It is every parent’s nightmare. A normal, bright, healthy infant, brought into the pediatrician’s office for his regular battery of vaccines, leaves forever changed. He develops a fever during the night and won’t stop screaming and crying. In time, the joyful, sharp, attentive look passes from his eyes and is replaced by a dullness and lack of eye contact. He has moved from our world into his own, a lonely place from which we cannot rescue him. It is the world of autism.

Most American parents line up at the pediatrician’s office and follow the recommended vaccination schedule without question. Even careful moms who read the label of every cereal box do not question the injection of multiple bacterial and viral antigens, combined with potentially hazardous preservatives, into the bodies of their children. Unlike the cereal, which must pass through the defenses of the digestive tract, a vaccine bypasses all normal routes for immune defense and goes straight into the child’s tissues to his bloodstream, with ready access to his major organs. What happens when it gets there? Are vaccines really as safe as the doctor would have us believe?

What’s in a Vaccine?

Vaccines, designed to prevent disease, cannot work without injecting a person with some form or quantity of the pathogen that actually causes the disease. These microorganisms are grown in a laboratory. While bacteria can be grown on agar, viruses must be grown in real, living animal cells. These cells may be derived from the tissues, organs, and fetuses of monkeys, chickens, hamsters, cows, and other animals. The contamination of these animal cells with other animal viruses has long been a concern. In the 1950s, it was discovered that some polio vaccines were contaminated with a monkey virus called Simian Virus 40 (SV-40), which has since appeared in human cancers. More recently, alarm was raised in Europe when polio virus vaccines were produced from the cells of cows possibly infected with Mad Cow Disease.

The harvested bacteria and viruses are bathed in a combination of growth factors and other chemicals which enable them to grow faster. Afterward, the pathogens are attenuated (weakened) and then considered incapable of causing active, acute disease. They are purified, filtered, and combined with other chemicals, stabilizers, and preservatives into an injectable vaccine. Perhaps the most infamous vaccine preservative is thimerosal.

What is Thimerosal?

Though an effective preservative for vaccines, thimerosal is derived from mercury, a known neurotoxin. It is also a strong antigen (capable of producing allergic reactions) and can suppress the immune system. Though several agencies, including the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), and the WHO (World Health Organization) have set maximum safe levels for mercury ingestion (which vary from group to group, and are intended for adults), some scientists claim that there is no acceptable, safe amount of thimerosal for children. Infants, especially, have immature body systems, and their kidneys are less able to remove this toxin than the kidneys of adults.

Thimerosal has gotten a bad reputation and received blame from some scientists and parent groups as a cause of autism. Government authorities have denied that there is evidence of any link between the two, but have recommended that it be removed from pediatric vaccines as a precaution. A recall was never issued, so thimerosal-containing pediatric vaccines remained on doctors’ shelves until they were used up or expired. Even today, thimerosal is present in some vaccines, including flu vaccines and the Rhogam injection Rh-negative women usually receive during pregnancy (though a thimerosal-free version is available).

Does Thimerosal Cause Autism?

The majority of the medical community claims that there is no solid evidence of a link, but many parents whose lives have been shattered by a child’s illness insist that the child was developing normally until receiving immunizations. Some doctors counter that what appears to be a link may actually be a coincidence, since the symptoms of autism are likely to begin at the same time as children are getting vaccinated. Many people believe that the two are linked, but their relationship is complex and associated with other risk factors that make effective studies difficult.

A careful look at both sides of the issue reveals studies that seem to be contradictory and arguments by both sides that are almost equally convincing. However, the more research parents may do into the history and current state of pediatric vaccination in the United States, the more it may seem that something is not right.

A History of Distrust

Vaccines are not 100% safe and effective. No one is debating this statement. If they were, the government would not have passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and started a compensation program for those injured by childhood vaccines. (In addition, the act prevented parents from suing physicians who administer shots or companies who manufacture them.) Also, if vaccines were 100% safe, there would be no consent forms enumerating possible risks, ranging from pain at the injection site to death.

Parents should take the decision for each immunization into serious consideration, and arrive at a decision based on a careful weighing of risks. However, most choose to blindly accept the recommendations of the pediatrician. Unfortunately, doctors administering vaccines do not have a history of infallibility.

Consider the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) immunization. Today, it has been mostly replaced with the more effective and less toxic DTaP, using acellular pertussis. The original pertussis vaccine made from whole cells used in DPT contained a high level of endotoxins carried by the disease. Most people vaccinated with DTP ran a fever, and it had a high level of more severe complications, such as brain swelling, shock, and death. In addition, its effectiveness was always in question, since some of those vaccinated still got the disease. Articles about dangers and problems with the DPT vaccine can be found in medical journals almost every year from the 1930s until the 1980s, yet the public was none-the-wiser, and doctors continued to give the shots with a smile. In 1990 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) stated that there was good evidence that DPT could cause brain disease, but the DPT vaccine was never recalled. Whole cell DPT is still manufactured today, despite the fact that the vast majority of compensation the government has given to vaccine victims has been for this particular shot.

Also, consider the rotavirus vaccine, removed from the recommendation list in 1999 -- after it had begun to be administered to the population -- because it was linked to a dangerous intestinal problem.

And what about Gulf War Syndrome, suffered by soldiers who were forced to undergo a tremendous battery of vaccines, including vaccines for botulism and anthrax, prior to going to war in the Middle East? The dangers of this experiment are just now being speculated upon, after a generation of soldiers and their descendants have already been affected.

Before it was replaced with the injectable form, the oral polio vaccine was known to cause outbreaks of polio. Since polio infection could be spread by mouth, changing the diaper of an infant who had recently received the oral vaccine could result in polio infection.

Obviously, doctors cannot always be relied upon to have the answers. Through the years, mistakes have been made, medicines and vaccines have been released and then recalled, and the medical community has debated the dangers of treatments without disclosing their concerns to the public.

But Aren’t Most Vaccinated People Okay?

Though the rate of autism in our population is growing exponentially, to the point that almost one child in 150 may have an autistic spectrum disorder, most children who receive vaccines do not get autism. So if vaccines cause autism, it must be in combination with other risk factors.

But the question remains: Are we okay? What about the increases of other chronic diseases like asthma, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and diabetes? While we are the most extensively vaccinated culture in the world, we also have the highest levels of chronic disease.

What about the increase in allergies, attention deficit disorder, and learning disabilities? In the last 20 years, concurrent with the rise of these problems, the number of childhood vaccines has increased from eight to 25 or more. Not only are our children receiving many more vaccines in total than we did, they are receiving more vaccines per doctor visit. And as much as we might like to believe that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) carefully studies the effects of receiving all these vaccines at once, there is little evidence that any such research has been done. In reality, as soon as a new vaccine is approved, it is added to the vaccination schedule, with little regard to the other vaccines being given at that same visit. The flu vaccination, for example, has never been studied for safety when administered with other childhood vaccines.

Also, while we might like to believe that immunizations are designed and tailor-made for our children at different stages of development, they are not. A two-month-old child receives the same dosage of vaccine as a two-year-old child, despite their difference in size. Is this one-size-fits-all vaccination plan really safe and effective?

Natural immunity achieved after conquering a disease is different from vaccine immunity. Whereas natural immunity generally affords us lifetime protection against disease, vaccine immunity may require multiple booster shots. And whereas natural immunity allows the body to mount a full-fledged defense and remove all foreign pathogens, some weakened microorganisms from vaccines may remain in our body cells for months or years. These may remain dormant, waiting to cause problems later.

Many diseases on the rise in our society are autoimmune diseases. Though correlation of increased chronic disease and increased immunization does not necessarily imply causation, one compelling theory about their relationship deserves consideration. Some believe that after weakened foreign pathogens reach our body cells without meeting a normal immune response, they simply take up residence there, settling into our genetic material. Our immune systems detect that something is wrong with these cells and attack them (even though they are our own body cells)! When the immune system attacks the body’s own cells, this is called an “autoimmune” response. Examples of autoimmune diseases are asthma, lupus, type I diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and psoriasis. In protecting ourselves from childhood diseases, are we setting ourselves up for greater health problems later in life?

Why Don’t Pediatricians Mention Vaccine Dangers?

I sit across from my pediatrician, describing my plan to delay immunizations and then selectively vaccinate my son. I tell him that two of my son’s cousins (one on my side, one on my husband’s) may have been damaged by vaccines. Both have autistic symptoms. A possible genetic susceptibility had occurred to my husband and me. I tell him I’m worried that vaccines might cause my son to become autistic.

“Okay, prove it,” he says to me, striking his clipboard exaggeratedly with a pointed index finger. “Prove to me that vaccines cause autism.” Not wanting to argue, I just stare at him quizzically. Surely in this situation the onus is on him to prove to me that vaccines are not harmful, not the other way around. After all, I am the one with something to lose.

Doctors know that vaccines can cause injury to some children, but some subscribe to the notion that it is acceptable to sacrifice a few for the good of all. This may ring true to parents, too, except when faced with the possibility that their child may be one of the ones sacrificed.

Pediatricians are indoctrinated in the belief that vaccines are a near absolute good. Indeed, they can and do prevent the spread of epidemics and deadly illnesses. But since they involve danger and an element of the unknown, they are a choice that is not to be taken lightly. Your health care provider himself may have deviated from the recommended schedule in the vaccination of his own children. For example, only a minority of doctors personally believe that it is a good idea to start the hepatitis B series just hours after birth. In reality, hepatitis B is a blood-borne, sexually-transmitted disease (STD), and your baby’s only real risk of acquiring it during his infancy is through the milk of an infected mother. In addition, it is unknown how much immunity to this STD will remain by the time the infant reaches puberty, when it is really needed.

Pediatricians may feel it is their duty to accomplish the goals of government agency guidelines in vaccinating children. In the United Kingdom, some doctors receive monetary compensation for higher vaccination percentages. In the United States, pediatricians are not legally liable for vaccine injuries, but can be sued if a child is damaged by a vaccine-preventable illness. In addition, doctors may try to administer as many vaccinations as possible during one visit because once the child leaves the office, there is no guarantee that he will come back in for his next scheduled checkup.

Other Concerns: Theories and Evidence

Though government authorities have insisted that no solid evidence of a connection between thimerosal and autism exists, they do not deny that vaccines can cause harm. In addition, there is mounting evidence that vaccines may be associated with other disorders. The responsibility falls to parents to decide which is worse, the risk of the illness, or the risk of the vaccine. To complicate things further, this decision must be made in the absence of complete information.

In 1997, Andrew Wakefield, a British doctor, published an article in which he theorized that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine (which has never contained thimerosal, but has been implicated in autism) might cause a digestive problem which allows toxic substances to pass from the gut into the bloodstream. This theory was based on the autistic symptoms and intestinal symptoms he sometimes noticed after the MMR vaccine. Perhaps some combination of weakened bodily defenses and exposure to toxins and chemicals allows some susceptible individuals to develop disease.

Despite a united public government front, undisclosed CDC studies have uncovered possible connections between vaccines and autistic disease, including the fact that autistic-like symptoms may be increased by exposure to thimerosal during a child’s first six months. Another confidential study (later released to a parent group) showed that the majority of vaccinated children have mercury levels that exceed the EPA limits at one and three months of age. In 1999, the FDA stated that thimerosal exposure might lead to excessive mercury levels in a child’s first six months, but insisted that no child was receiving toxic doses.

Other independent studies have shown that rats, when exposed to a similar amount of thimerosal compared to their body weight as American infants in the 1990s, exhibited disturbing autistic behaviors. In addition, a link has been observed between vaccinations and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It also appears that Rh-negative mothers, who are most likely to have a mercury-laced injection during pregnancies, may be more likely to have autistic children.

There is even a theory that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS might have originated from contaminated vaccines. Polio vaccines have been made from monkey cells which may have been contaminated with the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV). Perhaps this animal virus mutated into HIV when humans were injected with an animal pathogen that their bodies were incapable of handling. This theory is unproven, but frightening nonetheless.

The Future of Vaccines in America

No studies have ever been done of the long-term effects of vaccines. The effects of newly-released vaccines are only studied for a period of weeks before they are recommended for public use. Government agencies can claim that studies show only limited and short-term risks, but they cannot conclude that this is the case absolutely unless long-term studies are done. In the meantime, the recommended immunization list keeps growing, and more and more new vaccines are in the works.

Undoubtedly, one day there will be a vaccination for the AIDS virus, and parents will have to decide whether or not to allow their children to be injected with a vial of real (though weakened) HIV. How much research will be done before this vaccine is unleashed on the public? Do we really trust doctors that much?

In the meantime, there is a growing trend toward our government rewarding families who vaccinate and punishing those who do not. Schools already require proof of vaccines for attendance. Next has come the idea of withholding government assistance and welfare from parents of unvaccinated children. Plans are underway to start a nationwide vaccination registry program to monitor every child’s vaccination status by social security number, wherever that child may travel in the country. Legislation has even been proposed to prevent parents of unvaccinated dependents from receiving tax exemptions. Are these sanctions really in the spirit of freedom of choice?

Compromising

Parents with a child damaged by vaccines may refuse to vaccinate any future children (which may be best for their families because of possible genetic susceptibility). At the same time, some parents will always accept the recommended vaccine schedule without question. As for the rest of us who are undecided, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves about the benefits and risks of each injection before the needle enters our child’s body. We must weigh the risk of getting the disease, the seriousness of the disease, and the potential risks of the vaccine.

Also, to help prevent possible vaccine problems, parents can try to make certain children’s immune systems are in an optimum state of health before being immunized. Interventions include good nutrition (breastfeeding is optimal), adequate rest, and avoiding vaccination in certain situations.

As a Parent, You Should Consider Refusing Vaccines When:

• Your child is ill or on antibiotics.
• You are not comfortable with the number of vaccines your child is receiving at once. Don’t forget, you can always come in a few weeks later and catch up, if you wish.
• Your child was premature or is underweight. You can wait until your child is stronger to start his immunizations.
• Your child has a history of adverse vaccine reactions, or is allergic to anything in the shot.
• Your family has a history of autoimmune disease and severe allergies.