Wellness Wednesday - Why I don't believe in vaccination.

I pretty much remember most of my vaccinations from pre-school and up. I remember us all standing in long queues and the terror and panic getting worse and worse the closer I got to the front of the line. I hate needles. I can't get my head around deliberately putting a long, sharp object through your skin. That's why I'll never get a tattoo!

But vaccinations aren't something you have a say about... or are they? I'm sure there are more, but I only know three other people in South Africa who DON'T believe that vaccinations should be a part of our lives. One is my homeopath, and the others are the mothers of my godchild. In fact, they first planted the seed in my head about vaccinations. Since then I have done a lot of my own research, as I've done with everything else on this blog, and I've come to understand that vaccinations don't HAVE to be a part of mine, or my pets, or my future children's lives.

This is a controversial topic. Bring it up in polite conversation and you are liable to get your head bitten off! I know my godchild's mothers got a LOT of grief from other moms about their decision not to vaccinate. Mothers threatened to keep their kids away from my godchild, said they were irresponsible and their child was going to die of a dreadful disease before she reached the age of 1!

What terrible things to say to expectant mom's and how completely out of line. It's just as bad as them retaliating and saying that parents who vaccinate are irresponsible and THEY are going to kill their child, but they didn't retaliate that way, even though they had done piles of research, unlike the other parents. My friends didn't go into this blindly, but most parents DO vaccinate blindly, based entirely on what a doctor tells them to do.

It's nobody's place to judge a parent. We all do what WE think is best for our kids and no-one has the right to judge that, unless it's something abusive towards a child. That's why, what I am saying here today is all about MY thoughts and opinions and yes, they're very much based on fact. But, at the end of the day, what you do with your kids is YOUR choice. If you feel you are doing the right thing, and you have made an informed decision, then that's what you must do and no-one can ever accuse you of bad parenting because it comes from a place of love.

So, why do I choose not to vaccinate? Where do I begin...

Did you know that diseases were on their way out long before vaccines arrived? Epidemics have a certain lifespan. According to the World Health Statistics Annual 1973 – 1976, Volume 2, there has been a steady decline in infectious diseases in most developing countries regardless of the percentage of vaccines administered. Researchers pointed out that infectious diseases disappeared as the result of improved sanitation, improved public water supplies and personal hygiene, better distribution and increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. From 1850 to 1940, diseases had declined by 90% and were at an all-time low and only THEN were vaccines starting to be introduced. Interestingly, diseases for which there was never a vaccine, ALSO declined dramatically. eg. turberculosis, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, among others.

 

You'll see in these three charts, that in each and every case, the epidemic was already decreasing dramatically - long before the vaccine was ever introduced. You'll also see that in medical textbooks, the chart showing the decline in the polio death rate is only shown from the point of the first red line forward! This unfortunately leads medical and nursing students to mistakenly believe that the polio vaccine was responsible for the decline in the disease and that's simply not true. As you can see from the chart, polio was already well on its way out before the vaccine was introduced. The same story applies for pertussis (whooping cough) and measles as well as other infectious diseases that didn’t have vaccines.

That is why doctors are very misled about the effectiveness of vaccines. The control of medical and nursing school curricula by big pharmaceutical companies through big research grants and donations ensures that they continue to promote and sell their medication. In fact, the real reasons for the decline in epidemics are running water, improved sanitation/personal hygiene, and greater access to fresh fruits and vegetables. But that doesn’t make anyone any corporations, any money... If you would like to see those graphs more clearly, click here.

People still get things like measles, chicken pox, etc, despite having the vaccines. There isn't even a vaccine for scarlet fever and I got it when I was a kid. I didn't die. I was pretty sick for a while but I lived to tell the tale. Getting a disease like measles, as a child, actually does a lot for their immune system. It's kind of like allowing a fever to run its course. It's not pleasant, make no mistake. But it teaches their bodies how to fight the way they are meant to fight. My three triplet nephews all had chicken pox recently. My poor sister had her hands full with that! But they didn't have the vaccine and guess what, they recovered just fine. And their immune systems are going to be SO much stronger as a result. We're not living in the dark ages. If things go horribly wrong, we have conventional medication to turn to if it's really necessary. I don't see how a vaccine would have changed things for them really. I think they're better off for NOT having it.

Here are 6 very good reasons for why I don't believe in vaccinations:

• Pharmaceutical companies can’t be trusted: Do you know how many times in the last 10 years a medication has been deemed unsafe and dangerous and yet the pharmaceutical companies have covered it up FOR YEARS to continue bringing in the profits for as long as possible? Believe me, it's MANY times. Here's an example: HRT became a standard thing for a menopausal woman over 40 years. Even women with no complaints were advised that this treatment was helpful as it reduced chances of heart attacks and cancer and even helped them feel younger. Those claims were actually false. Breast cancer risk is actually doubled for women on HRT, 41% increased risk for stroke, 29% increased risk of heart attack, and the list goes on and on. How many lives were lost before they finally realised?
  
  How about Vioxx? This dangerous medication caused thousands of deaths from heart attack and stroke before it was finally removed from the market when evidence surfaced that Merck had withheld information and even doctored reports on the dangers years before. Merck agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle approximately 27,000 cases from victims claiming injury or death of a family member using Vioxx. This is a huge sum of money but, in reality it represents less than one year’s profits for Merck. You can see that it certainly pays for a pharmaceutical company to cover up any risks. They made far more money than they lost! These corporate monsters have proven themselves to be completely untrustworthy based on past behavior. In a court of law, if such a company were an actual witness, an attorney would never put them on the stand due to a serious lack of credibility. Are you really going to take these companies at their word that vaccines are safe when their answer is based on money and profits? I'm not.
  
• ALL Vaccines are loaded with chemicals and other poisons - NO exceptions: Here is a list of some of the ingredients found in the vaccines on the market today: MSG, antifreeze, phenol (used as a disinfectant), formaldehyde (cancer causing and used to embalm), aluminum (associated with alzheimer’s disease and seizures), glycerin (toxic to the kidney, liver, can cause lung damage, gastrointestinal damage and death), lead, cadmium, sulfates, yeast proteins, antibiotics, acetone (used in nail polish remover), neomycin and streptomycin. And the ingredient making the press is thimerosol (more toxic than mercury, a preservative still used in many vaccines, not easily eliminated, can cause severe neurological damage as well as other life threatening autoimmune disease). These vaccines are grown and strained through animal or human tissue, like monkey and dog kidney tissue, chick embryo, calf serum, human diploid cells (the dissected organs of aborted fetuses), pig blood, horse blood and rabbit brain.
  
  Can you imagine injecting this stuff directly into your child’s blood? At least if you ate these ingredients, your body would have a better chance of detoxifying and eliminating them before any permanent damage could be done. But, to inject them right into the blood is the most damaging and lethal approach possible. How could anyone possibly think that injecting a cocktail of such lethal poison could in any way help preserve and enhance your child’s health?
  
• Vaccinated children are the unhealthiest, most chronically ill children: Fact: Vaccinated children have been found to be more chronically ill than unvaccinated children with rates for autism, ear infections, ADHD, asthma and allergies as much as 30% higher than non-vaccinated children. Look closer to home if you are questioning that. Compare notes with parents around you. Granted, MORE of them will have vaccinated than not, but hopefully you'll find some who haven't.  The kids with the most problems like allergies, asthma, ADHD, autism, coordination and other gross motor issues, etc, are the ones that are right on track with their vaccination schedule.
  
• If they're not bad then why are other countries waking up to the dangers: In 1975, Japan raised its minimum vaccination age to 2 years. Their infant mortality rate plummeted to such low levels that Japan now has one of the lowest levels in the Western world (They are number 3 on the list). Guess where South Africa is? Number 137!!!! Granted, we have other terrible issues like babies being murdered on a daily basis... Either way, it's a shocking place to be. We are higher on the list than Iran and Syria... In Australia, the flu vaccine was suspended in April 2010 for children under 5 years because a large number of children were being rushed to emergency rooms with febrile convulsions or other vaccine reactions within hours of getting this shot. Telling, isn't it?
  
• A number of vaccines have already had problems/been removed from the market (FYI: If the vaccines below have had serious problems, there's a good chance that the others do too because vaccine manufacturers follow the same basic formula for every shot):
  
  Here are some of them:
  
• In Feb 2002, GlaxoSmithKline removed the Lyme Disease vaccine from the market citing poor sales when in fact a number of people who received the vaccine reported symptoms worse than the disease itself such as incurable arthritis or neurological impairment.
• The Rotavirus vaccine (Rotashield) was removed from the market in 1999 due to an association between the vaccine and life threatening bowel obstruction or twisting of the bowl. 
• A warning was issued concerning the second Rotavirus vaccine (Rotateq) in 2007 as it caused the same twisting of the bowel problem in 28 infants (16 of which required intestinal surgery). It looks like this vaccine is still on the market...
• Another vaccine that has had a lot of problems but hasn't been withdrawn is the Gardasil vaccine for adolescent girls. A few of the reactions reported are fainting, paralysis and slurred speech and yet this vaccine is still on the market. At least 1600 adverse events have been reported since its approval in 2006, yet doctors are continuing to recommend this shot to their patients.

• You can always get vaccinated, but you can never undo it: In the vase of vaccination, procrastination is a GOOD thing. The longer you wait to vaccinate your child, the better. A child’s immune system continues to develop for years after birth. The blood/brain barrier doesn't fully develop until adolescence. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that your child’s immune system will be able to handle the onslaught with minimal damage. The best option is not to vaccinate at all but, if you delay it for a few years it's definitely better than vaccinating a baby. By the time your child is older, more research will have been done and you will have an opportunity to learn more and maybe become more comfortable with your decision to wait. Who knows, you may even realise it's not something you want to do at all.

The polio vaccine released between 1955 and 1963 is well known to have been tainted with the Simian Virus 40 (SV40) found in some species of monkey, which puts people at risk of developing cancer. 

Most people knew about it some time back and that is why a lot of people made the decision to stop vaccinating. The CDC (centre for disease control and prevention) have known about this for YEARS but they've only NOW admitted to it.They finally posted on their website that as many as 30 million Americans alone could be at risk for developing cancer due to the tainted polio vaccines. After the link went viral, they took it down but you can follow this link to read about it. Why all the secrecy, for so long, about something so vitally important? Many of the people vaccinated with the tainted polio stock are already dead from cancer with many more getting diagnosed each and every day so it's a bit late guys...

It's shocking enough that it took 50 years for the CDC to admit to this, but what's even worse is that it took 3 years to finally recall the tainted stock and reformulate the vaccine. It was actually over 100 million Americans who were vaccinated with the contaminated polio vaccine before action was taken, not just 30 million as the CDC said.

You may be thinking, well, at least they recalled it. But who's to say this is the only problem? They took 50 years to admit to it, and 3 years to recall it, so it was on the market for long enough to do some serious damage. Do you have enough faith in them to believe that they will be truthful the next time it happens, and that they are actually even looking for other problems? Never mind all the other toxins that are actually in the vaccines aside from dangerous viruses that cause cancer.

It's just not a chance I'm willing to take with my health OR with my family's health. You only have to read a few of my blog posts to know that I don't place much faith in doctors or in conventional medication. I haven't taken so much as a disprin for nearly 2 years now. I prefer to use food as my medicine and, if necessary, alternative methods like homeopathy but I don't see chemicals as any kind of solution. That's why it's easy for me to decide against vaccines. I don't buy into scare tactics that say I am putting everyone's lives in danger by not vaccinating. I honestly believe it's all about the money, not about you or me.

You might be different and that's fine because it's your decision at the end of the day. All I'm doing is helping you to make a more informed decision rather than simply doing something because a doctor told you, or because everyone else seems to be doing it and you just assume you should. This is the other side of the coin. If you prefer to hear it from a doctor, read this article. It's long but very interesting.

Now you can go and do your own research and do what you think is best for you and your family:)