
The diseases are not that scary when you actually understand them...Let's compare the risks of each disease for which we vaccinate against the vaccines, one by one.
Have you ever felt nervous about vaccinating your child? Maybe you were uncomfortable with the idea but did not know enough information to offer an explanation for your hesitation? Or maybe you finally worked up the courage to say something to your pediatrician or friends and were met with accusations of being irresponsible? Inconsiderate? A bad parent? A fool? Perhaps you were looked at with disgust for not taking a doctor's or nurses recommendation and then a tangible tension quickly entered the room? This has happened to me, and this has happened to some of my friends.
I was not prepared...
When searching for a pediatrician, I had no idea that declaring that my children would not be vaccinated would ensue and instantaneous courtroom setting. In fact, I only interviewed pediatricians I was told were "non-vaccine" friendly. That was a stretch, she might have been tolerant just because she was willing to allow my child to be a patient while unvaccinated, but it was far more hostile than friendly. I was expected to defend my position as if in a court of law while she threw out blanket statements declaring why my reasons (that I had not even told her) were faulty. Since then I have been much more prepared to give an answer. I'm going to unpack each vaccine one by one and hopefully you will be inspired to do some of your own research before making a decision about vaccines for your family.
We are going to examine the risks of each disease and then the risks of the vaccine for that particular disease. I want to unpack and uncomplicated all this information so that you can have an educated and confident response when your doctor pressures you with questions such as "Don't you want to protect your child from deadly diseases?!?!" Let's be informed in advance so that when your doctor says you are risking your child's life, you are well aware of all the risks.
Hepatitis B
Vaccine Timing: within hours of birth
General Information:
This vaccine is given within hours of birth in the hospital, unless you refuse it. (And sometimes even if you do refuse. If you do not plan to vaccinate your child, but you do plan to give birth in a hospital, take extra precautions to make sure that your child never leaves your side.) Hepatitis B is most commonly contracted through blood, semen, or needle-sharing with someone who is infected. The high-risk groups for this disease are IV drug users, prostitutes, and sexually active persons. Because of this, babies are not considered a high-risk for this disease unless the mother tests positive for Hepatitis B as part of her prenatal care blood work. The reason that babies receive the Hepatitis B shot is because it is done in other countries where higher rates of Hepatitis B occur, primarily due to prostitution. (source) It is also hailed as an anti-cancer vaccine because liver cancer rates are elevated in patients once infected with Hepatitis B. Though you might even hear statements such as “Don’t you want to protect your child from liver cancer later in life???” we need to be sober-minded…remember an important rule: Correlation does not equal causation. People develop liver cancer without having previous Hepatitis B infections. I wonder if a study will ever be done comparing the rates of liver cancer in patients who have been vaccinated with Hep B and those who have not. Actually, I don’t wonder that but I think the results would be interesting considering the carcinogens in the Hep B vaccine!
Risks Associated With Hepatitis B:
Most people (90%) who contract Hepatitis B recover within 12-14 days. Only 1.25% of people with Hepatitis B develop long term liver disease including cancer. Since the high-risk groups for Hepatitis B include drug users and prostitutes, it is also entirely possible that there may be other contributing factors (such as poor diet or alcohol consumption or drug use) that lead to chronic liver disease.
Hepatits B Vaccine Ingredients:
aluminum hydroxide, yeast protein, phosphate buffers, sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate OR
yeast protein, soy peptone, dextrose, amino acids, mineral salts, potassium aluminum sulfate, amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, formaldehyde, phosphate buffer
BOTH versions contain carcinogens
What are the risks of the Hep B vaccine?
"There is no doubt that the new recombinant Hep B virus vaccine has the ability to trigger autoimmunity." (1)
Autoimmune diseases can include Type 1 Diabetes, Kawasaki's disease, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and many others. The package insert includes the following possible side-effects: Headache, fatigue, dizziness, injection site erythema, induration, and/or swelling, upper respiratory tract illnesses, lymphadenopathy, anorexia, agitation, insomnia, somnolence, tingling, encephalopathy, hypotension, abdominal pain/cramps, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, erythema, petechiae, pruritus, rash, sweating, urticaria, arthralgia, back pain, myalgia, pain/stiffness in arm, shoulder, or neck, herpes zoster, meningitis, thrombocytopenia, anaphylactoid reaction, anaphylaxis, arthritis (usually transient), fever, and dermatologic reactions such as urticaria, erythema encephalitis, migraine, multiple sclerosis, neuritis, neuropathy including hypoesthesia, paresthesia, Guillain-Barré syndrome and Bell’s palsy, optic neuritis, paralysis, paresis, seizures, syncope, transverse myelitis, visual disturbances, vertigo, cardiac palpitations, tachycardia, vasculitis, apnea, bronchospasm including asthma-like symptoms, dyspepsia, alopecia, angioedema, eczema, erythema multiforme including Stevens-Johnson syndrome, erythema nodosum, lichen planus, purport, muscular weakness, abnormal liver function tests. The side-effects I highlighted in bold are ones I found to be particularly disturbing and some of them are associated with Autism.
Autoimmune diseases are escalating in children including Type 1 Diabetes. The CDC states that nearly 1/400-500 children are affected and risk of death is 20x greater than those without Type 1 Diabetes. More children die from cancer than any other disease in the US. What is YOUR child at greater risk for: diabetes (affecting more than 1/500), cancer (affecting 1/2.5 in a lifetime), autism (affecting 1/50)....or Hepatitis B whose high-risk group does not include children born to Hepatitis B negative mothers?
IPV, the inactivated Polio vaccine:
Vaccine Timing: 2 months, 4 months, and again at 6 months old
General Information:
There are reasons many people believe that the vaccine had nothing to do with polio eradication, but that is a topic for another post. Polio is a butt-to-mouth disease. It was most common in children. Children are more likely to have polio than adults because they lack the inhibitions adults have. If a child has an itch, there is nothing to stop them from sticking their hand right down their pants to scratch it. Within minutes, their hands are in their mouths. Polio is spread from feces to mouth. Right around the time the vaccine was introduced, the United States was also improving plumbing and water supply for sanitary hand-washing and sewage removal. Completely unrelated to vaccines or disease in any way, the show "Filthy Cities" gives amazing insight into the living conditions that were present prior to adequate plumbing and sanitization, and unintentionally reveals how pivotal the introduction of such sanitization was changing the course of disease!
Risk Associated with Polio (USA):
Pretty much zero, we have been Polio free since 1979. But, even if someone was traveling to another country and was not only exposed to Polio but actually contracted the disease...the Merck manual says that more than 90% of Polio cases simply resembled the stomach flu, another 5% had Abortive Polio which included a sore throat, and another 3% had Non-Paralytic Polio which includes some limb weakness and numbness. This 98% of people infected with polio had a complete recovery (and have life long immunity) and the symptoms resolved within 10-14 days. About 2% (slightly less) had Paralytic Polio. Of this 2% it is divided into 3 subcategories, but among the 3 more than 50% had a complete recovery rate, and in the other 50% some had a longer recovery and some did not fully recover - having some paralysis and some died. Of that 2%, 2% had Bulbar Polio, which was the horrific kind shown on TV (that is less than .04% of the people that contracted Polio). Source
IPV Ingredients:
2-phenoxyethanol, formaldehyde, neomycin, streptomycin, polymyxin B, monkey kidney cells, Eagle MEM modified medium, calf serum protein, Medium 199
Risks Associated with IPV:
A book called The Virus and The Vaccine which is well-documented discusses the link between the Polio vaccine and cancer. The vaccine contains formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), parts from monkeys, eagles, and calves (which might present a moral objection for some individuals), and just as concerning, the possibility of creating a unique disease through the contaminated cells used in the vaccine. c"The most common contaminant virus found in bovine serum is a member of the pestivirus family called bovine diarrhea virus (BVDV). All commercially available bovine (cow) serum is thought to be contaminated with this virus. Vaccines grown on contaminated cells may, in turn, have viral contaminants in the final product. The animal viruses can combine with viruses in the vaccine and become an active, unique disease." (2)
Now, I could go into all of the various risks of the vaccine but I really do not think it is necessary. Since Polio has been eradicated from the Western Hemisphere for decades and 98% of those who do get it recover within 2 weeks, the risks of Polio in most areas in little to none. This is an excerpt from the IPV package insert:
"deaths have occurred in temporal association after vaccination of infants with IPV."
I would never risk cancer or death from a vaccine overhear of a disease I will never be exposed to. Who would???
DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) Vaccine:
Vaccine Timing: 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months of age
Risks of Diphtheria:
Caused by the release of a toxin from the C. diphtheria bacteria and can cause heart inflammation and paralysis of the soft palate. Several strains of C. diphtheria exist but most do not produce the toxin. The bacteria then needs to be infected by a specific virus, B phage, to produce the toxin. IF there is no medical care available, the death rate is up to 10%. Mainly occurs in pockets of the world where medical care is scarce and the last outbreak was several years ago in Russia among approximately 900 people amidst a homeless and chronic alcoholic area. As of 1999 there were 3 cases per year in the US. Diphtheria can be treated with antibiotics.
Risks of Tetanus:
An anaerobic bacteria which dies in the presence of oxygen. If there was a deep puncture wound, generally from stepping on a rusty nail infected with the bacteria from cow, sheep, or pig manure, the bacteria could contaminate the blood stream. If someone does get a high-risk puncture wound, it takes 2 weeks for the spore to germinate into the bacteria and release the toxin. Because of the lengthy germination period, getting the vaccine after a high-risk injury is an option. The diagnosis is entirely clinical - there are no blood tests or other tests to confirm it, it is based on suspicion and symptoms. Recovery can take several weeks to several months. The survival rate is over 89% (but it is unknown if there may have been other circumstances that contributed to death such as a bad accident where tetanus was also involved). Between 1995 and 1997, 124 cases of Tetanus occurred in the US, of which 53.7% had unknown vaccination status and 13% had been vaccinated. (Did you get that??? You can still get tetanus if you are fully vaccinated against it) If you have a high risk injury, you could also opt to get the antibody injected after the fact instead of the vaccine, neither of which is 100% effective, and Tetanus can also be treated with antibiotics. There are also cleaning techniques to flush the wound and allow it to bleed freely to flush out the bacteria, apply hydrogen peroxide - which delivers oxygen to the wound, remember the bacteria can not live in the presence of oxygen.
But let's just think it through for a second...If you are not letting your 2, 4, and 6 month olds walk around (as if they could walk) areas that have sharp, rusty objects and animal feces your child has just about zero risk of getting a tetanus infected puncture wound.
As an aside, tetanus is one of the required vaccines for many children entering school and also one required in California’s passed SB 277 law - TETANUS IS NOT CONTAGIOUS AND CHILDREN CAN NOT SPREAD IT IF INFECTED!
Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Risks:
Pertussis is an endemic disease, despite high vaccination rates. It is a very serious disease in babies under 2 months. Between 1980-1995 an average of 6 people per year died from Pertussis (which is .02% of pertussis patients). It is successfully treated with Vitamin C.
DTaP ingredients:
DTaP (Daptacel)
aluminum phosphate, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, 2-Phenoxyethanol, Stainer-Scholte medium, modified Mueller’s growth medium, modified Mueller-Miller casamino acid medium (without beef heart infusion), dimethyl 1-beta-cyclodextrin, ammonium sulfate
DTaP (Infanrix)
formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, polysorbate 80, Fenton medium (containing bovine extract), modified Latham medium (derived from bovine casein), modified Stainer-Scholte liquid medium
Risks Associated With The DTaP Vaccine:
All DTaP vaccines contain formaldehyde (a known carcinogen) and aluminum. Read here about the danger of aluminum in vaccines, including its neurotoxic effects. Package inserts also list: Serum-sickness, all joints painful, headache, nausea, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmias, tachycardia, syncope (fainting), cranial nerve paralysis, neurological complications, seizures, and encephalopathy, anaphylaxis, and Guillian-Barre' Syndrome..."People who experience severe reactions most likely have high serum tetanus anti-body levels due to excess vaccination."
Special Risks Associated with Pertussis Vaccinations:
In 1998, 23 babies died the day after vaccination. In 2000, CDC reported that 17 babies died of Pertussis. Regarding the DTP vaccine (given in the 70's, 80's and 90's, but no longer administered in the US currently): "The relative risk of a previously normal infant developing permanent encephalopathy was 4.2 times greater during the first 72 hours following DTP vaccination than in controls. The risk of permanent brain damage following DTP (whole cell) has been calculated at 1:310,000 doses..."Note: that is PER dose, if each child got the full schedule of 3 doses, plus 2 boosters, the potential for DTP brain damage could be as frequent as 1:60,000...A safer vaccine (Acellular Pertussis) became available in 1937, but DTP was not removed from the market until 2001. Whole cell vaccines are still used in third world countries because it is cheaper to make!” - Dr. Tenpenny (Taken from "The True Story of Pertussis Vaccination A Sordid Legacy?" D. Guyer and M. Guyer Allied Sci 2002:57 249-84.) In March 2004, The First International Neonatal Conference in Washington, D.C. reported wanting to return the use of Whole Cell Pertussis vaccine - IN NEWBORNS! source

We are off to a great start to examining the vaccines one by one. The next post will cover the rest of the 2 month vaccines. (The following vaccines are routinely given at 2 months and again at 4 months and 6 months: IPV, DTaP, Rota, Hib, PCV), followed by the rest of the childhood schedule.
References:
(1) Cohen AD. Vaccine-induced autoimmunity. J. Autoimmun. Dec. 1996; 9(6):699-703.PMID:9115571
(2) J Infect Dis. 1996 Dec;174(6): 1324-7. Contamination of commercially available fetal bovine sera with bovine diarrhea virus genomes: implications for the hepatitis V virus in cell cultures. (Via Saying No To Vaccines, by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny)
CDC: Epidemology and Prevention, The Pink Book 6th Edition, Ch. 6; Pertussis pg 69, Chapter 5 on Tetanus, p.65; Crone, N.E.; Reder, AT.; Severe tetanus in immunized patients with high anti-tetanus titers. Neurology.1992;42:761-4; MMWR Tetanus Surveillance July 1998/47 (55-2);p. 13; Tetanus toxoid package insert; Dr. Sherri Tenpenny - DVD Vaccines, the Risks, the Benefits, the Choices; (MMWR) July 19, 2002/51(28);616-618
Courtney Charles is a frequent contributor for TruthKings. Connect with her at Alkaline Mom or on her website alabasterliving.com.