive.
Interestingly, all of these diseases also share another common event--over activation of a portion of the immune system.
It is important to appreciate that only a certain part of the immune system is overactive, because other parts, such as cellular immunity, are actually diminished. In some instances, as with the childhood disorders, the problem is congenital and in others it develops as a result of many factors such as aging, toxin exposure, poor nutrition and excessive vaccination itself. Mercury can impair immune function as well.
How Vaccines are Made:
Basically, vaccines contain either killed viruses or bacteria, germ components, toxic extracts or live organisms that have been made less virulent--a process called attenuation. To stimulate an enhanced immune reaction against these organisms, manufacturers added powerful immune-stimulating substances such as squalene, aluminum, lipopolysacchride, etc. These are called immune adjuvants.
The process of vaccination usually required repeated injections of the vaccine over a set period of time. The combination of adjuvants plus the intended organism triggers an immune response by the body, similar to that occurring with natural infections, except for one major difference. Almost none of these diseases enter the body by injection. Most enter by way of the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, pulmonary passages or GI tract. For example, polio is known to enter via the GI tract. The membranes lining these passages contain a different immune system than activated by direct injection. This system is called the IgA immune system.
It is the first line of defense and helps reduce the need for intense activation of the body’s immune system. Often, the IgA system can completely head off an attack. The point being that injecting organisms to induce immunity is abnormal.
Because more and more reports are appearing citing vaccine failure, their manufacturers’ answer is to make the vaccines more potent. They do this by making the immune adjuvants more powerful or adding more of them. The problem with this approach is that in the very young, the nutritionally deficient and the aged, over-stimulating the immune system can have an opposite effect--it can paralyze the immune system.
This is especially prevalent with nutritional deficiency.
An early attempt to vaccinate Africans met with disaster when it was discovered that many were dying following vaccination. The problem was traced to widespread vitamin A deficiency among the tribes. Once the malnutrition was corrected, death rates fell precipitously.
Another problem we see with modern vaccines is that the immune stimulation continues over a prolonged period of time.
This is because of the immune adjuvants. They remain in the tissues, constantly stimulating immune-activating cells. With most natural infections the immune activation occurs rapidly, and once the infection is under control, it drops precipitously. This, as we shall see, is to prevent excessive damage to normal cells in the body.
What Happens to the Brain With Vaccination?:
It seems the brain is always neglected when pharmacologists consider side effects of various drugs. The same is true for vaccinations. For a long time no one considered the effect of repeated vaccinations on the brain.
This was based on a mistaken conclusion that the brain was protected from immune activation by its special protective gateway called the blood-brain barrier. More recent studies have shown that immune cells can enter the brain directly, and more importantly, the brain’s own special immune system can be activated by vaccination.
You see, the brain has a special immune system that operates through a unique type of cell called a microglia.
These tiny cells are scattered throughout the brain, lying dormant waiting to be activated. In fact, they are activated by many stimuli and are quite easy to activate. For our discussion, activation of the body’s immune system by vaccination is a most important stimuli for activation of brain microglia.
Numerous studies have shown that when the body’s immune system is activated, the brain’s immune cells are likewise activated. This occurs by several pathways, not important to this discussion. The more powerfully the body’s immune system is stimulated the more intense is the brain’s reaction. Prolonged activation of the body’s immune system likewise produces prolonged activation of the brain’s immune system.
Therein lies the danger of our present vaccine policy.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Practice have both endorsed a growing list of vaccines for children, even newborns, as well as yearly flu shots for both children and adults. Children are receiving as many as 22 inoculations before attending school.
What Happens When the Brain’s Immune System is Activated?:
The brain’s immune system cells, once activated, begin to move about the nervous system, secreting numerous immune chemicals (called cytokines and chemokines) and pouring out an enormous amount of free radicals in an effort to kill invading organisms. The problem is--there are no invading organisms. It has been tricked by the vaccine into believing there are.
Unlike the body’s immune system, the microglia also secrete two other chemicals that are very destructive of brain cells and their connecting processes. These chemicals, glutamate and quinolinic acid, are called excitotoxins. They also dramatically increase free radical generation in the brain. Studies of patients have shown that levels of these two excitotoxins can rise to very dangerous levels in the brain following viral and bacterial infections of the brain. High quinolinic acid levels in the brain are thought to be the cause of the dementia seen with HIV infection.
The problem with our present vaccine policy is that so many vaccines are being given so close together and over such a long period that the brain’s immune system is constantly activated. This has been shown experimentally in numerous studies. This means that the brain will be exposed to large amounts of the excitotoxins as well as the immune cytokines over the same period.
Studies on all of these disorders, even in autism, have shown high levels of immune cytokines and excitotoxins in the nervous system. These destructive chemicals, as well as the free radicals they generate, are diffused throughout the nervous system doing damage, a process called bystander injury. It’s sort of like throwing a bomb in a crowd.
Not only will some be killed directly by the blast but those far out into the radius of the explosion will be killed by shrapnel.
Normally, the brain’s immune system, like the body’s, activates quickly and then promptly shuts off to minimize the bystander damage. Vaccination won’t let the microglia shut down. In the developing brain, this can lead to language problems, behavioral dysfunction and even dementia.
In the adult, it can lead to the Gulf War Syndrome or one of the more common neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s dementia or Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS).
A recent study by the world-renowned immunologist Dr. H. Hugh Fudenberg found that adults vaccinated yearly for five years in a row with the flu vaccine had a 10-fold increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. He attributes this to the mercury and aluminum in the vaccine. Interestingly, both of these metals have been shown to activate microglia and increase excitotoxicity in the brain.
Direct Effect of the Cytokines:
Various cytokines have been used to treat cancer patients as well as other common diseases.
Studies of the effects of these cytokines on brain function reveal some very close parallels to the diseases we have been discussing. For a more in-depth study of these effects I suggest you read my article appearing in the Journal of the American Nutriceutical Association (volume 6 [fall], Number 4, 2003, pp 21-35) and in the summer issue 2004 of the Journal of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons.
One can see:
Confusion
Language difficulties
Disorientation
Seizures
Memory problems
Somnolence
Low-grade fevers
Irritability
Mood alterations
Combativeness
Difficulty concentrating
A host of other behavioral problems
In the child, brain immune over-activation has been shown to be particularly damaging to the amygdala and other limbic structures of the brain. This can lead to unusual syndromes such as the loss of "theory of mind" and " Alice in Wonderland syndrome." It has also been shown to damage the executive functions of the frontal lobes.
In essence, what is lost is that which makes us social human beings, able to function in a complex world of ideas and interactions.
Several studies have indeed shown elevated levels of cytokines in autistic children. It is also interesting to note that these cytokines, especially interleukin-1ß and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) dramatically increase the damage produced by excitotoxins. So, what we see is a viscous cycle of immune activation, excitotoxin and cytokine excretion, and free radical production. The latter starts the cycle all over again.
The Role of Autoimmunity and Viral Persistence:
Studies in autistic children have shown that a state of immune attack on the brain is occurring. Similar findings are seen with neurodegenerative diseases and the Gulf War Syndrome. It must be appreciated that this autoimmunity was triggered by the vaccinations and by organisms contaminating the vaccinations. Once started, the immune reaction cannot stop, thus triggering all the destructive reactions I have discussed.
Dr. Garth Nicolson has shown a direct connection between mycoplasma contamination of vaccines and the 200 percent increased incidence of ALS in Gulf War veterans. The disorder is produced by the same mechanism described above.
Another, even more common, problem is the use of live viruses in vaccines. The reason live viruses can be used is that they are weakened by passing them through a series of cultures--a process called attenuation. These attenuated, non-disease-causing viruses are then injected in hopes of stimulating the body to produce an immune attack.
The problem with this idea is two-fold.
First, we now know that in far too many cases these viruses escape the immune system and take up residence in the body--for a lifetime. A recent autopsy study of elderly individuals found that 20 percent of the brains contained live measles viruses and 45 percent of the other organs contained live measles viruses. Similar findings have been described in autistic children and the measles virus is identical genetically to the one used in the vaccine.
The second problem is that most of these viruses were found to be highly mutated. In fact, different mutations were found among viruses in various organs in the same individual.
This has been a secret kept from the public.
These attenuated viruses undergo mutation brought on by the presence of free radicals in the tissues and organs and they can mutate into virulent, disease-causing organisms. Recent studies have confirmed this frightening finding. In fact, a large percentage of Alzheimer’s disease patients have live viruses in their brain as compared to normal individuals.
Once these live viruses are injected, they cannot be removed. Because the viruses stay in the body, they will be under constant free radical exposure, which can increase during times of stress, illness, exercise and with aging. It is the free radicals that cause the virus to mutate.
In essence, the viruses can exist in the brain, or any organ, either silently and slowly producing destruction of the brain or spinal cord or producing sudden disease once the virus mutates to a highly lethal form.
Conclusions:
We have seen that the policy of giving numerous vaccinations to individuals, especially infants and small children, is shear idiocy.
A considerable number of studies have shown conclusively that such a practice can lead to severe injury to the brain by numerous mechanisms. Because the child’s brain is undergoing a period of rapid growth from the third trimester of pregnancy until age 2 years, his or her brain is at considerable risk from this insane policy.
We have also seen that live-virus vaccines and contaminated vaccines hold a special risk in that the viruses tend to persist in a substantial number of individuals and that free radicals can cause the latent viruses to transform by genetic mutation into disease-causing organisms later in life.
It is vital that anyone scheduled for vaccination follow a schedule that allows no more than one vaccine every six months, allowing the immune system time to recover.
Live-virus vaccines should be avoided.
This was recently illustrated by the switch from the live polio vaccine to the killed virus. All cases of polio after the introduction of the vaccine, in the developed world, came from the vaccine itself. This was known from the beginning.
Finally, it is vital that anyone undergoing vaccination should start nutritional supplementation and adhere to a healthy diet before vaccination occurs. Vaccine complications are far fewer in individuals with good nutrition.
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| posted by Allison on 12/18/2007 07:43 PM
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| Okay Allison,let me ask you a question since you have done massive amounts of research on this subject.My daughter got her first shot when she was about 11 months old.She, within 2 weeks of the shot was sick w/ diptheria like symtoms.She got the DT.Then at 3 weeks after the shot;She got scarlentina,then, she broke out with the worst case of eczema i have seen ;since the same thing happened to my no 1 son, who is 24 yrs old now.She still has it til this day and so does my 24 yr old.At 14 months old my no 5 son died in my arms 3 days after the shot (convulsions)and I brought him back; he is mentally retarded now.He had the DTaP,He lost all his baby teeth (they rotted out)within 1 month and all his hair fell out.His new teeth grew back; but are all in the same shape.His hair grew back very coarse.Do you think that the shots I got my children had anything to do w their illnesses?My daughter has not had a shot since and the children now do not get the MMR's and they get DT's.Thats all I let them get now.Ppl have threatened to turn me in to CPS.You do not want me to tell you what I tell em'.I also tell them its my decision if I dont want my kids to die or have illnesses.I know some ppl have never had a problem;but I have.I am scared to death to have them innocualted.I only got her a shot because of Tetnus.Other then that Noone else will touch her til she goes to school. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/18/2007 08:43 PM
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Lexi,
Here is a list of some of the reactions, also there are a lot of great books out there on this. I would recommend reading as many as you can, here are some good ones.
A Shot in the Dark
Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parents Guide
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations
What Every Parent Should Know About Childhood Immunizations
REPORT VACCINE REACTIONS. IT’S THE LAW
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a non-profit, educational organization founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine-injured children and located in Vienna, Virginia. Our goal is to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and to protect the informed consent rights of all Americans.
We are not a federal or state government agency. As a consumer vaccine safety advocacy organization, we worked on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 and were responsible for urging the creation of safety provisions in that historic law. This included a centralized vaccine reaction reporting system, called the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) that is jointly operated by the federal Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control.
Although it has been the law since 1986 for doctors and other vaccine providers to report hospitalizations, injuries, deaths and serious health problems following vaccination to VAERS, it is estimated that less than 10 percent, perhaps less than one percent of all vaccine-related health problems are ever reported to VAERS. It is very important that ALL serious health problems, which develop after vaccination, be reported to the federal health authorities at VAERS.
As a society we need to know how many people who get vaccinated are getting sick after vaccination and how many go on to die or are permanently injured. In addition, information provided to VAERS may also help identify common factors, which affect certain individuals who have adverse responses to vaccination. More information can lead to safer vaccines, safer vaccine policies and medical research to develop screening techniques to help reduce vaccine reactions.
You should make a vaccine adverse event report to VAERS (see the link below) if you or your child has regressed physically, mentally or emotionally after vaccination or has experienced acute symptoms within hours, days or weeks of vaccination. Some of these symptoms include:
Pronounced swelling, redness, heat or hardness at the site of the injection;
Body rash or hives;
Shock/collapse;
High pitched screaming or persistent crying for hours;
Extreme sleepiness or long periods of unresponsiveness;
High fever (over 103 F)
Twitching or jerking of the body, arm, leg or head;
Crossing of eyes;
Weakness or paralysis of any part of the body;
Loss of eye contact or awareness or social withdrawal;
Loss of ability to roll over, sit up or stand up;
Vision or hearing loss;
Restlessness, hyperactivity or inability to concentrate;
Sleep disturbances that change wake/sleep pattern;
Head banging or onset of repetitive movements (flapping, rubbing, rocking, spinning);
Joint pain;
Muscle weakness;
Disabling fatigue;
Loss of memory;
Onset of chronic ear or respiratory infections;
Violent or persistent diarrhea or chronic constipation;
Breathing problems (asthma);
Excessive bleeding (thrombocytopenia) or anemia;
There are other symptoms, which may indicate that you or your child has suffered a vaccine reaction. Not all symptoms that occur following vaccination are caused by a vaccine, but it cannot be automatically concluded that symptoms which do occur are NOT related to the vaccine. Therefore, it is important for your doctor to report ANY serious symptoms or dramatic change in physical, mental or emotional behavior that does occur following vaccination so federal health authorities have the information for analysis.
Since its’ founding in 1982, the National Vaccine Information Center has operated a Vaccine Reaction Registry which has served as a watchdog on the VAERS system. We encourage you to also register you or your child’s suspected vaccine reaction in NVIC’s Vaccine Reaction Registry by clicking on this link. https://www.nvic.org/report/reaction.htm
If your doctor will not report a serious health problem you or your child suffers following vaccination, you have the right to report. To report a suspected vaccine reaction to the federal government (VAERS) http://www.vaers.org
Thank you for taking the time to report to both the federal VAERS system as well as NVIC’s Vaccine Reaction Registry. Reporting vaccine reactions is the law but it is also a way to generate information that will help reduce vaccine risks for everyone.
Other Information:
There is a wealth of information on this website and also through our links. We hope you will become a member of the National Vaccine Information Center and also get involved. (link to resources)
If you would like to get involved in the vaccine safety movement in Texas, please contact Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Information. (link to http://www.vaccineinfo.net
For contact information in other states click on Additional Information and Links (our website)
If you would like to investigate the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, please click here. (http://www.nvic.org/Issues/Injury_Compensation.htm)
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| posted by on 12/18/2007 10:01 PM
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Lexi,
So sorry to hear about all that has happened within your family. Since I'm not your pediatrician, I would be hesitant to say, "yes, for sure, all of your childrens' problems have been from immunizations."
The reason I wanted to post that article is because most people believe the only problem with vaccinations is the mercury that used to be added to them. I know the article is pretty heavy and hard to follow, but I think it gave a good overview of how the brain actually reacts after receiving a vaccination (which creates free radicals) whether it contains mercury or not.
I've said before on this web site that I am a physician. I have access to research and articles that the general public does not. Unfortunately, most pediatricians do not have the time to pour over all of these articles, so they go by the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics who recommend all vaccinations. I am not giving medical advice on whether or not to immunize your children, just disemminating info.
I personally have not vaccinated my child (he's 5 months old). I breastfeed exclusively and do not plan on introducing any sort of food until he is 6 months old. Even then I have a strict food schedule that was given to me by my pediatrician that is non-allergenic (as to not unnecessarily ramp up his immune system). I will be making his food my self by steaming the foods and then pureeing them. I intend on feeding my child foods that are chock full of antioxidants which combat free radicals in the body.
Look, I think a long time ago (and currently in 3rd world countries) there was a need for vaccines. Poor sanitation and nutrition, and crowded living conditions bred all kinds of disease. We are past that time now in the US. If we're looking at a numbers game, and one out of every couple of thousand to ten thousand children contract one of these childhood diseases versus 1/150 being diagnosed autistic...I think I'll take my chances with skipping the vaccinations, breastfeeding my child, and feeding him healthy foods.
By the way, when there is a whooping cough epidemic (or pick your favorite disease), way over 50% of those infected have been vaccinated (it is estimated that over 90% of children in the US have been vaccinated).
The human body is incredibly brilliant, and given the chance can do some amazing things. The immune system knows what it's doing. Yes, our children will still have to incur some nasty illnesses, but this is how we develop proper immunity.
Just as everyone else has stated in this heated discussion, I'm not trying to anger anyone or make any mother feel bad for immunizing her child. I just think that in order to make an informed discision on any subject, one must have all of the facts. Unfortunately, google, and some pediatricians, do not have a lot of good info on how to vaccinate, or why one may choose not to vaccinate at all.
-Allison |
| posted by Allison on 12/18/2007 11:19 PM
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| I am sorry, but for every article that says Vaccines are bad there are three or four that otherwise. Lexi I have to tell you that the thing with your childs teeth, had nothing to do with the vaccines. I am a RDA/CDA. The babby teeth being lost and rotting had nothing to do with the vaccines. Was he ill to the point where his mouth was dry all of time? Lack of Saliva, mouth breathing even can cause teeth to rot. The secondary teeth that came in all the same shape, that is already determined at birth, even before. Those teeth are starting to form under the gums and are called buds. What shape do the teeth have, are they all triangular or are they peg shaped? it is the right of everyone to believ what they want. Just know that these articles are showing worst case scenarios, and if you ever look at the "possible" side effects of almost every medication or "cure" they have to tell you the worst possible scenario, that doesn't mean that 1 million will have no effect and 1 will have one of these side effects. I worked in the health care field as a dental assistant for many years, I took infection control, I worked with many patients who had TB, and Variations of Hep....They are very real and very abundant, and a child might not have it, but might be a carrier due to a parent that has it, and they can bring it to your kids school and your kid can very easily get it. Hep and TB live outside of the body for up to 48 hours. All it takes is a bodily fluid ending up on a desk or doorknob, your child touching it and touching their eye or mouth or so on.... |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 01:10 PM
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Wow! Thank you everyone for the info it was very helpful! My son is 10 months old and I didn't do all of the vaccinations. I first started late (4 months) then he had a crazy reaction where his temp was 102 for 2 days. Nothing would bring it down and I continued to give him Tylenol. Anyhow, he was pretty much out of it for a few days and just layed there and moaned. That was not normal for him and it was kind of scary. Needless to say, I tried again at 6 months and the same thing happened so I stopped. He was crawling at 5 months and to think at 6 months when he got his shots he couldn't even attempt to crawl for a few days? Pretty scary!! But I agree with a few of the posts in here. It is truly not all about the mercury and the chances of them getting some of these diseases are so rare. If you look at the CDC's website the odds them getting the actual disease are very slim and a lot higher for them to get autism. I am not sure what causes autism but the way it looks to me is the vaccinations and the research I have done and the first hand examples I have seen it appears that way to me. I know we all have our opinions. But let me just point one thing out. I am small and I know when I take 1 IB Profen it does the job for me but when you ask my Hubby he needs 3 or 4. Well if you look at the vaccinations they are a one size fits all! Maybe it is the dose? Maybe it's not. Who's to know but I am happy that there are more that are truly not for them because I think more people need to see the reactions first hand and they will agree and understand why so many of us are not for them anymore. I mean I had the chicken pox and I am fine and so did many others. Of course there are extreme cases of everything out there where someone might almost die or even die. But if you look at the odds you have a better chance of getting autism. I would much rather not take the higher risk if that is the case. I don't know I am babbling now. There is so much contreversy out there and I am one of the people that can go on and on and I take everyone's opinion and look at the big picture. But for me it is all about the numbers. What are the chances of my child actually getting this or that. I go with the statistics because they are solid.
Anyway, sorry to ramble. |
| posted by Jessica on 12/19/2007 04:48 PM
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| You can not catch Autism, it is genetic....Not a cold, and as for the vaccines being one size fits all, they are not, they are according to the childs height and weight. There are not more cases of autism now, there are more diagnosis, due to the different severities and now branches of autism. If it were due to the shots, the rate of Autism diagnosis wouldn't keep going up even though the rate of parents vaccinating has dropped. If everyone stops vaccinating, those odds of slim to none in contracting these diseases will go back up, that was the whole reason for vaccinating, to prevent a pandemic. There is no evidence to prove that a vaccine causes Autism, however there is plenty of evidence to prove it is genetic. My daughter has had all of her vaccinations and she is a happy, healthy, smart little girl. Like I said, I have studied infection control and have to do continuing education in order to keep up with my licensing, even though I stay home,I eventually want to go back. Some things there are no cure for, certain strains of Hep, and TB....They are scary diseases and are very much around us everyday, and are very easily spread. People are so scared of things like AIDS and the spread of, The AIDS virus dies as soon as it hits the air, TB and Hep does not. It lives for 48 hours outside of the body. It is scary to think that people are not protecting their kids against these types of viruses, and viruses have no "cure" They are a wait and see thing, there is no magic medicine for a virus. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 06:32 PM
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| I just have to add I went to the CDC website to see what you were referring to with the odds. Please read it again. The CDC saids that the odds are low because of vaccinations, and that if we stop vaccinating the odds will go back up. It was compaired to bailing water out of a leaking boat. Because of vaccines, there is no more threat of smallpox, because the vaccines allowed the disease to die out, thus we plugged the hole in the leaking boat. The CDC also shows that it is a myth that mercury or even thimerisol is linked to Autism. They also show the numbers of actual reactions to the vaccines, that was what was slim to none. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but when quoting a page, please quote it properly, it is my belief that these mis quotes and misconceptions is what is leading to the decline in vaccinations, thus leading to the increase of these illnesses again. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 06:47 PM
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This is a debate that will never end. I have found some info on the hep b. This is from www.nvic.org. That is the National Vaccine Information Center. Their goal is to educate people no matter which choice they make.
HEPATITIS B VACCINE:
THE UNTOLD STORY
Parents Question Forced Vaccination As Reports of Hepatitis B Vaccine Reactions Multiply
In increasing numbers, parents across the country are contacting the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) to report opposition to regulations being enacted by state health department officials that legally require children to be injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to attend daycare, kindergarten, elementary school, high school or college. Simultaneously, as more schools and employers bow to pressure from government health officials and require individuals to show proof they have been injected with hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to get an education or a job, reports of serious health problems following hepatitis B vaccination among children and adults are multiplying.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) maintains that federal and state public health officials are promoting forced vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine without truthfully informing the public about the risks of hepatitis B disease in America or the known and unknown risks of hepatitis B vaccine. Without being provided with accurate and complete information about disease and vaccine risks, citizens cannot exercise informed consent, which becomes a human right when an individual considers undergoing a medical procedure that could cause injury or death.
Following is a general overview of what is and is not known about hepatitis B disease, the hepatitis B vaccine and the politics of hepatitis B vaccination.
Hepatitis B Not Highly Contagious - Unlike other infectious diseases for which vaccines have been developed and mandated in the U.S., hepatitis B is not common in childhood and is not highly contagious. Hepatitis B is primarily an adult disease transmitted through infected body fluids, most frequently infected blood, and is prevalent in high risk populations such as needle using drug addicts; sexually promiscuous heterosexual and homosexual adults; residents and staff of custodial institutions such as prisons; health care workers exposed to blood; persons who require repeated blood transfusions and babies born to infected mothers.
According to CDC Prevention Guidelines: A Guide to Action (1997), a book written by federal public health officials at the U.S. government Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "the sources of [hepatitis B] infection for most cases include intravenous drug use (28%), heterosexual contact with infected persons or multiple partners (22%) and homosexual activity (9%)." According to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (1994), mother to child transmission of hepatitis B "is uncommon in North America and western Europe."
Although CDC officials have made statements that hepatitis B is easy to catch through sharing toothbrushes or razors, Eric Mast, M.D., Chief of the Surveillance Section, Hepatitis Branch of the CDC, stated in a 1997 public hearing that: " although [the hepatitis B virus] is present in moderate concentrations in saliva, it's not transmitted commonly by casual contact."
Hepatitis B Not A Killer Disease For Most - Symptoms of hepatitis B disease include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, low grade fever, pain and swelling in joints, headache and cough that may occur one to two weeks before the onset of jaundice (yellowing of the skin) and enlargement and tenderness of the liver, which can last for three to four weeks. Fatigue can last up to a year. According to Harrison's, in cases of acute hepatitis B "most patients do not require hospital care" and "95 percent of patients have a favorable course and recover completely" with the case-fatality ratio being "very low (approximately 0.1 percent)."
Those who recover completely from hepatitis B infection acquire life-long immunity. Of those who do not recover completely, fewer than 5 percent become chronic carriers of the virus with just one quarter of these in danger of developing life threatening liver disease later in life, according to Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease (1994), a medical college textbook.
The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services (1996), written under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), states that the risk of developing a chronic hepatitis B infection is higher in infected infants than in infected older children and adults: "Infections during infancy, while estimated to represent only 1-3% of cases, account for 20-30% of chronic infections." Because infants born to infected mothers are at highest risk for developing chronic hepatitis B infections, routine screening of pregnant women for hepatitis B infection is one of the most important public health measures that can be taken to prevent chronic hepatitis B carriers. The Merck Manual (1992), a major medical reference used by physicians, notes that "postexposure vaccination is recommended for newborn infants of hepatitis B positive mothers."
Hepatitis B Low In U.S. - The U.S. and western Europe have always had among the lowest rates of hepatitis B disease in the world (0.1% to 0.5% of the general population) compared to countries in the Far East and Africa, where the disease affects 5-20% or more of the population. According to Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, in the U.S. "the greatest reported incidence [of hepatitis B] occurs in adults aged 20-39" and "the number of cases peaked in 1985 and has shown a continuous gradual decline since that time."
Even though hepatitis B disease is uncommon in the general population in the U.S., it continues to be high among those engaged in high-risk behaviors, especially IV drug use. Guide to Clinical Preventive Services states that "In recent years, a growing number of injection drug users have become infected; currently, between 60% and 80% of persons who use illicit drugs parenterally (through the skin such as with a needle stick) have serologic evidence of [hepatitis B] infection."
In 1991, there were 18,003 cases of hepatitis B reported in the U.S. out of a total U.S. population of 248 million. According to the October 31, 1997 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the CDC, in 1996 there were 10,637 cases of hepatitis B reported in the U.S. with 279 cases reported in children under the age of 14 and the CDC stated that "Hepatitis B continues to decline in most states, primarily because of a decrease in the number of cases among injecting drug users and, to a lesser extent, among both homosexuals and heterosexuals of both sexes."
CDC Recommends All Infants Get Hep B Vaccine - Even though hepatitis B is an adult disease, is not highly contagious, is not deadly for most who contract it, and is not in epidemic form in the U.S. (except among high risk groups such as IV drug addicts), in 1991 the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that all infants be injected with the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth before being discharged from the hospital newborn nursery. A similar recommendation was also made by the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This, despite the fact almost nothing is known about the health and integrity of an individual baby's immune and neurological systems at birth.
In 1991, media reports generated by the CDC used hepatitis B disease statistics that were not anchored in documented fact but are still used today to promote mass hepatitis B vaccination. Most of the inflated disease statistics originate with statements generated by the Centers for Disease Control. In the 1991 ACIP Recommendations calling for mass vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC states that there are an "estimated 1 million-1.25 million persons with chronic hepatitis B infection in the United States" and that "each year approximately 4,000-5,000 of these persons die from chronic liver disease" and that "an estimated 200,000-300,000 new [hepatitis B] infections occurred annually during the period 1980-1991." The CDC gives no scientific reference for this data other than the CDC.
Just one year before the government's call for mass vaccination, hepatitis B vaccine maker SmithKline Beecham in their 1990 hepatitis B vaccine product insert stated, "The CDC estimates that there are approximately 0.5 to 1.0 million chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus in the U.S. and that this pool of carriers grows by 2% to 3% (12,000 to 20,000 individuals) annually."
Federal Recommendations Become State Laws - Because vaccination requirements are controlled by states and not the federal government, in order for federal health officials to achieve their goal of a 100 percent vaccination rate with new vaccines marketed by drug companies, they must persuade states to turn federal vaccine policies into state law. And, because during the past 50 years, most state legislatures have completely turned over the power to mandate vaccines to state health department officials, very infrequently do state legislators take a vote to approve the mandating of a new vaccine such as hepatitis B. So, while American children born in 1948 were only required by state health officials to show proof of smallpox vaccination to enter school, American children born in 1998 are required by most states to be injected with 33 or 34 doses of 9 or 10 different viral and bacterial vaccines to enter school, including three doses of hepatitis B vaccine.
Federal Health Officials Give State Health Officials Money To Force Hep B Vaccination - Following the 1991 CDC recommendation for universal use of hepatitis B vaccine by all children, state health department officials began issuing mandates requiring children to show proof they have been injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine in order to attend daycare or school. By the end of 1997, 35 states had regulations on the books requiring children to get 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine and, yet, only 15 states had passed laws requiring prenatal screening of pregnant mothers for hepatitis B infection.
To encourage states to mandate use of hepatitis B vaccine by all children, federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control give grants and other financial incentives to state health departments to reward them for promoting mass vaccination. Since 1965, the CDC has given state health departments hundreds of millions of dollars through categorical grant programs to promote mass use of federally recommended vaccines. At the same time, if state health officials do not show federal health officials proof they have attained a certain vaccination rate in their state, federal grants to state health departments can be withheld.
In 1993, the Comprehensive Childhood Immunization Act of 1993 was passed giving the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) the authority to award more than $400 million to states to set up state vaccine registries to tag and track children and enforce mandatory vaccination with federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine. The Performance Grant Program rewards a state with either $50, $75 or $100 per child who is fully vaccinated with all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine and, in 1995, DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala gave the states the power to approve a newborn's social security number in order to set up vaccine tracking registries in more than half the states. The CDC plan is to hook up the state vaccine tracking registries in order to create a de facto centralized electronic database containing every child's medical records.
Pharmaceutical Industry Also Funds Forced Hep B Vaccination - In addition to federal grants, many states get money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Johnson & Johnson), which operates All Kids Count, to set up vaccine tracking systems to enforce state vaccination mandates. (In 1989, Merck & Co., the U.S. manufacturer of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), chicken pox and hepatitis B vaccines, joined with Johnson & Johnson to form Worldwide Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co. with the goal of becoming "one of the premier worldwide consumer products companies." Merck's 1997 vaccine sales reached 1 billion dollars.)
All Kids Count is a project of the Task Force for Child Survival and Development headquartered at The Carter Center (former President Jimmy Carter) in Atlanta, which is directed by former CDC director Dr. William Foege. The Task Force is supported by the World Health Organization, World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, United Nation's Population Fund and vaccine manufacturers, entities which also sponsor the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI). The CVI, headquartered in Geneva, was launched in 1990 at the World Summit for Children and promotes "the development and utilization" of vaccines by all of the world's children.
Forced vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine is also promoted in states by non-profit organizations such as Every Child by Two, founded in 1991 by former First Lady Rosalyn Carter and Betty Bumpers, wife of Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers. Every Child by Two is funded in part by grants from Merck, Lederle and Connaught, the three largest U.S. vaccine manufacturers.
The non-profit CDC Foundation, which began operation in 1995, has raised more than $15 million in the past four years to augment the CDC's campaign to enforce mass vaccination. The CDC Foundation, the Task Force for Child Survival & Development and vaccine manufacturers funded the recent National Immunization Conference held in Atlanta.
The five-year-old non-profit Immunization Action Coalition operates the Hepatitis B Coalition, which nationally promotes hepatitis B vaccination for all children. Funding comes from private donations, including a grant from SmithKline Beecham, manufacturer of the hepatitis B vaccine, and a new $750,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control. A newsletter produced by this group contains the assurance that "Everything herein is reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for technical accuracy (unless it is an opinion piece written by a non-CDC author)."
Pharmacists Now Vaccinate - SmithKline Beecham, through the American Pharmaceutical Association, has also funded a nationwide campaign called "Pharmacy-Based Immunization Advocacy" which allows pharmacists to vaccinate children and adults. As of 1998, the Hepatitis B Coalition reports that 23 states have passed laws giving pharmacists the right to sell and administer hepatitis B and other vaccines.
Families Penalized For Refusing Hep B Vaccine - As state health departments accumulate power and money to force vaccination with all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine, child and adult citizens are punished by both federal and state health officials with economic sanctions for refusing to comply. Refusal to be injected with hepatitis B vaccine can result in citizens being denied an education, including enrollment in daycare, elementary school, high school, college and graduate school; denial of health insurance; denial of employment; denial of federal entitlement benefits for poor children including food under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and medical care under Medicaid. In some states, like Texas, a needy family loses $25 per month per child in state health benefits if all children have not received all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine.
Hep B Vaccine Licensed By FDA Without Adequate Proof of Long Term Safety - In 1986, the FDA gave Merck & Co. a license to market the first recombinant DNA hepatitis B vaccine, which replaced the old hepatitis B vaccines made from blood taken from human chronic hepatitis B virus carriers. In awarding Merck & Co. and, later, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, licenses to market their genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccines in the U.S., the FDA allowed both drug companies to use "safety" studies which only included a few thousand children monitored for only four or five days after vaccination to check for reactions. As "proof" their hepatitis B vaccine is safe to be used in children, Merck & Co. stated in their 1993 product insert that "In a group of studies, 1636 doses of RECOMBIVAX HB were administered to 653 healthy infants and children (up to 10 years of age) who were monitored for 5 days after each dose."
Merck & Co. found that injection site and systemic complaints, such as fatigue and weakness, fever, headache and arthralgia (joint pain), were reported following up to 17 percent of all hepatitis B injections. Because the FDA did not require drug companies to provide scientific evidence that hepatitis B vaccine does not compromise the immune and neurological systems of children and adults over weeks, months or years post-vaccination, Merck & Co. warns in the 1996 product insert that "As with any vaccine, there is the possibility that broad use of the vaccine could reveal adverse reactions not observed in clinical trials" and SmithKline Beecham (1993) has a similar warning that "it is possible that expanded commercial use of the vaccine could reveal rare adverse reactions.
Another warning in the Merck 1996 product insert is "it is also not known whether the vaccine can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity" and "it is not known whether the vaccine is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are secreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when the vaccine is administered to a nursing woman."
And, although doctors routinely inject hepatitis B vaccine into children along with many other vaccines such as DPT, HIB, MMR and chicken pox vaccine, Merck & Co. state in the 1996 product insert: "Specific data are not yet available for the simultaneous administration of RECOMBIVAX HB with other vaccines."
Hep B Vaccine Efficacy Also Questioned - All vaccines stimulate only an artificial, temporary immunity, and the length of immunity conferred by the hepatitis B vaccine and the future need for more "booster" doses later in life is still not clear. Merck & Co state in their 1996 hepatitis B vaccine product insert that "the duration of the protective effect of RECOMBIVAX HB in healthy vaccinees is unknown at present and the need for booster doses is not yet defined."
In the CDC Prevention Guidelines: A Guide to Action (1997), the CDC states "The duration of protection [of hepatitis B vaccine] and need for booster doses are not yet fully defined. Between 30% and 50% of persons who develop adequate antibody after three doses of vaccine will lose detectable antibody within 7 years but protection against viremic infection and clinical disease appears to persist." If immunity only lasts 7 years, babies vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine may be candidates for more shots at age seven.
IOM Report Reveals Lack Of Adequate Scientific Studies - In Adverse Events Associated with Childhood Vaccines published in 1994 by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, observations about the limitations of hepatitis B vaccine studies included the statements that "it is important to note that individual trials usually involved a few hundred subjects for study...when larger vaccination programs were monitored, observations of adverse events were necessarily less detailed and less accurately reported" and "the studies were not designed to assess serious, rare adverse events; the total number of recipients is too small and the follow-up generally too short to detect rare or delayed serious adverse reactions."
The IOM report also noted that no controlled observational studies or controlled clinical trials have ever been held to evaluate repeated reports that hepatitis B vaccine can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome; arthritis; transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis and other central demyelinating diseases of the nervous system (degeneration of the myelin sheath of the brain that helps transmit nerve impulses); or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
A major conclusion of the Institute of Medicine report was that almost no basic science research has been undertaken to define at the cellular and molecular level the biological mechanism of vaccine-induced injury and death. The report concluded that "The lack of adequate data regarding many of the adverse events under study was of major concern to the committee...the committee encountered many gaps and limitations in knowledge bearing directly or indirectly on the safety of vaccines. These include inadequate understanding of the biologic mechanisms underlying adverse events following natural infection or immunization, insufficient or inconsistent information from case reports and case series...and inadequate size or length of follow-up of many population-based epidemiologic studies…."
Medical Literature Cites Immune System/Brain Damage - During the past decade, there have been many reports in the medical literature (primarily in international medical journals rather than U.S. medical journals) that hepatitis B vaccination is causing chronic immune and neurological disease in children and adults, including lupus: Tudela & Bonal (1992); Mamoux & Dumont (1994); Guiserix (1996); arthritis, including polyarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: Christan & Helin (1987); Hachulla et al (1990); Rogerson & Nye (1990); Biasi et al (1993),(1994); Vautier & Carty (1994); Hassan & Oldham (1994); Rheumatic Review (1994); Gross et al (1995); Pope et al (1995); Cathebras et al (1996); Soubrier et al (1997); Guillain Barre Syndrome GBS): Shaw et al (1988), Tuohy (1989); demyelinating disorders such as optic neuritis, Bell's Palsy, demyelinating neuropathy, transverse myelitis and multiple sclerosis: Shaw et al (1988); WHO (1990); Reutens et al (1990); Herroelen et al (1991); Nadler (1993); Brezin et al (1993); Mahassin et al (1993); Kaplanski et al (1995); Baglivo et al (1996); Marsaudon & Barrault (1996); Berkman et al (1996); Waisbren (1997); diabetes mellitus: Poutasi (1996); Classen (1996); chronic fatigue: Salit (1993); Delage et al (1993); vascular disorders: Fried et al (1987); Goolsby (1989); Cockwell et al (1990); Poullin & Gabriel (1994); Mathieu et al (1996); Graniel et al (1997); and others.
In 1996, Burton A. Waisbren, M.D., a cell biologist and infectious disease specialist, who is a founding member of the Infectious Disease Society of America and past President of the Infectious Disease Society of Milwaukee, pointed out in the Wisconsin Medical Journal that "there is an increasing number of reports in the refereed medical literature about demyelinizing diseases occurring after an individual has received the hepatitis B vaccination...since the hepatitis B virus itself has been reported to cause autoimmune problems, should we not be wary of giving antigens that seem to have triggered these problems?" Waisbren, in a presentation before a 1996 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum, warned that genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccines contain polypeptide sequences that are present in human neurologic tissues such as myelin and that, by a mechanism called molecular mimicry, these polypeptides can act as autoantigens which can induce autoimmune demyelinating diseases of the brain such as multiple sclerosis.
In that same year, Montinari et al published a study in Italy evaluating 30 children and adults, the majority aged 3 to 9 months, who suffered central nervous system disorders, such as seizures and autism, following hepatitis B vaccination. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there is an immunogenetic basis (autoimmune type) responsible for the demyelination process in the brain that can occur following recombinant hepatitis B vaccination. The authors concluded "autoimmune diseases are more frequent in nations where vaccines are widely used, the so called "clear" communities" and they identified several potential genetic markers that "may visualize risk patients for autoimmune diseases following hepatitis B vaccination.
Montinari's work to identify genetic factors for predisposition to hepatitis B vaccine reactions is important in light of the study in 1989 by Alper et al to identify genetic factors for those who do not respond to hepatitis B vaccination. In that study, the authors concluded that there was genetic predisposition to failure to respond to the vaccine. They stated: "These results support our hypothesis that the production of anti-HBsAg [vaccine-induced antibodies] is a dominant trait and that the inability to produce high titers of anti-HBsAG after adequate immunization is a recessive trait..." The authors concluded that the genetic markers they identified are most prevalent in caucasians of European descent "and is associated with a wide variety of diseases with autoimmune features in this population, including Type 1 diabetes mellitus..."
In 1996, Barthelow Classen, M.D., CEO of Classen Immunotherapies Inc., published an epidemiologic study in the New Zealand Medical Journal and reported that there was a 60 percent increase in Type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes) following a massive campaign in New Zealand from 1988 to 1991 to vaccinate babies six weeks of age or older with hepatitis B vaccine. His analysis of a group of 100,000 New Zealand children prospectively followed since 1982 showed that the incidence of diabetes before the hepatitis B vaccination program began in 1988 was 11.2 cases per 100,000 children per year while the incidence of diabetes following the hepatitis B vaccination campaign was 18.2 cases per 100,000 children per year.
Vaccine Injuries Reported At NVIC Conference on Vaccination - At the First International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the NVIC on September 13-15, 1997 in Alexandria, Virginia, physicians and scientists from around the world gathered to speak about vaccine-induced chronic illness. Canadian physician Byron Hyde, M.D., Chairman of the Nightingale Research Foundation, and an internationally recognized authority on myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome), spoke about the data he has accumulated on more than 200 cases of serious immune and neurological dysfunction following hepatitis B vaccination. Dr. Hyde said:
"There was a nurse in Wisconsin who had had two immunizations against hepatitis B. After the second, she started to complain. They insisted that she have three more [shots], full dosage. They gave her the first, she complained of headaches, pain, and they told her this was anxiety neurosis. They gave her the fourth and fifth and she lost I.Q., measurable loss of intelligence, measurable loss in stamina, all of the things you see in the worst cases of ME or chronic fatigue syndrome.....A lot of these cases that we've looked at suggest demyelinating disease, disseminated myelitis, localized injuries, three unexplained deaths...the problem with all of this is that nobody has ever seriously studied it...."
Dr. Hyde was particularly critical of the poor science and medicine that hurts patients. He concluded "Almost all of these people who had adverse reactions after the first immunization, after the second immunization were individuals who had immunological side effects and who told their physicians and the physicians did nothing about it but continued to proceed with immunization... I think part of the problem is the pharmaceutical companies and the governments themselves have attempted to say 'Here, take this sugar pill, it is danger-free, it is a wonderful thing, it has no risk, no problems' and doctors have become lazy and actually believed this dangerous philosophy put out by the pharmaceutical companies and the governments."
Hep B Vaccine Infant Deaths Reported In VAERS - Even though fewer than 10 percent of all doctors report health problems following vaccination, there are more than 16,000 reports of hospitalizations, injuries and deaths following hepatitis B vaccination that have been reported to the U.S. government Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since July 1990. There are reports of deaths in infants under one month of age following hepatitis B vaccination in VAERS, with most of the deaths being classified as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), even though SIDS is not historically recognized in the medical literature as occurring in babies under two months of age.
One of those death reports was made for a 15-day old baby boy who died within 48 hours of his first dose of hepatitis B vaccine. His father testified at a 1995 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum workshop. He described what happened:
"For the first 13 days of his life, Nicholas was no different than any other baby. He ate well. When he slept, he slept well. He acted just like my first son acted when he came home from the hospital." Nicholas was given a hepatitis B shot at his regular check up at the pediatrician's office on the 13th day of his life. His father said:
"That night when I got home from work, I noticed that Nicholas was crying a lot more than usual. In fact, he was screaming some of the time. He was acting differently, but because we had just taken him to the doctor for a checkup and they told us he was a big healthy boy, we thought everything was OK. When he was just acting fussy, like babies sometimes do, we didn't know anything about vaccines or that they can cause problems for some babies."
"Nicholas cried on and off for most of the night. When I got up and went to work the next day, he was still crying on and off. He continued during most of the day and into the evening. The next morning, his mother found him dead in his crib. From the way he looked, he had been dead for several hours."
An autopsy was done the next day. A couple of weeks later, our pediatrician told us over the phone that the autopsy showed Nicholas had died of sudden infant death syndrome. He told us Nicholas was one of the healthiest babies he had ever seen…. What I didn't know then but I know now is that the pediatrician had made a report within 17 days of Nicholas' death to the government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, VAERS. In VAERS, Nicholas' death is listed as SIDS. Even though I didn't know anything about vaccines or SIDS, something told me that there was a reason why Nicholas died, and I had to find out why."
After seeing an article in the Washington Post about the Institute of Medicine report on adverse events associated with childhood vaccines, Nicholas's father called the National Vaccine Information Center and began talking to experts and researching infant death and vaccines. Eventually a clinical professor of pathology, who had reviewed Nicholas' medical records, autopsy and slides, stated in writing that Nicholas did not die of SIDS but died a cardiac death, caused by passive congestive changes with pulmonary edema and hemorrhage caused by the active immunization with hepatitis B vaccine. The pathologist stated "I do not believe this was a sudden infant death syndrome death. Sudden infant death syndrome is the most abused diagnosis in pediatric pathology. In this particular case, the infant was two weeks old. Sudden infant death at two weeks old is so rare as to be virtually unheard of."
The pathologist went on to say that Nicholas was at high risk for congestive heart failure because his mother had gestational diabetes, but that he would definitely have survived were it not for the stress induced by the hepatitis B vaccination.
Nicholas's father, in his testimony before the Institute of Medicine, asked "How many other newborn babies are dying from the effects of hepatitis B vaccine, but are being wrongly diagnosed as SIDS and no one ever knows the difference? I looked at the computer printouts of VAERS reports at the National Vaccine Information Center, and I saw there were other reports of babies just a few days or weeks old, who have died shortly after hepatitis B vaccination. Many are listed as SIDS deaths, but are they?"
Adults Report Hep B Vaccine Injury And Death To NVIC - As hepatitis B requirements force more adults to get vaccinated as a condition for getting a higher education or working in the health care field, NVIC is receiving more and more reaction reports like this one from a disabled nurse, who recently wrote in:
"24 hours after my first [hepatitis B] shot, I had muscle pain in legs and arms - was told this was 'normal.' Same thing after 2nd shot. Six weeks after 2nd shot I had my first episode of Raynauds [temporary loss of blood flow to fingers resulting in tingling, throbbing, swelling, intense pain] and also began having rashes on arms and neck. At this point it was minor and not constant. I asked if it had anything to do with the vaccine and was told no.
"Six months after the 1st shot, I received the booster. From then (1995) to today, I have constant daily fevers up to 100.5, tormenting rashes and prickling on arms, hands, neck and legs, muscle degeneration, joint pain with restricted movement, difficulty swallowing and Raynauds has become severe.
"I was perfectly healthy until the hepatitis B vaccinations and still all the doctors tell me it has nothing to do with my illness. I had reactions to two of the drugs they tried to treat me with. I am on total disability because of these symptoms. I am an RN but was taught that the vaccines were perfectly safe."
Parents Oppose Hepatitis B Vaccine Mandate In Illinois - In the spring of 1997, a suburban Chicago mother of two daughters, ages 9 and 11, became concerned when she received a notice from the school system stating that her older daughter had to be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine by September 1997 or she would be barred from attending school. Although both of Kathy Rothschild's daughters were fully vaccinated with all other childhood vaccines, she didn't know anyone with hepatitis B and couldn't understand why her daughter had to get the vaccine. Her research led her to a public library and then to NVIC.
With the help of Kathy Rothschild's State Senator, Kathy Parker, an agreement by the Illinois Department of Health to not voice opposition, and with support from NVIC members around the state, a bill passed the Illinois Senate 52-2 on March 20, 1997, allowing parents the right to philosophical exemption to vaccination. The bill also created a Task Force and required the Board of Health to hold public hearings to review how Illinois public health employees add new vaccines to state vaccination laws and how they implement those laws.
After the bill overwhelmingly passed the Senate, the Illinois Department of Health went back on its pledge not to oppose the bill and vigorously fought against the bill in the House, successfully killing it in committee before it had a chance to come to a floor vote. However, the health department did agree to roll back the hepatitis B mandate for one year (until September 1998) and to hold three public hearings, which resulted in testimony from physician expert witnesses and parents and reinforced the dangers of hepatitis B vaccine and the need for informed consent rights to be established within state vaccine requirements.
Doctor, Mothers Say Vaccine Safety Data Poor - In a December 1997 public hearing in Chicago before the Illinois Board of Health, Mayer Eisenstein, M.D., M.P.H., who is board certified in public health and preventive medicine, quality assurance utilization review, by the National Board of Medical Examiners and has recently completed a law degree, testified against the proposed hepatitis B mandate. He said: "The idea of giving this vaccine to a one-day old baby, a newborn, is preposterous. There is no scientific evidence for this. In fact, I called up the [hepatitis B vaccine] manufacturer and I had [a representative] come to St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital, where I am Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and I asked him: ‘Show me your evidence on one-day old infants as to side effects [from the hepatitis B vaccine]’ – we have none. Our studies were done on 5 and 10 year olds....As a father, grandfather, a physician, as a lawyer, I want the option of not giving it to my children unless I believe the scientific evidence is there."
Later during the public hearing, a mother whose child reacted to the hepatitis B vaccine testified that "We were told unless we had the shot our children were not getting into school. In the past, I got the shots for my children. So I went and got the [hepatitis B] shot. First shot, my daughter got slightly sick. We didn't associate it with the shot. We associated it with possible flu. Her legs hurt. Her back hurt...."
"The second shot, within two days of this shot, my daughter's symptoms went from mild to severe abdominal pain around the clock. She couldn't eat. She couldn't sleep. Her legs hurt. She broke out in a rash. She had eczema over most of her body. Going to the doctor, we were told it was in her head, that she needed a psychiatrist. Then we decided we would find out for ourselves.
"It was the people who gave me [information on the vaccine], the list that I should have gotten first that said what the reactions were, including severe abdominal pain, eczema, rash, hair loss. My doctor didn't tell me that. I was given a piece of paper that said reactions would be a minimum, maybe a small fever. She had a fever the whole time.
"I never knew any of this existed, and this is $18,000 later, a child who [had to be] out of school for the first three months and was tutored at home. I don't want to see other kids go through this. I think there should be more testing done. I think the parents should know that this shot isn't for something that's easily picked up. This is for sexual transmission or drug use. My child is ten years old. She plays with Barbie dolls and paints her fingernails. She doesn't know about this stuff. I don't want to give her a shot to protect her from something and someplace she's not at yet."
Citizens Make Plea for Informed Consent - Before testifying at a Board of Health public hearing held in Springfield on March 26, 1998, NVIC held a press conference in the State Capitol building. Then, along with scores of Illinois parents who traveled to Springfield to make public comment, NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher Reverend Robert VandenBosch, President of the American Research Foundation, and Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., professor of cell biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, presented formal testimony.
Fisher told the Board of Health "There is a six year old girl named Katherine lying in a bed in Skokie, Illinois unable to lift her head off her pillow or walk to the bathroom. Just 13 weeks ago, Katherine was an ice skater with boundless energy and a dream of going to the Olympics. Her mother didn't want her to get the hepatitis B shot but her pediatrician told her it was a political issue like AIDS and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) was going to mandate the vaccine soon. Katherine got that hepatitis B shot and now she may never skate again. Where were her informed consent rights? And where will the doctors from the state health department and the CDC and the AAP be when her mother carries her up the stairs to the bathroom? And will the state of Illinois pay her medical bills when her insurance runs out after DHHS and the Justice Department oppose giving her federal compensation?"
During limited public comment time, all of the parents asked the Board of Health to allow citizens to follow the judgement of their conscience when making vaccination decisions for their children, including the right to exercise informed consent to vaccination without suffering harassment and punishment at the hands of state health and school officials. Some, like a young man who was kicked out of an Illinois college in the middle of the semester because of his sincere religious beliefs, asked for the right to follow his religious convictions without being punished by doctors employed by the state. He said:
"They have refused to give me credit for this semester and have told me not to attend class and have cancelled my appointment with my advisors. I applied for a religious exemption. Both my parents wrote letters identifying my objection. We were refused on the grounds that, in order for a religious exemption to occur, I must identify 'a recognized church or religious organization.' I don't believe that anyone has a right to judge my religion. How does recognition of my belief by another human being make it more or less? I am confused by the word 'organized.' How does the number of people or the structure under which they operate validate my beliefs? This is a violation of my Constitutional right to religious freedom."
Rev. Robert VandenBosch, an ethicist, warned that "The First Amendment [of the U.S. Constitution] clearly defines the free exercise of religious beliefs and the moral rights of individuals to obey the judgement of their conscience in matters of life and death. The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that governmental authority cannot override individual rights of conscience. It states: 'The enumeration of the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.' One of the rights retained by the people is the right of conscience."
Professor Of Cell Biology Investigates Hep B Vaccine Damage - Professor Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., who has a distinguished 25 year career in academic and laboratory science and has been honored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her pioneering work in contraceptive vaccine development, presented at the March 26 Illinois Board of Health hearing and described disabling reactions to hepatitis B vaccine suffered by her brother and a research assistant.
"Three years ago my brother, who is a geologist Ph.D. agronomist with four college degrees, came to work with me at Baylor College of Medicine to work on a collaborative project in molecular genetic engineering of wheat proteins. He was required to take the hepatitis B vaccine. Within 24 hours to four days after the first injection, he had fever and severe fatigue for one week. Two to four weeks after that injection, he ended up with a whole series of symptoms that now 15 doctors have said are clearly symptoms of an adverse reaction to this vaccination. Even workman's compensation for the state of Texas is compensating him for over $300,000 worth of medical expenses."
"At about the same time, a 21-year old girl, a medical student, came to work in my lab for the summer, She, too, had to get the hepatitis B vaccine. After the first injection, she had fever and fatigue. Three weeks following her second injection, she lost vision in her one eye but, after 6 months, regained most of her sight. She was reluctant to get the third dose of vaccine, and talked with her doctor and he told her this [hepatitis B] vaccine is the safest, there's no problem. After the third injection, she ended up in the hospital for two months extremely ill and she has lost all of her eyesight in one eye."
Dr. Dunbar went on to explain to the Board of Health members that during the past three years of collecting data on the hepatitis B vaccine, she has been contacted by hundreds of doctors and patients around the world who have reported severe autoimmune and neurological complications to hepatitis B vaccination in previously healthy children and adults, including serious rashes, fever, joint pain, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis and lupus-like symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis and neurological dysfunction. As a basic science researcher with expertise in cell and molecular biology, she is investigating the possibility that molecular mimicry or other autoimmune mechanisms may be the reason why the genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine "tricks" the immune systems of genetically susceptible individuals into attacking their own bodies, causing debilitating autoimmune disorders.
After analyzing the data she has accumulated, Dr. Dunbar, in collaboration with colleagues at other academic and medical institutions, applied for a NIH research grant to investigate the role that genetic factors may play in hepatitis B vaccine reactions and in vaccine failures. Their goal is to identify genetic markers so high risk children and adults could be screened out of the mass vaccination program and spared injury and death. The grant was turned down twice by the government in July 1997 and July 1998 but Dr. Dunbar and her colleagues are in the process of refiling the grant, along with additional data.
Hep B Vaccine Victims In France Sue - An article in the July 31, 1998 issue of Science, an American scientific journal, reports that French attorneys representing 15,000 French citizens filed a lawsuit against the French government "accusing it of understating the vaccine's risks and exaggerating the benefits for the average person." One French physician has reportedly collected data on more than 600 people suffering from serious immune and neurological dysfunction following hepatitis B vaccination, many with symptoms resembling multiple sclerosis. Science quotes a World Health Organization official as saying "These fears [of the hepatitis B vaccine] are quite unfounded" and reveals that CDC employee Robert Chen, who is responsible for monitoring vaccine safety for the U.S. government, has a simple explanation for the growing number of reports of hepatitis B vaccine associated injury and death in the U.S., Canada and Europe. His scientific analysis leads him to believe that "It's human nature to attribute cause to almost anything that precedes a tragedy."
Hep B Vaccination Can Mean A Positive Hep B Blood Test - A little known fact about hepatitis B vaccine is that those who are vaccinated can test positive for hepatitis B on some routine blood tests. NVIC has received calls from adults who report that, after getting hepatitis B vaccine, they are testing positive for hepatitis B when they undergo routine blood tests in doctor's offices. The Red Cross maintains that more sensitive lab tests used by blood banks can differentiate between hepatitis B antibodies produced by disease and those produced by the vaccine.
HIV vaccines now being tested in humans also produce positive tests for HIV. As noted in a September 1997 Washington Post article about HIV vaccine trials: "Foremost among the worries of many would-be volunteers is the problem of forever testing positive for AIDS antibodies...although sophisticated laboratory tests can usually tell the difference between AIDS antibodies caused by a vaccine and those that indicate a real HIV infection, few laboratories are equipped to make that distinction. Moreover, as vaccines get better by more closely mimicking the real infection, it will become more difficult to distinguish between the two."
Is Forced Hepatitis B Vaccination Paving Way For Forced Vaccination With AIDS Vaccine?Hepatitis B is the first disease transmitted not by casual contact like smallpox or polio, but by high risk behavior such as IV drug use and sexual promiscuity, that has been mandated for use by all children. With the identical transmission routes as HIV, there are strong indications that forced vaccination of infants and children with hepatitis B is just a trial run for forced vaccination with an AIDS vaccine when it is put on the market in the next few years. AIDS vaccines are currently in human trials as a race to bring them to market intensified after a call last year by President Clinton to make the creation and use of an AIDS vaccine "a national mission."
CDC Plans For Mass Vaccination Of All Children With AIDS Vaccine – In a February 12, 1997 meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Neal Halsey, M.D., chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, AAP liaison member of the ACIP and Director of the Institute of Vaccine Safety at John's Hopkins University, reminded HIV vaccine researchers and developers at the meeting that the CDC plans to target 11 to 12 year old children for "universal application" of an HIV vaccine. Halsey told them:
"One of the things that's happened in the past with vaccines is that sometimes the manufacturers have developed them and tested them primarily in an age group or a population which may not be the final target population that this committee has considered. Over the last few years we have developed a statement on adolescent immunization and it probably would be worth your reading that, and others, because we really see age 11 to 12 as the target age for introduction of vaccines for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. And I know that, at this time, you are really studying adults and you're also some distance away from the actual - having a [HIV] vaccine in hand that might be licensed and approved - but at least it would be nice if there were studies that were planned in parallel when you move another step in the direction of actually having a candidate vaccine, realizing where WE think we would want to use universal application of such a vaccine. And so I think maybe [you should get] a copy of the adolescent immunization statement."
With the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI) and pharmaceutical industry setting up the mechanism for global mass vaccination of children and adults, including the creation of national and international vaccine tracking systems, countries with low HIV rates like the U.S. and Europe will be forced to use an HIV vaccine in order to pay for the vaccination of populations in Asia and Africa where HIV infection rates are skyrocketing. In 1996, HIV vaccine developer Stanley Plotkin, M.D., of Pasteur Merieux Pharmaceuticals (who developed the rubella vaccine and has been a vaccine policymaker member of the AAP Committee on Infectious Disease and AAP liaison member of the ACIP) explained why mandatory vaccination in rich countries like the U.S. help deliver vaccines to Third World markets:
"The keystone of the [global mass vaccination] system is that the research costs [of drug companies] are recouped in North America and Europe and the vaccines are sold in the developing world at much, much lower margins...the relatively high rate of childhood vaccination seen lately in most parts of the world is the result of that system," explained Plotkin.
CDC Tells Congress About Future Vaccines - In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources in 1997, CDC official Walter Orenstein, M.D., made a bid to persuade Congress to reauthorize 288 million dollars for the CDC's Immunization Grant Program in the $427 million 1998 DHHS budget request for immunization activities. In a review of the history of vaccination, Dr. Orenstein recounted that, although almost a century passed between the development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 and that of the rabies vaccine in the 1880's, by the middle of the 20th century there were nearly two dozen vaccines on the market.
Painting a picture of the future, Orenstein said: "On the horizon are vaccine technologies that would have been considered science fiction just a decade ago, but are now reported at scientific meetings. Snippets of synthetic DNA have worked as experimental vaccines in animals. Edible plants have been bioengineered to become vaccine factories....vaccines have been enclosed in microscopic capsules, permitting them to be released slowly over time..."
Orenstein reminded legislators that "Every day about 11,000 babies are born in this country. Each of these children starts with immunization coverage of zero. There is why our responsibility to our Nation's children never ends; it must be sustained every day of every year....completing state-based immunization registries is the cornerstone of assuring disease prevention."
Vaccine Registries To Tag, Track, Force Vaccination - Even though CDC officials admit that there is already a 96 percent vaccination rate in the U.S. with federally recommended vaccines, they are setting up state vaccine tracking registries and plan to link them together to create a de facto national electronic tracking system to ensure mass compliance with federal vaccine policies. Citizens will be tagged with a number at birth and tracked even when moving from state to state.
In 1995, DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala appropriated the social security numbers assigned to newborns to allow states to enter all babies in state vaccine tracking systems. In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum legislation, outlined plans for a "unique health care identifier" number, which is an alternative to the social security number, to be assigned to citizens at birth and electronically monitor their medical records, including vaccination records.
In a 1998 CDC publication entitled Initiative on Immunization Registries, the CDC states that "we see [vaccine] registries as a possible first step in the development of an electronic pediatric record" and "computerized registries will eventually be capable of capturing immunization for individuals of all ages" and "until a unique personal identifier can be established on a national basis, multiple means of identification must be used [in state vaccine registries]." Core data that is now collected in many state vaccine tracking systems include a citizen's name, address, phone number, social security number, birth date, sex, race, primary language, patient birth order, patient birth registration number, patient Medicaid number, mother's name (including maiden name) and social security number and father's name and social security number.
Most often state officials automatically enroll newborns into the vaccine registry without informing parents or giving them the right to "opt-out" of the registry. In the state of Texas, PROVE, a parent group led by Dawn Richardson, worked to get legislation passed in 1997 requiring the state health departments to obtain a parent’s prior written consent to enroll a child in a vaccine registry.
The CDC goes on to state that one of their main goals is "establishing a target date to achieve the goal of establishing immunization registries in every community in the Nation" and "promoting the inter-operability of registries with other developing medical information systems" and "promoting the automated exchange of immunization records between registries."
What You Can Do - If you want to make informed, voluntary decisions about hepatitis B vaccination, there are several actions you can take to educate your community and protect your informed consent and privacy rights. Circulate this newsletter in your community among your family, friends, and neighbors. Get reprints by sending in the enclosed reprint order card. Reprints are available for $1.25 each. Bulk pricing is available. Give copies to your doctors, lawyers, teachers, school principals, nurses and others. Send a copy to your favorite newspaper, radio and TV station. Send a copy to your state and federal legislators with a personal letter. Report vaccine reactions by calling NVIC at 1-800-909SHOT or accessing NVIC's website at www.nvic.org. If you are pregnant, get tested for hepatitis B disease. If you are infected, your baby is a candidate for vaccination. Stand up for your informed consent rights. If you do not test positive for hepatitis B; do not fall into one of the high risk categories described in this newsletter; and decide you do not want your newborn vaccinated before leaving the hospital newborn nursery, you can amend the "consent for medical treatment" forms you sign upon entering the hospital before giving birth by writing on the form that you do not give consent for hepatitis B vaccination of your baby in the hospital. Check to see if your state has a vaccine tracking system and, if you do not want your baby enrolled in a tracking system, find out how you can exercise your informed consent rights. Get more information, including checking your state vaccination laws for requirements and exemptions. Hepatitis B vaccine is required in 35 states. There are medical exemptions in all states, religious exemption in all but two states (West Virginia and Mississippi) and philosophical exemption in 16 states. Don't let anyone intimidate or coerce you into taking action before you have had the opportunity to become fully informed about all your options and are comfortable with your vaccination decision.
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| posted by on 12/19/2007 07:21 PM
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| I just have one question for you Jackie, what happenes when it is time to enroll them in schoo and they say these vaccines are required but you refuse to get them? Do they allow you to enroll your children? |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 07:35 PM
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| Actually, I have a new peditrician that has done her research and my friends who are chiropractors. They all have much research on the vaccinations so I am going to just go with my feelings. I am not putting anyone down or at all defensive of anyone's opinions. But just to answer your question on the school thing. You can enroll your children still w/o vaccinations. Both my new ped and chiro. have their children in school w/o them. You just have to provide a letter of explanation and you are good...it is pretty simple. They just "prefer" to have them for each child. Now college is a whole new ball game. |
| posted by Jessica on 12/19/2007 07:38 PM
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| I am orig from NJ and was told unless it was religious, they had to be vaccinated for certain things or no entry. I am not trying to be defensive sorry if it seemed like that, but some things are fact, Autism being genetic and not something you catch is one of them. I read the CDC page, and it seems to me the CDC is for vaccinating, as they would be, based on their name. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 07:43 PM
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| Maybe NJ is different? Here in AZ that is the case. I know each state has their owe thing going at times. And I know for sure Private Schools have their own thing as well. I am not too concerned about it at this point since I have seen it done for other reasons that have nothing to do with religion. That was one of my concerns until I found out it was possible. |
| posted by Jessica on 12/19/2007 07:50 PM
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This is an interesting topic. I am now doing a lot of reading on the subject of vaccinations. I have up to this point put alot of faith in the medical community, if they say vaccinate, I vaccinate. It's not something they even asked us about when we had our baby.
However, this post has prompted me to do a bit of research of my own, and I will continue my quest for knowledge, as I want to make the best choices for my little one.
I found some very interesting articles noting a connection between SIDS and I think it was the Dtap vaccine. This is very scary, and will make me think twice about early vaccinations should I ever have another baby. |
| posted by Bethany on 12/19/2007 07:53 PM
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PA has medical and religious exemptions.
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/028/chapter23/s23.84.html
§ 23.84. Exemption from immunization.
(a) Medical exemption. Children need not be immunized if a physician or the physician’s designee provides a written statement that immunization may be detrimental to the health of the child. When the physician determines that immunization is no longer detrimental to the health of the child, the child shall be immunized according to this subchapter.
(b) Religious exemption. Children need not be immunized if the parent, guardian or emancipated child objects in writing to the immunization on religious grounds or on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief.
Source
The provisions of this § 23.84 amended through September 17, 1982, effective August 1, 1983, 12 Pa.B. 3288; amended August 22, 1997, effective August 23, 1997, 27 Pa.B. 4317. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (164332) to (164333) and (129145).
Cross References
This section cited in 22 Pa. Code § 11.20 (relating to nonimmunizated children); 22 Pa. Code § 51.13 (relating to immunization); 28 Pa. Code § 23.85 (relating to responsibilities of schools and school administrators); and 28 Pa. Code § 27.77 (relating to immunization requirements for children in child care group settings).
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| posted by on 12/19/2007 08:00 PM
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| I forgot. I am considering homeschooling my daughter. The vaccines are not the only reason for this. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 08:08 PM
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No one is saying that there is not a genetic component to autism. Research clearly indicates that this is so. However, there are also proposed nutritional deficiencies, sanitational insufficiencies, and hyper-activity of the immune system after being vaccinated as proposed preventable causes.
If you go back and read the article "What They Don't Tell You About Vaccination Dangers", you will see the MD/researcher clearly explains how the brain releases certain chemicals in response to the vaccinations (and to most free radicals for that matter) that cause significant damage to the neurological system. So, it has nothing to do with 'catching' autism, and no one is refuting that in some cases there is a genetic predisposition for the disorder. Vaccinations just cause certain changes in the brain's immunology that can be devastating.
As far as the theory that 'the less people vaccinate, the more disease will occur' comes with a few flaws. As I mentioned earlier, when there is a disease outbreak, most of those affected have been vaccinated. I have never been vaccinated. The only childhood disease I contracted was chicken pox. When I was in medical school doing clinical rounds, I was treating people with all kinds of contagious diseases. In four years of school, I did not get sick one time. I don't think I just happened to be lucky. I attribute it to the fact that I am extremely healthy, eat well, work out and take care of myself in general.
Microbes (viruses, bacteria, yeast, etc...) are around us ALL the time. Why is it that we are not constantly coming down with some horrible disease. Staphylococcus aureus lives on our skin, but we are not always coming down with Staph infections each time we get a little cut. The reason is because of our immune system. If given a chance, it will actually work.
By the way Jackie...when I gave birth to my son and refused the HepB vaccine for him, I told the pediatrician that I did not think my son would be having sex or partaking in IV drug use anytime soon. I think this is a ludicrous vaccine for infants who are not in a high risk situation (i.e. mom with hep b).
There are several ways to get your little one in school without immunizations. Some ways include: 'reasons of conscience (philosophical)' or medical or religious objections .
One last comment: if vaccinatios are mandatory, shouldn't they be free?
-Allison
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| posted by Allison on 12/19/2007 08:20 PM
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No one is saying that there is not a genetic component to autism. Research clearly indicates that this is so. However, there are also proposed nutritional deficiencies, sanitational insufficiencies, and hyper-activity of the immune system after being vaccinated as proposed preventable causes.
If you go back and read the article "What They Don't Tell You About Vaccination Dangers", you will see the MD/researcher clearly explains how the brain releases certain chemicals in response to the vaccinations (and to most free radicals for that matter) that cause significant damage to the neurological system. So, it has nothing to do with 'catching' autism, and no one is refuting that in some cases there is a genetic predisposition for the disorder. Vaccinations just cause certain changes in the brain's immunology that can be devastating.
As far as the theory that 'the less people vaccinate, the more disease will occur' comes with a few flaws. As I mentioned earlier, when there is a disease outbreak, most of those affected have been vaccinated. I have never been vaccinated. The only childhood disease I contracted was chicken pox. When I was in medical school doing clinical rounds, I was treating people with all kinds of contagious diseases. In four years of school, I did not get sick one time. I don't think I just happened to be lucky. I attribute it to the fact that I am extremely healthy, eat well, work out and take care of myself in general.
Microbes (viruses, bacteria, yeast, etc...) are around us ALL the time. Why is it that we are not constantly coming down with some horrible disease. Staphylococcus aureus lives on our skin, but we are not always coming down with Staph infections each time we get a little cut. The reason is because of our immune system. If given a chance, it will actually work.
By the way Jackie...when I gave birth to my son and refused the HepB vaccine for him, I told the pediatrician that I did not think my son would be having sex or partaking in IV drug use anytime soon. I think this is a ludicrous vaccine for infants who are not in a high risk situation (i.e. mom with hep b).
There are several ways to get your little one in school without immunizations. Some ways include: 'reasons of conscience (philosophical)' or medical or religious objections .
One last comment: if vaccinatios are mandatory, shouldn't they be free?
-Allison
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| posted by Allison on 12/19/2007 08:20 PM
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| Sorry, don't know why it posted 2X |
| posted by Allison on 12/19/2007 08:23 PM
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Allison,
The ped at the hospital didnt give me a hard time about the hep b vax. I said the same thing you did, LOL. My daughter had the Vit K (which they said she needed, but I didnt agree) and the eye ointment which I also didnt think she needed since she was born C-section and I have no std's. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 08:27 PM
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Jackie,
I did the Vit K, too, because my son was going to be circumsised (and that concerned me a bit, plus Vit K is not really a big deal), but said no on the eye ointment because he was also born via c-section & I am STD free. Oh well, ya can't win them all.
-Allison |
| posted by Allison on 12/19/2007 08:35 PM
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| This is def a debate,sort of like politics and religion.Im glad that the net has so many sites to keep us informed of diff things.I honestly think we were probably all better off not knowing before the internet.lol.joke!I know I dont want Lexi having anymore shots until she gets older.Yesterday a lady that works w my hubby was required to get the DT Booster.She had to go home last night cause she had 102 fever;nausea and all that.Dear God in heaven for the life of me I cant understand the gvt.It freaks me out every year you hear of 2 r 3 ppl dying of meningitious and then all of a sudden a few months later there is a break out of a flu that mimicks it and ppl are flooding the hospitals thinking it could be meng.A few years back my dad and moms senior center that they go to was offering free flu shots.Everyone that got the shot got sick and ended up in the hosp w the flu and then the whooping cough.Ppl at my church also had a special day for flu shots and the older ppl especially got the shots.Every one of them ended up in the hosp w/ flu and whooping cough!My x hubbys work required them to get the flu shot and the guys that did all ended up in the ER w whooping cough and bad flu symtoms.This all took place in 3 months time.Scary huh?How much money do you think the insurance ppl made off all those ppl?What about ppl that had to pay out of pocket?It scares me everytime I have to think of this and the required shots for my child. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/19/2007 09:22 PM
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Wow, this is such a loaded subject. I am a Behavior Specialist for students with Autism, so I hear both sides of this topic often. Just a few thoughts... I don't know the cause of Autism, but I can definitely say that part of the increase in the incidence of Autism is largely due to the expanded criteria (Aspergers is now included). An example would be that if we lowered the IQ requirement for genius to 110, we'd have a lot more people that would qualifya s a genius - but the actual incidence didn't increase, the criteria changed.
Some children that were just socially "different" when we were young now fall under the "Autism" umbrella. I work with sefveral Gifted students that also have Autism. Years ago, if you could maintain yourself in mainstream classes, you would not have been diagnosed w/ Autism.
Autism generally shows itself at 2 years +/- ; to say it is because of the immunizations is similar to saying that going to College brings on Schizophrenia (when in reality, it just tends to manifest itself at that time/age). There is also another study that says having a father over 40 increases the chances of having Autism- and people ARE waiting longer to have children... so, could that be part of the increase?! I have 2 friends with young children that have Autism & it scares me. That being said... I have a 6 month old & so far he has received his shots - but I have considered delaying the shots too. The most important thing is- there is no "proof"- it is up to each Mom/Dad. |
| posted by Sandi on 12/19/2007 09:52 PM
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| Crazy! They do say just because they get the shot doesn't mean they aren't going to get it! The flu shot I absolutely will never get!!! I had it once and I only got it because flu season was suppose to be a bigger deal a few years ago and anyway to make a long story short I had never had the flu but my doctor freaked me out about getting it so I got the shot and I got the flu within in 1 hour and had a temp of 103 and pretty much didn't get better for 3 weeks. It was ridiculous. That is the day I decided these shots are not for me. Then I saw my sons reaction and decided they were not for him either. If you choose not to get them you just have to be cautious with things and make sure they are healthy and giving them the right nutrition, etc. |
| posted by Jessica on 12/19/2007 09:53 PM
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| Thank you Sandi, for saying it much much better than I was trying to! |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 09:56 PM
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| I read Jenny McCarthy's book.....and I have followed everything she has spoken about with the nutritional aspects of Autism, and ways of sort of reversing some of the "symptoms" of autism. I do not have an autistic child, but in researching all of the vaccinations, and then I saw Jenny McCarthy on Oprah, I became very interested in the testing for the Amino imbalances, and the nutritional aspects of helping to control the disorder. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 10:00 PM
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| I also have to admit that my Daughters MMR has been delayed, but not for fear of anything but her severe allergy to egg white and yolk. Her ped. and allergist both suggested waiting until she is 2, to see if maybe she grows out of the egg allergy. |
| posted by on 12/19/2007 10:04 PM
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| I have had my first child get vaccinations since he was two months old, I also started my second at that age. I only heard the one side of it and that they were a good idea. Both of my sons have some of the symptoms that were mentioned. I did not think much of it.(I thought they were just really competative boys) I should have done my homework on the subject, because as we know everyone has their own opinion. This subject is so scary knowing that I have already started. |
| posted by Michelle on 03/02/2008 11:29 AM
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Hey,
You need to find your way over to the varicella vaccine discussion if you haven't already. There's more info relating to vaccines over there. |
| posted by Allison on 03/05/2008 07:09 PM
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