Do Vaccines Disable The Immune System?
by Randall Neustaedter, O.M.D., L.Ac.
Parents watch with proud satisfaction as
their infant, just a few months old, begins
to reach out into the world—tiny hands grasping
at toys and gently twirling locks of their
mother’s hair. Just when they have begun to
take a lively interest in the world, rolling-over,
cooing, and smiling, the first illnesses strike.
The baby’s runny nose develops into a fever,
fussiness, and night waking. Her previously
placid demeanor suddenly changes to obvious
discomfort—crying, clinging, and refusing
to leave her mother’s arms. The pediatrician
sees red eardrums and prescribes antibiotics.
That first infection starts a seemingly endless
battle against viral and bacterial illnesses
that persists despite repeated treatment with
a barrage of different antibiotics. Something
is dreadfully wrong. Frequent visits to the
pediatrician do nothing to prevent the continuous
pattern of illness—antibiotic—illness.
Why do these illnesses begin when babies
are three or four months old? What event triggers
this frustrating scenario? What happens to
babies at two to four months that could initiate
this relentless course of symptoms? Perhaps
maternal antibodies are beginning to wear
out, making babies susceptible to these environmental
microbes. But why don’t these babies develop
their own antibodies in response to the initial
viral or bacterial infections? What prevents
the immune system from mounting a vigorous
response? And why does this pattern of illness
with recurrent ear infections occur now, a
pattern that seldom occurred prior to thirty
years ago? What is weakening the immune function
of today’s infants?
Could vaccines be weakening the immune system
of our populations and causing recurrent infections
and allergies at unprecedented levels? The
only event that all infants routinely encounter
at two months of age is vaccination with at
least five different vaccines (Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis-Polio-Haemophilus).
They are repeated at four months. Could this
simple fact explain the onset of the recurrent
illnesses that plague so many infants? If
vaccines stimulate antibody production to
fight diseases, why would they weaken the
immune system? Is there any evidence that
vaccines do cause illness and immune system
dysfunction?
One answer came in a careful study of illness
patterns observed in babies before and after
vaccination, published in Clinical Pediatrics
in 1988. If vaccines cause a weakened immune
system, then we would expect to see a higher
incidence of illness following vaccination.
In that study conducted in Israel, the incidence
of acute illnesses in the 30-day period following
DTP vaccine was compared to the incidence
in the same children for the 30-day period
prior to vaccine. The three-day period immediately
following vaccine was excluded because children
frequently develop fever as a direct response
to vaccine toxins. A total of 82 healthy infants
received DTP, and their symptoms were reported
by parents and observed by a pediatrician
at weekly intervals. Those babies experienced
a dramatic increase in fever, diarrhea, and
cough in the month following DTP vaccine compared
to their health before the shot.
How do researchers investigate immune system
reactions to vaccines? First, they can observe
the incidence of serious disease onset soon
after vaccination. They can also study immune
functions following vaccines given to children
and adults. Two research models have been
used to discover the possible adverse effect
of vaccines on the immune system. Laboratory
researchers observe whether vaccines have
any negative effect on white blood cells,
the body’s primary immune defense system.
Clinical researchers study illness patterns
preceding and following vaccination. All of
these investigative channels have reached
the same conclusions—vaccines can trigger
immune system suppression.
Vaccines are destroying our immune systems.
Amazingly, the medical profession ignores
the incriminating evidence against vaccines,
and continues to inflict more unnecessary
and harmful vaccines on our nation’s infants.
A recent study from the New England Journal
of Medicine of May 1996 revealed that tetanus
vaccine disables the immune system in HIV
patients. Tetanus vaccination produced a drop
in T cells in 10 of 13 patients, a classic
sign of immune deficiency. HIV viral replication
increased dramatically in response to tetanus
vaccine. Finally, white blood cells from 7
of 10 uninfected individuals became more susceptible
to HIV infection following tetanus vaccination.
Despite these findings, the authors made no
comment about the immune depleting effect
of the vaccine.
Why is the public unaware of these findings?
Why has the medical profession kept these
reports hidden from the public eye? With typical
condescension, Dr. Martin Smith, president
of the American Academy of Pediatrics, explained
in the Academy’s News that the inclusion of
this type of information in vaccine brochures
would confuse many parents and could even
needlessly alarm them. An uninformed patient
is compliant.
The cover-up of immune system failure following
vaccination is reminiscent of the tobacco
industry’s continuous denial and misinformation
campaign about the dangers of cigarettes.
In both instances huge profits are at stake
in multibillion-dollar industries. Vaccine
manufacturers cannot afford to have their
product maligned in a public forum.
The destructive effect of vaccines on the
immune system can persist over an extended
period of time. One study published in the
Journal of Infectious Diseases documented
a long-term depressive effect on interferon
production caused by the measles vaccine.
Interferon is a chemical produced by lymphocytes
(a type of white blood cell) that renders
the host resistant to infection. Interferon
production is stimulated by infection with
a virus to protect the body from super infection
by some other micro-organism. In this study,
vaccination of one-year-old infants with measles
vaccine caused a precipitous drop in the level
of alpha-interferon produced by lymphocytes.
This decline persisted for one year following
vaccination, at which time the experiment
was terminated. Thus, this study showed that
measles vaccine produced a significant long-term
immune suppression.
What is the effect of long-term immune suppression?
Some investigators are concerned that vaccines
could be disabling our body’s ability to react
normally to disease, and creating the climate
for autoimmune self-destruction. The many
reports of autoimmune phenomena that occur
as reactions to vaccination provide incontrovertible
proof that tampering with the immune system
causes devastating disease.
Federal legislation of 1986 commissioned
the Institute of Medicine to establish a Vaccine
Safety Committee. The purpose of that committee
was to search the medical literature for reports
of adverse events associated with the vaccines
routinely administered to children, and report
their findings. Computer searches revealed
1,800 relevant articles. However, the committee’s
rigid criteria for establishing a causal relationship
between vaccine and adverse event made it
nearly impossible for a disease condition
to make their short list. Without a case-controlled
study proving a relationship, the hundreds
of case reports of immune system destruction
following vaccines were relegated to coincidence.
Case-controlled studies are expensive. They
must include tens or hundreds of thousands
of children.
Even the Vaccine Safety Committee acknowledged
the onset of several autoimmune diseases as
a result of vaccination (Guillain-Barre syndrome,
a disease that causes muscle weakness and
paralysis, following tetanus and polio vaccines;
thrombocytopenia, destruction of blood platelets
responsible for blood clotting, following
MMR; and chronic arthritis following rubella).
These types of symptoms have occurred following
every vaccine routinely given to children—the
suppressed immune system begins to attack
the body’s own cells, usually the nerves and
joints. Thousands of autoimmune incidents
following vaccines have been reported in the
medical literature and adverse event reporting
systems. These autoimmune responses to vaccines
have resulted in permanent, chronic disease
conditions—deforming arthritis and muscle
wasting and paralysis.
A large ecological study in New Zealand revealed
that an epidemic of diabetes followed a massive
campaign to vaccinate children against hepatitis
B. This report, published in the New Zealand
Medical Journal in 1996 revealed that a 60
percent increase in childhood diabetes occurred
in the years following the 1989-1991 vaccination
program of children aged 6 to 16. The widespread
use of the new Haemophilus meningitis vaccine
has similarly resulted in diabetes epidemics.
Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that has
been frequently observed to occur as a consequence
of mumps vaccine. Three European studies reported
22 cases of diabetes that began within 30
days of mumps vaccination. The dramatic rise
in vaccine-induced diabetes has led researchers
to raise a warning flag. Immunologist Bart
Classen has said, “We believe the effects
of vaccines on diabetes are of tremendous
clinical importance and that trials need to
be started immediately to address the effect
of vaccines on diabetes and other autoimmune
diseases.”
Vaccines have become a sacred cow of our
culture, unassailable to criticism. Now that
we know their devastating effects on the immune
system, perhaps we need to take a more cautious
approach to the vaccine campaigns.
New vaccines for children are being developed
in an unprecedented effort to wipe out childhood
diseases. In some cases this effort has strictly
monetary goals. For example, the most frequently
stated purpose of the chickenpox vaccine is
not to protect children from this benign childhood
illness, but to keep parents at their jobs
rather than missing a few days of work to
care for their sick child at home. According
to Dr. Philip Brunell, a leading chickenpox
vaccine researcher, it is clear that we can
reduce the cost of chickenpox by routinely
immunizing normal children, primarily by reducing
the loss of parental income. Vaccination of
the entire population would save an estimated
$380 million dollars in lost income and wages.
Economic interests have spurred the adoption
of a chickenpox vaccine, not our concern for
the well-being of children.
This callous disregard for the potential
damage inflicted by vaccines characterizes
the goals of vaccine manufacturers. The pharmaceutical
giant Merck invested over $5 million in chickenpox
vaccine development, according to The Wall
Street Journal. Dr. Samuel Katz, Duke University’s
pediatrics chairman and head of a vaccine
panel at the National Academy of Sciences,
expressed the manufacturer’s concerns: Merck
isn’t going to make back its investment in
that vaccine by just distributing it to kids
with cancer. They’re going to be interested
in pushing for use in the normal population.
Profit has always been the goal of vaccine
manufacturers. When lawsuits leveled at drug
companies began wiping out profits gleaned
from the pertussis vaccine, the manufacturers
simply stopped production of the vaccine.
The United States government stepped in to
pay these vaccine-damage claims. Only then
did the drug companies agree to resume vaccine
production. The formula was simple—no profits,
no vaccines.
Now that drug companies are protected from
legal action, the race to invent and distribute
new vaccines has again switched into high
gear. Vaccines for hepatitis, haemophilus,
and chickenpox have all been pushed into the
recommended schedule for children. This zealous
rush to bring new vaccines to market, heedless
of the damage inflicted in the name of prevention,
could have far-reaching consequences. We may
be setting the stage for the unwitting destruction
of our population’s health, a result that
may continue to remain a hidden cause of widespread
immune system failure and autoimmune disease.
Dr. Neustaedter has practiced homeopathic
medicine and traditional Chinese medicine
for over twenty years. His book, The Vaccine
Guide: Making an Informed Choice (North Atlantic
Books, 1996), has become a popular resource
for parents. He is a licensed acupuncturist
and received his Doctorate in Oriental Medicine
in Hong Kong. He lives and works in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
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