This vaccine has only been on my peripheral radar because they aren’t trying to shoot up my infant with it (yet).  But, I do have friends and family with young daughters approaching the age where their doctor may insist they need this poison.

Reasons NOT to get the Gardasil vaccine for your daughter:

1. It is NOT the most effective way to avoid or find Cervical Cancer. 
   Cervical Cancer is one of the most easily detected cancers to find early and treat well.  The answer is yearly pap tests.  Even if you get the vaccine you still need yearly pap tests.  Pap tests do not have poisons like Gardasil does.
2. It is NOT a cancer vaccine
   This is a horrible marketing scheme that borders on (or has crossed the line to) being blatant mis-information.  Gardasil is NOT a cancer vaccine.  It is a vaccine intended to protect against a virus called HPV which is believed to cause some types of cervical cancer.  A+B does NOT equal Q.
3. It is a mildly effective vaccine at best
   There are 150 known types of human papilloma virus (HPV).  Of the 150 types there are 15 considered high risk and 3 probable high risk for developing into cervical cancer.  According to the American Cancer Society, other risk factors for cervical cancer include  smoking, HIV infection, chlamydia infection, dietary factors, hormonal contraception, multiple pregnancies, exposure to the hormonal drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) and a family history of cervical cancer.  Gardasil protects against 4 types of HPV.  Two types that can cause genital warts and another 2 types that are high risk for cervical cancer.  Crunch some numbers and Gardasil hardly seems to be the holy grail of cervical cancer safety. 
4. It is a deadly vaccine at worst
   The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) has logged over 9,749 adverse reactions after receiving Gardasil.  The CDC states that VAERS consists of only 1-10% of actual cases.  The FDA approved Gardasil in June of 2006…these VAERS numbers are from June 2008.  At that time 20 deaths had been reported.  Other serious reactions include Guillian Barre syndrome, seizures, pulmonary embolism, thombrosis, as well as fainting, nausea, and vomiting.  Another wonderful side effect is developing genital warts which has been reported in 78 cases.  According to the Merck product manufacturer insert, there was 1 case of juvenile arthritis, 2 cases of rheumatoid arthritis, 5 cases of arthritis, and 1 case of reactive arthritis out of 11,813 Gardasil recipients.
5. It was approved without adequate testing
   Initial testing will be complete on Gardasil in September of 2009…3 years after its approval.  NO LONG TERM STUDIES have been conducted.  The manufacturer does not even know how long the vaccine will protect girls. 
6. The average age of Cervical Cancer diagnosis is 48
7. Most infections with HPV clear up on their own     
   “The vast majority of women clear or suppress HPV to levels not associated with CIN II or III and for most women this occurs promptly.  The duration of HPV positivity (which is directly related to the likelihood of developing a high grade lesion or cervical cancer) is shorter, and the likelihood of clearance is higher, in younger women.”³ Seventy percent of women clear the virus spontaneously after 18 months and 90 % clear the virus after 2 years.⁴  Vaccinating children against HPV with a vaccine that is of unknown duration of efficacy may only postpone their exposure to an age which they are less likely clear the infection on their own and be subject to more severe disease, including the cervical cancer which the vaccine is supposedly preventing. This would require an unknown number of boosters and is a setup for complacency in the older population that is a recipe for disaster (source).” 

Erin Brockovich (yes that one from the movie with Julia Roberts) is researching for a class action law suit against Merck, Gardasil’s manufacturer.  If you believe you or your child had an adverse effect visit her site for more information.

Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases and chairman of the department of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine said recently to ABC News:  ”The problem isn’t with vaccine safety, because they’ve been exonerated from all the implications of autism and all the other illnesses associated with vaccines.”

To channel Jim Carey as Ace Ventura:  Reeeeaaaaallllyyyy?

This statement is so patently false that Dr. Schaffner should be ashamed and be forced to retract this lie.  Even the most pro-vaccine scientist or doctor should be willing to admit that the jury is still out.  You may have read previously my problem with the epidemiological studies done to date.  We have some actual scientific studies coming out that certainly do not exonerate the full childhood vaccine schedule from harm.

Dr. Laura Hewitson , Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at The University of Pittsburgh recently reported her study on primates receiving the 1990-1999 childhood vaccine full schedule.  Macaques are often used to test human treatments prior to human trials.  Vaccine producers and the CDC do not do animal studies prior to approval of a vaccine for our children.  Dr. Hewitson did a controlled trial of fully vaccinated vs. fully unvaccinated subjects (note: human studies have never compared a true unvaccinated control group or included the whole vaccine schedule instead of just one vaccine shot).  Here is a summary of Dr. Hewitson’s research (Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and Amygdala Growth and Opioid Ligand Binding Friday, May 16, 2008: IMFAR):

‘Compared with unexposed animals, significant neurodevelopmental deficits were evident for exposed animals in survival reflexes, tests of color discrimination and reversal, and learning sets. Differences in behaviors were observed between exposed and unexposed animals and within the exposed group before and after MMR vaccination. Compared with unexposed animals, exposed animals showed attenuation of amygdala growth and differences in the amygdala binding of [11C]diprenorphine. Interaction models identified significant associations between specific aberrant social and non-social behaviors, isotope binding, and vaccine exposure.’

At the same conference Dr. Walker of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University reported on chronic inflamation and gene expression in vaccinated and unvaccinated macaques.  Microarray Analysis of GI Tissue in a Macaque Model of the Effects of Infant Vaccination Saturday, May 17, 2008 IMFAR.

“Histopathological examination revealed that vaccinated animals exhibited progressively severe chronic active inflammation, whereas unexposed animals did not.  Gene expression comparisons between the groups (vaccinated versus unvaccinated) revealed only 120 genes differentially expressed (fc >1.5; log ratio p<0.001) at 10 weeks, whereas there were 450 genes differentially expressed at 14 weeks, and 324 differentially expressed genes between the 2 groups at necropsy.”

Shame on you Dr. Schaffner.

The US Court ruled [July 2008] in favour of this little boy Benjamin Zeller that as a result of the MMR vaccination received on 17 November 2004, Benjamin, suffered persistent, intractable seizures, encephalopathy, and developmental delay. 

“The Court found, as a matter of fact, that Benjamin would not have experienced the seizure disorder and acute encephalopathy or the marked deterioration in neurologic development evidenced by the medical record in this case, but for the administration of the MMR vaccine on 17 November 2004 and the ensuing seizure on 27 November 2004. As such, the law applicable in the Vaccine Program leads the Court to conclude that the vaccination at issue was the cause-in-fact of the injury discussed in the Court’s findings.”

Watch the Video from the Florida Sun Sentinel: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=2973672

I realized I never explained that you can get exemptions for “mandatory” vaccinations for your kids.  All 50 states have some exemption.  Exemptions fall into 3 categories:

Medical – requires doctor exemption based on health.  For example if you are allergic to an ingredient in a vaccine.

Philosophical – any personally held beliefs.

Religious – any religious beliefs.  

Each state is different as far as how hard they make it to get an exemption.  In NY I hear that you have to “prove” you belong to a religion with a problem with vax.  Silly if you ask me since religious beliefs are by nature personal and not institutional.  In Ohio it isn’t that hard.  In my opinion religious exemption is a little more “safe” in our country (as far as them snatching that right from you).  If you live in Mississippi or West Virginia you are only allowed a medical exemption.  My opinion – move!  :)

Find your states exemptions and rates of exemption here.

I was at the midwife’s yesterday (down 2 more lbs.!) and they have a TV looping CNN Health features.  It is nice to have some entertainment in the waiting room but yesterday there was a huge segment about the Flu Vaccine.  A few months ago this wouldn’t have phased me.  I had never had a flu shot but *shrug* to each his own was my feeling.  Now that I KNOW better I was shocked at how full of lies this promotion was.

First off, the nasal spray vaccine, FluMist, is a live virus.  You are very likely to get flu-like symptoms from this AND you can shed live virus and infect others.  ’Nuff said about that one.

The Flu vaccine shot is completely useless and sold very aggressively through lies and smoke and mirrors by modern snake oil vendors.  Commercials, posters, radio announcements.  We are being played.  We don’t believe everything we see on the “ab roller” infomercial but these commercials seem official enough to make us blindly believe it must be important and real.  It is not.  We are being played.  Check out this presentation by the CDC Director of Communications.  This basically amounts to a marketing plan for getting people hooked on the flu vaccine.  

These are direct quotes from their “Recipe” that Fosters Influenza Vaccine Interest and Demand (emphasis mine) :

• “Medical experts and public health authorities publicly (e.g., via media) state concern and alarm (and predict dire outcomes)–and urge influenza vaccination.”
• “Framing of the flu season in terms that motivate behavior (e.g., as “very severe,” “more severe than last or past years,” “deadly”)”
• “References to, and discussions, of pandemic influenza–along with continued reference to the importance of vaccination.”
• “Vaccination demand, particularly among people who don’t routinely receive an annual influenza vaccination, is related toheightened concern, anxiety, and worry. For example:
  • A perception or sense that many people are falling ill;
  • A perception or sense that many people are experiencing bad illness;
  • A perception or sense of vulnerability to contracting and experiencing bad illness.”
• “Some component of success (i.e., higher demand for influenza vaccine) stems from media stories and information that create motivating (i.e., high) levels of concern and anxiety about influenza.”

So this is classical and premeditated fearmongering!  They are trying to make you feel “heightened concern, anxiety, and worry.”  How horrible is that?  AND they know it doesn’t work based on their “lessons learned”;

• “It’s hard to create motivating levels of concern and anxiety about influenza–and thus interest in influenza vaccination–when:
  • disease severity and impact are in line with people’s/media expectations
  • Perceived or actual vaccine effectiveness doesn’t meet the expectations or standards of those for whom vaccination is recommended (fortunately, evidence of effectiveness helps)”

I love that word, “create.”  So they know that they have a hard time creating this panic because the disease is not as bad as they imply and the vaccine is not effective.  

The Disease is Not as Bad as They Imply: Flu kills 36,000 a year in the US

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site, uses a common strategy to highlight — really exaggerate — risk.”  This quote is from a Washington Post article about the misleading numbers used to sell the flu vaccine.  The article points out the context of this number:

1. It includes flu-related deaths.  Thus if someone with a severe illness gets the flu and dies it is called a flu death even if there was a confounding illness.
2. It doesn’t inlcude the context.  36,000 out of what?  The actual numbers show that on average there is a .01% chance of flu related death and if you are under 65 the number is more accurately 1 in 100,000.
3. 90% of flu-related deaths occur in people over 65 who probably have a confounding illness.

They also supply this graph on the right.  Hmmmm, doesn’t look the the vaccination rate make much of a difference does it?  As the article states; “Despite a dramatic increase in vaccination among the elderly, deaths from the flu and pneumonia have hardly budged.”

The Vaccine is not Effective:

Many studies have shown that the flu vaccine is ineffective.  It is only targeted to attack 3 strains of the flu that scientists predict, months in advance, will be them most virulent.  The 2008 vaccine was reported to have a 44% success rate.  All studies show that it is minimally effective: “In 2 seasons with suboptimal antigenic match between vaccines and circulating strains, we could not demonstrate VE [vaccine effectiveness] in preventing influenza-related inpatient/ED [emergency room visits] or outpatient visits in children younger than 5 years. Further study is needed during years with good vaccine match (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008 Oct;162(10):943-51).”  It also shows little effectiveness in its target audience, the elderly.

“Of the 1,000 people who got the vaccine before November 1, 149 went on to develop influenza-like illness (14.9 percent). Of the 402 people who did not get the vaccine, 68 got an influenza-like illness (16.9 percent), the study said.”  Reported CNN in 2004.   

If you are still thinking of this shot for yourself or you 6 month old infant as recommended by the CDC don’t forget there are side effects to this ineffective vaccine for a non-threatening illness:

“The most common reactions to inactivated flu vaccine are fever, fatigue, painful joints, and headache. The most frequently reported serious reaction, which usually occurs within two weeks of vaccination, is Guillain-Barré syndrome, an immune mediated nerve disorder characterized by muscle weakness, numbness, pain and paralysis that can lead to death.”

And I don’t just post this to save our children from damage.  My father has been told to get flu shots because he has heart disease and is thus in a risk group.  So, for him, despite that fact that (1) it doesn’t work, and (2) influenza is not something to fear, (3) it is linked to Alzheimer’s.  ”Hugh Fudenberg, MD, an immunogeneticist and biologist with nearly 850 papers published in peer review journals, has reported that if an individual had five consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied), his/her chances of getting Alzheimer’s Disease is ten times higher than if they had zero, one, or two shots (Dr. Fudenberg’s speech at the NVIC International Vaccine Conference, Arlington, VA September, 1997).”

Maybe we are all just being silly residents of the Town of Allopath.

In my previous posts on vaccinations I covered my concerns with Hep B, polio and to a smaller extent MMR.  In general I believe the following illnesses to be normal parts of childhood that actually improve immune health when acquired naturally and that vaccination is pushing the diseases to older populations (see discussion on chicken pox).

• Measles
• Mumps
• Rubella
• Pertussis (whooping cough)
• Varicella (Chicken pox)
• Influenza

I probably won’t talk about these much more because they are in the “duh” category for me.  It is just silly to choose reactive poisons and chemicals in vaccines over non-life threatening illnesses.  If you aren’t convinced about the harm of these vaccines read more information about why fighting off infection normally makes kids healthier.

So, that leaves us these “recommended” childhood vaccinations (see the nice printable list of recommended poisons and toxins here):

• Hep B
• Diptheria
• Tetanus
• HiB
• Pneumococcal
• Polio
• Hep A
• Menigococcal

These are the disease/vaccines I want to cover because they are “scary” as opposed to the benign disease listed in the first section.

Let’s start with DTaP:

DTaP is a combination vaccine that includes diptheria, tetanus, and whooping cough (pertussis, the “a” is for acellular – for some truly frightening reading look up DTP and the injuries it produced before the acellular vaccine was recommended).  Let’s take them one by one.

Pertussis

As mentioned, this is a normal childhood disease so I’m not going to spend much time on it except to say two things:  (1) the chance of death from whooping cough with medical treatment is .2%, and (2) vaccination is shown to increase, by more than double, the rate of childhood asthma.

Tetanus

Tetanus is a bacterium whose spores are found in soil.  Thus it is everywhere and you cannot ‘catch’ it from someone.  In anaerobic (no oxygen) environments it creates a toxoid that is poisonous and can cause nerve damage.  Tetanus is a big problem in 3rd world countries without good sanitation and access to medical facilities.  In the US good wound management makes it very rare.  Since tetanus is anaerobic it grows in deep and dirty wounds – often puncture or crush wounds (hence the “rusty nail” fear).  In the US if a child has a puncture of crush wound, hopefully they are going to the emergency room.  In any ER a person can be given a Tetanus Immunoglogulin (TIG) dose of antibodies to stop the spread of infection.  Since tetanus takes 3-21 days to evolve it can be almost completely avoided by immediate medical care.  

Does it sound like I’m playing with fire?  How about this.  From 1980 until today the average number of tetanus cases in the US per year was 40.  Yeah, just 40 – I’m not missing any zeros there.  And most of those were in persons over 40 (and frequently over 60 since nursing homes are a major hotbed for tetanus due to dirty conditions and bedsores) and IV drug users.  Also, cases of tetanus in children under 5 years of age totaled 2 since 1989.  Yeah, 2 in almost 20 years.  All of this information is directly from the horses (CDC’s) mouth.

Diptheria

Diptheria is also a toxin producing bacterium.  This is all numbers:  In the 1920s 100 people per 100,000 got diptheria in the US, of these 5-10% were fatal cases.  Since 1980 there are .001 cases per 100,000 and no reported deaths.  It is endemic in developing countries (hygiene, clean water, etc. could this be why?) despite vaccination efforts.  A diptheria anti-toxin is available from the CDC.

Side Effects of DTaP

DTaP has the usual list of yucky side effects as I’ve posted before.  You can search for one of the name brands to read the package insert.  One of the startling things to me is that DTaP is often THE cause of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome):

“more than two-thirds [of studied SIDS deaths] had been vaccinated with DPT prior to death. Of these, 6.5 percent died within 12 hours of vaccination; 13 percent within 24 hours; 26 percent within three days; and 37, 61, and 70 percent within one, two, and three weeks, respectively.”

Diptheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) immunization: A potential cause of the sudden infant death. WC Torch - Neurology, 1982

Of course, these studies only prove “temporal” and not “causal” relationships.  You already know how I feel about that.

Ode to National Infant Immunization Week:   Stick It

I actually don’t mind green eggs and ham.
It’s vaccines I don’t like, Uncle Sam.

Too many children have paid the price 
for harmful and deceptive immunization advice.

There is more to health than preventing infections
with dozens of toxic and dangerous injections. 

You purposefully ignore all of the parents’ cries
that autism, asthma and diabetes continue to rise. 

Since the word “safe” implies “free from harm”,
I’ll choose what’s injected into my child’s arm.

I do not want them up my nose, 
or spliced into my potatoes. 

I will not drink them in a glass. 
I will not let you stick my @$$. 

I do not want them for any reason
not even in your “worst” flu season. 

For decades now you’ve been trying to hide, 
the dangers of mercury and formaldehyde. 

You won’t do the research to try to explain
why vaccines sometime ruin a developing brain. 

Yet you tell us to just say no to drugs,
but if we question a shot you act like thugs.

Are injected monkey and fetal cells really healthy?
Or are they part of the scam that makes drug companies wealthy? 

When you ‘all lay down tonight to say your prayers,
please include all the vaccine victims listed in VAERs. 

By Ana Phylaxis

My past vaccine posts have been long (sorry) and time consuming for me because I try to have references and data.  For this one, I want to just appeal to your basic logic.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t numbers and research behind this one too…look it up!

Hepatitis B is the first vaccination the CDC wants you to give your baby…at 12 hours old.  Yes, I said hours.  Wow, this must be an important one!  A terrible disease in infants killing by the tens of thousands!

Nope.  Actually Hep B is a blood borne illness passed primarily through high-risk sexual behaviors and sharing dirty needles.  The largest risk to infants is catching it from mom.  Mom’s that are Hep B+ (and they would know since STD testing during pregnancy is routine) then maybe you need this vaccine.  Otherwise you only need this vaccine if:

1. You are an aspiring crack whore*
2. You love the smack
3. You plan on pimping out your new infant (hey, the economy sucks, right?)
4. You firmly believe in hiring drug addicts as babysitters
5. You believe that babies learn reflexes best when dodging dirty hypodermic needles

*note:  being a crack whore has the added benefit of insuring you will never be infertile!

“But why not?” you say.  What’s the harm?  According to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, the following have been reported for the Hepatitis B vaccine only:

“If you get polio you will be paralyzed.”

Someone said this to me tonight.  This isn’t an ignorant person and they weren’t trying to convince me that this statement is true.  As with most people we have been convinced of 2 things:  (1) that polio was miraculously cured by a vaccine, and (2) before the vaccine, polio was a horrible epidemic of nature that nearly always meant paralyzation.  This (along with smallpox) is often touted as the star attraction in the Hall of Fame of Why Vaccines Are Your Friends.  So, is it true?  If we stop vaccinating against polio will children once again be in iron lungs and leg braces?

Let’s look at both premises on which we base our fear of Polio.

(1) Polio was miraculously cured by a vaccine.

The chart on the left shows the CDC’s information on the Polio Disease and Vaccination from the CDC Pink Book on Vaccine Preventable Diseases.  As you can see from this chart the vaccine has saved us! Look at all those cases!  Look how modern medicine erradicated this terrible epidemic from the American Landscape!  

Excuse me while I barf.

(You will really be sick if you click on the link above and read that 95% of polio cases since 1980 were categorized as VAPP – Vaccine Associated Paralytic Polio.  This was with the Oral Polio Vaccine that my mother’s generation were given in school.  Now we use Inactivated Polio Vaccine which is an injection.  But remember, vaccines are safe.  But I digress.)

Is the CDC giving us the whole picture?  Let’s look at where polio was before 1950 since we can assume it didn’t appear out of thin air on January 1, 1950.

The above graph lets us look back to 1912.  As you can see, the disease had two peaks one in 1916 and another between 1945 and 1955.  This graph certainly shows that the disease rate went down after the vaccine but what had made it go up so much in the years prior to the vaccine?  Hmmm…doesn’t that coincide in some way with WWI and WWII?  What else was going on that would bring on disease?

A doctor named Biskind heretically postulated a different cause.  The following chart show’s polio cases with timing of organochlorine pesticide use (DDT, PCB, etc.) – click on the chart to enlarge.

Strangely enough, Biskind pointed out that what this study confirms  (Physiological Investigations Into The Action Of DDT, G.W. Van Der Wiel & Co., Arnhem 1949):  that DDT poisoning often causes polio-like physiology.   Coincidence?  What happened in 1983 when DDT was once again allowed in US use?  - click on the chart to enlarge.

Major increase in polio cases in what is called the “post-polio” era since this epidemic in the 80s occurred in previous polio patients who should have been “immune” but were re-infected due to environmental exposure.  So, did the polio vaccine result in the dramatic recovery from the 1945 polio epidemic?  Or, was that the phase out of harmful pesticides like DDT?

(2) Polio was a horrible epidemic of nature

This brings us to point #2.  One doctor, Dr. Morton Biskind postulated in the 50s that the increase in “polio-like” illnesses were due to DDT poisoning and not the polio virus (virus X).  A virus of course can not be caused by an environmental substance (contrary to what your mother told you – you can NOT get a cold (virus) from not wearing a hat!).  If all the polio cases were caused by the polio virus then DDT couldn’t be causing it.  However, people were rarely tested for the polio virus because only virus-polio would be covered financially so cases were diagnosed by symptoms (clinical diagnosis) and not lab diagnosis.  It is probable that President Roosevelt did not have polio but an immune disorder called Guillain-Barre (a notorious vaccine side effect).   Historically, the polio virus was very benign dating back to ancient Egypt.  The 20th century brought the first ever epidemics of the disease.   

But, the mortality rate of polio is atrocious, right?  According to the CDC Pink Book more than 95% of all polio cases are asymptotic - you wouldn’t even know you have it.  4-8% have general flu-like symptoms that last one week with complete recovery.  1-2% experience neck and back stiffness and recover completely in 7-10 days.  Less than 1% experience asymmetrical paralysis lasting days to weeks with full recovery.  Of this 1% most make a full recovery, some will remain paralyzed and 2-5% will die.  That’s 2-5% of the 1% that have paralytic polio and do not recover fully.  This means that 99.5% of all people with viral polio will make a full recovery, with 95% being asymptotic.  Hardly “polio paralyzes you.”  And remember these numbers are based on historical morbidity and mortality which includes the high incidence epidemics of the 20th century that may not have been viral polio at all but similar symptoms caused by pesticide poisoning.

The graphs used so far are pulled from a very detailed explanation on this site.  If you want more information please check it out.  I haven’t even touched on the effects of contamination involving a monkey virus called SV40 that infected polio vaccines.  Read about it here.

The CDC recommends the first polio vaccine for this horrible, deadly disease for infants of only 8 weeks old. It contains 3 types of ‘inactivated’ polio viruses, neomycin, streptomycin, and polymyxin B, formaldehyde, and 2-phenoxyethanol, and a continuous line of monkey kidney cells.  Side effects, as reported by the manufacturer include:

 Erythema,induration and pain occurred in 3.2%, 1% and 13%, respectively, of vaccinees within 48 hours post-vaccination. Temperatures of ≥ 39°C (≥ 102°F) were reported in 38% of vaccinees. Other symptoms included irritability, sleepiness, fussiness, and crying …  Although no causal relationship has been established, deaths have occurred in temporal association after vaccination of infants with IPV.³⁷

The butterfly effect is part of chaos theory that postulates that in complex systems the smallest variation can have profound effects.  It gets its name from the philosophical example that “a butterfly flaps its wing in the Amazon and there is a tornado in Kansas.”  It is about unintended consequences.

Let’s look at an example of human intervention that had unintended consequences.  In Scotland, potatoes were genetically modified with a pesticide gene that killed the aphids that destroyed the potatoes.  Ladybugs, nature’s aphid predators, ate the aphids that didn’t die after eating the modified potaotes and themselves died.  This led to decrease potato crops due to the loss of the natural balance in the system.

This example brings up another problem with vaccines.  Unintended consequences.  For this post I’m going to use the chicken pox (varicella) vaccine as an example but there are many more unintended consequences in vaccine research. 

For me, my resistance to vaccination began with the chicken pox vaccine and not the more recent worries about autism.  I remember thinking, long before I was thinking of having kids, “why are they vaccinating against a disease with such a low mortality rate?”  And it was a good question.  According to the CDC:  among infants less than 1 year old who get the disease, about 1 in 250,000 die. For older children, about 1 in 100,000 die. It is also noted that these are mostly in immunocompromised people.  Just to do the math that means your infant has a 0.000399% chance of death from varicella and older children .001%.  Over 99.9% of children who get chicken pox recover.  

But it is worse in adults, right?  Let’s vaccinate the kids so adults don’t die.  That’s how the normal argument goes.  So, let’s see how that works out.  When I had chicken pox I was 9(ish).  It sucked, I recovered.  My mom had it when she was a kid.  She was re-exposed to it when my sister and I had it.  This provided her body with a natural “boost” to her immunity.  It is like her body got the virus from us and said “oh I remember this and can beat it.”  Chicken pox infection does not give lifetime immunity – it gets boosted by repeated exposure to the virus.  Shingles, a serious illness caused by the same virus occured (pre-vaccination) almost exclusively in people over 60 because they have passed the time in their lives of constant exposure to kids with chicken pox and often have complicating underlying conditions.  Since the varicella vaccine was introduced the rate of adult shingles has not only increased 90% but it has crept down the age ladder to effect people 40-60 years old.

  “Our immunity is stimulated by being exposed to the Chicken Pox. When that stimulation goes away, our protection is going to decrease. So we’ll see more cases of Shingles. My guess is that we’re going to be giving doses of the [varicella] vaccine to 30 and 40 year olds to prevent Shingles. The better we do, [eradicating chickenpox], the more we’re going to see Shingles.”    Dr. Cherry.

We are tipping the balance.  We are killing aphids (chicken pox) and it is killing the ladybugs (our natural acquired immunity) and resulting in decreased crop production (increased disease in society as a whole as well as a more deadly disease, shingles – 3x more death 5x more hospitalization with singles as opposed to chicken pox.).  The Butterfly Effect.

So what are we doing about it?  Rethinking the mandatory chicken pox vaccine?  Nope.  We are developing an adult shingles vaccine.  A vaccine to treat a problem primarily caused by a vaccine.  Now why would we do that?  What possible force could cause people to think that the logical plan is to keep on vaccinating?

I’ll give you a hint…

In case you are thinking that this is all worth catching that .001% of dead kids – Don’t be fooled.  The chicken pox vaccine is one of the least effective vaccines in use.  In 15-20% of cases the vaccine doesn’t even “take” and patients get chicken pox anyways.  And, since this is a live virus vaccination – getting chicken pox is one of the side effect reported in 2% of cases.  Even when it does “take” it lasts at a maximum of 8-10 years leaving people vulnerable in adulthood when chicken pox is much more dangerous.

I have to tell you, of all the vaccine’s I’ve researched – this one takes the Stupidest Idea Ever Prize.  I can find zero literature that provides a case for this vaccine that is remotely strong enough to make me consider it for myself let alone a 12 month old baby.

SIDE EFFECTS OF VARICELLA VACCINE:

Body as a Whole – The most frequently ( ≥ 1%) reported adverse experiences, without regard to causality, are listed in decreasing order of frequency: upper respiratory illness, cough, irritability/nervousness, fatigue, disturbed sleep, diarrhea, loss of appetite, vomiting, otitis, diaper rash/contact rash, headache, teething, malaise,abdominal pain, other rash, nausea, eye complaints, chills, lymphadenopathy,myalgia, lower respiratory illness, allergic reactions (including allergic rash,hives), stiff neck, heat rash/prickly heat, arthralgia, eczema/dry skin/dermatitis,constipation, itching.  Pneumonitis has been reported rarely ( < 1%) in children vaccinated with VARIVAX; a causal relationship has not been established.  Febrile seizures have occurred rarely ( < 0.1%) in children vaccinated with VARIVAX; a causal relationship has not been established.  Anaphylaxis (including anaphylactic shock) and related phenomena such as angioneurotic edema, facial edema, and peripheral edema, anaphylaxis in individuals with or without an allergic history.

Hemic and Lymphatic System
Thrombocytopenia (including ITP).
Nervous/Psychiatric
Encephalitis; cerebrovascular accident; transverse myelitis; Guillain-Barre syndrome; Bell’s palsy; ataxia; non-febrile seizures; aseptic meningitis;dizziness; paresthesia.
Respiratory
Pharyngitis, Pneumonia/Pneumonitis.
Skin
Stevens-Johnson syndrome; erythema multiforme; Henoch-Schonlein purpura; secondary bacterial infections of skin and soft tissue, including impetigo andcellulitis; herpes zoster.

Oh and 1 more thing:  

There is a chicken pox immunoglobulin treatment!

This means if you are high risk – imunosupressed for example – you can go get an injection of varicella antibodies within 96 hours of exposure.  This temporary immunity lasts up to 3 weeks.

I think a tornado just sprung up in Kansas.