The Impact of Vaccines on the First Two Years of Life
By Edda West – VRAN Newsletter, 2011
The first two years are the most vulnerable in a young child’s life. It is the time of most rapid brain growth, from the last trimester of pregnancy to two years of age. During this time, critical windows of brain development occur, and the immune system begins to mature.
It is during the first few months of life that the majority of vaccines are injected into the child. Today a child in Canada can receive up to 44 doses of 14 vaccines in the first 18 months of life. Long term studies comparing the overall health outcome of vaccinated and unvaccinated children have not been done.
Nor has it been proven safe to inject the infant with complex viral/bacterial particles, foreign proteins & DNA along with harsh chemical adjuvants which artificially “turn on” and manipulate immune response. Growing numbers of researchers are concluding that environmental toxins and multiple vaccines are likely at the root of the current epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
While mainstream medicine aggressively promotes vaccination as the most important disease preventive measure, it fails to inform parents that vaccines are a class of drugs which carry both a risk of injury and death. Vaccines can trigger a range of neurological and immunological injuries which often don’t become apparent until weeks or months later.
Parents are not told that these injuries have increased dramatically in the last twenty years along with the huge increase in the number of vaccines that have been added to the early childhood vaccine schedule.
Parents are not told that the explosion of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), ADHD & behavioural disorders, the epidemic of allergic diseases which include asthma, allergies, eczema and life threatening anaphylaxis, diabetes and other degenerative diseases have also increased dramatically as the number of vaccines has increased. Allergic diseases, including asthma are the endpoint of a malfunctioning immune system. They don’t tell you that there has been a precipitous decline in children’s health – that children are less healthy today than in previous generations.
The doctors and nurses who routinely vaccinate children don’t mention that the medical profession has little understanding of how the infant immune system works in the first six months of life. Nor do they tell you that multiple vaccines given too early in life may interfere with the normal development of the brain and immune system.
The infant immune system and brain are uniquely different from that of an older child or adult, and are particularly vulnerable to toxic assault. A pressing concern that has not been adequately addressed by science is whether multiple vaccines injected during critical developmental phases of the brain and immune system, alter normal development – the first two years of life being a unique time of accelerated brain growth and immune system maturation.
Brain Development and “Windows of Susceptibility”
“Windows of susceptibility” are critical phases in brain development which occur during the first two years.
The Institute of Child Health cautions that, “Exposures at critical periods of development – notably during embryogenesis, fetal life and infancy – can result in irreversible damage to growing nervous systems and affect emerging behaviour patterns, cause immune dysfunction, and have serious reproductive effects. If a toxic exposure occurs during critical growth stages, the system affected can sustain permanent damage.” These critical periods of development are thought of as ‘windows of susceptibility’.
The ‘windows of susceptibility’ are specific periods of vulnerability to neurotoxic effects. They occur over a broad time frame because age-related development of the brain and nervous system extends from fetal stage into adolescence. Damage to the “wiring” process of the brain is thought to underlie such permanent adverse effects as cognitive disability, developmental language disorders, learning disabilities, motor disorders, effects on intelligence and behavioural disorders, attention deficits and sensory abnormalities.”
We know that cellular structures change so rapidly during embryonic and fetal growth that a toxic exposure at the wrong moment can permanently damage further development. Small doses of neurotoxins during critical periods of brain development can alter those crucial neural pathways –“one mistake early on, and the brain may be forever changed in subtle or serious ways”, warns Dr. Landrigan, Chairman, Preventive Medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
Canada’s Institute of Child Health in Ottawa, stresses that the environment must be viewed as the “ultimate health determinant”. “The fact that the endocrine and immune systems and the developing brain are susceptible to these ubiquitous pollutants [lead, PCBs and methylmercury, etc.] must be viewed with major concern.”
But curiously, child health experts limit their focus to toxic substances children are exposed to from the external environment, i.e. from food, air, water. They fail to take into account the impact of the most obvious and common source of chemical/biological stressors the baby’s neurological system must deal with – multiple (and increasing) vaccines containing lab altered pathogens, chemical adjuvants which manipulate immune response and various foreign proteins & DNA particles, injected into the child’s sensitive internal micro-environment during critical phases of brain and immune system development.
Aluminum is Hazardous to Normal Brain Development
“It should be of high concern that we know nothing about the potential hazards of aluminum adjuvants in children despite the fact that worldwide, preschool children are regularly exposed to the highest amounts of aluminum from vaccines through [mandatory] immunization programmes.” (C.Shaw & L. Tomljenovic)
A close examination of vaccine ingredients leaves little doubt that we are exposing our children to substances that have the potential to damage the brain and impair immune function. A case in point is aluminum – an important vaccine ingredient. Aluminum is used as a vaccine adjuvant to ramp up immune response to vaccine antigens. Without the aluminum adjuvant, the body fails to mount an adequate immune response, with the exception of live and attenuated vaccines. Aluminum is a heavy metal and a well established neurotoxin.
The highest quantities of aluminum are injected into the infant’s fragile micro-environment during the most rapid brain growth in the early months of life. “No clinical studies have been conducted to establish the safety of aluminum adjuvants in infants and children”, report neuroscientist Chris Shaw PhD and his colleague Lucija Tomljenovic PhD. They ask the question, “Does an elevated aluminum burden from vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?”
Shaw and Tomljenovic remind us that, “due to their low body weight children are more susceptible to hazardous chemicals than adults. Furthermore, the developing nervous system of a child is more vulnerable to neurotoxic insults than that of an adult. Thus, the earlier in life a vaccine is given, the greater the potential for harming the nervous system.”
They have calculated the amount of aluminum injected into young babies in the first 15 months of life. In the first 2-3 months, babies receive the highest amount of aluminum per body weight from vaccines – 270 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (ug/kg/bw/day). Thereafter, infants at 4, 6 and 15 months also receive very high amounts of vaccine-derived aluminum, ranging from 110.3 to 177.6 micrograms ug/kg/bw/day.
The researchers have calculated that two month old babies in Canada, the U.K., U.S and Australia are exposed to 49 to 54 times the current safety limit for aluminum exposure. This limit is set at 5 micrograms of aluminum per kilogram of body weight per day from parenteral sources – i.e. by means other than through the digestive tract such as via intravenous or intramuscular injection.
Shaw and Tomljenovic’s research has found that aluminum burden from vaccines highly correlates with increased prevalence of ASD (autism spectrum disorders) in western countries. In the U.S. the greatest annual increase of ASD “was observed in 1992, when ASD cases rose by 189%. This event was closely preceded by the addition of 6 doses of [two new] aluminum containing vaccines to the immunization schedule, 5 of which are administered in the first 4 months of life.” The researchers report that currently, 1 in 91 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with ASD, while the current prevalence in the United Kingdom is 1 in 64 children. Canada has no clear statistics on ASD.
Other researchers have shown that exposure to as little as 4 to 5 micrograms of aluminum per kg/bw/day has “long-term detrimental outcomes on neurologic development in preterm infants. In adult human subjects, aluminum toxicity has been linked to a host of neurodegenerative complications and diseases”, including Parkinson’s, ALS, multiple sclerosis, Gulf War Syndrome and epilepsy.
“It appears that the consistently rising trend in ASD prevalence should perhaps be of little surprise, given that two month old children in developed countries routinely receive 245 to 270 micrograms per kg/bw of aluminum per vaccination session – a burden equivalent to 38 standard adult-dose injections of hepatitis B vaccine”, say Shaw and Tomljenovic. It would be naïve to assume that such an excessive burden of aluminum is safe for babies.
It is a well known fact that male children are at a much higher risk of developing autism spectrum disorders. Boys run a 4 X higher risk of developing ASD compared to girls. Shaw and Tomljenovic suggest, “It would thus appear that the risks of adverse affects in children (especially young boys) as a result of multiple vaccinations, outweigh the uncertain benefits of preventing infections.”
In addition to large doses of aluminum from injected vaccines, babies on certain soy-based formulas may ingest as much as 250 times the amount they would get from mother’s milk and three times more than the “provisional tolerable weekly intake” set by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture (FAO) who concluded that, “ aluminum compounds have the potential to affect the reproductive system and developing nervous system at doses lower than those previously set.”
It is important to stress that only 0.25% of aluminum from dietary sources is absorbed into systemic circulation, whereas aluminum from vaccines is absorbed at nearly 100% efficiency!
Shaw and Tomljenovic’s research reveals that “The sizes of most antigen-aluminum complexes are higher than the molecular weight cut-off of the glomerulus of the kidney (~18kDa) which would preclude efficient excretion of aluminum adjuvants.” In other words, the body has difficulty eliminating the aluminum burden it receives from vaccines. “Thus, vaccine-derived aluminum would have a much greater potential to induce neurological damage than that obtained through diet”, and as already emphasized, “they are administered frequently during the most critical period of brain development.”
Parents often find that their baby is much more susceptible to “bugs going around” after they are vaccinated with as many as 8 or 9 vaccines at the same time. Little wonder when one realizes that vaccine ingredients like aluminum skew the immune system, suppress the child’s ability to fight infections, while setting up a range of autoimmune disease possibilities. Persistent ear infections commonly develop after vaccination prompting doctors to prescribe antibiotics which studies have shown do little to prevent ongoing ear infection, but go a long way in reducing gut health, further compromising immunity and the child’s overall health.
“In order to fully understand the pathological effects on the developing brain and immune system of this kind of vaccination schedule, researchers would have to conduct a prospective, case controlled study comparing completely vaccinated to completely unvaccinated children. They would have to evaluate the children for at least 10 to 20 years for all morbidity and mortality outcomes, for pathological changes in immune and brain function at the cellular and molecular levels, and for changes in chromosomal integrity. Within the first five to seven years, differences between the two groups, in terms of bilogocial integrity and rates of autism, learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, asthma, juvenile diabetes and other brain and immune system disorders, would begin to emerge”, writes Barbara Loe Fisher in her new book, Vaccines, Autism & Chronic Inflammation: The New Epidemic.
So far, medical science has declined to conduct the kind of comparative study proposed by Barbara Fisher and other vaccine awareness activists. Across the board, ‘public health’ institutions exhibit a willful blindness while purporting to act for the greater societal good. By excluding a discussion of the biochemical/biomedical impact of multiple vaccines on the developing brain, and immune system, they fail in their duty to critically evaluate the entire picture of complex multifactoral toxicities contributing to the collapse of children’s health today.
Too Many Vaccines Too Close Together Too Early in Life
Professor of Neurosurgery, Russell Blaylock, MD, has written a series of articles based on extensive review of the scientific literature in which he examines in great detail the destructive effects of excessive immune stimulation often triggered by too many vaccines given too close together, too early in life – a problem that will worsen as more vaccines are added to the already overcrowded schedule.
As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Blaylock has intimate knowledge of the neurological system, and brain chemistry – a background which eminently qualifies him to interpret complex studies in neurology, immunology & chemistry to present an in depth perspective of the factors that can interfere with brain function, and cause long term damage.
A key concept for parents to understand is that impact to the child’s immune system is going to affect his/her neurological system. Dr. Russell Blaylock’s work brings this knowledge home in the most profound way. When the immature immune system of the infant is bombarded with vaccines, it sets off the brain’s own unique immune system. The neuroscience literature indicates that “excessive and especially repeated immune stimulation can result in severe disruption of brain development and even neurodegeneration”.
That the immune system and nervous system are intimately interconnected has been known for some time. What effects one effects the other. “There is compelling evidence that overactivation of the brain’s key immune cells (microglia) can result in alterations in brain growth and connectivity during rapid brain growth, the so-called ‘brain growth spurt’.”
The science is already in place which shows that excessive vaccination overstimulates the immune system, which in turn hyperstimulates the brain’s immune activity leading to an outpouring of excitotoxic substances which result in varying degrees of brain injury. “Unfortunately, this knowledge has not yet filtered out to vaccine policy makers, pediatricians, or parents”, says Blaylock.
Dr. Blaylock refers to a growing number of scientific studies which demonstrate “serious dangers in our present vaccine policy, including altered brain development, seizures and loss of brain cell connections, called synapses. These studies all point to over-vaccination as a real and present danger to our children, and in certain instances, to adults.”
Keep in mind”, writes Dr. Blaylock, “that the child by age one will already have had 20 vaccine inoculations, each spaced no more than one or two months apart. This means, the brain microglia (immune cells) are maintained in a constant primed state. Each vaccine increases dramatically the damage done by the previous vaccine series. One is not surprised that so many vaccinated children develop seizures, or that we have such a high incidence of autism I can assure the elite of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC that over one million autistic children far exceeds the danger measles, mumps, diphtheria, chickenpox, tetanus, rotavirus, Hib meningitis and hepatitis pose to our youth. Also, keep in mind that for every fully autistic child, there are ten times that many with lesser degrees of impairment.”
A stark emblem of the arrogance of mainstream medicine is the assumption that an infant can be injected with an unlimited quantity of vaccines without deleterious effect to brain and immune system development – an assumption that has resulted in an unprecedented health disaster.
As humans, our brain is what sets us apart from other species and enables us to interact socially and participate in our complex society. Normal brain function enables us to be creative beings, to be academically or scientifically proficient, to be artistic and musical, to be able to choose our direction in life. There are infinite ways in which we can develop our individual gifts and capabilities, thanks to a normally functioning brain.
When the infant’s brain and immune system is protected from toxic assault and is optimally nourished, ideally through extended breastfeeding, the critical windows of brain growth are able to unfold in the species specific sequences that make us uniquely human. Protecting and nourishing the baby’s brain is essential for the development of the child’s full potential.
As parents, we are charged with protecting our children from accidental and environmental assault. To do this, it is necessary to re-examine universal vaccination policies currently imposed on the global population. We must determine whether these policies are helping or harming our children.
Notes & References:
-The Health of Canada’s Children, Third Edition, 2000, published by The Canadian Institute of Child Health
-.Lucija Tomljenovic,PhD & Chris Shaw, PhD – Does an Elevated Aluminum Burden From Vaccine Adjuvants Contribute to the Rising Prevalence of Autism?
– Judy Converse, MPH, RD – “Why do Pediatricians Deny the Obvious?
– Larry Palevesky, MD – “Aluminum and Vaccine Ingredients: What Do We Know? What Don’t We Know?”
-.Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. –Vaccinations: The Hidden Dangers – The Blaylock Wellness Report: Vol.1, No.1. April 2004
– Russell L. Blaylock, MD, “Chronic Microglial Activation and Excitotoxicity Secondary to Excessive Immune Stimulation: Possible Factors in Gulf War Syndrome and Autism” – Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Vol.9 No.2 Summer 2004.
– Russell L. Blaylock, MD, “The Central Role of Excitotoxicity in Autism Spectrum Disorders” – Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association Vol. 6, No.1, Winter, 2003.
– Russell L. Blaylock, MD, “Interaction of Cytokines, Excitotoxins, and Reactive Notrogen and Oxygen Species in Autism Spectrum Disorders” Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association Vol.6. No.4 Fall 2003.