The urgent and uncomfortable vaccine discussion we need to have
A discussion between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joe Rogan prompted this post
Like a lot of socially liberal folks in the US, I don’t pay much attention to Joe Rogan. Of course, I had heard of him. I knew he did not have a great reputation amongst the liberal circles. I had also been paying attention to some of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s interviews over the last few weeks after his announcement to run as a Democrat in the upcoming presidential elections in 2024. Most coverage that I saw of him in the traditional media outlets was painting him as this cringe, anti-vaxxer guy. But when I was listening to him talk, he did not sound all that cringe. He just seemed like a guy who loves science. If you know me at all, I am big into science and technology. So, I guess in a way, it was refreshing to hear a presidential candidate also be super into science. So when the podcast dropped on Spotify and started making a lot of noise on Twitter, I thought it would be worth spending the 3 hours listening to them chat.
Oh boy, what a rabbit hole that chat made me go down. Now, let me preface this by saying I have no medical background and believed that all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended vaccines are safe and the side effects, if any, are all pretty minor. I got multiple Covid shots, and so did my young family. I did the full masking, the whole nine yards. I did not have the emotional energy to go research about vaccine safety, plain and simple.
Anyway, I cannot unhear what I heard and it was a tough conversation to listen to. I decided to conduct my own independent research trying to verify what was discussed on the podcast. So, let’s construct a timeline. Buckle up.
Thimerosal is going to be the primary antagonist of this story and it was introduced to humanity by Dr. Morris Kharasch of Eli Lilly way back when a patent was filed for this mercury compound on June 27, 1929. Thimerosal was registered under the trade name Merthiolate. It began to be used in everything from nasal sprays to eye drops to ointments to vaccines. It was thought to have antiseptic and antibacterial properties.
It took until 1937 for the first animal model study to test the toxicity of Thimerosol to be done. Guinea pigs inoculated with as low as 0.1 micrograms (mcg) of Thimerosal mixtures died within 24 hours. Despite this, over the counter products and childhood vaccines containing 50 mcg of Thimerosal were being sold. Over 70 years later, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would testify before Congress and state that the only known Thimerosal “safety testing” on humans was documented in a 1931 research paper “Merthiolate as a Germicide” by Eli Lilly scientists W.A Jamieson and H.M. Powell. The dishonest findings of the Eli Lilly scientists Jamieson and Powell would be explained in 2007 by D.A Geier et al. They failed to reveal that the subjects evaluated had meningitis which would have called into question their conclusion regarding the nontoxicity of Thimerosal.
In the 1930s, the very first children diagnosed with autism were born. Dr. Morris Kharasch who patented Thimerosal would also patent ethyl-mercury fungicides. Through the book Age of Autism and a series of articles, authors explain the link between mercury exposure and the first autistic children. The authors describe how the first autistic children came in contact with the same ethyl-mercury patents developed by Dr. Morris Kharasch. Donald Gray Triplett, one of the first children identified with autism died last week on Jun 15th 2023 at the age of 89.
In 1947, it was discovered that there was a direct correlation between the use of mercury laced teething powders and the diagnosis of childhood mercury poisoning called acrodynia or “pink disease”. Once mercury laced teething powder was no longer given, acrodynia cases declined. Despite these discoveries, Thimerosal containing pediatric combination vaccine, diphtheria, tetanus and whole cell pertussis (DTP) was licensed in the U.S in 1949.
In the 1950s Dr. Frank Engley determined Thimerosal was significantly toxic to human tissue culture cells. Overall, this discovery showed that the mercury in Thimerosal did more harm than good. He found that Thimerosol was significantly toxic at 10 parts per billion (ppb).
In the 1960s, Dr. Bernard Rimland founded the Autism Research Institute and Autism Society of America. He challenged the notion that autism was caused by mothers who didn’t bond with their children and informed parents that autism is a treatable biological disorder. His research and discovery helped many autistic children to greatly improve and recover. It was also discovered that pertussis and Thimerosal containing vaccines were more toxic and deadly than beneficial. Nevertheless, in 1968, RhoGAM containing 10.5 mcg of mercury from Thimerosal got licensed and began to be provided to all Rh-negative pregnant women after delivery.
In the 1970s, reports showed that 10 out of 13 babies who were treated with Merthiolate antiseptic containing Thimerosal died, further proving the highly toxic nature of mercury to all. It was also discovered that the mercury in Thimerosal easily penetrates intact membranes and crosses the blood-brain & placenta barriers of animals. Despite this, Bayer Corporation’s Rho(D) immune globulin gets licensed containing 35 mcg of mercury from Thimerosal and is provided to pregnant women after delivery.
Takahashi, et al., and the Gasset reports demonstrated preferential accumulation of ethyl-mercury in the brain. This is important as ethyl-mercury is produced by the breakdown of Thimerosal in vivo. The Heinonen report in 1977 showed that topical application of Thimerosal in pregnant women resulted in a 2.69 fold greater risk of malformed infants in a large hospital study.
Throughout the 1980s, autism continues to be a rare childhood disorder with an autism rate of 1-2 children per 10,000. But the 1980s marked a pivotal change in this story. For the worse. The National Childhood Vaccine Act gets passed by Congress in 1986. It is a huge win for Big Pharma. It protected vaccine makers from being sued by those injured from their vaccines. Compensation for vaccine injuries were paid out of taxes, not by vaccine manufacturers. It starts a gold rush for vaccine development. On January 22, 1988 the CDC recommended the newly licensed Haemophilius b Conjugate vaccine (Hib) be administered one time at 18 months old. The vaccine would contain 25 mcg of mercury from Thimerosal. In 1989, CDC recommends a new mercury containing vaccine which would increase the total amount of mercury from vaccines to 125 mcg received by 18 month old infants.
Prior to 1990, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommendation was Rho(D) immune globulin only after the delivery. In 1991, Dr. Samuel Katz and his Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP, the CDC committee which decides the U.S vaccine schedule) recommend the largest increase in the amounts of mercury U.S children would receive by 18 months old. Further, this 1991 ACIP committee made a second recommendation: newborns prior to leaving the hospital receive a mercury containing vaccine (Hepatitis B).
Dr. Samuel Katz developed a measles vaccine now manufactured by Merck, which also manufactures a Hepatitis B vaccine. Katz said when he was chairman of the ACIP committee in 1991 he also worked as a paid consultant for Merck, Wyeth (now Pfizer) and most other vaccine manufacturers. In 1991, during a 9 month period of time the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule would go from injecting 125 mcg to 237 mcg of mercury from Thimerosal by age of 18 months. All of these firsts would coincide with another first: the first autism epidemic now emerges.
Dr Maurice Hilleman, a well known vaccinologist wrote an internal Merck memo advising his colleagues to reduce Thimerosal exposures especially in pediatric vaccines and look for alternatives. The memo was not heeded by industry colleagues and the memo would not be made public until 2005. In 1992, Denmark phased Thimerosal out of vaccines. Sweden followed suit. They start using phenoxyethanol, an organic phenolic compound with low toxicity that breaks down and disappears quickly from the body.
The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) reported that over 30 licensed vaccines contained Thimerosal and infants who received these vaccines at several visits may be exposed to more mercury than FDA guidelines allowed.
On November 21, 1997 the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (FDAMA) was signed into law. The Act called for a review of all medicines and biologics that contained mercury. On January 7, 1999 as indicated in an email between FDA officials Frank Varrichio and Leslie Ball, healthcare workers started to become concerned about the cumulative Thimerosal exposure to infants from their vaccinations. In looking at the National Library of Medicine website (i.e., PubMed), Varrichio finds 7000 references to Thimerosal. Rather than examine all these references, Varrichio recommends looking at the summary of every 100th report.
On June 29, 1999, Peter Patriarca, then Director of the FDA Office on Vaccine Research and Review expressed fears that the FDA, CDC, and vaccine policy makers will appear to have been “asleep at the switch”. On July 2, 1999 he addresses his colleague at the FDA in a confidential email, outlining “talking points” defending the FDA’s actions and explaining the use of Thimerosal as a preservative in infant vaccines. On July 3, 1999, Dr. Benjamin Schwartz of the National Immunization Program in CDC defends Thimerosal and claims that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for cumulative mercury exposures have not been exceeded.
Regardless, on July 7, 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that mercury should be out of vaccines.
In 1999, Mr. C. Bruce Pittman informed Merck employees that between 6-8 micrograms of ethyl-mercury were being delivered to an infant’s central nervous system with each vaccine containing Thimerosal. He mentioned to an executive director that Merck could be poisoning infants with these vaccines. The individual said nothing. By the end of July 31, 1999 the CDC is provided the opportunity from vaccine makers Merck and Smithkline Beecham to reduce the cumulative amount of mercury in vaccines from 237.5 mcg to 100 mcg going back to the 1980s levels when autism rate was 1 in 10,000. CDC did not accept this offer and mercury levels in vaccines remained the same. According to a 2006 CDC report, the U.S autism rate for children born in 1998 was 1 in 110.
The CDC then initiates its own study on the incidence of autism resulting in children exposed to various levels of mercury in Thimerosal containing vaccines. Dr. Thomas Verstraeten (who later joined Big Pharma) is assigned as the lead researcher on the study. In a Dec 17, 1999 internal email titled “It just won’t go away!” he reports that all the damage is done in the first month of life. He finds that children who receive the highest dose of mercury in the first month are 7.62 times more likely to get an autism diagnosis. He also presents in an internal conference at CDC showing the autism risk along with a 1.8 times risk for any neurological disorder, 2.1x more risk for speech disorders and 5x more risk for non-organic sleep disorders. The study, unfortunately, goes through 5 more data iterations, using “alternate” HMO datasets, stratification methods and all kinds of statistical manipulation to obfuscate the original 7.62 number. The final, watered down version of the study does not get published until 2003.
On November 26, 1999 the CDC decides vaccines containing Thimerosal are safe enough to continue to use in infants, despite overtures by vaccine manufacturers that can supply the U.S with entirely Thimerosal-free stock. Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, the CDC Director in 1999 stated that the CDC plans to “continue to provide the U.S with a choice among currently licensed brands of the DTaP vaccine”
In the 2000s, the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry continued to release studies showing the direct link between Thimerosal and autism. The CDC continued to recommend these mercury laden vaccines on pregnant women and infants. Autism rates continued to climb. A 2008 CDC report stated that the U.S autism rate for children born in 2000 was 1 in 88.
On June 7, 2000 there was a famous Simpsonwood meeting to discuss the Verstraeten findings. Transcripts from the meeting were obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by parents. Dr. Verstraeten says in that meeting: “We have found statistically significant relationships between the exposure and outcomes. First, for 2 months of age, an unspecified development delay. Exposure at 3 months of age, Tics. Exposure at 6 months of age, an attention deficit disorder (ADD). Exposure at 1, 3, and 6 months of age, the entire category of neurodevelopmental delays, which includes all of these plus a number of other disorders”
Dr. Bernier of the CDC said “We have asked you to keep this information confidential. We do have a plan for discussing this data at the upcoming meeting of the ACIP on June 21 and June 22. At that time CDC plans to make a public release of this information so I think it would serve all of our interests best if we could continue to consider this data. So, we are asking people who have done a great job protecting this information up until now, to continue to do that until the time of the ACIP meeting. So, to basically consider this embargoed information”
On September 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences is commissioned for meetings and studies on vaccine safety. The IOM is paid a total of $2,043,000 to conduct these studies. The IOM Immunization Safety Review (ISR) committee is formed to preside over the meetings and write the reports. The chairperson of IOM ISR committee is Dr. Marie McCormick who states “[CDC] wants us to declare, well, these things [i.e., vaccines] are pretty safe on a population basis” and “we are not ever going to come down that [autism] is a true side effect”
On October 1, 2001 the IOM ISR committee issues a report stating the evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship between Thimerosal containing vaccines and autism. On November 2002, members of Congress insert a hidden provision into the Homeland Security bill to prevent any lawsuits over the mercury based preservative Thimerosal. The New York Times reported that the Bush administration asked a federal claims court to seal documents relating to hundreds of claims that a mercury based preservative in vaccines, Thimerosal, has caused autism and other neurological disorders in children.
After three years of Congressional hearings, on May 2003, the subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness publishes a report titled “Mercury in Medicine-Taking Unnecessary Risk Congressional Report” An excerpt - “Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines is likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding the lack of safety data on injected Thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure to this known neurotoxin. Our public health agencies’ failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry”
In 2004, Dr. George Lucier, former Director of the Environmental Toxicology Program within National Institute of Health explained how the IOM report was already predetermined by the CDC. He stated that the IOM Committee seemingly ignored a vast body of science, including epidemiology studies, indicating that Thimerosal causes neurodevelopmental disorders. The United Kingdom phases Thimerosal out of vaccines in 2004.
On May 14, 2004 the IOM ISR committee report on “Vaccines and Autism” dismisses any link between Thimerosal exposure, infant vaccines and Thimerosal, based solely on 5 epidemiology studies, each commissioned and funded by the CDC. The IOM’s report is widely touted to “shut the door” on the Thimerosal & Autism debate. This report is used in Vaccine Court (NVICP) to deny claims of harm due to Thimerosal exposure. The conclusions in this report provides many pediatricians and the media the “conclusive evidence” that there is no link between vaccines, Thimerosal and Autism. Danish researcher Poul Thorsen, who played a leading role in this sham report is later indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering based on a scheme to steal grant money from the CDC.
On May 28, 2004, 25 mcg of mercury containing flu vaccines are recommended by CDC for infants and for the first time the most vulnerable - all unborn and infants between 6 and 23 months. The CDC did not recommend a preference for pregnant women and infants to receive Thimerosal mercury-free flu shots. In August 2004, a consumer advocacy group tests vaccine that made the claim of being “mercury-free”. They find that all four vaccine vials tested contained mercury despite manufacturer claims that two of the vials were completely mercury free. They contained aluminum which tremendously enhances the toxicity of mercury causing neuronal death in the brain. On February 8, 2005 LA Times journalist Myron Levin wrote about the internal 1991 Merck memo warning about mercury in shots. The story revealed that Merck knew way back in 1991 that infants who received their shots on schedule would get a mercury dose up to 87 times higher than guidelines for the maximum daily consumption of mercury from fish.
On December 2005, a DPT vaccine maker, Sanofi Pasteur Inc., included this label on vaccine packaging - “Adverse events reported during post approval use of Tripedia vaccine include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, SIDS, anaphylactic reaction, cellulitis, autism, convulsion, encephalopathy, hypotonia, neuropathy, somnolence, and apnea. Events were included in this list because of the seriousness or frequency of reporting”
Also, on December 7, 2005, Dr. Mayer Eisenstein of Chicago Pediatric Practices stated this “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”
In 2005, Burbacher et al. did a study using macaque monkeys and found high levels of mercury, recalcitrant to excretion, accumulating and persisting in brain tissues following Thimerosal exposure. In 2006, the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health study showed that children receiving Thimerosal containing DTP and Hib vaccines were 2.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than those who received the Thimerosal-free DTPH combination vaccine. The study was completed using CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Service (VAERS) database.
On May 15, 2008 a new study of the Vaccine Safety Datalink, appearing in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences showed significantly increased incidences of autism, autism spectrum disorders, tics, attention deficit disorder and emotional disturbances with mercury exposure from Thimerosal containing vaccines. On September 2008, a study in the journal Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry showed that boys who received the full Hepatitis B vaccine series before 2000 were 9 times more likely to receive a diagnosis of developmental disability than boys who did not receive the vaccine. This is important because Thimerosal was not removed from the Hepatitis B vaccination series until 2002.
In 2009, Rodrigues et al. confirmed Burbacher findings by experimenting on rats. A study in the journal Cellular Biology and Toxicology showed that the induction of metallothionein (MT) messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein was observed in the cerebellum and cerebrum of mice after Thimerosal injection, as MT is an inducible protein. Metallothionein is a marker that would indicate the presence of mercury in these brain tissues as this study supports the possible biological plausibility for how low dose exposure to mercury from Thimerosal containing vaccines may be associated with autism. Also, on December 2009, Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC director from 2002 is named as President of Merck’s vaccine division. At that time Merck was making 14 out of the 17 pediatric vaccines recommended by CDC and 9 of the 10 recommended for adults.
On April 7, 2010 the DOJ attorney Lynn Ricciardella states in the appeals case for Hazlehurst vs DHHS - “We’re not even at the stage where it is medically or scientifically possible. This is not a field of science that is bereft of research. Studies have been done looking at the causal connection between autism and Thimerosal and every credible study has shown that there is no causal connection”
On February 25, 2011 the journal Neurochemistry Research found that 1) activity of low doses of Thimerosal against isolated human and animal brain cells was found in all studies and is consistent with mercury neurotoxicity 2) the neurotoxic effect of ethyl-mercury has not been studied with co-occurring adjuvant aluminum in Thimerosal containing vaccines 3) animal studies show that exposure to Thimerosal can lead to accumulation of mercury in brain and 4) doses relevant to Thimerosal containing vaccine exposure possess the potential to affect human neurodevelopment.
On May 4, 2011 a peer reviewed article by Dr. Neil Z. Miller and Dr. Gary Goldman concluded that “Nations that require more vaccine doses tend to have higher infant mortality rates”
In 2012, despite the abundance of evidence and cases presented to them, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) endorses the World Health Organization (WHO) and states mercury should remain in vaccines. This was a reversal of its 1999 decision of recommending removal of Thimerosal from vaccines.
On January 19, 2013 concerns about the serious effects of mercury pollution brings delegates from more than 140 nations to Geneva. Mercury is notorious for damaging developing brains and nervous systems of babies and children. There is a form of mercury that the Minamata Convention on Mercury did not discuss - the one that is injected, in tiny amounts, straight into young kids’ bodies. On May 7, 2013 this group reported that the U.S has the highest first day infant mortality out of the industrialized world.
Over a decade has passed. It is June 21, 2023 at the time of this writing and we have gone through a global COVID pandemic that raised many fresh debates about vaccination across the country. I went to the CDC website to check if they have any information related to vaccines and autism. They write in big, bold letters that vaccines do not cause autism. They say now in 2023, 1 in 44 children have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in communities across the United States. Please remember that throughout the 1980s, autism continued to be a rare childhood disorder with an autism rate of 1-2 children per 10,000.
Something is very wrong. We need to discuss this and fix the problem. History, however painful, cannot be rewritten. Unfortunately, the use of Thimerosal in vaccines could have been avoided entirely via technologies available throughout the 20th century. Other safer preservatives such as phenoxyethanol have been available for many years.
But the first step is to acknowledge the problem. If you go to the CDC website, even now, they say the following: “Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that has been used for decades in the United States in multi-dose vials (vials containing more than one dose) of medicines and vaccines. There is no evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site”
I hope whoever has made it this far keeps pushing the dialogue further until changes are made. Our children’s lives and future depend on it. If I got anything wrong on this post, please let me know in the comments. Hang in there.
References:
Burton, D. (2003). Mercury in Medicine (Congressional Report E1011-30)
Powell, H.M & Jamieson, W.A. (1931). Merthiolate as a Germicide. Am. J. Hyg, 13, 296-310
Mercurials as Disinfectants: Evaluation of mercurial antimicrobic action and comparative toxicity for skin tissue cells. Soap & Chemical Specialties, pgs. 199, 201, 203, 205, 223-225
Nelson, E.A & Gottshall, R.Y. (1967). Enhanced Toxicity for Mice of Pertussis Vaccines When Preserved with Merthiolate. Applied Microbiology, 15 (1967), 590-593
Takahashi, Tadao, et al. Time-Dependent Distribution of 203Hg-Mercury Compounds in Rat and Monkey as studied by Whole Body Autoradiography. The Journal of Hygeinic Chemistry 17 (2) (1971): 93-107
Gasset, A.R., Itoi, M., Y. & Ramer, R.M. Teratogenicity of ophthalmic drugs. II. Teratogenicity and tissue accumulation of Thimerosal Archives of Ophthalmology, 93 (1975): 52-55
U.S Dept of Health, Education and Welfare. Mercury-containing drug products for topical antimicrobial over the counter human use: establishment of a monograph. Federal Register 47 (January 5, 1982); 436-442
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (1990). Prevention of D isoimmunization. ACOGTech Bulletin number 147
Birt, Elizabeth, J.D., L.L.M., & James Moody, J.D. “Timeline” Letter to Lauren Fuller, Chief Investigative Counsel, U.S Senate HELP. July 15, 2005. TS.
Geier et al. 2006 J Tox Env Health 69:1481
Young et al. 2008 J Neurol Sci 271:110
Gallagher et al. 2008 Tox Env Chem 90:997
Minami et al. 2010 Cell Biol Toxicol 26:143
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4927a5.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/downloads/parent-ver-sch-0-6yrs.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html
https://www.slideshare.net/ashotoftruth/a-shot-of-truth-thimerosal-timeline-33423446