Crosstalk: September 27, 2018

Barbara Loe Fisher is president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a non-profit charity she co-founded with parents of DPT vaccine injured children in 1982. For over three decades, she has led a national, grassroots movement and public information campaign to institute vaccine safety reforms and informed consent protections in the public health system. She has researched, analyzed and publicly articulated the major issues involving the science, policy, law, ethics, and politics of vaccination to become one of the world’s leading non-medical, consumer advocacy experts on the subject.  She is co-author of 'DPT:  A Shot in the Dark' and author of 'The Consumer’s Guide to Childhood Vaccines', 'Vaccines, Autism & Chronic Inflammation:  The New Epidemic', and 'Reforming Vaccine Policy & Law: A Guide'.

Discussion began concerning a wholesale pertussis vaccine in DPT that's not been given to babies in America for some 20 years. Barbara said listeners may have seen publicity about whooping cough outbreaks. The mainstream media has been sending out messaging that it's the fault of the acellular pertussis vaccine in DtaP. It's a safer, less reactive pertussis vaccine that the NVIC, back in the early 80's, lobbied to get into the U.S. This is due to the fact that the old pertussis vaccine was created in 1914 and had never been improved upon and it was hurting lots of children. Although the health authorities and the vaccine industry wasn't happy about the switch, after 14 years, the NVIC was successful in bringing it here. Now it's being said that the new vaccine doesn't work as well as the old one.

Immunity did last a little longer with the old vaccine but that was because there were so many toxins in it. There were endotoxins that can cause shock. There was bioactive pertussis toxin, one of the most lethal toxins used to deliberately induce experimental, autoimmune encephalitis in lab animals. It also contained mercury and aluminum and Barbara believes it should have been improved long ago.

She went on to note that neither of the vaccines contain the mutated B. pertussis strains that are currently circulating because in the 1950's, after use of the old vaccine, there was mutation of the bacteria. It's now evolved into vaccine resistant forms. So neither the new vaccine nor the old one covers those strains, therefore Barbara believes it's an illusion to say that we should go back to the old, wholesale vaccine for newborns.

Barbara wants people to be aware of what's taking place at the federal level, which includes the regulators and the vaccine policy makers, so that we can protect babies and not allow that old vaccine to return.

Since the new one doesn't work as well, what's the alternative? Barbara's reply was that we simply have, '...to make vaccines that work.' Neither the old one or the new one block infection and transmission. Again, the old one appears to have longer lasting immunity, but if you don't have the strains that have mutated in either vaccine, neither one is effective. So she doesn't believe the new vaccine will provide protection from whooping cough.

As this program progressed, Barbara covered much more including:

--Is the childhood vaccine schedule safe?
--Is there a correlation between vaccines and the growing rates of food allergies?
--The 8 questions you need to look at if your child is sick at the time of vaccinations.
--A 14 year old boy dies a few weeks after receiving the HPV vaccine.
--Company liability and patient exemptions.
--The current status of the live virus nasal spray.
--Merck being sued over its shingles vaccine.

Input from Crosstalk callers caps off this important medical update.