| If someone, even someone
in a white coat, suggests that you take a drug or get injected with
some substance, two logical questions ought to immediately arise
in your mind:
1. Is this beneficial to me (or does this
work as intended)?
2. Is this safe?
| If we ask these
two questions about annual revaccination of animals, and we
ask the right people, we’ll get a negative answer to
both. We’ve already covered the first question in part
I: efficacy of annual revaccination is clearly lacking according
to immunologists. A more important question is the safety
issue, as a growing body of evidence mounts showing a correlation
between vaccinations and chronic disease.
Chronic Disease and Vaccination --
Look at the Timing
The chronic diseases have many names,
including arthritis, hypo- or hyperthyroidism, allergies,
asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, repeated ear infections,
skin disease, heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure, and
cancer. |
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What makes them nightmarish is
that they linger, they are not easily cured, and they are slowly,
progressively degenerative, meaning the patient declines in health
over the time they are present. The best that conventional medicine
can do with chronic disease is to control symptoms through suppressive
therapies. This is fraught with problems, including side effects
from the drugs, and apparently “new,” more serious diseases
arising from the continued course of suppression. So, our greatest
goal as animal caretakers should be to prevent chronic disease in
the first place.
The onset of chronic disease after vaccination is
often delayed, coming about 1-2 months afterwards. This is not close
enough for conventional medical minds to appreciate the correlation,
but it’s there nonetheless. The evidence of this comes from
both anecdotal sources and research studies.
Allergic Skin Disease
A British veterinarian has, for the last 10-15 years, asked those
clients who present him with an itchy, allergic dog, “When
did this itchiness begin?” The response is striking. Some
75% remember clearly: it began within 1-2 months of the “puppy
shots.” Anecdotal evidence in human medicine is pointing to
a cause and effect relationship between childhood vaccines and autism,
virtually unknown a mere 40 years ago and now being called an epidemic.
There has been a marked increase in incidence of this devastating
disease that parallels the increased number of vaccinations now
required of children. The interval between vaccination and disease?
About one month. Asthma is following a similar course, as is diabetes.
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Autoimmune Disease in
Dogs
In a research study published
in 1996, the authors looked at a deadly canine disease of a
confused immune system. Known as immune-mediated hemolytic anemia
(IMHA), it means the dogs’ immune systems attacked their
own red blood cells as if they were foreign. Needless to say,
this is life-challenging and the death rate is high, as one
cannot live long without the oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
In the study, 58 dogs with the illness, presenting at a veterinary
teaching hospital over a two year period, were compared to a
control group presenting for other problems over the same time.The
question was asked, “Did anything precede the onset of
IMHA?” Lo and behold, a highly statistically significant
group of the sick dogs had been vaccinated with the usual yearly
vaccines one month earlier. It was so highly statistically significant
in fact that the authors entitled their paper, “Vaccine-Associated
Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia in the Dog.” (Duval and
Giger, J Vet Intern Med 1996;10:290-295) |
Cancer in Cats
In cats, researchers have known since the early 90’s about
the correlation between vaccines and a malignant tumor. This particular
tumor arises where the vaccines are commonly given, in the area
of loose skin at the back of the neck, or in the back of the hind
leg. It appears to be uniformly fatal, even with extensive surgery.
And it has been clearly associated with two particular vaccines,
rabies and feline leukemia. Finally, in 2000, recognizing the clear
cause and effect relationship between vaccination and this cancer,
the disease was renamed by the research community. It is now officially
called Vaccine-Associated Sarcoma.
Autoimmune Disease in Cats
More recently, in work from Lappin, M.R. et al at Colorado State,
it was revealed that the common feline vaccine viruses are grown
in tissue cultures made from feline kidney cells. In harvesting
the viruses to make the vaccine, feline kidney proteins come along
and become part of the vaccine. So, in addition to making an immune
response against the vaccine viruses, vaccinated cats are likely
also producing antibodies against feline kidney cells. This may
well explain why cats, as a species, have such a high rate of chronic
renal disease, and often die of kidney failure. When examined microscopically,
the kidneys of these cats are under attack by their own immune systems!
Homeopathic Practice Experience
with Vaccinosis
In the early days of homeopathic veterinary practice, a number of
us would see something we would later call the “vaccinosis
phenomenon.” It was instructive to us as to just how significant
an impact vaccinations had had on our animal patients. We would
be presented with a chronically ill animal, and after carefully
choosing and giving the appropriate homeopathic remedy, we’d
be met with disappointing results. A second or third prescription
would be made with similar dismal responses from the patient. Finally,
we’d go back to the owner and ask about vaccinations. Inevitably
the patient was vaccinated. “Whenever we got the reminder
postcard, we went in for the shots.” Then we would reanalyze
the case in light of this knowledge, and look at remedies that were
particularly noted to have been applicable in illness that arose
after vaccination. When we’d prescribe again with a “vaccinosis”
remedy, the results were often startling. Not only would the disease
symptoms lessen by 50% or more, but the patient would start acting
more normally. The dog who was hyperactive would settle down and
pay attention, the angry cat would become a lover again, or the
animal terrified of visitors would come out and say hello. The owners
were so impressed with the changes that they would often call before
the next appointment to tell us how great things were going!
The inference we have made from this experience, repeated
over and over in different parts of the country in different practitioners’
hands, is simple: vaccinations are responsible for a significant
portion of the illness we see in the patients with chronic disease.
The veterinary profession slowly continues to evaluate
this practice of vaccinating annually. In 2000, the American Association
of Feline Practitioners came out with an official statement against
annual vaccination in the cat. They based this position on research
from Cornell where kittens, vaccinated once, measured seven
years later still showing evidence of immunity from those
vaccines. Veterinary schools across the country are currently reevaluating
their recommended vaccination protocols. Quite frankly though, I
don’t think we can afford to wait for the whole profession
to catch up. Our animals are at risk to become chronically ill if
we continue this baseless practice of annual revaccination. And,
years from now when we look back incredulously at how such a practice
was ever thought to be wise, wouldn’t it be nice to be able
to smile and pat your healthy twenty-something pet and say, “We
knew. We stopped. That’s why you’re still here.” |
