November 14, 2018
DTP (adsorbed pertussis-diphtheria-tetanus vaccine) is one of the first places in the Russian national vaccination schedule
DPT (adsorbed pertussis-diphtheria-tetanus vaccine) is one of the first places in the Russian national vaccination schedule: the first course (three stages) is carried out at 2-3, 4-5 and 6 months. The interval between vaccinations should be at least 30 days. The next vaccination is at 18 months. At this stage, stable immunity against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus is formed for the next 6-10 years.
HOW Vaccination AFFECTS THE SPREAD OF INFECTIONS
Before the advent of the DTP vaccine in the 1950s, infections such as tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough caused very serious illness and even death. According to statistics, 20% of children suffered from diphtheria, and by the age of two years, almost half of the cases were fatal. Child mortality from tetanus was even higher and reached 95%. And whooping cough was almost as common as ARVI - almost 100% of children suffered from it, with varying degrees of severity. The WHO estimates that since the start of a large-scale pertussis vaccination campaign in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of cases has dropped by 90%!
In Russia, statistics also show positive figures: in 2016, there were only two cases of diphtheria infection and three of tetanus. Only about 8,000 people had whooping cough - 1.7 cases per 100,000 people. When you compare this to 1958, when there were 475 reported cases of whooping cough per 100,000 people, the statistics speak for themselves: the vaccine has indeed helped minimize the spread of the infection.
The anti-vaccination campaign that began in the 1980s led to a decrease in vaccination coverage of the Russian population to 60%, and this almost immediately affected the incidence of many infections, including whooping cough. By 1993, the number of reported cases had increased 13-fold. After the 2000s, when active public education led to an increase in the number of people vaccinated, especially children, the picture changed again.
Vaccinations
Alexander Kotok: You periodically publish comments on the website of the Ukrainian League for the Defense of Civil Rights. What led you to become an anti-vaxxer?Tatyana: The tragic events that happened in our family, and I want everyone who has children to think about how dangerous trust in doctors and vaccinations can be, and the conviction that everything bad happens to anyone, but not to with your child, everything will certainly be fine. If this helps save the lives or health of at least a few babies, I will at least a little atone for my guilt towards our little one who died from the DTP vaccine.
In 2005, a healthy, desirable girl was born into our family. We are very grateful to the doctors who attended the birth, everything went wonderfully and in the maternity hospital the baby was vaccinated against hepatitis B and BCG. Since we had not heard of any complications from vaccinations at that time, we agreed to them. True, we were alarmed that they gave us to sign that we allow vaccination against hepatitis B, but we were told that this was the order. Since childhood, we have been instilled with the idea of the benefits of vaccinations, and we had no doubts about their necessity. We were discharged home in satisfactory condition, and our life at home began.
Have you noticed any changes in the child's behavior that would indicate a complication after the vaccinations?
The baby became restless, but this was attributed to colic and dysbacteriosis, which began for unknown reasons. After two weeks, everything gradually returned to normal, sleep improved, and the child stopped crying constantly. We followed the development of our girl and were happy. A month passed, and we happily and proudly went to the hospital to see our doctor. The examination showed that everything was normal, and we were allowed to get vaccinated according to the vaccination calendar. Having done them, we headed home. But at home everything started all over again: dysbacteriosis again, sleep became restless and intermittent, the child was constantly crying, I had to carry him in my arms. We thought it was a reaction to the vaccine, but the visiting nurse said that up to three months, babies have intestinal problems, colic, etc. And again after two or three weeks everything went away. The child calmed down and we finally breathed freely. Before the first DTP, we were told to do a blood test: hemoglobin was 130. After the vaccination, the same symptoms repeated, and again the visiting nurse said that everything was fine. After the second DPT vaccination, it all started again, but something new was added: we noticed that the baby was twitching her shoulder about 1-2 times a day. So sometimes when asked about something, they answer: “How do I know?”, and make a movement with their shoulders. We even thought it was funny. We couldn’t connect this with anything bad, but we still asked the doctor, and received the answer that, oh, these mothers and grandmothers, what can they come up with? At that moment we should have become concerned and consulted a neurologist... even though now I doubt that we would have received the desired answer. Only recently did I read in a description of post-vaccination complications that this was a manifestation of a convulsive syndrome, a reaction to a vaccine, and after such a manifestation of a reaction it is impossible to vaccinate. In addition, since the same condition occurred again as after the first vaccinations, and we already understood for sure that one thing is connected with the other. And again, about three weeks passed, again the child became calmer, and again the time came for a visit to the pediatrician. For some reason, at this time I didn’t come across any articles about complications after vaccinations, no one around me said anything (maybe simply because I didn’t talk to people about it), and there were no obvious complications among my loved ones. We went for another DTP vaccination.
| Marinka is 2.5 months old |
Have you been vaccinated strictly according to the vaccination calendar?
Yes, we were disciplined parents, we obeyed the doctors in everything, relying on their professionalism.
So what happened?
The only thing that is clearly imprinted in my memory is the wild cry of the baby after the injection. By the way, I forgot to write that after each injection the child screamed a lot, and after the first vaccination he almost suffocated from screaming. Immediately after the vaccination, my health began to deteriorate. The child was put to bed, but literally 20 minutes later the baby shuddered and woke up screaming. I had to forget about a restful sleep. Once a day, towards the evening, she began to cry, and the crying continued for 2-3 hours. It was not just crying, it was a cry-scream, the way children scream when they are very, very hurt. For us, it started for no reason and suddenly, and did not subside. One might think that it was a wild, continuous pain. In addition, we noticed that the baby began to wet her diapers less. We didn’t know what to think; no one in the family from the older generation had encountered such a child’s condition. The doctor, as always, said that these were our imaginations and that everything was fine. But the smell of acetone appeared and the baby could not even drink water; she immediately vomited from taking a sip of food and water. Within literally 30 minutes we went to a private clinic. The pediatrician immediately wrote a referral to the hospital, and we ended up in the infectious diseases department. Further events happened rapidly. Blood, stool, and urine tests were taken, for some reason they did an x-ray (the doctors said to rule out pneumonia (?)), and an analysis for an intestinal infection. These appointments were made by the doctor in the emergency department. A blood test showed hemoglobin 90, the next day 60. Then the baby’s face became very swollen, her eyes turned into slits. At my insistence, since it was Sunday and the doctor on duty did nothing, waited until Monday, they called a doctor from the intensive care unit, I drew his attention to the smell of acetone, low hemoglobin, and swelling. He examined the child and immediately took him to the intensive care unit. They did a test for creatinine, it was very high... Further events merged into some kind of nightmarish delirium, I simply cannot describe them in detail. In general, the tests did not confirm an intestinal infection; A biochemical blood test showed that the kidneys were failing, the child began to have convulsions, she lost consciousness, stopped breathing and was transferred to mechanical breathing. In general, according to the doctor, the child had cerebral edema, seizures, cessation of kidney function, and weak heart function. On the card I saw a preliminary diagnosis: “Encephalitis of unknown etiology, multiple organ failure, glomerulonephritis.” Hemoglobin dropped to 45. We asked what was the reason for this condition, we were asked counter questions, but other than the fact that we had never been anywhere other than the hospital and had recently been vaccinated, we could not say anything more. But the doctors could not say anything about the cause of the child’s condition. At home I had the “Practitioner’s Handbook” (M., 1993), and based on the preliminary diagnosis, I began to look for information. Even then, I found the causes of acute glomerulonephritis, among which “...Glomerulonephritis may occur after the administration of vaccines and serums (serum, vaccine).” In the “Symptoms and Treatment” section I found our symptoms. In the subject index of the same reference book, I also found “Encephalitis (meningoencephalomyelitis) post-vaccination.” That's when I finally realized what was wrong with our child. After all, the child had not been sick with anything before; the card only contains records that the child is healthy and is being sent for vaccination. All these seemingly disparate symptoms - cerebral edema, convulsions, heart failure, liver and kidney damage, terrible blood tests - all of this found one logical explanation: toxic damage to the baby’s body from the components of the vaccine. By this time, the card from the clinic was requested by the department, and I never saw it again. Having the information from the reference book, I literally swore to the intensive care doctor that I would not go anywhere, because I saw that the doctors were doing everything possible, and that I knew that it was all from the vaccine. He, seeing how I controlled myself and believing in my sincerity, confirmed to me that this was so, but they could not do anything, the body was too badly affected. He also said that this was not their first case, but they were never allowed to write “death from a post-vaccination complication.” They are forced to remain silent and write other diagnoses. Our baby, who was not yet seven months old, died. She died not even a month after her last vaccination. And every day after the vaccination she lived in agony: she could not sleep, she was in such pain that she screamed with a terrible cry, she turned yellow because her liver was failing, her face was swollen from edema because her kidneys were failing, she could not breathe - she was kept on mechanical breathing for several days, so that, as we were told later, to prepare the family for the death of the baby, and every new day they gave us information about her health so that we finally understood what awaited us, and we died all these days together with her. One nurse (she was probably asked to warn us) said that even if we wanted to achieve something, we would not be able to do it, since the tests, the clinic card, and the medical history in the department, and everything had already been rewritten in different ink so that the forgery is not visible. At the morgue, I spoke with the doctors and also swore that I would not give them away, just let them tell me the results of the autopsy, and they said that the brain, liver, kidneys were affected, and this was a post-vaccination complication that ended in death. They said that they would make a different diagnosis, just like in the intensive care unit. I didn't care anymore. We could not sue, we ourselves were all on the verge, we were grateful to the intensive care and morgue doctors for the fact that they told us the truth about the condition and death of the child, because when a healthy child dies for no apparent reason literally in a matter of days, it’s time to get away with mind. I understand that they took a risk by telling us this. That's all. We were so happy, so trustingly we carried our girl to the doctors, so proud of her successes in front of them, so obediently we vaccinated...
| Marinka is 4.5 months old |
During their childhood, my parents suffered from every childhood disease except diphtheria. I myself had rubella at the age of 5, then chickenpox, but for some reason my sister did not get chickenpox, although we were together in the same room. Well, who said that it is more dangerous to get sick from these diseases than to inject a child with poisons found in vaccines? Who said vaccines are safe? And for that matter, there are so many different, much more dangerous diseases, and people don’t vaccinate against them. And they are vaccinated during the first year of babies’ lives. Of course, this is the best age to attribute all complications from vaccinations to an unhealthy pregnancy, a hereditary factor, sudden infant death syndrome, and much more. Who will prove that the vaccine administered to the newborn is to blame? Do they tell you that they are saving children from terrible diseases? Ask those born in the 30s and 40s how many deaths occurred from childhood diseases for which they were not vaccinated then. How many people were disabled by these diseases? And did adults suffer from childhood diseases? Our grandmother worked in a hospital, and she told us different stories from hospital life, and I remembered them for the rest of my life. Especially the case of how a child died of diphtheria, and what an emergency it was for the city. And now, in 2006-2007, besides our baby, 3 children died after vaccinations in only one of our microdistricts, and there was no emergency, only fear that the parents would sue. Yes, in fact, they are not even afraid of the trial, but of publicity, since after this parents will again write refusals of vaccinations. It’s been about two years since our baby is no longer with us, I don’t remember much, I’m writing what I still remember, but my soul hurts as if it happened today.
And then you started working on the topic of vaccinations?
I started reading publications about vaccinations, asking people, and this is what I discovered. When I told what happened to us, many talked about their own complications, complications among relatives, acquaintances, and neighbors. Literally every fourth person had such facts. And I realized that there are massive complications, some are stronger, some are weaker, but there are a lot of them. My friend knew what happened with us, and she did not vaccinate the child until 10 months. He grew up completely healthy and balanced. I recently met her and she said that she was very tired, the boy was restless, began to scream hysterically for no reason, throw himself on the floor, bang his head, and during such an attack it is better not to touch him until he calms down. I read about such post-vaccination complications... “But you didn’t vaccinate him?” — I asked, and in response I heard that the doctor persuaded me to do “at least the mandatory vaccinations.” This is how people think that complications happen to someone somewhere, but they definitely won’t affect them.
What would you say to young mothers who are confused and don’t know whether or not to vaccinate?
Dear mothers, learn from the mistakes of others, your children are not experimental material. You fear for their health and expect a doctor to protect it. We no longer have anyone to fear for; we don’t need to worry that the child will not be accepted into kindergarten or school, or that he will get a “vaccine-controlled” disease. Doctors have already “taken care” of protection from any diseases and even from the life of the child...
| Marinka is 6 months old |
What would you say to anti-vaxxers?
Don’t find fault with my story, maybe I’m not saying something exactly exactly, and I’m missing something, but you need to be a robot and record and document everything at the very time when you are going crazy from powerlessness and grief, when you you become dull from insomnia and hopelessness, when you move like an automaton, and your head and whole body burn as if you were next to fire. The doctors told me the real diagnosis, and there is no point in making up a fairy tale. Yes, and I have one document where the diagnosis was written by a resuscitator, and there is a death certificate, where there is a completely different diagnosis. These two documents were written two days apart. I have doctor friends to whom I showed two documents and asked if it was possible to write on the death certificate a diagnosis that was written two days after the first diagnosis in intensive care? They said that falsification of the diagnosis on the death certificate is visible even to an amateur. In addition, I have kept lists of medications for the pharmacy, issued in the intensive care unit. From these lists it is also clear that with such a diagnosis, which is written on the death certificate, such drugs will never be prescribed, but with a diagnosis from intensive care, these are exactly the ones prescribed. For those who want to find out about the real number of complications, my advice is to ask as many people as possible about vaccinations. I guarantee you will be amazed by the results. I would talk to mothers who are in favor of vaccination on forums, but not with doctors. In addition, mothers who get vaccinated simply write in the comments that they are getting vaccinated, they are afraid for their children, but they were told that vaccinations are necessary. They reason, worry, ask. You can and should talk to them. And when those who organize these vaccinations and monitor the implementation of vaccination plans write, hiding behind a fictitious name, they are immediately visible by the hatred with which they write comments to opponents of vaccinations. There is no use talking to them. They themselves know everything perfectly well; they could tell us so much about deaths and complications after vaccinations that we would be horrified by the scale of complications and deaths. We hinder them by telling the truth. Ordinary doctors themselves are hostages of the situation. If they are decent, then they confirm the fact of post-vaccination complications, but in private, since official recognition means immediate loss of work. And yet, I am grateful to the intensive care doctors for their daily feat. While saving children who ended up in intensive care after vaccinations, they see the disastrous results of vaccination and cannot speak about it openly, and in private conversations such pain, such hopelessness breaks through their words... but they cannot change anything. They can only save.
Do you see a way out?
It has already been found. In the USA, European countries, and Russia, voluntary vaccination has long been legislated. No one would dare kick a healthy, unvaccinated child out of school or preschool. References to an epidemic, for example, tuberculosis, are absurd. Everyone is vaccinated against tuberculosis, not a single unvaccinated child will be discharged from the maternity hospital, all small children are vaccinated, but how many children are now sick with tuberculosis, and not only the pulmonary form, but also bone tuberculosis. The child is 3–4 years old, and his bone is rotting! Who does he, a vaccinated person, need to come into contact with in order to get this disease? And then what can be said about his vaccination? References to a vaccine of poor quality or improper vaccination are laughable. The answer to this is: if it doesn’t work out, don’t try it. If you don’t know how, don’t inject yourself, but lie for the sake of reporting; you know how to do this very well when you have to lie to the eyes of grief-stricken parents. Let parents have freedom of choice, then doctors can be told in the event of a post-vaccination complication: parents themselves are responsible for the consequences of vaccination. If our state is so eager to go to Europe, then let it copy everything that is there, including responsibility for vaccination errors.
Why do you want to remain anonymous?
It's not entirely anonymous, since I can be contacted. As for the name of the city, I don’t want to let down the intensive care doctors who were not afraid to tell me the truth. In addition, my health condition does not allow me to raise this issue officially again. I simply told people my case to warn them against tragedies. If I had known before what happened that I needed to copy literally every sheet from the card, every analysis, then today I would have handled all the documents proving death from a post-vaccination complication in court. Although there would still be no point. So be careful, dear parents!!!
How can I contact you, Tatyana?
My phone number is 80676646143, e-mail
WHAT DOES THE DPT VACCINE CONSISTE OF?
The DPT vaccine consists of three components: purified diphtheria toxoid, purified tetanus toxoid and killed pertussis bacilli. Because of the last component, it is also called whole cell. It is used only for young children, since the older the child becomes, the more acutely he reacts to the pertussis component of the vaccine. Therefore, WHO recommends using DPT for primary vaccination of children, and revaccination with softer, acellular alternatives, in which killed pertussis bacilli are replaced with fragments of the cell wall of these bacteria, and the cells themselves are destroyed during the manufacturing process of the vaccine. It is the acellular vaccine against pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus (AADT) that is recommended for use in children over 6 years of age and adults.
What are the side effects?
If you experience side effects, this is a good sign. They indicate that the vaccine is working and triggering the immune system.
After the first shot, your immune system recognizes something foreign. The immune system automatically launches a mild attack against it. This process teaches your immune cells to recognize and respond to invaders. This is why you may experience side effects.
After the second shot, your immune system begins this attack again. But this time, more immune cells are activated, ready to launch a much more serious attack. This is why you may experience more side effects after the second dose. But they will disappear in a day or two. Think of it this way: the body's response to a vaccine is similar to training for a real fight.
If you were to become infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated, your immune system would be prepared to mount an even larger and more powerful attack to protect you.
If you don't have side effects (after your first or second dose), it doesn't mean the vaccine didn't work. In clinical trials of the vaccine, more than half of the participants did not experience any side effects, but we are confident that the vaccine works effectively in these people.
to come back to the beginning
WHO CAN'T GET THE DPT VACCINATION?
There are not many absolute contraindications against DTP vaccination:
- progressive diseases of the nervous system or a history of afebrile seizures (you can vaccinate with ADS, without the pertussis component);
- severe reaction to the components of the vaccine: temperature rise above 40° C, at the site of vaccine administration - swelling and redness over 8 cm in diameter;
- serious immune diseases in which immunity is practically absent.
In addition, you should not get vaccinated during an exacerbation of any disease, including chronic ones. If a child is suffering from ARVI, it is better to postpone vaccination until the main symptoms: fever, cough and runny nose subside.
What should I do if swelling or pain occurs at a location other than the vaccination site?
Some patients may experience some enlargement or tenderness of their lymph nodes after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. In addition, enlarged lymph nodes may be detected on medical imaging and may be mistaken for progression of some types of cancer—most notably breast cancer, head and neck cancer, melanoma, and lymphoma.
This vaccine side effect is more common after the second dose. It usually occurs within 2–4 days after vaccination and can last an average of 10 days.
Enlarged lymph nodes may be visible for a longer period of time on imaging. Therefore, our recommendations will be as follows:
- If you experience these symptoms after vaccination, you should contact your doctor. In most cases, it is recommended to wait at least four weeks before undergoing further testing to allow the lymph nodes to shrink to normal size during this time.
- COVID-19 vaccination should be administered after routine medical imaging procedures. If you have already received the vaccine, we recommend that you have routine breast screenings, including mammograms and MRIs, no sooner than six weeks later.
- If you are a cancer survivor, you should ask to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, if possible, on the opposite side that was not affected by the cancer.
- If enlarged nodes cause you discomfort, you can apply a warm compress. You can take acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve discomfort.
It is important to know that all types of vaccines can cause temporary enlargement of lymph nodes. This may indicate that the body is producing antibodies, as it should be.
to come back to the beginning
