At one point in time the mother was sending me quite a few emails about vaccinations which detailed why parents shouldn't give their children any vaccinations. I read the literature. I thought to myself, okay, I'm going to give the other side of the debate another chance. But every time I read another article about vaccinations that was sent to me by the mother, my position to have our daughter vaccinated was strengthened, especially after reading the words of the so-called Dr. Neustaedter.

Dr. Neustaedter calls himself a doctor but I really don't understand why. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971 with a major in English literature and creative writing. He completed "medical training" 12 years later at the San Francisco College of Acupuncture. His post graduate education includes homeopathic training at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital and an Oriental medicine doctoral degree in Hong Kong. This person is giving medical advice on the Web to parents who are afraid to have their children vaccinated against life threatening diseases.

Here's an example. A parent asks Dr. Neustaedter, "If my child is unvaccinated and gets one of the diseases for which most kids are vaccinated, what should I do?" His answer, "Give vitamin C (500 - 1,000 mg per day), vitamin A (10,000 - 20,000 units in the form of beta-carotenoids), and echinacea (non-alcoholic, 10-20 drops three times per day). I think this quote is a perfect example of the irresponsible and bad advice that is given in this world by people portraying themselves as doctors who are qualified to give such advice but are not.

This person is saying that if your child gets one of the diseases that vaccines protect your child from, such as measles, or tetanus, ("...one of the diseaes for which most kids are vaccinated...") then give them vitamin A, C, and echinacea. The reader can not be so ignorant, I hope.

It is interesting to note that recent research indicates Echinacea is a "waste of money", does not prevent colds, and does not help people during their colds (1). World sales for Echinacea go into the hundreds of millions of dollars. In the USA alone, sales reached $300 million last year.

I make this point about Echinacea because the mother of my child thinks that Echinacea has some kind of medicinal value, when it does not. In fact, the mother's QC (Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel) criticized me during the High Court hearing for giving my daughter Tylenol cold medicine, when I knew that the mother's remedy for colds is concoctions of Echinacea and vitimin C.

Link: Research on Echinacea, a waste of money.

REFERENCES

¹ Taylor JA, Weber W, Standish L, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Echinacea in Treating Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Children. JAMA. 2003; 290:2824-2830.