To Vaccinate or Not?

Whether to vaccinate or not is a difficult decision for many people to make. Vets vigourously recommend vaccinations (it is the backbone for small animal practices) and fear is a frequently used tactic to persuade those who are hesitant. However, there is growing concern in the alternative health profession and even within the medical profession itself, that vaccination is not all it is professed to be.

Many papers are constantly being published by concerned medical scientists who recognise both the ineffectiveness of orthodox vaccination and the side effects.

Homoeopathy has always recognised the link between vaccinations and chronic diseases.

When making your decision to vaccinate, don’t undervalue your own thoughts and feelings. Take time to consider all the angles.

The Immune System

While the animal is in its infancy, the immune system is very immature, with disease protection coming from the mother’s milk. As the animal grows, the immune system gathers experience from various viruses which invade the body in the normal way - through the mouth, nose, etc. This gives it a chance to deal with them before they invade the body. So antibodies may not develop. The presence of antibodies in the blood tell us the virus has reached a much deeper level. The animal was not able to prevent invasion as the immune system was not strong enough.

The best way to a healthy immune system is a good diet. If the immune system is working well, the animal will shrug off chronic disease. A good diet is a natural diet. See leaflets: Why a Natural Diet, A Natural Diet for Cats, A Natural Diet for Dogs.

Immunisation is not necessarily a faulty idea. The problems arise from how the vaccines are made and how they are used. To immunise orally, a healthy, mature animal against a potentially serious disease is one thing. To inoculate directly into the bloodstream, a very young animal against an uncommon diseases is quite another.

Orthodox Vaccinations

Vaccinations are routinely started at very early ages and are repeated annually. They are directly injected into the blood stream, bypassing all the body’s natural defences. An immature immune system is particularly vulnerable with more problems arising the younger the animal vaccinated.

Vaccines are frequently given as a multiple vaccine, giving the immune system a much tougher job to deal with, than if they were introduced one at a time. Another tendency is to give the vaccines at the same time as the animal is undergoing surgery, again making a much tougher job for the immune system. Some immune systems can’t cope with the overload and the animal succumbs to one of the diseases in the vaccine, one they are already harbouring or fails to recover from the surgery.

Vaccines are made from toxic substances which are then ‘processed’ through animal tissue (ethical and cross species issues) and ‘stabilised’ with the use of hazardous chemicals (mercury, aluminium, formaldehyde). This is then injected directly into the blood stream, by-passing all the subtle levels of the body’s immune system. The resulting antibodies are claimed to be protective. But antibodies are only produced when the disease has gone to a deep level. Other forms of defence, not medically recognised, keeps the disease at a superficial level.

There have been no studies done on the long term side-effects of vaccinations, so they cannot be termed ‘scientific’, as claimed. Short term claims of success tend to be exaggerated and fail to take into consideration other contributing factors at the time the vaccines were introduced.

The effects of vaccines depend on the vaccine and the strength of the immune system. In those with a weak immune system, vaccinosis can show up as eczema, arthritis, epilepsy, allergy, an organ disturbance, immune deficiency, gingivitis, Key Gaskel syndrome, warts, bleeding problems or permanent brain damage. In stronger animals they may whine inconsolably, throw a fever, develop anaphylaxis, lymph or glandular problems, etc

Research

In the late 1980’s, American vets noticed an unusual disease, fibrosarcoma, in a large number of cats. The site, between the shoulder blades, was unusual for tumours, but the normal place for vaccinations. They found that the risk for this disease was 50% higher in cats who had had a single vaccination, 127% higher for those cats who had had a double vaccination and 175% higher for those who had had three or four vaccines.

In a study done on vaccinated and unvaccinated cats, when feline enteritis was introduced neither group became sick.

Antibodies were present six years after the single vaccine in the vaccinated group.

As a result many vets now recommend vaccination every three years, instead of annually.