Formaldehyde

Finally, a scientific look at what formaldehyde actually is, what it does, and why it is in vaccines.

Formaldehyde is a normal, essential human metabolite with a biological half-life of about 1.5 minutes (Clary and Sullivan 2001). It is endogenously produced and is involved with methylation reactions for and biosynthesis of some proteins and nucleic acids. It is also rapidly metabolised to formate and excreted in urine or to carbon dioxide and exhaled (WHO, 2006 and Clary and Sullivan 2001). ~ JustTheVax

Edited: May 12th, 2009

Just the vax…

Two of the scientists whom I highly respect have started a blog to discuss vaccinations.

Parents of unvaccinated children have more dangerous diseases to consider than parents of vaccinated children - some parents do not think first. In the year 2000, an unvaccinated preteen came down with a fever and parents took him to a pediatrician’s practise. He infected six children in the waiting room with measles, three of these children were under 12 months old. Two are now dying.

SSPE was something no one ever mentioned when I began my first foray into the vaccine controversy three years ago. But as there are more and more outbreaks of measles, it will become something that is ever more important to know about.

Edited: April 24th, 2009

Jenny M: Open mouth, insert foot

I mistakenly read Jenny Mcarthy’s book while I was pregnant… and it was literally the only book (I am referring to Belly Laughs) that I ever threw across the room. I think it was after her epidural caused her labor to stall and she wound up needing a c/s and then her baby was born blue and needing to be resuscitated, but then after all that her assessment was that EVERY WOMAN should have an epidural, and that she just doesn’t get WHY anyone wouldn’t want one. Ugh. Talk about a lack of introspection, not to mention a lack of just understanding the basic risks of the hospital interventions you are signing up for. (Note: after my birth, I have no issues with anyone choosing an epidural!!!! I just have issues with not knowing the risks of an intervention you are *recommending* to other people.)
Her activity as an autism crusader has provided many opportunities for her to choke on her own feet, but this one in particular is making me laugh a bitter laugh.

Babies get the hepatitis B vaccine immediately after they’re born and the only way for a newborn to contract that disease is if the mother is a carrier. Why not just screen the mother? Evan was handed to me pre-vaccinated with a Band-Aid on his foot.(Time magazine interview)

Really Jenny? Since when are vaccines administered in the feet of infants? Could you possibly be thinking of the newborn heel prick to screen for metabolic disorders?
I mean, skip the Hep B at birth; I did. (Getting Pediarix at 2, 4, and 6 months brings a child up to date on that anyways.) But know what you are skipping, or not skipping, or what the heck you are talking about, please? Especially before you go spew your “knowledge” all over Time Magazine, what do you think? How about a little due diligence?

Edited: April 3rd, 2009

Hib vaccine…

Of all vaccine preventable diseases, Hib is IMO particularly scary. I am not afraid to admit being scared of meningitis…

“Children who survive Hib meningitis may develop permanent neurological disability, including brain damage, hearing loss, and mental retardation. 15% to 30% of children who survive Hib disease are at risk for these disabilities. 5% to 10% cases of Hib meningitis are at risk of dying.” http://www.who.int/immunization/topics/hib/en/index1.html

Not my idea of good odds.
Here’s another good link about Hib
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs294/en/

“The rate of invasive Hib disease has been reduced by 95% in neonates and infants since the introduction of its preventative vaccines…Hib was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under age 5 before its vaccines were introduced. “http://www.meningitisfoundationofamerica.org/templates/content-view/80/index.html

So, in a nutshell…
The disease is particularly scary and targets the youngest and most vulnerable of our population. The vaccine is safe and effective. That’s why I chose to give Hib.

Edited: December 3rd, 2007

The Japan SIDS Myth

This particular myth was started by Vera Scheibner, basically saying that when Japan raised the vaccination age to 2 years old, their SIDS rates plummeted. Of course it’s totally not true.

Scheibner systematically misrepresents the Japanese situation. SIDS continued to occur in Japan but since the diagnosis is restricted to children under 12 months and the minimum age for vaccination increased to two years, it merely disappeared as an entity from the vaccine compensation system. (
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/322/7290/822)

Japan SIDS rates are currently at their lowest ever
http://www.sids.gr.jp/en/recent_projects.html
See page 73 for Dtap study results (no difference in SIDS rates in DTAP’d and un vaxed babies)
http://www.sids.gr.jp/invi/The%209th%20SIDS_0522.pdf

Scheibner rests her statement about the “disappearance of cot death” on data showing that no claims were lodged under the compensation scheme when the vaccination age was increased from 3 months to 2 years of age. However, she fails to point out that a SIDS diagnosis is restricted to infants under 12 monmths. SIDS had merely disappeared as an entity from the vaccination compensation system which was now compensating only for events occurring after 2 years, the new minimum age for vaccination.(
http://www.utoronto.ca/virology/mby480/lectures/Scheibner.pdf)

Edited: November 15th, 2007

Debunking the Vaccine Guide, #2…

I’m having a really hard time with this book because literally every paragraph of every page is chock full of hundreds upon hundreds of completely ridiculous statements. I am not kidding. I’m actually quite surprised at how outrageous some of this is; anti-vaxers present this book as a “balanced” view. Hmm.
Ok, so this next chapter is titled “Contaminated Vaccines,” and delves right into the anonymous source game.

(more…)

Edited: April 21st, 2007

Debunking The Vaccine Guide, Part 1…

The Vaccine Guide, by Randall Neustaedter OMD, bills itself as “Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults.” However, this book wastes no time getting to the manipulative language. Right on the cover, there is a list of vaccines which are discussed in the books pages. Anthrax is the first one. Smallpox and typhoid are also included, despite the fact that the vast majority of Americans will never be vaccinated with those vaccines.
Manipulative language is the name of the game in this book though, I really could go on and on as each paragraph is positively stuffed with it.

“The damage that vaccines cause on immune functions is now undeniable, but the repeated denial of serious adverse events and deaths by vaccine manufacturers is reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s stonewalling. (page xi, preface) ”

So much for risks and benefits, hmm? Now that we have *that* out of the way…

(more…)

Edited: April 16th, 2007

Initiative for Vaccine Research…

Highlights from a WHO document about the Initiative for Vaccine Research (pdf file):

The process of developing vaccines is complex, risky and lengthy: it usually takes more than 10 years to arrive at a fully licensed product. Moreover, the required investment both of capital and highly skilled expertise is substantial and, as a result, those who most need the vaccines are the least able to afford or develop them.

Even when an efficient vaccine is developed and licensed, R&D should not stop there. Implementation research… is a vital component of successful vaccine introduction.

Vaccines used today are the yield of decades of devoted effort, requiring not only excellence in research, but also managerial and funding commitment throughout the endeavor. The total cost of the R&D process for a single vaccine candidate is estimated at US $200 million to US $500 million… registration of a single vaccine requires the development of four to five independent vaccine candidates and a constant pipeline of potential new products.

Using the life-cycle approach applied to commercial vaccines, innovation and research into even better vaccines and vaccine delivery systems continue, for example towards improved manufacturing processes to reduce gradually the cost of a vaccine for the end user.

Edited: April 8th, 2007

Fun with whale.to…

Whale.to is a popular anti-vaccine site that I can’t help myself, I love to have fun with. With pages like these, it just gets to be too easy.
http://whale.to/v/biowarfare.html
http://whale.to/a.html
http://whale.to/b/mind_control.html
http://www.whale.to/b/demons_q.html
Here’s a fabulous quote from one of Whale’s pages about Satanism…

Well, sad to say, there are sexual rituals involving demonic beings known as sucubus and incubus. These reptilian beings densify during the slaughter of a young virgin girl, no older than 12, but menstruating. That’s the reason for the growth hormones in milk - to produce more menstruating young women in western countries. It was getting tough - as the CIA continued its Satanic expansion of itself into every town, city, and hamlet in the North and Southern Americas, to fill the needs of the Beast. Plus, keeping their own undead here, requires a whole cataloge of young children (http://www.whale.to/b/demons_q.html)

Did you know if you search whale.to for the word “satan” you get 180 responses?

Edited: March 23rd, 2007

2 month well baby visit…

I’ll start with the good news… Bella gained two pounds since her last visit! Baby girl is really chubbing up. That’s the good news from our 2 month WBV (well baby visit) with our pediatrician. The new pediatrician, for the record.
I was very, very apprehensive about this visit because I knew she’d be getting her first round of vaccines. Currently that includes Rotateq, Pediarix, DTaP, and Hib.
It’s disturbing how easily the anti-vax culture seeps into your brain, as even though I *know* vaccines are very safe, I was so nervous! Nervous about the pain from the actual sticks (3, Rotateq is an oral vax), nervous about any potential side-effects, just nervous! Although really I guess anytime someone says “Do X and it will hurt your baby,” if you are a mom, you are going to think about it a little bit no matter what common sense tells you. We are mama bears, for real!
So who would’ve thunk that the oral vax, Rotateq, would be the one to cause us a problem?
I guess the nurse administering the vaccines is new to administering oral vaccines. She btw, is the same lady who did our PKU stick which she did a fantastic job at. She was just so fast, it was much better than when my midwife did it (six sticks and the test still had to be redone, awful awful awful!). But she wanted Bella to be lying flat on her back for this. My instinct told me she should be sitting up; I don’t know why I didn’t say anything, honestly. I just figured this lady knew what she was talking about.
So she has Bella lying flat on her back and starts letting her suck on the end of this little syringe-type thing which has the vaccine in it, and squirting it a little bit too, I guess, because my baby choked. I’m going to go ahead and assume that the problem here was that she was lying on her back and she was not controlling the rate of the flow into her mouth. (When I give her bottles for supplementing, I have her sitting up.) So she really choked. I mean stopped breathing for at least five seconds while this nurse just looked at her, and I was overcome by some odd doctors-office paralysis. I know what to do when a baby chokes, but I just assumed this woman would do something! She did not, so I grabbed her and flipped her over, which seemed to help. Once Bella caught her breath she was soooo upset and screaming, and making wierd little hiccoughing sounds. You could tell the fluid had gone down wrong.
I guess we really should’ve let her settle down then before moving on to the needles, but we didn’t. I am a newbie mom and this whole visit I felt like I just screwed up. Anytime I don’t listen to my instincts I wind up regretting it, and this was one of those times.
Poor baby, of course she screamed her little head off when she got stuck; but honestly that part was very, very fast. Awful. But fast. It was calming her down afterwards that I got worried. The nurse had left and I was trying to nurse her and she just absolutely would not calm down and latch on. She was still making that wierd hiccoughing noise. I finally got her latched on, but she kept unlatching, hiccoughing, and then she would start screaming again.
Finally I stepped out and asked for the doctor to come back in. She did, and listened to her lungs to make sure she hadn’t aspirated anything. Her lungs were clear, so the doc told me she thought she was refluxing up some of the vax, which was what was causing that scary sound when she was breathing. She advised me that the baby might throw up the vax. Then she told me to stay until her breathing was normal or I felt comfortable; which I did. I think I stayed for another 45 minutes just sitting there, I finally got her to latch on, and then shortly after she fell asleep. Her breathing returned to normal and my heart started beating again.
The doc came back in to check on us and gave me her cell number to call, just in case. The nurse kept poking her head in and apologizing; she clearly felt awful about the whole thing and I think her technique with Rotateq will be modified in future!
Bella slept off and on for the rest of the day, and that night woke up. Smiling. Flirting. Cooing and being her totally normal, beautiful self. I think she’s had some mild soreness in her legs, but nothing that has made her very upset.
Who would’ve thought I would’ve been foiled by what I thought would be the “easy” vaccine?

Edited: March 5th, 2007