Sarita Coren, GreenMedInfo

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate that is theheated debate. Regardless of what position you hold, the vaccination topic carries weighted emotions like anger, fear, intolerance, and especially the need to be right.

At the end of the day, what should be a personal, educated choice becomes controversial fodder for others to judge and vilify, regardless of which side they take. It’s a hot topic that doesn’t seem to lose steam.

I know because I align with the smaller percentage of those who choosenotto inoculate now. Let me clarify that statement. Fourteen years ago, I hesitatingly gave my kidssomevaccinations before my inner voice kicked in and before learning the hard way.

This was not a flippant decision or one reflecting negligence or lack of concern for others in the population, as some people might accuse. I based my withdrawal from the vaccine schedule on:

• extensive research;
• discussions with various pediatricians and medical professionals;
• conversations with other parents;
• countless accounts of children who were irrevocably altered after compliance with government-mandated vaccine dosages;
• and, ultimately, my own heart-knowing of what genuinely feels true.

I also based my decision on the drastic change I witnessed in my then-infant son. After he got vaccinated, he cried desperately the night he received it in a way that was uncharacteristic of my sweet baby. He seemed to be in terrible, unusual pain. Within months, his healthy breathing patterns became labored and raspy.

To confuse matters, his pediatrician did not detect anything wrong! We learned about the severity of his symptoms after I boldly—and apprehensively—took him to a chiropractorinsteadof his pediatrician, when he developed a fever several months later. It was there that we discovered that his adrenals were severely taxed—an issue that could have eventually impacted his kidneys. With theradicaldecisionnotto go to a traditional “doctor,” we curtailed what could have been another vaccine statistic, though I didn’t realize that at the time.

It was not until we tested him for allergies years later that I put two and two together. The testing disclosed that one source of his adrenal overload stemmed from exposure to egg albumen, an ingredient often found in the vaccine mix. Egg albumen doesn’t even account for the rest of the toxic cocktail injected into his system.

With each person’s genetic composition being so different, it is completely plausible thateven oneexternal stimulus can negatively interact with DNA and alter its normal design (the field ofepigeneticsis making groundbreaking discoveries in this area). Will I ever be able to prove this connection? Probably not. But as a mother, I know it in my gut. And sometimes that’s all we moms have got to go on.

It was then and there that I made the commitment to support my family’swell-beingnessand not operate from the fear ofillness. Thus, the flame ignited.

“Our lives improve only when we take chances and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” ~Walter Anderson

It has not always been an easy path to walk. Many times I have questioned my decision, usually based on unfounded insecurities. Yet I consistently revisited the facts that speak loudly for themselves. I align with people, often throughHolistic Moms Network, who share mutual understanding. We support each other. Then I am undeterred.

In writing this post, I reached out to a number of health practitioners to lend their professional angle and medical credibility to the topic. Sadly—but not surprisingly—they refused to put their position on vaccinations in writing. Their unwillingness speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

The reason for abstaining? Some would not say. Others did—the crackdown on their medical practice once Big Pharma discovers their unorthodox views.

Their reasoning is not unfounded. One doctor boldly showed her patient, who happens to be a friend of mine, a letter from the insurance company stating that they were withholding necessary coverage and funds due to the percentage of unvaccinated patients in her practice.

For a country boasting a constitutional right to free speech, it sure does create a deafening silence when it comes to vaccines. Evidently, proclaiming a more holistic practice that doesn’t advocate vaccines carries its own implications. It is not the first time that I’ve heard of doctors going “undercover” in their alternative approach, despite mounting evidence that the drug-centered route may not be helping—and in fact, may be harming.

“Scientific medicine has taken credit it does not deserve for some advances in health. Most people believe that victory over the infectious diseases of the last century came with the invention of immunizations. In fact, cholera, typhoid, tetanus, diptheria, and whooping cough, etc., were in decline before vaccines for them became available – the result of better methods of sanitation, sewage disposal, and distribution of food and water.” ~ Dr. Andrew Weil,Health and Healing

Did you know that in 2011 the U.S. Supreme Courtpassed legislationthat impedes those suffering from vaccine injury from receiving compensation from pharmaceutical companies for their mounting medical expenses?

Essentially we can sueDunkin Donutsfor brewing scalding coffee that burned someone who spilled it on themselves. But those whose lives have radically changed due to injury from a required shot can not seek disability payments from the industry that caused it?

There is something eerily wrong with this picture. I’m not one to rant aboutconspiracy theories, but the information does leave room to wonder.

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

If you have ever been privy to arationaldiscussion surrounding vaccinations, you will know that it rapidly turns heated, then downright accusatory, quickly morphing into pulling-hair-out hen fights. It isn’t pretty.

A recent FacebookpostbyLissa Rankin, M.D. is a good case in point. The author ofMind Over Medicinestruck the match by revealing that she vaccinated her daughter. She wanted to know where people were regarding the controversial topic, since 26 percent of the students in her daughter’s school chose not to vaccinate.

Opinions waxed strong in the ensuing comments, even to the extent of being mildly contentious. Accusations and references to scientific studies were hurled and refuted. No one actually heard the other voice. And the thread died down as quickly as it started, like a flame extinguished.

Dr. Rankin’s resulting article appeared the next day onMind, Body, Green, where she explained (defended?) her choice to vaccinate and also expressed, “We should be able to hold differing opinions without getting personal or mean.” She concluded her eight guidelines for an open and healthy discussion with the quip: “In short, everyone play nice in the sandbox, please.”

So why can’t we manage to play in the sandbox without throwing the sand?

What is at the heart of this often vicious debate, this unwillingness by professionals to stand out and speak about what they know?

In my humble opinion, there are two major underlying factors pulling the strings:misinformation and fear. Both are equally compelling forces that—when fed—lead to a “lynch-mob” mentality, but can also lead to paralysis. This is hardly an exaggeration.

“Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship…the Constitution of this Republic should make special provisions for medical freedom as well as religious freedom.” ~ attributed to Benjamin Rush, M.D., Signer of the Declaration of Independence

If you are not familiar with the body’s physiological response to fear, it is called “fight or flight.” The effect of fight or flight actually stresses the body to the extent that it is potentially immobilized. NeurologistDr. Robert Scaerdiscusses the “fight, flight, or freeze” response in depth.

That is how fear becomes a veritable weapon for controlling mass consciousness. It has historically proven true time and time again—look at any dictator’s rise to power. It can be used to subdue a nation. Unfortunately, it is working all too well today.

The danger of submitting to fears is that we lose our ability to question, as well as to voice our differing understandings. Aren’t those the steps to tyranny?

Several friends of mine asked their pediatricians about the current vaccine protocol as recommended by theCenter for Disease Control(CDC)—now up to a whopping49 doses of 14 vaccinesby the time the child is six years old. Mind you, my friends merely wished to sift through the confusing onslaught of contradicting information. The pediatricians summarily dismissed them from their practices. This really happened!

If we can not, at the very least, ask and get some satisfactory answers about vaccine safety, then what are we left to do?

Beyond fear, our responsibility is to reach for facts. Yet facts that are objective and true are nearly impossible to find. If we turn to studies, we find out the disturbing news that most of the studies receive funding from the drug companies behind the vaccines! There’s a conflict of interest if ever I’ve seen one.

“To rely on the drug companies for unbiased evaluations of their products makes about as much sense as relying on beer companies to teach us about alcoholism.” ~ Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine

Many doctors who were once advocates of a particular studyreveal years laterthat the study was rigged, inconclusive, or didnot disclose vital information. Then people use those revelations to support or refute vaccine use. The barrage of inadequate information leads to confusion, at best, and unnecessary deaths, at worst.

Not only that, but doctors often get kickbacks for promoting medicines and vaccines as well. That’s where things get really hairy.

In the book,The Medical Mafia, Gulaine Lanctot, M.D. writes: “The medical establishment works closely with the drug multinationals whose main objective is profits, and whose worst nightmare would be an epidemic of good health. Lots of drugs MUST be sold. In order to achieve this, anything goes: lies, fraud, and kickbacks. Doctors are the principal salespeople of the drug companies. They are rewarded with research grants, gifts, and lavish perks.”

I know that when I write a review on my blog, I am partial to the companies who send me products for free. And when I like the people behind the brand, chances are I will publicize their company on social media too. It’s all about developing the connection. So too when doctors and/or researchers “get into bed with Big Pharma,” a term that Dr. Rankin herself uses about the process, objectivity is lost. How can we base rational decisions that affect our children’s health on potentially biased associations?

The solution to all this? While it is absolutely imperative for us to educate ourselves, the information may be misleading unless you trace every study to the core. That’s why I included a list of websites and books that have no ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

That we must demand unbiased studies goes without saying. Until we have conclusive proof, we must never recede from championing our undeniable right to choose.

At the end of the day, we have to live in the space where we feel the most peace, where there is the absence of fear, and where we feel we are doing our best. Perhaps the following quote by Steve Jobs says it best:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~ Steve Jobs

It is our imperative to shift from a paradigm of fear to a place of courage, compassion, and knowledge. We have no excuse to act from any other space. Our inalienable rights depend on it. Whether we extinguish the flame of debate or not, maintaining our right to choose upholds the torch of freedom.

Author’s Note: I was prompted to write this post by two incidents that happened at the same time. One was an email from my children’s school mandating vaccines by the school’s religious authority as a safety measure for other kids in the school. The other seemingly separate incident was Lissa Rankin’s timely Facebook post referred to in the article. I am grateful to them both for activating my freedom of speech and creating the space to articulate everyone’s right to exercise their truth. Full credit goes to Niall Wogan’s truth-telling book, “The Silent Betrayal” for providing many of the quotes cited here. Lastly, I thank the people who support the truth, in whatever form they choose. This article first appeared onNatural News Blogs.