Funny how I did a search today for, “delay vaccinations for preemies” and most of the information came from other blogs. A lot of moms out there are pushing this information along. Our site, Friend In Reach, even came up on the first page; how exciting for us but really sad too. Shouldn’t there be tons of information talking about delaying vaccines for preemies? Why would our site show up on the first page? We should be on page 159 or something.

I spoke to a lawyer the other day and shared some of my personal experiences with vaccines. He represents parents who have had children badly affected by vaccinations. I told him my triplets were put on the same vaccination schedule has a singleton would be. His first comment to me was, “I hope you found another pediatrician. Your babies should have been on a delayed schedule.” It seems to make common sense to me…now. My babies were just one month, adjusted age, old when they were hit with their first round of shots. Not only were they around 5 pounds each but their immune systems were not fully developed; as a singleton born full term is.

If this information seems to be common sense to so many other Moms and professionals who deal with these matters on a daily basis, then why isn’t there a lot of information available? This has started me on a quest to gather information. I found the below Question and Answer on Dr. Jay Gordon’s web site (he produced a DVD titled, "Vaccinations? Assessing the Risk and Benefits"):

Q. My preemie son has his four month appointment this month and I know I am going to meet resistance from the Pediatrician about wanting to postpone his vaccinations. Is there anything printed that I can take with me that supports the decision to delay beyond the schedule used in the US? I've been planning to vaccinate him on a modified schedule (two shots each time instead of four), leaving out the Varivax, Prevnar and the Hepatitis B.

A. All of the conventional medical literature says that preemies should be vaccinated on schedule and not adjusted for gestational age. I disagree because the immune system should be allowed to mature. If a doc believes in vaccines, why not get the "most bang for your buck?" That is, get the maximum antibody response and protection for each vaccine given. There is nothing written, that I know of, to support this.

Since I am in the research collection phase of this project, please send me any information you may have to support or dispute the theory of delaying vaccinations for preemies. I really want to get to the bottom of this. Check back frequently as I research and find interesting information, I will post my findings.

Take Care,
Alicia

About two weeks ago, I was sitting in my Holistic Doctor's office waiting for my daughter to start treatment. I know I have spoken about these treatments before, but I wanted to explain what prompted me to start them in the first place.

I believe I have found through research that my daughter's immune suppression started with the combination of the fertility drugs I used during IUI and IVF, cow's milk products when I started her on solid food at age one and vaccination overload. After my daughter's diagnosis of Hypogammaglobulinemia, I put a hold on vaccinations and milk products and started my daughter on NRT (Nutritional Response Therapy), goat's milk and organic food to help build her immunity back up. The conversation I was having at the Dr.'s office was with another mom who had brought her son in for treatment of Crohn's Disease. Traditional medical visits and prescriptions were not helping her son and she thought she would experiment with the Holistic route. She asked me about the reason for my daughter's visits and I told her what I thought. She questioned my point of view regarding vaccinations and I answered her honestly- having no idea she was a school administrator for the town I live in.

I went back and took a look at my kids' immunization records and found that they are only missing 2 vaccinations needed to start pre-school. I did not realize how many vaccinations my kids had already so I started to dig deeper into these vaccinations and see what I was having injected into them. If my children were to have more vaccinations it would compromise their already weakened Immune Systems which I have spent the last year building up. It is so against everything I believe in. I don't disregard the need for vaccinations, I just won't put my kids at risk to give them when the CDC or a Pediatrician says I have to. As we have all also mentioned in our past blogs, we have each had an issue with a vaccination or two- namely the live anti virus ones.

What is a "live virus" vaccine?
· A "live virus" vaccine is a vaccine that contains a "living" virus that is able to give and produce immunity, usually without causing illness.
· For most people with healthy immune systems, live virus vaccines are effective and safe. (In my daughter's case- a real problem!)
· Sometimes a person getting a live vaccine experiences mild symptoms associated with the virus in the vaccine.
· Other live virus vaccines used include measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox. (www.bt.cdc.gov)

Here are some key points I have found after digging into information on the vaccinations our kids are required to have before they start school:

Hepatitis B:
-Hepatitis B is not highly contagious, and is not easily communicable.
-The risk of a fatality from contracting Hepatitis B is approximately 1%.
-It is primarily an adult disease, and up until 1991 the vaccine was only recommended for high risk individuals.
-Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids, generally through sexual contact or IV drug use.
-Babies born to mother's who are not infected with Hepatitis B stand little to no chance of contracting the disease in their childhood years.
-The Hepatitis B vaccine has been concisely linked to autoimmune system failures and central nervous system disorders . There have also been documented reports of infant deaths following vaccination. The CDC estimates that about 1 in 10,000 people will experience a life threatening reaction to the vaccine.

Diphtheria:
-Diphtheria is a bacterial infection (treatable by antibiotics)
-In 1999 only one case of diphtheria was reported in the US.
-Side effects occur in at least 50% of children injected with the DTaP vaccine.
-More extreme side effects occur in approximately 1.5% of people vaccinated

Tetanus:
-Tetanus is not a disease passed from person to person. It is a toxin that is introduced into the body when a foreign object penetrates the skin, or the Tetanus toxin comes into direct contact with an open sore.
-About 30-60 cases of tetanus are reported in the United States each year, of those victims about 30% will die.
-Death generally occurs among victims older than 50 years of age, and those with compromised or weak immune symptoms.
-10 years for continued immunity.

Pertussis:
-Bacterial infection (treatable by antibiotics)
-Approximately ..005% of infected victims will die from the disease, and an estimated 46% of victims are adolescents or adults. There are less than 7,000 cases of pertussis reported annually. Haemophilus Influenzae type B (live virus vaccination):
-Haemophilus Influenzae type B, or HIB is a bacterial infection (treatable by antibiotics)
-Less than 200 cases of Haemophilus Influenzae type B are reported annually, and not all cases result in meningitis.
- The vaccine has been known to cause Haemophilus Influenzae type B in the patient shortly after vaccination. There is also speculation that the HIB vaccine is linked to a rise in diabetes.

Measles (live virus vaccination):
-Highly contagious airborne viral infection.
-For most healthy children and adults, the disease is fairly mild. Complications can arise from secondary infections, and those with compromised immune systems are generally the most at risk.
-Each year approximately 4,000 cases of measles are reported with a ..1-.3% (less than 1 percent) rate of fatality in children.
-The measles vaccination is usually given in combination with mumps and rubella in a combined MMR vaccine.
-There have also been recent studies that indicate there is a link between children who receive the MMR vaccine developing autism.

Mumps (live virus vaccination):
-Mumps is a viral infection spread via mucus expelled when an infected victim coughs or sneezes.
-There are about 600 cases of mumps annually, and that number is decreasing. There hasn't been a mumps related death since 1998.

Rubella (live virus vaccination):
-The most severe danger Rubella poses is to pregnant women and newborns.
-Infection is usually mild; prognosis is poor if the child is born with Rubella
-The last epidemic in the US was in 1962-1965 and 2,100 babies born already having the disease died.

Polio/DTaP (live virus vaccination):
Polio is a viral infection spread from person to person only in saliva or stool. Even in infected individuals, the vast majority (about 95%) will show no or very mild symptoms that can include fever, nausea, vomiting, soreness or stiffness in the neck, back or legs. Only about 1% of infected victims will develop paralysis. Many people who suffer from paralytic polio will fully recover. The last reported case of naturally occurring paralytic polio in the US was in 1979. In the last decade, the only case of polio to be reported was actually caused by the polio vaccine. Naturally occurring polio has been eliminated from the US, and the Western Hemisphere.

Varicella (live virus immunization):
-Usually a very mild childhood disease
-The Varicella vaccine is only 80-85% effective at preventing the disease and length of immunity is unknown since the vaccine is still relatively new Pneumococcal Disease (live virus vaccination): Pneumococcus is actually a generalized name for about 90 different strains of bacteria. Pneumococcus bacteria are responsible for a wide variety of infections such as meningitis, pneumonia, and ear infections. The severity of these infections is contingent on a wide variety of factors including the health of the victim, and how promptly medical attention is obtained for the infection. 40,000 deaths are attributed to Pneumococcus infections each year, the majority of which occur in the very young and the very old.

The most common Pneumococcus vaccine in use today was created to combat 23 of the 90 strains of Pneumococcus bacteria (23-valent vaccine), but can only be used in children 2 years old and older and adults. In 2000 a Pneumococcus vaccine for infants and toddlers was approved for use. It is effective against 7 of the 90 stains of Pneumococcus bacteria (7-valent vaccine). The 7-valent vaccine is given in 4 injections between 2 and 15 months of age. The 23-valent vaccine is given in one injection for patients 2 years old and older. The vaccines are only about 50-70% effective against the strains of bacteria they are designed to protect against, they provide 0% protection for other Pneumococcus bacteria. Side effects occur in about 50% of vaccine patients and include injection site soreness and swelling, fever, and an overall feeling of discomfort.

I see no reason to place my kids at risk by following this schedule. My twins have weakened Immune Systems and a number of these vaccinations can cause them severe harm. Being multiples, my children were born at 39 weeks which I know is terrific but it is still early. I feel that multiples and singletons born early should have a completely different vaccination schedule than normal gestation babies to protect their immune development. I cannot stress the importance of vaccination education and doing what you believe is right. I know there are a lot of parents out there that think I am a horrible mother because I have put a halt to my kids immunizations. I do not judge a parent that has stuck to the schedule and I would expect the same consideration. I have done what I think is right by my kids.

On that note- Happy Thanksgiving to all! I am grateful for the chance to share my thoughts on this blog!

Gina

On January 22nd at around 8:00 PM we arrived to our second hospital that day. My son had been struggling to breathe all day. At this time he was still not breathing normally but was given oxygen and he looked like he was ready to fall asleep. The nurse came in to take some blood. After the nurse finished, my son started panicking. I wasn’t sure what was going on but my 2 year old son had the strength of a full grown man. It was hard to hold him down.

It became painfully obvious that my son was not breathing in or out anymore. I tried to get him to look at me and I tried to comfort him but he looked right through me. My son has some of the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen and to not feel a connection while looking right at them was the most chilling experience I have ever had. It is impossible to explain the helplessness I felt at that very second. I wanted to breathe for him but mouth to mouth was not an option at this point. His airways were completely blocked.

The doctor rushed in and said he has carbon dioxide poisoning (from breathing his own recycled air it was poisoning his blood). He said they have to put him on a mechanical ventilator. Then, a nurse came in and gently grabbed my arm to take me to the waiting room. I agreed to leave the room but I would not go further than outside the door. No way was I able to “wait” down the hall. All of a sudden, a once deserted pediatric floor was full of people running to my son’s bed. It is a sight I NEVER want to see again.

They fought to save his life for over 2 hours. When my husband arrived he asked the doctor what I was unable to, “Is my son going to make it?” The doctor said, “It doesn’t look good.” Helping our son was out of our hands now. We had to put our son’s life in the hands of strangers. The only thing I could do at that point was pray. I was specific when I started praying, I asked for the right people to step into my son’s hospital room and save his life.

The doctor called for an ambulance to come and take him to a better equipped hospital. Over 2 hours later a team from Children’s Hospital arrived and although it seemed to take them forever, it was as if angels walked into my son’s room. One doctor from their team immediately took over. He started shaking my son’s chest (pretty violently too) and I later learned he was shaking the phlegm loose so he could suction it out.

It worked! Within 1/2 hour they were able to stabilize him. They had to temporarily paralyze him so by the time they let me walk over to him the only thing moving was his chest; as it was lifted and dropped by a mechanical ventilator. It was the first time he looked at peace all day long. No more chest caving in and struggling to breathe. The machine was doing all of the work as he slept.

He was far from being in the clear but for the first time all day I felt hopeful and relieved. Below is a picture of me and my son. I was finally able to hold him after they took him off of the ventilator and he was breathing on his own. I decided to share this picture because sometimes a picture can say what words cannot.

So why am I sharing such a personal story? My son has severe virus-induced asthma. This does NOT run in my family. I started looking for any explanations. I have come to learn that the DTaP vaccination has been linked to increasing a child’s chance of developing asthma. Researchers at the University of Manitoba conducted a study that suggest if you delay taking DTP (now DTaP) shots by two months you cut your chances of developing asthma by 50%. Your baby’s first DTaP shot is at 2 months; the study’s findings suggests you should delay the shot until your baby is 4 months.

My son is a triplet; he was given his first DTaP shot when he was 2 months old. What I know now that I did not know then is that I should have adjusted his age because he was born one month early. So, actually, he was given these shots at 1 month of age. My pediatrician should have known this. Why didn’t he suggest I wait? I’ll never know. Why I didn’t research vaccinations is something I try to forgive myself for all of the time.

His triplet sister #1 has intermediate virus-induced asthma and his triplet sister #2 is diagnosed with autism. All of these conditions are associated with the DTaP vaccine. The MMR shot gets most of the attention but I actually wonder if the DTaP shots are worse. None of my kids received their MMR shots yet. In case you are wondering about my kids' prior health: They were all born very healthy (they didn’t even have jaundice) and they were kicked out of the NICU and put in a typical nursery after initial testing.

Asthma is not the only concern I have come to worry about regarding the DTaP vaccine. The three primary doses of DTaP are given at two months, four months and six months. About 85% of all SIDS cases occur at one through six months, with the peak incidence at age two to four months. Scientists will probably have other explanations then what seems obvious; but call me skeptical.

A great book titled, “Healing our Childhood Epidemics / Autism, ADHA, Asthma and Allergies,” explains the increase in asthma diagnosis as being related to the toxins in our environment and in vaccinations. Without going too deep into it, your body has two types of helper T-cells (Th-1 & Th-2); that help activate your immune system. These two cells work together. If these cells are thrown off balance then your body’s immune system will malfunction.

It has been proven that heavy metals will skew the crucial balance between these two cells. The presence of toxins will create a person’s Th-2 cells to become more dominant. Kenneth Bock, M.D. and author of this book explains, “This skewing of immunity to Th-2 dominance makes it harder for people to fight off the viral, bacterial and fungal infections that lie within their cells.”

Mercury, lead and aluminum “overexcite the immune system, resulting in allergy, impaired immunity, and in autoimmunity, in which the immune system inadvertently attacks healthy tissues and organs,” says Dr. Bock.

The DTaP vaccine contains aluminum.

I am not suggesting you skip on vaccinating your kids. My suggestion is to delay when you can and separate shots. If you have preemie babies; delay, delay, delay and remember to adjust their age! Please learn from my mistakes.

If you purchase the book I mentioned above, they have a section in the back of the book with their suggested vaccination schedule. Wish I would have been told about this sooner. If you know of anyone pregnant or with infants, please pass this information on. Go ahead and test my research and do some digging around for yourself. Don’t worry; I won’t get my feelings hurt. I always encourage people to do their own research. But for me, it seems clear that the best option is to delay the shots you can.

I found an interesting organization called The National Vaccine Information Center at: http://www.nvic.org/. They were founded in 1982 and are the oldest and largest consumer organization advocating the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the mass vaccination system. Check them out sometime.

And for those pharmaceutical companies out there that say my son only falls into a small percentage of children developing asthma from vaccinations; that percentage doesn’t feel so small when your son stops breathing in your arms.

Always research,
Alicia