Seven years ago, Japan stopped using the MMR vaccine, making them one of the only developed nations to stop using the cocktail. While other nations may have snubbed their noses at the decision, Japan walked away because of the “3,969 medical compensation claims relating to vaccines in the last 30 years, a quarter had been made by those badly affected by the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine…” In 1993, after 1.8 million children had been given two types of MMR and a record number had developed non-viral meningitis and other adverse reactions, they decided enough was enough. (What is it going to take for us to decide the same thing?)

“The Japanese government realized there was a problem with MMR soon after its introduction in April 1989 when vaccination was compulsory… An analysis of vaccinations over a three-month period showed one in every 900 children was experiencing problems. This was over 2,000 times higher than the expected rate of one child in every 100,000 to 200,000.”

And so, in 1993, after public outcry fuelled by concerns over the flu vaccine, the government dropped the requirement for children to be vaccinated against measles or rubella. (The government switched to another MMR vaccine in October 1991 but the incidence was still high with one in 1,755 children affected. And then in 1999, the government reconsidered using MMR but decided it was safer to keep the ban and continue using individual vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella.)

The director of the Infectious Disease Division at Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, Dr. Hiroki Nakatani, says that while giving individual vaccines cost twice as much as the cocktail, they believe it’s worth it. And so, in some places, parents have to pay for the individual shots but in other places, health authorities pay.

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So what has this care for children afforded them? Well, the Japanese are statistically proven to be the healthiest and longest-living people in the world and they have the lowest infant mortality rate on the planet. Perhaps it’s time we started paying attention to what they are doing.

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A search of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database shows the following statistics from the United States: Over 75,000 adverse events have been reported from any combination of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, including, most notably:

78 confirmed deaths

85 confirmed cases of deafness

48 confirmed cases of decreased eye contact

92 confirmed cases of developmental delay

855 confirmed reported cases of autism

116 confirmed cases of intellectual disability

401 reports of speech disorders

276 reports of loss of consciousness

143 confirmed cases of encephalitis

74 confirmed cases of meningitis

111 confirmed cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome

692 confirmed cases of gait disturbance (not being able to walk normally)

748 confirmed cases of hypokinesia (partial or complete loss of muscle movement)

653 reports of hypotonia (poor muscle tone)

4874 reports of seizures, including febrile convulsions and tonic-clonic seizures

1576 cases of cellulitis (a potentially serious skin infection) And finally, in some cases, the vaccine has caused the very diseases it is supposed to prevent, with the following data reported to VAERS:

147 confirmed cases of measles

384 confirmed cases of mumps

29 confirmed cases of rubella

Again, when is enough going to be enough? That list above should move officials to do something besides simply ignore what’s happening and call people names. That behavior doesn’t serving anyone.

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Hiroko Mori, a vaccine researcher, said, “Medicine is supposed to be about healing, but babies who cannot speak are being given unnecessary shots because parents are scared. Children are losing their ability to heal naturally. There are so many people who have suffered side effects. All we are asking is to establish the right to say ‘no.’ The right to choose should be recognized as a fundamental human right.” We couldn’t agree more.

The list of adverse reactions to the MMR vaccine, straight from Merck’s vaccine package inserts, is long and alarming. But the shortened version, which includes vomiting, diarrhea, anaphylaxis, ear pain, nerve deafness, diabetes, arthritis, myalgia, encephalitis, febrile seizures, pneumonia, and death, is no better.

It’s time for us to do better. For our children.

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