CommonHealth

For those who are anti-vaccine, could you please discuss the horrors of eradicating smallpox by using a (gasp!) vaccine?!  I’m sure the only benefit of the vaccine was to make Big Pharma lots of money… right?  No one’s lives were actually saved because of that vaccine, is that correct?

I appreciate the thoughtful comments of some readers. Vaccines are not 100% effective and are not, as one reader pointed out “a panacea.” That is a known fact and one I do not argue. I see chicken pox with some regularity and we had a recent spate of pertussis. But vaccines do afford protection. According to the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society, even small numbers of unvaccinated individuals in a community can facilitate the spread of disease. The risk of measles is 35 times greater for unvaccinated children than vaccinated ones and 23 times higher for pertussis. (Infectious Diseases in Children June 2011.) I also agree with the reader that “no medical decision should be one size fits all.” That is why I continue to take care of families with varying opinions about vaccine safety and efficacy. I spend a great deal of time educating myself about new developments in pediatrics. I owe that to my patieints. I share with them new information and results of current studies. In turn, they often educate me. I have families who send me links to articles they have read about not just vaccines, but many topics. It is a two-way street. We spend a lot of time in thoughtful dialogue. Maybe some day they will change my mind about vaccines. But for now, I’ll continue to recommend them.

Dear Doctor,

Babies don’t need to eat hormones and antibiotics in food but they can all be safely injected with the more than 50 untested for long term safety neurotoxins, additives and unwanted contaminants found in vaccines, just fine? Infinitely, as much as the CDC and APA approves them and as fast as they pop out of the factories?  Of course you “believe” they are safe and effective, that pretty much sums up what you learned in med school about vaccines: slogans.  Show us the science supporting the dogma, then we’ll share your “belief”. Questioning this threatens everything you believe in and I understand that you would stand to lose too much to even consider that you could be wrong, and I am not talking about money.  

You should really continue your education with real scientific articles instead of the nicely colored Merck and GSK flyers…  A recent article in the BMJ analysing German pharmaceutical advertizings, says 94% of the “information” contained in them is not supported by science… And Germany has very rigorous regulations.
http://www.bmj.com//content/328/7438/485.2?variant=full-text 

Sooo you say we need to vaccinate to protect all those who are not strong and have weakened immune systems and cannot be vaccinated…  You mean, like the thousand *premature babies” that GSK used as guinea pigs to safety test a rotavirus vaccine, administering the test group and even the control group with *multiple* vaccines? This study is not only sickening but totally useless so much it is methodologically flawed. This is a total disgrace to science.
http://www.pediatricsupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=91652 
Not to mention they should be put on trial for violation of the Nuremberg code on inhumane experiments… Your collective blindness is truly fascinating.Oh and I hope you changed the names because this is absolutely unacceptable. What’s next? sending mobs of angry parents you scare with lies to their doorstep?  

 -
Once upon a time, in April 2009 to be exact, I was invited to give a
speech at a conference on vaccination.  I was to talk after two of the
best speakers France has to offer on the subject, journalist Sylvie
Simon and biologist Michel Georget.  At hearing them speak in the past,
it was absolutely clear to me that the best option is to stay as far
away from vaccines as possible.  I just did not know what to do instead,
to best assure staying alive and well.  As a paediatrician and
homeopath qualified to speak on the subject, I decided to setup a
conference called “The Marvelous Health of Unvaccinated Children”, along
with my friends, Sylvie and Michel.  This work would later evolve into a
book that analyses various life choices often made by families that do
not vaccinate, including home birth, breastfeeding, simple therapies,
good food, a tranquil living environment and trust in the capacity of
the body to heal itself.

In my life as a paediatrician [pediatrician], I had spent lots of
time in dialog with the parents who often needed to voice their fears
about both disease and vaccines.  We worked out together the best route
for their children.  Some chose not to vaccinate at all.  Others held
onto fear of disease, especially tetanus.  In those cases, we postponed
vaccination as much as possible and used alternative medicine to prevent
damage.

I worked in Switzerland where there is no real legal obligation to
vaccinate, only great social pressure.  In France, just a few kilometers
from my office, there were four compulsory vaccinations at the time
(BCG was fortunately removed in 2007, and three remain: Di Te Pol).

Some of the basis of my ability to speak on the marvelous health of
unvaccinated children comes from my personal experience as a medical
doctor, having collected years of feedback.

 

“My child began coughing immediately after the vaccination.”

“He has had constant ear aches since he was vaccinated.”

“My 16 years old daughter is completely unvaccinated.  She is
almost never sick.  If she does get sick, it’s two days at the most.”

“The neighbor’s kids followed normal vaccination guidelines.  They are constantly sick and on antibiotics.”

 

That was not enough upon which to write a book; however.  As it would
turn out, I found these observations were paralleled over and over
again all over the world.  Follow me around the planet.

Europe

In England, Michel Odent, M.D. showed in two studies that children
having received no Pertussis vaccine had 5-6 times less asthma than
those who were vaccinated for it.  The first study was on 450 babies
from La Leche League; the second on 125 children in a Steiner school.
(1)

Throughout Europe, a group of mostly paediatricians studied 14,893
children in Steiner schools in Austria, Germany, Holland, Sweden and
Switzerland and found that children living in “anthroposophist culture”
(where vaccination is largely shunned) were in better health than the
controls. (2)  In Germany, one of the European Steiner schools study
researchers wrote, “In the eastern part of Berlin before the fall of the
wall, we saw less allergies than in the west.  This population was poorer, closer to nature and less vaccinated.”

Too much hygiene is not always good. As UK researcher and originator
of the hygiene hypothesis David Strachan might say, “give us this day
our daily germs”.  In Spain, Xavier Uriarte, M.D. and J. Manuel Marn,
M.D. published a study in 1999 on 314 children that they followed
between 1975 to 2000. (3) This group of children is characterized by a
majority of homebirth or natural births, prolonged breastfeeding, no
vaccinations, holistic health education and no allopathic medicine.Â
There were no serious diseases, few hospitalizations (mostly for
traumas), and 3.3% asthma compared to the 20% in the general
population.  Of course, a lot of money was spared!

The rate of autism in the U.S. is now an unthinkable 1 in 100.  Those
who are unvaccinated boast numbers that run in shocking contrast to the
nation’s statistics.  As this article is directed to the American
people, I will not go on at length here.  Most of you know the work of
your very own journalist Dan Olmsted showing the incredible absence of autism in the unvaccinated Amish communities
of Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Further impressive is Chicago-based
Homefirst Medical Clinic run by a group of doctors including medical
director Mayer Eisenstein, M.D., J.D., M.P.H..  They have no known
autism and super-scarce allergies in their children, many of whom were
home deliveries, and most of whom have had no vaccinations.  In 1985, I
translated to French, U.S. paediatrician Robert Mendelsohn’s “How to
Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor”.  Now I find concrete
results in the marvelous health of children whose doctors are Dr.
Mendelsohn’s students!  I like these synchronicities in my life.

Australia

In 1942, Leslie Owen Bailey, founder of the Natural Health Society of
Australia, accepted guardianship of 85 children whose mothers were
unable to care for them.  Among these 85 children, no vaccinations were
ever given, no drugs were ever taken or used, and no operations were
ever performed.  The only malady that occurred was when 34 of the
children developed chicken pox.  They were immediately put to bed and
given only pure water or fresh fruit juice.  They all recovered quickly
without after-effects.  Investigations revealed that these children
whilst at school had been swapping their healthy lunches for unhealthy
conventional foods, so this outbreak was not altogether surprising.

Many of these children inherited poor health due to a history of
illness and malnourishment in their mothers.  Despite this, and the fact
that they were never breastfed nor could enjoy the normal bonding of
mother to child, they were able to grow into sturdy, self-reliant
children.

New Zealand

Two studies done in New Zealand in 1992 and 1995 show that the
unvaccinated children clearly have less allergies, less otitis (ear
aches), less tonsillitis, less runny noses, less epilepsies and less A.D.H.D. (4)

Japan

An interesting period in Japan was 1975-1980, when a decision was
made to begin the first vaccinations at two years of age instead of at
two months.  The reason was that more and more information was
discovered linking vaccines and cot-death (S.I.D.S.).Â
A study was published in Pediatrics showing that from 1970 to January
1975, there were 57 cases of serious vaccine reactions, including 37
deaths.  From February 1975 to August 1981 there were eight cases of
serious vaccine reactions, including three deaths.  Unfortunately for
kids and their parents, the Japanese vaccination plan is now
“normalized” again.  The study shows well that the immune system is
stronger at two years than at two months.  How well would these kids
have done had they not been vaccinated at all?

We find the same observation in a Journal of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology study.  Of 11,531 children studied at age seven, here are the
results: vaccinated at two months, 13.8% are asthmatic, vaccinated
between two and four months, 10.3%, vaccinated after four months, 5.9%.
Again, how well would these kids have done had they not been vaccinated
at all?

The Lesson Learned on Vaccination

As a concerned, compassionate and considerate paediatrician, I can
only arrive at one conclusion.  Unvaccinated children have by far the
best chance of enjoying marvelous health.  Any vaccination at all works
to cripple the chances of this end.

Sources

___________

1) http://www.birthworks.org/primalhealth

2) Allergic diseases and atopic sensitization in children related to farming and anthroposophic lifestyle – Persifal study. Allergy 2006, 61 (4) : 414-421.

3) http://www.vacunacionlibre.org

4) http://www.ias.org.nz

Very well written piece supporting vaccination.  Highly recommend for other new parents. 

A hotly debated and deeply personal subject.  There are many reasons why parents would choose to not vaccinate, and the choice is one made with much science behind it–science found right on the CDCs website. everyone of the illness we vaccinate against were on a steady decline naturally up until the moment the vaccination was introduced.

For some the choice is a spiritual/ethical one.   Do parents want to inject toxins, animal dna and metals into their children? Why are British researchers finding different conclusions regarding neurological damage in their studies http://fedgeno.com/documents/delayed-neonatal-reflexes-in-primates-receiving-thimerosal.pdf

While some may say your cousin put her life and baby’s life in danger by giving birth at home ( with a midwife I assume) their choice to birth at home was a personal one and a means to avoid unneeded and unwelcome medical interventions. In a world where 30%-40% of babies are born by c-section in the US—a world where people pop chemicals to make them happy, because they can not heal their own lives–a world where we are told if we dont vaccinatr we are child abuseors—there is a crazy belief among a generation that Women’s bodies are made to birth–and the human body and soul are connected and wellness is something that is not found by visiting a doctor or taking a pill and that healing and heath are a state of mind. 

Wellness begins when we let go of FEAR.  there was a lot of fear in your letter as well as the need to control what is out of your hands. this fear is common in mothers who have lost or nearly lost children. 

you said it yourself—you make a living giving vaccinations.  Are you supporting wellness or an ideology of FEAR.

http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/graphs/