My friend Anna is passionate, and always great at cutting through the BS and telling it like it is. I admire her for that, and in her spirit, I would like to try and cut through some of the BS myself regarding vaccines. I have had mixed thoughts on vaccines for many years. Red flag #1: I first became alarmed when I prepared for a trip to Africa and learned that I would need multiple vaccinations, all of which contained a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal. Wait, what? At the time, there was an abundance of vaccines, but I still had to place a special order to obtain vaccines that were mercury free. Red flag #2: I learned through a friend who was starting a family that the CDC recommended at least 34 vaccinations for children by the age of 10 (the number is likely higher today). Yes, the children’s vaccines are supposed to be mercury free, but they are still loaded with all kinds of harmful ingredients, and how many vaccines are truly essential? Red flag #3: I have heard story after story, and Mom after Mom, explain how their children were healthy with at least ordinary social skills, before they started the government’s mandated vaccination protocol. Many in the healthcare (sick-care) industry continue to argue that there are absolutely no connections between autism and vaccinations, and that the claims by these “hysterical” parents have no merit. But the healthcare industry is big business, and it also has a long history of lying.

On the other hand, I know that the CDC has its problems and is not always the most trusted source, but it claims that since 1988, the polio vaccine has prevented more than 500,000 deaths. In addition, my beloved Doctors Without Borders reports that vaccines save millions of lives each year and protect millions more from severe illness. So, what gives?

I don’t always agree with her politics, but I do consider Dr. Pam Popper to be one of the top 10 or so go to trusted sources with regards to nutrition, and lifestyle medicine. She also has lots of great information on vaccines.

Here are excerpts from an article that she wrote titled The Vaccine Debate:

“I am not anti-vaccine, I am pro-evidence.

In 2004 it was estimated that 2.1 million children between 19 and 35 months of age were under-vaccinated or not vaccinated at all, and this number has continued to increase. Contrary to popular belief, research shows that the parents of unvaccinated kids are more likely to be white, college-educated, married, and to have higher family incomes. The pro-vaccine folks would have many believe that the reason that parents do not vaccinate their children is stupidity or ignorance. In other words, not-so-bright people make poor choices about vaccines because they are easily led and deceived by charlatans and bad science. This is simply not the profile of the parent who says “no.” This parent is more educated and more successful, so perhaps the truth is that the parents who say “no” have a much better ability to sort through the maze of lies and deception concerning vaccines than many who faithfully adhere to the vaccine schedule.

I have reported the list of ingredients in vaccines, which is posted on the CDC’s website. Call me crazy but what is the right term for ingredients like calf serum, anti-foaming agent, aluminum, and fetal bovine serum? Beneficial substances? I think many reasonable people might refer to these as contaminants, or toxic substances, or dangerous ingredients. Can vaccine advocates be serious when they say that we should not be concerned about this?

Safety and Efficacy.
One of the reasons why there are so many questions about the safety and efficacy of vaccines is that there is so much misbehavior and so many conflicts of interest involving drug companies and government agencies, and officials.

Let’s start with just a few cozy arrangements that should concern all of us:

1. In 1992 Congress passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act allowing the FDA to charge drug companies to have their products reviewed. In 2016, the drug companies paid $718,669,000 to the FDA. Based on this fact, you won’t be surprised to learn that the approval rate for drugs in 2015 was 96%. Wouldn’t you love to see a list of the products that were in the 4% that were turned down? They must include things like intravenous arsenic.

2. The Centers for Disease Control is no better. Another law passed by Congress created the CDC Foundation and the drug companies contribute to it – the foundation has taken in $620 million.

3. American pediatricians vehemently insist that children should be fully vaccinated. Many will not see children who are not vaccinated, and pressure parents at every visit. Pediatricians are also highly conflicted. The American Academy of Pediatrics receives millions of dollars annually from vaccine makers for conferences, grants, continuing education programs, and these companies even helped to finance the AAP’s home office. According to one report, the AAP has taken $342,000 from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine; $433,000 from Merck the same year that its HPV vaccine was approved, and Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines.

Vaccine makers have almost no liability.

Ever wonder why the number of recommended vaccines keeps increasing? One reason is that the vaccine makers have no liability for harm caused by their products. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 was passed by Congress, creating the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VCIP). The purpose of the law was to shield vaccine makers from liability. The program is funded by a $0.75 tax on each vaccine which is paid into a trust fund to compensate individuals who have been harmed.

Injured persons and/or their families file claims with the VICP, and claims are arbitrated by Special Masters who are appointed by the US Court of Federal Claims. Most people do not know about the court; the statute of limitations is very short, which means that by the time most people find out about the court they no longer qualify to make a claim; and the Special Masters are known for treating the trust fund as if it is their money, denying most claims. In spite of this, the court has paid out over $3.2 billion in damage awards. This is a significant sum of money for a problem that pro-vaccine folks say does not exist. The bigger issue, however, is that there is no incentive for vaccine makers to make vaccines that are safe and effective, because no matter how many people are hurt or killed by vaccines the makers have almost no liability and cannot be sued.

A reasonable, fully informed person might conclude that vaccinating a 2-hour old baby with a concoction that contains aluminum, formaldehyde, and phosphate buffer in order to reduce the risk of developing a disease that almost no babies are at risk of developing seems absurd. This is most likely why full disclosure and discussion about vaccines almost never takes place in a doctor’s office and advocates spend all of their time denigrating the character of people who question vaccine dogma. They simply cannot justify the current recommendations concerning vaccines based on facts.

A sort of media darling, and favorite pro-vaccine spokesperson is Dr. Paul Offit. He has famously said that vaccines are so safe that an infant can tolerate 10,000 vaccines at once. Well, it turns out that Offit’s hospital salary is funded by Merck Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Offit, despite his otherwise impressive credentials, has significant financial ties to drug companies. In 2000, he wrote a pro vaccine book called Vaccines: What Every Parent Should Know. Merck bought 20,000 copies of the book and sent them to doctors, instructing them to use it to dispel concerns about vaccines. Offit owns a patent on a vaccine for rotavirus with Merck, and even though he was involved with another vaccine that may have led to 10 children developing deadly bowel obstructions, the FDA approved the vaccine with Merck, and it was sold for $182 million.
(this paragraph was condensed from the original article)

How likely is it that the government and the medical profession are right about vaccines?

Every week, I deliver evidence to you showing that there are serious problems with the medical system. The FDA and CDC problems I described above are just the tip of the iceberg.

• Cardiologists are still performing 500,000 bypass surgeries and 500,000 angioplasty procedures every year. Dr. Esselstyn has been keeping terminally ill CAD patients alive for decades using plant-based nutrition. Why don’t most cardiologists tell patients about this diet?

• We know that type 2 diabetics can often be withdrawn from medications within a few weeks, yet most doctors still prescribe metformin and insulin and there is rarely any discussion about plant-based nutrition.

• People are still contacting us every week who have just seen Forks Over Knives or Food Choices and are ticked off because they lost family members to diabetes and heart disease and their doctors did not tell them that diet could be used to treat their condition.

• Psychological problems are not caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. The psychiatry profession is now trying to backpedal in order to save itself.

The third leading cause of death in the U.S. is medical treatment, according to a study published last year in the British Medical Journal. And yet, according to vaccine advocates, the one area in which medicine got everything right is vaccines. These people are asking us to believe that there are no conflicts of interest with regards to vaccines; that all of the studies were well-designed; that FDA committees were not swayed by drug company funding or the fact that most committee members were on the payroll of the companies that make vaccines; that CDC committee members were able to put aside all of their conflicts; and that the American Academy of Pediatrics has ignored the interests of its sponsors, which include almost all of the makers of vaccines. This is a ludicrous claim and it is statistically impossible that in the sea of corruption and ineptitude that plagues the medical profession that this could be the case.” – Dr. Pam Popper, The Vaccine Debate

The Bottom Line?

Dr. Pam Popper: “The system in which vaccines are developed, approved and licensed is incredibly corrupt, to the point where there is no regulation. The regulators are actually business partners with the drug companies. The NIH receives royalties on vaccines, for example. The only answer to this is to fix the corruption – not going to happen anytime soon. So it is not unreasonable for many people to choose not to have any vaccines at this time, and to protect their children from harm.”

Click here for Dr. Pam Popper’s website.
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