Ontario Parent Questions Tdap Vaccines in Pregnancy

January 8, 2019
Excerpt of a letter to Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, The Honourable Minister of Health Ms. Ginette Petitpas Taylor and the Canadian Association of Midwives;
I wanted to first of all express my appreciation for writing back to me. My initial letter was written on April 12th [also sent to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada] where I wrote about the statements made about Tdap vaccines in pregnancy that are found on Tdap product monographs.
I do however want to express concern over what was written. I am not convinced that the use of Tdap vaccine for pregnant women is a good practice based on the information that was sent to me.
Dr. Theresa Tam replied to my letter on July the 9th, 2018 and provided me a document entitled, ‘Update on Immunization in Pregnancy with Tdap Vaccine.’ I read through the document and highlighted that which, in my opinion, is also not reassuring with regards to the safety of this recommendation.
To begin, in this document, almost every reference to a placebo in clinical trials includes in brackets (9% saline or TT)-which is it? TT refers to tetanus toxoid. This is very important because if there is no true placebo in a clinical trial, there is no true comparison and no way to determine safety. In the paragraph entitled, ‘Fetal and neonatal adverse events’, there was reference to a study that compared maternal Tdap vaccination to maternal influenza vaccination-this is problematic for the same reason. The document also states that, ‘None of the cohort studies that evaluated infant outcomes without a comparator group reported adverse infant outcomes’ (pg.9). How effective are studies with no comparator group?
Furthermore, under this same ‘Fetal and Neonatal Adverse Events’ subsection, there is reference to VAERS data (vaccine adverse event reporting system) from the United States. It is estimated that somewhere between 1-10% of all adverse vaccine reactions ever get reported to VAERS. If the reporting to VAERS is closer to 1% then 99% of negative vaccine reactions have not been documented on VAERS. An assessment of this data is therefore not even close to providing us with an accurate picture of the true impact of a vaccine on health outcomes in a population. The one study that is referenced looking at health outcomes of children up to 16 months of age was a retrospective study that, according to its conclusion in the abstract, ‘Tdap vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with infant fever 0-3 days after first dose of DTap’. (Zerbo et al. Kaiser Permanente Northern California Pregnancy Database. Description and Proof of Study, Vaccine, 2018). What about other negative health outcomes at 4 days after DTap or even one week after? What about health outcomes several months later? Why aren’t these mentioned if children were studied for 16 months?
At the end of this section on fetal and neonatal adverse events, it is written, ‘it should be noted that none of the reviewed studies were sufficiently powered to detect small risk differences.’ It is also written that, ‘detection of rare vaccine-associated risks requires well powered trials involving large populations or robust post marketing surveillance data’. (Page 9). Essentially then, what has been compiled in this particular document admittedly does not include ‘well-powered trials’ or very ‘robust data.’
Most importantly though, there is a lot of scientific literature looking at the effects of injected aluminum (aluminum is an adjuvant present in the Tdap vaccine) on a developing fetus and on the effect of prenatal immune activation in general. The following document sheds light on these topics and was put together by an organization called the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) with the involvement of lawyer and environmental activist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The paper is entitled, ‘Autism and Aluminum Adjuvants in Vaccines’ and the link is here; https://www.icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ICAN-AluminumAdjuvant-Autism-2.pdf
This particular document uses almost one hundred references from the scientific and medical literature. The overall aim of the paper is to show that there is evidence that aluminum adjuvants and maternal immune activation can cause autism and other brain injuries in a developing fetus. The overall proposed mechanism for the link between aluminum adjuvants and autism that is outlined on page 2 is as follows; aluminum adjuvant is injected, aluminum adjuvant particles travel to the brain, IL-6 (a type of cytokine) is activated in the brain and this in turn can lead to autism.
Before the specific effects of aluminum are discussed, one needs to look at the overall phenomenon of immune activation in pregnancy. (The following statements have been taken from the above-mentioned document from ICAN). Vaccination is an immune activation event and, “the developing brain can be injured by immune activation, with life-long consequences…immune activation injury is linked to autism, schizophrenia, depression and other mental illnesses or neurodevelopmental disorders” (page 2). In animal studies where pregnant mice are injected with immune activating substances, there can be “substantial effects on brain development if activation…occurs during vulnerable developmental stages.” (Page 2). Also in this paper, “In maternal immune activation experiments, inflammatory signaling and some cytokines travers the placenta into the fetus…immune activation in the mother causes immune activation and elevated cytokines in the fetus, and in the fetal brain”(page 5). More specifically, IL-6, the cytokine mentioned above, has been one cytokine identified as being responsible for causing the “autism-like behavioural effects of immune activation” (page 4). Lastly, on page 4, “IL-6 is central to the process by which maternal immune activation causes long-term behavioural alterations in the offspring.” How can this be ignored?
Regarding aluminum in vaccines more specifically, aluminum adjuvant particles are bio persistent and can remain in the body for months or years. Aluminum adjuvant particles are too large to be removed by the kidneys and are carried across the blood-brain barrier by macrophages (page 10). Aluminum also appears to selectively induce IL-6 (page 14) and people with autism have elevated cytokines throughout the brain (page 12).  It is important to then ask-does aluminum injected into pregnant women cross the placenta? In a study entitled, ‘A study of the distribution of aluminum in human placental tissues based on alkaline solubilization with determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry’ by Kruger et al, in Metallomics, Sept 2010, “while the placenta may serve as a partial barrier to aluminum exposure in utero, the developing fetus may still be vulnerable to cumulative exposure”(page 12). Also, “fetuses can be extremely susceptible to adverse health effects resulting from exposure to nonessential trace metals such as aluminum, since the organs, excretory pathways, and blood-brain barrier are not yet fully developed” (page 2).
I appreciate that there is a legitimate concern regarding pertussis (whooping cough) in newborns. I would suggest that you look at the Vitamin C protocol for whooping cough written by Dr. Suzanne Humphries. Dr Suzanne Humphries is a board certified (in two States) conventionally trained Internist with a specialization in nephrology. She has studied vaccines on an almost full time basis for several years after having left her position in a hospital. Her paper on the science of Vitamin C in the treatment of whooping cough is entitled, ‘Sodium Ascorbate Treatment of Whooping Cough’ Here is the link to that particular paper; http://drsuzanne.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Vitamin-C-Whooping-Cough-PDF.pdf
The benefits of high dose vitamin C in the treatment of serious and infectious illnesses including pertussis have in fact been well documented for decades. Dr. Frederick Klenner wrote 27 papers from the 1940’s to the 1970’s on many applications for high dose Vitamin C. Case studies have also been documented by Dr. Linus Pauling (a two time Nobel Prize Winner) and by Dr. Thomas Levy who wrote, ‘Curing the Incurable: Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases and Toxins.’
If whooping cough in babies can be effectively treated with high doses of vitamin C, why would it be recommended that pregnant women take aluminum containing Tdap vaccines?
I know that as health care professionals, you of course want both healthy babies and healthy moms. As a member of the vaccine risk aware community, however, I disagree with this recent recommendation to give the Tdap vaccine to pregnant women as part of that effort. We also recognize the particular vulnerability of pregnant women who are anxious to do ‘whatever it takes’ to keep their growing baby safe and healthy. We know that they are inclined to follow a physician’s or midwife’s advice to get vaccinated without researching the studies that have looked into this practice. They will not know and nor will it be disclosed to them what the vaccine actually contains, specifically, they will not be informed about the presence of aluminum in the Tdap vaccine.
As stated in my previous correspondence, the vaccine manufacturers advise against this practice in the vaccine package inserts, there are apparently no true placebo controlled safety studies and the injection of aluminum into pregnant women can trigger an immune activation sequence of events that can be harmful to developing fetuses. There is also literature linking this maternal immune activation and exposure to aluminum to the onset of serious neurodevelopmental conditions like autism.
If you have references that refute what I have written here, I would be happy to read them. Likewise, if I have missed or misinterpreted information that you have provided me or if you have found other inaccuracies in this letter, please point them out to me.
I and many other parents and grandparents in the vaccine risk aware community are very concerned about this new recommendation to give pregnant Canadian women the Tdap vaccine. I felt compelled to share this information with all of you.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Parent, Ontario

Further reading:
BOOSTRIX® Product Monograph (pdf)
FDA Admits That Government Is Recommending Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women – Children’s Health Defense