200 Evidence-Based Reasons NOT To Vaccinate

Think of the children!

Needles are scary Anti-vaccination movement

Pricks against pricks

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200 Evidence-Based Reasons NOT To Vaccinate is a notorious, 200-example-long proof by verbosity of cherry-picked and blatantly misrepresented study abstracts, all in the preconceived attempt to simply arrive at the conclusion that vaccination is supposedly bad. 200 Reasons has been promoted heavily across the various fringes and quack watering holes of the Internet, not least through the many reposts of the list by its crank author, Sayer Ji.

200 Reasons contains very little context for each of the 200 "reasons", which are all shrunken down to a bias statement using scientific-sounding language, a hyperlink to the article, and information about the authors, publishers, etc. of the article - that is to say, to the average reader of this list, pure padding meant to make it look less shoehorned and more representative of research than it actually is.

None of the reasons given provide any meaningful analysis or context, reducing the list to nothing more than a really long and really tedious Gish gallop, most probably constructed via the renowned research method of typing in the search terms "vaccine" + "[scary word]" into Google Scholar and cherrypicking to your blackened heart's content.

And to anyone reading the .pdf itself (available at the bottom of this page), notice how it almost always says "- GMI Summary" (especially by the most scary sounding "reasons"). That is quack rhetoric for "this isn't what the study says at all", and clicking the link demonstrates this without fail.

Description

Ji's description of 200 Reasons on GreenMedInfo starts with:

The media, your pediatrician, politicians and health authorities like the CDC and FDA claim that vaccines are safe and effective.

This seems like a good place to start -- when a scientific field near-unanimously agrees that something is true, it's a good bet that it is. However, Ji continues:

So why do hundreds of peer-reviewed studies indicate the opposite is true? Read, download, and share this document widely to provide the necessary evidence-based counterbalance to the pro-vaccination propaganda that has globally infected popular consciousness and discussion like an intractable disease. [....] This is the literature that the media, politicians and governmental health organizations like the CDC, pretend with abject dishonesty does not exist – as if vaccine injury did not happen, despite the over 3 billion dollars our government has paid out to vaccine injured through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund since it was inaugurated in 1986.

Ji manages to create both a straw man -- that health organizations claim vaccines are completely (rather than almost always) safe -- and a conspiracy theory -- that the opposing literature has been purposely ignored or even censored.

"Cumulative knowledge"

200 Reasons is similar to a metastudy, in that it reports on the research in a field.

Unlike most metastudies, 200 Reasons makes no conclusions or even in-depth analysis of research. Instead, it's really just a list of studies Ji could find that (if seen in the right light) make vaccines look bad.

Also unlike most metastudies, 200 Reasons includes a section on "cumulative knowledge", which would usually be called "metadata", and which would usually have some meaningful role in the study. Ji defines "cumulative knowledge" as:

Cumulative Knowledge is determined by ascribing a numerical value to the various study types weighted in descending order as follows: (1) Meta-Analysis; (2) Human Study; (3) Human: Case Study; (4) Animal: Transgenic; (5) Animal; (6) In Vitro; (7) Review; and (8) Commentary.

However, Ji never gives you a breakdown of which are used in any given case, and the math often doesn't add up. Ultimately, the "cumulative knowledge" is poorly defined and poorly arrived at, suggesting that the real goal is appearing impressive.

The 200 reasons

Responding to all 200 reasons would take an inordinate amount of time and effort. However, the first 10 reasons (presented below) are fairly representative of the quality of each of the reasons.

200 Reasons:

RationalWiki:

1

38,787 adverse events including infant death (highest in 1-3 month olds) after vaccination were reported between 1991-1994. (The authors speciously claim SIDS and not vaccination caused these deaths). - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : J Pediatr. 1997 Oct;131(4):529-35. PMID: 9386653 Article Published Date : Oct 01, 1997 Authors : M M Braun, S S Ellenberg Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Hearing Loss: Sudden : CK(30) : AC(3), Infant Mortality : CK(249) : AC(25), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361)

Actual title: "Descriptive epidemiology of adverse events after immunization: reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 1991-1994", The Journal of Pediatrics Yes, vaccines do hurt people, and might even kill them. However, such events are so rare that getting the vaccine is far, far safer. Ji's statement appears to be taken from these lines of the article: A total of 38,787 adverse events was reported during the study period without a clearly increasing or decreasing trend in the annual number of total reports or deaths. [....] Adverse events with onset of symptoms the day of vaccination accounted for 45.5% of total reports; 20.4% had onset of symptoms the following day. Onset within 2 weeks after vaccination was noted for 92.5% of all reports. However, the article's conclusion states: The peak age of deaths at ages 1 to 3 months could be expected on the basis of prior studies showing that sudden infant death syndrome deaths peak at that age, that most deaths in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System are attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, and that sudden infant death syndrome has not been associated with vaccination. The large number of reports and national coverage of the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System make it useful for monitoring the safety of vaccine lots and for accumulating case series to detect or better understand adverse events that may occur too rarely to be assessed in clinical trials or in the larger studies that are sometimes carried out by manufacturers after vaccine licensure (phase IV studies). Basically, the article is pointing out that many of the adverse effects — such as SIDS — occurred (even without vaccination) at higher rates in the age group.

2

DTP or tetanus vaccination increases the risk of allergies and related respiratory symptoms in children and adolescents. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2000 Feb;23(2):81-90. PMID: 10714532 Article Published Date : Feb 01, 2000 Authors : E L Hurwitz, H Morgenstern Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Allergies : CK(520) : AC(96), Allergies: Childhood : CK(70) : AC(5), Asthma : CK(918) : AC(140), Hypersensitivity : CK(64) : AC(15), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361), Vaccination: Diphtheria-PertussisTetanus: CK(282) : AC(31), Vaccination: Tetanus : CK(61) : AC(8)

Actual title: "Effects of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis or tetanus vaccination on allergies and allergy-related respiratory symptoms among children and adolescents in the United States", Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Ji appears to be referencing the following from the article: The odds of having a history of asthma was twice as great among vaccinated subjects than among unvaccinated subjects (adjusted odds ratio, 2.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.59 to 6.74). The odds of having had any allergy-related respiratory symptom in the past 12 months was 63% greater among vaccinated subjects than unvaccinated subjects (adjusted odds ratio, 1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 2.54). Thus, there does appear to be some link between the DTP/tetanus vaccine and allergenic responses. However, the article's conclusion states: DTP or tetanus vaccination appears to increase the risk of allergies and related respiratory symptoms in children and adolescents. Although it is unlikely that these results are entirely because of any sources of bias, the small number of unvaccinated subjects and the study design limit our ability to make firm causal inferences about the true magnitude of effect.

3

Neonate exposure to thimerosal mercury from hepatitis B vaccines may be a significant problem. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Am J Perinatol. 2009 Aug;26(7):523-7. Epub 2009 Mar 12. PMID: 19283656 Article Published Date : Aug 01, 2009 Authors : José G Dórea, Rejane C Marques, Katiane G Brandão Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Hepatitis B : CK(219) : AC(37), Infant Chemical Exposures : CK(165) : AC(24), Mercury Poisoning : CK(172) : AC(45), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361), Vaccination: Hepatitis B : CK(367) :AC(50)

See the main article on this topic: Thiomersal Actual title: "Neonate exposure to thimerosal mercury from hepatitis B vaccines", American Journal of Perinatology The article's body text (not included in abstract) states: Although it is much easier to contemplate the incommensurable good achieved by immunization in preventing disease, it was the plausibility of subtle harm caused by the EtHg (ethyl mercury) that moved rich countries to withdraw thimerosal from vaccines for infants and young children. The article further states: Although vaccination schedule varies considerably between countries, infants in less-developed countries continue to be exposed to EtHg derived from more affordable TCVs [thiomersol-containing vaccines]. [....] Nearly 94.6% of infants are now being vaccinated within the first 24 hours. Range of mercury exposure spread from 4.2 to 21.1 microg mercury/kg body weight for those receiving TCVs with the highest thimerosal concentration; these exposure levels are conservative for 2% of children receiving vaccines within 2 to 3 postnatal days, when they are still going through physiological postnatal weight loss. This is interesting for two reasons: First, at its worst, this only suggests against vaccinating post-birth infants. Second, most of the vaccines used contain higher mercury content than vaccines in developed countries did even before thiomersal was removed. It's also interesting that Ji didn't bother to state what problems thiomersal was supposedly causing. A further problem with this claim is that, even if true (which it's not), thiomersal hasn't been used in most vaccines in the United States (and Europe) for 15 years. It was removed as a precaution, though it has not been proven to be significantly dangerous. The people who are most likely to read 200 Reasons face almost no thiomersal in their vaccines.

4

Over 1,000 confirmed cases of vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia were reported between 1990-2008. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Vaccine. 2010 Nov 29. Epub 2010 Nov 29. PMID: 21126606 Article Published Date : Nov 29, 2010 Authors : Emily Jane Woo, Robert P Wise, David Menschik, Sean V Shadomy, John Iskander, Judy Beeler, Frederick Varricchio, Robert Ball Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Thrombocytopenia : CK(231) : AC(25), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361)

Actual title: "Thrombocytopenia after vaccination: case reports to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, 1990-2008", Vaccine The article dispels ideas that vaccines might be the sole cause of thrombocytopenia (TP), saying: Since acute and chronic TP commonly occurs in the absence of resent immunizations, post-immunization TP may have a purely coincidental relationship with vaccines. Nonetheless, vaccines could conceivably contribute to the development of TP as already demonstrated for measles containing products. It's also important to look at the bigger picture. First, the article excludes 70 for not being plausibly induced by vaccines: We found 1510 reports of possible TP and after exclusions evaluated 1440 for possible causes. Second, over 10 million vaccines are administered each year to children under one alone. Over the 18 years in which the study examined, about 180 million children under would have been vaccinated. This gives us a rate of 1,440 cases/180,000,000 injections, or a rate of 0.0008%, which is ridiculously low.

5

Over 600 cases of sudden infant death syndrome following vaccination were reported from 1990-1997. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2001 Jun-Jul;10(4):279-85. PMID: 11760487 Article Published Date : Jun 01, 2001 Authors : L E Silvers, S S Ellenberg, R P Wise, F E Varricchio, G T Mootrey, M E Salive Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Infant Mortality : CK(249) : AC(25), Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) : CK(138) : AC(18), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361)

See the main article on this topic: Anti-vaccination movement § SIDS Actual title: "The epidemiology of fatalities reported to the vaccine adverse event reporting system 1990-1997", Journal of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Ji appears to be referring to the following statement from the article: A total of 1266 fatalities were reported to VAERS during July 1990 through June 1997. The number of death reports peaked in 1992-1993 and then declined. The overall median age of cases was 0.4 years, with a range of 1 day to 104 years. Nearly half of the deaths were attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Ji interprets this as meaning that the vaccines caused the other 50% of deaths. However, the study's conclusion states: The trend of decreasing numbers of deaths reported to VAERS since 1992-1993 follows that observed for SIDS overall for the US general population following implementation of the 'Back to Sleep' program. These data may support findings of past controlled studies showing that the association between infant vaccination and SIDS is coincidental and not causal. VAERS reports of death after vaccination may be stimulated by the temporal association, rather than by any causal relationship. Furthermore, it's important to tease out the annual rate here. Let's assume that 600 deaths from SIDS were attributable to vaccines. The study occurred over an 8 year period. This would mean about 75 annual reported cases of SIDS purportedly "caused by vaccines". There are 2500-5000 cases of SIDS in the US every year, or about 70 per week.. In other words, you'd expect roughly 70 infants to die of SIDS within a week of any event in their lifetime. And if we add in the fact that babies get vaccinated far more than once, it seems like the deaths are likely coincidental.

6

The risk of adverse events from the pertussis outweighed the risk of pertussis infection during the period of 1970-83 in children living in non-deprived circumsatnces [sic] in Britain. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Dev Biol Stand. 1985;61:395-405. PMID: 3835080 Article Published Date : Jan 01, 1985 Authors : G T Stewart Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180), Whooping Cough : CK(66) : AC(7) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361), Vaccination: Pertussis : CK(116) :AC(14)

Actual title: "Whooping cough and pertussis vaccine: a comparison of risks and benefits in Britain during the period 1968-83", Developments in Biological Standardization Ji appears to be referencing the following line from the article: It is concluded that, in children living in non-deprived circumstances in Britain, the risk of pertussis vaccine during the period 1970-83 exceeded those of whooping cough. In some deprived [impoverished] sectors, the risks from whooping cough might have been marginally higher but there was no evidence that this was associated with any increase in deaths or permanent disabilities. It is one of the ironic victories of universal vaccination that disease is so rare. If we followed the advice of Ji, we'd see the return of pertussis and a rise of risk. Until a disease has been eradicated, it is necessary to vaccinate.

7

There is a highly statistically significant correlation between increasing number of vaccine doses and increasing infant mortality rates. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Hum Exp Toxicol. 2011 May 4. Epub 2011 May 4. PMID: 21543527 Article Published Date : May 04, 2011 Authors : Neil Z Miller, Gary S Goldman Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Infant Mortality : CK(249) : AC(25), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361)

Actual title: "Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?" Human & Experimental Toxicology This article, also reported in NaturalNews, was poorly designed. The first author, Neil Miller is an "independent researcher"; the second, Gary Goldman, an "independent computer scientist"; neither has specialized knowledge in vaccinations or toxicity, or even epidemiology. Since the 1950's when most vaccines started becoming available, infant mortality in the US has dropped by over 80%. So yes, there is a statistically significant correlation between vaccine doses and infant mortality; it's negatively correlated.

8

Thimerosol-containing vaccines are associated with autism prevalence and measles-containing vaccines are associated with serious neurological disorders. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Med Sci Monit. 2004 Mar;10(3):PI33-9. Epub 2004 Mar 1. PMID: 14976450 Article Published Date : Mar 01, 2004 Authors : David A Geier, Mark R Geier Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Autism : CK(570) : AC(65), Autism Spectrum Disorders : CK(1160) : AC(112), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361), Vaccination: Mumps-Measles-Rubella (MMR) : CK(228) : AC(26)

See the main article on this topic: Geier family See the main article on this topic: Thiomersal Actual title: "A comparative evaluation of the effects of MMR immunization and mercury doses from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines on the population prevalence of autism", Medical Science Monitor This study was written by David and Mark Geier, who have an, er, interesting track record with vaccine-related studies and with medicine in general. Once again, Thimerosol. Once again, not used at all.

9

Vaccination in infants less than 3 months is associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 1995;9(3):263-70. PMID: 7557822 Article Published Date : Jan 01, 1995 Authors : A P Jonville-Bera, E Autret, J Laugier Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) : CK(138) : AC(18), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: All : CK(4702) : AC(361), Vaccination: Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus : CK(282) : AC(31), Vaccination: Polio : CK(94) : AC(15)

See the main article on this topic: Anti-vaccination movement § SIDS Actual title: "Sudden infant death syndrome and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-poliomyelitis vaccination status", Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology Straight from the abstract in the linked article: The vaccination status of 118 SIDS and 332 control children, matched for sex, date of birth and age of the victims at death, was compared: the victims of SIDS were not significantly more often vaccinated than control children, the odds ratio was estimated at 1.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 0.9 to 3.9. There was a statistical difference between vaccination status of SIDS cases and controls aged less than three months. Nine percent of SIDS cases under 3 months had been vaccinated whereas the matched controls had not. In our study DTCP vaccination was not a risk factor for SIDS; although more of the SIDS infants less than 3 months of age had been vaccinated. This result however, concerns only one subgroup of the population studied and needs to be confirmed with another study of only SIDS infants less than 3 months of age, because DTCP vaccination was not a risk factor for SIDS when considering the total sample of the study. So you shouldn't get your kids vaccinated because there is no statistically significant link to SIDS from vaccination? So who is this list marketed to, people that want to kill their kids? Well...

10

Vaccination is associated with a rare autoimmune neurological condition transverse myelitis [sic]. - GMI Summary Pubmed Data : Lupus. 2009 Nov;18(13):1198-204. PMID: 19880568 Article Published Date : Nov 01, 2009 Authors : N Agmon-Levin, S Kivity, M Szyper-Kravitz, Y Shoenfeld Study Type : Meta Analysis Additional Links Diseases : Myelitis : CK(39) : AC(5), Vaccine-induced Toxicity : CK(1242) : AC(180) Anti Therapeutic Actions : Vaccination: Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus : CK(282) : AC(31), Vaccination: Hepatitis B : CK(367) : AC(50), Vaccination: Mumps-Measles-Rubella (MMR) : CK(228) : AC(26)

Actual title: "Transverse myelitis and vaccines: a multi-analysis", Lupus From the article abstract: A systematic review of PubMed, EMBASE and DynaMed for all English-language journals published between 1970 and 2009 was preformed, utilizing the key words transverse myelitis, myelitis, vaccines, post-vaccination, vaccination and autoimmunity. We have disclosed 37 reported cases of transverse myelitis associated with different vaccines including those against hepatitis B virus, measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and others, given to infants, children and adults. In most of these reported cases the temporal association was between several days and 3 months, although a longer time frame of up to several years was also suggested. Although vaccines harbor a major contribution to public health in the modern era, in rare cases they may be associated with autoimmune phenomena such as transverse myelitis. The associations of different vaccines with a single autoimmune phenomenon allude to the idea that a common denominator of these vaccines, such as an adjuvant, might trigger this syndrome. For reference, that's 37 (supposed) cases over a 39 year timeframe. Out of about 400,000,000 vaccines given, 37 may have caused an adverse effect. When compared with the effects of most diseases, this is ridiculously small. Consider also the varying temporal association, which is inconsistent to the tune of multiple days to multiple months. Furthermore, causation and correlation. There are thousands upon thousands of conditions out there, if not millions. The odds of some study not showing a correlation with a rare condition of some form are effectively nothing.

See also

• Gish Gallop
• Big Pharma
• 101 evidences for a young age of the Earth and the universe

External links

• The list itself (RW-hosted version)
• Deconstructing “200 Evidence Based Reasons NOT To Vaccinate”, Science-Based Medicine
• Neil Z Miller, (see reason #7 above), has since doubled-down by self-publishing :
  "Miller's Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers".
  Some of Miller's other publications, (New Atlantean Press), involve clairvoyance.