Dr. Rettig's Comments on Vaccinations

 When it's "back to school time", letters are being sent to parents reminding them about vaccination requirements for attending school.  What they don't say is that there are exemptions allowing for informed consent prior to the "one size fits all" vaccination schedule.  These include medical exemptions for those who are predisposed to adverse reactions and religious exemptions for those whose religion is against vaccination or ingestion of vaccination components.  In sixteen states, including California, there are also philosophical or conscientious belief exemptions.  These allow a parent to make an informed decision about whether they want themselves or their children to be vaccinated.  The laws fall under state, not federal law, although recommendations come from the Centers for Disease Control.  As an incentive, the federal government gives money to states that maintain high vaccination rates and add new vaccine mandates.  Schools receive $102 for every vaccinated student.

 Since the early 1990's, the number of routine vaccines has doubled.  Simultaneously, the rate of autism has gone from one in 2500 children in 1991 to one in 166 in 2005.  About one in 60 children are being diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum disorder, which includes other conditions such as non spoken communication or socialization problems.  Some experts believe the increase in case numbers is due to an improved ability to diagnose these conditions.  Others believe it is due to vaccination ingredients and preservatives.  Vaccines are made of lab-altered viruses or killed bacteria, along with additives such as aluminum, gelatin, antibiotics sorbitol, phenol-xyehtanol, formaldehyde, yeast protein, phosphate, glutamine, and mercury in the form of thimerosal.  Thimerosal, a preservative used to stem fungi and bacterial growth in vaccines, contains ethyl mercury- a potent neurotoxin.  R. Boyd Haley, one of the world's authorities on mercury, said "there are no studies that show thimerosal is safe." 

 According to internal documents from the 1930's at Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company that first developed thimerosal, researchers knew from the beginning that it could cause damage- a fact Eli Lilly did not report in its study declaring that thimerosal is safe.   In 1935, researchers at Pittman-Moore, another vaccine manufacturer, warned Eli Lilly that its claim about thimerosal safety "did not check with ours."  They injected dogs with vaccines containing thimerosal and half became sick.  Pittman-Moore researchers declared thimerosal "unsatisfactory as serum intended for use in dogs."  Although not suited for use in dogs, for decades it was routinely used in vaccinations intended for children. In a 1948 article published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers found that thimerosal was not "highly germicidal and especially does not possess highly germicidal value in the presence of serum and other protein mediums." (which is contrary to their intended purpose).  The researchers also stated "not only is there a direct toxic action of thimerosal on cellular components, there is also the possibility of sensitization (in other words- bad side effects).  These companies have known for years how to make vaccines with other preservatives or single-use vials (single-use vials don't require the use of preservatives to fight germs brought on by multiple-use needle punctures).  This isn't cost effective for pharmaceutical companies, since multiple use vials cost half as much to produce.

 Safety aside, are vaccines truly effective?  There are many questions to ask, such as, why do children still contract the diseases they are vaccinated against?  Was the incidence of diseases declining prior to the advent of a particular vaccine?  Graphs show cases of polio declining prior to the introduction of the vaccine.       How much did sanitation play in the role in the reduction of disease for which we are still vaccinating against? Is "heard immunity" solely responsible for the eradication of these diseases?  Will an informed consent approach to government-led, one size fits all, mass vaccination programs lower the heard immunity effect?  If I choose to not vaccinate my child, will it be a question of state or national health security? Many mass vaccination policies are being written into homeland security policies.  If vaccination works, then an unvaccinated child poses no threat to the vaccinated.

 As a doctor of chiropractic who cares for families and children, I found it imperative to research vaccinations, first as a student of science, then as a doctor and finally as a father responsible for the welfare of my children.  After much research, I became well aware of the political side of the vaccination programs and at times, the documented blatent cover-up of information contrary to the public vaccination policy. Are we willing to sacrifice a child's life in order to keep with current policy?  Are the people in charge too financially involved to make decisions involving vaccination?  Can we ignore the rise of asthma, autism, chronic disease and cancer rates in children? Is the immune system being overstressed?  Is it constantly in defense mode due to the antigens introduced through vaccination, leading to autoimmune disease?

 These are questions we should ask ourselves.  In the State of California, we are allowed to philosophically question the practice of vaccination.  This is a very important decision that only you should make, and it should be an informed decision.