Flu Vaccine: Stay Out of My Womb!
Commentary by Dawn Richardson
October 8, 1999
Pregnant women everywhere know the feeling
of making it to the milestone of
their second trimester. For most, queasiness
starts to subside, energy
returns in spurts, and of course there is
that indescribable feeling of
becoming aware of your developing baby's movements.
You've altered your diet, exercised, stayed
away from over the counter
medications, your true hair color is revealing
itself, and that wonderful
bottle of wine with the Surgeon General's
warning will continue stay buried
in the back of the refrigerator awaiting the
skinnier days ahead.
You ask yourself, "Is there anything
more that I can do for me and my baby
during the remainder of my pregnancy?"
Well, according to the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) and the federal government's
Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP) there is - get
the flu vaccine before this
year's flu season hits. According to the CDC
and ACIP, it was estimated
that an average of 1 to 2 hospitalizations
among pregnant women could be
prevented for every 1,000 pregnant women immunized.
(Prevention and Control
of Influenza: Recommendations of ACIP. MMWR
- May 1, 1998; 47)
My initial pregnant maternally protective
hormonal response to this was
utter disbelief. How could a biological pharmaceutical
product be
recommended for routine use for all healthy
second and third trimester
pregnant women? As I looked into this further,
I became outraged and
inspired to share the truth with pregnant
women so they could make up their
own minds. Here is what I found.
There are four drug manufacturers for this
year's flu vaccine. The product
package inserts published by the manufacturers
state the disclaimer that
"Animal reproduction studies have not
been conducted with influenza virus
vaccine. It is also not known whether influenza
virus vaccine can cause
fetal harm when administered to a pregnant
woman...Although animal
reproductive studies have not been conducted,
the prescribing health-care
provider should be aware of the recommendations
of the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices...The ACIP states
that, if used during pregnancy,
administration of influenza virus vaccine
after 14 weeks of gestation may
be preferable to avoid coincidental association
of the vaccine with early
pregnancy loss..."
Additional reading and phone calls to the
manufacturers confirmed that all
four flu vaccines contain thimerosal, a mercury
derivative preservative
banned by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in over-the-counter (OTC)
drug preparations because of questions over
safety. (Federal Register:
April 22, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 77)][Page
19799-19802].
On July 7, 1999, the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) and the United
States Public Health Service (PHS) issued
a joint statement that because of
the "neuro-developmental effects posed
by exposure to thimerosal",
"thimerosal-containing vaccines should
be removed as soon as possible." The
PHS and AAP recognized that because of thimerosal
in vaccines, some
children would be exposed to "a cumulative
level of mercury over the first
six months of life that exceeds one of the
federal guidelines on methyl
mercury." Hospitals around the country
responded this summer by halting
the administration of the thimerosal containing
vaccine for hepatitis B at
birth, deferring vaccination until the baby
is older and more developed.
What about my beloved little baby that isn't
even developed enough to live
outside the womb yet?
A quick internet search showed that even
the CDC, in a revealing
self-contradiction at another location, posted:
"Q. Who is most vulnerable
to mercury? A. Two groups are most vulnerable
to methyl mercury: the fetus
and children ages 14 and younger."
(http://www.cdc.gov/nip/Q&A/genqa/Thimerosal.htm)
More searching on the
National Library of Medicine site almost effortlessly
produced hundreds of
articles and studies in medical and scientific
journals clearly documenting
the damaging effects of prenatal exposure
to mercury. The results of one
recent study published in the August 1, 1999
issue of the American Journal
of Epidemiology stated that "the greatest
susceptibility to methylmercury
neurotoxicity occurs during late gestation,
while early postnatal
vulnerability is less" which is the precise
point in time that ACIP and the
CDC is recommending we get the shot.
I then decided to call the CDC's Influenza
Division myself, as a pregnant
mother baffled by this scientifically unfounded
and potentially unsafe
recommendation. Maybe I was missing something
that an "expert" could
reveal for me. I was told that there was no
scientific proof that the flu
vaccine caused fetal harm. Well of course
not, the manufacturers are right
up front when they state that this hasn't
been studied - isn't that convenient. I
was also told that the CDC had no intention
to change the recommendation
for pregnant women because of thimerosal.
The doctor blamed the recent
concerns on "politics" rather than
science. What a shame.
Even though the CDC does claim that a single
study of a small number of
pregnant women have demonstrated no adverse
fetal effects associated with
influenza vaccine; they continue and say,
"however, more data are needed."
Maybe this scientifically unsubstantiated
recommendation is how the CDC
plans on getting that data. So much for the
Nazi war criminal trials at
Nuremberg outlawing human experimentation
without informed consent.
While I would absolutely hate to be one of
the 1 in 1000 pregnant women
needing to go to the hospital for the flu
this winter, at this point, I
feel far more threatened by the public health
bureaucrats recklessly
willing to experiment on me and my unborn
child with a flu vaccine not
proven safe for my baby.
To receive email updates on vaccine safety
and informed consent issues,
write to prove@vaccineinfo.net
Permission to distribute and print in whole
and unedited given by,
Dawn Richardson
President, PROVE (Parents Requesting Open
Vaccine Education)
prove@vaccineinfo.net (email)
http://vaccineinfo.net (web site)
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