Is the Flu Vaccine Safe for Pregnant Women and the Unborn?

Ask most health care providers if the flu shot is safe while carrying a baby, and most will say,

"Yes. It could save you or your baby's life."

A shot that could save your life, let alone your baby's, sounds like something you shouldn't pass up. Doctors encourage pregnant women to get the flu shot, especially during flu season.

But is this really a good idea, and who is in charge of such recommendations?

The ACIP's Influence Over Vaccines

An organization called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) creates a list of recommended vaccinations and the CDC publishes them. The doctors, in turn, encourage their patients to get those vaccinations. In theory, such organizations would be considered crucial for public health. Where the problem lies, however, is that the ACIP consists of individuals who work for the pharmaceutical companies who make and profit from vaccines. Such conflicts of interest does not adequately protect people's health or safety.

Starting in 1997, the ACIP has advised that women receive the inactivated flu vaccine following their first trimester of pregnancy. A few years later, in 2004, it changed its advisory to include everyone 6 months of age or older.

The ACIP publishes vaccine schedules like this one

Flu Vaccine Ingredients

Egg protein

Many, but not all, flu vaccines are developed by growing the viruses inside fertilized chicken eggs. This results in some egg protein residue left in the vaccine. Flucelvax is one type that does not.

While egg protein is natural, there is reason to be concerned about it. Vaccines.gov:

"During pregnancy, vaccinated mothers pass on protective antibodies—infection-fighting molecules—to their babies before they are born." This information points to a need for concern because the egg protein, in conjunction with the other ingredients in the vaccine, could possibly increase the chance of babies being born with an egg allergy. Vaccines are formulated so that they trigger the immune system to have a strong response, and so by adding egg protein into the mix, this could increase the risk for developing a food allergy.

Here is some information connecting vaccines to food allergies.

Preservatives

Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, containing a form of mercury called ethylmercury, is added as a preservative to multi-dose vaccine vials. This ingredient is used in order to prevent bacteria and fungi from growing inside the vials between uses. But how many times have you heard pregnant women should not eat sushi or tuna due to the high mercury content? It's a known fact to stay away from mercury when pregnant. However, the health "experts" have created recommendations that conflict with one another. They turn around and recommend pregnant women take the a vaccine containing thimerosol, which actually has a form of mercury in it (ethylmercury).

As with most vaccine ingredients, there is controversy over whether ethylmercury is anything to worry about in vaccines. Those who promote vaccines make statements like "All mercury isn’t the same." Articles like this one, published by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, say exactly that and make further statements that the form of mercury found in fish is handled differently than the ethylmercury found in vaccines and therefore is not as likely to cause harm.

CHOP goes on to reason that ethylmercury is processed by the body and excreted "much more rapidly" than methylmercury. The problem with this explanation is that this substance is being injected, not ingested, and carried through the normal pathway of excretion. Although studies have been done on the subject, the neurotoxic effect of ethylcercury is still being determined.

Stabilizers

Sucrose, sorbitol, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) help stabilize vaccines, preventing the quality from degrading due to exposure to heat, light, cold, or humidity. But MSG in particular raises concerns because it causes obesity and may be carcinogenic.

Antibiotics

In order to prevent the growth of bacteria, small amounts of neomycin, gentamicin, and other antibiotics are added to the vaccine.

Polysorbate 80

This ingredient is found in vaccines, along with many processed foods because it prevents the ingredients from separating. Pediatrician Lawrence Palevsky, MD warns that the ingredient could be dangerous, stating:

"Polysorbate 80 is used in pharmacology to assist in the delivery of certain drugs or chemotherapeutic agents across the blood-brain-barrier."

Used with other vaccine ingredients, such as the mercurty-containing thimerisol, polysorbate 80 could have a compounding effect on negatively impacting the brain.

Formaldehyde

The flu vaccine contains formaldehyde in order to inactivate the virus toxins but trace levels of the compound remain in the vaccine. The National Cancer Institute states: "Researchers have concluded that, based on data from studies in people and from lab research, exposure to formaldehyde may cause leukemia, particularly myeloid leukemia, in humans."

While these ingredients may seen benign, a closer look at them suggests otherwise. One of the most common statements I read on the topic of vaccine ingredients is that the are only in small amounts. While this may be the case, a poison, no matter how low the dose, just doesn't sound like a recipe for health for mother and child...

Think before you vaccinate.

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Hope you enjoyed this post, or it stimulated your brain;) I am very passionate about health, and am on a constant journey to explore any knowledge I can get my hands or eyes on. Some of the information I write about is controversial but those are also the topics that need more discussion - and that's my goal, to open up discussions here on Steemit.

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Images:

1, 2, 3

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Committee_on_Immunization_Practices
https://www.vaccines.gov/who_and_when/pregnant/index.html
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/gregory.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23401210
http://www.thevaccinereaction.org/2016/01/polysorbate-80-a-risky-vaccine-ingredient/#_edn8
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/formaldehyde.html

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Interested in the topic of vaccines and health? Check out my other posts:
The Organic Food Myth - What "Organic" Food Really Means
This Ingredient in Your Child’s Vaccines Causes Obesity & May Be Carcinogenic
The Polio Vaccine's Link to Cancer & the Monkey Virus that Contaminated it Found in Human Cancers

The Contagious Cancer Virus – Do You Have it?
The Vaccine Killing Girls and Boys in the Name of Fighting Cancer
Are Childhood Vaccines Making Us Ticking Time Bombs for Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Chronic Fatigue, & Auto Immune Conditions?