Hepatitis B (aka Hep B)

What is Hep B?
Hep B is short for the virus called Hepatitis B. It causes liver damage and can cause liver failure (can be fatal).

How is it transmitted?
The Hep B virus can be transmitted to you by doing one of the following with an infected person:

• Unprotected Sex
• Sharing of IV drug needles
• Get a tattoo with an improperly sterilized need that was previously used on someone that was infected.
• Accidentally stuck by an infected needle
• Blood transfusion
• Saliva exchange is a theoretical, but virtually unheard of.
• Exchange of blood through an open wound

The Hep B virus can be transmitted to your BABY by doing one of the following with an infected person.

• Blood transfusion (blood is screened for Hep B, but in rare cases (1 in 65,000 or 1 in 500,000 units) it gets through.
• Saliva exchange is a theoretical, but virtually unheard of.
• Exchange of blood through an open wound.
• Birth if mom is infected. NOTE: The placenta protects the baby during pregnancy, but not birth).

As you might imagine it is extremely rare for a baby to be at risk for Hep B. Yes, the risk would go up as a child starts to handle things like needles or play with other children where injuries with blood are more likely. For a baby in the first two years of life I believe this to be a low risk disease. I will re-evaluate as she gets older. Even later, I think the risk is low enough to vaccinate, but I will delay until there is more exposure to risky situations. For example, a care giver, medical, etc.


Why would you want it?
If you are in the medical profession and around other people's blood or saliva you may want to consider the vaccine. Once you become sexually active it may make sense. Travel for less than 6 months is NOT a good reason to get this vaccine because there is little added risk. Though, it is worth noting that many places such as Alaska, Pacific Islands, China, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, most of the middle east, Africa and the northern part of South America have 12% of the population infected with Hep B opposed to 1% in the US, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and southern part of South America which have 1% infected. Interestingly most cases in these areas are transmitted at the time of birth to infants. Countries not listed have a 5% infection rate.



Symptoms and Diagnosis
A blood test is needed to diagnose Hep B. Symptoms include

• Abdominal Pain
• Jaundice (yellow eyes and skin)
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue

Is HEP B Common?
According to Dr. Sears, this is a very difficult one to tell. The only place that he could find that said how many cases a year are reported was in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It said there were 360 cases from birth to age nine per year. Interestingly, it is somehow estimated that 30,000 cases are estimated per year.

Keep in mind the study was done by the drug companies (GlaxoSmith Kline and Merck) did a study to determine if infants should be vaccinated for Hep B based on how many actual cases there were in infants and children. They concluded the number was 30,000 cases a year and every since 1991 it is recommended that all babies should be vaccinated in order to decrease Hep B in our population. The reality is that since then the cases of Hep B has decreased by two-thirds. Is this because of the vaccine or something else? Hard to say.

Is Hep B Serious
The vaccine books says, "Extremely. About 90% of babies who catch Hep B during birth become chronically infected. They may now show it for many years or decades, but 25% of them will develop liver cancer or liver failure eventually.

Kids who catch Hep B during the toddler or preschool years have about a 35 percent chance of getting a chronic infection and older kids and adults have only a 6 to 10% chance of developing a chronic disease....There are an estimated 4000 deaths each year in the United States from liver failure or liver cancel due to Hep B. These are virtually all among adults."

You may also want to consider that only 10% of children of contract Hep B show symptoms right away. On the other hand, it passes without much consequence for adults.

Is Hep B Treatable?
No routine treatment is available. However, there are treatments similar to Chemotherapy though. This works in about 1/3 of the cases. Also, babies that are born to infected mothers can be given a HBIG injection to kill the viruses. It can be given to anyone who is exposed to blood known to contain the Hep B virus.

When to give it?
The CDC and AAP now recommend giving the vaccination at BIRTH. This is the one size fits all mentality of the AAP and CDC. The vaccine only applies to those babies with mothers that have Hep B already. Alternatively, they used to recommend two months after birth for the first of three doses. If you decide you don't want to give the Hep B vaccination be aware that some hospitals don't ask, they just assume you want the vaccine for your newborn and give the vaccine to them. So, be sure to make it known to the staff what your preference is.  The upside of waiting until adolescence is that only 2 shots are needed instead of 3 and the toxin to body weight is much better (safer). Though 2 or 3 shots depends on the manufacturer.

How is the vaccine made?
The Vaccine Book says, "This is a very unique vaccine in that it is artificially engineered using advanced genetic techniques." The good news is there is no way to get Hep B from the vaccine. The bad news is a portion of DNA from the Hep B virus is integrated into yeast cells and then the virus is filtered out. Then to make the vaccine work "better" they add aluminum.

This is GMO to the max. If you research GMO in our food you will find that messing with DNA and then putting it in our body is a BAD idea. Our body doesn't know what to think of it. Add that to the aluminum, mercury, and formaldehyde and I'll give this vaccine a big PASS.
NOTE: Many of the manufacturers of the vaccine have removed either all or all but trace amounts (still too much though) of mercury, but check to be sure the vaccine being used doesn't have it.

Side Effects of the Vaccine
The standard side effects occur more frequently than with many of the other vaccines. About 10 to 15 percent of people experience flu-like symptoms. Other possible reactions are: life-threatening allergic reactions, severe rash, heart palpitations, minor liver damage, bleeding disorders, visual problems, hair loss, arthritis, lupus. There are also several neurological reactions but they are rare.

Conclusion

If you are someone how believes that vaccines work reduce disease in the long run and don't mind subjecting your baby and child to this vaccine then I guess it makes sense. For me, I will not subject my baby to something for the theoretical greater good of the population when the risk for her contracting the disease is extremely low.


References: All information on this post was taken from The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears.

Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis Vaccine

I am reviewing Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (whooping cough) together since you typically give them to babies as a group. There is no doubt that like every disease we vaccinate for that it is not good to get a severe case of it, but we have chosen to not to vaccinate for diseases that are a uncommon. This makes this vaccine particularly difficult to decide because we are really talking about three diseases, not just one.

Let's start by looking at them individually.

Diptheria

The Vaccine Book says, "Dihptheria is a very severe throat infection that is caused by a bacterium...The germ secretes a toxin that irritates the lining of th ethroat and upper  lungs, causing a severe coughing and breathing difficulty. The breathing passage becomes swollen and may close off altogether... Diphtheria is transmitted like the common cold."

It is not common in the United States. There are only about 5 cases each year and many years go by without any reported cases at all. It is more common in parts of Africa, Central and South America, Asia, South Pacific, Middle East, and Europe. About 10 percent of cases are fatal. In those cases, by the time the victims seek treatment (antitoxin) the disease had done too much damage.

Our Choice: Since Dihpheria is basically nonexistant in the US we will not be vaccinating for it. If we decide to travel to other parts of the world where it is more common when she is older, we may reconsider.

Tetanus

The Vaccine Books says, "Tetanus is an acute infectious disease that is caused by a bacterum () that lives in soil and on dirty, rusty metal and can also contaminate unsterile needles... the toxin that enters a person's a person's nerves and gradually caues paralysis throughtout the body. Tetanus is commonly referred to as lockjaw because often the first muscles to become paralyzed are the jaw muscles.

It is thankfully not common. Most people with deep and dirty wounds receive proper medical care and have their wounds flushed out with clean water and disinfectant. Each year in the United States we see only about 50 to 100 cases of tetanus. Virtually all occur in adults over twenty-five who haven't received a booster shot. Only about 1 case occurs in kids under five each year, and only a handful in older children. Before this vaccine was introduced several decades ago, about 1300 cases were reported each year in the United States." Internationally, tetanus is much more severe for infants says the World Health Organization that has reports of 200,000 infants dying each year from tetanus world wide. This occurs most often when an unvaccinated mom gives birth, the umbilical cord is cut with a dirty tool, and tetanus spores from the dirty tool flow into the newborn baby through the cord. This doesn't happen in developed countries.

Our Choice: Given that there is only 1 case for kids under 5 and a handful in older children we will not be vaccinating. I can see how some might think that vaccines caused the decline (1300 to 50 or 100 cases a year) in cases would be attributed to the vaccine. I think it is more about the decline of the family farm and everyone moving into cities where we don't routinely work in the dirt. In short Tetanus is not a disease of infants and rarely for children.

It has a 15% fatality rate. It is treatable with antibody injections and antibiotics to kill the germ, but there are no medications to reverse the paralyzsis. It just has to run its course which can mean intensive care and life support while the paralysis wears off. This may take a few weeks. Also, you can get the tetanus vaccine if you get injured and suspect you might get tetanus. It is however not as effective. Though, there is a TIG (tetanus immune globulin) that can immediately inactivate any tetanus bacteria present.

Pertussis

The Vaccine Books says, "Otherwise known as whooping cough, pertussis is caused by a bacterium (Bordetela pertussis) that infects the upper lungs. It secretes a toxin that causes severe irritation and damage to teh lining of the upper lungs and throat. Pertussis is similar to diphtheria, not as serious. Symptoms mimic the common cold in the first week, but then the cough worsens into prolonged coughing fits tha tlast from thirty seconds to as long as two minutes. The cough is so severe that a person can barely breathe, and when a breath is finally possible, it sounds like a gasping "whoop." Pertussis is transmitted like the common cold an dcan last for as long as three months, even with treatment."

According to The Vaccine Book, Unfortunately, Pertussis is fairly common (about 10,000 reported caes each year in the United States during the 1990s and early 2000). In 2004 and again in 2005 it increased to about 25,000. Over the past few decades pertussis has mysteriously peaked every five years (some other sources say 3-4 years) and then decline. Case in point, one year later in 2006, it was back down to 13,000 cases. In the early part of the twentieth century (before the pertussis vaccine ) cases where about 240,000 each year in the US.

From what I can tell it appears that the vaccine may have made a difference in reducing the overall number of cases. I still wonder what would have happened if we didn't vaccinate for it. Would it have grown out of control or just declined to is current state as many of the charts suggest diseases do naturally.

The Vaccine Book says, the greatest risk for infants is below 6 months with about 1% fatality rate for that age group. There are about 2000 reported cases of pertussis each year for infants less than 6 months, and about 75% are hospitalized and about 20 die each year. In rare cases the infant can have coughing fits so long the brain is deprived of oxygen and can cause brain damage. There appears to be no long term effect from this disease. The coughing slowly resolves and the lungs recover over a couple of months. After 6 months of age, fatalities are almost unheard of, so isn't considered a serious disease in older infants (meaning up to age 1), children, and adults.

It is treatable using antibiotics to kill the germs so the person is no longer contagious. However, the damage to the airway caused by the infection produces weeks of ongoing cough, even after the germs are gone. Starting treatment early may make the symptoms shorter or less severe. The problem is that since it can be mistaken for other things like just a cough treatment may come later when the treatment might not help much and disease will just need to run its course. The good news is there are homeopathic remedies that are considered to be more effective than traditional medicines by many.

Our Choice: Since Pertussis is fatal for only 1% of the cases and that is typically in very young babies. The biggest risk seems to be less than 2 months or less and then 6 months when it is no longer considered a serious disease since fatalities are basically unheard of. Given that our baby is one month a way from the six month mark and we do not use day care and are careful about anyone who has a cough and there are homeopathic remedies we don't feel the risk of this quite reactive vaccine is worth the risk.

The Vaccines

The hard decision for many is whether to vaccine for all three even if you feel some of the others are not needed. In our case, we didn't find the risk of any particular one enough to vaccinate even if it were separate, so thankfully the choice is easier for us.

Adults
It is is recommended that you get a booster shot called Tdap every ten years. It is said this is to better protect the babies since can't be vaccinated until after two months. The focus of this vaccine is on Tetanus (you can tell because the T is bigger than the other letters). This is basically what some refer to as herd immunity (needs to be 90% of the population to be effective). About 25% of patients have standard side effects for this adult/child vaccine. Headache and fatigue are most common (30-40%).

My Choice: Personally, I won't be getting my booster. It is interesting when you start to consider what you would do vs. what you would do to your child. Most adults don't get their boosters (me included) because they think the risk is low, but yet some will automatically give it to their baby.

The Vaccine
There are a few different manufacturers of the vaccine and each one has different issues. Some have more Aluminum that others and some have none. Unfortunately, the one that has less Aluminum has Mercury. Between the two I would be sure to pick one that doesn't have Mercury and has more Aluminum since Mercury is really bad, and Aluminum is assumed to be not such a big deal. They all have formaldehyde.

There used to be a lot of bad things reported about DTP which are said to not apply to the new DTaP that we give our babies. About 15% of babies have standard side effects from this vaccine. There are real serious reactions though like Guillain-Barre syndrome, brain damage, and other nerve dysfunctions, encephalopathy.

There are other forms of the vaccine also. Here are some of them and what they are generally used for:

• DT - It is recommended for infants and children. Some parents use for older children since Pertussis is not needed later except for herd immunity and the P part is suspected to be the part that most kids are sensitive to. It is not recommended to be used for older kids because they may react to the high D component.
• dT - similar to DT, but less diphtheria vaccine than tetanus vaccine and is used for older kids (age 7 and up) and adults.
• T - Commonly used if someone is injured who want a tetanus shot. It is not officially approved for kids of younger age yet, but doctors can do it if desired.

I think it is crazy that there are so many versions of this vaccine for different age groups. To me that says it is too reactive. If for example the DT has too much D component then why in the heck should it be ok to give it to infants that are WAY smaller. This makes no sense to me. The whole set of vaccines tells me that these vaccines are not a one size fits all and thus may be more reactive for my baby.

Organic Seeds for Phoenix, AZ

I find that it is hard to know what specific varieties of fruits and vegetables will grow best in the home garden in Phoenix, AZ. I like to grow from seeds so I have put together a list of organic sources for seeds for the Phoenix, AZ metro area. The first two sources are recommended especially for the area so you can't go wrong. They are all organic (though they are not CERTIFIED organic, but I believe them to be reputable and say they can be used in a certified organic garden (I don't understand how that works though)) and Non-GMO.

Local – First place to look

http://shop.nativeseeds.org/ - Be sure to pick lower desert from the filter list to get seeds for the area.
http://www.myfarmyard.com/

Sustainable - not just for the area

However, they are still a good source if not at the local sources and they show what states the seeds are best recommended.

http://sustainableseedco.com

Pneumococcal Disease / Pc Vaccine

To quote The Vaccine Book, "Pneumococcus (Pc) is a bacterium that causes a wide range of illnesses, from mild cold symptoms and ear infections to severe pneumonia, blood stream infections, and meningitis. It is transmitted like the common cold. When the germ finds its way ino a person, it usually is kept restricted to the nose, throat, and ears and causes cold symptoms, coughing, or ear pain. Occasionally it moves down into the lungs and causes symptoms of pneumonia (labored breathing, severe cough, and fever). Very rarely the germ invades farther into the body and causes bloodstream infection (symptoms include high fever and lethargy) or meningitis (fever, sever headache, vomiting, stiff neck). No one knows what percentage of the time Pc transforms from a minor illness into a more severe one, but this does happen more commonly in infants, toddlers, and the elderly."

According to The Vaccine Book, It is a common bacteria that causes respiratory infections, however cold and flue viruses are still far more common. It is also the most common cause of infant meningitis.

The CDC estimated that there were about 60,000 cases of severe pneumococcal disease each year before the vaccine began, but I am not sure how accurately they were able to estimate that since it is not a disease that requires that the CDC be notified. Of those 60,000, 17,000 were in kids younger than five years of age. These numbers have seemed to decrease by at least half since the vaccine came into use, but now we are seeing increases in other strains of the Pc germ that are not covered by the vaccine.  In fact, in a new (1995 - 2005) study in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 2007;26:461-467) showed that 96% of the severe cases of Pc disease at Children's Medical Center in Dallas were caused by Pc strains not found in the vaccine. Conversely, serious Pc infections (pneumonia, bloodstream infection, or meningitis) occur mostly in infants (age two and under) and the elderly. Serious cases in healthy children and adults are uncommon.

True researches started working on an updated version of the vaccine and probably have one by now (2013), but to me this seems like a HUGE issue. In my mind, this means that the virus is mutating or evolving and the vaccine is only a good for a relatively short period until the virus adapts. This seems much like the flu vaccine. England has scrapped the Pneumonia Vaccines because they don't work. Specifically, The Committee are talking about the elderly over the age of 65, not infants and say

"JCVI has concluded that the protection the vaccine provides is poor and is not long-lasting in older people. In addition, the programme has had no discernable impact on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in older people. The committee has advised, therefore, that there is little benefit to continuing the programme and that it should be stopped."

The way I see it is yes this is a common and potentially severe disease. The standard side effects are common 15% of the time, but it also has a much high rate of seizures than other vaccines. There is only a .001875% chance of having a severe reaction to the vaccine. If that was all that was considered it looks like not a bad idea to get the vaccine, but given that the virus tends to adapt and thus the vaccine is no longer effective. To add to that, we plan to breast feed (greatly reduces the chance of a severe case) our baby the first two years which is the highest risk time period. We are also not going to use day care. I don't like Aluminum being in the vaccine. All that put together and I don't see how it makes sense to get this vaccine. I say no to this vaccine (in our case). 

Vaccine Side Effects

As bad as many of the diseases we vaccinate for, the severe reactions to the vaccines themselves can be equally bad or even worse.

Standard Side Effects

According to page 15 of The Vaccine Book, the following side effects typically occur 5 to 10% of the time, but some vaccines it soars to up to 40% of the time. The STANDARD side effects are, but not limited to:

• Pain at the injection site
• Redness at the injection site
• Swelling at the injection site
• Fever
• Crying
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Poor appetite
• Sleepiness
• HeadacheS
• Body AcheS
• Pea-sized nodule at injection site lasting for several weeks
• Rash over the whole body or limited to one area.

Best remedies are said to be holding a cool washcloth or ice pack to the injection site or giving ibuprofen, but it doesn't always work well. You can try Arnica for swelling. Most important is some TLC.

Serious Side Effects

The Vaccine Book (pg 181) says, "All vaccines have some potentially serious side effects. Fortunately, they are extremely rare." Based on Dr. Sears estimations, the chances of having a SEVERE reaction are approximately 4 times LESS than getting a SEVERE case of the disease. The problem is that he also said there is no way of know how off this estimate is. It could be easily be a factor of 4x off which would put it at the same likelihood as getting a SEVERE case of the disease AND we don't fully understand the long term effects vaccines have on us. We do know that having a healthy immune system is critical in reducing the chance of reactions to vaccines and reducing the chances of getting a disease. Keep in mind, the human body is subjected to millions of germs a day and only a tiny faction of 1% are for the ones that have vaccines for.

My question is, should we injecting our babies on things we HOPE will help them, but could in fact HURT them. For example, the Tetanus vaccine product insert states that there is enough evidence to say the vaccines can cause the Guillain-Barre syndrome. In the 1990's the DTP was replaced with the DTaP vaccine it had such bad reactions and may have caused permanent brain injury. Amazingly, it was once thought to be a safe vaccine, but in fact was the most "reactive" vaccines ever. The point is we can't trust what the government or the product companies believe. I'm not saying they are evil or malicious, I am just saying they will be smarter tomorrow than they are today and new safety facts are bound to come to the surface.

If that doesn't make you think twice consider these SEVERE side effects with the disease you are trying to prevent given that the chances MAY be the same of getting them.

Guillain-Barre syndrome
Dr. Sears says, "The body's immune system attacks the nervous system, causing temporary weakness and some paralysis. The effects usually wears off after several weeks, but a person must receive intensive care in the meantime to support the body system that aren't working (including respiration), and this illness is potentially fatal." Tetanus vaccine may cause this reaction / disease. To be fair, this condition also strikes for no apparent reason when no vaccines were recently given.

Encephalitis and Encephalopathy
Encephalitis is where the brain experiences swelling and irritation of the brain tissue for a brief period and is considered to be harmless. It is a lesser case Encephalopathy.

Encephalopathy is the same as Encephalitis except it is for days and can lead to dysfunction and damage to the brain tissue.

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)
It is a gradual and chronic swelling and irritation of the brain tissue and can cause permanent damage to brain tissue as it deteriorates over many years. The MMR and all tetanus containing vaccines (according to their product inserts) may also be linked to this reaction.. Also, certain viral infections may also cause this.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
It is hard to say if vaccines cause SIDS or not. Mostly because nearly all babies have had vaccines. Statistically there appears to be no link in either direction.

Autism
It appears that vaccines don't cause Autism per say. However, it doesn't mean that vaccines don't make children with autism or children that are thought to have autism, but do noticeably autistic. The reason according to Dr. Sears (The Vaccine Book, pg 183) is that, "many autistic kids have a variety of similar health problem, including intestinal disease, autoimmune disease, allergies, brain inflammation, and metabolic defects, as well as genetic inability to detoxify their bodies of the host of chemical in food, water, and pollution that are part of our modern society. Their brains and bodies may be affected by the buildup of these environmental chemicals." It is theoretically possible that chemicals in vaccines could contribute to this and maybe even bring autism in a child to such a level that it is first observable.

Chronic Arthritis
According to The Vaccine Book, "The product insert cites three research studies that have shown a 12 to 26 percent chance that teenage and adult woman who get the MMR or the plain rubella vaccine may experience significant arthritis for days, months, or rarely, years. Infants, children, and adult men don't seem to have this risk."

The best remedies for Severe reactions is about the same as for mild reactions with the addition of maybe vitamin A and vitamin C.

Rating the "Reactivity of Vaccines"

Dr. Sears has concluded through observation and his reading that we can probably rate the vaccines reactivity as follows where the first ones are least reactive (5%) up to the most reactive (40%).

5%

• HIB
• Polio
• DTaP
• Pc
• Chickenpox
• Hepatitis B
• Hepatitis A
• MMR
• Meningococcal
• Flu

40%

Minimize your risk

The goal whether you vaccinate or not is to keep the body as healthy as possible so that it can fight of disease and undesired reactions. Here is some advice Dr. Sears on pg 189 of The Vaccine Book suggests:

Breastfeed
One year, but two years is better.

Minimize sugar and junk food.
Sugar weakens the immune system. Just as a doctor if the week after Halloween is their busiest week. Be particularly careful several weeks before a vaccination.

Minimize other chemical exposures
Eat organic, non-gmo foods. This includes baby good and formula. Check the labels, most mainstream products are not organic and gmo free.

Use Omega-3 oil supplements
Most children a deficient in omega-3 fats mainly because they don't eat enough fish and eggs. Luckily breast milk does contain lots of omega-3s. Watch for mercury free supplements. Can supplement toddlers over age one.

Probiotics
They play a critical role in regulating both our intestinal immune system and our internal immune system. They are particularly important if antibiotics are used since they kill all bacteria including the good stuff such as acidophilus. Probiotics can be used after two months of age.

Vitamin A
Some researchers believe it can play a role in protecting the brain from vaccine side effects. Even infants can be given this supplement, but be careful of overdosing as it can be toxic. I suggest asking your pediatrician how much is ok. A baby multi-vitamin in the form of drops may be a good way to get the needed vitamins.

Vitamin C
This antioxidant vitamin can help boost the immune system and may decrease vaccine side effects. The amount in a multi-vitamin is usually not enough. Ask your pediatrician for suggests.

 Conclusion

There are many more side effects than I have listed here. It is hard to tell how much less risky a reaction is to a vaccine verses the disease itself. I don't have any easy answers. It would be nice if there were concrete stats on this stuff, but there just simply isn't. Our best bet is to stay health through good life choices. For me, I will have to evaluate each disease and vaccine combination separately because the risk do vary greatly from vaccine to vaccine and disease to disease. My heart and brain still find it difficult to purposely inject my baby with something that will not do her good, but has a likelihood of causing harm to her. The hope is that it will save her from a terrible disease someday and I will never be the wiser of it.

Stats on Diseases and Vaccines and when to vaccinate

The sad truth is that there is not hard core statistics on vaccines or the diseases so that you can easily make a decision on whether the risks / benefit ratio for a particular vaccine or even all vaccines in general because the reporting mechanism is subjective. May minor reactions to vaccines go unreported because they are assumed to be caused by something else or because psychologically doctors subcontiously (like all humans) see things through the filters of the thing they believe most. Consider that most doctors are in favor of vaccines. This means that when presented a symptom that could be from a reaction to a vaccine or something else they will likely say it was from something else and not report it. Why, because it supports their beliefs. I don't fault them, it is human nature, but it is something to consider. The same thing would be true for parents against vaccines. They would tend to lean the other way and blame more things on a reaction to a vaccination.

The question then comes for long term effects that may not be noticed and cannot be measured easily. Considering this, the risk of vaccines could actually be higher than is thought. On the other hand it may not, so you have to decide which side makes more sense. The problem that goes along with this is that vaccines do have the same testing requirements that drugs do. They don't have to go through long term testing or even a few years. There seems to be no way to easily do the testing than to compare against previous batches of vaccines and observe through this subjective system described above. To me, it makes more sense to error on the side of caution and history. History has taught me that we don't understand the harmful effects of things we produce until it is too late and the damage is already done. The human body is no exception to this; we hardly understand how it works and reacts to everything.

Dr. Sear's stats that he come up with (some where guesstimates because hard numbers were not available). There are several ways that he looked at the stats. The important thing to realize is there is a clear line between diseases that are likely before age 2 and those that are after. Risks do vary greatly between diseases and vaccines. However, believe it or not, the data available is not really by vaccine or disease because many of the vaccines are combo shots and can't be traced because of that. But we can generalize the risk

Combines / copied from The Vaccine Book on pages 170 and 176. The first number is the number of severe cases from the disease itself for children 12 and under. The second number is for the general population (including children 12 and under).

Chances of getting a disease

• HIB: 25 / 25 hospitalizations
• Pc: 10,000 (very approximate) / 30,000 hospitalizations
• Diptheria: 5 / 5 hospitalizations (yearly max, some years are 0)
• Tetanus: 5 / 100 hospitalizations
• Pertusis: 1500 (very approximate) / 1500 (very approximate)
• Hepatitis B: 130 (all severe) / 7500 cases
• Rotovirus: 50,000 hospitalizations (approximate) / 50,0000 (approximate)
• Polio: 0 / 0
• Measles: close to 0 / close to 0
• Mumps: 10 (approximate) / 20 hospitalizations (during a recent outbreak)
• Rubella: 3 babies for with defects / 3
• Chickenpox: 200 (approximate) / 1000 (approximate) hospitalizations
• Hepatitis A: 20 (approximate)  / 200 (approximate) hospitalizations
• Flu: 20,000 (approximate) / 100,000 (approximate) hospitalizations
• Meningococcal disease: 2,750 hospitalizations / 3000 cases
• HPV: 0 / 20,000 new cases of cervical cancer each year and (very approximate) number of problematic genital wart cases each year.

As you can see many of these diseases are not tracked exactly and Dr. Sears had to guesstimate many of the numbers. Nonetheless, you can see that some diseases like Polio and Measles (almost) don't exist in the US anymore. Rubella doesn't really exist anymore either. Other diseases such as HPV are not a risk for children until they are sexually active. Some like the HIB, Pertusis, Rotovirus and Diptheria, and Meningococcal disease (for the most part)  are common in children only.

So, you may want to take your childs age into account when decided whether to get a particular vaccination or not. Keep in mind the Rotovirus vaccination can't be started after 15 weeks since its effects are unknown with those parameters.

Some stats from the The Vaccine Book pages 176 and 177.

Reaction Stats

• The risk of a reaction (mild and severe) from a single vaccine seems to be about 1 in 1000 (.1% of a reaction or 99.9% of no reaction)
• The risk that any one child will suffer a SEVERE reaction over the ENTIRE 12 year vaccine schedule is about 1 in 2600 (.0385% or 99.961% of no reaction)

Disease Stats

• The risk of any one person (child and adult) suffering a SEVERE case of a vaccine preventable disease each year in our entire population is about 1 in 1500. (.0667% or 99.933% of no disease or a mild case of the disease)
• The risk of a child (no adults) having a SEVERE case of a vaccine-preventable disease is about 1 in 600 (.1667% or 99.833% of not getting a disease or getting a mild case of it.) each year for all childhood diseases grouped together. This risk varies widely depending on the disease. Some disease risks are close to 0. Infant diseases are more risky than childhood ones.

For comparison of risk, check out these risks in life that we accept.

• Dying from Prostate Cancer (Male): 2.75%
• Dying from Testicular Cancel (Male): .02% (This is the only one that is even close to these other stats we are concerned in this post)
• Dying from being struck by lightenting: .000792%
• Dying from falls: .294
• Dying in a car incident: .92%

 Dr. Sears assumes that the risk of a SEVERE reaction is the same regardless of the number of vaccines you get at the same time. In particular, he assumes either one shot at a time, but then revises it to say most people get 3 at a time. However, this study shows that there is a linear relationship between risk of SEVERE reaction and the number of shots given at the same time. This means the risk is likely MUCH higher when getting combo shots at one time. My thought is to spread it out as much as possible to give the body a chance to process the toxic elements in these vaccines. Using Dr. Sears alternate vaccination schedule is a good start. If you want to fully vaccinate this schedule should at least minimize the risks. He does also have a selective schedule (see page 223 of The Vaccine Book) that he considers the minimum. Personally, I want to be more selective on what vaccines will be given so I will likely be coming up with my own schedule that keeps the same considerations in mind.

Risk and Time
Most of the diseases have times where the risk is substantially higher for an age group. The age of two is one of those lines. Sometimes this is just because the infant body can't protect itself well enough during this age. It does not mean that the disease only affects that age group, but in some cases that is the case.

Diseases that are of concern below or at age 2

• HIB
• Pc
• Pertussis
• Rotavirus
• Flu
• Meningococcal disease

Diseases that are of concern after age 2

• Hepatitis B
• Chickenpox
• Tetanus
• Diptheria
• Measles
• Mumps
• Rebella
• Hepatitis A
• Polio
• HPV

Other diseases the United States does NOT vaccinate for
Yellow Fever

Why? I assume because it is not in our country. Then why vaccinate for diseases such as polio that have no cases in our country. It seems the same logic should be applied to both diseases. Yellow Fever was in the US at one time. Maybe it is because it had to continually be imported in, but were would polio come from if not imported. I give up. Anyone?

 I still find the major problem with all these vaccines to be that one vaccines is for babies of all sizes, yet that is not how toxicity works. The larger the baby, child, or person, the less toxic a substance will be because it is deluted more and it is more likely the body will be able to deal with it. My baby is in the 5th perceptile, so I all vaccines have too much nastiness to them for her size. The problem is that most of the diseases are the highest risk before age 2. That is the youngest age I would think I would want to subject her body to toxins of this toxic level.

My likely choices:
This makes the decision very difficult. My preference is to reduce the bad stuff put in her body until she is of sufficient weight an can handle the toxins better. So, diseases (Measles, Polio, Rubella) that are low risk of getting because they don't exist in the country anymore, I'll probably skip because the health benefit for her is not there and the risk is too high. Rotavirus is easy for me as well since we are past the 15 week mark and thus cannot get the vaccine even if we wanted tox. The rest are less clear and I'll evaluate on an individual disease / vaccine basis.



 

Rotavirus Vaccine

The Vaccine Book says, "Rotavirus is an intestinal virus that causes vomitting and diarrhea. An infant stays contagious for two to three weeks after symptoms begin. It is transmitted by contact with the stools or saliva of an infected person. Unfortunately it is restistant to common disinfectants and antibacterial hand soaps. It takes a strong antiseptic or alcohol solution to kill the germ.This makes it easily spread in day-care, where an adult changes numerous diapers, and kids share toys and food... Rotavirus is indistinguishable from the common stomach flu in the initial stages of the illness (fever, vomiting, and diarrhea). A clue that a baby may have rotavirus is that the diarrhea lasts more than just a few days (it can last for a few weeks in some cases) and is more frequent, watery, and foul smelling than diarrhea caused by stomach flu."

To paraphrase, it is VERY common and Dr. Sears says it is not a matter of if a child will get it, but when during the first few years of life. Unfortunately, it is not treatable, but fortunately, it is not that bad either. That is the bad news. True up to twelve diarrhea diapers a day for up to three weeks would not be pleasant in any regard, but that also isn't life threatening, and it builds full or partial immunity for future cases. Consider that if you breastfeed your baby then they will likely have a milder case and they have less change of contracting it if you don't use day care. If you match those two criteria you may decide to skip this vaccine, but that is up to you. :)

The good news is that by not vaccinating you won't have the risk of these side effects:

1. Seizures that include high fever. The risk of this is migher than with most vaccines (1 in 1,300)
2. Intussusception: An intestinal complication in which part of the intestine "telescopes" into itself, creating serious and life-threatening blockage.

Personally, I will be skipping this vaccine because the two month mark has been passed, and side effects seem worse than the disease.

Animal and Human Tissues in Vaccines

The problem with having animal and human tissues in vaccines is really about contamination. For example in the past (1955 and 1963) kidney cells from a monkey that had the SV-40 virus in was used to produce the Polio vaccine. It is estimated that 30 million people where injected with this virus. This virus may be linked to cancer. After statistical analysis, it was determined that no more people got cancer that had been injected with the virus that the general population. We didn't find out about the SV-40 virus until decades later. Now tissues are checked for viruses. The problem is that we have to know what we are looking for before we can identify it. The fear is that we won't know about some other virus in tissues used to make current vaccines until it is too late to do anything about it (again).

My thought is yes, there is a real possibility that our current vaccines are contaminated also. However, the hope is that it isn't. It is kind of like eating sushi, you hope you don't have a tainted batch, but yet people each sushi all the time and hope everything will be okay. Nothing is a guarantee in this world, I see this as an acceptable risk.

Consider that among other parts of animals and humans we use Chicken embryos, chicken kidney cells, and chicken eggs. My first thought is why doesn't the body think think that the chicken and eggs we eat are a virus? I suspect if the body worked that way, we would see more chicken and egg allergies. I am dismissing this idea as not logical, but I am curious why not.

It is also important to know that not all vaccines use animal or human tissues. For example, according to Dr. Sears' book (The Vaccine Book, Pg 194), the following vaccines do NOT use animal or human tissues:

• HIB
• Pc
• Hepatitis B
• Meningococcal
• HPV
• DTaP (Daptacel brand)
• Tdap (Adacel brand)

However, the following vaccines DO use animal or human tissues:

• MMR
• Chickenpox
• Polio
• Rotovirus
• Flu
• Hepatitis A
• DTaP (Infranix and Tripedia brands)
• Tetanus and diphtheria vaccines
• Tdap (Boostrix brand)

You can read potential reason some may not want to use the vaccines that have animal or human parts and what particular tissues in what vaccines at  http://www.vaccine-tlc.org/human.html. I personally didn't find too much to convince me that the tissues are a bad things other than using aborted fetus tissue is not ethical and that by vaccinating I would be supporting it. Unfortunately, the benefits out weigh the negatives I think.

I think I heard that when animal tissues in vaccines an injected into humans it actually makes humans susceptible to animal only diseases (that without the vaccination, we would not be able to contract). I can't find anything that confirms or denies that. I wish I could find the video or article. If anyone know anything about this, please leave a comment and reference that I can go to. Thanks!

Hep A

Hep A

What is it?

It is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), a RNA virus, usually spread by the fecal-oral route; transmitted person-to-person by ingestion of contaminated food or water or through direct contact with an infectious person.[1] HAV infection produces a self-limited disease that does not result in chronic infection or chronic liver disease.[1]

Transmission

The virus spreads by the fecal-oral route and infections often occur in conditions of poor sanitation and overcrowding. Hepatitis A can be transmitted by the parenteral route but very rarely by blood and blood products.

More specifically:

• Travelers to countries with high or intermediate endemicity of HAV infection
• Men who have sex with men
• Users of injection and non-injection illegal drugs
• Persons with clotting factor disorders
• Persons working with nonhuman primates susceptible to HAV infection

Risk of contracting

For the US, Europe, and many other industrialized countries, it is primarily contracted when travelling to areas of poor hygiene standards.[1] 10–15% of patients might experience a relapse of symptoms during the 6 months after acute illness. Acute liver failure from Hepatitis A is rare (overall case-fatality rate: 0.5%). The risk for symptomatic infection is directly related to age, with more than 80% of adults having symptoms compatible with acute viral hepatitis and the majority of children having either asymptomatic or unrecognized infection. Antibody produced in response to HAV infection persists for life and confers protection against reinfection. The disease can be prevented by vaccination, and hepatitis A vaccines have been proven effective in controlling outbreaks worldwide.

Typical Symptoms

Hepatitis A infection causes no clinical signs and symptoms in over 90% of infected children and since the infection confers lifelong immunity.[1]

Worst Symptoms

Early symptoms of hepatitis A infection can be mistaken for influenza, but some sufferers, especially children, exhibit no symptoms at all. Symptoms typically appear 2 to 6 weeks (the incubation period) after the initial infection.

Symptoms usually last less than 2 months, although some people can be ill for as long as 6 months:^[8]

• Fatigue
• Fever
• Nausea
• Appetite loss
• Jaundice, a yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes due to hyperbillirubinemia
• Bile is removed from blood stream and excreted in urine, giving it a dark amber colour
• Clay-colored feces
• Abdominal pain
• Dark Urine
• Joint pain

Vaccination

There are two types of vaccines: one containing inactivated hepatitis A virus, and another containing a live but attenuated virus.^[20] Both provide active immunity against a future infection. The vaccine protects against HAV in more than 95% of cases for longer than 25 years.^[21] In the USA the vaccine was first phased in 1996 for children in high-risk areas, and in 1999 it was spread to areas with elevating levels of infection.^[22]

The vaccine is given by injection. An initial dose provides protection starting two to four weeks after vaccination; the second booster dose, given six to twelve months later, provides protection for over twenty years.^[22] A recent review by an expert panel, which evaluated the projected duration of immunity from vaccination, concluded that protective levels of antibody to HAV could be present for at least 25 years in adults and at least 14–20 years in children.

Available for people 12 months and older.

Schedule:

2 shots: 0, 6-12 (or 18 depending on vaccine used) months

Treatment:

No specific treatment exists for hepatitis A. Your body will clear the hepatitis A virus on its own. In most cases of hepatitis A, the liver heals completely in a month or two with no lasting damage.

References:

·         Wikipedia

·         CDC

·         Mayo Clinic

Conclusion:

NO, I will not vaccinate for Hep A because I will not be travelling to suspect countries anytime soon (I will re-evaluate if we do), so risk of exposure is very low. If by chance I got the virus, I don’t think the effects sound that bad and the body clears it up on its own.

HIB Vaccine

Dr. Sears says "HIB is a bacterium (singular for bacteria) that can cause serious illness such as meningitis (infection of the lining of the brain), blood infections, bone infections, and pneumonia. It is transmitted like the common cold (through contact with an infected person's cough, mucus, or saliva)."

Here is some summary information that I found to be important in deciding against giving this vaccination to my baby.

In the US is extremely rare, which means the chances of getting it are very slim. There is an even more slimmer chance of getting it if you breast feed and don't use day care. There are only about 25 reported cases of HIB in the entire US every year, and a smaller percent of those (25% I think) are anything serious. Typically the symptoms are just like the common cold and thus are not diagnosed. HIB can be caught more than once and like-wise getting vaccinated once only for it is not effective enough also. You must get booster shots also. Meningitis is a nasty disease (can cause brain damage, nerve damage, hearing loss, and learning issues in severe cases), but the truth is that the most common ways of getting it are not from the HIB virus. The good news is that even the severe cases are treatable, but that is just to save the person from death, not necessaryily to stop the severe symptoms list above. So, at best this vaccination is helpful, but in no way protects you from the most common cause of Meningitis.

There are pretty much no cases of children (only some elderly) over the age of 3, and very few over age two. So, if you are going to vaccinate for HIB you should do it earlier than later from a risk standpoint. If you decide to vaccinate for HIB it is not a bad one to do because it doesn't have much in the way of nasty stuff in it (though some brands do have Alumimum in it), and the list of side effects is not that bad compared to most vaccines. So, all in all it is not such a bad idea to do it if you want to do your part from herd immunity.

I am leaning towards not vaccinating for HIB in my baby. The Dr. Sears books "The Vaccine Book" is a GREAT book for getting unbiased information on vaccinations. I highly recommend reading it.

Are vaccination the cause or is it environmental issues?

Quoted from http://www.nvic.org/Downloads/49-Doses-PosterB.aspx

“An epidemic of chronic disease and disability is plaguing America. Our children are the most highly vaccinated children in the world and they are among the most chronically ill and disabled. Today, the Centers for Disease Control admits that 1 child in 6 in America is developmentally delayed. During the past quarter century, the number of children with learning disabilities, ADHD, asthma and diabetes has more than tripled. During the past quarter century, the number of doses of vaccines that pediatricians give babies and children under age 6 has more than doubled. More than twice as many children have chronic brain and immune system dysfunction today than did in the 1970’s when half as many vaccines were given to children.

…

Today, the CDC and AAP direct doctors to give infants a dose of hepatitis B vaccine at 12 hours of age in the newborn nursery. Unborn infants are exposed to an additional dose of vaccine in the womb of their pregnant mothers, who are vaccinated for influenza. A two month old baby can receive as many as 8 vaccines on a single day. At age 15 to 18 months, a child can receive as many as 12 vaccines on a single day. Before and after birth to age six, children born today in the U.S. are given 49 doses of 14 vaccines.”

 

My thoughts…

While pollution, city environments, etc may also be a cause it is also possible vaccination are the leading contributor to this. It seems to me we either have the worst environment (I would think places like China would be much worse based on how much they had to do to make it suitable to hold the Olympics there) that is causing these issues OR it is the vaccinations that we are giving that is messing with the bodies to do as nature intended such as extract oxygen from air, learn, process sugar and insulin properly, etc.

Just the thought of giving my child that many vaccinations (49) just seems crazy to me by the time they are SIX. Consider in by the time a baby is six they will have lived 72 months and had 49 does of 14 vaccines. That just seems like a bad idea to consistently be putting toxins that are in vaccinations into my child.

Are vaccinations really mercury free? Why should I care?

The short answer according to no, not all vaccinations are mercury free, but for every type of virus listed there is a vaccination that available that does not have mercury in it  and not also not have any trace amounts of mercury. The good news is that the type of mercury in the vaccinations is believed to be more easily eliminated from the body even so and is much less in some cases than it was decades ago. The question is are those “trace” amounts safe or not. My analysis says no it is not safe, but either is the environment that we all live in with pollution, and fish with mercury in them.

Quoted from http://www.nvic.org/faqs.aspx

“Even though most of the vaccines routinely administered to infants in the United States no longer contain more than trace amounts of ethyl mercury in the form of Thimerosal, the entire vaccine supply is not Thimerosal-free. The most notable exception to this is the seasonal influenza (flu) vaccine. Most, but not all, influenza vaccine still contains Thimerosal. Notably, many vaccines used in third world countries are mercury containing and exceed safety guidelines established in the United States…

Information on vaccines that contain significant amounts of Thimerosal can also be found on the Food and Drug Administration's website and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Institute for Vaccine Safety website…

Depending on the vaccines administered, at six months of age, infants today born to mothers who received flu vaccine during pregnancy could receive up to 71 mcg of ethyl mercury compared to 187.5 mcg prior to efforts to decrease the amount of thimerosal in infant vaccines. Additionally, the new CDC guidelines recommend that all children from 2 to 5 years of age receive an annual influenza vaccine. As a result, the total amount of thimerosal given to children under 5 years of age is almost what it was prior to 2000.

There are other sources of mercury exposure in infants. Specifically, it should be recognized that influenza vaccine recommended for pregnant women and some rhogam preparations contain ethyl mercury in the form of thimerosal. Total mercury burden include other sources including dental amalgams (silver fillings), food especially some types of fish, and air pollution from coal-fired power plants and wildfires.

Concerns regarding mercury in vaccines were addressed in a letter published by the Journal Pediatrics on March 13, 2008. As noted in the letter, parents and pregnant women may want to consider the following data and make an informed decision.

• 0.5 parts per billion (ppb) mercury = Kills human neuroblastoma cells (Parran et al., Toxicol Sci 2005; 86: 132-140).
• 2 ppb mercury = U.S. EPA limit for drinking water.
• 20 ppb mercury = Neurite membrane structure destroyed (Leong et al., Neuroreport 2001; 12: 733-37).
• 200 ppb mercury = level in liquid the EPA classifies as hazardous waste.
• 25,000 ppb mercury = Concentration of mercury in the Hepatitis B vaccine, administered at birth in the U.S., from 1990-2001.
• 50,000 ppb Mercury = Concentration of mercury in multi-dose DTaP and Haemophilus B vaccine vials, administered 4 times each in the 1990's to children at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months of age.
• 50,000 ppb Mercury = Current "preservative" level mercury in multi-dose flu (94% of supply), meningococcal and tetanus (7 and older) vaccines. This can be confirmed by simply analyzing the multi- dose vials.

”

According to http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228#t2 not all vaccinations are mercury free.

“Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound (an organomercurial). Since the 1930s, it has been widely used as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines…

Thimerosal, which is approximately 50% mercury by weight, has been one of the most widely used preservatives in vaccines. It is metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate. Ethylmercury is an organomercurial that should be distinguished from methylmercury, a related substance that has been the focus of considerable study (see "Guidelines on Exposure to Organomercurials" and "Thimerosal Toxicity", below)…

Humans are exposed to methylmercury primarily from the consumption of seafood (Mahaffey et al. 1997). Methylmercury is a neurotoxin…

Lacking definitive data on the comparative toxicities of ethyl- versus methylmercury, FDA considered ethyl- and methyl-mercury as equivalent in its risk evaluation.

Magos concluded that ethylmercury, the mercury derivative found in thimerosal, is less neurotoxic than methylmercury, the mercury derivative for which the various guidelines are based…

At the initial National Vaccine Advisory Committee-sponsored meeting on thimerosal in 1999, concerns were expressed that infants may lack the ability to eliminate mercury. Further, mercury was cleared from the blood in infants exposed to thimerosal faster than would be predicted for methyl mercury; infants excreted significant amounts of mercury in stool after thimerosal exposure, thus removing mercury from their bodies. These results suggest that there are differences in the way that thimerosal and methyl mercury are distributed, metabolized, and excreted. Thimerosal appears to be removed from the blood and body more rapidly than methyl mercury…

At the time of this review in 1999, the maximum cumulative exposure to mercury from vaccines in the recommended childhood immunization schedule was within acceptable limits for the methylmercury exposure guidelines set by FDA, ATSDR, and WHO. However, depending on the vaccine formulations used and the weight of the infant, some infants could have been exposed to cumulative levels of mercury during the first six months of life that exceeded EPA recommended guidelines for safe intake of methylmercury.

As a precautionary measure, the Public Health Service (including the FDA, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics issued two Joint Statements, urging vaccine manufacturers to reduce or eliminate thimerosal in vaccines as soon as possible (CDC 1999) and (CDC 2000). The U.S. Public Health Service agencies have collaborated with various investigators to initiate further studies to better understand any possible health effects from exposure to thimerosal in vaccines.

At present, all routinely recommended vaccines for U.S. infants are available only as thimerosal-free formulations or contain only trace amounts of thimerosal (≤1 than micrograms mercury per dose), with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine. Inactivated influenza vaccine for pediatric use is available in a thimerosal-preservative containing formulation and in formulations that contain either no thimerosal or only a trace of thimerosal, but the latter is in more limited supply

Blood levels of mercury did not exceed safety guidelines for methyl mercury for all infants in these studies…

Thimerosal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and younger, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine (see Table 1). A preservative-free version of the inactivated influenza vaccine (contains trace amounts of thimerosal) is available in limited supply at this time for use in infants, children and pregnant women. Some vaccines such as Td, which is indicated for older children (≥ 7 years of age) and adults, are also now available in formulations that are free of thimerosal or contain only trace amounts. Vaccines with trace amounts of thimerosal contain 1 microgram or less of mercury per dose.

”

For a list of vaccinations and their mercury levels by manufacturer, see table 1 for vaccination recommended for under age 6, and table 2 for an expanded list.

I’m not sure how to compare the ppm and ppb to the concentrations tables. It seems that even the trace amounts are not really safe.

After thinking back to my high school Chemistry class I figured out that I can figure out ppb.

Vaccine	Trade Name	Manufacturer	Mercury (μg)	Dose (mL)	ppb	Thimerosal Concentration
1990's Dtap	?	?	25	0.5	50000	0.00500000%
Dtap	Tripedia	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	0.3	0.5	600	0.00012000%
DT	N/A	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	0.3	0.5	600	0.00012000%
DT	N/A	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	25	0.5	50000	0.01000000%
Td	N/A	MassBiologics	0.3	0.5	600	0.00012000%
Td	Decavac	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	0.3	0.5	600	0.00012000%
TT	N/A	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	25	0.5	50000	0.01000000%
Influenza	Afluria	CSL Limited	24.5	0.5	49000	0.00980000%	Multidose package only
Influenza	Fluzone	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	25	0.5	50000	0.01000000%	Multidose package only
Influenza	Fluvirin	Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd.	25	0.5	50000	0.01000000%
Influenza	FluLaval	ID Biomedical Corp of Quebec	25	0.5	50000	0.01000000%
Meningococcal	Menomune A, C, AC and A/C/Y/W-135	Sanafi Pasteur, Inc.	25	0.5	50000	0.01000000%	Multidose package only

So, by comparing the results found by nvic.org that say 2ppb is EPA water safety and 200 ppb is Hazard Waste level there isn’t a vaccine on my table that is safe according to those standards. Some people might say that we already have that much in our bodies. According to the EPA this is not the case, and in fact, the average person has .0058 which is orders of magnitude less than these vaccines have. Also, that same page from the EPA says that anything above .0001 of daily exposure will have adverse effects. Again, these number are WAY over that. Am I missing something. How are they considering these “trace” amounts and how can they consider them safe and if so by what standards is the FDA calling these “safe”.

After comparing the two source above, I concluded that trace is by no means a safe amount of mercury. However, if you pay attention to the manufacturer and trade name for a particular type of vaccination and also if it is a single or multi-dose package then you have non-mercury options available. See the tables noted above for a list of safe vaccinations and look at the ones that have 0 micro-grams/mL of mercury.

The bottom line is, pay attention to what vaccine your doctor is using and know exactly the details. I would recommend asking for the details BEFORE you are scheduled to get the vaccination.