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AV answer – the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act should be repealed because it removed all liability from vaccine manufacturers.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?
Both toxicologist and research should be in quote marks…
Vaccines are very clearly not associated with autism, but that doesn’t seem to keep us from getting new anti-vaccine heroes popping up now and then with new theories from their “research.”
Is it different this time?
Unlike most of the other anti-vaccine experts who are practicing way out of their field of expertise when they talk about vaccines, Ashley Everly is a toxicologist, so is actually an expert on vaccines, right?
“Most toxicologists begin by working at the bench, conducting experiments on in vitro and animal models. Over time, as they gain experience, they may move up to supervise others. While a master’s degree is sufficient for applied research positions, a Ph.D. degree with postdoctoral experience is required for the highest levels.”
Toxicology Overview
Ashley Everly does not have a master’s degree and has not published any research about vaccines. Her opinions are not those of a toxicologist, but of a mother who thinks that her child was injured by vaccines.
Her Facebook copypasta post, while posted as a toxicologist, should remind you of just one very important fact. The great majority of working toxicologists do not share her opinions about vaccines.
“Vaccines are among the most efficacious and cost-effective prevention tools… Parents of children with non-medical exemptions to immunization requirements have been documented to have perceptions of lower susceptibility to and severity of vaccine preventable diseases and perceptions of lower safety and efficacy of vaccines compared to parents of vaccinated children. Moreover, compared to parents of vaccinated children, vaccine hesitant parents had less trust in the government and the health care system.”
Scientific Liaison Coalition (SLC) Epidemiology of Vaccine Refusal webinar
What is the Scientific Liaison Coalition (SLC)?
It is a group of eight toxicology organizations that “increase awareness of toxicology and related sciences on human health,” including the:
American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT)
American College of Toxicology (ACT)
Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS)
Safety Pharmacology Society (SPS)
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)
Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP)
Society of Toxicology (SOT)
Teratology Society (Teratology)
Union of Toxicology (IUTOX)
And not surprisingly, they teach folks that vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary.
Some of these folks are also the ones doing research on new vaccines.
But, of course, they do a lot more.
The Society of Toxicology wants everyone to know that they are working to help reduce our exposure to potential environmental sources of methylmercury.
“Toxicologists have played a major role in identifying the health risks associated with exposure to methylmercury.”
Society of Toxicology on Mercury : A Long-Appreciated Hazard
“Recent research has confirmed that the ethylmercury component found in Thimerosal is less hazardous than methylmercury. These are different compounds and should not be considered as equivalent neurotoxins. Experimental conditions can be created that result in neurological cell dysfunction. However, current literature supports the contention that childhood vaccinations do not deliver a sufficient dose to produce these neurological injuries.
American College of Medical Toxicology on the IOM Report on Thimerosal and Autism
Neither does the American College of Medical Toxicology.
Are you scared to vaccinate and protect your baby because you think she has signs of MTHFR mutations?
What Are the Signs of MTHFR Mutations?
For some reason, some parents get concerned about MTHFR if their baby has:
a stork bite on the back of her neck (nevus simplex or salmon patch) – get it? that’s where the stork carriers the baby to you
a stork bite on the eyelids or forehead, although many people call it an angel’s kiss in these locations
a sacral dimple
a tongue-tie
any facial dimples
a strawberry hemangioma
a prominent blue vein on the bridge of her nose – called a sugar bug, because practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine think that it is linked to a sensitivity to sugar
Not surprisingly, none of the websites who list so-called signs of MTHFR mutations provide any evidence for why they are considered to be signs.
What Are the Real Signs of MTHFR Mutations?
If you are worried about MTHFR mutations, you have likely been warned that they cause a lot of different problems.
In reality, it is only known that MTHFR mutations can cause homocystinuria, a rare disorder of methionine metabolism. So you might expect those who have this mutation to have signs and symptoms of homecystinuria, including long limbs, chest deformities, and scoliosis, similar to Marfan syndrome.
Fortunately, many states now include testing for homecystinuria on their newborn screen.
Where Did the Other MTHFR Indicators Come From?
Some people also think that some common MHTFR polymorphisms, or gene variants, may be weakly associated with cardiovascular disease, migraines, anacephaly, spina bifida, and cleft lip and palate.
But this doesn’t mean that MHTFR mutations caused the child to have spina bifida or cleft lip and palate.
“In general, the following genotypes currently appear unlikely to be of clinical significance: “thermolabile” variant c.665C→T heterozygote, c.1286A→C homozygote, or (c.665C→T); (c.1286A→C) compound heterozygote.”
Hickey et al. on ACMG Practice Guideline: lack of evidence for MTHFR polymorphism testing
These polymorphisms are very common and you are going to find them when you look for them.
More and more studies are now finding that they are not associated with any diseases or extra risk of disease. And any risk for neural tube defects in pregnancy can be eliminated by taking folate supplements, which is now recommended for all pregnant women anyway.
But you now should be able to see where their list of bogus signs of MTHFR mutations came from. If spina bifida is supposed to be associated with MTHFR polymorphisms, then why not sacral dimples? And if cleft lip and palate is supposed to be associated with MTHFR polymorphisms, then why not tongue-tie?
Neither a stork bite nor tongue-tie is a sign of MTHFR mutations. Photo by Vincent Iannelli, MD
What about stork bites, hemangiomas, facial dimples, and the blue vein?
These are some of the most common things that pediatricians point out to parents during their first few appointments. New parents especially what to be reassured that all of these things, which can be very obvious, are eventually going to go away. And fortunately, they typically do – without treatment, although some hemangiomas do require treatment.
In fact, it is estimated that 30 to 50% of newborns have a stork bite. These dilated blood vessels typically go away without treatment. How many people have MHTFR polymorhisms? Yup, 30 to 50%. And no, that doesn’t mean that MHTFR polymorhisms cause stork bites.
Again, since MHTFR polymorhisms are common variants (not mutations that cause disease), you are going to find them associated with many other common conditions.
“Midline lumbosacral skin lesions (e.g., lipomas, dimples, dermal sinuses, tails, hemangiomas, hypertrichosis) are cutaneous markers of spinal dysraphism. A comprehensive review of 200 patients with spinal dysraphism found that 102 had a cutaneous sign. However, many children without spinal dysraphism also have these skin findings.”
McLaughlin et al. on Newborn Skin: Part II. Birthmarks
It is also very possible that folks are misunderstanding a recommendation about warnings for risks of occult spinal dysraphism. This occurs when there is incomplete fusion of the midline elements of the spine, but they are covered by skin, so unlike spina bifida, they are hard to detect. So we look for things like hemangiomas, hypertrichosis (hairy patches), nevus simplex (stork bite), and dimples, etc., as a sign that something might be wrong underneath the skin.
In general, if you have two or more of these skin lesions, a child’s risk for occult spinal dysraphism would be considered high, but, and this is important, the location of the skin lesions is what we look for. They would be over the midline lumbosacral area (the lower back). So an hemangioma on your child’s arm or chest wouldn’t be a risk. Neither would a stork bite on the nape of a baby’s neck or an angel kiss on their forehead.
But now you see the assumed link to MTHFR!
‘They’ think that MTHFR mutations cause spina bifida, so they made the jump to all of these possible signs of occult spinal dysraphism being associated with MTHFR polymorpisms too, even when they aren’t actually signs of occult spinal dysraphism unless they are located on your baby’s lower back.
“MTHFR gene mutations can cause absolutely no symptoms at all. They can also cause severe irreversible health conditions such as Down’s syndrome. Research is still pending on which medical conditions are caused by, or at least partially attributed to, the MTHFR gene mutations. From the partial list I recently went through on Medline, these are the current symptoms, syndromes and medical conditions relating to the MTHFR gene mutations:”
Ben Lynch on MTHFR Mutations and the Conditions They Cause
A lot of what folks think they know about MTHFR mutations comes from Ben Lynch, who has a doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine (ND), recommends that folks get genetic testing, and then tells them all of the things that are wrong with them when the tests come back.
“Many of your health issues spring from a combination of overworked and underworked genes. These issues can often be resolved by supporting your genes—but you don’t know that.”
Ben Lynch on My Mission: Reach Your Genetic Potential
