When Healing Becomes Educating, Vol. 6 - Waldorf Research Institute

Concerning Childhood Vaccinations Today*
Lore Deggeller, MD
It is an open secret that today’s scientific wisdom often proves to be
tomorrow’s error. And this often brings about progress. But things seem
to be different in the immunization field. Opinions sometimes change
there like the weather without any noticeable progress. In contrast to East
Germany—until 1983—the only compulsory vaccination in West Germany
was for small pox, and this was then dropped since the disease had been
stamped out worldwide.
Opinions with respect to several of the childhood inoculations
which are routinely recommended fluctuate considerably, but this is not
sufficiently noted by either parents or doctors. This is particularly true
of the inoculations against TB (BCG vaccine Bacille Calmette Guérin)
and whooping cough (pertussis vaccine). BCG vaccination was routine
for a long time after World War II, and it was given in hospitals on the
first or second day after birth without asking the parents’ permission. It
was only omitted if it had already been forbidden before birth. On the
basis of serious injuries which supposedly resulted from a “suboptimal”
vaccine, instructions which amounted to a prohibition were given to
doctors in the ’70s. They appeared in the German Medical Journal, but
I know for certain that not all of the doctors read them. Hence scattered
vaccinations continued. At present the German Federal Bureau of Health
is encouraging doctors to inoculate BCG again, and this is again often
done without the parents’ approval. But since the frequent detrimental
consequences are known, it indicates that deliberate injury is being
perpetrated.
Something similar happened with pertussis vaccinations. After 1953
they were routinely given alone or as a triple inoculation with diphtheria
and tetanus (DPT). After 1974 they were radically curbed by STIKO
(Inoculation Commission at the Federal Bureau of Health), and they
were only still recommended for endangered babies in unfavorable social
conditions. In 1988 and 1989 they weren’t propagated or recommended at
*Translated by H. Jurgens from Der Merkurstab, Vol 44, Nr. 6, Nov./Dec. 1991.
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