Hardly a day goes by where I am not asked my opinion about immunizations. Most of the questions come from concerned mothers who fear that their child could become the next statistic and end up experiencing a horrifying, life-changing side-effect from immunizations. Other questions come directly from medical professionals who want to determine whether or not I "believe" in immunizations. It is the one question they use to immediately determine in their minds whether or not I am an alternative doctor quack. So, let me give you my take on this subject and share some suggestions. Moms let me apologize right from the start. I doubt what I have to say is going to make you feel better about being forced to immunize your children.

To start this article I am going to tell you that I think that immunizations are generally effective. The problem is that almost all of them are unnecessary and carry a higher negative risk profile than is reported by the medical community. If my premise is correct, why in the world does EVERY medical doctor downplay any potential risks from taking these shots, emphasize the potential risk of their child getting the disease and make a mother feel like a fool if she does not have her child/children immunized? Let me give you some examples to help answer this question.

My sister-in-law called me a couple of years ago to ask whether she should let her child-to-be receive the Hepatitis B vaccination. She had talked with her pediatrician and he painted a picture that was interesting, to say the least. When my sister-in-law challenged him with the fact that Hep B is typically contracted by needle use or anal sex, he told her that although this was true, he had heard of a couple of cases where young children had contracted the disease from an “unknown” source. He then told her that since they started giving the shot to all babies the rate of new cases of Hep B had started to decrease. He, of course, told her that the chances of experiencing negative side-effects was low and was not something to worry about.

The bottom line is that he lied to her. No need to sugar coat it, he simply lied! At that time the shot had only been given for a period of 12 years. The oldest child who had received the global vaccination was not even close to the age of participating in high risk behaviors. So, his claim that new cases had decreased was simply fabricated in order to convince his patient to have the child vaccinated.

In case you are not aware, they attempt to vaccinate all babies born in the U.S. with the Hepatitis B shot JUST AFTER BIRTH! Is this necessary? What are the chances that this baby, child or young adult would contract this disease? The answer is NONE or a percentage very close to NONE! The only real risk would be for an infant born to a Hepatitis B positive/carrier mother. This is, of course, very rare. The majority of people who contract Hepatitis B are drug users and homosexuals between the ages of 20 – 40 years old. So, the risk is for a very small percentage of adults who participate in high risk behaviors. Why give this shot to EVERY infant? The answer may shock you.

The reason is because doctors know darn well that the people at the highest risk of contracting this disease will never get vaccinated at any appreciable rate. Because of this, it is not worth it financially for the pharmaceutical company to make the vaccine at all. So, instead of not having the effective vaccine at all it is better to pressure every parent into giving their brand new infant this completely unnecessary shot. In their minds, it is a win-win-win situation. The baby wins because they are protected, the hospital wins because it makes money off of the shot, and the pharmaceutical company wins for the same reason. To hold this opinion one has to completely throw out any consideration of negative side-effects. And, they do.

Another good example is the Tetanus vaccine. Everyone reading this has been asked when they had their last tetanus shot. This is especially true if you cut yourself or break the skin in any manner. If you say you do not remember the date of your last shot or if it has been longer than 10 years, you get the shot. Why? Tetanus is a strict dirt-dwelling anaerobe. In other words, it lives in warm soil and oxygen kills it! As doctors we are supposed to evaluate a situation and then apply a treatment that makes sense and does no harm. Why would you give a tetanus shot to someone who cut themselves in the garage or in the house? If the person was not cut by something in the warm soil, the chance of contracting tetanus is ZERO. An argument put forth is that the shot is to prevent tetanus in the future. The chance of anyone getting tetanus is so incredibly low, this argument holds no vigor. Why do they then give a shot that is worthless? The answer goes back to the win-win-win scenario. In other words, ignore any side-effects and everybody else involved makes money.

Another example is the Whooping Cough or Pertusis vaccine. In 2001, the CDC reported about 7,500 cases of whooping cough in the U.S. About 16 people died. So, about 1 death out of every 500 cases. There are 25,275 cities/towns in the U.S. Thus, the vast majority of towns will see zero cases of whooping cough a year. Whooping cough is rare and contracting it has little to do with the fact that you and I were vaccinated as children. How do I say this? A good number of cases include those who received the vaccination as children. Newer studies suggest that revaccination is necessary for protection. My point is that all of us who were vaccinated decades ago have little to no protection.

Let me ask you to conduct a little test. Next time you go to your doctor, ask them if they ever see any cases of whooping cough every year. Every one of them in every city across the U.S. will tell you that they see cases of whooping cough each year. That means that either they are mistaken or the CDC is way off in their numbers.

I stated earlier that most vaccinations are generally effective and I believe this to be true. However, the examples above show how unnecessary they are and that the real reason doctors push these shots has nothing to do with real risks. It has to do with hospitals and drug companies making money. Now I want to make this next point very clear. Doctors do not strong-arm patients into getting vaccinations because of money. My guess is that they couldn’t care less about the money. No, they strong-arm patients because it has been drilled into them that all vaccinations carry a much higher benefit profile than they do risk. They absolutely believe this without question. If you ask them to tell you the actual risk of getting any of the diseases for which they vaccinate or ask them to tell you exactly how many children experience serious side-effects from the drugs, they will no be able to give you specific answers.

I guess my question is if they do not know the actual risks either way, why are they so adamant that you get vaccinations and scoff at you if you do not? I think that the answer has two reasons. As stated already, this concept of the benefits of vaccinations has become foundational to just about all medical professionals. It has become like teaching evolution in schools. If you question it you are an uneducated quack. This leads to the second reason. Those who question the benefits are either over-zealous, uneducated, or both, in their minds. And since the charge against vaccinations has been taken up by many alternative health doctors, the litmus test for quackery has become whether one believes in vaccinations or not.

I want you to ask yourself who is really uneducated, over-zealous, or both. Is it the person who tries to convince a mother to give her infant a completely unnecessary Hepatitis B shot or the person who refuses this shot? Is it the person who gives a tetanus shot when the person cut themselves with a knife in the kitchen or the person who asks why they need the shot? Is it the person who doesn’t even know the risks of contracting the disease for which they think you should get vaccinated or the person who considers the risk unimportant? Now that is some food for thought.

Mothers, as I said at the beginning of this article, I apologize if the facts I have presented add to the weight of your concern over getting your child vaccinated. Unfortunately, you are taking a risk with your child’s life for no real reason. My hope is that this article will spur you on to do some research about what you can do in your state regarding getting your child out of being vaccinated. I wish you luck.