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A New Outlook on Vaccines and
Health
By Akil Nurse
1 ABSTRACT
The following is intended to inform the public on the topic of vaccination in the United States
and possibly the world based on the new information concerning the MMR study done in 2004.
Also it is a call for critical thinkers, those who have the will and means to inform and excite
others, to help begin a change that will help our future. First we will briefly focus on the history
of the benefits of vaccination. We will then touch on the vaccine controversy/ debate. We will
then examine what new findings have indicated. Finally we discuss a possible solution; and a
call for a “Gold Standard” of quality for vaccine ingredients.
2 INTRODUCTION
Vaccines are considered one of the most important public health successes of the last
century. They have led to significant reductions in morbidity and mortality from many
infectious diseases. The success of vaccination programs depends not only on a vaccines’
effectiveness, but also their safety. As vaccine-preventable diseases become increasingly
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unusual, the public becomes less familiar with these diseases and consequently focuses
more intently on vaccine safety. Widespread concerns about the occurrence of adverse
events can lead to a loss of confidence in the safety of vaccines, lower vaccination rates
and resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases.1
The safety of vaccines is assessed through rigorous clinical trials before they are
licensed. However, clinical trials primarily focus is on efficacy; they generally lack
adequate sample size and they may also have insufficient follow-up time to identify rare
adverse events or those with delayed onset. Further, inclusion in pre-licensure trials is
typically limited to healthy individuals, and trials often specifically exclude specific
vulnerable sub-populations, such as pregnant women, for whom a vaccine may be
indicated. Thus, monitoring vaccines once they are used in the general population is
required to detect rare adverse reactions, those that may occur long after vaccination,
and those that may affect specific sub-populations.2
1
Michael M. McNeil, Julianne Gee, Eric S. Weintraub, Edward A. Belongia, Grace M. Lee, Jason M. Glanz, James D.
Nordin, Nicola P. Klein, Roger Baxter, Allison L. Naleway, Lisa A. Jackson, Saad B. Omer, Steven J. Jacobsen, Frank
DeStefano, The Vaccine Safety Datalink: successes and challenges monitoring vaccine safety, Vaccine, Volume 32,
Issue 42, 22 September 2014, Pages 5390-5398, ISSN 0264-410X, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.07.073.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X14010251)
Keywords: Surveillance; Vaccine safety; Immunization
2
Ibid.
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The effectiveness of a vaccine is solely based on one determining factor; whether or not
the vaccine creates an antibody response. If the vaccine is shown to stimulate antibodies
then the vaccine is labeled as being effective. However, although a response is
generated, immunity and most of all safety is not guaranteed. The body has several
layers of the immune system that vaccines circumvent. Just because an anti-body
response is present lifetime immunity is not guaranteed (like in natural immunity), thus
the need for booster shots.
3 PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE/APPROACHES
The pro vs anti vaccine debate is a long and complicated issue. The issue seems to
polarize people to one side or the other without coming to a conclusion on what the
issue really is or what we can do to finally put it to rest. For further understanding on
the history of vaccination and the nature of the issue we must go into an overview of
what the main points of the issue encompass. We will then compare our new findings
concerning vaccines to the old and devise a way to properly deal with the issue.
Pro vaccine approach
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The pro vaccination view of the issue concerning vaccination is as follows. It seems to be
that the parties that are for vaccination revolve around a few simple yet important ideas.
It is a known fact and no small thing that since the invention and use of vaccination; we
have been able to completely eradicate smallpox and drastically reduce the occurrences
of viruses that at one point in time took the lives of many young children in the United
States of America. The pro vaccine party has made this their central resolve and firmly
stand by it and the following:

Vaccines can save children’s lives

The ingredients in vaccines are safe in the amounts used

Major medical organizations state that vaccines are safe

Adverse reactions to vaccines are extremely rare

Vaccines protect the “herd”

Vaccines save children and their parents time and money

Vaccines protect future generations

Vaccine-preventable diseases have not disappeared so vaccination is still
necessary
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
Vaccines provide economic benefits for society
Anti-vaccine approach
The anti-vaccination view of the issue concerning vaccination is as follows. Vaccines are
becoming unnecessary and they may be contributing to long term harm. This is what
those of the anti-vaccination party propose and hold firm to. The thought is that some
viruses that we are vaccinated against are not life threatening, or occur so rarely that
exposure to the vaccine itself may be putting people at risk of getting sick. The main
reason for the anti-vaccination stand is that vaccines contain multiple additives that are
proven to cause cancer in humans, or to be cytotoxic (it kills cells). These agents are
being directed into the bloodstream and are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, it
stands to say that they can have a quick and direct effect contributing to brain damage
and poisoning. The anti-vaccine party has made this their central resolve and firmly
stand by it and the following:

Vaccines can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects

Vaccines contain harmful ingredients
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
The government should not intervene in personal medical choice

Mandatory vaccine infringe upon constitutionally protected religious freedoms

Vaccines can contain ingredients some people consider immoral or otherwise
objectionable

Vaccines are unnatural, and natural immunity is more effective than vaccination

The pharmaceutical companies, FDA, and CDC should not be trusted to make
and regulate safe vaccines

Diseases that vaccines target have essential disappeared

Most diseases that vaccines target are relatively harmless in many cases, thus
making vaccines unnecessary
4 NEW KNOWLEDGE
The new information as of 2014 concerning vaccinations is quite simple but puts
everything into perspective. What follows is a quote from William Thompson, a senior
scientist with the CDC, released through his lawyer.
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“My name is William Thompson. I am a Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, where I have worked since 1998.
I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004
article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African
American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased
risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after these data
were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed….My concern
has been the decision to omit relevant findings in a particular study for a particular sub
group for a particular vaccine. There have always been recognized risks for vaccination
and I believe it is the responsibility of the CDC to properly convey the risks associated
with receipt of those vaccines.”3
If there was no link between vaccination (and more specifically the chemical additives in
vaccines) and autism then there should never be a link associated in scientific finding.
In scientific findings nothing is 100% “proven”, however results in data must fall at least
3
http://www.morganverkamp.com/august-27-2014-press-release-statement-of-william-w-thompson-ph-dregarding-the-2004-article-examining-the-possibility-of-a-relationship-between-mmr-vaccine-and-autism/
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in the 95% confidence interval if not in the 99% confidence interval according to
statistical significance testing. Results indicating less than 95% confidence leaves too
much up for chance and is not considered significant. The cause of Autism is said to be
unknown and assumed to be a genetic disorder, however the genes have yet to be
identified. If autism was purely genetic then a child would be predisposed to the
condition before being born, thus making the effect of a vaccine almost irrelevant.
However, what we can see from this new information is that the scientist found that the
effect of receiving this particular vaccine was statistically significant but chose/or were
forced to omit the data. Not only did it prove that vaccines (mmr in this case) are
strongly linked with autism but also that in certain sub groups (in this case African
American males 3 years and younger) are at a significantly increased risk of being
autistic after receiving the vaccine (340% increase in this case). This suggest that even if
Autism is partially due to genetics, something in the vaccination is directly contributing
to an increase in the prevalence of the disorder.
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Viruses themselves have not been shown to contribute to such mental disorders, so it
has to be something else in the vaccine that is triggering such a response. It is well
known that there are many thing in vaccines that are harmful to humans such as:

Thimerosal- An organic mercury-contain substance used as a preservative.
Mercury is a heavy metal similar to lead, and is very poisonous to humans.

Formaldehyde- A known human carcinogen (cancer causing agent) which is
often used to preserve dead bodies.

Aluminum hydroxide- An injectable aluminum that stays in the system and is
shown to cause motor neuron and brain damage in laboratory mice.
5 DEALING WITH THE ISSUE
Enough is not being done to ensure the safety of America’s children. With the proliferation of
vaccination not only in America but also around the world, the FDA and CDC have to put profit
aside and do the job that they were intended to do. We are the people who have allowed these
organizations to be established and continue to exist. We give them the authority to make
health and wellness decisions on our behalf. Their goal then should be 100 percent for the
health and safety of the American people.
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Unfortunately there is a substantial amount of money to be made in the pharmaceutical
industry and in particular vaccinations. Many pharmaceutical executives hold positions in our
government and even in the CDC itself. We can then see why the rigorous testing described in
the introduction must be overlooking some key information that would prevent the CDC and
FDA to disallow theses vaccines from going to market.
We should get our state representatives to begin the process of signing into law a bill that
would stop people in the pharmaceutical industry from holding government positions
pertaining to anything affiliated with the CDC or FDA. There is clearly a conflict of interest with
far reaching negative consequences. We must also propose a Gold Standard that is set by
possibly a third party to evaluate the safety of any new vaccinations. Clearly the standard we
hold today is made by the people building and selling the vaccines, profit is their main goal. The
standard that we are told is safe clearly isn’t; based off of thousands of testimonies and the
yearly rising statistics of autistic children.
The third thing we can do is revise the vaccine schedule. Currently in 2014 children receive
about 31 doses of vaccines by the age of 6 if their parent’s follow the recommended
vaccination schedule. This is a drastic increase considering that in 1980 children only received
about 9 doses of vaccines by age 5. We should reserve vaccination for life threatening illnesses
only.
Lastly, on an individual level we have to choose what is best for ourselves and for our children.
I hope however that this message reaches someone with the will and means to bring about
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some reform because the options of possibly harming a child from not vaccinating or harming a
child from vaccinating is hardly a choice.
6 CONCLUSION
In conclusion I have set before you a roadmap of vaccination, past and present. No matter your
educational background you should be able to grasp the information held in this document, and
hopefully it will make you aware for your own sake and active for the sake of others. In case
you forgot anything let us revisit the main points.
Vaccines are an amazing accomplishment for the human race. It has been successful in the
eradication of one disease from our planet and has subdued many. There was and continues to
be a polarizing debate between the pros and cons of vaccines without any effort to come to a
resolution. I have listed the main points of each side for you. I then showed you that because
data supporting a significant finding was covered up in 2004, this debate was able to thrive for
10 years. This particular study concerning the MMR vaccine has been the primary fuel to say
that people against vaccines were somehow, less than intelligent for pointing out toxic
chemicals on the ingredient list for vaccines. With the new information the world can finally put
the debating to rest and come to a conclusion. We have to hold the organizations that
determine the safety of our drugs to a higher standard than they have ever been held before.
The bottom line being that the human race cannot become guinea pigs for lack luster work
done by the people expected to protect us.