There are few topics more polarizing than whether or not vaccinations, also known as immunizations, should be given to your children. One side passionately believes that the benefits of receiving vaccines clearly outweigh the risks. The other side feels just as strongly about the opposite position. Both sides feel that the other is being grossly misled. The indisputable fact is that our children’s well-being is the most important concern. With that in mind, let me outline both sides of the argument and then give you my opinion. Keep in mind that I am only outlining some of the positions these groups have for or against the use of vaccinations. If I covered all of the aspects thoroughly this article would be 50 pages long!

I am going to warn you once again that a good number of you are going to become frustrated after you read this article. I apologize upfront as my intent is to give you sound information and analysis of the facts. My intent is not to frustrate. Sometimes the truth stinks!

The Medical Community’s View

I can tell you from personal experience that the medical community, as a whole, takes it as a kind of personal insult when anyone questions the validity of giving children multiple vaccinations. In their minds the issue of the great benefits vs. extremely small risks is not open for discussion. Their view is that any person with even a modicum of intelligence would not question the benefits of vaccinations. I can tell you of numerous incidences where doctors have even become visibly upset and verbally amplified when a parent suggests that they are considering not having their child receive the recommended vaccinations. Some even dismiss the child as a patient if they will not get vaccinations!

This begs the questions of, “Why?” Why do they get so upset? Why have they become so convinced of vaccine benefits? Why do they completely dismiss any concern of the risks involved with being vaccinated?

One reason why they get so upset is that they cannot understand how anyone can ignore the benefits of vaccinations. Prior to the widespread vaccination of children the number of cases for numerous diseases was quite high. For example, there were over 100,000 cases of Diphtheria per year; whereas now there are none. There were close to 500,000 cases of measles per year; now there are only a handful of cases each year. Smallpox has been eradicated. Polio has become a disease of the past. In the minds of the medical community these numbers prove without a shadow of a doubt that vaccinations are effective.

The next question is why the medical community, as a whole, ignores any of the risks involved with vaccinations. Those within the medical community will tell you that they do not ignore the risks involved with vaccination. They would contend that the risks are extremely low and basically negligible. And this attitude is definitely portrayed at any meeting with your doctor when it comes to discussing the topic of vaccination. You will hear how vital it is to get your child immunized and about the rarity of any potential side-effects. So, in the view of the medical community any fear about vaccines is unfounded and based on hysteria; not fact.

We will see…

The Vaccine Opponent’s View

Those who dislike vaccines are driven by the belief that there are few to no benefits for vaccines, but very real and significant side-effects. In their view vaccines cause everything from Autism to death and many ailments in between. A good number of those who are vigilantly opposed to vaccines have had children who experienced some sort of reaction after they received a dose of vaccine. NOTHING motivates a person more to take up a cause against something than when one of their children has been hurt.

Most opponents argue that vaccines are not effective and point to a number of facts that support this assertion. First, they point to the fact that the Polio epidemic was actually starting to decline naturally before the Polio vaccine was introduced. In other words, the Polio vaccine was not begun until the amount of new polio cases had already started to decrease dramatically as is the case for the normal course of any epidemic. Next, they point to the fact that people who have received vaccinations actually can and do get the diseases for which they have been immunized.

Another major concern for vaccine opponents deals with the “stuff” found in vaccines. Vaccines contain many toxic substances including mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde; to name only a few. Although these are supplied in very small amounts, opponents to vaccines blame these ingredients for the onset of a wide variety of disease states.

The other aspect of vaccination programs which opponents dislike is that they are basically forced upon the majority of the population. Their bottom-line view is that vaccines are forced upon the population for reasons of making money and have little to do with the safety of our children.

We will see…

Dr. Zimmer’s View

I think the best way for me to start is to tell you what I think right off of the bat. That way you know exactly where I am coming from and you won’t have to spend any energy trying to figure me out. I will provide support for my views after I state them.

O.K., now let’s go through the reasons why I hold these beliefs. I think you will find that my positions are based on facts and sound logic. If you think otherwise, please let me know.

Vaccines Are Effective (mostly):

It is very hard to support the argument that vaccines do not work at all. The number of disease cases before widespread vaccinations compared to now gives strong evidence that vaccines can be effective. I have never seen a case of polio, but I know at least six 50+ year olds who got polio as a kid and are disabled because of the disease. How many people do you know who contracted polio in the last 10 years? My guess is that your answer is none.

Now the opponents to vaccines will argue that we are not seeing cases because we are in a naturally occurring low prevalence time between epidemics. That argument might hold more water if other diseases were not so significantly affected by vaccines. Smallpox is gone thanks to vaccinations. The number of cases of Diphtheria, Measles, Mumps, Pertussis, and Rubella are few as compared to their prevalence prior to vaccinations. I think taking the stance that all or most vaccines are not effective is not supported by the facts.

Vaccine Protection Fades:

There have been a number of outbreaks of diseases for which the population has been vaccinated. This includes the diseases mumps and pertussis (whooping cough). In 2006 there was a significant outbreak of mumps in the U.S. Here is an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times regarding this outbreak:

“In a study reported in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several Midwestern state health departments examined the 6,584 cases in the Midwestern outbreak. They found that the incidence was four times higher among people 18 to 24 years old than in all other age groups combined. This was despite the fact that 84% of the mumps patients in that age group (and 63% of the patients overall) had received the recommended two doses of mumps vaccine.”

84% of the most affected age group and 63% of the overall patients had received the recommended two doses of mumps vaccine! This gives pretty good evidence that there is decreasing disease protection from the vaccinations we received as kids.

Here is a quote from Dr. Amy Middleman, medical doctor and assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine: (you can see her personal information by visiting this link:
http://www.texaschildrens.org/findadoctor/displaybio.asp?person_id=72 )

“After the immunization series is completed by age six, pertussis immunization is rarely discussed at healthcare visits. Few parents realize that the protection from the pertussis immunization wears off after five to 10 years, leaving teens vulnerable to whooping cough.”

I have to point out something completely underhanded that I found when reading some of the materials that the pharmaceutical industry publishes to support the use of vaccinations. GlaxoSmithKline funded a booklet titled, “What To Expect Guide To Immunizations” co-authored by the same lady who wrote the popular “What To Expect When You Are Expecting” books. They are advertising this free booklet over the radio and in print. I heard the advertisement on radio.

The goal of this booklet is to get parents to vaccinate their children, of course. In one section they address the question of why a child should get vaccinated for diseases which are no longer present. They actually use the U.S. outbreak of mumps in 2006 as an example to scare parents into thinking that unvaccinated children are still at risk. Here is the introduction they use to set up the scare:

“Think that you don’t have to vaccinate your children because the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases is so low these days? Think again. Lapsing rates of immunizations are the reason why epidemics begin – both in this country and abroad. It has happened in our time, and can happen again if children fail to be vaccinated. Case in point:”

They then go on to describe the mumps outbreak of 2006 and then falsely assert that the reason it was able to spread was because of incomplete vaccinations. That is a bold-faced lie! 84% of the age-group most affected and 65% of the over 6,000 people who got the disease had received both recommended doses of the vaccine! I know that you are as shocked as I am that a pharmaceutical company would knowingly mislead people in order to make money. The biggest problem is that doctors then parrot these lies to their patients as fact.

We Are Forcing Too Many Vaccines On Our Children:

The government is now recommending (intimidating is a better term) that parents allow their children to get 48 doses of 14 different vaccinations before they even turn 6 years old! They suggest Hepatitis B, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, HIB, PCV, Rotavirus, Influenza, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Varicella (chicken pox), and Hepatitis A. This list doesn’t even include other vaccinations they are now pushing like Gardasil for our young daughters!

That is a lot of shots. The question is whether or not it is worth giving your child at least 48 doses of 14 vaccines. I think after you read the next sections you may begin to question the true motivation for these recommendations. Here comes the information that may cause you to become very uneasy with vaccines.

Vaccines Are Nowhere Near As Safe As You Have Been Led To Believe:

I was actually groaning and laughing at the same time as I read the section about safety in the “What To Expect Guide To Immunizations.” Here is how they portray the safety of vaccines for “worried” parents.

“While reactions do sometimes occur with some vaccines (such as soreness or redness where the shot was given, fussiness, or a low-grade fever), the vast majority of these reactions are mild and short-lived. Serious reactions are exceptionally uncommon.”

Notice how they use words like sometimes, some, vast majority, short-lived and exceptionally uncommon. These words give the impression that any worries you have as a parent are being made over something of little importance. An honest statement would read more like this:

“While reactions do commonly occur with ALL vaccines (such as soreness or redness where the shot was given, fussiness, or low-grade fever), the vast majority of these reactions are mild and short-lived. Serious reactions including the need for E.R. visits, hospitalizations, permanent impairment, and death are exceptionally uncommon, but do occur.”

When you read the first, misleading and dishonest, paragraph you get the feeling that your concerns are indeed misplaced. After reading the accurate paragraph you would be much more apt to ask your doctor further, more probing questions. This is unwelcomed because in the minds of the medical community the topic is not open for discussion. So, anything that causes you to ask more questions is just a waste of their time.

Now, let me give you the facts.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has a website for the reporting of adverse reactions associated with vaccines. It is called VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reaction System). Here is the link: http://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html

Over the past 10 years, the number of reported adverse vaccine reactions is staggering. Keep in mind that these are only the reported reactions. I know a number of people who have called their doctor to inquire whether an observed reaction could be related to the vaccination their child received only to be told that it was probably something else that coincidently occurred at the same time. None of these reactions get reported. Also keep in mind that these numbers come from the CDC, not from some loony website. Check out the website for yourself.

Before you look at the numbers below you need to know a couple of limitations regarding this information gathered by the CDC. These reports of adverse reactions come after a child was vaccinated and then developed a symptom. It is possible that the development of some of these cases were coincidental to the timing of the child receiving the vaccine. But, in reality, what are the chances that a relatively healthy child receives a vaccine and then needs to be hospitalized or dies simply due to coincidence? Simple coincidence or causative? I think that the number of coincidences has to be extremely low; if not negligible.

In addition, you have to know that some of these numbers are reflected in other numbers. For example, the number of Prolonged Hospitalizations is also part of the number for Hospitalizations. The point is that you cannot add up the numbers in each category to come up with a total number of all adverse events. In other words, do not add up the deaths, life threatening events, permanent disabilities, etc. and use that number to claim total events. These numbers do not work that way. My suggestion is that you just contemplate the total numbers for each event.

Let these numbers sink in for a moment.

Now let me ask you a number of questions and be very honest with your answers. You will only be fooling yourself if you are not. If there was an herb that gave short-term protection from a group of diseases but also caused over 6,000 children to go to the E.R. each year, permanently disabled over 200 children per year, caused over 200 deaths per year in children, and caused over 1,000 children to be hospitalized per year; would the U.S. government allow it to even grow on this planet? Let’s take it even one step further. Would they describe this herb as being extremely safe and would they consider the 200 deaths per year acceptable enough to call it a “rare” occurrence? You and I know very well that not one of the medical doctors who tell you that vaccinations are extremely safe would ever consider giving you anything natural that had the above number of reported events associated with its use.

The benefits of getting vaccinations are not worth the risks in most cases:

The main argument you will hear in defense of ignoring the vaccine related deaths and other serious symptoms is that the benefits outweigh these negatives. (I would love to hear them tell that to the over 4,000 parents whose children were killed or permanently disabled because of vaccines over the last 10 years.)  I cannot think of a more fallacious argument.

The premise is that your children are at risk of getting these horrible diseases if they do not receive a vaccination. One of my favorite patients received a letter from her pediatrician telling her that she would not be her daughter’s doctor any longer if she did not give her baby the proper vaccinations. This doctor claimed that she, “Could not live with herself if her daughter contracted Haemophilus Influenza because of not getting the necessary vaccination.” REALLY!?

In the “What To Expect Guide To Immunizations” they list the number of reported cases of Haemophilus Influenza B as only 200 cases/year. It is estimated that only 2-5% of children who contract Haemophilus will die. Thus, at the most, 10 children might die each year because of this disease. There are over 400 children who die or are permanently disabled because of vaccines each year. Thus, this doctor cannot live with the 10 possible and highly unlikely deaths but is comfortable with the 400 for sure events! Do you think her fear is genuine? I think she has been genuinely misled.

Let’s play pretend for a moment. Pretend that your child actually gets one of the diseases for which we vaccinate. The chances of your child dying from any of these diseases are EXTREMELY low. For example, the chance of your child dying if they contract Pertussis (Whooping Cough) is way less than 1%. The chance of them dying of Chicken Pox is basically zero. The chance of your baby contracting Hepatitis B after birth is ZERO!

FACT: Your child’s chances of getting any of the diseases for which we vaccinate are so low that if it were a drug side-effect it would be completely ignored and would be called unimportant.

FACT: Even if your child contracted one of the diseases for which we vaccinate the chances of them dying or becoming permanently disabled are extremely low.

FACT: The risks of your child getting or dying from any of the diseases for which we vaccinate are extremely low. Likewise, the risks of them suffering a vaccine caused, life-threatening event are extremely low. Thus, the benefits equal the risks. They are both extremely low! The benefits clearly do not outweigh the risks.

So, why do doctors universally play the scare card with parents? Why do they make you believe that your child is in grave danger without vaccinations when the chances of your child contracting or experiencing a bad outcome from one of these diseases are extremely low? The hypocrisy is staggering; is it not? Well, maybe not.

Why doctors get so upset when you refuse vaccinations:

I am not sure that doctors are being hypocritical when it comes to vaccinations. Calling them hypocrites suggests that they are acting in a way that is contrary to what they believe. I can tell you that the medical community really believes that vaccinations are vital to your child’s health. So, they are being anything but hypocritical. A better description would be that the medical community is willfully and stubbornly ignorant. I am not name-calling. I think that this is a very accurate description of the medical communities’ attitude towards vaccinations.

So, how do I back up this accusation that the medical community is willfully and stubbornly ignorant? The best way is for me to ask you to ask your doctor or nurse a few questions the next time you talk about vaccinations. You are going to find out that they do not even know vaccination facts. They claim that the benefits outweigh the risks. They claim that vaccines are extremely safe. In order to make these claims, they should at least know the answers to these questions:

The real reason why doctors get so upset when you refuse to get vaccines is not because they fear for the safety of your child. They have no idea of any specific benefits or risks as you will find out if you quiz them. The reason they get so upset is because you are questioning one of the absolute truths in medicine. The medical community mindset is that the only people who question vaccines are either quacks or unintelligent people. Thus, it really comes down to the bruising of their egos. The collective thought is: How dare you question our expert and educated opinion on a subject that cannot be questioned? They are willfully and stubbornly ignorant.

The Real Reason Why We Force Vaccinate Our Children:

By their own admission, the medical community agrees that the diseases for which we vaccinate are not prevalent. The chance of your child getting any of these diseases is so low that no parent should harbor any concern for their child. The chance of them dying after contracting one of these diseases is negligible. No honest health professional can argue with the validity of these statements. Yet, they continue to convey the opposite in order to scare parents into believing otherwise. So, tell me again why we continue to kill and disable over 400 children per year? Since the late 1990’s we have destroyed the lives of over 4,000 children, parents, siblings, and grandparents. I guess it is not a big deal unless you are one of those 4,000 families.

The argument that will be put forth is that the reason why these diseases are not around is because of the wide-spread vaccination program. This is true, in some cases. I do not completely disagree with this argument but I say, so what! The fact is that our children are not currently at risk. Thank you, vaccines, for doing your job. Your services are no longer needed. We will call you when you are needed again.

Why do we not just wait until we see an increase in these diseases and then begin to mass vaccinate? We would only have to subject our children to a few vaccinations every now and then instead of barraging their immature immune systems to 48 doses of at least 14 vaccines!

The reason we continue our current vaccination program has NOTHING to do with concern for your child’s health. I think that this is clear. Can you guess the real reason? I bet you can. The real reason why we continue this program has to do with money. I realize that this is not a shock to most reading this article. But, instead of dispassionately thinking “of course,” let me paint a picture for you to illustrate why this should make you fire-ant mad. Imagine for a moment that everyone in this following scenario has been given truth serum. Kind of like the movie “Liar,Liar!” where Jim Carrey could not tell a lie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_IfwwLWcxI&NR=1

You walk into your doctor’s office and are told it is time for your child to receive their vaccinations. Your doctor honestly discloses to you that the chance of your child getting any of the vaccine related diseases is negligible. They also tell you that your son could die or be permanently disabled. But they tell you that the chance of this is also extremely low. Finally, he tells you that any immunity your son gets from the shot will be, more than likely, short-lived. So, you then ask him the next logical question.

“Doctor, why are we vaccinating my son if there is no real benefit but there is some risk?”

He answers truthfully, because he has to, “Well, because if we do not force everyone to get these shots the pharmaceutical industry cannot make enough profit and they will stop making the vaccines altogether. Then when we actually need these vaccines, they may not be available for a while and they will be extremely expensive. Plus, I make money from the shot and your visit today. So, it is a win-win situation!”

You then say, “Let me get this straight.  There is actually no real benefit to my son getting this vaccine and he could die or be permanently disabled? And, you want him to endure these potentially dangerous shots because there might be an outbreak sometime in the future and we might not be able to make vaccine fast enough, but we really do not know whether that will be a problem or not? Thus, we are really doing this so that we protect the drug company’s and your yearly profit?”

He says, “Yes, those are all accurate statements but do not forget the chance that your son will experience a bad reaction to the vaccination is very low.”

You say, “I understand that the risk is extremely low but there is also no real benefit to my son getting these shots since the diseases are not present today. So, you are asking me to take a gun with about 10,000 chambers, put it up against my son’s head and pull the trigger? Sure the risk is low that he will take a bullet but I am not willing to take that chance since the risk of him actually getting any of these diseases is negligible at this time. I will not risk my child’s life for your profit. I decline vaccinations.”

Are you willing to put that gun up against your child’s head?

Let me prove to you that the current vaccination program has nothing to do with what is good for your child. All we have to do is to look at the recommended Hepatitis B vaccination, which they are insanely giving to newborns. There are only 3 ways that your child will be at risk for contracting Hepatitis B.

If there is a doctor anywhere on this planet who thinks that your child is at real risk for developing Hepatitis B, we should send him or her to be the personal physician for the president of Iran. How incredibly ridiculous is it that doctors are actually urging parents to have a Hepatitis B vaccine injected into their newborn babies? They have NO expectation that your child is at risk. What is even more disturbing is that the Hepatitis B vaccine has been implicated in causing an increase in Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) symptoms in children. Of course there are dueling studies arguing whether this is true or not. WHO CARES!? Stop giving this unneeded and dangerous vaccine tomorrow. DO NOT LET THEM INJECT YOUR NEWBORN WITH THIS VACCINE!

So, why would any caring doctor ever tell a parent to give their child this vaccine? They cannot argue that the vaccine has reduced the amount of Hepatitis B because the shot has only been given since 1991 and the main group that gets Hepatitis B is older than the oldest child who has gotten this worthless shot. They cannot argue that it is safe because they do not have any idea if it is or not. They cannot argue that it benefits your child in any manner. So, I ask again…why would any caring doctor ever tell a parent to give their child this vaccine? The answer is that they suffer from willful and stubborn ignorance.

The real reason why the medical community now tells parents to get the Hepatitis B shot is because of money. The people who are at the highest risk of contracting Hepatitis B are highly unlikely to voluntarily get the vaccine. The pharmaceutical company cannot make any profit from this vaccine because of this fact. Thus, the pharmaceutical industry targeted their marketing at our politicians convincing them that this was a vital vaccine for our population to receive. Of course, they convinced them that the vaccine was extremely safe and that the eventual reduction in Hepatitis B would be economically beneficial to health care costs in the long-run. The problem is that no one knows whether this is true or not! Now, the pharmaceutical industry makes hundreds of millions of dollars off a dangerous and unnecessary vaccine.

But, Dr. Zimmer this vaccine is FDA approved so it has to be safe! What was I thinking? Forget about all of the facts and logic I just gave you…I totally forgot that it was FDA approved. Give me a break! Next time someone implies that something has to be safe because of FDA approval I am going to projectile vomit on the front of their shirt. Gross…I know; but it gets my point across. We have to stop the sheep to the slaughter confidence we have in the FDA! But, alas, that is a whole other article for another day.

What Can You Do?

It is extremely difficult to go against the grain when it comes to vaccinations. You are going to be belittled and ridiculed if you even suggest that you do not want to get your child vaccinated. Your doctors, school nurses, family members and friends who live within the herd mentality of willful and stubborn ignorance will try to make you feel like you are the one that has the wacky thinking. You will have a nightmare time when you have to send your child to school, unless you decide to home school your child. This is not an option for most. As I see it you have one of three choices:

You can decide not to have your child vaccinated. You are going to have to create a plan of attack for when your child becomes of school age. Most states have built in religious exemptions and exemptions for high risk children. You will have to check your state’s laws and formulate a letter if you are going to go down the religious exemption route. You will more than likely still have a battle depending upon the attitude of your school nurse and administration. You should investigate and research the information from as many anti-vaccination websites as possible. Here is a good one to check out: http://www.nvic.org/

Just know that when you buck the vaccination system you are in for a bumpy ride. Stand your ground. Force your doctor, nurse, friends and family to answer the questions I posed in this article. Force them to realize that the position they hold is not based on all of the facts, just unchallenged beliefs. They will back down on their rhetoric once they know that you are not going to just swallow the party line. Unfortunately, some self-serving egotists will dismiss your child from their care. Let them know that you do not appreciate their attempt at intimidation and that pediatricians are a dime a dozen. I wish you the best of luck in protecting your child. I hope I have provided you with some useful insights. Please email me with your thoughts.