Customer Reviews

Don't Vaccinate Before You Educate

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A few years ago I had a very difficult time trying to find any research speaking out against Vaccines for a term paper in nursing school. The problem was that my school didn't carry the publications speaking out against them, and EBSCO Host (the online directory they allowed us to use) also failed at this miserably. I ended up with an overwhelming amount of pro vaccine literature. I ended up giving a gentle nod of approval to the pro vaccine camp at that time, but I was always bothered by one thing: why were so many of the experts writing these articles collecting money from the vaccine and pharmaceutical companies? This peeked my interest, and I knew I would have to do more research in the future to give both sides of the argument equal access.

The author Mayer Eisenstein MD, JD, MPH has established a medical practice with other physicians in the Illinois area. He has between 20,000 to 30,000 thousand (going off of memory on that number) patients from birth and not one of them has autism. Some of his patients that went to other clinics and received vaccinations prior to coming to him have autism, but that's beside the point. Dr. Eisentein tells the reader his bias up front and then gives arguments for and against vaccines in the book. He gives articles from established journals both for and against vaccines. He gives both sides of the argument a voice, and to truly make an INFORMED decision you have to have that...

Dr. Eisenstein makes some very good points that most parents and consumers of healthcare are not aware of. Some of which are:

The chicken pox vaccine is made from aborted fetal lung tissue (as is the rubella vaccine). He learned this from one of his patrons but couldn't confirm it until he contacted Merck himself. They listed it as Diploid tissue in the vaccine's pamphlet. Some people might have moral objections to this, and they deserve to have this information. There is also at least one study that says the chicken pox vaccine might lose 3% of it's effectiveness per year giving your child 0% immunity by about 35 years of age. Of course the older a person gets the risk of severe illness or death becomes much greater.

The polio vaccine used to be made from primates. This transferred the simian virus over to some humans while being vaccinated for polio, and the simian virus became part of their DNA. This simian virus has been found to be a carcinogen, and can be transferred to future generations potentially leading to cancer in the children of the vaccinated individual. They don't use primates anymore, but what are we using now that could be doing more harm than good?

The Hepatitis B vaccine is no longer mandated in France. There have been studies that have linked it to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis. The CDC doesn't agree with this, but than again they won't fund any studies on it either.

Here are some things you find in vaccines: Ethelyne glycol (also known as antifreeze), Thimerisal (a mercury based perservative), aluminum and others.

Now I'm not telling you to not get your children vaccinated (you do the research and discuss it with your doctor). All I'm saying is that there is a fair amount of information out there that parents are never informed of prior to receiving vaccines for their children. I worked in a clinic setting and read the pamphlets are still being given to parents. The section dedicated to the potential side effects (or risks) barely composes a paragraph; where the sections advocating vaccines can go on for multiple pages at times. This is pretty one sided, and dare I say this nurse doesn't feel it really gives parents all the information in order to make an informed decision. I don't think that should be too much to ask. There are plenty of benefits to vaccines and your physician will give you tons of information on that... But I implore you to not vaccinate before you educate yourself on the risks being conveniently left off the immunization information pamphlet at your doctors office. You do the research, you discuss it with your physician, and than and only than can you make An INFORMED DECISION.....

This review is for the revised, 2008 edition of "Don't vaccinate until you educate"

I own pretty much every book on vaccination and this is one of my favorites. You can get it on the homefirst.com website for his medical practice if it's sold out here. Author of the book, Mayer Eisenstein, M.D., J.D., M.P.H is the medical director for Homefirst Health Services in the Greater Chicago area. They have 4 practice offices and six physicians who all advocate vaccine choice and integrate natural health practices into their care.

Eisenstein's practice was featured in the Dan Olmstead investigative reporting series, The Age of Autism: 'A pretty big secret' CHICAGO, Dec. 7, 2005 (UPI). This series started with a focus on the fact that the unvaccinated Amish do not have autism. From there Olmstead began looking elsewhere to see if he could find others who weren't vaccinated and if they had autism or not (because some said it could be a genetic trait of the highly sheltered Amish people. You can find the entire series on the ageofautism.com website if interested.). He heard about Eisenstein's practice which has many unvaccinated kids and featured it in the series. Here is a quote from the article about Dr. Eisenstein's practice:

"We have a fairly large practice. We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines," said Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, Homefirst's medical director who founded the practice in 1973. Homefirst doctors have delivered more than 15,000 babies at home, and thousands of them have never been vaccinated."

Eisenstein's book is short, sweet, & to-the-point showing the potential risks of each vaccine, what the common arguments are for giving the vaccines and demonstrating where the holes are in those arguments. He doesn't come right out and say "don't vaccinate" but he gives parents enough information to make an informed decision on the topic and to better defend against pressure to vaccinate.

Topics covered include:
Vaccine pro's and con's with scientific studies for each side discussed.
Conflicts of interest of those who advocate & set policy for vaccines
Special sections devoted to chicken pox vax, Hep-B vax, & the flu vaccine
Physician/Patient Confidentiality vs. Legal reporting requirements
Vaccine law
References for each chapter discussion
And an addendum which contains:
Religious exemptions
Autism
Cal-Oregon unvaccinated survey
FDA & their position on mercury in vaccines
Mortality rates for the various childhood diseases for which there are vaccines
Illinois specific information
Vaccine legislation
Exemption letters
Biblical and religious references (for those who oppose vaccines due to religious reasons)
Q&A section
an Epilogue

Eisenstein is an MD, also holds a JD, and a Masters in public health. He is very passionate and involved in the topic. He gives a vaccine presentation (for free) about every other month in the Greater Chicago area, (there is a copy on his website you can watch) and also has a call-in radio show which is broadcast locally in Chicago and on XM radio. He's also a pretty approachable guy, as I've emailed him a couple times regarding the book or his presentations and he's always emailed back personally.

The only problem with this book is that the editing is awful - there are many typo's throughout the text which I worry might detract from the credibility of the author/text (this is one of the reasons I emailed him, to which he sent the response: "You are totally right the corrections have been made. I jokingly have said that the vaccines caused the damage to the spelling.") Hopefully all editions sent out now have the corrections.

So, if you personally are trying to decide about vaccines, or if you need solid information for a relative or friend who believes only physicians have the authority to talk about vaccines, then this is a great book for you. Other favorites of mine on the topic are: Niel Millers "Vaccines, are they really safe and effective?" 2008 edition (The best for pointed information that is highly referenced, but he's not a physician so some folks take issue with that.) Everything on the topic by Sherri Tenpenny, D.O., & the "Vaccine" book by Dr. Sears. (all can be found on Amazon)

All-in-all if you're only going to buy one book on the topic and it needs to be by a physician, get this one.

I bought this book because another reviewer said it was one of the best. If you live in the state of IL then this is a great resource for information about the laws there. If you live in WV then don't bother wasting your money on this book, unless you are specifically interested in chicken pox, Hep B or Flu vaccines. (The book covers these three vaccines in detail, though most parents questioning vaccines are probably not considering giving these vaccines in the first place as chicken pox and flu are fairly "safe" childhood sicknesses and Hep B can be given later in life if the child is going to travel over seas). I bought this hoping to loan it to family or friends who questioned our vaccination decisions, but due to all the typos and poor writing have decided against this. Though writing is not my strong point, I certainly would expect a published book to appear somewhat professional. It is a against vaccines, but does not cover a lot of the vaccines. It reads a little like a dissertation rather than the balanced readable look at vaccine issues I was looking for.

The chapters in this book are:
Ch. 1 Childhood Vaccines Pros and Cons
Scientific Articles Documenting the Benefits
Scientific Articles Documenting the Detriment

This chapter is a joke. It's basically sections of studies cut and pasted into Mayer's book with minimal interpretations interjected here and there. Something like a literature review. He nit picks all the pro articles and does a poor job of commenting on them. For example on his first article his concluding comment is "Doctors do not let go of one treatment until they find a more dangerous one to replace it. Just give them time with the new DtaP vaccine and they will find more and more problems. At least they now admit the old vaccines had problems." Suchand extreme, unbalanced, and loaded statement for a book that touts "a balanced look at vaccines."

Ch. 2 Conflicts of Interest

Discusses the fact that the people making laws about vaccines are receiving benefits from the vaccine companies. For example these people may own stock in these companies, or have patents for vaccines that are being considered.

Ch. 3 Chicken Pox Vaccine

Ch. 4 Just Say No to Hepatitis B Vaccine

Ch. 5 Flu Vaccine

Ch. 6 Confidentiality

A slightly boring argument that doctors should not disclose information about families in their practice who choose to stray from the typical vaccine schedule. Discusses the IL state law on vaccination, then has "a comparison of the Hippocratic Oath, Oath of Geneva, and the American Medical Association Principles of Medical Ethics and the Standard of Legal Professional Responsibility." Once again, this reads like dry ivory tower scholarship.

Ch. 7 Vaccine Law
This is the most useful chapter. If you live in IL this will help you navigate the convoluted technicalities of the law of the land.

Remedies
A paragraph stating what Meyer thinks should be done about the vaccine situation.

Addendum: Parents use Religion to Avoid Vaccines
Autism and the Homefirst Medical Practice
Cal-Oregon Unvaccinated Survey
FDA Denies Petition to Block Mercury in Vaccines
Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Populations Act of 2007
US Mortality Rates for: Measles, Scarlet Fever, Typhoid, Whooping Cough, Diphtheria
Illinois General Assembly Public Health Mercury-Free Vaccine Act
Flu Shots Do Not Cut Mortality Rate in Elderly


He also has some weak arguments for why not to vaccinate. For example he discusses children contracting SV40 virus from the polio vaccine, however this was an issue from 1955-1963. Now SV40 is screened for before the vaccine is made.
We have chosen not to vaccinate and found Dr. Sears' "The Vaccine Book," a much better option for loaning to people who question our choices. Dr Sears promotes selectively vaccinating, but he also sympathizes with those who choose to forgo all vaccines. His book was also much more clearly written and easier to read. It also spent an entire chapter discussing each vaccine, rather than focusing on only three vaccines. So if you are looking for a readable yet thorough and concise look at the vaccination dilema get a copy of "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Sears.

I was expecting this book to have all the answers - it doesn't. I found the book incomplete and amateur in its findings.