There is a special place in my soul for the Hepatitis B vaccine. It’s not the “rainbows and unicorns” part of my soul. It’s more like this part…
I was not born a warrior; actually, I was never much of a scrapper at all. But even my “non-confrontational” self did not see a purpose for a vaccination against Hepatitis B for my firstborn. But that — and the rest of my birth plan — was ridiculed by my second-string OB/GYN. So, because of the aforementioned personality trait, I caved.
Fast forward 11 years, and I’m stunned this vaccine is still on the schedule for newborns. Worldwide there is disdain for this vaccine. France suspended the use of this vaccine and this article in The Journal of Clinical Virology examines the ongoing skepticism held for this particular vaccination. Japan, a country that does not make vaccination mandatory, does not include the Hep B vaccination on its list of recommended vaccinations. But somehow, it is still given to all newborns in the U.S. –- regardless of health status. The fight against this vaccine has been herculean. So really, what the hell can I add to all of this? I mean seriously, Michael Belkin sits with his statistical models showing that the rate of Hep B infection the CDC is using to push the use of this vaccine is simply incorrect when compared with their own MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report). He’s crunching numbers like Thor, while crickets chirp in the background… and I think that I’m going to change something? Seriously, that is the thought that crossed my mind when starting this blog. But I feel compelled to go on. So I decided to issue a challenge to any Thinking Person that is up for it: get an expectant mom (and/or dad) to THINK about the Hep B vaccine. Really THINK. Really RESEARCH. Just one.
It means talking about it. It means taking that chance to look like the crazy cat lady. It means taking a chance that you and your ideas will be rejected. It means putting on some warrior paint and going for it. Not my strong suit, but if I can do it, I know you can.
Here are the facts that, if presented to me 12 years ago, would have had given me a different attitude and some strength when the eye rolls were directed my way regarding my wishes to defer the Hep B.
Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood and semen according to the CDC. So, typically, you have to share needles or engage in multiple-partner risky sexual behavior. Some medical personnel are at risk due to their exposure to blood. Remember that exposure to blood or semen has to come through contact with an open wound or a mucus membrane. This is the same way HIV is spread. And yes, similarly to HIV, Hep B is present in saliva in detectable quantities, but that is not a viable transmission route because the viral concentration is low. So why are newborn infants receiving this vaccine? Even 80% of the docs in France that were willing to give this shot to older patients were not willing to give it to newborns, according in the Journal of Clinical Virology. Mainly the shot is designed to protect babies born to moms who are Hep B positive. Kissing, coughing, sneezing, holding hands, etc. are not transmission routes.
I suppose it would make sense if they were trying to get everyone vaccinated at birth, so that they would be protected when they were more likely to move on to more risky activities. But wait! According to the insert for Merck’s Recombivax Hep B vaccine less than half of the 3000 five to nine-year-olds they tested, who had received the three-shot series as infants, had titer levels suggesting immunity to Hepatitis B, which suggests that immunity does not hold. Interestingly, the Merck insert for the MMRII indicates that children given that vaccine at six months or younger show a much lower immune response to it. The insert suggests two possible reasons: Maternal immunity may interfere with the vaccine, and an immature immune system may not be able to respond to the vaccine. Apples and oranges, I realize, but the same reasons may factor into the lack of immunity achieved in this Brazilian study. This study looks at the seroconversion (measurable immunity after a vaccination) of 174 infants that received the Hep B vaccine. By age THREE over 50% had a seroconversion rate below the level that would protect them from the disease. Again, I’m having trouble seeing why a family with a low-to-no risk factor for Hep B would allow their newborn infant to receive this vaccine.
What are the risks associated with this vaccine? I turn to Michael Belkin to open the risks section as he has devoted his life to this issue. Mr. Michael Belkin is a statistician and a father who lost his five-week-old daughter to the Hep B vaccine in 1998. His fight to shed light on the dangers of the Hep B birth vaccination has been tireless. Watch him in action at the 2:44 minute mark. Shortly after his daughter’s death, Belkin attended a workshop given by the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine entitled “Vaccine Safety Forum – Neonatal Deaths.” This session was scheduled to address the serious concern of the alarming number of deaths and injuries to babies from the birth Hep B shot. You can read more about it here. Belkin discusses how the CDC representative at the conference discussed that VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a voluntary government safety surveillance program) only shows 19 neonatal deaths related to the Hep B vaccination since the inception of the birth dose. Belkin’s analysis –- from raw data he obtained via a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request –- showed 54 deaths during a much shorter 18-month time frame and 17,000 adverse events! (The VAERS database is accessible to the general public here, or a much more user-friendly interface with the database here.
A review of the Merck Recombivax insert, lists adverse events that occurred following vaccination. They include: Guillain-Barré Syndrome; multiple sclerosis; exacerbation of multiple sclerosis; myelitis including transverse myelitis; seizure; febrile seizure; peripheral neuropathy including Bell’s Palsy; radiculopathy; herpes zoster; migraine; muscle weakness; hypesthesia; and encephalitis. Those are just the events that are listed under NEUROLOGICAL. Read the insert — if you’ve never read a vaccine insert, you need to read the insert — and keep in mind, that just like the Recombivax, most vaccines have not been tested for their carcinogenic, mutangenic properties or their effect on fertility. Just sayin’.
Three other papers on the Hepatitis B shot found double the chance of liver problems vs non-Hep B vaccinated infants, a threefold increase in autism over peers who did not receive the birth Hep B and hepatitis (yes, hepatitis) and gastrointestinal disease. Go to PubMed and look around for yourself.
The paper that nearly sent me over the edge was one that studied “infant” monkeys receiving a vaccine schedule similar to the one US infants received from 1994-1999 that showed several shocking revelations. The most devastating to me was the primates’ loss of survival reflexes after receiving the Hep B birth shot. This is exactly what we experienced with my son 30 hours after his birth. He was a champ in the nursing arena immediately after birth. I wondered why so many women had trouble nursing. Then, during our second day in the hospital, it all changed. We couldn’t get him to turn to the breast. He constantly fell asleep at the breast. He developed jaundice — And SCREAMED. We spent the next six weeks watching his weight, working on getting him to feed, pumping and syringing breast milk into his body, and being told that he had colic and that feeding issues were normal for new moms (it’s a wonder our species is not extinct, then). It was a nightmare. And every time I see an article online about the Hep B, I find that I am not alone in my experience. Dozens of moms post the same experience in the comments. This article from Age of Autism explains the findings more in depth, and addresses some of the controversy of the study.
Let’s hear from Michael Belkin one more time: “In 1996, only 54 cases of Hepatitis B were reported to the CDC in the 0-1 age group. There were 3.9 million births that year, so the observed incidence of hepatitis B in the 0-1 age group was just 0.001%. In the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), there were 1,080 total reports of adverse reactions from Hepatitis B vaccine in 1996 in the 0-1 age group, with 47 deaths reported. For 1996, total VAERS Hepatitis B reports for the 0-1 age group outnumber reported cases of the disease 20 to 1.”
So, um, yeah…there is some risk, other than swelling at the injection site, to receiving the Hep B vaccine. Keep in mind that if your child does experience a “bad reaction” to any vaccine, no one who manufactures or administers that shot has any liability. None. Read more about that by clicking here.
Let’s recap: The immunity to the shot bottoms out at about 50% after 3 to 9 years; the newborn population is at low risk for contracting the disease, and there is a pretty controversial safety record to this shot. But talking about this to an expectant mom, makes you about as popular as a turd in a punchbowl.
That pre-parenthood, pregnancy period of life is a time of fuzzy ducklings and boundless possibilities. Keep your Debbie Downer vibes to yourself! But I tell you what, I sure as shit wish someone had sat me down in 2001 and talked to me in a “scared straight” sorta way. I would have damn well done more research, and let the “Best Baby Names of the New Millennium” and “Car Seat Buyer’s Guide” wait another month.
Give them the gift of information. And really, there is NO END to the information on this subject. From both sides. Many folks argue that the average person is not equipped to make this “sophisticated” and “complicated” decision. I cry bullshit.
The REAL problem (or I should say, the NEXT problem) is what happens if a family decides to “pass” on the Hep B vaccination. This becomes a type of “lifestyle” decision. You step into a new realm or category as parents and people. You and I know that the decision to reject or delay vaccination is not always welcomed with open arms –- and new parents may not be prepared for this kind of negativity. There may be disdain for the choice to not provide the birth dose of Hep B, or the hospital may not care one way or the other, but they are so used to giving it that it might “just happen” as part of the standard operating procedure. Oopsie, so sorry! Communicating your wishes to your doctor(s) and nurses at the hospital is key. Many families print signs to place on the newborn’s bassinet at the hospital and make sure the child goes nowhere without a parent. Releases have to be signed and Vaccine Information Statements must be presented, but many times paperwork is assumed to have been completed. Most prenatal care includes a Hep B test for the expectant mother. But have your test results with you, as your status may be called into question as part of the reason to vaccinate. And if you are planning a home birth, plan for the unexpected and have some of the above items in your emergency “go bag.” Finally, know your state law; many states give you three months after the birth of a child to start the Hep B series.
Which brings us to vaccine exemptions and required vs. recommended vaccinations. And, unfortunately, sometimes the unthinkable happens and hospitals get very aggressive about a newborn receiving the Hep B.
So it’s really not enough to just ask an expectant family to THINK about the Hep B vaccine, you need to give them the tools needed to navigate the system they are entering. It is a system of profits, efficiencies, legal consul and the “greater good”. As new parents, they need to understand FROM DAY ONE that nobody has their child’s well-being in mind more than they do. Nobody. Then they need a support system to help them navigate an unsupportive system. You can do that. Or just send them the link to this blog. I don’t care if people think I’m wearing a tinfoil hat — especially if it gets expectant parents to think. Even just one!
~LuvBug
For more blogs by LuvBug click here.
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Happy dance!! I just heard from a friend who told me that she read this a few days before her daughter’s 3 year appointment: and she declined the Hep B vax. YAY!!!!
Keep doin’ what you’re doin’, Thinkers!!
Woohoo! Thanks, Allie! Keep doing what you’re doing, too!
Here is some data on the absolute insanity of injecting a “vaccine” into a newborn who is not ready to have his/her largely nonfunctional immune system tampered with; as if any of us are. Newborns are designed to receive almost all immune protection in their mother’s milk.
http://healthyprotocols.com/2_vac_bep%20B.htm
“As I understand it, there is still a small amount of mercury in the Hep B- more than toxicologists believe is safe for newborns.”
Yes I believe you are correct as I understand it a “vaccine” may contain any amount of mercury or any other toxic “ingredient” less than 1 mcg and it need not be listed as an ingredient and may be called an “impurity”. Neat eh? I have not seen a quantitative analysis of a formerly mercury containing “vaccine” to the nanogram level, which would settle the the issue.
They have reduced the amount of mercury in many “vaccines” but since aluminum potentates the toxic action of mercury we still have the issue “vaccines” or combinations of “vaccines” containing a toxic load of combined mercury AND aluminum. The amount of aluminum from “vaccines’ has been steady rising.
They can also count on kids getting enough mercury in their yearly 25 mcg “seasonal flu vaccine”.
“Pure thimerosal is toxic at the low nanomolar level – an extremely low concentration, about 10,000 times less than the thimerosal concentration found in most vaccines.” Doctor J. Curtis Pendergrass and Doctor Boyd Haley Kentucky University
“A small dose of mercury that kills 1 in 100 rats and a dose of aluminum that will kill 1 in 100 rats, when combined have a striking effect: all the rats die. Doses of mercury that have a 1 percent mortality will have a 100 percent mortality rate if some aluminum is there. Vaccines contain aluminum.” Dr. Donald W. Miller, Jr., Mercury on the Mind, http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller14.html, Note both mercury and aluminum are found in MANY “vaccines”
http://healthyprotocols.com/2_mercury.htm
Lou, excellent points. There is also no oversight whatsoever on the ACTUAL amounts of mercury that end up in the vaccines. When thimerosal was “removed” from vaccines, the manufacturers were required to file their “process” for removal with the FDA. NO ONE actually checks to make sure the mercury IS removed. And, as other have noted, multi-vial vaccines are frequently not shaken enough and the heavy mercury settles to the bottom making the LAST vaccination far more toxic than the FIRST one. (And, in case anyone’s wondering, that info came STRAIGHT from the FDA area that should be in charge of making sure the thimerosal has been removed.)
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Thanks for posting! I think it’s important to know that regardless if your newborn gets the Hep B shot in the hospital, they get it again at 2 mos shots. I have a 5 yr old that has been fully vaccinated. I have a 2 yr old that has been vaccinated up until this point with speech delay. I have a 2 month old with who has had no shots. After much research, praying, and parent testimonials I have chosen not to vaccinate my youngest child. I know from this point I will face an uphill battle and opposition, but I am ready to fight for my right to choose what’s best for my children. My family has never had the flu shots either and we’ve never had the flu. The vaccine industry alone is $10 billion a year. No wonder they are pushed down parents throats. Also, I wish I would have looked at the ingredients a long time ago. Things like antifreeze, formaldehyde, and aborted fetal tissue. Antifreeze & formaldehyde are known toxins and carcinogens. I wish more would take a stand. They are also not guaranteed to work. Wether parents decide to vaccinate or not, I would strongly encourage parents to research before they make their decision. Best of luck 🙂
xoxo
can we connect PLEASE!!! U can read my reply here like two up…..your a hero luvbug!!
It’s a good point to remember that you will be pushed again at two months to do the Hep B shot. We need to do what we can to shore up people’s strength of will when they decide not to do it, because the weight of public opinion can make it very difficult to continue to buck the system.
The only way that you can absolutely avoid the damn vaccine is to take your feet out of the stirrups and have your baby at home. A woman is Queen in her own home and no one would dare stick her baby with an unwanted vaccine at home.
Women need to wake up and stop being so stupid about their options.
Yes, yes and YES.
Did I mention YES!
A good midwife offers IMO much better birthing care at much LOWER risk. The Medical Industry has become too dangerous to deal with on other than a traumatic basis.
I believe that the only way to be safe is to ensure that your baby is in your sight from birth onwards, while in the hospital. Here is an example of why, which appeared on AOA website some months ago: A mother who thought she had ensured that her baby would not receive Hep B vaccines, was furious when the baby was given the shot without her permission- at birth. Because of her reaction, the vaccine was not entered in her baby’s history sheet. Some weeks later, she was visiting a doctor and the nurse noticed that the baby had not been given the Hep B- and gave a second one. This child was later diagnosed as autistic .
I think it is important that , whenever possible, mothers need to challenge doctors as much as they can, by saying things like: ” If you believe in giving the Hep B vaccine to newborns, that means that you have not studied about the vaccine” or even : “Youre asking me to poison my child with mercury and aluminium on the day he is born? ” (As I understand it, there is still a small amount of mercury in the Hep B- more than toxicologists believe is safe for newborns- Please correct me if I am wrong) And one more tip- something Ive learned in life- You can say almost anything to a doctor – or anyone else, if you say it sweetly and innocently, with a very genuine smile on your face.
An acquaintance of mine has labelled actions such as Hep B at birth as “The ritualization of medicine” – No science- only ritual.
I have a cartoon in my mind and would like to have a visual to go with it. In my cartoon, one alien says to another, as they peer at the Earth, ” Look, Obi, a primitive planet on which they poison their young on the day they are born”.
NO! Have your baby at home.
Mo, I had three home births, so obviously I agree that it’s a wonderful option for many women. However, it is NOT an option for ALL women and we do need to provide help for those who either cannot or choose not to have their babies at home.
“Mothers need to challenge doctors as much as they can, by saying things like:”
While this is all true MOTHERS with a little study can soon know more than their pediatrician about some things CRITICAL to their babies health such as
o “Vaccination”: NEVER required
o Vitamin D: Required at levels of 60 ng/ml or higher
o Vitamin C Required at levels of about one gram/50 pounds of body weight/day
o Antibiotics: Almost NEVER required
o Baby “well visits”: NEVER required
So why pay a know nothing “injection specialist” to shove needles into your healthy baby until he/she is no longer healthy? A good family doctor is all that is normally required for EVERY member in your healthy family. If your baby does need a specialist a good family doctor can recommend a GOOD specialist for your baby.
Praise God for this post!! I identify with all you say…my daughter experienced a miserable first 4 months with our of control, dangerous jaundice. She went from pro nurser despite being tiny to nearly impossible. My word, I shudder to think how she may have been affected had I continued to vaccinate her. I will be sharing this far & wide!!
“I will be sharing this far & wide!!”
Yes IMO mothers telling other mothers of the vaccine damage their baby has suffered is the ONLY way this vaccine damage nightmare can end. The CDC et al will NEVER end it.
Exactly, Lou. There will be no voluntary withdrawal of a huge money-making venture. WE have to change the market for this vaccine by spreading information far and wide.
I didn’t even know they gave my son the hep b shot while in the hospital until a week after we were discharged at the first pediatrician’s “well-visit”. Out came that yellow card and after writing the height & weight, he wrote ‘hepB 9/9/05’ on the other side. Huh? I asked what does that mean….wait a minute, the hospital gave this to him hours after he was born? How come I am just finding this out now, no one told me!!! His reply: “oh it’s standard procedure in the newborn nursery, very important to receive his vaccines ASAP, I made sure when I visited ur son that the nurses did everything they were supposed to before his discharge.” (*pats himself on the back*)
At the time, I was a little thrown off that I was left in the dark, but as a new mom, I was still under the assumption that dr knows what is best for my baby. And then I thought, well this happened prob bc of the situation we were in during our stay in the hospital. I had an emergency C-section under gen anesthesia, was completely out of it when I woke up&alone in a dark room hooked up to a morphine drip and the first thing I remember is a nurse coming in to change my monstrous-sized maxi pad at 4:00 in the morning. I asked where’s my baby, then cried where’s my baby, then screamed where’s my baby….for the next 10 hours. So I was told. They finally told me my baby was brought to the NICU early this morning due to low blood sugar. The nurse says u were diabetic right mom? Um no I wasn’t. Oh. They finally wheeled me down to the NICU (bc they heard enough of my mouth) & I was nervous but relieved when they said his blood sugar is fine but he is pretty jaundiced & needs to be here under the lights. His bilirubin number was sky high. I knew it wasn’t good but they assured its common & he’ll be fine. We were discharged together on day 5. His bilirubin went down but was still considered very high number a week later. Their response was that since he started out w such a high number, its ok bc its continuing to decrease & thats the most important thing. I would have never been able to connect the dots back then. But now? NOW? Now I know it’s the other way around- what happened w the hepB shot was not bc of the situation we were in during our hospital stay. OUR SITUATION DURING OUR HOSPITAL STAY WAS BC OF WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE HEPB SHOT!!!
And that was only the beginning of our story….
What a horrible story! I think you should know, though, that the jaundice was likely caused by the vitamin K injection given at birth and exacerbated by the Hep B, not caused by Hep B alone. More people need to look into EVERYTHING done to babies. It’s a vitamin, so it must be good, right? Not so fast. Look into it.
Beyond fabulous LuvBug. I am going to be the crazy cat lady and share this with two pregnant co-workers. Thank you for writing such an important piece. xoxo
Hmmm…I asked my cousin about this today because she had just given birth less than two months ago and I am expecting my first child in 5 months. How strange the turn of events were that led to an update from this blog being emailed to her on the same day…and she emailed it to me.
I was sitting on the fence earlier. But I am proud to say that is no longer the case. I need to get myself in gear and print out stuffs to ensure my (future) child is safe in the care of so-called health professionals. Now it’s hubby’s turn to be educated so we can be on the same page. Thanks for posting! This REALLY helped!
OK – This is exactly what I needed today. The reason to write this – No matter what you ultimately decide – you THOUGHT about it. Thank you – and spread this near and far…xoxo
Maybe someday I can forgive myself…
LOL. There is *nothing* to forgive. Educating people about the dangers of literal poisons being injected into their little ones within hours of birth is something that EVERY expectant parent should be informed of. Thank you for sharing this info.
Hubby has been advised and he now knows that if anything should happen to me, baby will never leave his sight. I think his exact words were “well…you’re the future mom…so obviously you should know what’s best. Whatever you want me to do, I will do it and support you on it.”
I think I’m going to print my “NO VACCINES/NO SHOTS/NO ARGUMENTS” page in really big font and include it in my future baby bag with tape.
I just can’t say “thank you” enough 🙂 for this post. 🙂 Thank you again!
“NO VACCINES/NO SHOTS/NO ARGUMENTS”
I think there is one other element to add “NO BABY”. Because as this excellent paper has made abundantly clear losing the physical presence of your baby can allow very bad things to be done to your baby. With the best of intentions of course. Too bad we can no longer trust the Medical Industry but this whole vaccine associated autism/neurodegenerative fiasco has proven otherwise.
Awesome! <3 this.
This is AMAZING! I am going to share, share, and share again. I have already had the opportunity to share with an expectant friend that if she chooses to go ahead with vaccinating, even after the informations I shared with her, she should avoid Hep B AT ALL COSTS. Much like you, had I known how completely unnecessary and harmful this vaccine is to a newborn, I would have passed on it, as well as most (if not all) of my children’s other vaccines.
We refused the HepB in the hospital and were met with a heavy opposition. The fantastic thing is, we stuck to our guns and told the pediatrician, who was quite confrontational, to stick it where the Sun don’t shine. Luckily, these are my children and even the most intimidating doctor can’t persuade me from doing what I know is right for my family.
Bravo Warrior Mum!!!!!!!!
As always, sharing on Facebook! Very nicely done.
Bloody brilliant, Luvbug!! The hep B vaccine is the only vaccine Little E ever got. Within an hour of receiving that shot, he was in NICU, on oxygen, fighting for his life. The kicker? They asked for consent to give him a “hepatitis shot” (the word vaccine was never mentioned and was even avoided) the day we were discharged, which was his 8th day of life, but, according to the hospital records, it was actually given when he was 23 minutes old. As a former vet tech, I never dreamed any vaccine would be given to a newborn because in veterinary medicine, they know a newborn doesn’t have the immune system development for vaccines, so even animals are not given vaccines that early. Why are humans not given the same consideration?
Frankly, I’ve tried to talk to expectant moms about the hep B vaccine, but they always seem to feel that if the doctor says it’s safe, then it MUST be. After all, we all know vaccines are perfectly safe. Fairy pee and unicorn tears.
I’ve seen your picture of Little E in the NICU and it breaks my heart! SO unnecessary. All in the name of profits.
Neighbor’s newborn=saved from HepB shot! Check! Awesome post, LuvBug!
Good work, Blaze!!!
Thanks!
How I regret the day I let my 2.5 y.o. DS have this shot. It was like the nail on the coffin.
Horrible, horrible shot.
Thanks for your very important post.
Ana
So sorry Ana. The guilt should not be our’s – but it is.
xoxo
Good essay. I suffered neurological injury from the Hep B vaccine given to me 5 years ago. (The vax didn’t work, btw.) After a long and very ugly battle with the Department of Health and Human Services, I settled my vaccine petition earlier this year. This is important information you are writing – I agreed to the vaccine because I trusted my primary care doctor. I will never trust another doctor again.
GAH! So glad you’re getting that settled, Betsey.
I’m sorry to hear about your injury. There are no longer many things I will take at face value from anyone anymore.
Best of health to you –