The Scary Ingredients in Vaccines

Have you ever tried entering the word "vaccine" onto YouTube, just to see what happens? If you do, then you'll be guaranteed to find a surprising number of videos, all trying to SCARE you by telling you about "the ingredients found in vaccines." Here's a small sample:

[Brief excerpts from a few videos with "SCARY INGREDIENTS FOUND IN VACCINES!!!" - total about 10 seconds or so]

Now, there's one thing all of these videos have in common: they're all using SCARY SOUNDING WORDS to make you think vaccines are dangerous. But rather than being frightened by all of these so-called SCARY INGREDIENTS in vaccines, let's take a moment and actually consider what's in a vaccine – and, more importantly, why it's there and how much is there.

Compounds

First of all, I need to make something very clear: many anti-vaccine sites are flat-out LYING to you…

[caption: Anti-vaccine sites are LYING about heavy metals in vaccines]

…when they claim vaccines are injecting heavy metals into your bloodstream, such as mercury and aluminum. Vaccines do not contain mercury or aluminum. Some vaccines have chemical COMPOUNDS that contain aluminum or mercury. I won't bore you with a long science lesson, but it's very important to understand that a compound is not the same as a pure element. Let me show you.

So let me repeat that, because this is the truth. When some sites try to SCARE you about aluminum and mercury in vaccines, they are LYING.

Aluminum

First of all, as I said, there is no aluminum in vaccines. There is an aluminum compound called

[caption: Aluminum Hydroxide]

aluminum hydroxide. This compound is there to enhance your body's immune system, and make the vaccine work better. Anti-vaccine scare sites almost always say that aluminum is poisonous,

www.modemac.com/graphics/vaccine/Ammonia]
www.modemac.com/graphics/vaccine/Latex]

www.modemac.com/graphics/vaccine/Animal Cells]

www.modemac.com/graphics/vaccine/Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)]

www.modemac.com/graphics/vaccine/Mercury]

Well, we can't deny the basic truth: vaccines ARE scary. After all, they're taking a sharp needle, inserting it into your body and causing pain, and injecting you with an unknown substance. Not only that, the whole idea behind immunization is to PREVENT disease; so if the vaccine works the way it should, then NOTHING HAPPENS. There's a lot of trust involved with this, and these days it can be difficult to trust something that contains all of these scary sounding ingredients.

[meme: Odds of vaccine reaction]

But we also know that life is scary, and you take a big risk just when you walk down the street. In comparison,

So, given those odds, I'd say it's safe for you to get vaccinated and have your children immunized. And as far as trusting any site to give you accurate information on vaccines, who would you rather trust: your family doctor, or Internet sites that are trying to SCARE you with incorrect, and simply WRONG, information about vaccines? Here's another way to look at it:

[meme: Case for and against vaccines]

Now, anti-vaccination sites usually claim there is a vast conspiracy by "Big Pharma" to push vaccines, and supposedly most of these sites are actually tools of the pharmaceutical industry. But just apply some common sense and ask yourself, is "Big Pharma" really so powerful that it can control ALL of these?

[Picture: Your Baby's Best Shot]

This is why I'm fond of a quote by Alison Hagood, the co-author of "Your Baby's Best Shot," a book on the anti-vaccination hysteria that you should check out. Alison states:

"In order for vaccines to be a conspiracy, the pharmaceutical companies would have to have bought off the governments of every country in which vaccines have been studied; every health agency of every one of those countries, both governmental and non-governmental; every employee of those agencies; and every independent scientist who has studied vaccines. That, by definition, is a conspiracy theory, and believing it does make one a crackpot." – Alison Hagood, co-author of "Your Baby's Best Shot"