SYNOPTIC OVERVIEW:
ISSUES IN IMMUNIZATION THEORY AND PRACTICE
Prepared by: Raymond Obomsawin
2009
[pdf]
IMMUNIZATION THEORY ISSUES
HISTORICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASE DECLINES
INTER-SECTORAL DETERMINANTS
OF HEALTH
ADVERSE
EVENTS MONITORING & LONG TERM ADVERSE EFFECTS
VACCINES & NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS
Theory:
Vaccination is the injection of antigenic material, such as pathogen derived foreign proteins and toxic adjuvants into the body, to initiate a "learned" immune system response in order to prevent particular diseases. Memory T cells (cell-mediated immunity) and Memory B cells (humoral-mediated immunity) learn to respond more quickly and strongly to specific infectious agents. B lymphocyte cell response to infectious agents are dependent on intelligence from memory T cells which serve as "helpers" aiding in the recognition of intrusive pathogens by signaling to B cells to produce "high affinity antibodies". http://www.microrao.com/micronotes/pg/humoral_immunity.pdf
Facts:
University of Chicago researchers found that Memory T cells are
"distressingly slow learners", requiring "several generations" of
intensive stimulation to make a lasting impression on T cells "No vaccine
trial to date has been able to produce significant numbers of memory T
lymphocytes…"
University of Chicago Medical Center; T-cell memory finding may provide
key to cancer, AIDS vaccines; March 11, 1999;
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/1999/19990311-tcell-memory.html
The Pasteur Institute found that "98% of the immune responses triggered at
the early stages of infection are non specific. These non specific responses had
been observed following different infections by viruses, bacteria, parasites and
fungi." This means that natural immune system affords 98% of the early
response to an infectious disease agent, while the adaptive or memory-based
protective response that vaccination seeks to stimulate represents only 2% of
early response.
Pasteur Institute Press Release – Towards new vaccination strategies based on
‘non specific immunity’; August 1, 2000.
The Center for Vaccine Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania confirms that
"Vaccine induced enhancement of infection and disease has been reported for a
number of viral pathogens." The production of antiviral antibodies can fail
to inactivate infectivity and actually "enhance" the entry of certain viruses
(including Coxsackie virus; Respiratory Syncytial virus; Rabies virus; Influenza
A virus; Epstein -Barr virus and Herpes Simplex virus) into target cells and
increase infectivity and worsen disease symptoms. Whether antibodies neutralize
or worsen viral infection depends on a number of factors, including virus strain
and dose, host cell–antibody combination, and the concentration and class of the
antibody.
Takada A. and Kawaoka Y.; Antibody-dependent enhancement of viral infection:
molecular mechanisms and in vivo implications; Reviews in Medical Virology; No.
13; 2003; pp. 387-398.
Children with agammaglobulinaemia have no capacity to produce antibodies
after contracting zymotic diseases, but still recover from measles with
long-lasting immunity.
Burnet M.; Auto Immunity and Auto Immune Disease, M.T.P., London, England,
1973, Chapter 3.
A mid 20
th century study on the relationship of diphtheria incidence to the presence of antibodies found no observable correlation between antibody count and onset of the disease. "The researchers found people who were highly resistant with extremely low antibody count, and people who developed the disease who had high antibody counts."A group of military recruits were immunized for Rubella, and uniformly
demonstrated antibodies, however 80 percent of the recruits contracted the
disease when later exposed to it. Similar results were demonstrated in a
subsequent study conducted at an institution for the mentally disabled.
Allan B.; Australian Journal of Medical Technology; Vol. 4, Nov. 1973, pp. 26
and 27
Disease is obviously a broad bio-ecological question which goes beyond
whether one is vaccinated, or whether one’s body is producing desired
antibodies. Scientists have concluded that: "It is important to stress that
immunity (or its absence) cannot be determined reliable on the basis of history
of the disease, history of immunization, or even history of prior serologic
determination."
Polk B.F., et al.; An Outbreak of Rubella (German Measles) among Hospital
Personnel, The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 303, No. 10, September 4,
1980, pp. 541-545.
These basic findings and observations suggest that there are serious frailties in vaccination theory and practice.
HISTORICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASE DECLINES
The textbook Aboriginal Health in Canada attributes the decline in diseases
such as "measles, rubella, mumps, poliomyelitis, tetanus and diphtheria in
Aboriginal communities" to the "success of immunization programs."
J.B. Waldram, D.A. Herring, and T.K. Young, Aboriginal Health in Canada:
Historical, Cultural and Epidemiological Perspectives, University of Toronto
Press, 1995, p. 75.
A large body of historical epidemiological data shows that major declines in most major infectious diseases took place in the western world before the use of specific vaccines. In the mid 20
th century it was observed that "The decline in diphtheria, whooping cough and typhoid fever began fully fifty years prior to the inception of artificial immunization and followed an almost even grade before and after the adoption of these control measures. In the case of scarlet fever, mumps, measles and rheumatic fever there has been no specific innovation in control measures, yet these also have followed the same general pattern in incidence decline." Claims about the historical life-saving impact of immunization programs appear to be assumptive and not factual.Cause-specific mortality reports show that although life expectancy had increased by 23 years during the first half of the 20
th century, actually no more than a year or two were actually attributable to advances in medical interventions.INTER-SECTORAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
The success of any genuine effort to alleviate infectious disease among
socio-economically marginalized populations must prioritize the inter-sectoral
determinants of health. "Involvement of specialists other than the
traditional healing professions; water, food, housing, sanitation and education
are all important prerequisites for health."
Helberg H., An Evolving Process, in World Health, Published by the World
Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. - Feb. issue, 1988.
"To assess priorities in health policies… the chief requirement is therefore
to come to a conclusion about the reasons for the decline of the infections...
All the countries that advanced rapidly achieved a substantial improvement in
nutrition, which led to increased resistance. Indeed in some countries this was
the only important direct influence. It is perhaps surprising that immunization
appears to have contributed relatively little to the advances..."
McKeown T., The Road to Health, World Health Forum,
Published by the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, Vol. 10, 1989,
pp. 410 and 411
"
The most likely factors leading to health improvements...are a rise in the levels of nutrition and the slow spread of modern ideas of personal hygiene... the principal factor behind the improvement in health... in developing countries is probably not any form of health measure, but economic development itself... Mere exposure to a disease agent need not produce clinical disease and very frequently does not do so." Malnutrition is of the highest importance because it hampers the body's natural resistance and acts "synergistically" with disease agents to increase the incidence and severity of clinical diseases.Vaccines or no vaccines, without improving the standard of living, and
particularly nutrition status, children will frequently succumb to infections,
and have repeated relapses. For primary prevention, public health education,
enhanced nutrition status and environmental sanitation deserve the highest
attention. "For obvious reasons, the highest priority must be given to
preventive measures... The final and permanent answer to the problem will rest
in... social and economic development... taking into account the need for
nutritional improvement of the present generation. If good nutritional status is
maintained in the first years of life, successive attacks of most infectious
diseases of moderate virulence will probably produce no more than mild effects."
Standard K.L., Infections and Malnutrition in Child Mortality, in
Epidemiology and Community Health in Warm Climate Countries, Cruickshank R., et.
al. editors, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, UK, 1976, pp. 45-48.
ADVERSE EVENTS MONITORING & LONG TERM ADVERSE EFFECTS
Although Canada has in place passive and active surveillance provisions, the
chronic under-reporting of vaccine-induced morbidity, disability, and mortality
appears to be the norm, with many vaccine reactions being unreported and
undocumented. "Precise data on the risk and incidence of adverse reactions
are relatively difficult to obtain,… [and] what is known with certainty about
the causality and pathogenesis of vaccine-associated adverse events (VAAEs) is
quite limited." Although the occurrence of "late" or long-term
vaccine adverse events in some vaccines is incontestable, "a major limitation
of all the current approaches to monitoring VAAEs is the insensitivity or
outright inability to detect events caused or initiated by vaccination which
manifest more than 3-4 weeks after vaccination."
Ward, B.J., Vaccine adverse events in
There has never been any community-based research in First Nations on the
nature and extent of vaccine adverse events which are occurring. This represents
a major research gap. "Significant adverse effects have been reported with
every type of vaccine. These reactions may occur soon after vaccination or
several months to years later. Delayed reactions are more insidious and less
obviously linked to vaccination and thus necessitate large-scale epidemiological
studies to be proven."
Null, G., and Feldman, M., Vaccination: An updated Analysis of the Health
Risks, 3 part series Townsend Letter, online Oct., Nov. & Dec. issues, 2007,
http://www.townsendletter.com/Oct2007/vaccinate_null1007.htm
Because in the immunization procedure foreign pathogenic proteins and toxic adjuvants are placed directly into the body tissues and circulatory system, without censoring by the liver, this gives them accessibility to the body’s vital organs and systems as well as the brain. "Studies have linked neurodegeneration and a worsening of neurodegenerative diseases to systemic immune activation." Science now understands the inks between systemic immune activation with vaccines, brain microglial activation, and major depressive disorder and a worsening of neurodegenerative diseases.
"A number of studies have shown that live viruses used in vaccines can enter the brain and reside there for a lifetime... These viruses can trigger brain inflammation and degeneration - that is, there exist a chronic degeneration of the brain over years or decades. Because the resulting condition is so far separated from the time of administration of the original vaccine, physicians attribute the degeneration to old age or heredity."At the following URL will be found access to copies of dozens of peer reviewed medical journal citations and articles on adverse effects associated with the following vaccines: Chicken Pox/varicella, BCG (TB), Cholera, Diabetes, DPT, DT & Polio, DTaP, Encephalitis, Hepatitis B, Hib, Gardasil, Influenza, MMR, Measles/rubella, Measles, EZ measles, Meningococcal, Mumps, Polio, Pneumococcal, Rabies, Rotavirus, Rubella, Smallpox, Tetanus, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever.
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/citations.html
VACCINES & NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS
Dozens of published peer-reviewed studies demonstrate clinical and scientific
links between vaccination/vaccine ingredients and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)
showing the mechanism by which the damage is done, including on a molecular
level. These include cell culture studies, mixed cell cultures, organotypic
tissue studies, in vivo animal studies, and human studies.
Blaylock, R.L., The danger of excessive vaccination during brain development:
the case for a link to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Medical Veritas, Vol. 5,
2008, pp. 1727-1731.
Mice injected with the vaccine adjuvants aluminum hydroxide and squalene
(adjusted for human body weight) by 20-24 weeks, exhibited significant loss in
physical strength (50 percent) increases in anxiety (38 percent); memory
deficits (41 times the errors as in the control group). One third of the neuron
cells controlling bodily motor functions had destroyed themselves.
Petrik, M.S., Shaw, C.S. et. al., Aluminum Adjuvant Linked to Gulf War
Illness Induces Motor Neuron Death in Mice, NeuroMolecular Medicine, Vol. 9.,
2007, pp. 83-99.
Thimerosal (ethylmercury) found in vaccines, leaves double the amount of
inorganic mercury in the brain as does exposure to methyl mercury, the kind of
mercury found in fish.
Burbacher, T.M., et. al., Environmental Health Perspectives, Comparison of
Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to Methylmercury or
Vaccines Containing Thimerosal, Vol. 113, No. 8, August 2005, p. 1020.
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/7712/7712.pdf
The set of psychiatric, speech, cognitive, sensory, motor, and behavioral
symptoms used to diagnose autism are consistently comparable to the symptoms
that are observed in persons with sub-acute mercury poisoning.
Bernard, S. et. al., Autism: a novel
form of mercury poisoning, Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 56, No. 4, 2001, p. 463.
Analyses of the (U.S.) Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS),
researchers reported 2- to 8-fold increase in risk of autism, speech disorders,
mental retardation and thinking abnormalities following vaccination with
thimerosal-containing vaccines compared to children who received vaccines with
no thimerosal, or significantly less thimerosal.
Greier, D. and Geier, M., Early Downward
Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of
Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines, Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons,
Vol. 11, No. 1 2006, pp. 8-9.
It was found that the likelihood of children requiring special education
services was 900% greater for male children vaccinated with hepatitis B
(containing thimerosal) as for unvaccinated males after adjustment for
confounders. The learning disability diagnosis rate of 18 percent for First
Nations boys (off reserve) is 5 ½ times greater than for non-First Nation boys
in Canada. Gallagher C., and Goodman, M., Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and
developmental disability in US children aged 1-9 years, Toxicological and
Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 90, No. 5, September-October 2008, pp. 997-1008.
Bougie, E., Statistics Canada, Aboriginal Peoples Survey 2006 - School
Experiences of Off-Reserve First Nations Children Aged 6-14, January 2009, p. 9
Hepatitis B (with thimerosal) vaccination given to males in the first month
exhibited a 294% greater rate of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among those aged
3-17, compared with those getting the vaccine later or the unvaccinated. It was
also found that the white population (i.e. Caucasians, excluding Hispanics) were
61 percent less likely to have ASD.
Gallagher, C. et. al, Hepatitis B Vaccination of Male Neonates and Autism,
Annals of Epidemiology, Vol. 19, No. 9, September 2009, pp. 651-680.
A SurveyUSA 2007 study covering vaccinated and unvaccinated male subjects
(over 9,000 males studied, age 4-17) in Oregon and California, showed in the
11-17 age bracket that the vaccinated experienced 158% more neurological
disorders, 317% more ADHD, and 112% more autism. The Vaccinated, 4-17 age
bracket, were 120% more likely to have asthma. Study confidence intervals were
at or above 95 percent.
Generation Rescue, California-Oregon: Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Survey,
http://www.generationrescue.org/survey.html
The cerebellum (senses, coordination and motor control) is much more
sensitive to mercury in thimerosal than the cerebrum, thus supporting the
biological plausibility that thimerosal-containing vaccines contribute to
childhood autism.
Minami, T., et. al., Induction of metallothionein in mouse cerebellum and
cerebrum with low-dose thimerosal injection, Cell Biology and Toxicology, April,
2009 Apr 9. [Epub ahead of print]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19357975?ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Eight of nine patients examined were exposed to significant mercury from
Thimerosal-containing vaccines during their fetal/infant developmental periods,
and subsequently, between 12 and 24 months of age, these previously normally
developing children suffered mercury toxic encephalopathies symptomatically
consistent with regressive Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Geier, D. and Geier, M., A Case Series of Children with Apparent Mercury
Toxic Encephalopathies Manifesting with Clinical Symptoms of Regressive Autistic
Disorders, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, No. 70: 2007,
pp. 837–851.
The very large rise in autism cannot be explained by better diagnosis and
expanded diagnostic criteria, or genetics but rather is a real event, possibly
propelled by environmental exposures to substances such as mercury; viral
exposures; autoimmune disorders; and childhood vaccinations.
M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California, Davis, Report to the
Legislature on the Principal Findings from The Epidemiology of Autism in
California: A Comprehensive Pilot Study, October 17, 2002, pp. 3-5, and 14.
http://www.dds.ca.gov/AUTISM/docs/study_final.pdf