Maternal immunoglobulins are said to protect the neonatal however the effects are said to be limited in capacity and short-lived and therefore vaccinating children is the only answer but other evidence clearly shows that childhood infectious diseases are benign and self limiting and can impart life long immunity while the immunity from vaccines is only short term; for example getting chicken pox gives life long immunity while the vaccine may not. Contradictory to the popular belief that vaccination improves ones immune responses; after tetanus vaccination in infants there was an immune depleting effect indicated by the drop in T-cells and an increase in HIV viral replication in many studies.
Neonates develop active humoral and cellular immune responses to face numerous environmental challenges since it will be exposed to many new microorganisms and therefore the natural immune system is not efficient enough to deal with these new foreign microorganisms. It is widely known that the body has its own effective defense mechanism against foreign invaders consisting of the physical barriers (skin, urine, etc.) and macrophage system and fever.
A common misconception is that vaccinations are the main reason for low disease rates in North America today because according to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, diseases decreased by 90% well before mandatory vaccination programs due to improved sanitation and hygienic practices; for example polio 87% of the cases in the U.S between 1973 and 1983 were caused by the vaccine.
Now most of the vaccines are viral which is completely safe and is claimed to be better than active vaccines. However the FDA VAERS (Vaccine adverse effects reporting system) receives about 11,000 reports of vaccination reactions annually. There are also contamination problems in vaccines for example; the polio vaccine, manufactured in monkey kidney tissue was contaminated with monkey virus that is known to cause cancer in experimental animals.
Health authorities go on to say that children are exposed to fewer antigens in vaccinations today and that the effect of multiple vaccines at once has the same effect as individual vaccines administered at various intervals. However more research is needed to prove this and it should be remembered that pharmaceutical companies, which have a huge impact on the outcome of the study, fund vaccine studies and therefore it its best to take this information with a grain of salt.
Other vital information is also kept from the public like temporary immunosupression, long term immune and neurological disorders, the fact that chemicals in a vaccine can cause side effects due to presence of mercury, aluminum, selenium, etc; storage of vaccines can cause loss of viability, side effects of vaccines, lack of long-term effects since immunology is a relatively new field and if new diseases are replacing newer ones that never existed before.
Therefore in conclusion we can state that artificial immunity is far from duplicating immunity received from natural exposure. Natural exposure along with nutrition, exercise and structural integrity of the human frame can maximize the body’s innate healing power.
References
Offit, P., Quarlest, J., Gerber, M., Hackett, C., Marcuse, E., Kollman, T., Gellin, B., Landry, S.(2002). Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Multiple Vaccines Overwhelm or Weaken the Infant’s Immune system? Pediatrics, 109, 124-129. Retrieved May 10, 2003, from
Cantwell, A. (2002). Are Vaccines Causing More Diseases than they are Curing? New Dawn Magazine. Retrieved May 10, 2003, from
Neustaedter, R. (2001). Do Vaccines disable the Immune System? Retrieved May 10, 2003 from
Wassung, K. (2002). Challenging the theory of Artificial Immunity. Retrieved May 10, 2003 from
Phillips, A. (2002). Vaccination Myths. Retrieved May 10, 2003 from
