Leading into this discussion of vaccines and the reasons why many parents opt out of vaccinations, I must begin with a few statements and observations.

First, this document was largely created to educate talk show host Mark Davis – who is undereducated in this subject – as to the reasoned and legitimate reasons many parents have begun choosing to not vaccinate their children.  I advise him to note the extensive references at the bottom (which are mostly from PubMed, the most respected catalog of research information on the internet) as evidence that these parents have at least some basis in science.

Second, this topic is highly emotional.  It is difficult to find someone who does not have an opinion on the subject, and almost everyone holds their opinion strongly.  Attached to that view is usually a strong, visceral response against anyone who holds the opposite view.  On one extreme side are epidemiologists, who seek to limit all illnesses no matter how innocuous they may be.  On the other extreme side are typically parents who believe their children have been damaged by the ingredients in vaccines.  In the vast areas in between are many millions of parents who believe what they believe based on evidence.

Third, I believe talk show host Mark Davis made a good point in his talk show on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 – that any political discussion by conservatives should focus on the fact that parents should be free to make such decisions, but that schools and doctors should have the freedom to also exclude those who are unvaccinated… as he put it, “freedom across the board”.  Most parents who do not vaccinate their children would be fine with such consequences, as they strongly feel they are protecting their children’s health.

Finally, talk show host Mark Davis is entirely off the mark when he describes those who do not want to vaccinate their children as “unbelievably stupid” and “irresponsible” – two terms I heard him use in his discussion of the point I endorsed above.  The following points, observations, and bits of information will prove that there are plenty of reasons to doubt the claims of our government when it comes to vaccinations.  I would expect any government-skeptical talk show host to have an open mind when it comes to questioning the claims of our government.

Points of information and interest:

• The entire hysteria surrounding vaccine-preventable diseases is based upon a false premise – that these diseases will kill or maim you. In reality, most diseases for which we vaccinate were considered endemic prior to their vaccination.  Endemic means “a disease that occurs in a large population, but has low mortality”.
  1. In some cases, a disease would have more than 4 million cases in a year, with fewer than 500 deaths. And those numbers come from the 1960s and 1970s, when we had access to fewer medical advancements than we do today.
  2. Additionally, most of the complications from these diseases occurred in those with compromised immune systems or other high-risk populations such as those with genetic disorders.
  3. Vaccinating those high-risk populations alone could greatly reduce or eliminate most complications… and many complications from these diseases were mild and self-resolving.
• Administration of vaccines rarely, if ever, follows the path of infection, thereby bypassing the route necessary to maximize immunity to a disease. Infections usually enter the body through the nasal passages or mouth, stimulating immunological responses along their entire path into the body, while vaccinations bypass all that, typically piercing the skin and entering the body through a muscle.  This faulty administration is part of the reason vaccines do not create any kind of life-long immunity, which is why consistent “boosters” must be taken.
• Children under the age of 2 have still-developing immune systems and therefore cannot fully develop a proper immune response to vaccinations, which bypass the usual path of infection and contain additives and preservatives. However, if an illness is “caught” through the usual path of infection, the body fights the illness using both the cell-mediated and humoral aspects of the immune system… and thus develops lifelong immunity.  Additionally, the recommended vaccination schedule exposes children to 35 doses of disease and additives before the age of 2, including multiple doses of DPT, Polio, HIB, Rotavirus, Hepatitis B and PCV.  The most ludicrous of these is Hepatitis B, administered in the first 12 hours of a child’s life to every child, when the only way to contract it is through blood contact or sexual contact with an infected individual (mothers are tested prior to birth, so the doctors already know if the child needs vaccination to protect it from its mother’s blood!).
• This point remains one of the most ridiculously simple arguments against vaccines… if vaccines are truly effective, then those who have been vaccinated should be able to be exposed to the disease and not become ill. In other words, the un-vaccinated population should be the only population at risk, because the vaccinated population should be immune.  Yet in every “outbreak”, usually 50-70% of all cases are in vaccinated individuals!  This remains one of the simplest and most common sense arguments against the claim that vaccines actually “immunize” you against disease.
• The mere existence of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program – created by the government in the 1980s to protect vaccine producers against lawsuits stemming from vaccine injuries – is sufficient proof that injuries can and do occur. Otherwise, the manufacturers would not have insisted upon – and Congress passed – this program to prevent lawsuits against manufacturers when a vaccine injures a subject.
• Vaccination of children pushes the “epidemiology” (or normal behavior) of these diseases away from early childhood when the side-effects of the diseases are minor. There are a number of diseases for which we vaccinate that have minor or no complications if caught in childhood but may lead to serious consequences if caught later in life (chicken pox is a prime example).  Vaccinating against these diseases in early childhood has increased the likelihood that they will be caught later in life when complications are more severe – especially because of the temporary nature of vaccine-induced immunity.
• There are a wide variety of chemicals, additives and heavy metals present in vaccines that many parents want to keep away from their children. These additives include (but are not limited to):
  1. Ammonium sulfate – neurotoxic (kills neurons) if accidentally injected into a bundle of nerves/blood vessels.
  2. Beta-propiolactone – designated a carcinogen by OSHA; does not have a permissible exposure limit.
  3. Animal, bacterial & viral DNA – introduction of any foreign DNA runs the risk of that DNA altering the expression of human DNA.
  4. Latex rubber – may create anaphylactic reaction in sensitive individuals if storage and transport of vaccine results in contamination of the vaccine with latex.
  5. Monosodium glutamate – in studies, injection of this toxin in newborns decreases food intake; in young children, this may contribute to “failure to thrive”. Other results may include reduced pituitary protein content, decreased ovarian weight, and delayed puberty.
  6. Aluminum – aluminum hydroxide can be found in several vaccinations; it is a metal linked to Gulf War Syndrome, creating nerve death in the nerves responsible for muscle movement.
  7. Formaldehyde (formalin) – destroys a virus’ ability to reproduce by destroying the RNA’s ability to replicate; therefore, this also has the ability to modify the nucleic acid of RNA in the human body, altering protein synthesis in the cells.
  8. Polysorbate 80 – may be harmful to people with Crohn’s disease or other bowel disorders; may lead to decreased weight-gain in children; also may lead to increased sex drive in young due to chronic estrogen stimulation.
  9. Tri(n)butyl phosphate – in study animals, causes increased cell division/hyperplasia in several organs, and can reduce birth weights and weight gain during growth years.
  10. Thimerosal (mercury) – despite the claims to the contrary by some, researchers recommended increased study of the effects of mercury when injected into the body following a study showing increased incidence of autism, speech disorders, mental retardation, infantile spasms, and thinking abnormalities following DTP vaccines in the 1990s. Frequency of vaccinations and child body weight contributes to the overall toxic load of this heavy metal, which is not easily removed from the body.  This is still present in a number of vaccines, including the flu vaccine.
  11. Phenoxyethanol (2-PE) – testing shows decreased neuronal activity and diminished memory functions in the presence of this chemical. Testing of this product’s effects when injected is sparse.
• In the case of vaccines that address mutating diseases (such as the flu vaccine), when vaccinated, you are being vaccinated against last year’s disease, not this year’s disease. That has led to the current head-scratching assertion from the CDC – that despite the fact that this year’s flu vaccination will not protect you from this year’s flu, you should still get vaccinated.

Sources:

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9273900
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-Propiolactone
• http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/anaphylaxis-to-latex.aspx
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3785512
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1448482
• http://www.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vaccine-ingredients
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819810/
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21497290
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8473002
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17961976
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9398491
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16766480

Also utilized is information from this book, which does its best to present an unbiased pros/cons view of vaccinations as well as a good discussion of the immune system and how immunity works.  Most books are either written by CDC doctors or the parents of “vaccine-injured children”; this author is neither:

Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide by Aviva Jill Romm

In conclusion, I hope this presents evidence of the common-sensical, reasoning nature of most opponents of vaccinations.  We are not as stupid as you might think!

-Dr. Witherspoon