I recently had the pleasure of stepping on a rusty nail. As uncomfortable as the experience was, it brought up something just as uncomfortable, and something that I hadn't thought about in years; my immunization records. While the discussion about the health effects of vaccines is a hotly debated topic, there is much more subtlety to the topic than the mainstream discourse would have you believe. For instance, there is a wide variety in the ingredients of different vaccines, with some being more toxic than others. There is also the matter of how detrimental the potential infection could be; for both the individual and the collective population. Polio, for instance, is a highly contagious disease that can cause paralysis, difficulty breathing, and even death. Tetanus on the other hand, although potentially deadly, is not contagious at all, and has an extremely low incidence. It is so low, in fact, that only 500 annual cases were recorded in 1947, the year that the vaccine was first introduced. So here is everything I have learned the past week during my adventure with tetanus. Please share this with anyone who you think could benefit.
The conclusion that I have arrived at is this: childhood immunization of tetanus is absolutely a good idea, because it not only immunizes you against tetanus, but also diphtheria, as well as pertussis. However, the 10 year booster shot appears to be overkill. Instead, getting a booster every 20-25 years appears to be sufficient. An Oregon Health and Sciences University study in 2007 measured the tetanus immunity levels of 546 adults who had gone without the recommended 10 year tetanus booster shot. The findings revealed that roughly 95% of the participants still had immunity to tetanus, as well as diphtheria (the other disease in which the vaccine covers). What the researchers discovered is that the vaccine actually had a half life of about 14 years, or a full life of 28 years. What this means is that a person could potentially go for nearly 30 years without getting additional vaccinations, and still be immune to tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis.
But why not make sure you're covered anyway?
The reason why it may be a good idea to limit your frequency of vaccines is because vaccines contain a number of toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and mercury. The level of toxicity will be determined by which vaccine you are considering. The tetanus vaccine, for instance, contains a substance in it called thimerosal, a form of preservative derived from mercury. Other potentially harmful ingredients are 2-Phenoxyethanol and formaldehyde. Both of these ingredients can have long lasting negative effects on health.
While some vaccines have more damaging ingredients than others, it is wise to do the research and determine which vaccines are absolutely necessary, and which can be gone without. For instance, even if you were to forego the tetanus booster every 20-25 years, you can still receive a shot called tetanus immunoglobulin, which provides your body adequate antibodies to the tetanus bacteria to stave off infection. The tetanus immunoglobulin shot has far fewer negative side-effects, and contains less toxic ingredients than it's booster counterpart. However, when I went into the ER, the Dr. told me that he would only administer a booster shot for tetanus, which after doing the research, I realized would not have protected me from infection, as it takes 3 weeks to become active. The Dr. reported that tetanus was so rare, that he almost never administers the immunoglobulin shot, but rather advocates for the booster instead. This let me know just how rare tetanus is--if Dr.'s only give boosters, rather than injections with antibodies, and patients aren't then suffering from acute tetanus symptoms, more likely than not, they either never had tetanus, or were still immunized from previous vaccination.
So in conclusion, do the research to educate yourself about which vaccines are absolutely necessary, and take appropriate measures. In the examples of tetanus, I would strongly suggest the immunization for children, but consider putting off the booster shots for 20-25 years following vaccination, rather than the suggested 10 years. As a holistic counselor, and someone interested in natural medicine and holistic health, I always encourage people to educate themselves, and really take the time to wade through the fear-based conditioning, and misinformation perpetuated by the media and medical institutions. There is a lot of money to be made for pharmaceutical companies selling vaccines, and so we have to be vigilant to discern fact from fiction.... Thanks for reading! :)