Page 76 - Summer2018

them as the eighth leading cause of death. However, as shown in the include but are not limited to severe allergic
23
CDC’s own National Center for Health Statistics figures, only 9 percent reactions (anaphylaxis), brachial neuritis, coma,
(n=5,251) of the 57,062 reported “influenza and pneumonia” deaths for encephalopathy, epilepsy, GBS, long-term sei-
2015 were attributable to the “flu,” whereas 91 percent (n=51,811) had zures, permanent brain damage and death.
24
pneumonia as their cause of death. Moreover, 4 percent or fewer of Toxic ingredients in Tdap include alumi-
25
respiratory specimens typically test positive for influenza virus. 22 num phosphate, polysorbate 80, formaldehyde,
bovine serum albumin, glutaraldehyde and
PERTUSSIS VACCINE RECOMMENDATIONS AND EVIDENCE 2-phenoxethanol. Studies show that neurotoxic
The CDC began recommending Tdap vaccines to all pregnant women aluminum crosses the placenta and accumulates
in 2011. Current recommendations involve giving the vaccine after in the brain. I have written previously in Wise
30
twenty-seven weeks’ gestation, regardless of any individual consider- Traditions (Spring 2018) about the dangers of
ations or risk-benefit analysis. The Tdap recommendation applies to each aluminum in vaccines. 31
pregnancy, no matter how little time has elapsed between pregnancies.
It is puzzling that the CDC deems the Tdap vaccine “necessary” for PERTUSSIS VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS
all pregnant women, when it presented facts to the contrary in a 2008 The CDC promotes Tdap and other vaccines
report titled, “Prevention of pertussis, tetanus, and diphtheria among with a pertussis component not just for pregnant
pregnant and postpartum women and their infants.” The CDC admitted women but for people of all ages. The first set of
26
that no evidence exists demonstrating whether Tdap in pregnant women recommendations (for the DTaP vaccine) is that
harms the fetus or increases risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Nor babies and children get vaccinated at two, four
was evidence available to the agency to indicate whether transplacental and six months, at fifteen to eighteen months
antibodies induced by Tdap administered during pregnancy actually will and again when they are four to six years old.
protect infants against pertussis, or conversely whether Tdap-induced In addition, CDC recommends a Tdap booster
transplacental maternal antibodies will have a negative impact on an at eleven or twelve years of age. Why so many
infant’s protective immune system response to later-administered rou- shots? The answer is simple: waning protective
tine pediatric vaccines (such as DTaP and various conjugate vaccines) immunity is a serious problem with pertussis
containing tetanus toxoid or diphtheria toxoid. vaccines.
The CDC’s main justification for vaccinating pregnant women with Another serious problem is that pertussis
Tdap, despite its own abysmal report, is that the majority of children vaccines do not necessarily prevent the trans-
who are hospitalized and who die from whooping cough are under two mission of pertussis and, at best, simply may
months of age and are therefore too young to be vaccinated themselves. prevent vaccinated individuals from displaying
Rather than worry about the vaccine’s potential lack of safety and effec- symptoms of whooping cough. Therefore, vac-
tiveness, the CDC chooses to promote the theory of neonatal or maternal cinated persons may be asymptomatic carriers
immunization as well as the so-called “cocooning strategy”—a strategy and as such, may largely contribute to outbreaks.
that aims to create a “circle of protection” around newborn infants by A 2015 study published in BMC Medicine, titled
administering Tdap vaccines to mothers, family members and any indi- “Asymptomatic transmission and the resur-
viduals who come into close contact with the newborn. gence of Bordetella pertussis,” made this very
27
The cocooning theory has been seriously challenged, however. One point. A 2014 study also supported this theory,
32
observational study (again by the Canadian government) suggested that demonstrating that giving baboons whole cell
cocooning is not only “almost impossible” but also comes with a heavy or acellular pertussis vaccines prevented them
price tag. The researchers estimated that to prevent one infant death from developing severe symptoms of whooping
from whooping cough in Quebec or British Columbia, “at least one mil- cough themselves but did not prevent infection
lion parents would have to be vaccinated,” at twenty Canadian dollars or ready transmission of pertussis to their con-
per shot. Another staggering government study from Scandinavia, not tacts. Commenting on these findings, the FDA
33
28
focused on cocooning, found that babies in Africa who received DTP admitted that FDA-licensed acellular pertussis
(diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis) vaccines were five to ten times more likely vaccines may prevent disease among those
to die than their unvaccinated peers. 29 vaccinated but “may not prevent infection…in
those vaccinated or its spread to other people,
TDAP SIDE EFFECTS AND INGREDIENTS including those who may not be vaccinated.” 34
As with the influenza vaccines, recipients of Tdap vaccines are subject A third problem with the widespread use of
to a large list of potential side effects and toxic ingredients. Side effects pertussis vaccines is that they seem to have cre-

74 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2018