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JENNIFER LENNON I have been avoiding this topic as it has as many opinions as there are pet owners. But I
receive so many phone calls from people who’s pets suffer from food and air-borne allergies
and the issue of vaccination never seems to come up with their veterinarian. Pet owners and
professionals throw their hands in the air with how best to treat root problem.
So this information may be a bit radical for some, but it is my hope that when it comes to your
pet, their allergies and their annual boosters, you’ll give this some consideration.
Until recently, vaccinations were considered harmless and beneficial. But today, scientific
evidence proves that there are many potential side effects.
Most common vaccines are made using a "modified live virus" (MLV), which means that the
virus is alive and can replicate in the animal's body, but has been modified so it does not cause
disease, or at least not severe disease. This natural replication produces excellent, long-lasting
immunity. However, some diseases are too dangerous to allow to replicate, or for some other
reason the organism (whether virus, bacteria, or other parasite) must be killed to use in a
vaccine. In that case, because the immune response is not as good, other agents, called
"adjuvants," are added to the vaccine to stimulate a bigger immune response. The newest
generation of vaccines includes recombinant vaccines that use only small fragments of the
disease agent, which are inserted into a harmless carrier virus.
The purpose of a vaccine is to stimulate the body to produce antibodies (germ-fighting
proteins made by specialized white blood cells) and "memory" cells, so that if the animal ever
encounters the disease again, his system will be primed and ready to defend against it. It turns
out that many vaccines are so good at this that they don't need to be boostered every year.
The distemper and parvo vaccines for dogs, for instance, are believed to last at least three
years. The feline panleukopenia (distemper) vaccine is even more effective; ongoing tests are
showing good immunity for as long as eight years.
There is not, and never was, any good scientific evidence supporting one-year booster intervals
in the first place! Given the fact that a number of vet schools have found the scientific
demonstration of persistent immunity sufficiently persuasive to change their guidelines, I am
awestruck at those who have no trouble dismissing it all.
On the other hand, there is evidence that booster vaccines may be harmful due to formation
of auto-antibodies to tissues used in the cell cultures in which vaccine viruses are grown, and
their cross-reactivity with canine tissues. This autoimmunity issue is very troubling to me. None of
these studies have been done long enough to ascertain the long-term effects of annual boosters
over the lifetime of a dog or cat. But certainly the research suggests that more vaccines are
riskier; and if less is better and still provides disease protection, practitioners need to consider a
modified, less-frequent protocol.
Vaccines Stimulate an Inflammatory Response
The word "allergy" is synonymous with "sensitivity" and "inflammation". It should, by rights, also be
synonymous with the word "vaccination". This is what vaccines do: they sensitise (render
allergic) an individual in the process of forcing them to develop antibodies to fight a disease
threat. In other words, as is acknowledged and accepted, s part of the vaccine process the
body will respond with inflammation. This may be apparently temporary or it may be
longstanding.
Holistic doctors and veterinarians have known this for at least 100 years. They talk about a wide
range of inflammatory or "-itis" diseases which arise shortly after a vaccine event. Vaccines, in
fact, plunge many individuals into an allergic state. Again, this is a disorder that ranges from
mild all the way through to the suddenly fatal. Anaphylactic shock is the culmination: it's where
an individual has a massive allergic reaction to a vaccine and will die within minutes if
adrenaline or its equivalent is not administered.
There are some individuals who are genetically not well placed to withstand the vaccine
challenge. These are the people (and animals are "people", too) who have inherited faulty B
and T cell function. B and T cells are components within the immune sys-tem which identify
foreign invaders and destroy them, and hold the invader in memory so that they cannot cause
future harm. However, where inflammatory responses are concerned, the immune system
overreacts and causes unwanted effects such as allergies and other inflammatory conditions.
Merck warns in its Manual that patients with, or from families with, B and/or T cell
immunodeficiencies should not receive live-virus vaccines due to the risk of severe or fatal
infection. Elsewhere, it lists features of B and T cell immunodeficiencies as food allergies,
inhalant allergies, eczema, dermatitis, neurological deterioration and heart disease. To
translate, people with these conditions can die if they receive live-virus vaccines. Their immune
systems are simply not competent enough to guarantee a healthy reaction to the viral assault
from modified live-virus vaccines.
Modified live-virus (MLV) vaccines replicate in the patient until an immune response is
provoked. If a defence isn't stimulated, then the vaccine continues to replicate until it gives the
patient the very disease it was intending to prevent.
Alternatively, a deranged immune response will lead to inflammatory conditions such as
arthritis, pancreatitis, colitis, encephalitis and any number of autoimmune diseases such as
cancer and leukaemia, where the body attacks its own cells.
A new theory, stumbled upon by Open University student Gary Smith, explains what holistic
practitioners have been saying for a very long time. Here is what a few of the holistic vets have
said in relation to their patients:
Dr. Jean Dodds: "Many veterinarians trace the present problems with allergic and immunologic
diseases to the introduction of MLV vaccines..."(1)
Martin Goldstein, DVM: "I think that vaccines...are leading killers of dogs and cats in America
today."
Dr. Charles E. Loops, DVM: "Homoeopathic veterinarians and other holistic practitioners have
maintained for some time that vaccinations do more harm than they provide benefits."(2)
Mike Kohn, DVM: "In response to this [vaccine] violation, there have been increased
autoimmune diseases (allergies being one component), epilepsy, neoplasia [tumours], as well
as behavioural problems in small animals."
A Theory on Inflammation
Gary Smith explains what observant healthcare practitioners have been saying for a very long
time, but perhaps they've not understood why their observations led them to say it. His theory,
incidentally, is causing a huge stir within the inner scientific sanctum. Some believe that his
theory could lead to a cure for many diseases including cancer. For me, it explains why the
vaccine process is inherently questionable.
Gary was learning about inflammation as part of his studies when he struck upon a theory so
extraordinary that it could have implications for the treatment of almost every inflammatory
disease—including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis and even HIV and AIDS.
Gary's theory questions the received wisdom that when a person gets ill, the inflammation that
occurs around the infected area helps it to heal. He claims that, in reality, inflammation
prevents the body from recognising a foreign substance and therefore serves as a hiding place
for invaders. The inflammation occurs when at-risk cells produce receptors called All (known as
angiotensin II type I receptors). He says that while At1 has a balancing receptor, At2, which is
supposed to switch off the inflammation, in most diseases this does not happen.
"Cancer has been described as the wound that never heals," he says. "All successful cancers
are surrounded by inflammation. Commonly this is thought to be the body's reaction to try to
fight the cancer, but this is not the case.
"The inflammation is not the body trying to fight the infection. It is actually the virus or bacteria
deliberately causing inflammation in order to hide from the immune system [author's
emphasis]."(3)
If Gary is right, then the inflammatory process so commonly stimulated by vaccines is not, as
assumed, a necessarily acceptable sign. Instead, it could be a sign that the viral or bacterial
component, or the adjuvant (which, containing foreign protein, is seen as an invader by the
immune system), in the vaccine is winning by stealth.
If Gary is correct in believing that the inflammatory response is not protective but a sign that
invasion is taking place under cover of darkness, vaccines are certainly not the friends we
thought they were. They are undercover assassins working on behalf of the enemy, and vets
and medical doctors are unwittingly acting as collaborators. Worse, we animal guardians and
parents are actually paying doctors and vets to unwittingly betray our loved ones.
Potentially, vaccines are the stealth bomb of the medical world. They are used to catapult
invaders inside the castle walls where they can wreak havoc, with none of us any the wiser. So
rather than experiencing frank viral diseases such as the 'flu, measles, mumps and rubella (and,
in the case of dogs, parvovirus and distemper), we are allowing the viruses to win anyway—but
with cancer, leukaemia and other inflammatory or autoimmune (self-attacking) diseases taking
their place.
(1) Dodds, Jean W.,DVM, "Immune System and Disease Resistance",
(2). Wolf Clan magazine, op. cit.
(3) Journal of Inflammation 1:3,2004, at http://www.journal-inflammation.com content/1/1/3
See also:
1. "Effects of Vaccination on the Endocrine and Immune Systems of Dogs, Phase II", Purdue
University, November 1,1999
2. See www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/gdhstudy.htm.
3. See http://www.avma.org/vafstf/default.asp. |
