Shall We As Homeopaths Permit Vaccination Or Not? Part 1

Shall We As Homeopaths Permit Vaccination Or Not? Part Two

(A Core discussion was held at Bombay, India on 7/05/1978. This Core discussion was tape recorded and transcribed. The transcribed notes were sent to each individual participant for approval and for permission to publish. Only the remarks of those participants who have approved the notes and given us permission were published.)

Dr. J.N. Kanjilal – (Presidential Remarks) – The basic idea of this core discussion is to discuss the core points of Homeopathy. Many times we seem to be opposed to each other on some points, but actually we may be having the same idea but looking at a thing from different angles and we may feel that we are opposing each other. However there are many points which are really controversial and there are some things which are only apparently controversial due to difference in application. Our aim in the core discussion is to discuss all these points dispassionately and scientifically to arrive at the real understanding from experience. And there should be a discussion of practical application as we understand it. The difficulty with us is that we do something and speak something else. This dichotomy prevails in all our activities.

Dr. P. Sankaran - The subject of vaccination is for homeopaths a controversial one. Opinion among homeopaths is divided on this subject – some hold a particular view and others hold divergent and even opposite views. There are many homeopaths, who even become extremely emotional when this subject is discussed.

   Vaccination was introduced by Edward Jenner after it was discovered that micro-organisms are responsible for many diseases. Vaccination is said to create a specific immunity in the subject towards the particular infection, an immunity which may last for varying periods. Vaccination has been accepted by the majority of allopathic doctors all over the world as a safe and sure preventive for many infectious diseases. In our country primary vaccination against small pox is compulsory and recently secondary vaccination has also been made compulsory. B.C.G vaccination was also made compulsory in the beginning but due to agitation of many persons it has become optional.  There are some homeopaths e.g. Stuart Close and Sir John Weir who believe that vaccination is only a crude form of homeopathic prophylaxis. There are others who consider that by vaccinating, we are introducing a foreign animal protein into the human body, that too taken from a sick animal and that it can give rise to serious consequences. The consequences can be immediate and conspicuous or long-range and insidious. Burnett has given many cases to illustrate the ill effects of vaccination which he calls ‘Vaccinosis’. The late Diwan Jaichand and Chandra Prakash have written a booklet against vaccination in which they have quoted the opinions of even eminent allopathic doctors to prove the point.

  I myself was against vaccination all along and had always advised my patients not to get themselves or their children vaccinated. But when they asked me if there are alternative remedies in Homeopathy which are most reliable as preventives, I could not give them any such remedy with any degree of guarantee. I have of course read many strong opinions in favor of the efficacy of various homeopathic prophylactics and even “proofs’ of this but when these opinions and proofs are examined under the harsh light of impartial scientific appraisal we find that the proofs are insufficient  to establish beyond doubt the efficacy of the homeopathic prophylactics. Therefore I have not been able to give any remedies with such assurance to my patients. Hence my advice really was rather ambiguous because on one side I used to tell my patients not to take vaccination and on other side I could not suggest any sure preventives from Homeopathy or give them a guarantee that Homeopathic remedies are quite effective as preventives.

However, a recent experience of mine has converted me entirely. M/s Nelson’s  of London wrote to me some years back asking me to obtain a sample of pus from typical small pox pustule from a typical small pox case. I wrote to them back that certainly shall be glad to secure for them such a sample within a short time. Around that time I was treating a lady doctor who was a R.M.O in the infectious disease hospital. When I requested her to get me such a sample, she promptly agreed. However, when I did  not get nay such sample for several months I rang her up and she told  me that they were not having a single case of small pox for the last several months ?. She told me also that the number of cases of small pox had gone down and disappeared after compulsory re-vaccination had been introduced. Surely, I thought within myself if vaccination and re-vaccination can get rid of such a terrible disease like small pox all over the world which it has done successfully, my fighting against vaccination would be like Don Quixote fighting against wind mills.

  No doubt, in some case, perhaps in a small minority, vaccination has bad side effects, possibly even serious side effects. But surely in comparison to the benefits it can bestow to a large number of people this small number of cases should not matter much, particularly when we are not able to guarantee that we can get equally good results and banish small pox by our own preventive medicines. Secondly, even in this small minority of cases in which there are undesirable side-effects certainly they can be abolished by suitable homeopathic antidotes for the ill-effects of vaccination.  I, therefore see no sense in continuing to campaign for fight against vaccination because of minor side effects of vaccination. Hence, I think that we as homeopaths, forming a part of the medical profession of the country committed to the welfare of the Nation should whole-heartedly permit vaccination, no doubt taking care to remove the ill-effects by suitable homeopathic medicines.

  Of course the question will arise “Why not prefer the oral homeopathic prophylactics of homeopathic drugs in potency to the crude vaccines?” Here I would submit that the prophylactic effect of homeopathic drugs has not been proved beyond any shadow of doubt nor is there any clear unanimous advice about the remedy to be given or its potency or its repetition. In absence of such reliable proof or standard instructions, we cannot depend upon homeopathic prophylactic drugs.

Dr. S.P. Koppikar – Regarding the word ‘ Vaccination ‘ in our topic today, I presume that it does not mean only small pox vaccination but all other inoculations of killed bacteria or viruses to render the individual (at least temporarily) immune to the particular disease.

  I think Homeopaths should have been in the forefront in the use of development of preventive vaccination. After all the only way the vaccine works is on the principle of Similia. Hahnemann himself had appreciated Jenner`s use of cow pox to prevent small pox. Burnett, while criticizing the large doses of Koch`s tuberculin (as a therapeutic agent) had developed his own Bacillinum, as a preventive of consumption. Others developed Diptherinum, Pertussin and other disease products for the same purpose. Of course, the dose or techniques had not been standardized.

  But see what happened in this twentieth century in our school. Gone were the glorious, adventurous days of these early researchers. The whole band-wagon of Homeopathy was hitched on to the almost religious cult of the philosophy in which every disease was caused by Sin and mental itch (Psora) and the bacteria or the viruses were the “ultimates”. Every “Big” leader of homeopathy, especially in charge of “Science and technique” of the system, became vociferous in condemning every advancement in the field of Bacteriology. Unfortunate indeed it was for our great system that our leaders led us on tracks which took us away from every sort of research. The way we criticize ‘allopathy’ even now is nothing but mere repetitions of all that Hahnemann said 150 years ago when there was no microscope.

What can be our “official” reaction to various vaccines when “officially” we have not given recognition to the causative organizers of specific diseases like Typhoid or Tetanus? Well, the world other than ours has accepted the microbes etc, and has recognized the preventive role of vaccinations. All government and public Health schemes, the W.H.O. have not only accepted the utility, they feel that if necessary compulsion should be used direct or indirect. For example if you wish to travel abroad you have to get proper inoculations. Try to go to our own Badri-Kedar temples. There is a public health chowky just after Rishikesh. The bus conductor has to submit names of all the passengers and their vaccination certificates. Any one without this must get vaccinated on the spot.  Primary small pox vaccination has been made compulsory in India.

Any amount of certificates given by any eminent Homeopath that he has given Variolinum or Malandrinum – or claiming exemption as a fundamental right will debar his son or daughter from a lot of things, the joyful outings, NCC, Army, Navy or Air careers, police jobs etc.

Anyway bringing up the topic this way in the core discussion – “Shall we permit” etc in 1978 when whole country is free from pox and fully protected is an anticlimax. Willy nilly I think all homeopaths have permitted it, though with some show of protests or shrug of shoulders. In my boy-hood days, there used to be fearful plague visitations in our side (Karnataka and Southern Maharashtra), where is it now? Let me give the devil his due, especially when he is our own child. I say certainly let us cooperate with mass immunizations and let us evolve our own doses and techniques.

 Here we are led to think thus: A person suffering from a disease is naturally very sensitive to a similar drug and hence needs our extremely fine dose just to produce a reaction. But to produce in a way almost a proving and thus immunity to the disease (or drug) especially in otherwise healthy persons, the dose must necessarily be larger, may be even crude. We must experiment and learn.

 The result of open hostility by the official recognized leaders of homeopathy to the very idea of vaccinations and our complete non-cooperation in public health schemes which includes preventive inoculations has had only one result – no government in India can employ any homeopath in public health schemes. It is just like asking puritan Roman Catholics to lead a family planning programme when they openly declare their opposition to it.

We talk a lot about bad effects of vaccinations, triple antigens etc. In spite of that why do millions take to these especially the higher educated society? Because the deaths from measles, whooping cough, diphtheria etc. were many times more and the after effects much worse than the deaths or after effects of the vaccines, lesser of the two evils.

Some children do get bad allergies, asthma like troubles etc. We have first class remedies for the bad effects of almost all the vaccines especially our highly potentised and powerful nosodes and specific homeopathic remedies which are completely unknown to other systems. As we are the only people capable of curing these side effects why not we do these four things?

1. 1.     Claim that vaccination is only a branch of homeopathy.
2. 2.     Support the principle, theory and application against deadly and crippling diseases.
3. 3.     Try to have the same vaccines reduced to a minimal dose and try orally saying 6 or 6 x potency or going even lower if needed. Most probably, the oral dose may need a repeated use and booster repetition also.
4. 4.     Bring out special sets of our remedies to be routinely administered after vaccinations to prevent after effects or side effects or allergies. The other schools will gladly use these.

By doing these things we will not in any way lose our greatness or individuality as a wonderful system of medicine.

Dr P.S. Krishnamurthy – The facts about vaccination if examined in detail, the following points emerge.

In the west, vaccinations and inoculations removed the epidemic diseases and acute infectious diseases, but chronic illness increased and more specially the incidence of cancer and heart attacks multiplied enormously. So one has to conclude theoretically in the homeopathic parlance that the suppression of acute infections and epidemic diseases resulted in chronic diseases.  Therefore the vaccinations and inoculations are dangerous not only in the sensitive people but also in the normal persons. The only healthy and scientific way is to resort to the oral method of homeopathic vaccinations and inoculations.

Unfortunately these methods are not approved by law in different states in India and also for international travel. The emphasis must be to remove these limitations. Even if homeopathic vaccinations are adopted there are important issues for consideration. Because there are innumerable experiences in the past by the homeopathic professional, clear-cut drugs must be mentioned with the involved potencies and repetition for each epidemic disease and more especially against small pox. This is because to create artificial immunity allopathic vaccination is only effective for a couple of years and the built in immunity, in a person cannot be now and measured up to date. So homeopaths also should repeat homeopathic prophylactics regularly at particular intervals to the people.

Even then the individualization principle is not sacrificed. Example each person one drug. Hahnemann successfully prevented Asiatic cholera with similar remedies and not similimum. On this fact successful homeopathic oral vaccination against small pox, can also be achieved. Kent clearly clarifies that it is enough if similarity exists in homeopathic prophylactics. The same principle applies in the Genus epidemicus. There is another important point to bear it in mind while dealing with prophylactics, if a patient is on constitutional treatment in homeopathy, he need not be given prophylactics because the similimum as a constitutional remedy, clothes the prophylactic necessity at that time. Whether the homeopaths can do battle over an egg or die for an idea, like Hahnemann in the phraseology of Robert Louies, depend upon the courage and conviction of the homeopaths. If for one disease, like small pox, scientific conclusions are made, the sponsors of the core discussion richly deserve compliment.

Dr S.R. Wadia – The question today is “shall we as homeopaths permit vaccinations or not ?’ because as homeopaths even if we do not vaccinate, how can we prevent other from vaccinations esp. when there is a clear cut law regarding vaccination ? As homeopaths we may not vaccinate, that is different. Now in a country like ours where diseases like small pox, chicken pox, etc. are considered to be religious visitations from God or goddesses, where living conditions are extremely unhygienic and poor, where diseases caused more by the poor living, bad living, bad sanitations and water, are we not inviting more trouble for the poorer people or for the public by not allowing them to be vaccinated? I go so far has to persuade the slum dweller to get vaccinated ad then treat the ill-effect of vaccinations. I did not vaccinate myself and my family for a long time but it is my personal belief that primary vaccination is most important, other wise our country will be flooded with cases of small pox. In my earlier practice in the govt. homeopathic hospital I, Dr Sankaran, Dr Sarabhai were asked to see a case of severe hemorrhagic small pox. We gave the best indicated medicine possible but the patient expired. Would you prefer a patient to die or would you prefer the person to suffer from miasmatic diseases and then cure with anti-miasmatic remedies? Dr Burnett has written that he has also allowed vaccination. It is due to repeated vaccination that small pox has been eradicated from our country. Sometimes back Dr Sankaran wanted to secure pus from a typical small pox pustule for potentisation. He phoned to various friends but not a single case of small pox was available! It is only due to repeated vaccinations that such a nasty, disfiguring, killer disease is controlled. I feel that we should not come in the way of preventing small pox. You may give your own oral vaccination. I give plenty of them but we have no means to assess the value of the same, they do work well because most of the people already have their primary vaccination. Primary vaccination sometimes gives immunity for the life time. If you are susceptible to it you will get it. Dr. Koppikar uses our anti-vaccination remedy Thuja which is my favorite. I use thuja when the patient says that he has been vaccinated often – ten times or more. I practice in a place where the people are vaccinated for small pox, diphtheria, cholera etc. and also are given all sort of vaccines. If the patient says that I have dreams or startling in sleep or fear of falling down then thuja is my first prescription and the patient generally feels better after that. I prescribe thuja 10m and not less. According to Dr. Schmidt, he says when you are sure, you must give thuja 10m, and then the results are very satisfactory Dr. Krishnamurty says we are trying to suppress the diseases. Let us suppress it, we are getting competent to get the diseases cured when it comes up but to allow the patient to die is criminal.

Dr. Anil Bhatia – As chairman of the education committee of the CCH, I am interested in this subject in another way also. I found that in the graded degree course syllabus an item is included that the student should be taught how to vaccinate. We have to decide whether this item should be kept or deleted.

The principle of vaccination is similar to the homeopathic principle.  If we had discovered definite preventive medicines against small pox and such other diseases this problem we are discussing today would not have arisen. I am quite sure that if we take up such a project we will be able to prove that our medicines can definitely prevent these acute infectious diseases. But till such time as we are able to present positive data to prove the efficacy of our preventive medicines we should not speak against vaccinations though vaccinations itself may produce in some case, esp. , in some persons we have constitutional defects, various troubles by activating those constitutional defects. So we must make sure before vaccinating whether the children are fit or not to be vaccinated.

Dr Kasim Chimthanawala – Today`s subject is very important one. At the outset I must say that I agree to a great extent with what Dr. Koppikar and Dr Wadia have said. We should not stand on orthodoxy and disallow vaccination only on emotional grounds. We may not allow repeated vaccinations but primary vaccination must be allowed. I have gone through the whole of homeopathic literature on this subject of vaccination and have prepared a summary of it which I present you here with. The great Dr Burnett who discovered ill-effects of repeated vaccination and called it Vaccinosis has said in his book “Do not consider this as an anti-vaccination thesis because I myself allow vaccination”. In all the 68 cases or so reported by Dr Burnett as the result of repeated vaccination, Thuja proved to be of use. Even Dr Dorothy shepherd giving a case of cancer says she gave Thuja and succeeded because of a history of repeated vaccination done 5 years earlier. Till today, we do not have very authentic statistical data proving scientifically the value of Variolinum as a prophylactic. Therefore we cannot go to the government and say “Do not use vaccination. Use our remedy”. In Calcutta giving of A.T.S is compulsory in injuries. Therefore we in homeopathic medical college and hospital used to put a stamp on case papers “Advised A.T.S” though we used to tell the patient privately “Do not use A.T.S”. We do not also have any statistical data to prove that Hypericum or Ledum have prevented tetanus. I think till we are able to show either by statistical data or serological experiments that our remedies can prevent these diseases, we should allow vaccination to be given. After vaccination is given, Burnett says that the Sycotic miasm is stimulated while Clarke says that the syphilitic miasm Is provoked. Kent says that there are two types of Gonorrhea – acute gonorrhea and chronic gonorrhea (sycosis). In the same way it is possible that there are two types of vaccination effects – acute vaccination effects in which the body reacts vigorously resulting in a localized reaction at the site of inoculation (syphilitic type) and chronic vaccination effects where there is no reaction apparent at the site of inoculation but the internal body is disturbed which is termed as Vaccinosis (Sycotic type). This is dangerous and it will lead to constitutional defects. Even if vaccination produces some complications, I think we should accept these complications rather than allow small pox which is a dangerous disease, because these complications can be easily treated with our homeopathic medicines. Small pox is a dangerous disease both for the patient and for the others whom he can infect. Therefore we should take maximum steps to prevent small pox by vaccination, may be at the cost of Vaccinosis. The second point is that no doubt in many cases the symptoms are due to Vaccinosis i.e. due to bad effects of vaccination but there are people e.g. in my own family who have never taken any vaccine but still we do get  troubles like headache. So you cannot attribute every headache to Vaccinosis. Even without Vaccinosis, conditions may rise. If so, is it not better to do at least primary vaccination, at least to prevent small pox?

Dr. M.C. Batra -   The discussions we are having today should be generalized because whatever your prejudices and points may be against or in favor of vaccination they will also hold equally good against all preventive preventable diseases, the prophylactic measures we adopt or approve to prevent them. You will appreciate that today the world is moving very fast and social intercourse and international traffic have become much more than what existed in the times of Hahnemann. Today we don`t live like isolated communities and all cannot be so strict and aloof like some religious sects e.g. Jains who are very strict in their discipline. Because of the international traffic, the need for providing against the speed of communicable disease through persuasion and by compulsory laws is paramount. So you will see the need for this rigid compulsion. Whatever are the wrongful effects or complications or sequel of these measures, the balance of convenience would still be in favor of eradication prophylaxis by whatever means. So my first observation is that the need for prevention of diseases is much more today than it was in Hahnemann`s times. By what means we do it, is a secondary matter.  Today the evidence is in favor of the success of vaccination in spite of all the harmful effects we proclaim to be due to it. Their success in totally eradicating small pox is so great that the W.H.O and the governmental agencies are able to offer prize for any case of small pox reported. I have not heard of a single person who has successfully claimed that award or reward. In any case you may say that not all cases of vaccinations are successful but by and large it must be admitted that as a result of their vaccination drive, a lot of infection has been eradicated. If you consider these natural diseases as a means of maintaining the population balance and containing the population explosion then of course I have nothing to say. But as long as we want to preserve life, preserve quality of life and make possible for people to mix freely it is immaterial what we individually or as a small group like. We are after all members of a society. We are living in a society and we a re becoming more and more aware of the needs of our society as against our individual wishes. Our views cannot be allowed to interfere with the welfare and health interests of the society. When we are ourselves called upon to treat cases of small pox we are under a lot of mental tension ourselves because of fear of exposure. I remember what I have felt in such circumstances. Of course I did not take any anti-small pox measure because vaccination itself after exposure can combine with the exposure and may bring on a severe attack. It becomes a kind of double negative effect i.e. vaccination and the exposure. There is also a fear that I may pass on the infection to my family members or contacts or other patients that I see during those days in my clinic. So my first observation I repeat is the need for preventing infectious diseases by whatever means available. Sir, I admit that the best form of prevention will be the homeopathic treatment. When patients are under my treatment for long time, I believe that they are constitutionally protected to some extent and are immune to the disease and I am able to give them a kind of limited guarantee against the infection without any special medicine. But for people who have just come under my treatment or who take my treatment casually, I am not able to give any sure or certain prophylaxis. If the exposure is very strong i.e. if the external factor is very strong, then the chances of the person catching the infectious diseases are also proportionately high. Here the susceptibility of the person may not be great but even then he becomes a victim. I do not distinguish between the ill effects of primary vaccination and secondary vaccination. To me both of them are as good or as bad. Regarding repeated vaccination, I can say that if vaccination is bad then repeated vaccination is worse. But I do not think we should condemn vaccination. Condemning vaccination has become our habit. Unfortunately we have inherited that prejudice. This is one of the many prejudices and foolish ideas that we have inherited because we have given homeopathy a religious tint and not a scientific tint and we continue to repeat like parrots what our forefathers had said or written. Hahnemann and his disciples naturally met with limited conditions but we are now lakhs of homeopaths and we come across numerous types of diseases and conditions even physiological conditions. Now we must take homeopathy out of its limited field of therapeutics and enlarge it to cover all kinds of conditions that we are coming across, not merely those conditions that existed before homeopathy came into existence and also preventive measures against diseases even physiological uncomfortable conditions. So, I submit, sir again that we should not go on condemning vaccinations without giving an alternative. That would be like the dog in the manger. We should try our homeopathic prophylaxis, and then continue to follow and observe those cases and after statistics favors us, we should boldly recommend it as a substitute for vaccination. Or I propose this compromise, that we shall allow people to be vaccinated but whenever we find that they suffer from ill-effects of vaccination, we shall antidote them with our homeopathic remedies. Because vaccination is based on the law of similars we can only object to the form and method in which it is given. So we shall boldly proclaim that we are not against the idea of vaccination or immunization (unless we are able to give a proper substitute) and we should refrain from condemning vaccination. People come to us and ask us, “Have you got any positive preventive medicines for such and such infectious disease? “. Then we have to tell the truth that we have such medicines but we are not absolutely sure about their efficacy. Therefore we are not able to give such remedies with the same confidence with which they give their vaccinations. Our conscience and our legal obligations require that we should be correct in our stand, as Dr. Wadia mentioned. Hereafter, what we can do is to give prophylactic homeopathic remedies and keep the full record and follow up of the persons for long time to see whether the diseases are preventable by our remedies. If we do this on a national scale it will be worthwhile. To summarize, Sir, firstly the need for preventing these diseases is as great for the homeopaths as anyone else. Secondly, we often come across a number of cases in which we have been able to trace the illness to the ill-effects of vaccination and then proceeding on that hypothesis we have given medicines to antidote the ill-effects and we have been successful. So that we are compelled to believe that the method of giving vaccination is wrong. We should not condemn the principle of it because the principle is amply confirmed by our fundamental principle of law of similars. Therefore we would like to suggest that instead of giving vaccination in that form, it should be given orally in a modified changed preparation. The H.M.A.I   may send out a circular that every member  should give Variolinum as a prophylactic – of course we must specify the potency, the number of doses etc. – and then they must follow up the persons to see whether the infection is prevented or not. If we are able to keep such statistics then only the government may be tempted to give us a chance in some future epidemics. I believe that the homeopaths of West Bengal have done such thing. After successfully developing a dependable substitute for the crude vaccination, we will be justified in not only condemning vaccination but also proclaiming a better substitute for it.

 Dr P.S. Kumta -   Today`s subject I think can be posed in another way also i.e. Should we or should we not as homeopaths prevent small pox by a method which is proven beyond doubt in the interest of nation`s and individual`s health. This is another way of wording the same subject. We must remember that vaccination has wiped out small pox from the entire world. Some of our colleagues said vaccination has side effects. We accept it. But in a country like India, I think we can afford to have side effects of vaccinations rather than the terrible effects of the disease itself. The vaccination techniques are similar to homeopathic methods. Moreover majority of vaccinated persons do not show side effect or allergic reaction. This can be seen from the records available in this regard.  Since we do not have in homeopathy any surely proven prophylactic, I advise my patients to have vaccination. I have so far come across very small number of patients getting reaction from vaccination. And in these cases I have been very successful in treating them with homeopathic remedies. Apart from that we must also remember that vaccinations are legally compulsory. 

Ref - Indian journal of homoeopathic medicine – no 1, vol 13, Jan – march 1979.

(Italics mine).