Thursday, December 04, 2008

Hep B Vaccine and Newborns

I just read a blog post from one of my dearest friends and I feel compelled to share it.

~ Janea

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Hep B & Newborns

"Ok, I don't always agree with some of the stuff on his site, but he does have some good things to say, especially about the Hepatitis B vaccine. The numbers seem consistent with others I've seen, & I like the way the article reads. Check it out:

http://v.mercola.com/qa/every-pregnant-woman-needs-to-know-this-2407.aspx

(You may need to highlight, copy & paste.)

Some interesting points from the article:

"Hepatitis B is a rare, mainly blood-transmitted disease. infection that primarily affects the liver and can progress into a chronic infection that can result in cirrhosis that may lead to liver cancer.

Hepatitis B is largely transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids containing the virus. There are only a few ways that you can get this infection:

-Unprotected sexual contact
-Blood transfusions
-Reuse of contaminated needles and syringes
-Vertical transmission from mother to child

Every single one of these risk factors is easily preventable without the use of vaccines. However five years ago the US government made the outrageous and inexcusable recommendation to have all infants immunized with hepatitis B vaccine."

Easily prevented. Note that it's a RECOMMENDATION, not a law. Even with the vaccines that are mandated, THERE ARE EXEMPTIONS.

"In over half the kids the immune protection lasts less than seven years which is well before these kids will need any possible benefits of the vaccine. "

Oh great. Another vaccine that will need booster shots to make protection likely. . . think about THAT. How many adults do you know who keep up on their booster shots to vaccines? Those who live the kind of at-risk lifestyle for Hep B are certainly one of the least likely groups to be up on their booster shots anyways, right? So when they are at most need of protection from the disease, they won't have it. Sounds kind of like the chicken pox vaccine to me.

Besides, if a young child is at risk for exposure to Hep B where a vaccine that's only effective for the first few years of life would be beneficial, it sounds like there are some other problems to be looking at in that situation, eh?

"Some Hepatitis B Vaccines Still Have Mercury"

Yup. This & many other vaccines are still manufactured with mercury, then the mercury is 'removed' but still leaves trace amounts. Even for the vaccines without mercury, there is still the issue of aluminum, formeldahyde, antifreeze, & other human & animal matter.

"Since there are about 4 million children born in the US every year this works out to about one child in every 200 births that develop hepatitis B. As you will see below this number is actually far lower as only 1% of these children develop serious complications or about 4 or 5 kids.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reported over 2,000 total reports of adverse reactions from hepatitis B vaccine in the 0-1 age group, with over 50 deaths reported. Here is the kicker, it is well recognized that this is only about 10% of the actual cases. So if you multiply this by 10 you have 20,000 injured infants from the vaccine.

So as a result of all these immunizations physicians are harming 20,000 infants to protect 5 from serious problems."

I don't even need to say anything about that. The numbers speak for themselves.

Did you know that when a baby is born in the hospital, the typical routine includes your baby receiving this Hep. B vaccine, an injection of Vitamin K (for blood clotting, which of course comes with risks & is very rarely warranted), and ointment in their eyes (which is to protect baby against moms who have gonnorhea. Do you have an STD? Then why are they putting this stuff in your baby's eyes? It has risks too.). Often these things are done to your baby out of routine without asking your permission first.

Things you can do to protect your baby:

-Educate yourself on your options regarding vaccines along with the associated benefits & risks of your options BEFORE birth.

-If you decide to not do the Hep B vaccine or other things like the eye drops or vitamin K, let your care provider know BEFORE birth. Also bring documentation of your informed consent or refusal of these things with you to the hospital & give it to your care providers & nurses before birth.

-If you give birth in a hospital, keep your baby with you at all times. If you are unable to care for your baby immediately due to medications, anesthesia, or surgery, have your partner or other support person accompany your baby at all times to make sure that your baby does not receive these things if you choose. Otherwise, they often get so caught up in their usual routine that it's possible they'll forget you don't want those things.

-If you do decide to vaccinate your child against Hep B or anything else that vaccines are available for, consider a delayed vaccine schedule, particularly one that does not start immediately at birth & only gives one vaccine at a time. A baby's body has enough that it'll be working hard on to adjust to at that time. Spacing out vaccines & only giving one at a time also helps identify specific causes if there are any adverse reactions.

Not all care providers will support your decision to not vaccinate or delay vaccines. If your care provider does not respect your questions, you need to decide between staying with your care provider & being pressured into doing something you don't feel is in your child's best interests, or switching care providers in order to do what you feel is safest for your child. Even if you do decide to vaccinate, this is an important discussion to have. A care provider who insists that you vaccinate or threatens you with 'the law' & doesn't discuss exemptions & options with you may be likely to not support other choices you make in the future. It's part of a healthy parent-child-care provider relationship & keeping lines of communication open.

Remember that persuasion is not communication. If you feel that your care provider is trying to persuade you to vaccinate (or not even acknowledge other options or exemptions), or if you feel you have to work hard to persuade your care provider to discuss your options or research with you, then obviously the lines of communication are not open. Communicating involves asking questions & the willingness to share resources & research.

Ok. Back to your regularly scheduled programming!

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