First off, let me state that I’m not against vaccination as a knee-jerk reaction. I genuinely believe that the concept behind vaccination is a good one.
Please note that I say that the “concept” — the idea of exposing the immune system to small amounts of a potential infectious agent in order to build antibodies — is a good idea. This process is how the body builds immunity naturally, because the immune system must be exposed to foreign bodies (or antigens) in order to function.
Until relatively recently I have not seen a problem with vaccinations. In fact, I’ve taken every vaccination that’s been offered to me, and signed consent forms for my children to be equally fully vaccinated.
But recent hype over the promise of a Coronavirus vaccination and my clinical experience over the past few years has made me rethink my pro-vaccination stance.
I’ve hesitated to write much of anything about this subject, but I believe that it’s time for doctors and medical professionals to speak from a scientific perspective, rather than letting untrained governmental officials make health policy.
Observation #1 Vaccinations contain things other than the antigen.
Vaccinations are in aqueous solution, and as such they need to have preservatives, stabilizers, and other ingredients which prevent the growth of bacteria or fungi in the solution. These other ingredients are not neutral. They can and do induce biologic changes, including inflammation, which may not be beneficial.
The CDC’s own website (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm) lists ingredients such as:
- Formaldehyde
- Thimerosal
- Neomycin
- Gelatin
- Sugars
- Egg protein
Speaking as a dermatologist, the first three ingredients on the list — formaldehyde, neomycin, and thimerosal — really worry me. All three are highly allergenic, incredibly common causes of contact dermatitis. Thimerosal is so allergenic it was removed from contact lens solutions 30 years ago and from childhood vaccinations in the USA nearly 20 years ago, but for some reason it is still present in the influenza vaccination. Even if thimerosal isn’t included in an eventual Coronavirus vaccination, I’m sure most of the others will be. Intentional exposure to these ingredients is sure to trigger the immune system.
The second three ingredients — gelatin, sugars, egg protein — are food, but that doesn’t meant that they are safe. The body has methods of handling food through the stomach and intestines. But not when they are injected. These unprocessed food molecules are not supposed to be free floating in the body.
Observation #2: Vaccination can have long term, unintended consequences, including causing more illness.
This observation is very personal, based on what I have observed in my medical career.
When I started medical school, there was no vaccine against chickenpox. Chickenpox was a childhood rite of passage, a mild illness that nearly everyone got. Adults and children with severe illnesses (like cancer) could get very sick from chickenpox, but the vast majority of children recovered without incident.
BUT having chickenpox as a child put a person at risk of getting shingles (also called zoster) as an adult. Shingles, which is caused by a reactivation of the chickenpox virus, is a miserable condition — painful and intensely itchy. The vast majority of people who got shingles were elderly or had other serious health conditions, like cancer. In these people, shingles could have serious consequences including long-term pain (post-herpetic neuralgia) and brain infection (encephalitis).
So it made sense to develop a vaccination against chickenpox. If never getting chickenpox as a child means that you won’t get shingles when you are elderly, the vaccination is worth it.
About a year after I graduated from medical school, the chickenpox vaccination was introduced and rapidly became standard for all children.
Personally I rejoiced, because I never got chickenpox as a child and I knew (because of a required blood test before starting medical school) that I had no antibodies. I had gone through medical school knowing that eventually I’d get chickenpox and that the older I was when I got it, the more likely I was to become really sick. I felt like I was living with a ticking time bomb. I happily rolled up my sleeve and got the shot.
However, fast forward 25 years, I’m not sure chickenpox vaccination achieved its mission. Though I personally have never gotten chickenpox (for that I’m very grateful), I’m not sure widespread vaccination for children is a good idea.
While it is true that chickenpox is now rare in children, shingles has become MORE common in young adults. Shingles used to be so rare in people under 35 that I saw only 6 or 7 cases in the first 20 years of my career. But in the past 5 years, I have seen at least a dozen per year. What’s more, I haven’t noticed a significant decrease in the number of shingles cases in people in the 65+ age range. (And this is despite the shingles vaccine which is recommended for people over the age of 50.)
The vaccination, in effect, eliminated one illness but increased another related one. And changed the age range, so that now 20 year olds can get what was formerly a disease only of the severely ill and elderly.
Observation #3: Many of the symptoms of COVID seem to be caused by antibodies to the virus, not by the virus itself.
I should start with a quick disclaimer here: I am not personally involved in the treatment of patients with severe COVID so I am not speaking from personal experience. But I have been reading research actively and following the latest scientific developments. This observation is based on my reading and on conversations with colleagues who have treated patients.
I know it’s an uncomfortable fact, but we have to acknowledge that there are A LOT of unanswered scientific questions regarding the Coronavirus and COVID. One of the most pressing questions is the role of an individual’s immune system in causing the symptoms and severe illness.
The hallmark of people with severe COVID is an overactive immune system. Their immune system is so overactive that it turns on the person’s own body, damaging blood vessels and major organs.
Now here’s what is interesting: the severe, full-blown COVID syndrome can develop after a week (or more) of mild symptoms. In other words, AFTER a person has developed a robust immune response.
There’s a hint that this situation could happen by what pediatricians are seeing in children. Children in general have a very low rate of symptomatic Coronavirus infection. BUT more and more pediatricians are seeing new multisystem inflammatory syndrome which causes severe illness. This syndrome occurs in children who have recovered from a Coronavirus infection and already have antibodies to the virus.
This point needs to be repeated: children who have recovered from Coronavirus infection and who have antibodies to the virus can develop a severe, deadly inflammatory syndrome.
This point is a crucial question for vaccination programs. The point to vaccination is to make a robust immune response. If antibodies — not the Coronavirus itself — is the cause COVID, what happens when you induce antibodies through vaccination? What happens if you give a vaccination to a person who already has antibodies to the virus from subclinical infection? Will people develop an enhanced immune response, which triggers their immune system to attack and damage their own bodies? Personally I’m concerned that vaccination could cause COVID, not prevent it.
I don’t believe that any scientist, including the researchers who are actively trying to make a vaccination, knows enough about the immune system and Coronavirus to make accurate predictions about the efficacy or safety of any potential vaccination. I am concerned about unintentional side effects and even potential for widespread harm, based on the data I have seen.
My hope is that we get more data before policy makers take over.
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