Tetanus Vaccination by Dr Mendelsohn MD

[Guest guest]

Tetanus Vaccination by Dr Mendelsohn MD (The Peoples Doctor Newsletter

1976-1988)

You have every right to closely question me on the tetanus vaccine, since

that was the last vaccine I abandoned. It wasnt hard for me to give up

vaccines for whooping cough, measles, and rubella because of their

disabling and sometimes deadly side effects. The mumps vaccine, a

highrisk, lowbenefit product, struck me and plenty of other doctors as

silly from the moment it was introduced. Arguments for the diphtheria

vaccine were vitiated by epidemics during the past 15 years which showed

the same death rate and the same severity of illness in those who were

vaccinated vs. those who were not vaccinated. As for smallpox, even the

government finally gave up that vaccine in 1970, and I gave up on the polio

vaccine when Jonas Salk showed that the best way to catch polio in the

United States was to be near a child who recently had taken the Sabin

vaccine. But the tetanus vaccine exercised a hold on me for a much longer

time.

As you point out, I gave up belief in this vaccine in stages. For a while,

I still held onto the notion that farm families and people who work around

stables should continue to take tetanus shots. But in spite of my early

indoctrination with fear of " rusty nails, " in recent years, I have

developed a greater fear of the hypodermic needle. My reasons are:

1) Scientific evidence shows that toofrequent tetanus boosters actually

may interfere with the immune reaction.

2) There has been a gradual retreat of even the most conservative

authorities from giving tetanus boosters every one year to every two years

to every five years to every 10 years (as now recommended by the American

Academy of Pediatrics), and according to some, every 20 years. All these

numbers are based on guesses rather than on hard scientific evidence.

3) There has been a growing recognition that no controlled scientific study

(in which half the patients were given the vaccine and the other half were

given injections of sterile water) has ever been carried out to prove the

safety and effectiveness of the tetanus vaccine. Evidence for the vaccine

comes from epidemiologic studies which are by nature controversial and

which do not satisfy the criteria for scientific proof.

4) The tetanus vaccine over the decades has been progressively weakened in

order to reduce the considerable reaction (fever and swelling) it used to

cause. Accompanying this reduction in reactivity has been a concomitant

reduction in antigenicity (the ability to confer protection). Therefore,

there is a good chance that todays tetanus vaccine is about as effective

as tap water.

5) Until the last few years, government statistics admitted that 40 percent

of the child population of the U.S. was not immunized. For all those

decades, where were the tetanus cases from all those rusty nails?

6) There now exists a growing theoretical concern which links immunizations

to the huge increase in recent decades of autoimmune diseases, e.g.,

rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosus, lymphoma,

and leukemia. In one case, GuillainBarre paralysis from swine flu vaccine,

the relationship turned out to be more than just theoretical.

In preparing my courtroom testimony on behalf of a child who allegedly was

braindamaged as a result of the DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus)

vaccine, I reviewed the prescribing information (package insert) for the

Connaught Laboratories product which was administered to this child. The

1975 and.1977 package insert information which measured sevenandahalf

inches long listed three scientific references in support of the

indications, contraindications, warnings, cautions, and adverse reactions

to this vaccine. By 1978, the length of the insert had grown to 13 1/2

inches, and the number of scientific references had increased to 11. By

1980, the package insert was 18 inches long, and the references numbered

14. Of those newlyadded references, seven (three from U.S. medical

journals and four from foreign medical journals) dealt specifically with

reactions to the tetanus DPT portion of the (toxoid) vaccine.

An article in the Archives of Neurology (1972) described brachial plexus

neuropathy (which can lead to paralysis of the arm) prom tetanus toxoi Four

patients who received only tetanus toxoid noticed the onset of limb weak

ness from six to 21 days after the inoculation. A 1966 article published in

the Journal of the American Medical Association reports the first case of

" Peripheral Neuropathy .following Tetanus Toxoid Administration. " A

23year old white medical student received an injection of tetanus toxoid

into his rightupper arm after an abrasion of the right knee while playing

tennis. Several hours later, he developed a wrist drop of his right hand.

He later suffered from complete motor and sensory paralysis over the

distribution of the right radial nerve (one of the major nerves innervating

the arm and hand) One month later, no residual motor or sensory deficit

could be found.

Reference is made to an article in the Journal of Neurology, 1977, entitled

" Unusual Neurological Complication following Tetanus Toxoid

Administration. " The author reports a 36yearold female who received

tetatus toxoid in her left upper arm following a wound to her finger. Five

days later, she noticed a weakness first of the right, and then of the left

and later of both legs. She complained of dizziness, instability, lethargy,

chest discomfort, difficulty in swallowing, and inarticulate speech. S

staggered when she walked, and she could take only a few steps. Her EEG

showed some abnormalities. After a month, she was discharged without

neurologic disturbance, but she continued to feel weak and anxious.

Examinations during the next 11 months showed continued emotional

instability and some paresthesias (numbness and tingling) in the

extremities. The medical diagnosis was " a rapidly progressing neuropathy

with involvement of cranial nerves, myelopathy, and encephalopathy. "

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1973, carried an article

entitled " Hypersensitivity to Tetanus Toxoid, " and in a volume entitled

" Proceedings of the II International Conference on Tetanus " (published by

Hans Huber, Bern, Switzerland, 1967), an article appeared entitled

" Clinical Reactions to Tetanus Toxoid. "

A 44yearold article in the Journal of the American Medical Association

(1940) was entitled " Allergy Induced by Immunization with Tetanus Toxoid. "

That same year, an article in the British Medical Journal reported on

" Anaphylaxis (a form of shock) following Administration of Tetanus Toxoid. "

In 1969, a German medical journal reported a case of paralysis of the

recurrent laryngeal nerve (the nerve to the voicebox) after a booster

injection of tetanus toxoid. The patient developed hoarseness and was

unable to speak loudly, but the nerve paralysis subsided completely after

approximately two months.

Should your doctor reassure you that tetanus vaccine is completely safe, or

that " the benefits outweigh the risks, " or that you should have a shot

" just in case, " why not share these citations with him?

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Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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