just looking at how many shots are given at the 12 month "well" visit makes me sick. that is where i lost my son. right there at that visit. we just getting him back with biomed treatments. everyday he does something that i was told he would never do. how great is that?!

Julie - the cigarette analogy reminded me of blog entry by Cornelia Read
http://www.nakedauthors.com/labels/CDC.html

Cornelia is one of the Naked Authors blogging at http://www.nakedauthors.com - and she's the mom of a young girl with autism. Anyone who's been lurking around AoA for a while might recall that her "CDC" post was also reprinted here in March

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/03/the-naked-autho.html

For anyone who isn't familiar with this particular piece, take a few minutes to give it a read. It is a brilliant and intense reminder of what we're all are up against.

Like Cornelia said in her closing comments, "smoke 'em if you got 'em..."
 

Twyla, here is one study I know of regarding the damage of nanomolar thimerosal-

"Uncoupling of ATP-Mediated Calcium Signaling and Dysregulated Interleukin-6 Secretion in Dendritic Cells by Nanomolar Thimerosal"

http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/8881/abstract.html

here it is described in layman's terms-
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/7973

I have an idea of a possible reason why Energix-B causes more multiple sclerosis than Rocombivax.

Energix-B contains 5% yeast protein, while Recombivax contains only 1% yeast protein.

Here's some information from GlaxoSmithKline:

2007 and prior, the Energix-B Hepatitis vaccine contained <0.5 mcg of mercury. Since the beginning of 2008, only mercury free Energix-B vaccines have been produced. The prior forumulation will remain on the shelves until used up or expired.

Here are the lot numbers for the vaccines.

With <0.5 mcg mercury:
NDC 58160-856-11 or NDC 58160-856-46

Mercury-free:
NDC 58160-820-11 or NDC 58160-820-46

Why would most American babies need a HepB shot at all? Will they be frequenting shooting galleries or having usafe sex? HepB is a blood-borne pathogen. Period. There is no other way to contract HepB, so why give the vaccine in infancy unless the mother is a carrier of the disease, in which case, the hospital/pediatrician should already be aware of the risk to the infant? Oh, I forgot. Profit.

The recipient of the FluMist vaccine sheds live flu virus for three weeks after administration, thus exposing the rest of us to the flu; thus, a teacher or health worker who receives this vaccine goes to work exposing students and patients to live flu. What a great idea!

And I concur with others who have posted - what about the combinations, the aluminum (which is probably contributing to all the Alzheimers), the other adjuvants that result in excitotoxins which some brains may not be able to turn off, contributing to chronic autoimmune conditions? We are poisoning the population in the name of health. Eradicating polio was a great thing. So was getting rid of the measles, the mumps, maybe even the chicken pox (although none of those killed me). But poisoning infants? Not such a good thing. Let their little neurological systems develope first, that's all I'm saying.

My little guy had chronic ear infections and a runny nose when his brilliant pediatrician decided he should get "caught up" on his vaccinations and receive a mercury-laden flu shot. And then we said good-bye to our neurotypical, verbal 18-month-old. We're slowly bringing him back. But he will never be the boy, the man, he could have been without BigPharma's "cure-all."

Hats off, Theresa! This time I'm printing it and putting it in my notebook so I don't forget again!

I agree with Amy that there appears to be a typo in the note at the bottom of that chart. In Dec. of 2007 the CDC emailed me and said, "Thimerosal still may be used in the early stages of making certain vaccines. However, it is removed through a purification process. When this process is complete, only trace, or insignificant, amounts of thimerosal are left (less than 0.3 mcg) and these amounts have no biological effect."

This is consistent with the FDA's table at www.fda.gov/CBER/vaccine/thimerosal.htm#t1.

But this is not consistent with the CDC's table at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf , which has the note at the bottom saying, "Where 'thimerosal' is marked with an asterisk (*) it indicates that the product should be considered equivalent to
thimerosal-free products. This vaccine may contain trace amounts (<3 mcg) of mercury left after post-production
thimerosal removal, but these amounts have no biological effect."

The CDC's emails and table are consistent in saying that "these amounts have no biological effect." Don't you feel better now? We know they would tell us if there were any cause for concern. (haha, what a funny joke!)

Never mind those silly people who say things like:
"At 50 nanomolar thimerosal the neuron killing capacity/rate is about doubled with the addition of levels of aluminium found in vaccines." - Dr. Boyd Haley

Or papers such as "Effects of prolonged exposure to nanomolar concentrations of methylmercury on voltage-sensitive sodium and calcium currents in PC12 cells" at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12101032.

"Nanomolar" is one billionth of a mole. A mole is "The amount of a substance that contains as many atoms, molecules, ions, or other elementary units as the number of atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12. The number is 6.0225 × 1023, or Avogadro's number." In other words, nanomolar is a teeny tiny miniscule amount.

I wish I could put my fingers on the studies that someone posted a while back on the effects of nanomolar concentrations of mercury.

Anyway, the CDC really should get their numbers straight! 3 or 0.3?

Garbo, here's your study on MS as a side effect of Engerix. The study was performed in France.

http://www.healthcentral.com/multiple-sclerosis/news-264568-66.html

"Although most hepatitis B vaccines do not seem to increase the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) in children, use of one particular brand -- Engerix B (GlaxoSmithKline) -- may, according to findings from a study conducted in France.

The study involved 349 children with MS and 2,941 children without MS. According to the researchers, a total of 24.4 percent of the children with MS were vaccinated for hepatitis B in the 3 years before the study, compared to 27.3 percent of the children without MS.

Although the study found that hepatitis B vaccination does not generally increase the risk of MS, the children with MS were 1.74 times more likely to have received a certain type of hepatitis B vaccine called Engerix B.

Those children with MS developed symptoms 3 or more years after receiving the vaccine.

The risk was only found for this specific type of hepatitis B vaccine and not found for all vaccines against hepatitis B, Dr. Yann Mikaeloff, from Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, and colleagues report."

Here is a quote from the actual article the CDC referenced. From http://www.vaccinationnews.com/dailynews/april2002/limitinginfantexposurethimvax.htm 8th paragraph:

"Thimerosal is used during production of some vaccines and in many cases can be removed leaving trace amounts (<0.3 µg) of mercury that have no biologic effect.22 Such products should be considered equivalent to thimerosal-free products."

I couldn't get the article directly from JAMA without paying. So, there is a chance the typo is here, but is very unlikely since the actual product insert for Tripedia says <0.3 mcg of mercury as well.

It looks like the CDC made a typo regarding 0.3 vs. 3.

Here is the product insert for Tripedia showing <0.3 mcg of mercury.

http://www.fda.gov/Cber/label/dtapave030701LB.pdf

Also, the product insert for Energix, which shows no mercury.
http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_engerixb.pdf

I mentioned the Tdap and Menactra because a previous poster was asking regarding her teenage son. I forgot to make a note of the reason I was including it.
 

RE: Energix shot, somewhere I read a study (I think European) that tested different brands of Hep B shot and found Energix had a higher rate of MS as a serious side effect. Wish I could find it.

It's great that you found a truly thimerosal free schedule, but what about the aluminum? My son had autism (mostly recovered) and when we chelated pulled high aluminum, mercury, uranium and lead. My daughter was born 2 years later -- her shots had less mercury -- but when she developed serious motor coordination issues we had her tested and began chelation -- high aluminum from the start and continuing.

The table of ingredients per brand of vaccine and type of vaccine is available at the CDC's website www.cdc.gov

It is titled Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary, Part 2. Anyone can download this and check for themselves. It was last updated in April 2008.

According to this document, yes, the Expedia version of the HepB contains trace amounts of thimerosal. And Fluzone contains thimerosal in multi-dose containers. Correction noted.

As much as I wish it were true, I did not make a mistake with regard to the 0.3 mcg versus 3 mcg. A vaccine shall be considered "thimerosal free" according to the CDC with < 3 mcg. This definition is on the document, last page at the bottom.

Here is their quote:
*Where “thimerosal” is marked with an asterisk (*) it indicates that the product should be considered equivalent to
thimerosal-free products. This vaccine may contain trace amounts (<3 mcg) of mercury left after post-production
thimerosal removal, but these amounts have no biological effect. JAMA 1999;282(18) and JAMA 2000;283(16)

Finally, Flu Mist may be an option for fighting the flu, but it is not a shot and was not included for that reason. Yes, parents may use Flu Mist without thimerosal.

Menactra and Menomune are not recommended to children in the first 6 years of life and were also not put on this list for that reason. However, Menomune in 10 dose vials does contain thimerosal.

Adacel and Boostrix are thimerosal free, but are Tdap, not DTaP, which is what I listed.

In addition to the FluMist live virus spray, there is a mercury free flu shot available to kids, the Fluzone single dose vial or prefilled syringe. http://www.fda.gov/CBER/label/fluzoneLB.pdf

Another mercury free flu shot available for adults 18 or over is the Afluria single dose vial. http://www.afluria.com/docs/pi.pdf

To answer a previous poster's questions, the Adacel and Boostrix brands of Tdap are mercury free. http://www.vaccineshoppe.com/image.cfm?image_type=product_pdf&pi=400-10
http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_boostrix.pdf

For the meningococcal vaccine, Menactra and Menomune single dose vial are mercury free.
http://www.vaccineshoppe.com/image.cfm?pi=589-05&image_type=product_pdf
http://www.vaccineshoppe.com/US_PDF/Menomune%205143.5146_11.06.pdf

I am against all vaccines, but feel it is important for people to have the correct information.

The Energix-B Hepatitis B vaccine contains no mercury at all.

I would love to see this list expanded into the teen years, as my doc keeps pushing (and I keep refusing) new vaccines on my teenage kids, such as the meningitis vaccine and the pneumonia vaccine, as well as tetanus. Can anyone comment or contribute to this research to include any thimerasol free vaccine manufacturers for these vaccines recommended to older kids? Thanks!

You made a big mistake. It is 0.3 mcg, not 3 mcg, thank goodness.

another piece to keep in mind--all vaccine testing is done on healthy babies and toddlers. Doctors will strongly recommend that babies with all sorts of health problems be vaccinated--but there is no data on the safety of doing so.

thanks so much for this post, having all of the brand names and this information on hand (printed and in my dr visits folder) will be valueable information to be armed with.

Here we are:-

Thiomersal in vaccines: balancing the risk of adverse effects with the risk of vaccine-preventable disease.

Bigham M, Copes R.

Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. mark.bigham@bloodservices.ca

A number of affluent countries are moving to eliminate thiomersal (thimerosal), an ethylmercury preservative, from vaccines as a precautionary measure because of concerns about the potential adverse effects of mercury in infants. The WHO advocates continued use of thiomersal-containing vaccines in developing countries because of their effectiveness, safety, low cost, wide availability and logistical suitability in this setting. The guidelines for long-term mercury exposure should not be used for evaluating risk from intermittent single day exposures, such as immunisation using thiomersal-containing vaccines. Similar or higher mercury exposures likely occur from breast feeding and the health benefit of eliminating thiomersal from a vaccine, if any, is likely to be very small. On the other hand, the benefits accrued from the use of thiomersal-containing vaccines are considerably greater but vary substantially between affluent and developing regions of the world. Because of the contribution to overall mercury exposure from breast milk and diet in later life, the removal of thiomersal from vaccines would produce no more than a 50% reduction of mercury exposure in infancy and <1% reduction over a lifetime. Different public policy decisions are appropriate in different settings to achieve the lowest net risk, viewed from the perspectives of the individual vaccinee or on a population basis. In developing regions of the world, at least over the next decade, far more benefit will accrue from protecting children against widely prevalent vaccine-preventable diseases by focusing efforts aimed at improving infant immunisation uptake by using current, inexpensive, domestically-manufactured, thiomersal-containing vaccines, than by investing in thiomersal-free alternatives.

1: Drug Saf. 2005;28(2):89-101.

http://tinyurl.com/5l4gaj

Would you be able to create the same type of schedule, this time both thimerosal-free AND aluminum free? I would love to see that schedule. Thanks!!

Julie

This is fabulous and menaingful work you've done. Thank you so much!

My 2 year old is completely unvaccinated because his older sister took a land slide into autism after her 2 year old flu vaccines in 2002.

I am not sure if I can ever stomach allowing one vaccine injection into him but if I do this is just the kind of information that will help me make an educated decision to give him the best protection possible.

Thank you for going to such effort. I am going to post this at my blogspot The Educated Parent.

Julie, great, informative article. Thanks.
L.Land- wow, you said a mouthful with your flu shot comment. It wouldn't surprise me at all if you were right. It is infuriating. There should be some kind of march on Mother's day or something to give us back our right to look after our babiesw the way we should. For God' sake, someone can refuse to serve a pregnant lady a drink but yet we are semi forced to inject all this crap into our babies without question. It's a crime!!!!

It remind me of the study - apologies for not locating it immediately - used by the UK licensing authority (the MHRA), which argued over the relative safety of the WHO vaccine schedule on the basis that it was not that much additional mercury burden for infants, given wider environmental exposure. The greater the environmental exposure, the smaller the vaccine exposure was as a percentage: so you just could not win. Also, of course, they averaged the exposure out over a period rather the time of administration. The arguments were so breath-takingly silly that it was impossible to engage in any discussion with the people propounding them (which was perhaps the underlying strategy).

thank you so much for having this concrete information. I will be passing this valuable information on to my friends with new babies or who are deciding what to do with regard to vaccination.
It is just startling to me how this debate continues. Parents need this information and are not receiving it from the medical community.

The nasal flu vaccine is thimerosal free, isn't it? But then you're risking a live virus. And the live virus can shed for weeks, by the CDC's own admission (they write it up as the virus sheds "rarely" in clinical studies).
Not that I'm recommending the live virus vaccine to anyone - one mom that I heard from reported her child regressed into autism from the nasal flu vaccine.

Of course, then there is the whole other issue of whether giving so many shots together is safe at all. There are no studies of shots in combination. Starting from month two, look at all those combinations.
 

L Land,
After hearing Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s comments at the green the vax rally, I must say your conclusions are very reasonable. I hope that these sloppy "scientists" and gov't agency officials left a paper trail somewhere. There is clearly actual knowledge here. This is more than a financial liability issue, it's criminal. People need to go to prison for this.

Dear Julie,
Thank you so much for this information. I have already shared the link with some friends. So "free" isn't always truly free. I knew that this was true when it came to fat in "fat-free" but I was surprised to hear about this. After everything we've been through it is a sad statement about our government and medical establishment that I'm still amazed by the level of their ethical transgressions. I always knew that the flu-shot my obgyn told me that I must have probably contained mercury. Perhaps my son's mercury-free shots actually contained some as well. I do not have the heart to find out.

The CDC started recommending flu shots for kids when thimerosal started to come out of the other shots. I think as a way to keep the autism rates from coming down and assisting with their cover up. This is just more of the same.