Re: Vaccinations (was The connection between Epstein Barr Virus etc) [long]

[Guest guest]

In response to 's post, I've got some things to say.

First, I absolutely agree that when somebody is sick (a kid or an

adult) the best thing in the world is to REST and drink plenty of

fluids and let the body do it's miraculous work of healing. The immune

system, and all the other systems in the body, are complex, subtle,

amazing, and to a large extent still not understood by our best

scientists and researchers. Anyone who isn't impressed by how our

human bodies work just isn't paying attention, in my humble opinion.

For my thoughts on vaccinations (long), please scroll down past

's text.

>

> There is no reason to assume the antivirals will do any more to

help. Once you have EBV, you have it for a lifetime. It is a virus

that is in your body just like Tetenus, Polio, etc. Yes, you have

those in your body too if you recieved those vaccinations. Chickenpox

is another one and the vaccinations do not prevent the illness, so why

vaccinate and open the body up to a potential side effect. I feel we

as a society have been too caught up in trying to get what we want at

all costs and therefore we do not take the time to rest when sick and

thus we have debilitated our immune systems and thus we now have CF

illnesses.

>

> I know that when my kids get a flu or cold, I make them stay home

from school a day or two and REST. I make them drink lots of water and

I am a milk, juice (100%), or water kind of mom, not a soda/koolaid

mom. I know it has made a huge difference in them.

" The vaccinations do not prevent the illness. " Um, yes, in fact they

do. I'd be glad to do some research on the specifics if you need more

info on that.

" So why vaccinate and open the body up to a potential side effect? "

That's a perfectly reasonable question. Let me try to answer that.

Prior to around 1800, there was no such thing as vaccinations.

Diseases and epidemics came and went, and you either lived through

them or you didn't. If you lived through smallpox, you often carried

the scars (actual scars on your body) for the rest of your life.

Then in 1796, there was a change. An English doctor noticed that

patients who worked with cows, and had come down with cowpox, later

were immune to smallpox. Cowpox is a relatively mild illness, smallpox

is often fatal. Dr Jenner began purposely introducing bits from active

cowpox sores into healthy people. They reacted to the cowpox, and were

then safe from smallpox. The lesser illness gave immunity to the

greater illness. With people dying regularly from smallpox, this

seemed like a worthwhile tradeoff. And since cowpox was also known as

vaccinia, his treatment became known as " vaccination " .

Almost 100 years later in France, Louis Pasteur introduced the world's

first rabies vaccine. Rabies was a disease that was almost universally

fatal, resulting in a drawn-out and painful death. Pasteur managed to

treat the rabies virus so that it resulted in a weakened strain.

People who were innoculated with a weakened version of the live virus

developed immunity to rabies, and so didn't die when exposed to the

full form. Pasteur's rabies vaccine was introduced in July 1885.

In both these cases, the immunizations worked by stimulating the

body's immune system. Once exposed to something, the body remembers

it. Vaccines for other diseases followed: diphtheria (1923), whooping

cough (1926), measles (1963), rubella (1969), and polio (1958 and 1961).

We now live in a world where several generations have grown up out

from under the shadow of these diseases. I'm in my mid-fifties. When I

was very young, polio still crippled children. There was a little girl

in my neighborhood who was on braces and crutches because of polio.

There were articles and photos in magazines about children in " iron

lungs " , because polio had paralyzed the muscles used in breathing. I

remember when the polio vaccine became available and every schoolchild

in the U.S. received it (myself included), and given the alternative

it was a good idea. In earlier times, people went blind as a result of

measles. Children died of whooping cough. Around 1900, a little child

in my family was lost. A playmate had become ill with diptheria and

wouldn't eat, so they tempted him by feeding a spoonful to the sick

baby and a spoonful to my relative's child. The healthy child became

sick too, and then died. I can show you the grave in our family cemetary.

Although I was skeptical at first, I have come to agree with the idea

that the tiny amount of mercury used as a preservative in vaccines

caused harm in some children. I now fully support mercury-free

vaccines. I do NOT support the idea of no vaccinations.

No one wants themselves or their children exposed to harm, even if the

odds are very small. But the choice is not between a small risk -or-

good health, the choice is between a small risk -or- possibility of a

much larger one. As long as the majority of people get vaccinations,

the chance of an un-vaccinated child becoming ill with one of these

serious diseases is very small. However, the larger the pool of

un-vaccinated children, the higher the risk that one of these

diseases, perhaps accidentally encountered during a trip abroad, can

reappear. Whooping cough is on the rise again in some places. A little

girl in my neighborhood had it about 10 years ago, and trust me, this

is *not* an illness you'd wish on anybody. She survived it, but only

after several trips to the hospital emergency room, and a long recovery.

Now I apologize for the length of this rant. But I urge people who

disavow all vaccinations to study up on why they were introduced in

the first place. And for those who say we don't have to worry anymore

because those diseases aren't around now, that's not entirely true. I

wouldn't bet my kid's life on it. I realize that in cases of relative

risk (the risk of harm from the vaccine vs. the risk of harm from

disease) people may reach different decisions. But I hope that people

will at least make their decisions based on real information, and not

on hearsay. The internet is out there. Of course anything can be on

the internet, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. But if

you're reading this, you're already online, and you could look up some

history on these diseases.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Here's to healthy children, and

healthy adults too!

Marcia on

in Salem, Massachusetts

[Guest guest]

I needed to clarify this post, I was referring to the chickenpox vaccine only, I

realize there are several vaccinations that do PREVENT illnesses, but we have

gone way above and beyond on some viral things such as the chickenpox. The fact

is this vaccination, which was not issued until just about 15 years ago, is not

protecting our kids from the virus, only possibly diminishing its effects and in

my youngest daughters case, she still got the chicken pox three times, confirmed

by lab work of the zosters. I demanded that! I am really irriated by the

insistance of use of some of the vaccines because the FDA does not have a full

understanding of how they impact people. Particularly the more recent

vaccinations such as anthrax.

All of my children and myself and husband have had all the routine

vaccinations, DPT, OPV, MMR, HibV, but to vaccinate for chickenpox and know that

the vaccine is not guarenteed to last a lifetime is rediculous. Less than 100

people die per year from chickenpox, why don't we look at what is causing the

alarming rate of autism instead? Is there a link between the vaccination at

birth and the number of vaccinations given prior to age 2? is there a link to

the HepB vaccination or the chickenpox vaccination? My kids are 15 to 21 and

there are very few children with autism in their age group, but you look at the

children under age 10 and there are loads of children with autism - what is

different? vaccinations! Not the usual ones for tetunus and whooping cough,

but the ones for chickenpox and HepB. I fully support vaccinations because they

are preventative in nature, but come on if they are not effective or you have a

cluster of health issues arrising from that change in

schedule, then we really neeed to look at this further in how it is impacting

the population.

I can tell you from what I have read and learned through seminars that there

are a lot of gulf war veterans sick from 1990 to 1994 time frame. They got more

vaccinations and revaccinated than any group since Vietnam. That is a DoD fact.

Yes, they were exposed to chemicals and they were exposed to oil fires, but how

can you explain the same disease process in a sailor serving on a submarine who

the only identical criteria were the vaccinations? There are tons of questions

and no real answers because the fact of the matter is the government is quick to

jump the gun in providing vaccines and drugs to treat things before they have

the long term effects of such things. I speak from experience when I speak of

that, you see the military has been the primary group to be used as human guinea

pigs when it comes to those vaccinations and new drugs. I have a daughter with

learning disabilities because I took seldane while pregnant with her, guess

what? that drug is no longer on

the market for that reason and the fact that it destroyed the liver - I still

have to have that checked regularly. Motrin, or Ibuprofin, was marketed on us

first and then to the general public. Oh and we only got it in 800 mg! They

never gave it to us in any smaller doses. I can take 200mg and get the same

effect as 800mg, so why didn't they try smaller doses first and then increase?

only the federal governement can answer that question, but one thing is for

sure, they will not do so any time soon because they helped to make so many men

and women sick that I am afraid we will be bankrupt as a nation before it is all

over. Enough said on that.

I too can rant and am sorry if I offended anyone here, I just wanted to point

out that I do support vaccinations and did not write my point very well in my

first post. I feel strongly that we as Americans need to wise up and get on

with eating whole foods that are fresh and not processed. I also feel that we

need to put an end to the gotta have it now attitude and not punish our

employees for taking a sick day, rather applaud them for not bringing it to

work.

So, again, I apologize for anything offensive, that was not my intention,

rather I wanted to draw light to a recent observation made not only by me, but

by many. Oh and I just received my HepB vaccinations and I have had nothing but

muscle aches and stiffness since. I had my last one in January and this is

April. Why is that happening to me? I got the vaccination because I am a

healthcare worker and it is necessary. Makes me wonder!