In this 2009 Associated Press file photo, a child in Haiti receives a vaccination in the form of oral droplets.

Regulators in the state of Illinois have suspended a Chicago doctor who allegedly gave patients vaccinations containing cat saliva and vodka.


The Chicago Tribune reports that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation took the action against Dr. Ming Te Lin after hearing complaints from healthcare providers that children were being administered unapproved oral versions of childhood shots developed by the doctor.

Investigators who visited Lin’s office discovered a cluttered, unsterile office, and a “box filled with vials and tubes that [Lin] was using to make his own vaccinations.” Lin admitted to the investigators that he’s been making his own “alternative” vaccinations for over a decade—a revelation that must come as a shock to some parents. Children as young as a seven-day-old infant received the unapproved oral vaccines.


To create his custom brew, Lin added alcohol in the form of vodka. And for children with allergies, he would add cat saliva gathered by a cotton swab. Lin administered the modified vaccinations orally or in nasal form.

He also used a device called the Wavefront 2000 to detoxify vaccinations from mercury. The contraption is based entirely on pseudoscientific principles. It’s described by the manufacturer as, “an electronic device that detects the unique, subtle electro-magnetic frequency information of any substance placed in its input well and imprints the signal into a carrier fluid placed in the output well. The signal can be inverted to form an anti-allergen remedy.”

State officials are accusing Lin of signing state forms certifying that he had given children conventional, state-approved immunizations, and of failing to inform his patients of the risks associated with not following vaccine guidelines. Needless to say, none of the methods adopted by Lin are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Line will attend a hearing before the Medical Disciplinary Board on October 11 in Chicago.

It’s not immediately clear if Lin was a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner or a homeopath (Lin is not returning anyone’s calls at the moment). As noted at Doubtful News, he graduated from the Medical College of Taiwan, and was certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. What’s more, he’s got some glowing reviews at Vitals.com, but clearly from patients who subscribe to the doctor’s homeopathic “natural” remedies.


For some of Lins’ patients, these recent allegations may come as a shock—but not necessarily because they felt he was doing anything wrong.

[Chicago Tribune]