Alternative Health

By Kate Brennan

Nerve is committed to presenting views and opinions that challenge ‘mainstream’ opinion. Here is the first of many. Kate Brennan, writer and actress, explains her views on immunisation and the immune system.

‘Two questions came up, why vaccinate all young people against only one strain of meningitis and why did a trained nurse not want to give her child the MMR?’ When I had my first child I was 21. I did what I was told. I stayed in the hospital while they induced me, insulted me and physically abused me. I let them poke and prod my baby, shove anything they wanted down her throat, inject her and constantly weigh, judge, assess and compare her with their ‘charts’. When I had my second child, 3 years later, I wouldn’t go back to the same hospital. I still let them poke and prod him, stick needles in his arms but I never let them weigh him. I’d learned a little. When my third child came along, 10 years later (yes that’s ten years later), I was older and a more confident parent. I insisted on a home birth. The midwife did everything in her power to convince me otherwise. I changed my midwife. When my older two were little I became interested in homeopathy. I used it for teething problems and fevers.

As I read more about it I learned about the immune system and how it develops. I soon realised that immunisation does not strengthen the immune system. During my last pregnancy I was sent letters telling me to give my older two their meningitis shots. Also around that time my cousin, a district nurse, had told me that she wasn’t going to let her youngest be given the MMR. Two questions came up, why vaccinate all young people against only one strain of meningitis and why did a trained nurse not want to give her child the MMR? After a bit of research I found a number of websites, lots of leaflets and much to my surprise, lots of people who hadn’t immunised their children living round the corner from me. People I had known for years. It was like discovering a parallel universe. Quite a few of these kids were nearly grown up. None of them had any serious illnesses. Not one of them had died or become blind, deaf or disfigured either. Some other things I found out are that GP’s will receive a bonus payment for a high vaccination uptake*.

Vaccines are a complex mix of live or killed viral or bacterial antigens. They weaken them by passing them through animal or human cells. They have used mice, chick embryos, monkeys and aborted foetuses to name but a few* and we haven't even gotten to the chemicals, preservatives and toxoids. The more I looked at the figures and the information before me the more I felt convinced that my child's immune system stood more of a chance to develop fully if it was not attacked by a vaccination programme. Most of my older kids' childhoods were a series of illnesses treated by antibiotics, steroids and Calpol.

My last child is nearly 3, she has never been on antibiotics. She has had illnesses but they have run their course, treated only with homeopathic remedies. I only take her to the doctors if I think there is a chance of infection. I get a diagnosis, accept their prescriptions, throw them in the bin and phone the homeopath. There is a low cost clinic for low-income families in Liverpool. The biggest difference I see is how she recovers from illness. My other two always seemed to be washed out, being attacked by another virus almost as soon as they had recovered from the last one. After the baby recovers she looks and seems to feel great. She has big growth spurts, both physically and mentally. Her immune system uses the illness to strengthen and grow.

Most health professionals don't like me very much. In hospital three people had to come and ask me why I wasn't letting them give my child vitamin K. They send me continuous letters telling me what days vaccination clinics are on. They comment on the fact that you have not bothered. Not that you have spent a very long time researching, thinking about it, talking about it and worrying about it every time you hear someone has Measles or Meningitis. I know some people who actively expose their children to viruses to build their immune systems but I'm not that brave. I'll deal with whatever comes and trust that Iíve done my best to lay a strong foundation for my child.

The government and the pharmaceutical companies would like us all to immunise our children and they will use any scare tactics they can to make us do it. But decisions based on fear will only create misery. We need useful information support to make these decisions about the future health of the next generation. Drug Companies make toomuch money to trust them with research into these issues and governments like successful companies too much for us to blindly trust them.

*Dispelling Vaccination Myths by Alan Phillips
*The Vaccination Bible edited by Lynne McTaggart Low Cost Homeopathic Children’s Clinic Telephone 0151 924 8607

www.whaleto.freeserve.co.uk/vaccines.html
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