Tetanus Vaccination by Dr Mendelsohn MD

Tetanus Vaccination by Dr Mendelsohn MD (The People's Doctor
Newsletter 1976-1988)

You have every right to closely question me on the tetanus vaccine,
since that was the last vaccine I abandoned. It wasn't hard for me to
give up vaccines for whooping cough, measles, and rubella because of
their disabling and sometimes deadly side effects. The mumps vaccine, a
high-risk, low-benefit product, struck me and plenty of other
doctors as silly from the moment it was introduced. Arguments for the
diphtheria vaccine were vitiated by epidemics during the past 15 years
which showed the same death rate and the same severity of illness in
those who were vaccinated vs. those who were not vaccinated. As for
smallpox, even the government finally gave up that vaccine in 1970, and
I gave up on the polio vaccine when Jonas Salk showed that the best way
to catch polio in the United States was to be near a child who recently
had taken the Sabin vaccine. But the tetanus vaccine exercised a hold
on me for a much longer time.

As you point out, I gave up belief in this vaccine in stages. For a
while, I still held onto the notion that farm families and people who
work around stables should continue to take tetanus shots. But in spite
of my early indoctrination with fear of "rusty nails," in recent years,
I have developed a greater fear of the hypodermic needle. My reasons
a

1) Scientific evidence shows that too-frequent tetanus boosters
actually may interfere with the immune reaction.

2) There has been a gradual retreat of even the most conservative
authorities from giving tetanus boosters every one year to every two
years to every five years to every 10 years (as now recommended by the
American Academy of Pediatrics), and according to some, every 20 years.
All these numbers are based on guesses rather than on hard scientific
evidence.

3) There has been a growing recognition that no controlled scientific
study (in which half the patients were given the vaccine and the other
half were given injections of sterile water) has ever been carried out
to prove the safety and effectiveness of the tetanus vaccine. Evidence
for the vaccine comes from epidemiologic studies which are by nature
controversial and which do not satisfy the criteria for scientific
proof.

4) The tetanus vaccine over the decades has been progressively weakened
in order to reduce the considerable reaction (fever and swelling) it
used to cause. Accompanying this reduction in reactivity has been a
concomitant reduction in antigenicity (the ability to confer
protection). Therefore, there is a good chance that today's tetanus
vaccine is about as effective as tap water.

5) Until the last few years, government statistics admitted that 40
percent of the child population of the U.S. was not immunized. For all
those decades, where were the tetanus cases from all those rusty nails?

6) There now exists a growing theoretical concern which links
immunizations to the huge increase in recent decades of auto-immune
diseases, e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus
erythematosus, lymphoma, and leukemia. In one case, Guillain-Barre
paralysis from swine flu vaccine, the relationship turned out to be
more than just theoretical.

In preparing my courtroom testimony on behalf of a child who allegedly
was brain-damaged as a result of the DPT (diphtheria, pertussis,
tetanus) vaccine, I reviewed the prescribing information (package
insert) for the Connaught Laboratories product which was administered
to this child. The 1975 and.1977 package insert information which
measured seven-and-a-half inches long listed three scientific
references in support of the indications, contraindications, warnings,
cautions, and adverse reactions to this vaccine. By 1978, the length of
the insert had grown to 13 1/2 inches, and the number of scientific
references had increased to 11. By 1980, the package insert was 18
inches long, and the references numbered 14. Of those newly-added
references, seven (three from U.S. medical journals and four from
foreign medical journals) dealt specifically with reactions to the
tetanus DPT portion of the (toxoid) vaccine.

An article in the Archives of Neurology (1972) described brachial
plexus neuropathy (which can lead to paralysis of the arm) prom tetanus
toxoi Four patients who received only tetanus toxoid noticed the onset
of limb weak ness from six to 21 days after the inoculation. A 1966
article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
reports the first case of "Peripheral Neuropathy .following Tetanus
Toxoid Administration." A 23-year- old white medical student
received an injection of tetanus toxoid into his rightupper arm after
an abrasion of the right knee while playing tennis. Several hours
later, he developed a wrist drop of his right hand. He later suffered
from complete motor and sensory paralysis over the distribution of the
right radial nerve (one of the major nerves innervating the arm and
hand) One month later, no residual motor or sensory deficit could be
found.

Reference is made to an article in the Journal of Neurology, 1977,
entitled "Unusual Neurological Complication following Tetanus Toxoid
Administration." The author reports a 36-year-old female who
received tetatus toxoid in her left upper arm following a wound to her
finger. Five days later, she noticed a weakness first of the right, and
then of the left and later of both legs. She complained of dizziness,
instability, lethargy, chest discomfort, difficulty in swallowing, and
inarticulate speech. S staggered when she walked, and she could take
only a few steps. Her EEG showed some abnormalities. After a month, she
was discharged without neurologic disturbance, but she continued to
feel weak and anxious. Examinations during the next 11 months showed
continued emotional instability and some paresthesias (numbness and
tingling) in the extremities. The medical diagnosis was "a rapidly
progressing neuropathy with involvement of cranial nerves, myelopathy,
and encephalopathy."

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1973, carried an
article entitled "Hypersensitivity to Tetanus Toxoid," and in a volume
entitled "Proceedings of the II International Conference on Tetanus"
(published by Hans Huber, Bern, Switzerland, 1967), an article appeared
entitled "Clinical Reactions to Tetanus Toxoid."

A 44-year-old article in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (1940) was entitled "Allergy Induced by Immunization with
Tetanus Toxoid." That same year, an article in the British Medical
Journal reported on "Anaphylaxis (a form of shock) following
Administration of Tetanus Toxoid." In 1969, a German medical journal
reported a case of paralysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (the
nerve to the voicebox) after a booster injection of tetanus toxoid. The
patient developed hoarseness and was unable to speak loudly, but the
nerve paralysis subsided completely after approximately two months.

Should your doctor reassure you that tetanus vaccine is completely
safe, or that "the benefits outweigh the risks," or that you should
have a shot "just in case," why not share these citations with him?

http://www.vaccination.org.uk/v/mend.html