Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A - probably given to your baby at their 12 month appointment.

What is it? It's a contagious liver disease transmitted usually through close contact of another individual with Hep A. It's not as serious as the other Hep viruses. If you contract the disease, once you recover (death is very rare; you usually recover in less than 2 months), you will never get it again. It's not a very common disease.

Symptoms? Flu-like, low-grade fever, loss of appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain. Possible jaundice.

The vaccine: the Hep A vaccine is made from "hepatitis A virus grown in human MRC-5 diploid fibroblasts" (originated from aborted fetal tissue). The vaccine contains aluminum, sodium borate, sodium chloride, bovine albumin and formaldehyde.

The side effects: Guillain Barre syndrome, cerebellar ataxia, encephalities, thrombocytopenia, anaphylaxis, brachial plexus neuropathy, transverse myelitis, encephalopathy, lymphadenopathy, syncope, meningitis, hepatitis, diabetes, erythema multiforme, congenital abnormality, and multiple sclerosis.
This totally scares me...so my child could possibly get meningitis, hepatitis (FROM the Hep vaccine!), diabetes, and MS? I mean I'm sure all of these other diseases listed are really bad as well, but those are the handful that I know of that are bad enough...
It goes on to list headache, upper respiratory infection, ear infection (my son had never once had an ear infection until he received his 12 month series; then he ended up with a double ear infection), menstruation disorder, myalgia, asthma, wheezing, allergic reactions, dermatitis (he also has skin issues now), and diarrhea.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) also receives reports of neurologic, hematologic, and autoimmune syndromes linked to this vaccine.

The manufacturer of the vaccine does not presently know how long the protection will last with this vaccine. The studies have shown that the immunity is probably brief. In 2004, after children age 5 and under received the vaccination there was a 26% increase in that age group of children who contracted the disease (231 cases in 2003 and 291 cases in 2004).