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.

BPA-free Coffee Makers (automatic drip)

After way too much research, I have concluded that if you want drip coffee from an automatic coffee maker WITHOUT BPA you are going to have to pay double. The choices are very few and far between. There are choices like some of the Keurig makers that are too expensive and designer for my tastes.
In general Cuisinart has lots of option. Most of their coffee makers don’t have BPA. The exception to this is some of the cheaper ones. So, I recommend you check their website. The coffee makers that are BPA free will say that they are.

The least expensive models they have that are BPA free are the following:
Cuisinart DCC-1200  -> $68.28 on Amazon
Cuisinart DCC-2650 –> $80.51 on Amazon
Cuisinart DGB-625BC –> $74.99 on Amazon
Cuisinart CHW-12  -> $71.73 on Amazon

Here is some else that has done research as well, and pretty much came to the same conclusion.
Please note, if you are willing to spend more time making your coffee, like a percolator, or like using a french press then there are different options. If you want an easy way to make BPA free coffee, you are going to have to shell out the money.