Updated Vaccine Ingredient Calculator Aids Informed Consent Decisions
Managing Editor's Note: The following is from The National Vaccine Information Center. The ingredient calculator can help you make fully informed medical decisions for yourself, your elderly parents and your children.
From the Desk of the Executive Director - Theresa Wrangham
“The door to opportunity is always labeled “push”. – Unknown
We agree! NVIC has always pushed and explored many avenues and opportunities to protect your right to make voluntary informed vaccine decisions. As the oldest and largest consumer organization advocating the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections, NVIC is proud to announce recent updates to the Vaccine Ingredients Calculator (VIC).
Just in time for going back to school, this powerful tool has been updated with the most current information available on vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control for 2010/2011. This “push” adds to your ability to plan a vaccine choice based on available ingredient calculation information and is featured on our homepage. Features include:
• Built-in safety protections notifying the user of invalid vaccine combinations and appropriate age-based vaccine use;
• Graphs comparing vaccine ingredients to federally established safe exposure levels (when available);
• New links to ingredient information resources;
• A growing library of video tutorials on using the VIC;
• Calculates exposures to aluminum, bovine protein, egg protein, formaldehyde, mercury (Thimerosal), mouse protein, phenol red, phenoxyethanol, Polysorbate 80 and yeast protein;
• Vaccination Plan printout to assist in parent/physician dialogue.
The database that drives the VIC is built from information contained in vaccine manufacturer package inserts posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. The VIC is a free, public, open source project created and maintained by Chris Downey and already enjoys use by an enthusiastic and diverse group committed to vaccine safety that range from PhD’s who explain the chemistry of ingredients, to busy moms who help test the VIC.
We can’t do this alone and there is always room for improvement! Chris would love to hear your ideas on what new features you would like to see and could also use some assistance from software and database developers, as well as beta testers.
If you have a suggestion, or would be willing to help develop future releases of the VIC, please email [email protected].
Future improvements of the VIC currently under consideration are:
• Enhancement of the Vaccination Plan printout to include injection site;
• Addition of more vaccine ingredients (until all are included);
• Bovine protein source;
• Red-flagging ingredient combinations whose potential toxicity is unknown, such as Thimerosal (mercury) and aluminum
We encourage all our readers to include this valuable tool prior to any vaccination decision to better understand what is known and unknown about vaccine ingredients and safe exposure levels.
totally impressed by this. my son still has two vaccines to get... we're waiting, (and hoping he'll GET chickenpox) and school keeps asking, but something always comes up when he needs another vaccine... oh he had a fever last time he went to the dr, oh he had a cold last time he went to the dr (because that's more easily acceptable than "we're spacing them out" or "we're waiting for merck to start making the components available separately".... i learned quick).
Posted by: col | August 22, 2010 at 01:21 PM
cmo,
For the package inserts, you can use the VIC. After you select a specific vaccine, a link to the FDA appears to the right of the drop down list. It will take you to the FDA's website where you can download the package insert.
Posted by: Chris | August 22, 2010 at 07:52 AM
rileysmom,
Using the example of the 15 month old baby, try these in the VIC:
1: Pediarix (under DTaP) and ENGERIX-B (HepB)
or
Any vaccine you see in the drop-downs that have red text, which means the person is too old or too young. For example,
2: FluMist
Posted by: Chris | August 22, 2010 at 07:46 AM
I'm unable to find where there would be a invalid vaccine combination. I want to know about Prevnar 7, MMR and Verivax mixed together in a baby that was 15 months old. Am I just blond and can't figure it out??? Yes, I'm blond but I'm usually not dingy! HELP!
Posted by: rileysmom | August 21, 2010 at 02:10 PM
With the local Walgreens "flu shot campaign signs" & gift certificates out all over here...
is there a simple PDF list/link to all the current vaccine insert lables ?
The countries where some of the vaccine components are made would also be nice. I would suppose some are made from a "low bid" internationl mix, and are then transported by bicycle...
Posted by: cmo | August 21, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Yes, Patrons99 that is all so true. How do you decide that the vaccine is not contaminated too. Who is going to watch that.
But still it is interesting that even if it was just a regular non- contaminated vaccine,just the stuff that the manufacturers claim is in it -
The normal schedule for an 18 month old was giving her too much aluminium (more than is even recommended by the FDA).
I did not purposely sock it to my fictional little girl. I did what would normally happen if a parent takes their child in to a well baby check up.
Well, while you are here take as many vaccines as you can , that are due according to the CDC just for your convenience. No they do not come separate, this is the way they are made - all together --- yes all or none.
ALumiunium was over the safty limit!
Alumiunium was over the saf---tey limit!
Al was over the limit!
You are welcome Chris, it was a joy to try it out.
It is a fine thing you have worked on. I hope and pray that a parent that is seeing troube with their kids no longer have to depend upon a ped "only" to tell them all is fine. They have some where else to turn to for information at least.
All I had was a prayer to God, and not enough sense to go to a general practioner and tell them what I had witnessed for a second opinion.
A second opinion about a vaccine!
Posted by: Benedetta | August 21, 2010 at 11:10 AM
Let's keep an open mind here. The entire premise of the post seems two-fold: informed consent and taking a nuanced approach to vaccine safety. I strongly believe in informed consent. I have serious reservations as to taking a nuanced approach on vaccine safety.
In drug safety, adverse drug reactions can be considered drug specific or class specific. Similarly, in vaccine safety, adverse vaccine reactions might be considered vaccine specific or class specific. However, this is where the analogy between drug safety and vaccine safety diverges: there are multiple mechanisms of vaccine toxicity acting simultaneously, because of the number of ingredients, both known ingredients and unknown ingredients.
If you cannot be certain as to the safety of the unknown ingredients, how can you assume that any vaccine is safe? There are some "ingredients" of the current vaccine schedules that cannot even be tested for, because the technology does not presently exist to test for them. The serendipitous discovery of PCV-1 and PCV-2 in the rotavirus vaccines is a case in point. Simian Virus 40 in FDA-approved vaccines is another case in point.
http://www.sv40foundation.org/CPV-link.html
There is an important distinction between an ingredient and a contaminant. There is an important distinction between an adventitious biologic recombinant and a contaminant. In principle, many contaminants are "filterable", associated with the manufacturing process. Consider Dr Royal Rife's filterable BX cancer virus.
Some "adventitious" biologic recombinations could take place during the manufacturing process. Some adventitious biologic recombinations could theoretically take place after injection into a human host, according to the portal provided by the vaccine schedules, e.g. if retroviruses, non-human DNA, and reverse transcriptases are present.
How about trying to find out how PCV2 viruses ended up in the lymph glands and thymus of the lab mice?
"A mouse model to study infection against porcine circovirus type 2: viral distribution and lesions in mouse"
http://www.virologyj.com/content/7/1/158/abstract
Is there any PCV2 virus in the lymph glands of the 256 million children who have been vaccinated? Is there any risk of these children developing a multi-systemic wasting disease?
Posted by: patrons99 | August 21, 2010 at 09:43 AM
Hi Benedetta,
Its always going to be a work in progress because vaccines and the immunization schedule is always changing.
There are currently 10 ingredients covered: Aluminum, Bovine protein, Egg protein, Formaldehyde, Mercury (Thimerosal), Mouse protein, Phenol red, Phenoxyethanol, Polysorbate 80 and Yeast protein. More ingredients are being added; eventually, all ingredients documented in the package inserts will be included.
Thanks for trying it out.
Chris
Posted by: Chris | August 21, 2010 at 08:59 AM
I went in and made up a fictional 18 month old to see how it worked.
It is still a work in progress though isn't it.
My little fictional girl came up with too much aluminum.
So the way this works is they think of every ingredient that goes into a vaccube, or just the obvious heavy metals. I did not get that at the website???
Posted by: Benedetta | August 21, 2010 at 08:04 AM