Tag: vaccine myths

Are Vaccines Tested Together?

If you are on the Fence about vaccines, one issue that might have you scared is that the idea that vaccines aren’t tested together.

So maybe they tested the Prevnar vaccine, but did they test it with the Hib vaccine?

And did they test the Prevnar and Hib vaccine with the Pediarix vaccine?

After all, kids get all of those vaccines at their two, four, and six month well child checkups.

Vaccines Are Tested Together

It is not hard to find evidence that most combinations of vaccines are in fact tested together.

For example (and this is not a complete list):

  • Rotarix was tested with Pediarix (DTaP-HepB-IPV), Prevnar, and Hib
  • Prevnar 13 was tested with DTaP, IPV, hepatitis B and Hib
  • Prevnar 13 was tested with MMR, Varicella, and hepatitis A
  • MenC with DTaP-IPV-HepB-Hib
  • MenC with MMR
  • MMR and Varicella with Hib, Hepatitis B, and DTaP
  • hepatitis A and hepatitis B with either MMR or DTaP-IPV-Hib
  • HPV vaccine for babies
  • Flumist with MMR and Varicella
  • Kinrix (DTaP-IPV) with MMR and Varicella
  • HPV9 with Tdap and Meningococcal vaccines
  • Tdap with influenza vaccine
  • Meningococcal vaccine with influenza vaccine

And even after a vaccine is added to the immunization schedule and it is given together with other vaccines, our post-licensure vaccine safety monitoring systems, from VAERS to the Vaccine Safety Datalink, kick in to make sure that they are indeed safe and effective.

The Myth That Vaccines Aren’t Tested Together

If it is clear that vaccines are in fact tested together, then why do some folks still believe that they aren’t?

Bob Sears appeared on Fox & Friends in 2010 for the segment
Bob Sears appeared on Fox & Friends in 2010 for the segment Vaccines: A Bad Combination?

Hopefully everyone sees the irony in Dr. Bob saying something about vaccines being untested, as he is infamous for pushing his own made up and completely untested alternative vaccine schedule.

“Babies get as many as 6 or 7 vaccines altogether…and the CDC is admitting that they don’t always research them that way.”

Dr. Bob Sears on Fox & Friends Vaccines: A Bad Combination?

When did they admit that???

“We’ve researched the flu vaccine in great detail and it seems safe when it’s given alone, but the CDC has never researched the flu vaccine when you give it in conjunction with all the other infant shots…and that’s what we’re worried about. ”

Dr. Bob Sears on Fox & Friends Vaccines: A Bad Combination?

So, what about the flu vaccine?

A 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine found that there was no evidence that vaccines caused ADHD.
A 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine stated that “Each new vaccine considered for inclusion in the immunization schedule is tested within the context of the existing schedule and reviewed by clinical researchers, who analyze the balance of demonstrated benefits and risks.”

While most kids get their flu vaccine by itself, just before the beginning of flu season, some might get it when they see their pediatrician for a regular checkup, at the same time they are due for other vaccines.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Bob was wrong, and several studies have shown that the flu vaccine can be safely given with other vaccines.

And don’t forget, any problems with co-administration of vaccines would show up in post-licensure vaccine safety testing.

That’s how a very small increased risk of febrile seizures was found during the 2010-11 flu season in toddlers who received either DTaP or Prevnar and a flu shot at the same time.

The very small extra risk doesn’t mean that you still can’t get the vaccines at the same time if your child needs them all though. Remember that febrile seizures “are temporary and do not cause any lasting damage.”

It will be even more reassuring to some parents that another study “examined risk of febrile seizures (FS) after trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) during the 2010-2011 influenza season, adjusted for concomitant diphtheria tetanus acellular pertussis-containing vaccines (DTaP)” and found no extra risk for febrile seizures.

“Vaccines can generally be co-administered (i.e. more than one vaccine given at different sites during the same visit). Recommendations that explicitly endorse co-administration are indicated in the table, however, lack of an explicit co-administration recommendation does not imply that the vaccine cannot be co-administered; further, there are no recommendations against co-administration.”

Summary of WHO Position Papers – Recommendations for Routine Immunization

Also remember that “there are no recommendations against co-administration of vaccines,” unless of course, you are getting your advice from Bob Sears…

 

What To Know About Vaccines Being Tested Together

Vaccines are thoroughly tested for both safety and efficacy and they are also tested in many of the different combinations on the routine childhood immunization schedule.

More On Vaccines Being Tested Together

Vaccines Work

Most people understand that vaccines work.

“…for those trained in pediatrics in the 1970s, Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) was a horror.”

Walter Orenstein, MD

And that they work well.

The Pre-Vaccine Era

Just consider that in the pre-vaccine era, there were:

  • up to 15,000 deaths and 200,000 diphtheria cases each year until the 1940s
  • an average of 175,000 cases of pertussis each year in the early 1940s
  • 1,118 deaths from pertussis in 1950
  • 467 deaths from pertussis in 1955
  • up to 20,000 cases of paralytic polio each year until the early 1950s
  • an average of about 186,000 cases of mumps each year before 1967
  • an average of 40 deaths a year from mumps in the 1960s
  • up to 500 deaths and 500,000 measles cases each year until the early 1960s
  • a rubella epidemic in 1964-65 that caused 12.5 million rubella virus infections and “resulted in 11,250 therapeutic or spontaneous abortions, 2,100 neonatal deaths, and 20,000 infants born with congenital rubella syndrome”
  • up to 20,000 cases of invasive H. influenzae (Hib) disease each year, with more than half of them having meningitis, and about 300 to 600 deaths, mostly children under age 2 years. In 1980, 45 children died with epiglottitis and there were an additional 222 deaths from Hib meningitis.
  • up to 11,000 hospitalizations and 100 chicken pox deaths each year until 1995
  • before 2000, up to 17,000 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in children younger than 5 years each year, including 13,000 cases of bacteria (blood infection) and 700 cases of pneumococcal meningitis, with 200 deaths.
  • just over 400,000 visits to the doctor and up to 272,000 visits to the emergency room, 70,000 hospitalizations and 20 to 60 deaths each year in children under age 5 years because of rotavirus infections until 2006

Although we are seeing more outbreaks of some of these diseases these days, it is important to remember that they in no way resemble the kinds of epidemics that we once saw before today’s vaccines were introduced.

And in addition to smallpox being eradicated, others have really been eliminated, like congenital rubella syndrome, diphtheria, neonatal tetanus, neonatal tetanus, and polio. Still others are well controlled, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and Hib.

The Idea That Vaccines Don’t Work

Could it be that vaccines don’t work and that it was hygiene, sanitation, and better nutrition that caused the decline in many of these cases?

Of course not, but if they did, then why did pertussis cases decline in the 1940s and it wasn’t until the late 1960s and early 1970s that mumps started to decline.

“From the 1930s through the 1950s, state and local health departments made substantial progress in disease prevention activities, including sewage disposal, water treatment, food safety, organized solid waste disposal, and public education about hygienic practices (e.g., foodhandling and handwashing). ”

CDC on Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Control of Infectious Diseases

That’s not to say that we didn’t see a big drop in mortality in nearly all conditions in the first half of the 20th century.

We did have big improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and health care that helped folks survive if they got sick. After all, this was the time that:

  • penicillin was discovered
  • testing could be done to detect and diagnose many infectious diseases
  • they began fortifying milk with vitamin D
  • we had the establishment of hospital blood banks

But even with all of these improvements, people continued to die of diphtheria, measles, and pertussis, etc., even if it wasn’t at 18th or 19th century levels.

Measles mortality was decreasing after the beginning of the 20th Century, but eventually leveled off to about 400 deaths each year in the pre-vaccine era.
Measles mortality was decreasing after the beginning of the 20th Century, but eventually leveled off to about 400 deaths each year in the pre-vaccine era.

In addition to the idea that better sanitation and nutrition got rid of vaccine-preventable diseases, another idea that anti-vaccine folks push is that these diseases disappear because we simply change their names after a vaccine is introduced.

So polio didn’t go away, it became acute flaccid paralysis and Guillian-Barré syndrome.

Measles became roseola.

Smallpox became monkey pox.

And pertussis became croup.

Of course, these ideas are silly.

If better sanitation and nutrition got rid of vaccine-preventable diseases, then why didn’t it get rid of all of them at the same time? And is it just a coincidence that chicken pox, rotavirus, polio, measles, hepatitis B, and Hib all started to decline at about the same time that a vaccine against each disease was introduced?

Also, why hasn’t hygiene, sanitation, and better nutrition helped RSV, HIV, West Nile virus and other non-vaccine preventable diseases disappear

And if we just change the names of diseases to prove that vaccines work, why don’t we change the name of the flu? Or why don’t we introduce an RSV vaccine that doesn’t work and then just change the name of RSV to something else?

Lastly, where are all of the people with monkey pox?

Vaccines Work

Vaccines aren’t perfect. We need boosters for some and are dealing with problems of waning immunity with others.

“The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork. Let’s protect all our kids. #GrandmothersKnowBest”

Hillary Clinton on Twitter

Vaccines aren’t 100% effective. That’s one of the reasons that intentionally unvaccinated people put all of us at risk.

Vaccines are safe though and work very well to protect us from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Without these vaccines, we would be seeing much larger outbreaks of measles, mumps, and pertussis, etc. that are harder to contain. We would also be seeing more deaths and other serious complications from these diseases.

What To Know About How Vaccines Work

Vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary. Vaccines work very well to protect us from the vaccine-preventable diseases that have now either been eliminated or are well controlled at much lower levels than they were at in the pre-vaccine era.

More About Vaccines Work

Are You on the Fence About Vaccines?

If you have doubts about vaccinating your kids, but you are still doing research, then you are probably what people like to call a fence sitter.

On the Fence About Vaccines

Folks who are on the fence haven’t made a decision yet and are torn between what they see as two difficult options.

In this case, the two options we are talking about are:

  1. vaccinate your kids
  2. don’t vaccinate your kids

What makes those options difficult?

If you spend a little time on the Internet, those two options get complicated quickly and can turn into:

  1. vaccinate your kids – exposing them to toxins and all kinds of vaccine-induced diseases, from autism to SIDS
  2. don’t vaccinate your kids – risking a deadly disease because they are unvaccinated or the possibility that someone will come and force you to get them vaccinated

How do you figure out the truth to help you make the right decision for your family?

The Truth Behind Your Vaccine Decision

Most parents vaccinate their kids on time and on schedule.

These books about vaccines can help with your research about vaccinating and protecting your family.
These vaccine books can help you make the right decision if you are on the fence about vaccines.

Do they all have a hard time making their decision?

Most don’t.

They understand the risks their children face if they aren’t vaccinated.

“When a well-meaning parent like Jenny McCarthy blames vaccines for her child’s autism, placing the fear of God into every parent who has a baby, it’s not only irresponsible – it’s dangerous. Why? It’s simple math: vaccines are less effective when large numbers of parents opt out. And the more who opt out, the less protected ALL our children are.

Celebrity books come and go . . . but the anxiety they create lives on in pediatricians’ offices across the country. A small, but growing number of parents are even lying about their religious beliefs to avoid having their children vaccinated, thanks in part to the media hysteria created by this book.”

Ari Brown, MD responding to Jenny McCarthy appearing on Oprah

That’s not to say that they don’t think about their decision to vaccinate their kids. Or even think twice about it.

But in the end, they know that:

  • vaccines work – even if they aren’t perfect and waning immunity is an issue with a few vaccines
  • vaccines are safe – even if they do have some side effects, which can rarely be severe
  • vaccines are necessary – without them, we would end up in like it was in the pre-vaccine era, even with modern health care, nutrition, and sanitation, etc.

And they know that their decision might affect others around them.

If your research about vaccines has pushed you off the wrong side of the fence and into your pediatrician’s office with a copy of Dr. Bob’s vaccine book demanding an alternative immunization schedule, then you might want to do a little more research.

Misinformed Consent

Most importantly, parents who choose to vaccinate their kids don’t believe the myths and conspiracy theories that might lead them to skip or delay any recommended vaccines.

“If you see a turtle sitting on top of a fence post, it didn’t get there by accident.”

President Bill Clinton

Ironically, the anti-vaccine “experts” and websites that scare some parents often talk about choice and informed consent.

Understand though, that by exaggerating the risks of vaccines and vaccine injury (no, vaccines are not full of toxins), playing down the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases (no, they are not mild diseases that should be thought of as a rite of passage), and ignoring the benefits of vaccines (yes, vaccines do work), they are violating the basic tenets of informed consent themselves.

And that limits your ability to make the right choice for your family.

Making the Right Decision About Vaccines

There is nothing wrong with asking questions and being skeptical about the answers you get.

No one wants to return to the days when reports of measles epidemics made the front page of the New York Times.
No one wants to return to the days when reports of measles epidemics made the front page of the New York Times.

With all of the things you see and hear about vaccines, there is nothing wrong with being a little scared and wanting to do more research, instead of blindly following the advice of your pediatrician.

But remember that if you are going to be skeptical and are not going to blindly follow the advice of someone you know and maybe trust, then don’t blindly believe everything you read on the Internet that says vaccines are bad.

“My husband and I agreed we would just not have our new baby vaccinated until she was at least 1 year old, which seemed like enough time to continue looking for information. Also, we were not concerned that she was at risk of contracting any serious childhood illnesses.

We were wrong.

A week before our baby girl’s first birthday, she was feverish and listless. When she refused to nurse for 24 hours, I took her to see our pediatrician. She was hurriedly admitted to intensive care with the diagnosis of spinal meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae, type B, which is a vaccine-preventable disease.”

Suzanne Walther on A Parent’s Decision on Immunization: Making the Right Choice

Suzanne Walther discovered that “it is easy for parents to be misinformed. It is a real challenge to be well informed.”

What questions did she want answers to?

  • Are vaccines really effective at preventing diseases? – Yes, although they aren’t 100% effective, vaccines do work well at preventing and controlling 16 different vaccine-preventable diseases on our childhood immunization schedule. And yes, vaccines did help eliminate smallpox and herd immunity is real.
  • How are vaccines made? – Vaccines are made in a multi-step process that begins with generating the antigens that will go in the vaccine and then moves to releasing and isolating the antigen from the growth medium, purifying the antigen, strengthening and stabilizing the vaccine, and then combining it all into the final vaccine. Unlike videos you may have seen on the Internet, there is nothing scary about this very scientific process.
  • Are they tested for safety? – Vaccines are extensively tested in Phase I, II, and III trials before they are approved and added to the immunization schedule. This entire vaccine development process may take as long as 10 to 15 years.
  • Are there ongoing clinical trials to rule out the possibility that vaccines cause diseases later in life? – Yes, after vaccines are approved and are added to the immunization schedule, ongoing Phase IV studies continue to monitor their safety and efficacy. In addition, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Project, and the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) help make sure vaccines are safe after they are approved.
  • Have allegations of adverse reactions been studied and confirmed or refuted? – Yes. In addition to several Institute of Medicine Vaccine reports, study after study have shown that vaccines don’t cause autism, SIDS, ASIA, or any of the other vaccine induced diseases “they” come up with.
  • And, last but not least, where can I get truthful, clear answers to my questions? – In addition to your pediatrician, there are plenty of vaccine books, sites, and groups that can help you get educated about vaccines.

Today, she might also have had questions about package inserts, aluminum, MTHFR mutations, shedding, vaccine mandates, the CDC Whistleblower, and the HPV vaccine. These and a hundred more have been answered over and over again.

Suzanne Walther learned about vaccines the hard way – after her infant contracted Hib meningitis, a vaccine-preventable disease. She also discovered that you can sometimes delay or wait too long to vaccinate your child.

What will you do to be well informed and to make sure you are making the right choice?

What to Know If You Are on the Fence About Vaccines

It is easy to be misinformed about vaccines, especially if you are on the fence and aren’t sure what to do. Get educated and and be sure you are making the right decision for your family.

More About One the Fence About Vaccines

Who is Meryl Dorey?

Meryl Dorey and her Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network have been found to push misleading and inaccurate information about vaccines.
Meryl Dorey and her AVN have been found to push misleading information about vaccines.

Haven’t heard of Meryl Dorey?

She is the Rosemary Fox of Australia.

Rosemary Fox?

She is the Barbara Loe Fisher of the UK.

Just as Fox formed the Association of Parents of Vaccine Damaged Children and Fisher formed Dissatisfied Parents Together (which later became the NVIC), Meryl Dorey formed the Australian Vaccination Network.

Basically, if you look at their roles in the history of the anti-vaccine movement, they all work to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

Who is Meryl Dorey?

Meryl Dorey takes it to a whole other level though.

“Court orders rape of a child. Think this is an exaggeration? Think again. This is assault without consent and with full penetration too.”

Meryl Dorey

Why was she talking about rape?

A court had sided with a father who wanted his daughter vaccinated, even though his ex-wife, with whom he shared custody, didn’t.

Does that sound anything like rape to you?

Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network

The Australian Vaccination Network was formed in 1994.

The AVN was later ordered to change its name because it was too misleading and they chose the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network.

“Fair Trading acted in this matter after receiving numerous complaints, including from the Australian Medical Association, that the AVN name was misleading given its overwhelming focus on the publication of anti-vaccination messages and information.”

Minister for Fair Trading Agency Anthony Roberts

Of course, they haven’t stopped pushing anti-vaccination misinformation.

And if you didn’t think someone could go lower than the rape analogy, Meryl Dorey has actually harassed a family whose 4-week-old baby died of whooping cough!

What else has she done?

  • when discussing a campaign slogan to help associate vaccines with shaken baby syndrome, Meryl Dorey suggested using “Shaken Maybe Syndrome” as a great sound bite
  • also suggested using the catch phrase “Shaken from the inside” to help highlight what she thinks is the “devastating internal adverse reactions from vaccines” and what are causing shaken baby syndrome
  • Meryl Dorey said that getting measles is the equivalent of getting a hang nail, although “hang nails can be a bit more painful!”

After an investigation in 2014, Meryl Dorey and her group also received a warning from the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission.

“The Commission has established that AVN does not provide reliable information in relation to certain vaccines and vaccination more generally. The Commission considers that AVN’s dissemination of misleading, misrepresented and incorrect information about vaccination engenders fear and alarm and is likely to detrimentally affect the clinical management or care of its readers.

Given the issues identified with the information disseminated by AVN, the Commission urges general caution is exercised when using AVN’s website or Facebook page to research vaccination and to consult other reliable sources, including speaking to a medical practitioner, to make an informed decision.

The Commission has recommended that AVN amend its published information with regard to the above issues and the Commission will monitor the implementation of these recommendations.”

NSW Health Care Complains Commission on the AVN

Most recently, Meryl Dorey’s group hosted the Vaxxed Down Under Tour, which ended up getting Polly Tommey, one of the producers, banned from returning to Australia for at least three years!

What To Know About Meryl Dorey

Like most folks in the anti-vaccine movement, Meryl Dorey and her AVN group push “misleading, misrepresented and incorrect information about vaccination” that helps scare parents away from the vaccines that could help protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases.

More on Meryl Dorey

Who is Julie Gerberding?

Dr, Julie Gerberding was the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2002 to 2009, when she was replaced by Tom Frieden.

Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH

A medical doctor with a Masters in Public Health, who had done a fellowship in clinical pharmacology and infectious diseases, she was well trained for the notable issues she faced during her tenure include anthrax bioterrorism, avian flu, SARS, natural disasters, and concerns about autism and vaccines.

Gerberding's CDC did a lot of work to get autistic kids diagnosed early including the 'Learn the Signs, Act Early' campaign.
Gerberding’s CDC did a lot of work to get autistic kids diagnosed early, including starting the ‘Learn the Signs, Act Early’ campaign.

One thing in particular that anti-vaccine folks continue to bring up is the mistaken idea that Dr. Gerberding actually said that vaccines cause autism on CNN following the Hannah Polling case.

GUPTA: And one of those 4,900 cases was the case of nine-year-old Hannah Polling, which has been making a lot of news lately. Luckily, we have the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding here.

We’re talking a lot about autism, as you know. I should remind people that the — my understanding is the federal government conceded that vaccines caused her autism like symptoms. First of all, is there a difference? I mean, does she have autism or autism like symptoms? What’s the difference?

JULIE GERBERDING, DR., CDC DIRECTOR: Well, you know, I don’t have all the facts because I still haven’t been able to review the case files myself. But my understanding is that the child has a — what we think is a rare mitochondrial disorder. And children that have this disease, anything that stresses them creates a situation where their cells just can’t make enough energy to keep their brains functioning normally. Now, we all know that vaccines can occasionally cause fevers in kids. So if a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines. And if you’re predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism.

GUPTA: Yes, I have a two-and-a-half-year-old and a one-year-old as you know. And you know, you know, you think about this all the time. Are we ready to say right now as things stand that childhood vaccines do not cause autism?

GERBERDING: What we can say absolutely for sure is that we don’t really understand the causes of autism. We’ve got a long way to go before we get to the bottom of this. But there have been at least 15 very good scientific studies on the Institute of Medicine who have searched this out. And they have concluded that there really is no association between vaccines and autism.

As many people are aware, Hannah Polling was awarded compensated for a table injury in Vaccine Court. She was not awarded compensated because vaccines caused her to be autistic.

And Dr. Gerberding certainly did not admit or say that vaccines cause autism. You can read that into her statements during the CNN interview if you like, but that isn’t what she said.

She also did not resign “in shame from her post under the Obama regime as director of the CDC in 2009 to return to Merck’s vaccine division.”

As often happens when a new president is elected, President Obama simply brought in a new team to the CDC and many other agencies after he was inaugurated on January 2009.

Dr. Gerberding was appointed by President George Bush.

And while she did become the president of Merck’s vaccine division, it wasn’t a return. She had been at the CDC since 1998 and before that, she directed the Prevention Epicenter at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

Dr. Gerberding is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer, Strategic Communications, Global Public Policy, and Population Health at Merck, where she also has responsibility for the Merck for Mothers program and the Merck Foundation.

What To Know About Julie Gerberding

The first woman to lead the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding is an infectious disease expert with a Masters in Public Health who is now the the Executive Vice President at Merck. She never said that vaccines could trigger autism while on CNN or anywhere else.

More Information About Julie Gerberding

Competing Anti-Vaccine Autism Theories

Vaccines don’t cause autism.

We know that.

donald-trump

Well, most of us know that.

But did you know that there are actually competing theories from anti-vaccine folks about how they think vaccines ’cause autism?’

Wakefield and MMR Causes Autism Theory

On one side, you have the followers of Andrew Wakefield who think that the MMR vaccine is to blame.

To be clear, they seem to think that the problem isn’t necessarily vaccines, but rather the combination of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines into one.

“Again, this was very contentious and you would not get consensus from all members of the group on this, but that is my feeling, that the, the risk of this particular syndrome developing is related to the combined vaccine, the MMR, rather than the single vaccines.”

Andrew Wakefield

Wakefield had even filed a patent on his own vaccine replacement – a measles vaccine.

No, Thimerosal Causes Autism Theory

Then you have folks like Robert F Kennedy, Jr who claim that it is thimerosal in vaccines, which was actually removed in the late 1990s, that is to blame.

The thing is, although RFK, Jr believes that kids are still exposed to lots of thimerosal in vaccines, the MMR never ever contained thimerosal. So, if the MMR vaccine causes autism, it isn’t because of thimerosal.

And if thimerosal causes autism, then you can’t really blame the MMR vaccine…

No, Glyphosate Causes Autism Theory

And believe it or not, some folks don’t even blame vaccines!

Dr. Stephanie Seneff, with a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, believes that exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is causing kids to become autistic.

“Is there a toxic substance that is currently in our environment on the rise in step with increasing rates of Autism that could explain this?… The answer is yes, I’m quite sure that I’m right, and the answer is glyphosate.”

Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D.

Well, they still blame vaccines.

They think vaccines are contaminated with glyphosate.

Stephanie Seneff actually believes that autism will “afflict 50% of American children by 2025.”

That’s right, she thinks half of all kids will be autistic in just 8 years.

It’s Everything About Vaccines That Causes Autism Theory

And lastly, you have folks who just want to blame anything and everything about vaccines.

They may have blamed the MMR vaccine or thimerosal at one time, but may have moved on to other vaccine ingredients, like aluminum or formaldehyde, or simply getting too many vaccines at the same time.

Or they may believe in combinations of theories, with all of the ‘toxins‘ in vaccines supposedly having a synergistic effect – causing autism.

In many cases, they might not even be sure what it is about vaccines that causes autism, but they are still sure it is vaccines.

Why are there so many competing theories about how vaccines could cause autism?

Could it be because vaccines don’t cause autism?

What To Know About Anti-Vaccine Autism Theories

Whichever anti-vaccine expert is pushing their theory, remember that vaccines still don’t cause autism.

For More Information on Anti-Vaccine Autism Theories

Who was Ignaz Semmelweis?

Anti-vaccine folks don’t seem to like most medical doctors.

There are some that they simply love though.

No, I’m not talking about Andrew Wakefield…

This is about Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis.

Never heard of him?

Who was Ignaz Semmelweis?

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor in the early to mid 19th century who discovered that hand washing with a chlorine solution before surgery and delivering babies could keep people from getting sick and dying, including the women who gave birth in Dr. Semmelweis’ maternity ward.

“Due to his new ideas and his passionate tone his views were rejected and attacked by the majority of Hungarian doctors and doctors from abroad as well.”

Semmelweis University on Ignác Semmelweis

Surprisingly, no one believed him.

Why not?

Although the germ theory of disease was first proposed in 1546 by the Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro, in the early 19th century, most people still believed in the miasmatic theory of the Greek physician Galen of the early Roman Empire.

In 1847, most people didn’t even know about bacteria yet, even though Antonie van Leeuwenhoek had seen them in his microscopes and described them as early as 1676.

So if you believed that the miasma, or bad air, caused disease, what difference would it make if you washed your hands? And would you really believe Semmelweis and his new theory that medical students were carrying “cadaverous particles” on their hands from the autopsy room to the delivery room and making new mothers sick?

Doctors at the time didn’t think that childbed fever was contagious anyway.

What is childbed fever? It is a postpartum infection of the uterus or genital tract that is usually caused by streptococcal bacteria, and which can lead to sepsis.

“Semmelweis’s findings did not immediately improve sanitary conditions in hospitals, but surgeons gradually adopted aseptic and antiseptic techniques and became leading innovators of techniques to reduce patients’ susceptibility to postoperative infections.”

Richard E Dixon, MD  on Control of Health-Care-Associated Infections, 1961-2011

He should have been believed, as he was able to correlate lower death rates in the maternity wards with hand washing, but he likely wasn’t because he never proved causation.

“By nature I am averse to all polemics. This is proven by my having left numerous attacks unanswered. I believed that I could leave it to time to break a path for the truth.”

Ignaz Semmelweis in The Etiology, Concept, and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever

Another problem?

Semmelweis didn’t answer all of the attacks of his critics, including that a large number of women in his maternity wards died between 1856 and 1858, even though the doctors were washing their hands. The deaths were later traced to poorly laundered linen though, not the doctors, after the laundry service for the hospital had been “released to the minimum bidder.”

Semmelweis published his book The Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever in 1860.
Semmelweis waited 13 years to publish his book, The Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever.

It also didn’t help that he waited years to formally publish anything about his work. In fact, his treatise, The Etiology, Concept, and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever, wasn’t published until 1860, which amazingly, is 13 years after he made his discovery!

There was also a lot of political stuff going on in Hungary and the Austrian Empire at the time, including the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

So instead of doctors believing him, he was said to have been driven out of the medical profession, although he still taught medical students, and he eventually died in an insane asylum.

It was at about this time that Louis Pasteur was doing his experiments on germs, disease, and pasteurization. Also, Robert Koch and his Koch’s postulates would soon help doctors and scientists identify which germs were causing a specific disease. And it wasn’t long before Joseph Lister promoted the ideas of antiseptic surgery.

“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.”

Pierre Pachet

That’s not to say that everyone believed Pasteur, Koch, or Lister right away either.

The Semmelweis Reflex

Although most people didn’t believe him before he died, a paradigm shift soon came and Semmelweis became known as one of the early pioneers of antiseptic policies and procedures.

This reactionary short-sightedness gave rise to the the term The Semmelweis Reflex: “the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms.”

Carl Hendrick on The Semmelweis Reflex

The Semmelweis Reflex.

There’s your explanation for why anti-vax folks like to invoke Ignaz Semmelweis.

They think that since the ideas of Semmelweis were rejected, but ultimately proven to be right, then every crank and quack who thinks that vaccines don’t work, that vaccines are full of toxins, or that vaccines cause autism must be right too.

And since most are also anti-vaccine, all of the people who believe in autism bio-med cures must be right too.

“Today’s vaccine injury denialism is a modern-day Semmelweis reflex. Pediatricians who care passionately about the welfare of children understandably find repulsive the idea that autism is largely iatrogenic.”

Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland in Vaccine Epidemic

They are all Semmelweis!

Of course they aren’t.

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis had data and statistics showing that he was right. On the other hand, we have data and statistics showing that the anti-vax heroes, including those who push autism biomed cures, these Semmelweis wannabes, are wrong.

“This rhetorical sleight-of-hand, which is sometimes referred to as the Semmelweis Strategem, is a variation of the Galileo Gambit, whereby someone whose work is debunked argues that the fact that Galileo’s work was also debunked proves he is actually correct. Semmelweis is frequently invoked by anti-vaccinationists.”

Seth Mookin in The Panic Virus

Want to know the real irony in their invoking Semmelweis?

Many anti-vaccine folks don’t even believe in germ theory!

That’s right, germ theory denialism is a thing, with advocates discounting the work of Joseph Lister, Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur, and Ignaz Semmelweis.

What To Know About Ignaz Semmelweis

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was ahead of his time in the mid-19th Century when he tried to get doctors to wash their hands to avoid getting their patients sick.

More About Ignaz Semmelweis