Roger's Opinion about Vaccination

Vaccination is frequently a contentious issue both within human and veterinary medical fields.  Contrary to popular belief vaccination was first performed by the Chinese.  Whilst in Hong Kong a friend of Edward Jenner saw vaccination being performed and told Jenner about it when he came home to the UK.  Jenner tried the idea by using Cowpox to innoculate against Smallpox and the rest as they say is history.

There now seems to be an idealistic belief that it will be possible to vaccinate for a myriad of diseases from Grass Sickness through to Cancer.  IMHO this is unrealistic and fails to recognise that many diseases are multi-factorial and/or can have a number of aetiologies behind the same end result.  There is also a failure to learn the lessons from veterinary medicine where over-vaccination in the poultry and pig industries brought about populations of birds and pigs respectively that have seriously compromised immune systems that struggle to cope with pathogens other than those specific strains against which they have been innoculated. 

There are a number of fundamental problems with vaccines as follows.

Single vaccines can only have a maximum of 3 components  eg this means that there are only 3 strains of the chosen equine influenza virus in horse flu jabs.  Nature has a predictable habit of mutating in unpredictable ways.  As we know from the outbreak in Newmarket in 2003 where all vaccinations on racing yards are strictly kept up to date, there is no protection against a novel strain of virus.  Indeed the veterinary response of increasing the frequency of vaccination to quarterly did not confer protection and in my opinion quite probably compromised an already failing immune system thereby lowering the ability to mount an appropriate immune response.  Subsequent retrospective statistical analysis of that situation also demonstrated that 2 year old horses were less effected on the whole than older horses. However nobody officially suggested that it therefore demonstrated that horses that had been given multiple flu vaccinations in the past were less immunologically capable than those that had received significantly fewer vaccinations.  The age factor here is important as all flat-racing horses are young enough that theoretically they should have similar immune capabilities.  It also demonstrates that it doesn't take many vaccinations in the course of a life to significantly compromise immune capability - ie this age difference in immune capability would have been unlikely to have figured if horses of 7 years old were compared with 8 year olds assuming full vaccination had been ongoing throughout their lives - ie they would all be compromised to roughly the same degree.  If anything you would expect 2 year old horses to be more stressed in a racing yard due to their physical immaturity, new environment and new training regime than 3 year olds in their second season of training.  It is well known that stress reduces immunity and thus it would be expected that 2 year old horses should have been the more effected age group. They weren't.

Vaccines are often given by a different route by which natural infection would be achieved and in many cases stimulate a different branch of the immune system to that which would have to deal with a future challenge.  How many of us contract flu by any route other than through our respiratory system?  Even the developer of the human flu vaccine questions its efficacy and wouldn't have it himself!!

Vaccines contain adjuvants which are necessary to stimulate and amplify the immune response to the viral/bacterial component of the vaccine. Adjuvants usually contain aluminium hydroxide and/or mercury in the form of thimerosal. Both Aluminium and Mercury have been known to cause their own health problems for over 100 years in the form of neurotoxic effects ranging from muscular pain and paralysis to Alzheimer's and behavioural changes which has been suggested is amplified if both types of adjuvant are used together.  With the advent of supposedly milder vaccines using recombinant viruses etc the use of more aggressive oil-based adjuvants has been proposed to ensure an immune response including those previously thought to be too potent to be used in people. Indeed oil-based adjuvants are used in vivisection to induce auto-immune diseases in experimental animals.  Squalene is one such adjuvant that has been suggested and has already been used. It was the adjuvant in the Anthrax vaccine given to many soldiers prior to the Desert Storm campaign in Iraq - but without being adequately tested. Many soldiers now suffer from Gulf War Syndrome.  Jounalist Gary Matsumoto wrote after thoroughly researching the subject  

"when an oil is injected, the immune system responds to it not only specifically, but with heightened intensity because the oil adjuvant resembles so closely the natural oils found in the body. A ‘cross reaction’ then happens, sending the immune system into chaos destroying any oils found anywhere in the body that resemble the adjuvant oil. Demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis are an example of this destructive autoimmune process"

Unfortunately it is unlikely that anybody being given a vaccine will necessarily be told which adjuvant it contains - not that it's a great choice. Whatever adjuvant is used it is a potential time-bomb ticking away. It is no coincidence in my mind that allergies are an ever-increasing problem with people and animals.  Over-vaccination and poor nutrition must bear much of the responsibility for this.  It is commonly stated that it takes the immune system up to 6 months to fully recover (if it really ever does) from a vaccination.  The more vaccinations given together at a young age, the greater the difficulty in recovering especially in babies/puppies/kittens etc where the immune system is often not fully developed.  However, even in adults, 6 monthly vaccination as is now the requirement for horses regularly competing at FEI level, means the immune system is continually in recovery from vaccination.  We are in danger of compromising and permanently damaging these horses.  I have already seen some horses where I believe an immune-mediated imbalance was caused by 6 monthly vaccination resulting in allergies and poor performance.

A team at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine conducted several studies to determine if vaccines can cause changes in the immune system of dogs that might lead to life-threatening immune-mediated diseases. They discovered that contaminant calf collagen was stimulating antibody production that cross-reacted with the dog's own collagen which would explain so many degenerative diseases such as arthritis and heart valve disease to name but two, where the body's own collagen fails.  They concluded that further research should be performed but the practice of annual vaccination in the UK is still largely common practice even though there is no scientific basis for this interval and continued vaccination increases the liklihood of adverse auto-immune effects.

There has never been a study to show that annual vaccines are needed for any of the core vaccines in cats or dogs, there are plenty of studies to show the duration of immunity is much longer than we are being told.  Supporting this point is the fact that more than half the dogs, and even more of the cats in the UK are greater than 4 years behind with their boosters (Intervet mailing). Yet where are the outbreaks? They just don’t happen as the scaremongering predicts, and this is likely to be because immunity is lifelong.

Dogs' and cats' immune systems mature fully at six months. If modified live-virus (MLV) vaccine is giver after six months of age, it produces immunity which is good for the life of the pet. If another MLV vaccine is given a year later, the antibodies from the first vaccine neutralise the antigens of the second vaccine and there is little or no effect. The titre is not "boosted", nor are more memory cells induced.  Not only are annual boosters unnecessary, but they subject the pet to increased potential risks such as allergic reactions and immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia.

Cats can get vaccine-induced cancer that has been acknowledged by veterinary bodies around the world.  In America, in an attempt to mitigate the problem, they vaccinate cats in the tail or leg so they can be more easily amputated when cancer appears. Vaccine-induced injection site cancer can happen in other species too.

Leptospirosis

I am writing a special section on Lepto vaccination because I frequently come across owners who have thought about vaccination with limited access to information and have decided that of all the diseases their dog is likely to encounter, Leptospirosis is the one and that they should therefore keep this vaccine going beyond all others. The following information might cause you to change your mind!

1. Kansas University reports that the Leptospirosis vaccine is THE major cause of vaccine reactions, so much so that they consider the risks outweigh the benefits. It is no longer considered a core vaccine and they even recommend it should not be given to puppies
2. Another study found the vaccine highly immunosuppressive and recommended that the vaccine should not be given in conjunction with other vaccines (it is currently in the UK).
3. The Leptospirosis vaccine does not protect the dog from being infected with the disease; it just minimizes the clinical symptoms. Hence there seems to be/have been a real risk of vaccinated healthy dogs shedding the spirochetes to other dogs and humans. Although one manufacturer has recently claimed it has a vaccine to prevent this, the clinical study conducted to test the vaccine was based on a sample of only 6 dogs which statistically is a study so narrowly based that it cannot be scientifically credible.
4. The duration of immunity measurable by titre induced by the Leptospirosis vaccine can be as little as a few months yet the advised interval for boosters is 1 year, which it seems has been an entirely arbitrary recommendation. By inference it may well be therefore that even vaccinated dogs are not protected as their owners expect.
5. There is little protection between serovars (types). Use of the vaccine in the USA has led to a shift in the serovar population such that the serovars now infecting dogs are not the ones used in the vaccines. I think it is logical to assume this is true also in the UK. Are we therefore now vaccinating against a disease that barely exists in the form vaccinated for?
6. The vaccine efficacy seems between only 50 -70%, depending on the author.

Practice Philosophies

Practice Overview

About Roger

Vaccination

Bilateral Suspensory Desmitis

Vaccine Quotes

Christina Chambreau, DVM: "Routine vaccinations are probably the worst thing that we do for our animals. They cause all types of illnesses, but not directly to where we would relate them definitely to be caused by the vaccine."

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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."  

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Roger's Recommendations

If you decide to vaccinate, do not give it too early before the immune system has had time to develop. 6 or 8 weeks old is too young and you still need to give later ones at 12 and 16 weeks anyway so why not save your money (and the insult and stress to your pup or kitten) and wait until 12 weeks old? 

Homeopathic Thuja can be used to minimise the risk of vaccinosis (any adverse reaction to vaccination).  See your local homeopathic vet for details.

Homeopathic nosodes are much debated even by homeopaths.  They seem to confer a good response in the face of an outbreak but whether they stimulate an immunity or simply cover up a challenge whilst a titre develops is not really known. Certainly a few dogs that have relied on a nosode have contracted the disease but whether this was because they were otherwise immuno-compromised and would have contracted it anyway if vaccinated, who knows?

What is on this page is not exhaustive but just a sample of the information that is available. I hope this has served the function to encourage you to read about this issue more thoroughly before deciding about the relative risks of vaccinating your loved ones, be they your pets or children or yourself.

Any deterioration in the health of an individual - either physical or mental close to vaccination might be a reaction to it.  If you do consider there has been such a reaction make sure it is officially reported so that the powers that be start to realise how frequently this happens and might start to legislate for it.

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Further information

The Vaccination Bible - a What Doctors Don't Tell You publication edited by Lynne McTaggert

Canine Health Concern - run by Catherine O'Driscoll who tirelessly campaigns to inform the public so they can make an informed choice.