What is in the Vaccines? 267central nervous system (CNS), heart (cardiovascular system), and liver and
kidney (hepato‐renal system), potentially leading to blood loss from the gut
(gastrointestinal hemorrhage), cardiovascular collapse and unconsciousness
or convulsions, and severe metabolic and acute respiratory distress syndrome
[24–28]. This is a major chemical used by morticians to embalm a dead body.
Aluminum is not a preservative but an immune stimulating agent and is pre-
sent in a large majority of vaccines in an effort to induce a greater response to
the agents in the vaccine. Not all vaccines require adjuvants. Live weakened
vaccines (e.g., smallpox, cholera, typhoid, rabies, and some other vaccines) do
not need adjuvants as they cause a milder form of the actual infection and so
are effective without any adjuvants. Generally, adjuvants are substances added
to vaccines to enhance the immunogenicity of the selected antigens that have
insufficient immune‐stimulating capabilities, and have been used in human
vaccines for almost a hundred years. Over the years, numerous adjuvants have
been used and are still being used in many vaccines, including aluminum salt,
and oil‐in‐water emulsions (sequalene, AS03). The choice and use of a combi-
nation of adjuvants in a given vaccine is considered a proprietary (similar to
disclosure of synthetic chemicals in a perfume) and is generally not disclosed
on the label of a vaccine vial. The experts who prepare and test the vaccines for
vaccine manufacturers have been testing a large number of adjuvants to deter-
mine which ones work best for a particular vaccine to elicit a protective
immune response. These vaccines are rigorously tested, including for safety
and efficacy, typically in experimental animals (generally mice or rats) before
they go to human use, but may not be tested as extensively for their potential
effects on the developing brain. Some of the most difficult vaccines to test for
potential adverse effects on humans are influenza vaccines since investigators
have to predict which strains of influenza are going to be dominant in the next
year and have to prepare millions of doses of vaccine before the influenza sea-
son arrives. That only leaves a small window to test the vaccine for its potential
effects in real time. In the previous chapter, we provided a detailed account of
various influenza vaccines that have been implicated in numerous neurological
illnesses including narcolepsy and others associated with the H1N1 influenza
vaccine. However, the CDC found no indication of any association between
any US Food and Drug Administration licensed H1N1 or seasonal influenza
vaccine and narcolepsy when they examined the US Vaccine Adverse Event
Reporting System (VAERS) and the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) [29].
Similarly, no increased risk for narcolepsy was found when the CDC analyzed
650,000 recipients of the 2009 pandemic influenza vaccine and 870,000 recipi-
ents of the 2010/2011 seasonal influenza vaccine. It is also important to note
that a recent study found that influenza shot administration during pregnancy
did not statistically increase the risk of autism diagnosis in the child [29].
However, it should be understood that adjuvants are still an evolving compo-
nent of vaccination and their addition to a vaccine is a double‐edged sword.