Have you noticed that anti-vaccine folks like to elevate the status of anyone who says things that they agree with?
So a scientist or researcher who suggests that vaccines are dangerous is all of a sudden a leader in their field or the very best in the world.
In the real world, it doesn’t work like that…
You have to earn your reputation.
Who Is Romain Gherardi?
Well, I guess that works both ways.
Most of the researchers that anti-vaccine folks praise have indeed earned a reputation, just not the kind they would like.
So who is Romain Gherardi?
He is basically a French researcher who thinks that the aluminum in vaccines is bad and scares folks with his poorly done studies and his book, Toxic story: Two or three embarrassing truths about the vaccine adjuvants.
“Gherardi is a fierce advocate for the existence of a causal relationship between containing aluminum adjuvants and a clinical condition which he first called ‘Macrophagic Myofasciitis (MMF)'”
Gherardi : a media story (2 or 3 embarrassing truths about his research)
But what about Macrophagic Myofasciitis (MMF), isn’t that a real disease?
“There is no evidence to suggest that MMF is a specific illness.”
WHO on Questions and Answers about macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF)
Nope.
That’s not to say that some people do not get some inflammatory changes at vaccine injection sites that could be caused by the aluminum in a vaccine.
But these are local reactions. They are not part of a disease.
As far as his research, consider the critique of one of his recent papers that he co-authored with Christopher Shaw, Non-linear dose-response of aluminium hydroxide adjuvant particles: selective low dose neurotoxicity.
“The article states that it was supported by grants from CMSRI. What is not stated is that CMSRI (Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute) is funded by the vaccine-critical Dwoskin Family Foundation. It is also worth noting that three of the authors of this manuscript, Exley, Shaw and Gherardi, sit on the Scientific Advisory Board for CMSRI, with Shaw as the Chair and Gherardi as the Vice-Chair. Whilst it is unknown if any of these authors receive financial compensation for their role at CMSRI it is clear that these competing interests should have been disclosed.”
David Hawkes et al on Questions about methodological and ethical quality of a vaccine adjuvant critical paper
In addition to the funding issue, they found problems with the methods of the study and ethical problems.
Amazingly, the response to Hawkes’ letter had to be retracted by the journal!
It is not hard to find other criticism and complaints about his research either.
I recently posted an immunization schedule from the 1960s to bust the myth that kids didn’t get many vaccines before the 1970 and 80s, even though they actually got multiple doses of DTP, polio, and smallpox vaccines.
But how about if we go back even earlier than that?
My uncle got polio around the time this vaccine schedule was released in 1951, but before the first polio vaccines were being routinely used.
In 1951, infants got multiple doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccines and the smallpox vaccine by the time they were 6 months old, with boosters through age 10 years.
Multiple doses with aluminum. And thimerosal. And far more antigens than kids are exposed to today, even though they now get many more vaccines.
“Tetanus toxoid recall injections should be continued every 3 years throughout life in dosage of 0.1cc to 0.2cc.”
AAP Report of the Committee on the Control of Infectious Diseases 1951
Oh, they also got revaccinated with the smallpox vaccine “every five years.”
“The Committee recommends that all infants be immunized actively against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus with a course of injections of combined alum or aluminum phosphate precipitated, or aluminum hydroxide adsorbed diphtheria and tetanus toxoids containing H. pertussis vaccine. These products are considered preferable to fluid mixtures for the following reasons: (1) more prolonged antitoxic immunity produced by precipitated or adsorbed mixtures, (2) greater effectiveness as immunizers against pertussis in early infancy, and (3) less likelihood of producing systemic reactions because of lower protein content and slower absorption.”
AAP Report of the Committee on the Control of Infectious Diseases 1951
Other vaccines were also available for special situations, including rabies, typhoid, parathyphoid, and the BCG vaccine.
“Acetylsalicylic acid, 65 mg per year of age, should be given within an hour or two of injections and repeated 4 hours thereafter.”
AAP Report of the Committee on the Control of Infectious Diseases 1951
While it is likely a very big surprise to anti-vaccine folks that kids got multiple doses of DPT, tetanus, and smallpox vaccines back then, unfortunately, it means that they were susceptible to many diseases that are now vaccine-preventable.
Diseases that our kids don’t have to get, because they can be vaccinated and protected with vaccines that are safe, with few risks, and still necessary.
Apparently, Jamie McGuire is a best-selling author.
According to Yahoo Lifestyle, she is the “author of 20 books in the New Adult genre (for ages 18-30), including Walking Disaster — which debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists — as well as the apocalyptic thriller Red Hill.”
And she wants everyone to know that she does not consent!
Can You Prove That Jamie McGuire Books Don’t Make Teens Do Drugs?
What does Jamie McGuire not consent to?
Since her whole post is about proving this and that about vaccines, which she seems to think are bad, I am guessing that she does not consent to getting vaccinated or to vaccinating her kids.
The thing is though, no one is trying to force her to vaccinate her kids.
You can just say that you don’t want to vaccinate your kids, coming out as another anti-vaccine pseudo-celebrity, without hijacking “I do not consent” messaging.
Anyway, her concerns about vaccines have been addressed. Indeed, they have been talked about a million times. If she were truly aware, she would stop being misled by anti-vaccine arguments that scare parents away from thinking that vaccines are safe, with few risks, and necessary.
Del Bigtree talks about Stanley Plotkin a lot on his “show.”
In addition to developing the rubella vaccine, Stanley Plotkin literally wrote the book on vaccines.
He even seems to have come up with a regular feature, Plotkin on Vaccines.
Del Bigtree vs Stanley Plotkin
I’ll let Del explain why you should listen to Dr. Plotkin if you want to keep you kids safe and healthy:
“For those of you who are tuning in for the first time, and who don’t know who Stanley Plotkin is, this is Plotkin’s Vaccines. This is the biggest textbook on vaccines. He wrote it. Good for him. I think Paul Offit had something to do with it. I think actually Frank DeStefano and Walter Orenstein – a lot of people involved in this. But it’s called Plotkin’s Vaccines.
So Stanley Plotkin has made more vaccines in the history of the world. “
Del just uses misinformation to try to take him down each week…
What’s the latest complaint?
That Dr. Plotkin should have published a letter that was critical of a vaccine safety paper, Principal Controversies in Vaccine Safety in the United States. The letter was by Romain K Gherardi, a researcher that is known to use “cherry-picked data to suggest that aluminum in vaccines accumulates in the brain and nervous system, causing ‘toxic effects.'”
The thing is, not publishing the letter is not censorship.
While anti-vaccine folks typically elevate anyone and everyone who supports their ideas as the best and greatest in their field, they generally aren’t. They are typically doing junk science that is quickly torn apart by real scientists.
If you watch this week’s Plotkin on Vaccines, despite Del saying the video wasn’t edited, you will miss some stuff from the transcript of Plotkin’s deposition.
“So my comments are, one, that my estimate was pretty much correct. Second, that, unfortunately, Dr. Shaw has been associated with the party that I mentioned before, Tomljenovic, who, in my view, is completely untrustworthy as far as scientific data are concerned. So I’m concerned about Dr. Shaw being influenced by that individual.
And I’m not aware that there is evidence that aluminum disrupts the developmental processes in susceptible children.”
Stanley Plotkin
And Plotkin never says that he considers the French group or Romain K Gherardi a respected researcher, as Del claims. At one point, he does say that he considers the Journal of Neuroscience a respectable journal, but they weren’t talking about Gherardi’s study or aluminum.
“And it’s just your kids, it’s just your kids caught in between this group of lies, damn lies, and statistics. It’s only the health of your children hanging in the balance.”
As anti-vaccine folks get more attention because of the rise in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease, in addition to more folks getting vaccinated, we are seeing some of the leaders of the anti-vaccine movement get more vocal.
Are measles outbreaks a sign that the anti-vaccine movement is “winning?”
Meetings, dinners, rallies…
They are doing everything they can to get their misinformation and propaganda out so that you don’t vaccinate and protect your kids.
Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
If you see any of these folks, ask them a few questions…
If you are worried about thimerosal and aluminum, then why are you worried about the MMR vaccine? Not only has it never contained thimerosal, as a live vaccine, but it has also never contained aluminum.
If better hygiene and sanitation got rid of vaccine-preventable diseases, then why didn’t it do it for all diseases at the same time? And why hasn’t it gotten rid of RSV, Ebola, Zika, HIV, Norovirus, and all of the diseases that we don’t have vaccines for?
If measles is so mild, then during the measles epidemics from 1989 to 1991 in the United States, why were 11,000 people hospitalized and why did 123 people die?
If you are concerned about vaccines that have a distant association with abortion, then why don’t you vaccinate your kids with all of the vaccines that don’t use WI-38 and MRC-5 cells lines?
If your arguments are so solid, then why do you need to keep moving the goalposts (it’s autoimmune diseases they are worried about now, not autism) and why are they so easy to refute (vaccines aren’t associated with autoimmune diseases either)?
It turns out, they say, that the FDA has admitted that the government is recommending untested, unlicensed vaccines for pregnant women.
Is that true?
Did the FDA Admit That the Government Is Recommending Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women?
Of course not!
Their evidence?
A response to a Freedom of Information Act request for vaccines that don’t exist. That’s right, neither Tdap nor flu vaccines are currently FDA approved for use by pregnant women.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Tdap and flu vaccines aren’t recommended for use by pregnant women.
Wait, why the difference?
Why are pregnant women being given a vaccine that isn’t formally FDA approved for their use?
Well, vaccine manufacturers have to seek FDA approval for their products. The FDA doesn’t just up and approve new products or give them new indications. And none have ever sought approval in pregnancy.
But that doesn’t keep health experts from making off-label recommendations, such as getting a flu vaccine when you are pregnant.
“In prelicensure evaluations, the safety of administering a booster dose of Tdap to pregnant women was not studied. Because information on use of Tdap in pregnant women was lacking, both manufacturers of Tdap established pregnancy registries to collect information and pregnancy outcomes from pregnant women vaccinated with Tdap. Data on the safety of administering Tdap to pregnant women are now available.”
Updated Recommendations for Use of Tetanus Toxoid, Reduced Diphtheria Toxoid and Acellular Pertussis Vaccine (Tdap) in Pregnant Women and Persons Who Have or Anticipate Having Close Contact with an Infant Aged <12 Months — Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2011
As important as FDA approval is a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In fact, even after a vaccine gets approved by the FDA, it still has to get a recommendation from the ACIP before it gets on the immunization schedule and is used routinely!
“Flu shots have been given to millions of pregnant women over many years with a good safety record. There is a large body of scientific studies that supports the safety of flu vaccine in pregnant women and their babies.”
Flu Vaccine Safety and Pregnancy
Getting a flu vaccine during pregnancy is a recommendation that has been evolving since 1983. It was known to be safe then, and we are even more confident that it is safe now.
A Tdap shot has been recommended since 2011, although it was first suggested in 2008 that pregnancy was not a contraindication for receiving Tdap.
How do we know these vaccines are safe during pregnancy?
The Vaccine Safety Datalink has published more than 14 studies “related to pregnancy and vaccination during pregnancy” and has used “data to study the health of children born to women who were vaccinated during pregnancy.”
Despite what Robert F. Kennedy, Jr and his ironically named Children’s Health Defense organization might think, Tdap and flu shots in pregnancy have been well studied and have been found to be safe.
Ignoring all of the above studies, Kennedy highlights a few that he thinks found problems with flu shots in pregnancy, including one that showed “a suggestion of increased ASD risk among children whose mothers received an influenza vaccination in their first trimester,” a suggestion that was not statistically significant and which was not found in the other trimesters. And another that found an increased risk of spontaneous abortion in women who had also received a flu shot in the previous season, a safety signal that has never been seen before and which continues to be investigated.
Not surprisingly, his latest bombshell is landing with as big of a thud as his HHS lawsuit, as have most of his statements these days…
“CHD’s Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. notes that most flu shots given to pregnant women still contain a mercury-based preservative thimerosal.”
FDA Admits That Government Is Recommending Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women
Has Kennedy missed the fact that 80% of flu vaccines are now thimerosal free? It makes you wonder how he defines the word “most?”
“Thimerosal is acknowledged by Proposition 65 in California as a reproductive toxicant and exposure during pregnancy can cause learning and behavioral problems. Tdap contains aluminum, which FDA regulates as a toxin in parenteral nutrition but not in vaccines.”
FDA Admits That Government Is Recommending Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women
And what is he concerned about in thimerosal-free flu shots which also don’t contain aluminum? Are those okay in his book?
Mostly, after several flu seasons in which so many people have died, you have to wonder what his goal is here. Does Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. expect folks to skip getting a flu shot when they are pregnant and instead risk getting the flu? Should they skip their Tdap shot and risk their baby dying of whooping cough?
What Do Anti-Vaccine Folks Actually Know About Vaccines?
If you are anti-vaccine, you likely believe that vaccines are dangerous, full of toxins, and that they don’t even work. That gives other folks a giant hint as to how you would answer these 32 questions…
AV answer – all vaccines contain toxic ingredients!
2/3. What is MRC-5/WI-38?
These are immortalized cell lines that are used to make some vaccines. These cell lines are derived (they can replicate infinitely) from fetal embryo fibroblast cells from two electively terminated pregnancies (abortions) in the 1960s. The cells used today are descendants of the original cells.
AV answer – there are aborted baby parts in our vaccines!
4. What is vaccine court?
The Vaccine Court is part of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and decides if the claims should be compensated or dismissed, etc.
AV answer – vaccine court proves that vaccine injuries are real.
5. What is the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program?
AV answer – the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) proves that vaccine injuries are real.
6. What is the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act?
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 established the VICP, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, the National Vaccine Program Office, VAERS, and required that health care providers give a Vaccine Information Statement to anyone getting a vaccine.
AV answer – the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act should be repealed because it removed all liability from vaccine manufacturers.
7. How has the CDC schedule changed since 1986?
The immunization schedule has changed to include vaccines to protect kids against meningitis, pneumonia, blood infections, severe dehydration, epiglottitis, and cancer from Hib, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, chicken pox, HPV, and meningococcal disease.
AV answer – it has ballooned and exploded with 300 more vaccines in the pipeline!
8. How much money has been paid out by vaccine injury court?
Since the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program began, in 1988, almost $3.5 billion dollars have been paid out for 4,899 compensated awards, the majority of which were settled, and during which time over 2.5 billion doses of vaccines were given.
AV answer – $3.5 billion dollars, which proves that vaccine injuries are real!
9. How many doses of vaccines are in the CDC schedule between birth and age 18?
By age 18 years, today’s kids get 54 doses of 13 vaccines that protect them against 16 vaccine-preventable diseases, with a third of those doses coming from yearly flu vaccines.
AV answer – 72 doses!
10. Do vaccines contain DNA from aborted fetal cell lines? If so, which vaccines?
Residual, highly fragmented DNA is sometimes found in vaccines that are made using the MRC-5/WI-38 cell lines.
AV answer – vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue.
11. Do any vaccines contain dog, monkey, pig, or human DNA?
Residual DNA, if found in vaccines, is not a cause for concern. It is typically a function of growing vaccine viruses in mammalian cell lines.
AV answer – dog, monkey, pig, and human DNA contaminate vaccines and will turn us all into mutant dog-monkey-pig-human hybrids.
12. What is an adjuvant?
An adjuvant in a vaccine can increase the body’s immune response to an antigen, allowing you to use a smaller amount of antigen, which is important, as it is the antigens that typically cause side effects.
AV answer – Adjuvants in vaccines have never been tested and they trigger vaccine injuries and disease.
13. What is an antigen?
An antigen is a substance, often part of a virus or bacteria, that can stimulate an immune response and the production of antibodies. Surprisingly, even though kids get more vaccines than they used to, those vaccines contain far fewer antigens than older vaccines.
AV answer – we don’t care about antigens anymore, because all of the other vaccine ingredients are toxic.
14. Which arms of the immune system do vaccines stimulate?
It actually depends on the vaccine, but this is about the differences between innate (nonspecific and without memory) and adaptive immunity, which typically interact with each other, whether it is to create natural or vaccine induced immunity.
AV answer – I don’t care which arm you try to give it to them, my kids aren’t getting vaccinated!
15. Which arms of the immune system do natural diseases stimulate?
AV answer – Even if you offer to give the shot in their legs, my kids aren’t getting vaccinated!
16. What is transverse myelitis?
Transverse myelitis is a type of inflammation of the spinal cord, causing weakness and paralysis, and typically triggered by infections, immune system, inflammatory, and vascular disorders.
AV answer – transverse myelitis is a vaccine injury.
17. What is encephalopathy?
Almost anything can cause encephalopathy, leading to diffuse brain disease and dysfunction.
AV answer – encephalopathy is a vaccine injury.
18. What is the rate of autism in 2018? What was it in 2000? What was it in 1980?
AV answer – vaccines cause autism. If it isn’t the MMR vaccine, then it is thimerosal, or maybe aluminum. Or it could be glyphosate. It is definitely vaccines though.
19. What is glyphosate? Is it in vaccines?
Glyphosate, a weed killer (Roundup) made by Monsanto is not in any vaccines.
AV answer – because glyphosate is everywhere, including in vaccines, half of all children will be autistic by 2025.
20. If your child is injured who will take physical, emotional and financial responsibility?
If a child has a true vaccine injury, compensation from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) will hopefully help with your financial responsibilities.
AV answer – you can not sue vaccine manufacturers, so they have no liability if your child is injured by a vaccine.
21. What was the Supreme Courts statement on vaccines in 2011?
In 2011, the Supreme Court decided Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, in which they used the infamous unavoidably unsafe terminology, which has been misunderstood by anti-vaccine folks ever since.
AV answer – the Supreme Court said that vaccines can never be safe.
22. Can you find a study showing vaccinated vs unvaccinated health outcomes?
Yes, yes I can. A large study, “Vaccination Status and Health in Children and Adolescents Findings of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS),” found that unvaccinated kids weren’t healthier, they just had more measles, mumps, rubella, and pertussis.
AV answer – the Mawson study (published in a pay-to-publish journal after being retracted two other times) proves that unvaccinated (homeschooled) kids are healthier than vaccinated (homeschooled) kids.
23. Can you find a safety study proving it is safe to inject multiple vaccines?
Yes, yes I can. There are many studies that prove that it is safe to give multiple vaccines at the same time.
AV answer – vaccines have never been tested together.
24. Do vaccines shed?
A few vaccines do shed, including the rotavirus vaccines (in stool, so wash your hands when changing diapers) and oral polio vaccines, which haven’t been used in the United States since 2000. Although FluMist can shed, since the vaccine contains attenuated viral strains of the flu that are temperature-sensitive, it isn’t a problem, except maybe for someone who is severely immunocompromised.
AV answer – our unvaccinated kids are at risk during shedding season!
25. Which vaccines can shed for up to 6 weeks?
The oral polio vaccine, which hasn’t been used in the United States since 2000, can likely shed for up to 6 weeks. This type of shedding is one of the reasons this weakened live virus vaccine is preferred over the inactivated polio vaccine when polio is still common in an area. In areas with poor hygiene and sanitation, the shedding (in stool) can lead to a type of passive immunization and improved herd immunity!
AV answer – shedding season is coming!
26. Which vaccines are live virus vaccines?
Attenuated, live virus vaccines which contain a weakened version of a virus include MMR, Varivax (chicken pox), the rotavirus vaccines, FluMist, the yellow fever vaccines, the oral polio vaccine, and vaccines against typhoid, cholera, adenovirus, and smallpox.
AV answer – unvaccinated children are at risk from shedding if they are around kids who have gotten a live virus vaccine, especially during shedding season.
27. What is the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)?
This is the same thing as the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) in question 5…
AV answer – we need to repeal both the NVICP and the VICP!
28. What is SV40?
Simian virus 40 was found to contaminate polio vaccines from 1955 through 1963. Fortunately, it has not been found to cause any disease in the folks who got those vaccines.
AV answer – vaccines are contaminated with monkey viruses and cause cancer.
29. What is MTHFR and how does it affect the body’s response to vaccines?
True MTHFR gene mutations rarely cause homocystinuria. Folks are more likely to hear about MTHFR polymorphisms, which are typically normal and have no affect on vaccines or anything else.
AV answer – no one should not get vaccinated if they have MTHFR mutations or signs of MTHFR.
30. What is an acceptable amount of aluminum to be ingested per day versus the aluminum content in the Hep B shot given at birth, 2 months, and then again at 4 months?
Although there are limits on aluminum that premature neonates and infants getting daily intravenous fluids and IV feeding solutions over prolonged periods of time, that doesn’t mean that aluminum in vaccines that infants get every few months isn’t safe. It is. And they are.
AV answer – infants are getting toxic amounts of aluminum in their vaccines!
31. Can someone who was vaccinated for pertussis still spread pertussis after being exposed to it? If so, for how long?
Maybe. A study in baboons said it is possible. More importantly though, you are much more likely to get pertussis if you are unvaccinated, will have more severe symptoms, and will likely get more people sick.
AV answer – vaccinated people are the ones starting pertussis outbreaks.
32. What is the death rate from measles in the past 10 years in the U.S. compared to the death rate from the MMR vaccine in the past 10 years?
