Last week I read “To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate’ by A Amantonio. I ordered this book because of the COVID 19 vaccines that are being issued around the globe currently and wanted more informed information. I have always been anti-over-vaccinating but felt that certain childhood vaccinations were essential. This all changed when I read this book. Being pro or against vaccinations seems to be a very controversial issue, however I have been aware for some time of the nefarious links between Big Pharma and the Animal Agricultural industry. The latter gets us sick and the former keeps us sick. There were many things detailed in this book that shocked me, so here are the salient parts. Please order your own copy (I got mine from Book Depository) if it interests you to learn more.
Anti-Vaxxers
There is an opinion that anti-vaxxers are uneducated, religious and anti-scientific, however scientific research suggests that most anti-vaxxers are older, wealthier and more well-educated. A British study found that many parents doubt physicians’ recommendations because they are aware that GP’s need to meet immunization targets, and may be partly motivated by financial factors not just by the child’s best interests.
Physicians
Some people might say, “If there were any problems with the vaccines, if they were unsafe or ineffective, doctors would have known about it. But there is an almost complete scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and effective. After all doctors with their long years of formal training have surely studied vaccines much more than what you could have read on the internet”.
However, doctors only receive a few hours of education on vaccines (similar to nutrition), part of which is ‘How to respond to anti-vaccination arguments’.
In some countries, physicians have financial interest in vaccine promotion. The more vaccines they sell, the higher their bonuses are. In the US, Blue Cross insurance company pays pediatricians US$400 for each fully vaccinated child, but only if the percentage of vaccinated children at their practice exceeds 63%.
Some other people might say, “But I have talked to several doctors and they all claim that vaccines are safe. If they thought vaccines were unsafe, they would not vaccinate their own children.” Doctors can’t treat patients the way they see fit. Doctors must follow the approved treatment guidelines, otherwise they risk losing their licence and getting fired. If a doctor prescribes vitamin C instead of antibiotics and something happens to the patient, the doctor may get taken to court. On the flip side if a doctor does prescribe antibiotics and something happens to the patient, the doctor does not bear any responsibility. Doctors also do not have the right to advise patients not to vaccinate and face prosecution. However:
-In Israel, 93% of doctors are aware of the Ministry of Health recommendation to vaccinate pregnant women against influence and Whooping cough, only 70% follow these recommendations. A third of the physicians hold the opinion that both vaccines are dangerous or controversial. 40% of the doctors who believe these vaccinations are dangerous, still recommend them to their patients.
-In Switzerland 1/3 of pediatricians did not vaccinate against Heb B and Hib. 34% did not vaccinate their children according to the vaccination schedule
-In Italy only 10.3 % of pediatricians had a very favourable attitude towards all recommended vaccinations for infants
-In France 33% of GP’s do not believe that MMR vaccine should be mandatory for children under two
-According to a 2015 study in Italy, only 30% of physicians, 11% of nurses and 9% of other clinicians received the influenza vaccine.
-41% of healthcare workers refused the vaccine against swine flu during the 2009 pandemic
-In China only 13%of doctors and 21% of nurses are vaccinated against influenza
Placebo & Testing
Vaccine, drug testing and indeed all scientific testing should be conducted by randomised, double-blind (meaning the researchers don’t know which group is being given the vaccine and who is not), placebo-controlled clinical trials, during which the data on adverse effects experienced by the vaccine recipients is collected and compared to the control group.
Clinical trials are very expensive; they cost tens of millions of dollars. Product development costs are estimated by hundreds of millions. An FDA approved vaccine very quickly yields billions in profit on an annual basis. For example, sales of Gardasil (against HPV) account for more than US$3billion per year.
Pharnaceutical companies want to lower the odds of failing in clinical trials. So instead of a placebo, one simply needs to use fairly toxic substance with adverse effects similar to those of the vaccine in question. One of the most toxic components in vaccines is aluminium (see below) which is used as an adjuvant (a substance that enhances the immune response) in most vaccines. If aluminium is added to the placebo, it is possible to increase the prevalence of adverse effects in the control group, making it comparable to the intervention group. This allows the researchers to conclude that the new vaccine has no more adverse effects than the placebo, and therefore it is completely safe. It is also possible to add other toxic substances; for example, ethyl mercury, or even another vaccine as a placebo. Based on such studies, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) will also conclude that the vaccine is safe and so will other countries. This is absolutely legal.
The studies also do not need to be randomized or blind. In fact you can simply give everyone the vaccine and observe what the effects are. If the majority of the study participants stay alive, then the vaccine is completely safe. There is no requirement to disclose the contents of the placebo used in clinical trials and medical journals also do not require this information. This is similar to other drug trials, for example in the study of medication for cancer-acquired anorexia, it was found that the medication positively affects the GastrointestinaI tract. However lactose was used as a placebo. Cancer patients usually acquire lactose intolerance and that is why the medication which does not contain lactose, compares favourably with the ‘placebo’.
In 2008, the US abandoned the Declaration of Helsinki (a set of ethical principles related to research and experiments involving human subjects) for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) which is not as restrictive as the Declaration of Helsinki. Although saline is allowed in trials, usually researchers opt for other comparative agents. For example:
-a study of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine used DTP-Hib (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-Hib) vaccine as a placebo
-in another pneumococcal vaccine study (PCV23) vaccines for Hepatitis A & B were used as placebos
-a novel oral cholera vaccine was compared with heat killed E.coli vaccine which has no therapeutic benefit
-in another study aluminium hydroxide combined with thimerosal (a mercury based preservative) was used as a placebo
Many vaccine manufacturers list the placebo composition on the vaccine insert. Here are a few examples:
-Daptacel (vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough). Three vaccines were used as placebos, DTP and DP and an experimental vaccine for whooping cough. Yes -an experimental vaccine was used as a placebo.
-Infanrix (another vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Pediarix vaccine was used as the placebo. In addition, both groups received those vaccines alongside vaccinations for hepatitis B, pneumococcus, chickenpox, polio, Hib, measles, mumps and rubella
-Pediarix (vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and polio). This vaccine was tested together with a vaccine for Hib. The control group received the Infanrix vaccine, as well as a vaccine for Polio and hib.
So when someone claims that vaccines are completely safe, ask them, “Safe compared to what? Vaccines are only completely safe when compared to extremely toxic substances or to other vaccines.
Safety
As well as true placebos not being used during trials, there are other problems with vaccines’ safety:
-Nearly all trials are done exclusively on healthy children, however vaccines are recommended by the FDA and physicians to not-so healthy children, preterm babies, younger children and not just to children. Medicines are usually tested on sick patients, and then given to sick patients, vaccines are tested exclusively on healthy children and then given to both healthy, not so healthy and even very sick children
-Nearly all clinical trials of safety are looking only for short term effects and last from several days to several weeks, it’s rare that they last several months. All the adverse effects that happen after this period are considered to be unrelated to the vaccination.
-Even if there are serious adverse effects that occur during the trial, scientists can decide that those adverse effects, or even deaths, are not related to the vaccination and can be crossed out without taken into account
-Research is usually done on a relatively small group of children. For example, the Hepatitis B vaccine was tested on 147 newborns.
Additionally, usually, vaccines are tested on children from third world countries which halves the cost of clinical trials.
In a clinical trial of Recombivax-HB (a vaccine against hepatitis B) safety was tested for 14 days. 77% of children had adverse events. 28 children (1.6%) had serious adverse events. One child died with a SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) diagnosis. The trial authors reported that his death was probably not related to the vaccination.
In clinical trials of the Infanrix Hexa vaccine, safety was tested for 30 days. Serious adverse events occurred in 79 infants (2.7%). Nearly all of them were not related to the vaccine, according to the researchers. One infant dies with a SIDS diagnosis. IT was not related to the vaccine.
In clinical trials of pentavalent vaccines, safety was tested for 30 days. There were 8.5% of infants that had serious adverse events, almost all of them were reported as unrelated to the vaccine.
In clinical trials of a hexavalent vaccine, safety was tested for 6 months. Eight four infants (5.9%) had adverse events. Two died. No connection to the vaccine was found.
Most safety trials look like this; most of them have serious adverse events occurring in absolutely healthy children and it is almost never concluded that they are related to the vaccine. They are deemed not related because in the control group, which receives a different vaccine, the same adverse events are registered.
In such short trials it is impossible to identify autoimmune, oncological or neurological diseases, which may be triggered by vaccination. Vaccine inserts always state that ‘vaccine has not been evaluated for its carcinogenic potential, mutagenic potential or potential for impairment of fertility.’
The Unvaccinated
Neither the CDC or the FDA, nor the pharmaceutical companies conduct studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Nevertheless there are some studies available comparing the two groups. They are all small and have flaws, but there is nothing better available at the moment. Only the studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children can provide an adequate picture of the real benefits band harm of vaccination.
A study published in 2017, compare 600 homeschooled children in four US states. Vaccinated children had chickenpox 4 x less often, whooping cough 3 x less often and rubella 10 x less often. Vaccinated children had otitis media 4 x more often and pneumonia 6 x more often, allergic rhinitis 30 x more often, allergies and ASD (autism spectrum disorder) 4 x more often, eczema 3 x more often, learning disabilities 5 x more often, neurodevelopmental disorders and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) 4 x more often. They also had some type of chronic illness 2.5 x more often. They used allergy medications 21 x more often, fever medications 4.5 x more often, ear-drainage tubes 8 x more often and antibiotics 2.5 x more often. They visited a doctor for illness 3 x more often and were hospitalized 1.8 time smore often. Vaccination of preterm infants was associated with a 14 fold increase in the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.
In Guinea -Bisseau (West Africa), some children are vaccinated by the age of 3-5 months, some aren’t. The risk of death in children vaccinated against diphtheria-tetanus -pertussis (with DTP vaccine) was 10 x higher when compared to unvaccinated children. Children who were also vaccinated against poliomyelitis (with OPV vaccine) died five times more often than unvaccinated children. After the introduction of these vaccines, the all cause infant mortality rate after three months of age increased twofold. The authors of the study conclude, “All currently available evidence suggests that DTP vaccine may kill more children from other causes than it saves from diphtheria, tetanus or pertussis. The authors were not ‘anti-vaxxers’. Peter Aaby one of the study authors, created the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bisseau, one of the main goals was to vaccinate children. He was also a pioneer of vaccination on the African continent.
According to a study in 1997 in New Zealand, 23% of vaccinated children had asthma, 22% received asthma consultations and 30% had allergies. There wasn’t a single case of asthma or allergies among unvaccinated children.
In 2011, the authors of a study compared infant mortality in 30 countries and the number of vaccines given by the age of 12 months. There is a linear correlation between the two; the more vaccinations there are in the country, the higher the infant mortality rate.
According to a 2012 study, the more vaccinations are given at the same time, the higher the likelihood of hospitalization and death. The mortality rate among those who received 5-8 vaccines was 1.5 times higher than those who received 1-4 vaccines.
Aluminium
Most people assume that a vaccine is just a weakened or killed virus or bacteria. The immune system produces antibodies to the injected dead virus and if the person gets infected, the immune system will be able to recognize the virus and quickly react to it in the future., This description is simplified to such an extent that one might argue that it is completely false. If everything were that simple then the vaccine would provide lifelong immunity, which is acquired after getting the disease. But this is not what happens. Immunity obtained from a vaccine lasts only a few years. The most effective vaccines give immunity for 10-20 years.
Our immune system is not stupid, it understands that a fragment of a dead virus or bacterium does not pose any real danger and thus produces antibodies very poorly against it. The add an adjuvant to the vaccine to solve this problem. An adjuvant is a molecule, which the immune system recognizes as very toxic and reacts to it strongly. At the same time, the immune system reacts to the virus as well plus it also reacts to the other vaccine ingredients. This in turn leads to allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Immunologists call aluminium, the ‘immunologist’s dirty little secret’.
The second and probably even more important reason for using adjuvants is purely economic. Growing viruses is difficult, time-consuming and expensive. If a significant amount of virus were injected, the immune system would respond to it appropriately and produce antibodies but it would be a much more expensive vaccine. When getting FDA approval, the vaccine’s efficacy is more important than its safety, Safety is fairly easy to fake, efficacy is harder to fake.
The two most common adjuvants are aluminium hydroxide and alumium phosphate and there are hundreds of studies proving that aluminium, even in minimal concentrations is very toxic. Since 1911 it has been used, then Dr William Gies concluded that, “ The use in food of aluminium or any other aluminium compound is a dangerous practice.’ It is still used in baking powder and food preservatives. Aluminium affects memory, concentration and behaviour. It’s associated with Alzheimer’s , Parkinson’s, ALS, multiple sclerosis, autism and epilepsy. It is a strong neurotoxin which inhibits more than 200 biologically important functions and causes various adverse effects in plants, animals and humans.
After the aluminium adjuvants have been injected into a muscle, it is unknown to science where it goes. In a 2013 study, 15 preterm infants were given several vaccines with 1200 mcg of aluminium. The aluminium was not found in either the blood or the urine. The vaccinated infants also had a significant decline in serum levels of iron, zinc, selenium and manganese.
Additionally, aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate are used as antacids and other gastrointestinal conditions, which in turn leads to food allergies, It’s used in large quantities in sunscreen, it’s used in drinking water treatment systems and some of it remains in the water. There is also a lot of aluminium in frozen pizzas, sausages, cheese, pancakes, baking powder and cake mixes, drinks sold in aluminum cans, toothpaste. There is also a link between antiperspirants (containing aluminium) and breast cancer.
Mercury
According to the WHO, mercury is one of the ten most dangerous chemicals and is particularly dangerous to development of the child in utero and in early life.
Thimerosal is a preservative that is added to multi dose vaccine vials to prevent microbial contamination after opening the vial. Multi dose vaccine vials are 2.5 x cheaper than single dose vials, plus single dose vials occupy more space in fridges. Mercury makes us 50% of the thimerosal weight which means that one vaccine dose contains from 12.5 to 25 mcg of mercury.
A 1929 meningococcal infection epidemic in Indianapolis presented the opportunity to test the substance on humans. Twenty two meningitis patients received a large dose of thimerosal intravenously and it did not cause an anaphylactic shock in any of them. Researchers concluded that thimerosal is safe. Subsequently all 2 2patients died. Since then no more thimerosal safety studies have ever been conducted.
In 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Public Health Service called for the elimination of thimerosal from all vaccines in the US as soon as possible as the amount included was exceeding the guidelines. In the early 2000s more and more vaccines without thimerosal become available. From 2002 however, the CDC began recommending influenza vaccines for infants and the only vaccine licensed for children contained thimerosal. The CDC extended recommendations of thimerosal containing influenza vaccines to pregnant women. Since 2010, infants started to receive two doses of influenza vaccine initially at 6 and 7 mths and then one dose every year. In 2012 the American Academy of Pediatrics and the WHO persuaded the United Nations not to ban the use of mercury in vaccines.
Aluminium and Mercury have a synergistic effect and enhance each other’s toxicity and enhance the inflammatory response. In 2014 an article reported that there had been 165 studies that focused on thimerosal and found it to be harmful, however the CDC still insists that there is no relationship between thimerosal- containing vaccines and autism rates in children’, however a study conducted directly by the CDC found a 7.6 fold increased risk of autism from exposure to thimerosal during infancy.
Fetal Bovine Serum
One of the components of MMR and some other vaccines is fetal bovine serum. Cells in which the virus is grown, need to multiply. In order to do so they need a nutrient medium with hormones, growth factors, amino acids, vitamins etc. Fetal bovine serum is commonly used as this medium. Since the serum should be sterile, the blood of calves’ fetuses is used instead of the grown cow’s blood.
A pregnant cow is slaughtered and the uterus removed, then the calf is removed from the uterus, the umbilical cord is tied off and the fetus is cleaned and disinfected. After that the heart is punctured with a needle and the blood is pumped out. Blood clots, platelets and coagulation factors are separated from the blood by centrifugations. Fetal bovine serum is what remains as a result. This serum itself can be contaminated with viruses, bacteria, yeast , fungi, endotoxins etc.
A bovine fetus of three months yields about 150ml of raw fetal bovine serum, of six months 350ml and of nine months (near term) 550ml. At the beginning of the 2000s, the global production per year of raw feral bovine serum was estimated to be about 500,000 litres which requires two million pregnant cows. Currently the global serum market is at 700,000 litres.
Does the fetus suffer when its heart is punctured and its blood pumped out? In preterm rabbits, they can survive without oxygen for 44 minutes, other animals show similar results, however calves specifically have not been studied. Today it is considered that the human fetus can feel pain as early as the 24th week of pregnancy and can suffer from week 11 after conception. Fetuses and newborns are more sensitive to pain than adults since they have not yet developed a mechanism for suppressing physiological pain. Therefore a fetus can even feel pain upon being touched. The authors conclude that the fetal calf can be expected to have normal brain function at the time of heart puncture, can experience pain until it actually dies. The authors conclude that the current practice of fetal blood harvest is inhumane.
Now imagine that practice happening but replacing humans with the cows.
Diseases
The rest of the book discusses each disease that we are vaccinated against and the evidence regarding safety and efficacy. I’ll leave you to read each chapter for yourselves, but in short, most diseases are not as ‘scary’ or as dangerous as previously thought and many are protective against other diseases and conditions.
Are vaccines worth the risk, please read the book yourself to make up your own mind. Personally for me, it open up a whole Pandora’s box, not only regarding vaccines, but the drug companies, the WHO, the FDA, CDC, United Nations and governments generally. I’d love your thoughts on this very controversial subject aftaer reading this book.