Chris & I have been doing *lots* of research regarding vaccinations for our baby and decided that the more we learned (on both sides) the better decisions we could make. There is a lot of information out there regarding the link between vaccines & autism (as well as other metabolic & immune disorders). I myself had a friend whose son started showing signs of autism after his vaccinations (he had twins, a boy & a girl. Only the boy developed the disorder).
Despite all the information supporting vaccines I have a hard time believing that giving a baby that weighs less than 35 lbs., 8-10 diseases could not have *any* possible adverse effects. Especially when many of the shots are given all at once. Some of the research suggests that "Thimerosal" (a preservative containing Mercury) is to blame. Some say it is the other metals & contaminants such as: lab altered viruses and bacteria; aluminum; mercury; formaldehyde; phenoxyethanol; gluteraldehyde; sodium borate; sodium chloride; sodium acetate; monosodium glutamate (MSG); hydrochloric acid; hydrogen peroxide; lactose; gelatin; yeast protein; egg albumin; bovine and human serum albumin; antibiotics; and other unidentified contaminants.
Now don't get me wrong, I want my baby to be protected, but I'm not so sure that trusting someone who has only been fed what to be told by pharmaceutical company reps is the best way to make the decision on safety. I want to know more...I want to know all the facts before jumping into something that will affect the life of someone I love & who has no choice but to trust me to do the right thing. Knowing what the right thing is, now that's the hard part.
One of the things that really got me thinking about this was the mandate the Texas Governor (Rick Perry) signed to have all girls, aged 11, to be given the HPV vaccine (Gardasil). The HPV vaccine is a vaccine for the human papillomavirus which can cause cervical cancer. The vaccine is for 4 types of HPV (out of the over 100 out there). But what really got me thinking on the topic is that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. Now, I know there are 11 year old girls out there having sex, but I just didn't feel that the State should be mandating something that may not be necessary for every little girl out there. (BTW, the mandate never got passed by the local legislature because of the opposition to the vaccine being administered to 11 year olds & evidence that Perry was only pushing it because of possible contributions from Merck, who makes the vaccine Gardasil). Gardasil was only tested on girls aged 15-25 years old & they want to give it to girls at age 11 (and as early as age 9)? That does not make sense to me. Also the highest percent of females that are affected are aged 20-24 years old, but they still want to give it to an 11 year old.
When I learned that hospitals give the Hepatitis B shot to newborns I also started wondering why would they give that to a newborn who has a very low chance of contracting this disease. Hepatitis B is a blood borne pathogen (similar to HIV) it can only be transmitted through the exchange of blood fluids (also another STD). Why would a 12 hour old baby need this? They haven't even had a chance to build up 2 month's worth of immune system yet. In my research I've discovered that only about 26,000 children nationwide have been affected by HepB, but they (the CDC) has decided that all children should have this vaccine. Turns out it also provides $800 million dollars in revenue every year to the pharmecutical company Merck.
Throughout my research (which will continue to be ongoing) I've discovered that different doctors can draw different conclusions from the same scientific study. One article states that Dr. X has concluded from the ABC study that there is no connection between autism and the MMR vaccine, where another article states that Dr. Y has concluded from the ABC study that there is a possible link between autism and the MMR vaccine. With all of the contrary information about the conclusions of studies, it leads me to the conclusion that these are all just opinions of people. Just because they happen to wear a white coat does not mean they are right.
Babies who follow the CDC schedule of vaccinations are injected with nearly 5 mg of aluminum by the age of 18 months. Aluminum is a neurotoxin that even in minute quantities has well documented hazards. In 1997 the New England Journal of Medicine published data showing that premature babies injected with aluminum build up toxic levels in the blood, bones & brain and that aluminum toxicity can lead to neurological damage including mental handicaps at 18 months of age. The HepB given at birth contains 250 mcg of aluminum which is 20x higher than safety levels recommended per body weight. The vaccines given at 2 months contain 1,225 mcg of aluminum which is 50x higher than safety levels recommended for the average 12 pound baby.
(This information is from: http://www.thinktwice.com/ )
This is a very informative documentary on the topic:
A List of the Vaccines & the schedules from the National Vaccine Information Center: http://www.nvic.org/Downloads/4507NVIC11x17HIRES.aspx
A List of Vaccines & their Thermerosal content:
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm
