Dr. Amy Nett: This is a great question. Chris and I have talked about this. I don’t know. I don’t know which resources present really unbiased information. I wonder if we can put this on the Facebook group and see what other people use. I sort of give my opinion to people one-on-one in appointments, but I know I’m not really ready to make a stance on vaccines because I don’t think that all vaccines should be avoided, actually, and I think that there definitely are times when vaccines probably should be considered, and it would be great if there were better resources because right now, I think, people still probably need to make their own decision and it’s not an easy decision, and I think we can help people. And unfortunately, I think, our helping them is largely going to be giving them our opinion on what that is. What I often tell people is, This is how I’m interpreting the data. This is what I’m seeing, or this is my belief right now. And I often tell people, I think we need more research. I think that vaccines affect each individual differently. I mean, if you talk about the most controversial area here, which is vaccines and autism, I have kids for whom there is no doubt about it: They got a vaccine, and that day they changed from then on. Most kids do fine with vaccines and don’t have a change. I don’t think we can predict it, so it’s really tricky.
Brent is following up and saying, “I have an autoimmune patient who asked me today, and I don’t want to even comment. She has Hashimoto’s and heard she couldn’t get a shingles vaccine.” Well, that’s not quite true. Not that I know of, if she has Hashimoto’s. I mean, it depends what her immune status looks like, but Hashimoto’s alone doesn’t mean she can’t get a shingles vaccine. There’s definitely a question of, does she need a shingles vaccine? Is she in the high-risk category? How old is she? Is she exposed to people with shingles? Does she have immune suppression where she’s more likely to get shingles? And I agree with you on not wanting to comment. Again, I go through sort of a longer discussion with my patients and say, Well, let’s look at the pros and cons. What are the risks of you getting the vaccine? What are the risks of you not getting the vaccine? Where would you rather accept the risk? If you do get shingles, yeah, it’s a serious disease. You can use the Buhner protocol, use his herbal protocol for shingles, and you can get your patient through that, but some patients do end up in the hospital with shingles. That can be no joke in immunocompromised patients, so some people are going to opt to get a vaccine, and I let people know I’m going to support them either way. I don’t see a clear path in terms of which direction to go.
Yeah, let’s maybe think about putting that on the Facebook group, where are people going for vaccines. I think it’s a really hot topic, and people have really strong feelings about it one way or the other. I actually don’t. I see a place for vaccines, and my biggest concern is how pediatric vaccines are done in this country. I think the way we give kids so many vaccines at such a young age needs to be changed, but in terms of adults getting vaccines, I would ask patients, too, what are their concerns about getting vaccines. I think the risks are smaller as an adult. There are definitely some compounds in certain vaccines. I think, don’t some even still have thimerosal in them? Sure, you might not want to inject mercury directly into your bloodstream. It’s a tricky one, so let’s keep that conversation going because it’s a great question, and I think there’s a lot of us who don’t really want to make a clear comment on that right now.