Over the past week, we have been inundated with mainstream media stories about the measles ‘epidemic’ in Washington state where 68 have been infected. Nationwide, there have been 159 cases identified through February 21, 2019. (1)
An outbreak is defined as three or more cases. Of measles—an illness that is self-limited and benign for nearly all who got it. Before I go on, let’s remember how measles was regarded when I was growing up. Recall that the Brady Bunch became infected with measles. I do not recall newspaper headlines blaring about the Bradys serious illness. I don’t think the health department was on the episode investigating how the Brady’s became ill. Furthermore, I don’t remember Congress investigating why all the Bradys became ill. Nor do I have any memory of state legislatures trying to take parental rights away because the Bradys developed measles. I think Mr. and Mrs. Brady would have had something to say about that one!
Here’s what I remember about the Bradys measles show:
That was in a different era when measles was considered a rite of passage for nearly all children. In fact, children who naturally developed measles and recovered had lifetime immunity from future measles infections. Additionally, girls who recovered from measles would pass on immunity to their babies which would protect their children at the most vulnerable time in their lives.
Now, with nearly everyone getting the measles vaccination, all that protection is lost. There is no lifetime immunity since the antibody production from the vaccine declines over time. Furthermore, there is no protection for newborn babies in mothers who have been vaccinated. And, there is no herd immunity from the vaccine since the vaccine is incapable of providing it.
Perhaps Marcia Brady had it right!
Times were simpler in the Brady era. There was no fear-mongering from the Powers-That-Be over measles. Not so today. The headlines today might make you think that measles is as deadly as Ebola.
That is absurd.
But, just look at what is happening around our country after a small and predictable measles outbreak. There was a US Congressional hearing last week about the measles ‘epidemic’ and another one is scheduled in the US Senate next week. At these hearings, the Powers-That-Be are calling for mandatory vaccinations and eliminating parental choice when it comes to vaccines. As I previously stated, with the amount of media coverage this measles epidemic is receiving, I would not fault you for guessing that many must be dying from measles. In fact, no one has died.
Another fact: No one died from measles last year. In 2015, the first measles death in 12 years was recorded and it was found in a woman at autopsy who did not exhibit measles symptoms. It is important to point out that she was on immune-suppressive medications. (2) Please keep in mind that I am not trying to minimize anyone’s death. Any death is tragic. So is a death from the measles (MMR) vaccine. A search of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) found 415 deaths from the MMR (or MMRV) vaccine since 1989. In other words, approximately 13 US children die per year from the measles vaccine. (3) And, keep in mind that experts think that only 1% of adverse vaccine reactions are reported. (4) And, there are other adverse effects from the measles vaccine. Seizure occurs five times more often in vaccination from measles than from measles infection. (5)
Fact: The year before the measles vaccine was introduced (1962) the death rate from measles was 0.2/100,000. In 2016, here are some statistics on the death rate:
• Heart disease (2016) is 168/100,000
• Suicide: 13.3/100,000
• Lightening strike: 0.02/100,000
• Drowning: 3/100,000 for children under five years
Measles epidemics STILL occur every two to three years even with vaccination rates around 90%. Why does measles continue the circulate? The primary reason is that the measles vaccine does NOT confer lifetime immunity to measles. Approximately 5-10 percent of those vaccinated are non-responders—they do not produce antibodies to the virus. And, nearly 10% who receive the vaccine stop producing antibodies within 10-20 years after the inoculation.
My friend, “Dr. Karl” from Philadelphia, recently called me and asked me what I thought about the measles epidemic in Washington state. I told Karl that it was only measles—what’s the big deal? Well, Dr. Karl, what say you about the pertussis epidemic in Los Angeles where 30 vaccinated students became ill with pertussis? (6) Perhaps we should stop vaccinating against pertussis as only the vaccinated became ill. The good news for those students is that they will have lifetime immunity for pertussis and the girls infected will impart immunity on their newborn children. Pertussis is a perfect example of a failed vaccine that has left our country in a mess since the vaccine wanes shortly after it is given.
Folks, we don’t live in Nazi Germany where medical procedures were done without consent. We don’t live in Communist countries where there is no choice. At least, I don’t think we do.
Some vaccines, like measles, can reduce the incidence of an illness. However, there are potential side effects from the vaccine. I suggest you do your research before you allow any doctor to give you any medical therapy. You are in the best position to make an informed choice about whether a vaccine is right for you or your children. Not the Powers-That-Be.
To All Our Health,
~DrB
(1) https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/measles-outbreak-in-pacific-northwest-about-half-of-u-s-cases/
(2) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/02/measles-death-washington-state/29624385/
(3) http://www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php
(4) https://healthit.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/publication/r18hs017045-lazarus-final-report-2011.pdf
(5) JAMA. 2004:Jul.21;292(3):356
(6) https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/02/27/whooping-cough-harvard-westlake/
Thank you, Dr. Brownstein for providing this valuable information to the public.
Hi Dr B! As the news reports on Michigan’s measles outbreak (very close to home for me!), I’ve heard several in the media say that the measles was eradicated in the US in the year 2000, giving credit to the vaccine. What is your response to that when people use that as their reason for vaccinating?
Tracey,
Measles was never eradicated in the US. That is a perfect example of “Fake News!”.
This is another great article, thank you! Do you have any articles or information regarding the TB test? It is required for my employment…but what I have learned over the last year regarding vaccines now makes me nervous to do an annual TB test!
Tracey,
A TB test can be done through a blood test now.
DrB
Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC) Vision Statement – To live In A Society Free Of Mandatory Vaccination Laws, What You Can Do To Help Keep Society Free Of Forced Vaccinations
https://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2019/03/physicians-for-informed-consent-pic.html
Would love to publish your article above at AGR Journal.
I was shown the door when I refused dental X rays for the second time that year, was refused a tetanus shot because i did not want the flu shot.
As a child, I had Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox and Scarlet Fever. I have not had a cold in years, have never taken hormone replacements and at age 62, am not taking any medications at all. I do however follow Dr. Brownstein’s suggestions on vitamins and supplements because they make sense.
Thanks Eva!
DrB
Eva,
My dentist got downright nasty with me because I refused x-rays. He said they would not even clean my teeth again if I didn’t get them. There are no holistic dentists where I live. No holistic doctors either. I had to cave and let them radiate me again. Now my doctor is insisting I have a CT scan with contrast to diagnose some problems that she cannot figure out. I am terrified of all of that radiation and what’s in the contrast. I got her to reduce the contrast to oral from IV but I still have had reactions to that nasty stuff in the past. What are we to do??????
Margie,
perhaps you can take the X-Ray’s you paid for and find another dentist who can work with them. I would not like additional scanning unless a second or third person confirmed this would need to be done. I know it is hard to believe, but not all Doctors are honest and prey on people being like sheeple . Keep “shopping” dentists until you find one you can trust and who actually works for you.
Good luck! Remember, they need your consent – and we have the option to find someone else.
Could not agree more! Stay off and out of my body and my mind with the corruption in the artificial grid!
Everybody remember hospitals and doctors get a lot of money from the vaccine manufacturers dependent on how many vaccines they administer. That is a much bigger incentive to them than your well being. The CDC owns the patents on all of these vaccines and sets the rules and regulations and false, incomplete, or nonexistent safety testing. I had the measles, ALL of us did back then. Didn’t hurt any of us. I got the shingles in my 60’s and while it was horrible, I would still not ever get the vaccine. It has never been proven to work and has many toxic ingredients.
Isn’t it true that some vaccines, when given, cause the vaccinated to shed the virus (such as chicken pox – varicella zoster) for several weeks, therefore exposing the unsuspecting (adults?
Watch The Truth About Vaccines- then decide for yourself.
Jan,
YES! That is why the vaccinated should be quarantined–they can be a danger to the sick and unvaccinated. When the live polio vaccine was used, it was the sole cause of polio in the US for many years. That’s why it was changed out. I have had patients who have never been vaccinated have positive antibodies for many of the vaccines. the likely source is the vaccinated passing the viral load to the unvaccinated.
DrB
Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire and narratives with narratives. Besides measles the big boogeyman in the news recently is ‘antisemitism’. Suddenly questioning certain things, holding certain opinions, or not supporting certain agendas is all anti Semitic. And look REAL antisemitism is appalling, but the current incarnation seems a bit of a stretch. That said there is still one appalling practice that is anti Semitic in origin. Yet it’s on everyone’s lips these days: mandatory vaccination. Folks the Nazis tested vaccines and other drugs on concentration camp prisoners. If you refused your shot you were denied food or worse. It was such an appalling practice that it became a big topic at Nuremberg. So much so that the Nuremberg Agreement that the US is signatory to forbids the requirement of any needle prick as a prerequisite for public services. Now the CDC, a for profit vaccine distributor, wants to scrap that idea and bring back Nazi style forced vaccination. But worse. Because even the Nazis didn’t make you foot the bill. So its not only a disgrace but perhaps the most overtly anti Semitic practice you could ever imagine. Yet the CDC wants to normalize a barbaric practice inflicted upon Jews at the lowest point in their history. So we need to start saying it. Screaming it and blasting it to the ends of the Earth in full public view. Then force the question on every pol brazen enough to endorse this barbaric practice. All of you need to write your congressman today and ask them why they would support for their own citizens the same torturous practice that the Nazis inflicted on the Jews. Then tell them that you can only conclude that it’s because they harbor a deep antisemitic streak. In politics optics far outweigh facts. In this case both things are on our side. Get this narrative into the mainstream and you’ll never hear about mandatory vaccination again. Sometimes you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.
Are there any vaccines that you think are worth the risk of side effects in children or do you suggest seeking exemption against all vaccines?
Maria,
I suggest you do your own research then decide. Many vaccines are very effective at lowering the incidence of the illness such as measles and chickenpox. All vaccines have adverse effects. The important point here is that choice needs to be an option. I don’t need the Powers-That-Be telling me which vaccines I and my children must receive.
DrB
Maria, I can answer that since Dr B is being cautiously diplomatic.
Simple answer: NO!
Number of double blind placebo studies on ANY vaccine: 0.
Number of vaccinated vs unvaccinated studies for ANY vaccine: 0.
Number of long term studies proving the safety of any vaccine: 0.
There is NO real evidence on the vaccine side.
All vaccines were introduced after the respective infectious diseases were already mostly gone.
How many vaccine patents are owned by the CDC?
Vaccines have ONE purpose, and it’s not to prevent disease and keep people healthy. It is to make profit, in the short term selling the vaccine and in the long term keeping people sick and dependent on the medical system.
You’re welcome Dr B. 😉
What do I do when I live in a state that requires it for public school? And I can’t find a pediatrician to support me?
Donna,
First scream. Then call your legislatures and start bothering them. Go to their meetings. If you do nothing, you become part of the problem.
DrB
I’d also suggest reviewing and probably updating your Rights and then questioning the “authority” behind the “requirement.” Once “jurisdiction” is challenged (especially in any legal action) the Lawful applicable authority must to be shown. If “shown” then that can become a real objective learning opportunity.
If you attended “public school” then you most likely were not introduced to the distinctions of status between a “US citizen” and a Citizen of whatever your State may be. The status of “citizen of the United States” came into existence under the so called “14th Amendment” which was after we had State Citizenship in virtually every State since about one hundred years prior. This second citizenship is truly second class, originally intended for the former slaves who were not allowed to be Citizens of the States. If you identify yourself as a US citizen then believe or not you have no “Rights”, only privileges and providing that you “behave” whereas State Citizens have all their natural born (God-given) “certain unalienable Rights ….” just exactly as it is stated in the first Organic Law: the Declaration of Independence.
Once you are clear about who you are in relation to external government and fully re-claim your Rightful status whenever you interface with the external governmental entities (knowing that all government is here to provide certain services to their State Citizens) you can assert your questioning of authority with confidence. However, don’t take my word for any of this. Verify everything independently for yourself and especially independent of any public school since the “unalienable Rights” is obviously not part of their vocabulary.
Anytime jurisdiction is asserted or claimed it MUST be proven and until it is…well everything else is irrelevant. Ask your accuser for evidence of their supposed authority/jurisdiction. They’ll need fact and a witness with firsthand personal knowledge. More often than not, they won’t be able to comply simply because they cannot. Also, the code/law/policy applies because it says so doesn’t work. That’s merely circular logic and intelligent people require more than that. Make your accuser back up their claim because without proof they have nothing. Don’t let them place the burden of proof on you by making counter claims. Just stay focused on getting your evidence by asking questions. He/She that makes the claim bears the burden of proof; always! I realize this may seem foreign to many folks today but its called liberty and that is how many folks back in the day operated. For more info about using the Socratic method to defend yourself, look up Marc Stevens No State Project.
Keep looking Donna!! There are good doctors and nurse practitioners out there who will help you. Talk to other people who don’t vaccinate. Contact the NVIC or other vaccine info site. Many of them keep contacts to share. Don’t give up!
HOMESCHOOL!
Donna,
I know of one mom who told her doctor that she wanted to “delay” the shots, she delayed add long as she could then switched doctors and, when asked, said the child was ‘doing fine’ with the shots….masking it sound add if the child was all caught up.
I know it sounds a bit deceitful but the Med companies are being nothing but decietful. You have to do what you feel is right.
I believe that a plural of Brady is Bradys, not “Brady’s.” Why it matters? If we are to wet your article, and/or show it to anybody, it better be grammatically correct.
“I do not recall newspaper headlines blaring about the Bradys’ serious illness. ”
“I don’t think the health department was on the episode investigating how the Bradys became ill. Nor do I have any memory of state legislatures trying to take parental rights away because the Bradys developed measles. Here’s what I remember about the Bradys’ measles show:”
One of many of the sources for my claim: https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/10/plural-names.html
Q: Please tell me the correct way to “pluralize” (is this a word?) a person’s name. For example, “The Marxes (a couple named Marx) will be presenting their ideas to the board.” Is there a rule about when to add an “es” or only an “s”?
A: We wrote a post a few years ago about how names are pluralized (yes, it’s a word), but the subject comes up so often that the commonly accepted rules bear repeating.
Any name or other word ending in a sibilant (a hissing, shushing, or buzzing sound, as in “s” “ch,” “sh,” “x,” or “z”) is pluralized with the addition of “es.”
Examples: “Joneses” … “Foxes” … “Birches” … “Lopezes” … “Schultzes” … “Gishes” … “Fitches.”
In general, names are pluralized the same way as ordinary nouns—except for irregular nouns like “sheep,” “fish,” “children,” and others.
A family named “Child,” for example, would be pluralized as “the Childs.” And a family named “Childs” would be pluralized as “the Childses.”
However, names ending in “y” are treated differently from ordinary nouns ending in “y.”
When a name ends in “y,” it’s pluralized with “s” instead of “ies.” So a family named “Brady” would be pluralized as “the Bradys.” And three little girls named “Wendy” would be “three little Wendys.”
You’ll find these rules in all major usage guides, including Fowler’s Modern English Usage (rev. 3rd ed.), Garner’s Modern American Usage (3rd ed.), Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, and Pat’s grammar and usage book Woe Is I (3rd ed.).
Aleksandra,
I stand corrected. I was not sure how to do that when I wrote it–I should have looked it up! A perfect example of when you “assume” something to be true.
Thanks and send edits anytime,
DrB
It is now edited!
I wanted to know about shingles. I have friends who tell me I should get 2 shingles vaccinations. Then, they say that the side effects are pretty bad. Am I right to avoid such vaccinations?
Eileen,
Search shingles in my blog post search box. I have a few articles on that.
DrB
Great post, Dr. B!
I’m in Canada and a similar outbreak of measles is currently happening here with all the hysteria. You mentioned in your article that 415 deaths from the measles vaccine were reported in VAERS since 1989. Do you have the number of deaths from measles from that same time period (ie 1989 – current)? I imagine that number will be much less than 415.
Where I live, mandatory vaccination has been discussed by the powers-that-be, but we have been told mandatory vaccination isn’t going to happen…. yet. In the meantime, it looks like a “registry” will be introduced, where a child’s immunization history must be disclosed before a child can attend public school in September. If an outbreak then occurs in the school, the non-vaccinated children will be asked to stay home until the outbreak has passed, which can potentially be several weeks. This registry will also allow families that are not immunized or are partially immunized to be aware of their status and thus they can voluntarily “catch up” on their immunizations. If families still wish to decline vaccinations, it has been proposed that these families may be required to attend an information session to inform them of their risks to themselves and society for not vaccinating.
Hmmm…so for the families that do choose to vaccinate…where is their information session to inform them of their risks to themselves and society for choosing to vaccinate?
Good point, Tasha. That won’t happen in either of our countries, now, will it?
Wish Dr. Gottlieb of the FDA would lighten up. It sounds like he wants the whole US population vaccinated, probably for all possible. I believe his view is mandatory.
Since he is a Trump appointee, wish Trump would fire him since Trump himself is not that hot on vaccines.
Mary,
Trump is not that hot on vaccines? Are you sure? Look at who he appointed!!
DrB
I believe the “good” Dr. Gottlieb is resigning. I would suggest to everyone that you find out where your representatives stand on this issue of choice and let them know yours. My vulnerable adult daughter was forced onto a medication that was contraindicated for her medical diagnosis and she suffered brain damage, losing the memory of the first 26 years of her life. Not everyone can safely take medications, and not everyone can safely be vaccinated. Why is that so difficult to accept? Oh, right. It’s all about the money and of course, being right.
My family doctor says I now need to have the shingles vaccine because I had measles as a child, when they didn’t do a vaccine for measles. I am 67 yrs old. Is she right that having had the measles makes me a target for shingles??
Ruth,
No. That statement is not true.
DrB
I believe that your doctor should have said “chicken pox”