Part 2 of 3: An Interview About Vaccines with Helen V. Ratajczak, PhD | VacTruth.com

Part 2 of 3: An Interview About Vaccines with Helen V. Ratajczak, PhD | VacTruth.com:

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Q. 12. Please talk about how adjuvants are designed to over-stimulate immune response that, in turn, can attack brain microglia and astrocytes. What happens? Do adjuvants interfere with nerve pathway development? Do they incite glutamate and quinolenic acid? What are the resultant consequences?

The adjuvant and the antigen are two separate components of a vaccine. The antigen is the component that the vaccine is designed to protect against, such as influenza. The adjuvant is the added component that causes an enhancement of the immune response by slowing the release of the antigen into the body. The immune system responds to the presence of antigen and terminates the response once the antigen is eliminated. When the antigen is mixed with an insoluble adjuvant, a focus is formed, and the antigen within the focus slowly leaks into the body, giving a prolonged antigenic stimulus. (Tizard, 1988).

In the case of the immune system’s attack on brain microglia and astrocytes, there is a cross reaction of the antibody against the antigen and the brain cells. (The configuration of the brain cells or parts of them is similar to the antigen.) Therefore, the immune system attacks the brain cells. [Refer to HVR’s answer to question 1 in Part 1.]

The adjuvant, as stated above, causes the antigen to be released to the body very slowly, thus augmenting the immune response. Indirectly, the adjuvant could be responsible for the interference with the development of nerve pathways, but the direct reason is the cross-reaction of specificity of the immune system.

Besides eliciting an immune response that is specifically against the antigen, the vaccine elicits a number of cytokines or factors, which enhance or regulate the immune response. The cytokines caused by the vaccine cause the secretion of harmful chemicals including two excitotoxins, glutamate and quinolenic acid (Blaylock, 2008). These chemicals elicit an excitatory reaction in the neurons, and create cellular toxicity and inflammation if too much accumulates (Jepson, 2007; Reynolds, 2007).

Q. 13. Please talk about aluminum adjuvants, which come in four formulations. Is any one more harmful than the others? Aluminum hydroxide, aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, aluminum phosphate, aluminum potassium sulfate.

The aluminum adjuvants are effective in increasing the immunogenicity of vaccines. The four adjuvants listed are currently used in childhood vaccines such as DTaP, Hep A, Hep B, HiB, human papillomavirus (HPV), DTaP, DTAP-HepB-IPV, Pneumococcal DT, Td, etc. These four adjuvants have different isoelectric points and properties, and they are not interchangeable. The efficacy of each salt as an adjuvant depends also on the characteristics of the antigens in the vaccine. Adverse reactions include sterile abscesses, erythema, subcutaneous nodules, granulomatous inflammation and contact hypersensitivity (Eickoff and Myers, 2002.) I have not found data on the relative toxicity of these four aluminum adjuvants. However, in the workshop summary on aluminum in vaccines, Eickhoff and Myers report that Aventis Pasteur, France has planned studies and is already working on examination of the evolution of aluminum adjuvant-associated histology. In addition, in vitro studies of human macrophages exposed to various aluminum salts are planned.

Aluminum-containing vaccines have more than a 75-year record of safety around the world, with serious adverse effects being rare. (National Network for Immunization Information, 2008). Despite this, many manifestations of the toxicity of aluminum are documented.