I am hoping to find some information concerning the anthrax and smallpox
vaccines.
I have a dear friend in the military. She has been informed that she will be
receiving
both vaccines. Her problem; she is still nursing her 1 yr old. She has been
told by the military that she cannot use nursing as an excuse to not
vaccinate
after the baby is 6 weeks old. She does not want to wean this early, she
nursed her last child until 2.5 and wants to nurse this one just as long,
if not longer.
She wants to know if it is possible to nurse during the vaccination or
not. I don't believe the "pump and dump" method will work since the anthrax
vaccine is a series of shots over many weeks and the small pox vaccine is
still
active 3-4 weeks after it is given.
Do you have any information that could help?
Dr. Neustaedter's Response:
Do not nurse a baby if you receive the smallpox vaccine. Live viruses
from vaccines (such as the one in the smallpox vaccination) are secreted in
breastmilk. Vaccinia virus can definitely be passed to others from a
vaccinated individual by several routes, including skin to skin contact with
the lesion and probably droplet spread through respiratory passages.
Vaccinia infection spread from vaccinated to unvaccinated individuals can
result in serious illness and fatalities (in as many as 11 percent of those
infected). If any family member has ever had eczema, that is also a definite
medical contraindication to smallpox vaccination. There is a military
exemption to vaccines based on religious belief (paragraph 13 of AJFI
48-110), which is quoted in my book, The Vaccine Guide. For information
about the anthrax vaccine legal issues in the military see Dr. Meryl Nass's
website at www.anthraxvaccine.org.
Randall Neustaedter OMD, LAc
Classical Medicine Center
1779 Woodside Rd #201C
Redwood City, CA 94061
650 299-9170
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"