Vaccine Free: Prevention and Treatment of Infectioius Contagious Disease with Homeopathy by Kate Birch (2013-03-23)

No vaccine manufacturer is willing to state that their products are safe and it is a fact that all vaccines carry a data sheet that includes ailments that have occurred following the administration of a particular vaccine. Both HM Government and the US Federal Government have established funds for those who have suffered damage following the administration of vaccines. These quite simply are facts.Whilst the media tends to cry out in unison that vaccines are safe, the evidence is incontrovertible that for some individuals, a minority admittedly, vaccinations can be particularly damaging. Back in the seventies, the pertussis vaccine had a very bad reputation and many parents refused this vaccine for their children. Whilst again the media tries to pretend that such as these are scare stories, as a worker in a mental hospital in the seventies, I saw many adults who were always described by colleagues as having the minds of babies and it was freely admitted that such sad individuals were the result of the pertussis vaccine. I remember all too well the visits of aging parents at weekends to see their children who had never grown up, and whatever the hysterical reactions of those who accuse this book of being dangerous, I do assure them that not only their children but their own lives were irreparably damaged by their children's experiences of vaccination.Now I have no idea who has given the above book such deplorably poor reviews, but it is highly likely that they haven't read this book, nor do they seem to show any inkling of the dilemma that many parents feel at the possibility that their babies might be harmed by one or other of the many vaccines that infants are expected to have nowadays.If you wish to believe that what I say is untrue and that the author of this book is peddling dangerous untruths, a few years ago my dentist who had quite late in life become a father, asked me if I had any information on vaccination. He explained that his brother, a GP, had refused to vaccinate his own children and he wished to make an informed decision regarding his own son. Please don't try and pretend that it is only the ignorant or naieve who face a dilemma over the question of vaccination. I was able to supply my dentist with information and I might add that his wife and he decided to vaccinate, but there was enough doubt in their minds from the fact that his own brother had made an informed choice not to vaccinate.My experience is that most parents, whatever their views on vaccination, care deeply about the wellbeing of their children and whatever their decision, they are unlikely to take their decisions lightly. Clearly, with the concept of 'herd immunity' having such widespread support within the scientific community it is unlikely that some of the interested parties are going to start being open about the dangers for some individuals of some vaccines. Howewer, many intelligent parents realise that they have to weigh the wellbeing of the herd against health of their own child and for many that is an invidious balance to have to strike. In the absence of openness as to the risks, however slight, some parents will feel justified in seeking out alternatives, and they are unlikely to be swayed by the hysteria of some of the comments about this book.

This book deserves 5 stars. Kate Birch provides lots of information about homeopathy and how homeopathic remedies work, about dosage and potencies, a chapter about fever, how fever supports the healing process (but she also stresses that fever can become dangerous) and how antibiotics damage healthy bacteria, a chapter about the immune system and a chapter about vaccine damage and homeopathic treatment. I found it very interesting to read about reactions that vaccines can cause and how important it is to wait after a vaccine until the reaction has gone and the body is healthy again. If children get two or three vaccines at the same time, they are more likely to develop vaccine damage.The last chapter contains detailed descriptions of diseases, e. g. tetanus, diphteria, mumps, flu, pneumonia, hepatitis, malaria, cholera. The information Kate Birch gives us is very useful and the homoeopathic remedies she mentions can prevent such diseases. I would not use homeopathy for a disease like malaria, it is common sense, I would go to a hospital and get treatment there but if measles or rubella go round at school it is great to have a homeopathic remedy at hand to use it prophylactic in children.

While there are some scientific studies that occasionally show homeopathy to be useful in treating minor medical conditions (mainly in conditions that improve with time anyway: good medicine has often been said to be the art of distracting the patient while nature gets to work), there is no evidence at all that homeopathy can in anyway replace vaccines against diseases like smallpox and anthrax as claimed by Kate Birch. Worse, there is no evidence that homeopathy can cure such diseases once established but plenty of evidence that it can't.The author, Kate Birch is one of the homeopaths caught by Newsnight in 2007 advocating that people travelling to Africa and other regions take only homeopathy and not active anti-malarial drugs, something against the code of practice of most homeopathic organisations. Peter Fisher, head of the Royal Homeopathic Hospital said of these claims:"I'm very angry about it because people are going to get malaria - there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won't find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice."When your fellow homeopaths say things like that, it's time to reconsider your position.

I am a firm believer in homeopathy. I find much of the information in this book facinating, but a few things have come to surface while reading that makes it difficult for me to validate Birch's credibility. First off, as an English major, I find it difficult to read or take serious any publication that has spelling errors. I found several. Secondly, some of the cited information just doesn't seem legit. I've researched and found them to be questionable. I believe there is a place for both homeopathy and allopathy, and this book does a great job at making a case for homeopathy. Unfortunately, somewhat at the expense of true medical facts.