I’m reading this absolutely fascinating book about vaccines. It’s not what you’re thinking; this is not a book opposing vaccination. Actually, the author is generally positive about vaccines, though he does have suggestions for lessening the amount of aluminum injected at once and things like that (if you followed the recommended vaccination schedule a baby would be exposed to 295 to 1225 micrograms at the two month visit–depending on which brands are used–but the FDA requires injectable solutions for children to have a limit of 25 micrograms… but the FDA doesn’t regulate vaccines for some reason, only IV-type meds. Odd).
Anyway, the book is just informative and gives a lot of background information on the diseases, the vaccines themselves, why they’re good, and why some people choose not to receive them. What has intrigued me so much is that for each vaccine he goes through how they’re made and the ingredients that are in the final solution. A lot of bacteria/viruses for use in vaccines are grown and incubated in monkey kidney cells, chicken embryos, etc. So the final solutions end up with small amounts of cow blood proteins, human cell proteins, cow fetus serum, and stuff like that. The craziest is for the Japanese encephalitis vaccine, where it is “made by infecting the brains of mice, then extracting and liquefying the brains”. That’s really gross. Of course, no one gets that vaccine unless you’re doing some extensive travel, so it’s just more interesting than anything.
Something about the concept of injecting oneself with animal parts just seems… yucky. But then again, is that any different than eating various animals? Probably not, and considering the amount of meat (and therefore blood of the animals and stuff) that we eat, the teeny amount that remains from the process of making vaccines is pretty negligible. Actually, the more it’s making me think about it, the more I think maybe I really should stop eating meat.
I don’t know what I previously thought happened in the process of making vaccines, but it has been very interesting to me to learn about it all. Sometimes there are little things that make you realize just how complicated the world is… for example, writing this post and publishing it is all rather simple for me, but it takes the internet, all the working parts of a computer, the hosting, the design to let me input words, and so much other stuff just for it to work… like electricity that magically is connected to my home and I don’t even think twice about it. The world is a lot more intricate than I generally realize.
Guess which of us traveled to Japan and thus has liquid mouse brains running through his veins as we speak?
If you guessed me, you’re totally right!
Haha… yeah, I wondered if they give it to missionaries going to Asia. I’m sure you’re the better for it… like Mighty Mouse.
I love The Vaccine Book! So useful. All the Dr. Sears books are great.
Yeah, I’ve looked at or read a couple of them and they’ve been good. The library has been a good resource on these.
FABULOUS book! Seriously, it’s so NOT one-sided. I loved it, and reference it before EVERY vaccine-giving appointments. It’s a great resource.
Hehe… I’m glad to hear that someone actually brings it to appointments. I was thinking about that, but wondered if I’d look like a lemming or something. Because as informative and unbiased as it feels, I also don’t want it to seem like I’m just listening to one person’s recommendations in my decisions (if that makes sense). Though, of course, the point is that he doesn’t recommend anything, just tries to give information.
Phew, I thought you were going to go anti-vaccine on me!
Really though, I’ll have to add that to my ever increasing list of books to read…
Oh, um… actually, I AM somewhat anti-vaccine.
I just intentionally didn’t write the post that way because the book is not extreme in either direction, and I didn’t want what I wrote to reflect negatively on the book. Here’s the thing: I’m not completely anti-vaccine by any stretch, but I think some of what we do is a little crazy. I think one of the best examples is the Hep B series. Why on earth do we give one day old babies a shot of something that prevents… an STD??? I get that it’s good to vaccinate against Hep B, but why not do it when the child is approaching an age where it actually could become a problem? The reason is, I suspect, that a lot of people are more diligent about medical care for infants than they are for teenagers, so the medical authorities want to get it in while they can. But I know that I’m not going to just stop taking her to a doctor after she’s two, so I’m not concerned about getting her that stuff now. Whether there is any validity or not to the possible risks that get a lot of press, I see no reason to take those risks (even theoretical risks) unnecessarily. For diseases that are more dangerous to infants that’s different.
My other reason to be cautious is that, frankly, I just don’t completely trust government advice on this because there aren’t long term studies and it’s constantly changing. There have been vaccines pulled off the market in the past 5-10 years because of bad side effects, so in my mind that means a lot of this just isn’t well enough established. Does that make sense? So yes, I think it’s a good thing to be vaccinated against diseases, but I also think it’s important to have as much informed consent as possible and to do it in the most cautious way we can as well.