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Is Vaccination Really Necessary?

Should I Vaccinate My Kids?

This has been a mind-boggling question of mine since I recently started hearing stories of babies having adverse reactions from vaccines.

I’m the mama of two sweet boys, Max and Milo. Max is 2 and has been vaccinated and Milo is about 10 months and has also had all of his “shots” up until this point.

But ever since I joined the natural health field I’ve been questioning whether I should have ever let anyone put those vaccines into my boys!

I also feel conflicted because I’ve never really questioned what was in the vaccines, what diseases they are supposed to prevent, or what sort of bad reactions could come of it. I just took my boys to the pediatrician’s office and let the nurse inject them with a collection of  substances. The doctor sends me home with the same informational handout on vaccinations that I’ll admit I never read. I just assumed that since “everyone is doing it” and the government says it’s safe then it must be the best thing to do.

Now I can’t help but wonder if I’ve made a mistake. Maybe the gut wrenching feeling I had every time I brought my boys in for their shots was my instinct telling me I shouldn’t be letting this happen.

How could this possibly be so terrible when the pediatrician tells me that he vaccinated all 5 of his kids? Or that in all his 15 years of work he hasn’t seen one bad reaction to the vaccines? The list  goes on.

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Why does this have to be such a hard fight? All I want to do is make the best decision for my kids. I want them to be the healthiest they can be and live a long and happy life. Isn’t that what the vaccine industry wants for my kids too?

The CDC’s (Center for Disease Control) National Immunization Program invites everyone to join in celebrating National Infant Immunization Week April 21st-28th.

But, how do I know if immunizing my infant is really something I want to celebrate? Especially after finding out some things you’re about to read…

What Came First, The Chicken Or The Egg?

Do vaccines control the outbreak of disease?  Or do they actually contribute to the spread of it?

Parents, you’re probably familiar with the 5-shot series known as DTaP that is given at 2, 4, 6, and 18 months and again between 4-6 years of age. In early 2010, California had the largest spike of pertussis cases in more than 50 years. But, interestingly enough, most of these cases were in people that received the DtaP vaccine. According to Reuters Health, 92% of the cases in California that the CDC was referring to were in vaccinated individuals. But the CDC claims,

“Yet without diligent efforts to maintain immunization programs in the United States and to strengthen them worldwide, vaccine-preventable diseases will remain a threat to children. As illustrations, it’s only necessary to consider the 2010 outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough), which killed 10 infants in California.”

The CDC is a credible source right?! I mean…it’s run by our own government for crying out loud! But, there’s always another side of the coin, especially when big money is involved. By the way, the CDC is  a $27 billion a year industry.

Here’s another CDC claim about measles,

“In the 1950s, nearly every child developed measles, and unfortunately, some even died from this serious disease. Today, few physicians just out of medical school will ever see a case of measles during their careers.”

But Jini Patel Thompson who wroteShould I Vaccinate My Child,  points out some interesting results of a study done by the WHO contradicting this statement,

“An unpublished study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on a “measles susceptible” (malnourished) group of children showed that the group who hadn’t been vaccinated contracted measles at the normal contract rate of 2.4%. Of the group who had received the measles vaccine (MMR), 33.5% contracted measles.’

Who Will Be Proven Wrong?

Jennifer Craig, PhD takes us back in history to conclude that it’s pretty much going to take a lot of people who have had adverse reactions to change it. She says,

The idea that putting noxious substances under the skin will prevent disease is based on a false premise, the premise that cowpox prevented smallpox. Despite the huge volume of contrary evidence, this myth is still believed. Dr. Maclean told us in 1810, “experience forbids us to expect fair and magnanimous proceedings and we may be assured that, under no circumstances, will vaccinators abandon so lucrative a practice, until the practice abandons them.” The growing numbers of parents with vaccine-damaged children are the only ones likely to alter the current state of affairs. As consumers they can exert their power and refuse the product and thus allow the practice to abandon the vaccine makers.

But Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases told WebMDthat,

Unvaccinated people put themselves and others at risk — particularly infants too young to be vaccinated, who can have the most severe complications…

There has been a surge in measles cases in the U.S. and the CDC tells us that it’s due to people who have not been vaccinated with the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Now will the WHO come out with a study in a year from now that warns us that this surge was actually in people that were vaccinated?

So, who is wrong and who is right? Should I be one of these non-vaccinators working to abandon the vaccination process? Or should I celebrate the National Infant Immunization Week with the CDC?

Either way, I’m still left with an unsatisfied taste in my mouth at the fact that I even have to ponder this.

This argument can get to be just as heated as topics like abortion! And speaking of which, for all of the people that are anti-abortion but still vaccinate their children…there is an ingredient in vaccines called human diploid cells, which come from aborted fetal tissue.

So…What’s In A Vaccine Anyway?

I stumbled upon lots of crazy ingredients as I started taking it upon myself to do some research instead of just following the leader. The Immunization Action Coalition informs us that,

To date, there are two human diploid cell lines which were originally prepared from tissues of aborted foetuses (in 1964 and 1970) and are used for the preparation of vaccines…

Click here to view the article and to see the list of vaccines that use aborted fetuses.

And there was much more that I wish I would have known about before I allowed my boys to be injected!

According to Naturopathic Physician, Keith Post, ND these are the filler ingredients we can find in our vaccines:

  • Aborted human fetal tissue
  • Dead animal tissues, such as chicken embryo, rabbit brain and dog or monkey kidney
  • Pig, horse or calf blood
  • Toxic chemicals, such as formaldehyde (think embalming fluid) or phenol
  • Antibiotics and yeast (think Candidiasis)
  • Toxic heavy metal compounds made out of aluminum or mercury. The mercury compound is called thimerosal and is the subject of current litigation, because many parents and researchers link it to the alarming increase in post-vaccination autism.

But, according to a recent article from the Tribune, the link between vaccinations with the ingredient thimerosal and autism has since been discredited. Supposedly Andrew Wakefield published an article that the General Medical Council claims had manipulated data and misreported results. Did he get paid to come forward and plead guilty for “false data”? Does mercury really cause autism?

Either way, vaccines really contain toxic chemicals and metals including aluminum and mercury!? I asked my son’s doctor about this and he told me that yes they do make the vaccines with aluminum but the mercury was taken out. After researching I found that there are in fact still trace amounts of mercury in vaccines. Even if it’s just trace amounts, isn’t it still very bad to put any aluminum and mercury into my 2 month old baby?! Why didn’t the doctor tell me this before we immunized!?

Informed Consent

Doctors are required to explain the side effects and dangers of adverse reactions. Is that supposed to be the “hand out” that I get after my kids get their shots?

Barbara Fisher served for ten years on the U.S. National Vaccine Advisory Committee and now says that even though she gave the vaccines to patients herself during her early years, she is now opposed because of the hazards they present. She objects now to pediatricians blindly shooting foreign proteins into the bodies of children without knowing the eventual damage they may cause. Fisher explains,

There are significant risks associated with every immunization and numerous contraindications that may make it dangerous for the shots to be given to your child. Yet doctors administer them routinely, usually without warning parents of the hazards…No child should be immunized without making that determination, yet small armies of children are routinely lined up in clinics to receive a shot in the arm with no questions asked by their parents!

Here’s a list of just some of the vaccine reaction symptoms.

  • 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

Is It All About The Money?

My friend Mary, has a grandchild who suffered an adverse reaction to a vaccine. Click here to read all about her story. Mary attends a holistic moms group and has told me about a mom whose little baby turned into a “vegetable” hours after the DPT vaccine and other mothers who watched their baby die shortly after being immunized. After hearing these stories, I decided to dive into this a bit further.

I found in an article called Vaccine industry receives government financial bailouts via Vaccine Injury Compensation Programon naturalnews.com that it’s estimated no more than 10% of adverse vaccine reactions are actually reported. The FDA even admits as many as 90% of physicians don’t report reactions.

There are about 20-thousand adverse reactions reported each year. So you could assume that there are actually 200,000 patients who react negatively to a vaccine. The naturalnews.com article claims victims are basically paid to keep quiet.

The compensations vary from $250,000 for the death of a child, or a life time of medical coverage for a brain damaged child. The awards are federally funded, “bailing out” vaccine manufacturers from financial liability. As in most settlements, awarded parents are gagged from talking of their case by the risk of losing their “hush money” covering lifetime medical expenses. Many parents are still programmed to believe their child’s sudden mental or physical health downturn had nothing to do with all those vaccinations they allowed their pediatrician to deliver.

So with all of that research, I still find things written by physicians that is contradictory. For example, in the article, Should I Vaccinate My Child? A Physicians Perspective by Bruce Gellin, MD, MPH and Executive Director of the National Network for Immunization Information- he says,

Studies have proven that vaccines are very safe. And the small risks associated with vaccination are being reduced through ongoing medical advances and through constant monitoring of our national vaccination program.

So, that’s it. Info from both sides. Now I have to decide… In case you decide against vaccination, here are some alternatives.

Vaccination Alternatives

Seek out a homeopathic or natural health practitioner, acupuncturist or chiropractor familiar with treating children. He or she will provide treatments that build immune function. If your child tends to get frequent colds or ear infections, consider a  colostrum powder supplement.

Consider homeopathic medicines,  Vitamin A (10,000-20,000 units per day in the form of beta-carotene or mixed carotenoids), vitamin C (500-1,000 mg. per day), or herbal complexes  to treat colds, coughs, and ear infections.

But, probably the most important way to stay healthy and maintain a healthy immune system is by making good diet and lifestyle choices. Avoid junk food, eat your veggies, get enough sleep, have a positive attitude and reduce stress. Then, when we face an epidemic, our immune system will be able to stick it out!

+Ashley Steinbrinck writes regularly about natural health and happiness for Natural Healthy Concepts. Visit the site today to browse a wide selection of herbal nutrition supplements, homeopathic medicine and natural skin care! 

Suggested documentary:

http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/home

Related articles:

The surge in cases is largely due to people who have not been vaccinated with the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine, the CDC says. A significant percentage of these people are children and teens whose parents exempted them from school vaccination requirements.

“Unvaccinated people put themselves and others at risk — particularly infants too young to be vaccinated, who can have the most severe complications,” Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a news conference held to announce the new report.

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19 Responses to Is Vaccination Really Necessary?

  1. Aarthi February 23, 2013 at 4:38 am #

    Hi All ,

    i am a mother of a girl child of age 2 , I had gone through a few articles on harmful effects of vaccine and stopped them altogether when my baby was 15 months old….but then at a point i begain to wonder how safe is it for a child living in INDIA without a vaccine ??
    my daughter is just like any two year old …poor eater and a very active small built child ….
    iam still thinking if i made a mistake by stopping vaccines altogether …..

    • Ashley Steinbrinck February 23, 2013 at 11:23 am #

      Hi Aarthi, this is such a difficult and challenging thing for parents to have to go through. Especially when there are two sides of the coin. I can relate to you as I have 2 boys at the same age as your little girl. I’ve decided at least to hold off for now and decide later whether to get any vaccinations – more like school age – you can always look into the most necessary vaccinations – and doing them later on in life is better than so early on. For me though, it just clicks in my head after all the research I did. It’s worth spending hours looking at both sides and then listen to what your instincts tell you ; ) Good luck and thanks for reading!

    • S January 20, 2014 at 3:14 am #

      Please do not follow through with this foolish fad. Until all diseases have been eradicated, then stop vaccinating your child. Until then, please vaccinate, especially if you are living in places like India where some deadly and debilitating diseases are still common. In places like the US, where the majority of the population is vaccinated, there is a concept of herd immunity that are protecting the minority of people that are unvaccinated. Vaccines along with antibiotics have played a large part in the increasing the number of children who survive childhood. Please please please do not ignore the benefits of vaccines because of the anecdotes of the few who did suffer an adverse reaction. People can have averse reactions to everything from aspirin to bread to nuts to even icy hot patches for back pain. That does not mean everyone will or that even a large number will. Even “common” “childhood” diseases such as chicken pox can cause problems later on in life for the child. Overall, the safety of medicine is increasing as our body of knowledge increases. Please do not let fear mongering deter you from protecting your baby with care that has already saved thousands of lives throughout the world over decades! I don’t work for any company or doctor. I am a public health student who believes in the power of natural treatment in conjunction with conventional medicine. If you don’t believe in pain medication or antibiotics or any thing else, at least please believe in vaccines that not only protect your baby but also the lives of other children as well. If your child is not vaccinated, then they can carry diseases to others who aren’t as well, such as newborns. Please look at videos of whooping cough to see an example of how devastating the effects can be on newborns and young children. Please take this information into consideration. Thank you for your time and may God bless you.

      • Mary Bloomer January 21, 2014 at 10:00 am #

        Dear UnicornRider91, thanks for your comments. I might argue that it is not those of us who advocate for freedom of choice in the area of vaccination who are guilty of fear mongering, but those who exaggerate the harms of simple childhood illnesses like chicken pox.

        The evidence is clearly on our side that the risks of vaccination can far outweigh the benefits. It’s no secret that many childhood illnesses were going away on their own before the introduction of vaccines, thanks to better living conditions, hygiene and clean water. There was no vaccine, by the way, for the Black Plague, but it went away all on its own. We applaud your support of natural treatments, but challenge your assertion that the safety of medicine is increasing. On the contrary, iatrogenic medicine is one of the leading causes of deaths in the US as you’ll see by this article Death by Medicine. http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.htm

        Please check out these links below especially the one from the multi-award winning documentary The Greater Good. You’ll find all the credible science you need to make an informed decision. All we ask is the right to make the choice as to what we believe is in our child’s best interest. You can always decide to vaccinate, but once the damage is done, it’s almost impossible to undo the damage. Since neither the doctors nor the pharmaceutical industry are held responsible, you and your child (or those you encourage to get vaccinated!) will pay the price for the rest of their lives.

        Please research the incredible conflicts of interest between the FDA, CDC, and our elected officials. And remember, there are six lobbyists for every member of congress, who really has the influence in the decisions that are made. Vaccines are publicly traded drugs, and they make a ton of money for the drug companies. Money doesn’t talk it shouts, and its influence sadly compromises the health and safety of us all.

        Keep up your passion for good health! You’ll do well to teach those you serve what preventative medicine really means by educating them in natural health. Just know the facts and educate yourself on who’s pulling the strings in our current medical system! Follow the money and always question their motives.

        http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/learn-more/science/

        And finally, here’s a little more info on the risks of the chicken pox vaccine you might find helpful.

        https://www.facebook.com/notes/shawn-siegel/great-expectations/761938793833590

        • Ashley Steinbrinck January 21, 2014 at 1:06 pm #

          Very well said, Mary. Believe me people, this woman has done massive amounts of research – from both sides of the “health-care” coin.

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  3. Ryan January 17, 2014 at 12:13 am #

    Good post

  4. Jess Gomez July 7, 2014 at 6:36 am #

    The elementary schools wont allow your kids to continue their education if your children are not immunized. We as children of god are given a choice. We should not be forced by other peoples decisions. We are given the choice to have abortions wich I dont think is right….But im not god to judge. We need more info on these vaccines..Theres something fishy about them.

  5. Keith.thompson September 28, 2014 at 4:38 pm #

    I fully support freedom of choice. That said, after witnessing the meningitis outbreak last year here in Canada, I think we should hold those who choose not to vaccinate themselves or their children accountable for their decisions. If you don’t want to vaccinate, no problem, but if you get sick you should have to pay the full amount of any health care costs. With our universal health care system I should not be forced to pay your health care costs, or those of your children, for something that could be prevented.

    • Ashley Steinbrinck September 29, 2014 at 11:26 am #

      Obviously you haven’t done your research, Keith. Go ahead and look up all the people who ended up with meningitis. You will see – they were fully vaccinated. How do you explain that? You’ll find out why you are wrong one day.

  6. Jonathan November 13, 2014 at 11:28 pm #

    Ashley,

    I understand your intentions are the best, but it it’s incredibly misguided and irresponsible to suggest that not vaccinating one’s children could ever be a good idea. There’s been a resurgence in the past few year of several diseases (like the mumps) in the U.S. b/c of the anti-vaccine movement (quite conspicuously in liberal areas where anti-vacciners live. The Daily Show did a great piece on this issue. Here’s an informative clip someone else made that may be helpful.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_M2pyoU4k4

    One more thought. Maybe we should leave medical/health blogs to actual doctors or qualified health care professionals? The bottom line that you and others like you will probably continue to ignore (until enough people contract these diseases maybe) is that the medical and scientific consensus could hardly be any more overwhelming. It states – vaccines are very safe and not vaccinating your children could put them and others at great risk unnecessarily.

    • Ashley Steinbrinck November 16, 2014 at 10:47 am #

      Well Jonathan, there are plenty of actual doctors and qualified health care professionals who we have sourced that don’t believe vaccinations work. Most “outbreaks” are in those who have been vaccinated, so how does that make sense?

      Have you heard of the movie “BOUGHT” I think you should do some research on the other side of the coin before you knock it. So many people die after getting “shots” and other terrible things happen if not death.

      I believe the exact opposite, and there are many others with me, that think until enough people contract health problems or death by vaccines, the majority of folks won’t know the truth.

      Vaccines were probably meant to do good way back when. But they have failed us.

  7. Kayla January 13, 2015 at 8:53 pm #

    I have a 14 month old who hasn’t received vaccinations since she was 9 months old. My husband and I are trying to decide if we want to get her vaccinated or not but we’re just not sure. She doesn’t go to daycare, she stays home with me. And she rarely visits with anyone. I just wanted to know if we’re making the right decision. im not really a big believer in medicine myself. Although did have a hospital birth but I went without an iv or epidural. I just want to know if my daughter will be healthy based solely off a healthy diet without any medicines. (If she does get a cold we use a natural honey syrup)

    • Mary Bloomer January 14, 2015 at 10:54 am #

      You sound like a wise and informed mom, Kayla. The vaccination decision is very hard on parents. We’ve all been there!

      The important thing is to do your own research. Don’t accept our opinion or that of anyone else, until you’ve really done your research! Dig deep – there’s plenty of opinions and information to sort through like the vaccine product inserts. You can always choose to vaccinate at a later time if you choose to delay or decline them right now.

      Two things to remember – 1)vaccine manufacturers are free of any liability for their products. (you can’t sue them if anything happens to your child as a result of a vaccine injury or death.) 2) The federal government has declared vaccines “unavoidably unsafe.”

      Only you and your husband can make this decision. Most parents who don’t vaccinate see to it that their children eat a healthy diet (like you do!) avoid sugar, etc. And for many of them, that’s enough. Other parents have the need for more reassurance in protecting their children. The article below on a vaccine alternative may be of some help to you. I’ve also linked to more vaccine research and a post I wrote. (My bias is evident!) We wish you all the best in this difficult parenting decision, Kayla!

      http://http://blog.naturalhealthyconcepts.com//2014/08/26/19-things-you-dont-know-about-vaccines/

      http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/parents-do-have-vaccine-alternative

      http://www.greenmedinfo.com/anti-therapeutic-action/vaccination-all

  8. Bob May 14, 2018 at 1:37 pm #

    I’m always on the quest to find more information on the subject of vaccinations, but it’s so disheartening to read through an article only to find a recommendation to seek out homeopathy as an option. Something like that just immediately strips all credibility from the article and the author. A shame.

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