Flu Vaccine Warning For
Pregnant Women
Please distribute and
post so every pregnant woman
in America can read this!
(Critical Update 10/25/00 -
All three of the flu
vaccines for the 2000-2001
season still contain
mercury. The CDC has since
updated the link referred by
my article below - it is no
longer valid, but their new
answer to the question who
is most vulnerable to methyl
mercury is much more
revealing: "Two groups are
most vulnerable to methyl
mercury: the fetus and
pregnant women. Premature
babies are more vulnerable
because they tend to be very
small and their brain is not
as developed as a full term
baby")
October 8, 1999
Flu Vaccine: Stay Out of My
Womb!
Commentary by Dawn
Richardson
Pregnant women everywhere
know the feeling of making
it to the milestone of their
second trimester. For most,
queasiness starts to
subside, energy returns in
spurts, and of course there
is that indescribable
feeling of becoming aware of
your developing baby's
movements.
You've altered your diet,
exercised, stayed away from
over the counter
medications, your true hair
color is revealing itself,
and that wonderful bottle of
wine with the Surgeon
General's warning will
continue stay buried in the
back of the refrigerator
awaiting the skinnier days
ahead.
You ask yourself, "Is there
anything more that I can do
for me and my baby during
the remainder of my
pregnancy?" Well, according
to the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) and the
federal government's
Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP)
there is - get the flu
vaccine before this year's
flu season hits. According
to the CDC and ACIP, it was
estimated that an average of
1 to 2 hospitalizations
among pregnant women could
be prevented for every 1,000
pregnant women immunized.
(Prevention and Control of
Influenza: Recommendations
of ACIP. MMWR - May 1, 1998;
47)
My initial pregnant
maternally protective
hormonal response to this
was utter disbelief. How
could a biological
pharmaceutical product be
recommended for routine use
for all healthy second and
third trimester pregnant
women? As I looked into
this further, I became
outraged and inspired to
share the truth with
pregnant women so they could
make up their own minds.
Here is what I found.
There are four drug
manufacturers for this
year's flu vaccine. The
product package inserts
published by the
manufacturers state the
disclaimer that "Animal
reproduction studies have
not been conducted with
influenza virus vaccine. It
is also not known whether
influenza virus vaccine can
cause fetal harm when
administered to a pregnant
woman...Although animal
reproductive studies have
not been conducted, the
prescribing health-care
provider should be aware of
the recommendations of the
Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices...The
ACIP states that, if used
during pregnancy,
administration of influenza
virus vaccine after 14 weeks
of gestation may be
preferable to avoid
coincidental association of
the vaccine with early
pregnancy loss..."
Additional reading and phone
calls to the manufacturers
confirmed that all four flu
vaccines contain thimerosal,
a mercury derivative
preservative banned by the
Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in over-the-counter
(OTC) drug preparations
because of questions over
safety. (Federal Register:
April 22, 1998 (Volume 63,
Number 77)][Page
19799-19802].
On July 7, 1999, the
American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) and the
United States Public Health
Service (PHS) issued a joint
statement that because of
the "neuro-developmental
effects posed by exposure to
thimerosal", "thimerosal-containing
vaccines should be removed
as soon as possible." The
PHS and AAP recognized that
because of thimerosal in
vaccines, some
children would be exposed to
"a cumulative level of
mercury over the first six
months of life that exceeds
one of the federal
guidelines on methyl
mercury." Hospitals around
the country responded this
summer by halting the
administration of the
thimerosal containing
vaccine for hepatitis B at
birth, deferring vaccination
until the baby is older and
more developed. What about
my beloved little baby that
isn't even developed enough
to live outside the womb
yet?
A quick internet search
showed that even the CDC, in
a revealing
self-contradiction at
another location, posted:
"Q. Who is most vulnerable
to mercury? A. Two groups
are most vulnerable to
methyl mercury: the fetus
and children ages 14 and
younger." (http://www.cdc.gov/nip/Q&A/genqa/Thimerosal.htm)
More searching on the
National Library of Medicine
site almost effortlessly
produced hundreds of
articles and studies in
medical and scientific
journals clearly documenting
the damaging effects of
prenatal exposure to
mercury. The results of one
recent study published in
the August 1, 1999 issue of
the American Journal of
Epidemiology stated that
"the greatest susceptibility
to methylmercury
neurotoxicity occurs during
late gestation, while early
postnatal vulnerability is
less" which is the precise
point in time that ACIP and
the
CDC is recommending we get
the shot.
I then decided to call the
CDC's Influenza Division
myself, as a pregnant mother
baffled by this
scientifically unfounded and
potentially unsafe
recommendation. Maybe I was
missing something that an
"expert" could reveal for
me. I was told that there
was no scientific proof that
the flu vaccine caused fetal
harm. Well of course not,
the manufacturers are right
up front
when they state that this
hasn't been studied - isn't
that convenient. I was also
told that the CDC had no
intention to change the
recommendation for pregnant
women because of
thimerosal. The doctor
blamed the recent concerns
on "politics" rather than
science. What a shame.
Even though the CDC does
claim that a single study of
a small number of pregnant
women have demonstrated no
adverse fetal effects
associated with influenza
vaccine; they continue and
say, "however, more data are
needed." Maybe this
scientifically
unsubstantiated
recommendation is how the
CDC plans on getting that
data. So much for the Nazi
war criminal trials at
Nuremberg outlawing human
experimentation without
informed consent.
While I would absolutely
hate to be one of the 1 in
1000 pregnant women needing
to go to the hospital for
the flu this winter, at this
point, I feel far more
threatened by the public
health bureaucrats
recklessly willing to
experiment on me and my
unborn child with a flu
vaccine not proven safe for
my baby.
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