In November, 1983 I received my one life time dose of the MMR vaccine when I was 15 months old. No one seems to be concerned that to today’s standards I am under-vaccinated. And if you were born before the 1990’s, you probably are too. 😉

TWO MMR vaccines for children are now recommended; one at 12 months and the next at 4 years of age. Not to mention that the MMR vaccine has only been evaluated for effectiveness up to 20 years post-injection.

This is the research we sifted through when we were making a decision about the MMR vaccine for our children and weighing the risks vs. benefits.

This is Part 7 1/2 in my series on how we made our decisions about vaccines for our family. You will definitely want to read Part 7 on the actual measles virus in addition to this post on the MMR vaccine.

Part 1: Our Vaccine Choice: Risks, Benefits, Responsibility

Part 2: Hepatitis B and Hib Vaccines

Part 3: Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis Vaccine

Part 4: Polio Vaccine

Part 5: Pneumococcal Vaccine

Part 6: Rotavirus Vaccine

Part 7: Measles + MMR

Part 7 1/2: MMR

Part 8: Mumps, Rubella + MMR

Part 9: The Flu Vaccine

MMR and MMRV Vaccines:

***Make sure you also check out my posts on the diseases the MMR vaccine is designed to provide immunity for: Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. Whereas this post focuses on the ingredients, efficacy, and safety of the MMR vaccine, Part 7 discusses the severity, symptoms, and natural and emergency treatments for measles.***

When the measles vaccine was released in 1963, it was given as a single format vaccine. Mumps and Rubella were not added until later. Today it is no longer offered in its single dose format so doctors and clinics will offer the MMR and MMRV below.

Ingredients:

MMR II – (Merck)

• Measles and mumps viruses taken from individuals in the 1960’s. The rubella virus was taken from an aborted human fetus (scientifically named WI-38) in the 60’s. You can read the story of the Swedish married mother who aborted her female baby at 4 months gestation HERE.)
• culture of human lung cells (from WI-38 above)
• traces of chicken embryo cells
• Inactive Ingredients: sorbitol, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, sucrose, sodium chloride, hydrolyzed gelatin, recombinant human albumin, fetal bovine serum, other buffer and media ingredients, neomycin (antibiotic)

MMRV ProQuad – (Merck)

• The same measles, mumps, and rubella viruses from the MMR II above with added varicella (chickenpox) virus
• sucrose
• hydrolyzed gelatin
• urea
• sodium chloride
• sorbitol
• monosodium glutamate (0.4 mg)
• sodium phosphate dibasic
• recombinant human albumin (residual DNA from the lung of a 14 week male human fetus scientifically named MRC-5 aborted from a 27 year old psychiatric patient in 1966.)
• sodium bicarbonate
• potassium phosphate
• potassium chloride
• potassium phosphate dibasic
• bovine serum
• neomycin

Aborted Fetal Tissue in Rubella, Varicella, and Hepatitis A Vaccines:

The MMR II has been in use since the early 1990’s. The original MMR was released in 1963 and became commonly used by the late 60’s. It is one of the vaccines (the others being Hep A, shingles, chickenpox, rabies, and adenovirus,) that contain human aborted fetal cells in its production (WI-38 female fetal lung tissue cell line).

The MMRV contains MMR + Varicella (chickenpox) which contains a different strain of aborted fetal tissue in addition to the WI-38 in the MMR. Therefore the MMRV (ProQuad) contains TWO strains of aborted fetal cells and its DNA (WI-38 female cells and MRC-5 male fetus cells.)

Both vaccines contain the WI-38 female strain of lung-diploid tissue. To get to the point where they were finally successful with culturing the rubella virus in WI-38 to make the vaccine, it took dozens of abortions in trial and error. After being exposed to rubella in the 1st trimester, 26 mothers were told their babies were likely to have congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) and would be born with deformities and would likely die. With this “knowledge”, they elected to have an abortion, but it wasn’t until the 27th baby was aborted that a baby with CRS was discovered. That baby, originally named RA273 (R=Rubella, A=Abortus, 27=27^th fetus, 3=3^rd tissue explant) was renamed WI-38, was dissected, and cell lines from its lung tissue is what we inject in children today in the MMR and MMRV vaccines. (Source – from original 1960’s paper.)

How long does immunity last with the two series MMR?

It does not confer permanent immunity in all individuals and large, long-term studies testing immunity have not been conducted, although the CDC states that it is 97% effective for measles and rubella and 88% effective for mumps (these were averaged from a range of responses in test individuals.)

I have read one article suggesting immunity lasts 20 years but cannot find any studies testing antibody response in the long term (over 20 years). Why is it so hard to find these studies? If you come across any, please feel free to message me. 🙂 Update: I found ONE from 2011 which showed significant immunity waning 7 years + after vaccination. You can read that HERE.

Adverse Reactions Reported after MMR and MMRV:

The possible complications with the MMR or MMRV are similar to the actual infections of the viruses they are designed to protect against.

Some of the top reactions listed are (from the CDC website):

• Sore arm from the injection
• Fever
• Redness or rash at the injection site
• Swelling of glands in the cheeks or neck
• Seizure (jerking or staring) often associated with fever
• Temporary pain and stiffness in the joints, mostly in teenage or adult women
• Temporary low platelet count, which can cause unusual bleeding or bruising
• Rash all over body
• Deafness
• Long-term seizures, coma, or lowered consciousness
• Brain damage

MMR and MMRV Safety:

It is important to know that very few vaccines (none that I could find that are given in the U.S.) have been exclusively tested against a saline placebo for testing.

Below is just one of the several studies for safety the MMRV (ProQuad) underwent. They compared children just given the ProQuad with children given the two separate vaccines of MMR II + Varicella.  You can read more about the safety studies conducted in the actual vaccine inserts above.

“ProQuad was administered to 4497 children 12 through 23 months of age involved in 4 randomized clinical trials without concomitant administration with other vaccines. The safety of ProQuad was compared with the safety of M-M-R II and VARIVAX given concomitantly (N=2038) at separate injection sites. The safety profile for ProQuad was similar to the component vaccines. Children in these studies were monitored for up to 42 days post-vaccination using vaccination report card-aided surveillance. Safety follow-up was obtained for 98% of children in each group.”

It is also important to note that many of these studies (if not all) did not follow up with LONG TERM problems of vaccinated children.

Clinical trials for vaccine approval are almost always done comparing the vaccine that is up for approval with ANOTHER similar vaccine- with all participants often given other additional vaccines as well. They do not use a saline placebo like other drug trials, as it is considered “unethical” and “a threat to public and individual health” to withhold a vaccine from a test subject.

There were a few vaccine studies I was able to find that were conducted in the manner of double-blind, placebo-controlled, but they were mostly for vaccines and researchers not from the U.S. I imagine there were a few more, but you can see a concise list of those HERE. None of them were the MMR or MMRV.

Concerns about Childhood Cancer

From the MMR and MMRV vaccine inserts:

“M-M-R II  has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or potential to impair fertility.”

“ProQuad has not been evaluated for its carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic potential, or its potential to impair fertility.”

With childhood cancer up 27% since 1975, wouldn’t it be wise to look into the relation between cancer and vaccines with a little more enthusiasm?

Childhood cancer is unique in that it is strictly thought to be the result of DNA changes early in childhood and not due to lifestyle and environmental changes like adult cancers. One would think that injecting children with fragments of cow, chicken, monkey, and both male and human fetal DNA to freely act on our own DNA would result in mutagenic occurrence, such as this study observes.

Dr. Theresa Deisher, Ph.D. genetic engineer, by far has the best explanation of the dangers of this related to vaccines and this entire video series is worth the watch.

Autism statistics and projections. Some studies place us at 1 in 36 today.

Concerns about Autism

I could go on and on about the MMR and studies both proving and disproving its involvement in the rise of childhood autism. Instead, I’m just going to provide some of these studies (both supportive and some disproving of the theory) and encourage you to read on your own.

Rebuttal of the “Taylor Study” by Autism dad, J.B. Handley

Subtle DNA changes and the overuse of vaccines in autism
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364648/

Vaccine and Autism- a New Scientific Review (article)
http://www.cbsnews.com/…/vaccines-and-autism-a-new…/

Summary of previous Journal of Immunology
http://danmurphydc.com/…/AR-10-12-rata-AUTISM-VACCINE.pdf

Autism and Resulting Medical Conditions:
http://www.tacanow.org/…/09/autism-studies-april-2008.pdf

Mercury toxic encephalopathy manifesting with clinical symptoms of regressive autistic disorders. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454560

Relation of mercury to high autism rates in boys
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16264412

A Positive Association found between Autism Prevalence and Childhood Vaccination
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/…/00000014/art00002…

Peer reviewed study on fetal cell contamination with retro virus associated with autism and cancer
http://www.globalresearch.ca/new-study-in-journal…/5402912

Autism and mercury poisoning
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339848

Hypothesis: conjugate vaccines may predispose children to autism spectrum disorders
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21993250

This study provides new epidemiological evidence supporting an association between increasing organic-Hg exposure from Thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and the subsequent risk of ASD diagnosis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878266/

This study suggests that although mercury has been removed from many vaccines, other culprits may link vaccines to autism. Further study into the relationship between vaccines and autism is warranted. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21623535

This article discusses the data that Dr. Brian Thompson first told Dr S Hooker, a researcher on autism, about the manipulation of a CDC study he was a member of in 2004. Hooker analyzed the raw data from the CDC study afresh and confirmed that the risk of autism among African American children vaccinated before the age of 2 years was 340% that of those vaccinated later. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25377033

This looks at a study conducted directly by CDC epidemiologists but greatly ignored that shows a 7.6-fold increased risk of autism from exposure to Thimerosal during infancy. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24995277

Boys vaccinated as neonates had threefold greater odds for autism diagnosis compared to boys never vaccinated or vaccinated after the first month of life. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170

A study that results showed how children from countries with the highest autism spectrum disorder prevalence appear to have the highest exposure to aluminum from vaccines http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22099159

Study that found that mercury exposure (and the inability to excrete it after injection) is capable of causing some autism spectrum disorders. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19106436

The role of thimeresol (mercury) and lack of exretion and autism specturm disorder: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3774468/

This study compares siblings (one autistic and one not) and proposed that those with a mild mitochondrial defect may be highly susceptible to mitochondrial specific toxins like the vaccine preservative thimerosal: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3697751/

Discussion of documented causes of autism include genetic mutations and/or deletions, viral infections, and encephalitis following vaccination. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21299355

A look at conjugate vaccines as a cause of autism: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21907498

This study evaluated the relationship between prenatal mercury exposure from thimerosal (49.55% mercury by weight)-containing Rho(D)-immune globulins (TCRs) and autism spectrum disorders: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17674242

A look at steroid involvement in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder and thimerosal toxicity: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15780490

A look at autism and various causes of neurotoxicity: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19043938

The role of mercury in the pathogenesis of autism: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142947

A thimerosal study on mice and neurotoxicity: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675092

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Studies Disproving the Vaccine-Autism Claim:

There are at least 17 studies which are often quoted as proving vaccines do not cause autism. These studies represent the most often cited papers by scientists, public health officials and members of the media when trying to refute any evidence of an association between vaccinations and autism.

I think reading these individually is an important part of a decision regarding vaccines:

14 Studies Disproving the Vaccine-Autism Link + the more recent and widely publicized and quoted “Taylor Study” 

VAERS Report:

In 2015, there were ~3,176 adverse events and 11 deaths were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) after completion of MMR vaccine. (Remember this reported number is estimated to be 10-100 times less than the actual number and is a volunteer-based reporting system.)

In 2016, these numbers showed a decrease at ~2,797 adverse events and 6 deaths reported after MMR vaccination.

For the Proquad MMRV there were 2,027 adverse event and 1 death reported in 2015 and 2,173 adverse events and 4 deaths reported  in 2016.

Also remember that there are 5-6 other vaccines given at the same time at the 12-month visit, so until there are studies showing INDIVIDUAL vaccine safety studies, we won’t know what truly caused these adverse reactions.

Source: Healthfreedom.org

Our Decision:

Can the measles get serious? YES.

But is it well known that malnutrition, poverty, overcrowding, and poor sanitation have everything to do with the severity of measles? You betcha.

And is the MMR perfectly safe for everyone? Probably not and the evidence is concerning.

Perhaps we could even say that the actual MMR vaccine effort has CREATED its own unique measles problem by making unnatural populations more susceptible, such as adults and young babies?

And then of course the autism- MMR debate is still going strong.

In 1962, Dr. Langmuir, chief epidemiologist, CDC said this:

To those who ask me: ‘Why do you wish to eradicate measles?,’ I reply with the same answer (Edmund) Hillary used when asked why he wished to climb Mount Everest. He said: ‘Because it is there.’ To this can be added….‘and it can be done.”

These words come at the end of this paper that Langmuir wrote titled “The Importance of Measles as a Health Problem.” You can read the entire paper for yourself, but in it he describes the primary reason for a measles vaccine as being 1. So that a parent doesn’t have to see his small child suffer with a high fever and cough “for a few days, ” and 2. “something can be accomplished by organized health action.”

In the rest of the paper he goes on to discuss why even though measles has been a “biologically balanced” disease for centuries and mortality is extremely rare, he can do something about it, so he is.

After weighing many of the pros and cons of measles and the MMR vaccine, my husband and I did not choose to give the MMR vaccine to any of our children.

To me, the risk from the vaccine outweighed any benefit (as you saw above,) and I was not overly concerned about the possible effects of measles as long as proper precaution and care were applied.

As a cancer survivor, I was especially concerned about the lack of study for carcinogenic effects in either the MMR or MMRV vaccine (or any vaccine for that matter,) and the rise of childhood cancer over the past 30 years is concerning.

Also- I also have reason to believe from my own gut instinct about natural immunity and health, along with much reading over the years, that measles exposure actually has health benefits that include reducing cancer risk especially leukemias and lymphoma. There are even multiple studies that show how measles helped put Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancer patients into remission. Obviously several studies is not enough to prove anything, but it makes you think. You can read those here and here.

Another option we considered initially was delaying the MMR until age 4. Dr. Sears in the The Vaccine Book (2011 edition) states “for both the MMR and chickenpox vaccines, only 1 dose is needed for adequate immunity if you delay them until age 4.”

Dr. Paul Thomas, in his book The Vaccine-Friendly Plan recommends considering the MMR at age 3 and to give it alone without other vaccines. He also is concerned first hand with its ties of being a possible trigger in autism in some of his own patients. See the PDF schedule HERE.

This was good to know, but we ultimately felt like it was best for our family and my children to forgo the MMR vaccine altogether.

The decision on whether to give the MMR vaccine is best made by parents. There are many other options for treatment and prevention available besides strictly “on time” vaccination and many more reasons to keep that decision out of the hands of others.

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