This begins my series on the DTP shot. Now, I’d like to start off by saying that a few years ago when I was first married I didn’t give vaccination another thought. I almost went and got more shots for myself because I read that it was necessary. I thought people who didn’t vaccinate their kids were either suspicious nut jobs or Christian Scientists (and, no, I don’t equate the one with the other). I thought the parents of autistic kids who didn’t vaccinate their kids any more because they said that was the beginning of their problems were superstitious and under-educated. For me, the turning point was when I started reading Jenny McCarthy’s books and parent after parent detailed how their child began to change within hours of vaccination. Health authorities say it’s all coincidence, but that many “coincidences” didn’t seem logical, so I started to dig deeper. This is what I have found on the DTP shot.
If an herbalist were to tell you that there is an herb that must be administered to your baby to prevent a disease that used to kill many people, but evidence showed that it frequently didn’t prevent the disease and many parents had said that after receiving a dose of this herb their baby screamed inconsolably for hours, would you think it is safe and effective? Now, let’s turn the tables. Say your pediatrician tells you that your baby must receive a shot to prevent a disease that used to kill many people, but evidence showed it frequently didn’t prevent the disease and many parents had said that after receiving this shot their baby screamed inconsolably for hours, would you think it is safe and effective? Some of you may have guessed that the shot I’m talking about is the pertussis vaccine. Hours of high-pitched, inconsolable screaming is a common reaction to the DTP shot, though the CDC says it is very rare. And yes, there are many documented cases of children who have received the DTP vaccine contracting pertussis.
The great irony with the pertussis vaccine is that many parents who go the selective-delayed vaccination route are being told that this shot is necessary and helpful by doctors who tout alternative schedules. I believe these doctors to be sincere in their efforts to protect children, but I also believe they have been misled by the information they received in medical school, which they automatically assume to be correct. (And if you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to receive certain information, you would hope it is the best researched and most unbiased information out there.)
Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn quoted the Journal of the American Medical Association on the pertussis vaccine in his book How to Raise a Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor:
“To health professionals, of course, the dangers of DPT are nothing new. The D and T components, which were given long before the P was added in the late 1940’s, are partially purified toxoids considered to carry little risk. The whole-cell P component, consisting of 4 units of protective pertussis antigen per 0.5 ml of DPT is universally acknowledged to be relatively crude and toxic, and the advent of a safer version is eagerly awaited.
Almost from the inception of widespread DPT immunization, severe reactions have been reported, beginning with Byers’s and Moll’s study of vaccine-associated encephalopathy in 1948.The incidence of such reactions has been firmly established. It does seem fairly certain that vaccine-associated seizures, unusual as they are, are considerably more common than brain damage or residual impairment secondary to such seizures.” (1).
The prolonged screaming associated with the DTP vaccine is well-documented. J.M.H. Hopper, a British senior school medical officer, described it in 1961. In 1982, Vincent Fulginiti observed: “Many infants cry and fret after pertussis vaccination; a few adopt a pattern of persistent crying for an hour or longer; the crying is often of unusual pitch or intensity and the baby is inconsolable.This syndrome of screaming is believed to be of encephalopathic in origin... Children who experience such episodes are considered as having CNS [central nervous system] complications and further pertussis vaccine should not be administered” (2). Central nervous system (brain and spine) complications makes sense with this sort of crying. Babies with meningitis (an infection of the meninges, the membranes which enclose the central nervous system) will cry with a shrill scream.
Babies are too young to tell us how they feel, so they cry. One mother whose five year old had a reaction to DTP screaming that his head hurt. He vomited, had 104 degree fever and ran around hiding in corners as if frightened to death. When she rushed him to the hospital, the doctors performed several tests, including a spinal tap and said they could find nothing wrong. One resident said the boy must have taken LSD. The boy's doctor stayed up all night researching the DTP vaccine, and came to the conclusion that the child had suffered a reaction; something the doctor had not thought was possible before. (3).
This could very well be what the baby who screams after DTP could be feeling. If we could translate the cries, it might go something like this: “Mommy, my head HURTS! I’m scared; something is hurting me! It hurts worse than anything I’ve ever felt! Help me, Mommy help me! You always make things better, why can’t you make it go away? No, I’m not hungry; nursing doesn’t make it better! I don’t want to be rocked; I don’t want to be walked; I don’t want to be sung to; I want the pain to stop! Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! Mommy, make it better, please make it better! I’m so scared, Mommy! HELP ME!!!!
The Bible documents how the ancient Israelites sacrificed their infants in fires for idolatrous fertility rites and God's condemnation of this. I have wondered what on Earth could make these people throw their live babies into fires. Now I wonder if the arguments for infant sacrifice went something like this: “We need to conduct these rituals to ensure that we get a good harvest and so that the women will be fertile and more babies will be born. This is for the public good. You’re being selfish if you don’t sacrifice your baby. Think of the rest of us. How can you possibly put everyone else at risk just because you want your child to live? Sacrificing a child is a great honor and is the responsibility of every good citizen.” The difference between the Israelites and modern parents is that the Israelites knew what they were doing was wrong and modern parents have been deceived about the benefits and risks of the pertussis vaccine and are trying to protect their children.
This kind of crying used to be listed on the package as a contraindication against further DTP shots (way back in 1984). And in 1990, the vaccine manufacturers, Public Health Services Immunization Practices Advisory Committee and the American Academy of Pediatrics considered prolonged screaming episodes to be an absolute contraindication against further pertussis vaccination (4). A friend of mine took her daughter in for the first round of vaccines at two months old. After arriving home, the baby screamed for four hours. The pediatrician said nothing about contraindications for further DTP shots. The little girl received a second round at four months, which was followed by a severe vomiting episode and a trip to the ER about a week later.
(1) How to Raise a Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, Robert S. Mendelsohn, pg. 243
(2) A Shot in the Dark, Harris L. Coulter and Barbara Loe Fisher, pg. (32)
(3) A Shot in the Dark, Harris L. Coulter and Barbara Loe Fisher, pg. (33)
(4) A Shot in the Dark, Harris L. Coulter and Barbara Loe Fisher, pg. (32)
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