Pet Vaccine Myths

Myth No. 1

Vaccines protect our dogs against disease, helping to ensure they live long, healthy, happy lives.

• Wrong: Vaccines only sometimes protect our dogs against disease (if at all). Scientific studies into human vaccines have shown that just as many vaccinated people, and sometimes more vaccinated people, contract diseases as do unvaccinated people.
• A study conducted by Canine Health Concern during 1997, involving 2,700 dogs, showed that 68.2% of dogs in the survey with parvovirus contracted it within three months of being vaccinated. Similarly, 55.6% of dogs with distemper contracted it within three months of vaccination; 63.6% contracted hepatitis within three months of vaccination; 50% contracted parainfluenza within three months of vaccination; and every single dog with leptospirosis contracted it within that three month timeframe.
• So vaccines represent - at best - only a 50/50 chance of protection. But if you doubt the validity of the CHC survey, ask around. It won't take long to find people whose dogs contracted these diseases shortly after being vaccinated.
• In a parvo vaccine trial conducted by Dr Ronald D Schultz, head of pathobiology at Wisconsin University, three out of six parvo vaccine brands totally failed to give protection; two gave only partial protection; and only one was shown to be effective.

Myth No. 2

Vaccines have eradicated epidemics.

• Wrong: Vaccine manufacturers like to claim this. But research shows that vaccines are generally introduced after the disease has died out: diseases die out after 67% of a population has been exposed to it. The smallpox vaccine is often quoted as having eradicated smallpox. In fact, scientists stopped using it when they finally admitted that it was causing too many side-effects. Only then did the disease die out.
• There are strong arguments to suggest that vaccines keep diseases in the ecosystem. For example, the only cause of polio in the USA today is the vaccine itself. (You can get polio if you change the nappy of a baby who has recently been vaccinated against polio.)
• Vaccines also shed into the environment, so a vaccinated or unvaccinated dog or cat can contract a disease from the urine and faeces of a vaccinated dog or cat.

Myth No. 3

Vaccines are extremely safe.

• Wrong: No-one can legitimately claim that vaccines are safe because no-one has conducted the necessary research to make that claim. There are no long-term studies to show the long-term effects of vaccines on humans, let alone dogs.

Myth No. 4

Only a tiny minority of genetically susceptible dogs will suffer adverse reactions to vaccines.

• Wrong: Whilst some dogs will have genetic weaknesses that make vaccines more dangerous to them, there are many other factors which can put your dog at risk. Vaccine manufacturers warn, in their data sheets, that "immunocompetence may be compromised by a variety of factors..."
  1. if the dog is genetically defective
  2. if there is something wrong with the dog's diet
  3. if the dog was unhealthy when vaccinated
  4. if the dog is stressed at time of injection
  5. if the dog's immune system is incompetent
  6. if the dog is exposed to a virus before or after vaccination
  7. if the dog is taking immune suppressant drugs such as steroids
  8. if the vet stores and handles the vaccine inappropriately
  9. if the dog is incubating disease at the time of vaccination
• "Immunocompetence may be compromised" means that the immune system may not be functioning properly, in which case the animal will be unable to mount a defence against the vaccine challenge. The consequence of this could be that the animal contracts the disease from the vaccine, or the animal could die.
• And if no-one is recording the adverse effects of vaccines effectively, then how can anyone say only a 'tiny minority' have adverse reactions?
• In the UK, vets are asked (not compelled) to report adverse reactions if they suspect an adverse vaccine reaction. If a dog falls down having an epileptic fit within half an hour, ten days, or a month of vaccination, the vet very often fails to suspect a link - even though vaccines are known to cause epilepsy, and the human Vaccine Damage Compensation Unit has paid up to £30,000 to parents whose children were made epileptic by vaccines. Even if the vet does suspect a link, there is no law to make him report the suspected reaction. Many vets are too busy to complete the necessary paperwork.
• The same applies to other diseases which many scientists contend are vaccine-related - such as skin disease, arthritis, cancer, encephalitis, etc.

Myth No. 5

"I am a vet, and I have only seen one vaccine reaction in 20 years' of practice."

• Wrong: you only think you have seen one vaccine reaction in twenty years of practice!
• Vets have been trained to look for an immediate reaction - where the dog is allergic to the vaccine (this allergy is the basis for the genetic link claim). In the event of an allergic reaction - anaphylactic shock - the vet is advised to inject adrenalin into the animal to save his life.
• Research papers published by eminent scientists show that the following diseases can be caused by vaccines:
• Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia - a dreadful disease that usually kills a dog within days. Progress of the disease closely resembles the last stages of AIDS.
• Cancer - Dr Denis W Macey was reported in an American veterinary paper as saying that up to 22,000 cats develop cancer at the site of vaccination every year in the USA.
• The Salk Polio Vaccine administered to thousands of people in the 1950s and '60s was contaminated with a Simian (monkey) retrovirus (called SV40) that has been found at human cancer sites. An Avian (bird) retrovirus has also been found at human cancer sites, suspected to have come from the MMR vaccine. Monkey kidneys, chick embryos, hamsters, ducks, dog brains and kidneys, and cat brains and kidneys are all commonly used as vaccine culture media. If the animal used as a culture medium for vaccines carries its own species-specific retrovirus and this is undetected and left in the vaccine, the vaccine can permanently alter the genes of the animal or human receiving the vaccine.
• Genetic defects - The significance of vaccines' gene altering potential is alarming. For example, SV40 has been found at cancer sites belonging to the children of people who received the SV40-contaminated Salk Polio vaccine. SV40 is said to switch off the part of the DNA that protects from cancer, and this defect can be inherited.
• Although the British government was informed that the polio vaccine was contaminated at the time, they took the decision to use it anyway. Once it was decided it was too risky to continue using the contaminated vaccine on the UK population, it was sold overseas to unsuspecting 'foreigners'. So God help your dog.
• Thyroid can be caused by vaccines, and it then becomes an inheritable condition. Once a dog has underlying thyroid disease, he or she only needs a trigger - from a vaccine, an environmental pollutant, from stress, or from dietary inadequacies - to develop full-blown autoimmune diseases. Thyroid disease can often be undetected. For example, behavioural problems, hormonal imbalances, nymphomania, and coat loss can by symptoms of thyroid disease, but are often treated at face value without establishing the underlying cause.
• Leukaemia - Dr Jean Dodds, one of the world's foremost experts in canine vaccine reactions, writes: "Recent vaccinations with single or combination modified live virus (MLV) vaccines are increasingly recognised contributors to immune-mediated blood diseases, bone marrow failure, and organ dysfunction." Dr Dodds lists leukaemia, thyroid disease, Addison's disease, diabetes, and lymphoma as diseases that can be triggered by vaccines.
• Parvovirus - yes, parvovirus was created by vaccines. This disease didn't exist prior to the 1970s. In fact, scientists tell us it was created by vaccine manufacturers who cultured the distemper vaccine on cat kidneys that were infected with feline enteritis. This cat-enteritis-diseased distemper vaccine was then injected into dogs around the world, and parvovirus reared its ugly head around the world at the same time. A naturally occurring epidemic would spread slowly across continents. Parvovirus appeared in line with multi-national vaccine company distribution policies.
• Similarly, human AIDS is thought by some scientists to be a vaccine-induced plague. HIV (humans), FIV (cats), and SIV (monkeys) are closely related viruses. Two separate scientific papers link the emergence of HIV in humans with the use of SIV-infected polio vaccines (cultured on monkey kidneys) on male homosexuals in New York, and innocent citizens of the Belgian Congo.
• Arthritis - there are numerous scientific studies linking arthritis in with vaccination. Vaccine components have even been isolated in the bones of arthritic humans post vaccination.
• According to one vaccine manufacturer's data sheet, vaccines that are cultured on animal tissue can contain 'extraneous proteins' that can cause autoimmune diseases. Arthritis is an autoimmune disease, and it was found in the CHC survey to manifest in clusters nine months after vaccination.
• Animals with a genetic predisposition to allergies (ie 'people' from families with a history of irritable bowel syndrome/Crohns disease/enteritis, asthma, hay fever, eczema, and so on), can become more allergic, or become highly sensitised, when you inject foreign proteins (serums and organ tissue) into them.
• Veterinary manuals talk openly about serum reactions, and vaccines contain serum.
• Allergies - There are many, many research papers showing a link between allergies and vaccines. In 1983, for example, Frick and Brooks published a paper to show that inhalant allergies (such as atopic dermatitis) have developed in dogs when vaccinated with distemper, hepatitis and leptospirosis vaccines just prior to, but not after, exposure to pollen extracts.
• 'Atopic' means an inherited predisposition to produce excess amounts of IgE antibodies in response to antigens (the things the animal is allergic to such as pollen, flea bites, dust mites, etc.). As a result the allergic individuals suffer chronically irritating skin inflammations. Other organs may exhibit signs of hypersensitivity causing, for example, conjunctivitis or rhinitis. A study carried out at Purdue University showed routinely vaccinated dogs developing autoantibodies to a wide range of biochemicals, as well as DNA.
• Homoeopathic vets treat a large proportion of skin problems as 'vaccinosis' (a morbid reaction to vaccines). Irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, and other digestive disorders have also been linked to vaccines.
• Epilepsy - As stated earlier, it is scientifically recognised that vaccines can cause epilepsy in humans. Dr Hans Selye published a famous paper in 'Nature' in 1936 which explained how an organism will react to a massive challenge (such as a vaccine). Every system of the body springs into action, and a hormone called DOC can be released. This hormone can cause brain lesions and destruction of large parts of the brain. Epilepsy is a neurological (brain) condition.
• The Merck Manual states that encephalitis can be caused by vaccines. It also describes epilepsy as a symptom of encephalitis.
• Merck, a vaccine manufacturer, goes so far as to state in its manual that patients with B and T cell immunodeficiencies - features of which include eczema, dermatitis, food allergies, inhalant allergies, neurological deterioration and heart disease - should not receive live virus vaccines, as the vaccine can kill them.

Myth No. 6

Vaccine manufacturers have to undergo stringent procedures and tests to ensure safety.

• Wrong: OK, partly true . . . vaccine manufacturers have to go through safety procedures and tests, but to claim that these tests are stringent is highly subjective. How, then, did SV40 get through; how did the avian virus get into the MMR vaccine; how did parvovirus slip through the net; and how did AIDS suddenly arrive from nowhere?
• In actual fact, no-one is permitted (in the UK at least) to test the viral component of a veterinary vaccine except a vaccine manufacturer. They are the only ones with a license to do it. This means that if you suspect a vaccine killed your puppy, you have to take the vaccine company's word for it if they say it didn't. There's no-one to go to if you want an independent check.

Myth No. 7

It's better to risk a vaccine reaction than subject my dog to these deadly killer diseases.

• Wrong: Firstly, very few of the classic canine diseases are deadly. Parvovirus is only generally deadly to puppies and, as maternal antibody can be present for as many as 22 weeks, and as maternal antibody cancels out the vaccine, vaccinated puppies are unlikely to be protected from parvovirus. Adult dogs rarely die from parvovirus.
• Distemper kills only half of affected dogs. Indeed, dogs most susceptible to disease are those who are fed poor quality processed foods. A dog fed a natural diet, containing 'real' food, with a consequently strong immune system, is most able to combat viral challenges. Also, please be aware that there is an alternative to a highly risky vaccine - this is discussed later. My two two-year-old dogs have never been vaccinated, have received the homoeopathic alternative, and have tested positive for antibodies to both distemper and parvovirus. Both are extremely healthy.
• Clinical signs of hepatitis and parainfluenza range from mild and invisible to death (the flu rarely kills; hepatitis can be caused by a range of factors, including poor diet, parasites, bacteria, fungus, chemicals and drugs, and the vaccine doesn't protect against all of the other dangers).
• Secondly, no-one knows how common these diseases are. No-one records their existence. Leptospirosis, for example, is extremely rare (apart from which, leptospirosis is a range of over a hundred bacterins; the chances of the strain in the needle matching the strain in the field are remote; and the vaccine only confers protection for between three and six months, leaving vaccinated dogs 'unprotected' for up to nine months anyway).
• Vaccines have also been known to cause the diseases they were designed to prevent. This happens when a vaccine is injected into an animal with a suppressed immune system (as explained earlier.); or when the vaccine manufacturer fails to render the viral component of the vaccine harmless in the lab. In the latter instance, the vaccine is withdrawn after it has killed 'more dogs than normally expected' (in the words of one vaccine manufacturer as it withdrew its vaccine).
• Canine Health Concern's vaccine survey indicated that at least one in every hundred dogs is damaged by vaccines. As no-one has any reliable statistics to suggest otherwise, it should be up to vets and vaccine manufacturers to prove vaccines are safe and not the other way round. We whose dogs have died or suffered chronic debilitating diseases shouldn't have to take their word for it when the vaccine manufacturers deny responsibility. Our concerns should be taken seriously, and not strenuously denied in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Myth No. 8

The homoeopathic vaccine alternative is unproven.

• Wrong: Existing research and experience shows that the homoeopathic nosode is as protective - but probably more protective - than vaccines.
• Whereas the medical and veterinary 'professions' receive huge sums of money from international multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical conglomerates, please note that homoeopaths do not. Rather, vets who trust the less expensive homoeopathic alternative suffer serious financial loss by refusing to sell highly lucrative annual boosters.
• A growing number of dog lovers are beginning to choose the homoeopathic alternative to vaccines. Some have been using the nosode for up to twenty years, and claim that they have never had a problem.
• However, to be fair, you should understand that neither a vaccine nor the homoeopathic nosode offers guaranteed protection against canine disease. Louis Pasteur, the father of vaccines, conceded on his deathbed that the host's inherent resistance is everything. In other words, factors such as genetics and diet play a crucial role in disease prevention.

Myth No. 9

You should vaccinate your dog every year.

• If you hear nothing else, if you can accept nothing else, please know that annual vaccination is not necessary. Please do not subject your dogs to the vaccine risk year after year until they drop. Once immunity to a virus exists, it persists for the lifetime of the host. In the case of leptospirosis (a bacterial disease), we have already explained that the vaccine is virtually useless and therefore not worth the risk.
• Several American veterinary colleges have announced that annual vaccination is unnecessary, in reaction to consumer pressure and fears over adverse reactions. One veterinary college said that annual vaccination has no scientific basis, and we might as well have chosen 'every full moon' to stick the needle in. The AAVMA has circulated guidelines saying that puppy shots are enough, and then vaccination is no longer necessary.
• And please be aware that a vaccine administered to a puppy, when his immune system is immature, is probably the most harmful jab of all, capable of wreaking havoc - havoc that you might not be able to detect immediately.

Myth No. 10

My doctor/vet knows best.

• Wrong. Doctors and vets are trained in a very specific healing discipline. They know about pharmaceuticals, and some of them know about surgery. But they rely upon the pharmaceutical industry to tell them which drugs to use in which circumstances. They also rely upon the pharmaceutical industry to negotiate discounts which are important to their financial viability - and these discounts are often negotiated on the basis of whose vaccine is being used.
• Homoeopaths do not claim to be able to reverse all vaccine damage, and conventional vets - not even recognising most forms of vaccine damage - have little success. Once you've administered the needle, you can never change your mind. Please STUDY THE FACTS, don't watch your dog die so you have to live to regret it.

The facts contained in this article are substantiated in the book, "What vets don't tell you about vaccines" from Canine Health Concern, priced £16.45 including postage in the UK.

For less than the price of one vaccine jab, you can save yourself years' of expense and heartache, and your innocent animal friend the agony of vaccine damage.