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WisconsinChristianNews.com
Volume 25, Issue 5
About RSV and the Vaccine For It
By Dr. David Lange, Genesis Primary Care September 2024 We are getting back into fall. It feels like sum- mer just shot by again. As the kids get back to school, my busi- ness usually takes a bit of an
infections is greater. This is what leads to going to the hospital. Consider influenza as the other in- fection that a vaccine is strongly en- couraged to get. The hospitalization rate is usually above 300,000 per year and the deaths attributed to in-
to stabilize just a component of the RSV virus in order to get the im- mune system to make an antibody response and boost protection against RSV. Does that make it safer? Most definitely, but does that mean you should take it? I don’t
or at least minimizing, alcohol con- sumption are some of the founda- tional things to improve your immune system. Making sure that your Vitamin D level is up, taking zinc, selenium, Vitamin C and using supplements like quercetin or echi- nacea can also be helpful in prevent- ing and/or minimizing illness symptoms by strengthening your immune system. There is also good science behind using dilute hydro- gen peroxide or iodine as a mouth rinse, nasal spray or nebulizer solu- tion to help reduce the viral load after exposure or as treatment dur- ing an illness. I am sure you have a favorite and there is probably some scientific evidence to support that as well. I have spoken about vaccines be- fore. I so much want to believe in the concept of the vaccine. Illnesses are what I fight every single day of my career. I want my patients to be healthy and not need me, but I don’t suspect that will happen this side of Heaven. Despite the push to vacci- nate everything, I don’t really think we can vaccinate our way to better health. But I am not going to tell someone who really feels that this vaccine is for them to not get the vaccine. That really needs to be an individual decision and not some- thing forced upon you by corporate policy. I am really aiming this article at the adult population. I think the discussion gets a lot more tricky for the pediatric population. I have seen too many really sick kids from RSV to try to talk parents out of this vac- cine, but the parents should not be coerced or forced into getting this vaccine for their child if they are not wanting to do that. I think the whole vaccine schedule needs to be revisited, because a child born today is getting over 100 vaccinations by age 18. Where does this end? GenesisPrimaryCare.com Please see the display ad on Page 20 of this issue of Wisconsin Christian News).
uptick as all the latest bugs get free access to new and unsuspecting hosts. One of those bugs is named Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). It isn’t new, but if you watch any television, you might think it is, or maybe something has changed about it. There have been two new vaccines recently developed for this virus and the manufacturers are heavily advertising them. The clinics are pushing them too. But is this re- ally necessary? Are you really going to benefit from this vaccine? Let’s take a look. RSV is essentially a universal in- fection; everyone gets it at some point. Very young children have the hardest time with the infection. They will have more severe lung symp- toms than most other age brackets. It also seems to be a setup for some forms of childhood asthma. The very elderly and immune compromised patients are also at risk for hospital- ization with about 100,000 hospital- izations every year. There are less than 10,000 deaths in seniors every year. Unlike some infections, we are never fully immune to RSV and can get the illness multiple times. The symptoms of RSV are the same as your run of the mill respiratory virus. For most people, it is just a cold with runny nose and conges- tion, sore throat, fever and chills. So why in the world would we want or need a vaccine for this? For the very young as well as the frail and com- promised individual, the risk of get- ting lower respiratory tract
fluenza are from 20-50,000 a year. So by statistics, RSV is small pota- toes. Those at risk for being hospitalized or dying from either illness are the same. The older one is, the more frail one is, the more chronic health conditions one has, all factor into your likelihood of having worse out- comes from either illness. The vaccine manufacturers are quick to point out just how effective these vaccines are. But digging into those statistics can be insightful. There were fairly evenly matched groups in the vaccine group and the placebo group. Out of nearly 12,500 patients in the vaccine group, 7 pa- tients with the usual RSV symptoms tested positive year one, 40 in the placebo group. I won’t promise to be a statistician, but 7/12,500 = 0.00056% chance of getting RSV with the vaccine and 40/12,500 = 0.0032% chance of getting RSV without the vaccine. While compar- ing these two numbers results in a whopping 90% reduced chance of getting RSV, can we really tell a dif- ference when these numbers are so small? The vaccine itself uses old technol- ogy that many other vaccines have used for years already. It is not mRNA technology. It uses a lyophilized antigen, which is a way
know. I guess it depends on how you view your health and your risk of se- rious illness. What chances are you willing to take? I certainly think that given these kinds of numbers, if you choose not to take the vaccine, you should feel fine with that decision and not let anyone try to bully you into getting it. So if this illness is not that bad for adults, why else would it be pushed so hard? As the hardcore anti vax crowd will point out, it is because of the National Childhood Vaccine In- jury Act of 1986. Once a vaccine is on the childhood vaccine schedule, the manufacturer has limited liabil- ity for injury. I won’t go so far as to say it provides total immunity, but the deck is clearly in favor of the manufacturer and not the injured party. So if they can’t be sued, why wouldn’t the manufacturers try to get their product into more arms? That clearly means more profit. Hence, add it to the adult schedule as well and open up a very large group of “needy” patients. Viruses and bacteria are all around us. Having a robust immune system is our best first defense against any of these little nasties. Getting proper sleep, eating a well balanced diet without processed foods, avoiding tobacco and other burning vegetable matter, avoiding,
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