Hepatitis B Vaccine: Worth it or Not
Author: Melissa Lahti
July 24, 2013
On July 20th , in Vietnam, three babies were given their routine hepatitis B vaccine and died shortly after. Since then the Vietnamese Health department has opted to discontinue use of that lot of vaccines to protect other babies. It has been determined that the vaccines were properly stored and were not expired. They were even administered by a nurse with more than twenty years experience. In light of this tragedy the chairperson of the vaccine program has asked parents to “keep calm” and continue to vaccinate their children. Meanwhile, the health minister has sent her condolences to the broken families, paying each one $377 and offering free medical care to each mother.
In March 2012 the National Vaccine Information Center reported that there were over 1500 hepatitis B vaccine related deaths. There have already been 9 deaths this year in the US alone. Hepatitis B is a virus that is transmitted through direct contact with infected blood or body fluids and people most at risk of contracting Hepatitis B are adults between the ages of 20 and 50. Why are we routinely giving this vaccine to our newborns?
These vaccines are genetically engineered viruses’ designed to give a person’s body just enough of the virus to cause the immune system to build up a defense to it. But after looking at this list of ingredients, we must ask ourselves why we allow such chemicals into our baby’s body and why this is necessary. The long list of ingredients include: formaldehyde, gluteraldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, polysorbate 80, neomycin sulfate, polymyxin B, yeast protein, calf serum, Fenton medium (containing bovine extract), modified Latham medium (derived from bovine casein), modified Stainer-Scholte liquid medium, potassium aluminum sulfate, amorphous aluminum, hydroxyphosphate sulfate, sodium borate, and cells from monkey kidneys.
I feel we may be placing too much trust in our government in believing these vaccines are safe for our children. As parents we really should be asking more questions and demanding to know all the real facts behind what is in these syringes. How unfortunate that so many parents have to lose their children over such a thing that is supposed to be helping our society. This is a very tough decision to make and having to do it all over again I can honestly say I don’t know what I would decide. I know one thing for sure though, I would definitely not be so trusting and would do some research before I made my decision.