I was a believer in vaccines, had all the recommended shots when growing up, and vaccinated my kids as well. I came down with Covid early on, recovered easily, and decided that it would be pointless and risky to vaccinate myself after attaining natural immunity. After discovering the repeated lies about Covid vaccine safety and efficacy, I began to wonder, “What about all the other vaccines?” Not one tested against a clean saline placebo? WTF???
So happy you're writing about this - finally. Can't say the last few years have done much to enhance the medical profession's reputation, but maybe it will get cleaned up . . . maybe. Along the lines of Turtles All the Way Down, another good book is Dissolving Illusions - Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History, by Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk. That has a particularly interesting section on the history of the smallpox vaccine.
Excellent essay. I've been looking for something easily readable/understandable to give to friends who still assume our health industry and its government partners (CDC, FDA, NIH) have our best interests and health as their central concern. Most people make so many assumptions that on even a brief, closer look fall apart and prove to be false. I think you just gave me what I've been looking for. Thank you Heather!
This was my hope--that this piece could be shared with and by people who are not looking for confrontation, who are not certain of what all is true, but who are trying to figure out the best move for themselves and their families.
TJeanne, Do you think anything will change people's minds if they haven't been changed already? I have found that there is no great awakening and stopped evening bringing up things like this. I hope your friends are more open to information than some of mine.
I am finding the same problem. It seems to be that the world has bifurcated and that we now live in parallel universes. And I wonder if I have gone mad or they have, or both of us.
Seems on a weekly basis - like never before - I hear of an acquaintance who has had a family member die suddenly, a son wake up one morning with GBS, a super-fit and otherwise healthy nurse, mysteriously get struck down with acute kidney failure, a new heart complaint in a teenager, the recurrence of cancer that was in remission and on and on. No dots are ever joined.
And unlike when it was fine to demand to know one's vaccine status to enter McDonalds, now it's rude and unacceptable to bring up the vaccine status, the recent booster, none of that! It's hard to even start these conversations, much less make them count. How do we get back to us all just living in one reality?
Seems to me, it isn't by discourse in the public square. In Australia we're just about to bring in a fresh round of censorship for misinformation - which posits that even unintentionally misinforming people is a criminal act and will garner a fine.
@NATURALSELECTIONS @HeatherHeying perhaps this could be something to cover in a future blog... "According to the draft bill, misinformation is defined as unintentionally false, misleading or deceptive content."
I am no longer sure how to find a public square in order to get truth out, in any case. The only platform that doesn't censor seems to be Twitter, but I am starting to feel that comes with its own form of censorship. We are all siloed into our respective echo chambers by the algorithm, where we can shout our confirmation biases as much and as loudly as we like, surrounded by people that agree with us. But are we ever actually getting through to the other side - except for minor skirmishes and twitter spats that change nobody's mind? I don't think so. I think Twitter is the best of them for sure, but users block those they don't agree with and get syphoned off into our respective padded cells, filled with likeminded madmen who agree with what we say and would look you dead in the eye and tell you that those outside of our particular cell are 'mad, but they just don't know they're mad'.
It was TWENTY years ago that our daughter introduced us to the idea that there was something fishy going on in the world of childhood vaccines. After much research she and her husband chose for their own children some vaccines, rejected others, split some up (e.g. getting DPT and polio on two different visits, instead of at the same time), and delayed some (e.g. postponing chicken pox till adolescence, hoping the kids would catch the disease first (alas, they didn't). Seems like a reasonable approach to me.
Oddly enough, I never heard the term "anti-vaxxer" until much later. It appeared sometime before COVID, but presaged the bizarre public reaction all too common during the pandemic: "By not submitting your children to all the recommended vaccinations, YOU are endangering the life of MY child." That's when I started hearing about how evil the "anti-vaxxers" were, and why they should be forced into compliance.
Come to think of it, that's also when I first heard the fear narrative pushed into hyperdrive. Measles can indeed be a deadly disease for some people, particularly those who are malnourished and live in unhygienic conditions, but when I was a child it was just something that we all came down with, and we were happy enough to get a few days off from school because of it. I knew no child for whom measles was any particular problem, and no parents who feared the disease. Now it might as well be polio or smallpox, for all the panic a case of measles generates. And this in a population where most children have already been vaccinated against it.
President Roosevelt may not have been 100% correct when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," but I'm beginning to think that may be one of those ideas that's literally false but metaphorically true.
doesn't the whole 'your unvaxxed kids are endangering my vaxxed kids' thing seriously lack even basic logic. when I have heard people say that, I have asked them if they are admitting that the vax THEIR kids received don't work or what? otherwise, why worry about it? they're covered, right? great marketing tool though, right? mine only works if you got yours. head scratcher.
I totally agree with you for most people, but I can steelman the argument a bit for a few. The MMR vaccine is not generally given before 12 months (unless you're travelling internationally), and new mothers are understandably especially worried about their babies. Bear in mind that I am not a doctor, but as I understood it the baby is born with considerable protection from his mother's immune system, and that protection is continually refreshed through her breast milk. But for an infant who is not breast-fed, and for anyone whose immune system has been temporarily destroyed by cancer treatment, the argument is a little stronger.
Vaccination is always a trade-off, and those who have been convinced that it is 100% safe and effective compare the benefits to the risks and end up dividing by zero.
absolutely understand and appreciate your open minded, non zero sum argument; personal risk/benefit analysis is always the best approach. I am 1000% for personal choice for ALL medical decisions but I sure would like to see people getting accurate information in order to make a knowledgeable decision and that's not the case with vaccines, unfortunately.
from my perspective, having been in the community of vaccine injured for 15 years, the situation where the trade off is worth it, seems vanishingly tiny, since most of the diseases we vax against are highly treatable (or outright nonexistent), especially in the Western world.
between the potential negative effects on the immune system and the neurotoxic ingredients, I would 100% rather take my chances with the illness. situations of suppressed immune systems CAN be mitigated without toxic interventions.
there's quite a body of knowledge that suggests that the 'trade off' has been lowered infectious diseases and a massive increase in chronic diseases, especially among children.
the knowledge and tech to make a vaccinating agent WITHOUT all the nasty side effects probably exists but the financial incentive to do so is completely nonexistent.
the lack of liability on the part of the manufacturers and the religious-like dogma surrounding the whole topic makes it a non-starter for me. I will never consider ANY vaccine for me or my disabled son, in their current formulations. I have no reason to fear any contagious diseases. maybe that will change in the future but I highly doubt it.
I completely respect the decisions of others, just wish they were informed properly.
I’m not a scientist, nor have I read many studies, so get your salt shaker and and use it. When I was young, (birth year 1944) there were very, very few vaccines, certainly not against measles. In my day, measles was known to cause blindness and pneumonia. I was out of school for two months in the second grade, as I contracted German, Big Red, and three day measles one behind the other. I sat in a rocking chair in a darkened room for the better part of that time. I have also learned that healthy babies developed drastic developmental delays following the MMR’s given a generation later. So what’s the answer? It’s really complicated.
When my kids were young and I learned a neighbor’s kids had chicken pox, I called immediately and invited myself over... I am in my late 50s and in my age this was easy and non-controversial. My kids got a few pox and nothing more, much less intrusive than a needle!
That’s heartening to hear your daughter was able to make some informed decisions on vaccine inclusion and timing. My wife and I are about to start trying for our first kid. While i have been pretty certain about not wanting to subject my future children to MRNA vaccines, the current conversation (and the startling fact that no-one seems willing to debate rfk on any of his assertions) has me curious about the most reasoned approach to childhood vaccination.
Does anyone know of an available single resource laying out potential risks of the various vaccines on the childhood schedule, and some suggestions for how to approach timing, which to leave out entirely, etc.?
There’s a book written by a pediatrician named Dr Robert Sears. He provided a detailed discussion of each vaccine, risks and benefits, with lots of citations so you can make your own informed decisions. He also suggested an alternative schedule of essential vaccines with better safety record. (Pardon my English I’m not native speaker.)
Dr Paul Thomas also. he did an amazing study of the vax/unvaxxed in his own huge ped practice. of course it ultimately got his license yanked but the data speaks for itself.
Eesh...sadly I am 'super vaccinated' (pre mrna) with some exotic stuff even. I have to say my trust level has hit negative territory on the vaccine schedule. The more you dig the more you realize your basic assumptions need serious updating. I think we need to bring the conversation back to proving reward before we even evaluate mitigating risk strategies.
Covid really opened my eyes to our blind allegiance to all things our medical industrial complex tells us. I was also a big believer in vaccines and many of the pharmaceuticals that are out there today. I was alarmed to learn just how lax the RCT protocols are across the board, how intertwined our alphabet medical oversight agencies are with the pharmaceutical industry and trust no one in any of these agencies anymore. I saved a graphic that Jessica Rose posted in one of her articles that shows the current childhood vaccine schedule. I was shocked when I saw it, and even more shocked when I compared my 28 year old son's vaccine record to it, and even more alarmed comparing his vaccine record to his 40 year old brothers. RFK, Jr. is correct - it is no wonder that our society is becoming sicker, not healthier, and that the incidence of autism has exploded. Something is causing this; I would think society would want to get to the bottom of what that cause is.
I have three sons. one is about to turn 30. the middle one just turned 19 (he has autism) and the youngest is 17. when the middle one was dx with autism and I started talking to other parents (ie red pilled), I took out the vax records of all three & compared them. my youngest (born in 2005) got MORE vax by 12 months of age than his older brother (born in 1993) received in his entire childhood. I was done. they never got another one. they also never have had any diseases, rarely even catch colds. the idea that health is delivered at the end of a syringe full of pathogens and gunk, and EVERY child needs EVERY ONE of them, lacks common sense.
Heather, I am SO happy you and Bret are championing the truth about vaccine safety, and standing up for RFK Jr.. I remember listening to DarkHorse when you first began talking about the Covid "vaccines" in the winter of 20/21, hearing you posing logical, skeptical questions about the data and claims as the rollout was starting and taking pains to say you weren't "anti-vaxxers," that you were "pro" traditional vaccines. I knew from months of listening to you, though, that if ever you had cause to delve into the topic of childhood vaccine safety "science" you would very quickly see it for what it is, and I so hoped and prayed that day would come. And here we are. {{happy dance!}}
If there's a silver lining to the pandemic, it's the hubristic overreach of the Establishment's response since it woke up so many people to the corporate capture and fraud Pharma's gotten away with for decades. People are discovering that "safe and effective" is a marketing slogan, not a scientific fact. A corrupt lie, actually.
I am just deeply grateful we are finally, FINALLY at this moment.
One huge red flag about the Covid vax for me was that they kept insisting that people who had Covid and recovered should still get it. My husband grew up in England in the 60s and 70s. He actually had measles, mumps and rubella. Probably the last group of kids to get them. Not one doctor has ever, even once, told him he should get the MMR vax. It's absolutely shocking to now learn that so little testing has been done on all this stuff we put in our bodies and our kids' bodies.
I, too, had most of what were then called "the childhood diseases," and wish our children could have also had the advantage of natural immunity. When I went to work for a university medical center, back in the 70's, it was a condition of employment for women of childbearing age to get a titre for rubella. My natural immunity was still in great shape, better, I'm sure, than if I'd only had the vaccine.
Not that I'm against vaccines, in theory. After all, I will be in better shape than most Americans should we be hit with a smallpox or a yellow fever epidemic!
I am 79,had every kind of measles infection that spread around, endemically. It caused a lot of illness, some serious complications, and even deaths. The world was madly happy when the vaccine was available, for good reason. That being said, as I navigated school and work, I repeatedly had to have titers drawn to prove immunity, or re-take the MMR, even far into adulthood. At age 40, I applied at Florida State University to matriculate for a BSN. I was already a public health nurse,thoroughly vaccinated, and old enough to have natural immunity. The registrar’s office literally would not let me cross the threshold without proof of immunization with the MMR vaccine. I’m rambling, but vaccine “passports” to participate in society have been in effect all,of my life, but not as pervasively for adults and children as with Covid.
You'd have been as well to write off to a diploma mill. An "educational establishment" with no evident critical thinking and obvious evidence of not understanding the science or medicine they are teaching has no standing and would be of no more discernible use than a chocolate fireguard. Less: you could eat the fireguard.
The Associates Degree in Nursing I attended was the second class at my school in 1965. We were educated, trained, challenged, and came away with a knowledge base of which I was proud, and competent, and served me (and my patients) well. It was far from a diploma mill. Our instructors were seasoned veterans of nursing, some academics, some clinicians, and provided a balance that allowed us to thrive and function. I am not one bit ashamed that I did not have a posh Ivy League education.
The attractions of vaccines include them being a cleansing ritual, administered by a priestly class, to set oneself apart from the great unwashed masses. See the video compilation of the recent shunning of the unvaccinated: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1657021799652024324 .
Many or most people who accept influenza vaccination each year presumably do it in large part to reduce the risk of serious illness, as would require hospitalisation. Yet perfectly solid research, by Anderson et al. 2020: "The Effect of Influenza Vaccination for the Elderly on Hospitalization and Mortality - An Observational Study With a Regression Discontinuity Design", Annals of Internal Medicine, 2020-04-07 https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/abs/10.7326/M19-3075 (paywalled, but see http://sci-hub.se/10.7326/M19-3075), shows that for 66 year olds in the UK, whose rate of flu vaccination rises to 57% from 27% at age 64, there is no change in the trend line of hospitalisation or death rates for influenza or other respiratory diseases. Please see:
Overall, vaccines are over-hyped and overrated. I imagine that some are very beneficial, but I no longer take consensus or the opinions of experts at face value. I would need to research any such vaccine very carefully before I formed a solid opinion about it.
Without proper vitamin D3 supplementation - such as for 70 kg bodyweight without obesity, 0.125 mg (5000 IU) a day - most people do not attain the 125 nmol/L 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (as measured in "vitamin D" blood tests) they need for their immune system to work properly.
There is very little vitamin D in food, fortified or not, and the UV-B which can generate it in white skin is only naturally available from high elevation sunlight in summer, without glass, clothing or sunscreen in the way. Such UV-B always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer.
Most people only have 1/10 to 1/2 of the 25-hydroxyvitamin D they need. If everyone had 125 nmol/L 50 ng/mL or more, there would be no pandemic transmission of flu or COVID-19, very few deaths from these, and far less sepsis, which kills 11 million people a year: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32989-7 .
2014 research from Massachusetts General Hospital shows the rate of post-operative infections rising drastically from 2.5% for both hospital-acquired infections and for surgical site infections when the pre-operative 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is 50 ng/mL or more, the further this level is below 50 ng/mL. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/1782085 Mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels around 20 ng/mL - which is normal for people in most non-equatorial countries, who do not supplement vitamin D3 properly and who have not had significant recent UV-B skin exposure - raise the risk of postoperative infection a factor of 10 to 25%, again for each of hospital-acquired infections and surgical site infections.
Without sufficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D, many types of immune cell cannot properly run their intracrine (inside each cell) and paracrine (to nearby cells) signaling systems. These are unrelated to hormonal signaling. They enable each cell to respond to its changing circumstances.
The COVID-19 so-called vaccines (the Novavax one is a vaccine) would not be necessary if everyone had at least 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This would greatly reduce severity and death for those infected by SARS-CoV-2 and, more importantly, reduce average levels of viral shedding to the point well below that required for pandemic transmission. So many fewer people would be infected.
To many people, especially doctors, this sounds too simple to be true. However the research is very clear.
Please do keep banging the drum! Inadequate 25-hydroxyvitamin D has been a problem for a growing fraction of humanity since Africans migrated to Northern Europe, very approximately 50,000 years ago.
Many people dismiss the notion without much thought. It looks too simple to be true. People are also wary about over-hyped supplements. However, such people will generally look into the matter with genuine interest once they find the same concerns being expressed by three or more separate sources, especially by those who are not primarily concerned with the issue at hand.
The same is surely true of concerns about vaccines. Many or most people start off wanting to believe that adults and children can be injected with something which resembles magic - a genuinely safe and effective substance which prompts our immune system to erect an impenetrable barrier against a pathogen which would otherwise harm or kill us.
The truth is more complex. This naive desire for magic potions has been exploited by vaccinologists and their immensely profitable industry, including via corrupted regulatory bodies, along with many people's equally naive desire that all these well-paid experts are working assiduously - and even heroically (many people love magic, drama, sacrifice, the hero's journey) - to protect our health, rather than to ensure their lab gets more research funding or their company makes more profit.
Generally, the public has excessive faith in anything called a "vaccine". This is obvious from the fact that the mRNA and adenovirus vector COVID-19 injections (Novavax is a true vaccine) are not vaccines by any prior definition, but are still widely referred to as such. Never before has there been a mass deployment of injections which program our cells to generate (toxic) replicas of viral spike proteins on their surfaces (potentially any cell in our body, except those such as blood cells which lack ribosomes) for the express purpose of giving the immune system target practice by developing antibodies which attach to the spike proteins and so mark the cells for destruction by macrophages.
Even people do are not familiar with the term "randomized controlled trial" have a perfectly reasonable expectation that the safety and effectiveness of new drugs, vaccines and other medical interventions is researched, in part, by a trial which compares the intervention with no intervention at all.
With vaccines, turns out to be a naively wrong assumption, despite the statements by experts that such research is in fact done. Aaron Siri reports on an exchange with Dr Paul Offit on the question of placebos in the testing of vaccines for children: https://aaronsiri.substack.com/p/what-the-casual-cruelty-of-dr-paul .
Today there is a new release of data concerning pharma companies, including those in China and Russia, paying patent royalties to NIH scientists for inventions they made while working for the US government. On one level this seems reasonable, but it is arguably a corrupting influence on those scientists and the agencies they work for, since these personally received royalties depend on the company's profitability. Adam Andrzejewski from the OpenTheBooks Substack reports on the still not complete information on these payments which had to be prized out of the United States Government: https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/anthony-fauci-defended-nih-culture .
Heather, listening to you on the recent Darkhorse podcast as you integrated what you learned from RFK Jr. about childhood vaccines brought tears of awe, respect and deep kinship to my eyes. Your pure, ascendant willingness to know truth and to require integrity of yourself *even* while simultaneously experiencing painful disappointment along with the heart-pressure of decisions you’ve made that you now question, well, I felt witness to the fullest, absolute pinnacle expression of the human mind's blueprint capacity to know, to release and re-establish, to soar—truly.
Heather, thanks for your article and especially your inclusion of RFKJr’s much maligned opinions re: vax. Bret had Vivek Ramaswamy on Dark Horse. I’d love to see either of those guys in the White House. We are in desperate need of someone willing to speak truthfully and think hard about things and be open to changing one’s mind. I’m registered with one party but would happily vote for the other.
I’m fortunate to be registered with neither, have been disgruntled with the duopoly for a long time, now. I think an RFK & Vivek combo also sounds excellent, but the forces that be will attack relentlessly from the standard playbook of course
I must admit that I was absolutely stunned when Heather read out those vaccine package inserts on Dark Horse where the manufacturers admitted that their products had not been tested against a placebo. Silly me to think that would be the first and most important test: does the treatment actually work? As the childhood vaccinations required to enter school proliferate, it would be nice to think that those vaccinations had been tested for efficacy. Nice, but incorrect. When bureaucratic capture by Big Pharma is added to their complete immunity from liability, it is not obvious that there is ANY incentive to produce a product that does anyone any good. There is a saying "to find out who your real rulers are, look at who you are not allowed to criticize" That would indicate capture of the media as well as government. I am not completely convinced of RFK Jr's sincerity in attacking Big Pharma. But Big Pharma's attacks on him are very telling.
They are tested against placebo to show effectiveness too. But all you need to show effectiveness is something where you have a reasonable/strong case that the control is not going to have an effect, or that you are very sure you know what the effect is (and your study is powered sufficiently to show that the new thing is better). Obviously, a true placebo (eg saline) is better for effectiveness testing too, because it will neither hide effectiveness now enhance it by itself being noxious in ways that can be mistaken for / attributed to the thing you are trying to treat.
However, on the safety front, the issue of hiding harm of the treatment by having a harmful control is a bigger issue, because one should consider all possible harms, which means in theory all bad outcomes in treatment arm that occur more often than in the placebo arm should be attibuted to the treatement. There should not be the option of "explaining them away" as unrelated, because side effects / adverse events can be very varied as they _ought_ to be largely unexpected and / or with no known mechanism. If you expected them or know the mechanism, then right from the start you admit your new drug has safety problems...
Thank you Heather for tackling this subject head on. As a mother of a toddler and a baby, the topic of vaccines has plagued my mind for the better part of 3 years now. My eldest received all the "trad vaxxes" in her first yer per my Canadian province's schedule, despite myself being admittedly skeptical at the time (is it really necessary to jab literal babies a dozen plus times over the course of 2 years?). I do not have a background in science, but have always felt myself to be a critical thinker and not one to accept things told to me at face value.
Our family dr repeated the "safe and effective mantra" as reassurance yet never provided any objective resources regarding safety. With that being said, I had assumed that "safe" meant that they had been tested against true placebos at the very least, and I thought I was being a good mom by doing the best that I could to protect my daughter from becoming severely sick from diseases.
However, over the course of her first year, my daughter did not fare easily with the rounds of vaccines we got for her - when receiving her first oral rotavirus dose at 2mo, she had horrible diarrhea for 2 weeks post vaccination and started inconsolably crying for hours every day. I then also became sick myself as a result. When I reached out to our family dr and explained what we were experiencing, my concerns were brushed aside and was again told that the vaccines were "safe" and that it was impossible I myself could get sick from my daughter having received the rotavirus vax (this is a live virus vaccine administered orally, so I did not believe him when he said this to me).
Based on my mother's instinct, I refused the subsequent rotavirus doses for her (in spite of my dr's insistence on following the schedule for my daughter's "best interest"), but continued with all of the other "trad vaxxes". But every other month when bringing her in for her jabs, we would cycle through weeks of her becoming exceedingly fussy/a lot of crying and increasingly horrible sleep (accompanied by inhibited crawling after her 8mo doses, the dr jabbed her poorly and she couldn't fully extend her one leg for half a month afterwards), that would start to taper off for a week or so until we would bring her in again for the next round.
After her 1yr doses I couldn't bring myself to continue and so stopped partway through the schedule. My youngest is still a baby in her first year, and I will let you guess the decision I've made for her up to this point.
please know you are not alone. trust your heart and your instincts as a mother. healthy children generally are not at risk of ANY of these diseases. just be proactive with your children's health. doctor's are compensated for pushing the jabs, usually on a percentage of patients jabbed type scheme. they are not taught anything but the 'safe and effective' mantra and how to guilt trip & fear monger reluctant parents.
Heather, listening to your red-pill moment on Darkhorse gave me the biggest boost of Hope (with an uppercase H) that I can remember in the longest time. real scientific reasoning is not dead. whew.
on the level of personal karma, the podcast took place on the 19th birthday of my son with autism. I know you said you 'don't wanna go there' but that's okay. putting your big toe in the water is a fantastic first step. its a terrible thing to admit you've been lied to and bought the lie. its a lot to digest; that red pill is a big 'in. take your time.
neurodevelopmental disorders are highly multifactorial; the onion has a lot of layers. vaccine injury is only one potential facet. (sorry for the mixed metaphor ;) )
lack of placebo-controlled safety trials is something that we in the 'community' have know for a few decades now. its old news to us. incidentally, while you're at it, have a gander at the HPV jab. it was tested against its aluminum-based adjuvant. seizures in BOTH arms of the trial, we're good to go! did you know that the print ads for the jab actually stated: 'your doctor may ask you to lie down while receiving the injection, as fainting and shaking may occur'. uh helllloooo, did they not just describe a seizure?! stunning CYA there.
well, Merck had to recoup the Vioxx loses, don't ya know. perfect timing coming out with THAT one!
I truly enjoy listening to you and Bret; your intellect and banter are such a breath of fresh air. your righteous indignation sometimes elicits fist-pumps from me in the middle of my work day. Ah SANITY... people who are sane and still have critical thinking skills. I can actually exhale sometimes.
but honey, on THIS topic, you have barely scratched the surface. can't wait to experience your journey down this rabbit warren (as you so correctly call it :) )
but no hurry. take your time. us warrior moms (its what we've called each other for many years) are patient.
Thank you for this piece! I read Turtles All the Way Down and was really hoping you and Brett might weigh in on it. A question that came to my mind when reading it was to wonder if this material actually refutes the hygiene hypothesis? The book discusses it in the polio section, but it led me to question if asthma and allergies are on the rise because they are actually vaccine side effects, rather than because we are truly eliminating all the microbes from our lives.
I have just started "Turtles all the way Down" and haven't gotten to the section on Polio yet, so I can't comment on that. I am a firm believer in the Hygiene Hypothesis. I retired from the school board where I was in every school in the district on a regular basis. Exposed to everything, only really aggressive microbial URD's ever hit me. I also grew up stomping woods and cow pastures. Got chickenpox and measles as a kid, got shingles in my 60's which responded very favorably to the Zostavax. I'm pretty sure that I was infected with SV40 by the "sugar cube" OPV. I may have had a neurological issue resulting from that, but too much time has passed for me to be sure. I make a point to get exposed to everything contagious that I encounter. I am one of the very few 70yo or older people that I know who isn't on medication for hypertension, diabetes or some other disease of age.
Here is another one-I'm not on any medication for anything and I'm 72. My father used to tell us to play in the dirt, that it was good for us and we sure did. I wonder, now, though about dirt in a city back yard-too many weird chemicals. I think we over 70's have a huge responsibility. We are the last generation in USA that has real natural immunity to myriad diseases and didn't suffer from chronic disease, autism, and obesity that plagues our children and really all the generations following ours. I have seen pictures of us in the 70s on the beach-and was reminding-none of us were obese let alone just overweight. My sadness in relation to all of this is so huge. This realization of our special responsibility makes me so grateful to RFKjr-who is speaking out about what has happened to the health of Americans. And it makes me beyond angry at both Biden and Trump for so haughtily acting from the position of being older and having escaped so much of the vaccination, pollution, and numerous harms we now wish on our children and even mandate.
I was a believer in vaccines, had all the recommended shots when growing up, and vaccinated my kids as well. I came down with Covid early on, recovered easily, and decided that it would be pointless and risky to vaccinate myself after attaining natural immunity. After discovering the repeated lies about Covid vaccine safety and efficacy, I began to wonder, “What about all the other vaccines?” Not one tested against a clean saline placebo? WTF???
It is truly stunning.
Same
So happy you're writing about this - finally. Can't say the last few years have done much to enhance the medical profession's reputation, but maybe it will get cleaned up . . . maybe. Along the lines of Turtles All the Way Down, another good book is Dissolving Illusions - Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History, by Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk. That has a particularly interesting section on the history of the smallpox vaccine.
Thanks, as always, for all you two do!
Excellent essay. I've been looking for something easily readable/understandable to give to friends who still assume our health industry and its government partners (CDC, FDA, NIH) have our best interests and health as their central concern. Most people make so many assumptions that on even a brief, closer look fall apart and prove to be false. I think you just gave me what I've been looking for. Thank you Heather!
This was my hope--that this piece could be shared with and by people who are not looking for confrontation, who are not certain of what all is true, but who are trying to figure out the best move for themselves and their families.
TJeanne, Do you think anything will change people's minds if they haven't been changed already? I have found that there is no great awakening and stopped evening bringing up things like this. I hope your friends are more open to information than some of mine.
I am finding the same problem. It seems to be that the world has bifurcated and that we now live in parallel universes. And I wonder if I have gone mad or they have, or both of us.
Seems on a weekly basis - like never before - I hear of an acquaintance who has had a family member die suddenly, a son wake up one morning with GBS, a super-fit and otherwise healthy nurse, mysteriously get struck down with acute kidney failure, a new heart complaint in a teenager, the recurrence of cancer that was in remission and on and on. No dots are ever joined.
And unlike when it was fine to demand to know one's vaccine status to enter McDonalds, now it's rude and unacceptable to bring up the vaccine status, the recent booster, none of that! It's hard to even start these conversations, much less make them count. How do we get back to us all just living in one reality?
Seems to me, it isn't by discourse in the public square. In Australia we're just about to bring in a fresh round of censorship for misinformation - which posits that even unintentionally misinforming people is a criminal act and will garner a fine.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-25/fines-to-punish-online-misinformation-under-new-draft-bill/102521500?fbclid=IwAR2QqWJ1u3YMLLilatNDI5JqXW-vb6wvNx3DsiELWYGGKpJVGndyfXsEl4k
@NATURALSELECTIONS @HeatherHeying perhaps this could be something to cover in a future blog... "According to the draft bill, misinformation is defined as unintentionally false, misleading or deceptive content."
I am no longer sure how to find a public square in order to get truth out, in any case. The only platform that doesn't censor seems to be Twitter, but I am starting to feel that comes with its own form of censorship. We are all siloed into our respective echo chambers by the algorithm, where we can shout our confirmation biases as much and as loudly as we like, surrounded by people that agree with us. But are we ever actually getting through to the other side - except for minor skirmishes and twitter spats that change nobody's mind? I don't think so. I think Twitter is the best of them for sure, but users block those they don't agree with and get syphoned off into our respective padded cells, filled with likeminded madmen who agree with what we say and would look you dead in the eye and tell you that those outside of our particular cell are 'mad, but they just don't know they're mad'.
sadly agree.
It was TWENTY years ago that our daughter introduced us to the idea that there was something fishy going on in the world of childhood vaccines. After much research she and her husband chose for their own children some vaccines, rejected others, split some up (e.g. getting DPT and polio on two different visits, instead of at the same time), and delayed some (e.g. postponing chicken pox till adolescence, hoping the kids would catch the disease first (alas, they didn't). Seems like a reasonable approach to me.
Oddly enough, I never heard the term "anti-vaxxer" until much later. It appeared sometime before COVID, but presaged the bizarre public reaction all too common during the pandemic: "By not submitting your children to all the recommended vaccinations, YOU are endangering the life of MY child." That's when I started hearing about how evil the "anti-vaxxers" were, and why they should be forced into compliance.
Come to think of it, that's also when I first heard the fear narrative pushed into hyperdrive. Measles can indeed be a deadly disease for some people, particularly those who are malnourished and live in unhygienic conditions, but when I was a child it was just something that we all came down with, and we were happy enough to get a few days off from school because of it. I knew no child for whom measles was any particular problem, and no parents who feared the disease. Now it might as well be polio or smallpox, for all the panic a case of measles generates. And this in a population where most children have already been vaccinated against it.
President Roosevelt may not have been 100% correct when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," but I'm beginning to think that may be one of those ideas that's literally false but metaphorically true.
doesn't the whole 'your unvaxxed kids are endangering my vaxxed kids' thing seriously lack even basic logic. when I have heard people say that, I have asked them if they are admitting that the vax THEIR kids received don't work or what? otherwise, why worry about it? they're covered, right? great marketing tool though, right? mine only works if you got yours. head scratcher.
I totally agree with you for most people, but I can steelman the argument a bit for a few. The MMR vaccine is not generally given before 12 months (unless you're travelling internationally), and new mothers are understandably especially worried about their babies. Bear in mind that I am not a doctor, but as I understood it the baby is born with considerable protection from his mother's immune system, and that protection is continually refreshed through her breast milk. But for an infant who is not breast-fed, and for anyone whose immune system has been temporarily destroyed by cancer treatment, the argument is a little stronger.
Vaccination is always a trade-off, and those who have been convinced that it is 100% safe and effective compare the benefits to the risks and end up dividing by zero.
absolutely understand and appreciate your open minded, non zero sum argument; personal risk/benefit analysis is always the best approach. I am 1000% for personal choice for ALL medical decisions but I sure would like to see people getting accurate information in order to make a knowledgeable decision and that's not the case with vaccines, unfortunately.
from my perspective, having been in the community of vaccine injured for 15 years, the situation where the trade off is worth it, seems vanishingly tiny, since most of the diseases we vax against are highly treatable (or outright nonexistent), especially in the Western world.
between the potential negative effects on the immune system and the neurotoxic ingredients, I would 100% rather take my chances with the illness. situations of suppressed immune systems CAN be mitigated without toxic interventions.
there's quite a body of knowledge that suggests that the 'trade off' has been lowered infectious diseases and a massive increase in chronic diseases, especially among children.
the knowledge and tech to make a vaccinating agent WITHOUT all the nasty side effects probably exists but the financial incentive to do so is completely nonexistent.
the lack of liability on the part of the manufacturers and the religious-like dogma surrounding the whole topic makes it a non-starter for me. I will never consider ANY vaccine for me or my disabled son, in their current formulations. I have no reason to fear any contagious diseases. maybe that will change in the future but I highly doubt it.
I completely respect the decisions of others, just wish they were informed properly.
I’m not a scientist, nor have I read many studies, so get your salt shaker and and use it. When I was young, (birth year 1944) there were very, very few vaccines, certainly not against measles. In my day, measles was known to cause blindness and pneumonia. I was out of school for two months in the second grade, as I contracted German, Big Red, and three day measles one behind the other. I sat in a rocking chair in a darkened room for the better part of that time. I have also learned that healthy babies developed drastic developmental delays following the MMR’s given a generation later. So what’s the answer? It’s really complicated.
When my kids were young and I learned a neighbor’s kids had chicken pox, I called immediately and invited myself over... I am in my late 50s and in my age this was easy and non-controversial. My kids got a few pox and nothing more, much less intrusive than a needle!
That’s heartening to hear your daughter was able to make some informed decisions on vaccine inclusion and timing. My wife and I are about to start trying for our first kid. While i have been pretty certain about not wanting to subject my future children to MRNA vaccines, the current conversation (and the startling fact that no-one seems willing to debate rfk on any of his assertions) has me curious about the most reasoned approach to childhood vaccination.
Does anyone know of an available single resource laying out potential risks of the various vaccines on the childhood schedule, and some suggestions for how to approach timing, which to leave out entirely, etc.?
There’s a book written by a pediatrician named Dr Robert Sears. He provided a detailed discussion of each vaccine, risks and benefits, with lots of citations so you can make your own informed decisions. He also suggested an alternative schedule of essential vaccines with better safety record. (Pardon my English I’m not native speaker.)
Dr Paul Thomas also. he did an amazing study of the vax/unvaxxed in his own huge ped practice. of course it ultimately got his license yanked but the data speaks for itself.
The Vaccine Book, Robert Sears, MD
AND
The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, Paul Thomas, MD and Jennifer Margulis, PhD
Eesh...sadly I am 'super vaccinated' (pre mrna) with some exotic stuff even. I have to say my trust level has hit negative territory on the vaccine schedule. The more you dig the more you realize your basic assumptions need serious updating. I think we need to bring the conversation back to proving reward before we even evaluate mitigating risk strategies.
Covid really opened my eyes to our blind allegiance to all things our medical industrial complex tells us. I was also a big believer in vaccines and many of the pharmaceuticals that are out there today. I was alarmed to learn just how lax the RCT protocols are across the board, how intertwined our alphabet medical oversight agencies are with the pharmaceutical industry and trust no one in any of these agencies anymore. I saved a graphic that Jessica Rose posted in one of her articles that shows the current childhood vaccine schedule. I was shocked when I saw it, and even more shocked when I compared my 28 year old son's vaccine record to it, and even more alarmed comparing his vaccine record to his 40 year old brothers. RFK, Jr. is correct - it is no wonder that our society is becoming sicker, not healthier, and that the incidence of autism has exploded. Something is causing this; I would think society would want to get to the bottom of what that cause is.
I have three sons. one is about to turn 30. the middle one just turned 19 (he has autism) and the youngest is 17. when the middle one was dx with autism and I started talking to other parents (ie red pilled), I took out the vax records of all three & compared them. my youngest (born in 2005) got MORE vax by 12 months of age than his older brother (born in 1993) received in his entire childhood. I was done. they never got another one. they also never have had any diseases, rarely even catch colds. the idea that health is delivered at the end of a syringe full of pathogens and gunk, and EVERY child needs EVERY ONE of them, lacks common sense.
Heather, I am SO happy you and Bret are championing the truth about vaccine safety, and standing up for RFK Jr.. I remember listening to DarkHorse when you first began talking about the Covid "vaccines" in the winter of 20/21, hearing you posing logical, skeptical questions about the data and claims as the rollout was starting and taking pains to say you weren't "anti-vaxxers," that you were "pro" traditional vaccines. I knew from months of listening to you, though, that if ever you had cause to delve into the topic of childhood vaccine safety "science" you would very quickly see it for what it is, and I so hoped and prayed that day would come. And here we are. {{happy dance!}}
If there's a silver lining to the pandemic, it's the hubristic overreach of the Establishment's response since it woke up so many people to the corporate capture and fraud Pharma's gotten away with for decades. People are discovering that "safe and effective" is a marketing slogan, not a scientific fact. A corrupt lie, actually.
I am just deeply grateful we are finally, FINALLY at this moment.
May be the only positive result of the plan-demic. Let us hope enough of our fellows learn the correct lesson.
One huge red flag about the Covid vax for me was that they kept insisting that people who had Covid and recovered should still get it. My husband grew up in England in the 60s and 70s. He actually had measles, mumps and rubella. Probably the last group of kids to get them. Not one doctor has ever, even once, told him he should get the MMR vax. It's absolutely shocking to now learn that so little testing has been done on all this stuff we put in our bodies and our kids' bodies.
I, too, had most of what were then called "the childhood diseases," and wish our children could have also had the advantage of natural immunity. When I went to work for a university medical center, back in the 70's, it was a condition of employment for women of childbearing age to get a titre for rubella. My natural immunity was still in great shape, better, I'm sure, than if I'd only had the vaccine.
Not that I'm against vaccines, in theory. After all, I will be in better shape than most Americans should we be hit with a smallpox or a yellow fever epidemic!
I am 79,had every kind of measles infection that spread around, endemically. It caused a lot of illness, some serious complications, and even deaths. The world was madly happy when the vaccine was available, for good reason. That being said, as I navigated school and work, I repeatedly had to have titers drawn to prove immunity, or re-take the MMR, even far into adulthood. At age 40, I applied at Florida State University to matriculate for a BSN. I was already a public health nurse,thoroughly vaccinated, and old enough to have natural immunity. The registrar’s office literally would not let me cross the threshold without proof of immunization with the MMR vaccine. I’m rambling, but vaccine “passports” to participate in society have been in effect all,of my life, but not as pervasively for adults and children as with Covid.
You'd have been as well to write off to a diploma mill. An "educational establishment" with no evident critical thinking and obvious evidence of not understanding the science or medicine they are teaching has no standing and would be of no more discernible use than a chocolate fireguard. Less: you could eat the fireguard.
The Associates Degree in Nursing I attended was the second class at my school in 1965. We were educated, trained, challenged, and came away with a knowledge base of which I was proud, and competent, and served me (and my patients) well. It was far from a diploma mill. Our instructors were seasoned veterans of nursing, some academics, some clinicians, and provided a balance that allowed us to thrive and function. I am not one bit ashamed that I did not have a posh Ivy League education.
The attractions of vaccines include them being a cleansing ritual, administered by a priestly class, to set oneself apart from the great unwashed masses. See the video compilation of the recent shunning of the unvaccinated: https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1657021799652024324 .
Many or most people who accept influenza vaccination each year presumably do it in large part to reduce the risk of serious illness, as would require hospitalisation. Yet perfectly solid research, by Anderson et al. 2020: "The Effect of Influenza Vaccination for the Elderly on Hospitalization and Mortality - An Observational Study With a Regression Discontinuity Design", Annals of Internal Medicine, 2020-04-07 https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/abs/10.7326/M19-3075 (paywalled, but see http://sci-hub.se/10.7326/M19-3075), shows that for 66 year olds in the UK, whose rate of flu vaccination rises to 57% from 27% at age 64, there is no change in the trend line of hospitalisation or death rates for influenza or other respiratory diseases. Please see:
https://nutritionmatters.substack.com/p/influenza-vaccines-do-not-reduce for more on this and related research which shows the same thing.
Overall, vaccines are over-hyped and overrated. I imagine that some are very beneficial, but I no longer take consensus or the opinions of experts at face value. I would need to research any such vaccine very carefully before I formed a solid opinion about it.
Without proper vitamin D3 supplementation - such as for 70 kg bodyweight without obesity, 0.125 mg (5000 IU) a day - most people do not attain the 125 nmol/L 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (as measured in "vitamin D" blood tests) they need for their immune system to work properly.
There is very little vitamin D in food, fortified or not, and the UV-B which can generate it in white skin is only naturally available from high elevation sunlight in summer, without glass, clothing or sunscreen in the way. Such UV-B always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer.
Fortunately, the scary-sounding 5000 IU a day is only a gram every 22 years, and ex-factory, pharma-grade vitamin D3 costs about USD$2.50 a gram. Please see the research articles cited at: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/, https://brownstone.org/articles/vitamin-d-everything-you-need-to-know/ and https://nutritionmatters.substack.com.
Most people only have 1/10 to 1/2 of the 25-hydroxyvitamin D they need. If everyone had 125 nmol/L 50 ng/mL or more, there would be no pandemic transmission of flu or COVID-19, very few deaths from these, and far less sepsis, which kills 11 million people a year: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32989-7 .
2014 research from Massachusetts General Hospital shows the rate of post-operative infections rising drastically from 2.5% for both hospital-acquired infections and for surgical site infections when the pre-operative 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is 50 ng/mL or more, the further this level is below 50 ng/mL. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/1782085 Mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels around 20 ng/mL - which is normal for people in most non-equatorial countries, who do not supplement vitamin D3 properly and who have not had significant recent UV-B skin exposure - raise the risk of postoperative infection a factor of 10 to 25%, again for each of hospital-acquired infections and surgical site infections.
Without sufficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D, many types of immune cell cannot properly run their intracrine (inside each cell) and paracrine (to nearby cells) signaling systems. These are unrelated to hormonal signaling. They enable each cell to respond to its changing circumstances.
The COVID-19 so-called vaccines (the Novavax one is a vaccine) would not be necessary if everyone had at least 50 ng/mL 125 nmol/L levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This would greatly reduce severity and death for those infected by SARS-CoV-2 and, more importantly, reduce average levels of viral shedding to the point well below that required for pandemic transmission. So many fewer people would be infected.
To many people, especially doctors, this sounds too simple to be true. However the research is very clear.
I have been banging a drum about vitamin D for a while now, too. See this article right here at Natural Selections: https://open.substack.com/pub/naturalselections/p/vitamind?r=83qgf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Please do keep banging the drum! Inadequate 25-hydroxyvitamin D has been a problem for a growing fraction of humanity since Africans migrated to Northern Europe, very approximately 50,000 years ago.
Many people dismiss the notion without much thought. It looks too simple to be true. People are also wary about over-hyped supplements. However, such people will generally look into the matter with genuine interest once they find the same concerns being expressed by three or more separate sources, especially by those who are not primarily concerned with the issue at hand.
The same is surely true of concerns about vaccines. Many or most people start off wanting to believe that adults and children can be injected with something which resembles magic - a genuinely safe and effective substance which prompts our immune system to erect an impenetrable barrier against a pathogen which would otherwise harm or kill us.
The truth is more complex. This naive desire for magic potions has been exploited by vaccinologists and their immensely profitable industry, including via corrupted regulatory bodies, along with many people's equally naive desire that all these well-paid experts are working assiduously - and even heroically (many people love magic, drama, sacrifice, the hero's journey) - to protect our health, rather than to ensure their lab gets more research funding or their company makes more profit.
Generally, the public has excessive faith in anything called a "vaccine". This is obvious from the fact that the mRNA and adenovirus vector COVID-19 injections (Novavax is a true vaccine) are not vaccines by any prior definition, but are still widely referred to as such. Never before has there been a mass deployment of injections which program our cells to generate (toxic) replicas of viral spike proteins on their surfaces (potentially any cell in our body, except those such as blood cells which lack ribosomes) for the express purpose of giving the immune system target practice by developing antibodies which attach to the spike proteins and so mark the cells for destruction by macrophages.
Even people do are not familiar with the term "randomized controlled trial" have a perfectly reasonable expectation that the safety and effectiveness of new drugs, vaccines and other medical interventions is researched, in part, by a trial which compares the intervention with no intervention at all.
With vaccines, turns out to be a naively wrong assumption, despite the statements by experts that such research is in fact done. Aaron Siri reports on an exchange with Dr Paul Offit on the question of placebos in the testing of vaccines for children: https://aaronsiri.substack.com/p/what-the-casual-cruelty-of-dr-paul .
Today there is a new release of data concerning pharma companies, including those in China and Russia, paying patent royalties to NIH scientists for inventions they made while working for the US government. On one level this seems reasonable, but it is arguably a corrupting influence on those scientists and the agencies they work for, since these personally received royalties depend on the company's profitability. Adam Andrzejewski from the OpenTheBooks Substack reports on the still not complete information on these payments which had to be prized out of the United States Government: https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/anthony-fauci-defended-nih-culture .
Heather, listening to you on the recent Darkhorse podcast as you integrated what you learned from RFK Jr. about childhood vaccines brought tears of awe, respect and deep kinship to my eyes. Your pure, ascendant willingness to know truth and to require integrity of yourself *even* while simultaneously experiencing painful disappointment along with the heart-pressure of decisions you’ve made that you now question, well, I felt witness to the fullest, absolute pinnacle expression of the human mind's blueprint capacity to know, to release and re-establish, to soar—truly.
Thank you so much for this.
absolutely agree with Kelly!! ^ I felt and reacted in very much the same way.
Heather, thanks for your article and especially your inclusion of RFKJr’s much maligned opinions re: vax. Bret had Vivek Ramaswamy on Dark Horse. I’d love to see either of those guys in the White House. We are in desperate need of someone willing to speak truthfully and think hard about things and be open to changing one’s mind. I’m registered with one party but would happily vote for the other.
I’m fortunate to be registered with neither, have been disgruntled with the duopoly for a long time, now. I think an RFK & Vivek combo also sounds excellent, but the forces that be will attack relentlessly from the standard playbook of course
I must admit that I was absolutely stunned when Heather read out those vaccine package inserts on Dark Horse where the manufacturers admitted that their products had not been tested against a placebo. Silly me to think that would be the first and most important test: does the treatment actually work? As the childhood vaccinations required to enter school proliferate, it would be nice to think that those vaccinations had been tested for efficacy. Nice, but incorrect. When bureaucratic capture by Big Pharma is added to their complete immunity from liability, it is not obvious that there is ANY incentive to produce a product that does anyone any good. There is a saying "to find out who your real rulers are, look at who you are not allowed to criticize" That would indicate capture of the media as well as government. I am not completely convinced of RFK Jr's sincerity in attacking Big Pharma. But Big Pharma's attacks on him are very telling.
The most important reason to test against an inert placebo is for safety. Offit has been trying to confuse people over that.
Silly me. I thought drugs were tested against placebos to prove their effectiveness as well as safety.
They are tested against placebo to show effectiveness too. But all you need to show effectiveness is something where you have a reasonable/strong case that the control is not going to have an effect, or that you are very sure you know what the effect is (and your study is powered sufficiently to show that the new thing is better). Obviously, a true placebo (eg saline) is better for effectiveness testing too, because it will neither hide effectiveness now enhance it by itself being noxious in ways that can be mistaken for / attributed to the thing you are trying to treat.
However, on the safety front, the issue of hiding harm of the treatment by having a harmful control is a bigger issue, because one should consider all possible harms, which means in theory all bad outcomes in treatment arm that occur more often than in the placebo arm should be attibuted to the treatement. There should not be the option of "explaining them away" as unrelated, because side effects / adverse events can be very varied as they _ought_ to be largely unexpected and / or with no known mechanism. If you expected them or know the mechanism, then right from the start you admit your new drug has safety problems...
Thank you for diving into this topic. Can't wait till you get to the chapter on Polio...
Turtles All the Way Down was the book that opened my eyes to the issue, followed by RFK Jr's The Real Anthony Fauci
If the oral polio vaccines are on your radar, "The River" by Edward Hooper is a worthy resource on the subject.
Thank you Heather for tackling this subject head on. As a mother of a toddler and a baby, the topic of vaccines has plagued my mind for the better part of 3 years now. My eldest received all the "trad vaxxes" in her first yer per my Canadian province's schedule, despite myself being admittedly skeptical at the time (is it really necessary to jab literal babies a dozen plus times over the course of 2 years?). I do not have a background in science, but have always felt myself to be a critical thinker and not one to accept things told to me at face value.
Our family dr repeated the "safe and effective mantra" as reassurance yet never provided any objective resources regarding safety. With that being said, I had assumed that "safe" meant that they had been tested against true placebos at the very least, and I thought I was being a good mom by doing the best that I could to protect my daughter from becoming severely sick from diseases.
However, over the course of her first year, my daughter did not fare easily with the rounds of vaccines we got for her - when receiving her first oral rotavirus dose at 2mo, she had horrible diarrhea for 2 weeks post vaccination and started inconsolably crying for hours every day. I then also became sick myself as a result. When I reached out to our family dr and explained what we were experiencing, my concerns were brushed aside and was again told that the vaccines were "safe" and that it was impossible I myself could get sick from my daughter having received the rotavirus vax (this is a live virus vaccine administered orally, so I did not believe him when he said this to me).
Based on my mother's instinct, I refused the subsequent rotavirus doses for her (in spite of my dr's insistence on following the schedule for my daughter's "best interest"), but continued with all of the other "trad vaxxes". But every other month when bringing her in for her jabs, we would cycle through weeks of her becoming exceedingly fussy/a lot of crying and increasingly horrible sleep (accompanied by inhibited crawling after her 8mo doses, the dr jabbed her poorly and she couldn't fully extend her one leg for half a month afterwards), that would start to taper off for a week or so until we would bring her in again for the next round.
After her 1yr doses I couldn't bring myself to continue and so stopped partway through the schedule. My youngest is still a baby in her first year, and I will let you guess the decision I've made for her up to this point.
please know you are not alone. trust your heart and your instincts as a mother. healthy children generally are not at risk of ANY of these diseases. just be proactive with your children's health. doctor's are compensated for pushing the jabs, usually on a percentage of patients jabbed type scheme. they are not taught anything but the 'safe and effective' mantra and how to guilt trip & fear monger reluctant parents.
So encouraging to hear reasonable voices, like yours, talking about this issue.
Heather, listening to your red-pill moment on Darkhorse gave me the biggest boost of Hope (with an uppercase H) that I can remember in the longest time. real scientific reasoning is not dead. whew.
on the level of personal karma, the podcast took place on the 19th birthday of my son with autism. I know you said you 'don't wanna go there' but that's okay. putting your big toe in the water is a fantastic first step. its a terrible thing to admit you've been lied to and bought the lie. its a lot to digest; that red pill is a big 'in. take your time.
neurodevelopmental disorders are highly multifactorial; the onion has a lot of layers. vaccine injury is only one potential facet. (sorry for the mixed metaphor ;) )
lack of placebo-controlled safety trials is something that we in the 'community' have know for a few decades now. its old news to us. incidentally, while you're at it, have a gander at the HPV jab. it was tested against its aluminum-based adjuvant. seizures in BOTH arms of the trial, we're good to go! did you know that the print ads for the jab actually stated: 'your doctor may ask you to lie down while receiving the injection, as fainting and shaking may occur'. uh helllloooo, did they not just describe a seizure?! stunning CYA there.
well, Merck had to recoup the Vioxx loses, don't ya know. perfect timing coming out with THAT one!
I truly enjoy listening to you and Bret; your intellect and banter are such a breath of fresh air. your righteous indignation sometimes elicits fist-pumps from me in the middle of my work day. Ah SANITY... people who are sane and still have critical thinking skills. I can actually exhale sometimes.
but honey, on THIS topic, you have barely scratched the surface. can't wait to experience your journey down this rabbit warren (as you so correctly call it :) )
but no hurry. take your time. us warrior moms (its what we've called each other for many years) are patient.
Thank you for this piece! I read Turtles All the Way Down and was really hoping you and Brett might weigh in on it. A question that came to my mind when reading it was to wonder if this material actually refutes the hygiene hypothesis? The book discusses it in the polio section, but it led me to question if asthma and allergies are on the rise because they are actually vaccine side effects, rather than because we are truly eliminating all the microbes from our lives.
I have just started "Turtles all the way Down" and haven't gotten to the section on Polio yet, so I can't comment on that. I am a firm believer in the Hygiene Hypothesis. I retired from the school board where I was in every school in the district on a regular basis. Exposed to everything, only really aggressive microbial URD's ever hit me. I also grew up stomping woods and cow pastures. Got chickenpox and measles as a kid, got shingles in my 60's which responded very favorably to the Zostavax. I'm pretty sure that I was infected with SV40 by the "sugar cube" OPV. I may have had a neurological issue resulting from that, but too much time has passed for me to be sure. I make a point to get exposed to everything contagious that I encounter. I am one of the very few 70yo or older people that I know who isn't on medication for hypertension, diabetes or some other disease of age.
Here is another one-I'm not on any medication for anything and I'm 72. My father used to tell us to play in the dirt, that it was good for us and we sure did. I wonder, now, though about dirt in a city back yard-too many weird chemicals. I think we over 70's have a huge responsibility. We are the last generation in USA that has real natural immunity to myriad diseases and didn't suffer from chronic disease, autism, and obesity that plagues our children and really all the generations following ours. I have seen pictures of us in the 70s on the beach-and was reminding-none of us were obese let alone just overweight. My sadness in relation to all of this is so huge. This realization of our special responsibility makes me so grateful to RFKjr-who is speaking out about what has happened to the health of Americans. And it makes me beyond angry at both Biden and Trump for so haughtily acting from the position of being older and having escaped so much of the vaccination, pollution, and numerous harms we now wish on our children and even mandate.