The Forgotten History of Neurological Vaccine Injuries

From birth, we are taught that vaccines were one of the most remarkable discoveries in history, and were so safe and effective that many now unimaginable plagues vanished with few to no side effects occurring in the process. In truth, give or take, every part of that mythology is false, and remarkably similar vaccine disasters occur every few decades.

Much of this results from the fact that it is very difficult to produce safe vaccines due to both their mode of action and the methods used in their production. As such, the best “solution” which could be found to this problem was to insist in lockstep that vaccines were safe and erase any memory that vaccine disasters had in fact occurred, thereby making it possible to gaslight anyone who was severely injured by a vaccine and claim their injury was just anecdotal or a product of anti-vaccine hysteria.

For example, recently I discussed how vaccines cause autism, and focused on a central argument used to debunk the link between the two — that the only reason people believe vaccines cause autism is because a disgraced British doctor published a fraudulent 1998 study claiming they did and then made everyone start hallucinating that vaccine injuries were occurring.

This mythology however, ignores that brain injuries were a longstanding problem of vaccination. For example, a 1982 NBC news program (which can be viewed here) revealed that many parents were having children develop “post-pertussis encephalopathy” after taking the DPT vaccine, that most doctors refused to report this, and that:

“Medical knowledge about severe reactions to the whooping cough vaccine goes back to the early 1930s. Report after report has been published in medical journals since then. In 1948,¹ two American doctors reported on case histories of many children who had been brain damaged or died from DPT vaccines in Boston. The following year,² another doctor surveyed pediatricians across the country and found still more. Those studies have been forgotten.”

Likewise, in 1985, one of the most popular talk shows in America (the Donahue show) hosted a segment where doctors from both sides (and neurologically injured members of the audience) debated the risks and benefits of vaccination and the ethics of mandates (which can be viewed here). To the best of my knowledge, this was the last time an open debate of vaccination aired on mainstream television.

Diagnostic Obfuscation

In both of these 1980s TV programs and many of the earlier studies on vaccine injuries, the brain damaged children were described as becoming “mentally retarded” or “severely retarded.” However, in the 1990s, “retarded” began to be phased out due to it being deemed too stigmatizing, with Obama, in 2010 signing a law³ that replaced all instances in Federal statutes of “mentally retarded” and “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability.”

This is important as it is commonly argued that the increase in autism is not due to an environmental toxin (e.g., vaccines) but rather more and more “normal” things being reclassified as autism. One of the primary studies that supported the reclassification argument, is a 2009 study⁴ from California that actually showed 26.4% of children who had previously been diagnosed as “mentally retarded” became “autistic” (as did another commonly cited study).⁵

Since autism is deliberately undefined, it encapsulates both profound (severe) autism (25% to 30% of cases) and autistic traits (e.g., having manageable neurological deficits or “being on the spectrum”). This wordplay hence blends them together, making it possible to slander statements on severe autism⁶ while simultaneously tricking people into believing the increase is actually just in autistic quirks.

However, as the CDC shows, roughly 26.7% of children⁷ have “profound autism,” and is continually increasing:

Likewise, when the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act⁸ was passed, it acknowledged a few specific neurological injuries⁹ that were frequently seen from vaccines, one of which was encephalopathy from MMR (which is now labeled as “autism” and “not caused by vaccines”).

Remarkably, despite twelve new vaccines and decades of science since 1986, almost no additional neurological injuries have been added to the table¹⁰ (as there is a massive conflict of interest in acknowledging the injury and thus the government having to pay for it).

In tandem, research into vaccine neurological injuries was systematically prevented. Placebo-controlled trials were deemed “unethical,” while research showing harms was dismissed as “junk science” for lacking placebo controls. When researchers conducted studies anyway, data was blocked from publication and researchers faced retaliation (e.g., an Oregon pediatrician lost his license¹¹). These studies (summarized here) showed massive increases in chronic illness. Our society did too:

Likewise, large databases containing vaccinated and unvaccinated data were withheld from researchers and remarkably when RFK’s team gained access, HHS employees illegally deleted the database.¹²

The Hazards of Immunization

In 1966, an eminent bacteriologist wrote “The Hazards of Immunization”¹³ which disclosed a large number of forgotten vaccine disasters he’d collected (both through his team surveying the medical literature and insiders sharing their private files with him) in the hope it could lead to safer vaccines as the same disasters kept on repeating and would likely continue to do so unless his profession acknowledged those risks.

In his compilation of vaccine injuries (which he felt represented less than 1% of them) he highlighted many devastating injuries (many of which happened to soldiers) that we continue to see today. Some of the key themes he covered included:

What follows is a small sampling of the forgotten neurologic vaccine injuries Wilson shared:

• Typhoid vaccine — In the pre-antibiotic era, the typhoid vaccine was essential for militaries and tolerated despite its frequent complications. Many of these were of the conditions (i.e., Landry’s paralysis) we now refer to as Guillain-Barré syndrome (e.g., one of Guillain and Barré’s first GBS cases came from a typhoid vaccine).¹⁴ Reports included:

◦ Polyneuritis with¹⁵ shoulder pain spreading to knees, leading to disturbed sensation, balance problems, and ongoing pain (1916).

◦ A soldier becoming blind¹⁶ for 10 days, and another developing convulsions (1919).

◦ 10 cases with severe¹⁷ headaches, seizures, paralysis, and one fatal GBS-like case (1920).

◦ Over 50 neurological¹⁸ injuries including nerve inflammation and widespread nerve damage (1954).

◦ Numerous other cases of paralysis or GBS, sometimes diagnosed as polio,^19,20,21 including one where autopsy showed widespread brain destruction.²²

Note: Medical students are taught that GBS is primarily due to infections (including the flu) and is a rare one in a million complication of influenza vaccination.²³ I believe GBS is massively unreported as over the years, I’ve met so many people who developed it (or knew someone who did).

For example, the 1976 Swine Flu vaccine (which had many parallels to the COVID vaccine) was pulled for causing 1 in 100,000 recipients to develop GBS,²⁴ but a colleague who was in practice had roughly 6% of their patients get GBS from the vaccine.

• Yellow fever — Hot yellow fever vaccines neurologic injuries were reported throughout the literature:

◦ A fatal 1934 case²⁵ began with neurological symptoms, progressing to paralysis and death 14 months later. Autopsy showed extensive myelin degeneration and brain cell changes. Many similar cases were also reported.

◦ A 1936 case²⁶ where vaccination caused acute meningitis, seizures, and mental confusion, with another paper revealing²⁷ the lot caused nervous disturbance in at least three others.

◦ A 1936 report²⁸ found that a third of 5,699 recipients had reactions, including severe neurologic or visceral ones.

◦ A 1943 report²⁹ showed one lot caused 1.65% of recipients to develop encephalitis, while another caused 0.06% along with a 1953 paper³⁰ that found 0.3% to 0.4% did (of whom 40% then died).

◦ A 1953 WHO report³¹ documented 12 encephalitis cases with 3 deaths in Costa Rica, 83 cases with 32 deaths in Nigeria, and 254 cases in Brazil.

• Rabies — It was not long after the Pasteurian method was taken into routine use that attention was drawn to cases of neuroparalysis. Among the directors of the Pasteur Institutes there was a conspiracy of silence, caused by fear of bringing Pasteur’s method into disrepute.

It was difficult to find a vaccine dose strong enough to prevent rabies but weak enough not to cause paralysis. Rabies vaccine injuries averaged a 10% to 16.85% fatality rate and were one of four types:³²

◦ Dorsolumbar myelitis (most common, 5% fatality rate)

◦ Encephalomyelitis (second most common, 5% fatality rate)

◦ GBS (30% fatality rate)

◦ Peripheral neuritis affecting cranial nerves

As these injuries were often underreported, their incidence widely varied between studies:

• Measles — A 1966 case³³ occurred in a 14-month-old who developed encephalitis 11 days after vaccination, first showing facial twitching, then fever, stopped eating, and became semi-conscious. By day 15, the child had weakness on the left side and frequent severe seizures. After four months, the child still had left-sided weakness and possible mental impairment.

• Vaccine caused “polio” — Multiple papers from 1950 to 1956 found vaccination significantly increased polio risk. These included a 1950 paper³⁴ (82 cases), another 1950 paper³⁵ (14 cases), a 1952 paper³⁶ (53 cases), and a 1956 report³⁷ (355 cases).

◦ A 1950 statistical analysis³⁸ by the epidemiologist³⁹ who created standards for establishing causality found vaccination links. A 1952 paper⁴⁰ found vaccination doubled polio risk.

◦ In 1956,⁴¹ a committee concluded 13% of paralysis in young children were causally related to vaccines:

• Diphtheria — Most reported diphtheria vaccine injuries came from hot vaccine lots:

◦ A 1919 Dallas incident⁴² involving several hundred doses where 8.33% died, with third-week paralysis throughout the body

◦ A 1924 Massachusetts incident⁴³ severely injured 43 of 54 recipients

◦ A 1927 U.S.S.R incident⁴⁴ where 12 of 14 children died from progressive paralytic disorder

• Pertussis — There is no doubt that [the] pertussis vaccine is one of the most toxic vaccines in current general use. In trials⁴⁵ about 70% suffered reactions. Between 1958 to 1965, seven fatal cases of encephalitis from DPT were recorded. Other key findings include:

◦ The 1933 case⁴⁶ of an infant seized by convulsions thirty minutes after injection and dying within two minutes

◦ A 1948 report⁴⁷ detailed 15 cases with convulsions — two died, five had paralysis, two had severe brain damage

◦ A 1949 report⁴⁸ documented 38 severe reactions, mostly convulsions, with at least two fatal

◦ A 1953 article⁴⁹ contained 84 brain-related issues with 11 deaths and 24 permanent complications

◦ A 1958 report⁵⁰ found 1 in 3,000 DPT recipients developed convulsions

◦ A 1958 review⁵¹ of 107 cases found 15% died, 30% had long-term complications

◦ A 1961 study⁵² of 1,700 successive infants where 40 rapidly developed reactions such as severe local/general reactions, generalized eczema (delayed onset), macular rash, persistent vomiting, persistent uncontrollable screaming, or collapse

• Smallpox — Wilson considered smallpox vaccines to have the highest complication rate. Post-vaccinal encephalomyelitis had a 35% mortality rate, with over 50% of infants under two dying on the first day.

Wilson pooled studies from 8 million people finding 0.0015% to 0.0754% developed encephalomyelitis, while 0.0063% of 18 million developed encephalitis. He reviewed 2,398 cases with 34% fatality rates. Notable reports include:

◦ A 1926 report⁵³ of pathology findings from seven deaths

◦ A 1948 report⁵⁴ documented 222 severe cases including 110 deaths

◦ A 1956 German report⁵⁵ found animal production methods increased post-vaccine encephalitis 4 to 6 times

◦ A 1961 report⁵⁶ of 265 autopsy-proven cases found symptoms emerged 4 to 18 days later

Physicians observed severe neuralgia, various paralysis types, cranial nerve issues, seizure disorders, memory loss, and general loss of vitality making patients more susceptible to other illnesses.

Additionally, they observed a variety of other issues (e.g., many different skin problems). The most notable of which was many different physicians highlighting a general loss of vitality following smallpox vaccination which made their patients both weaker and more susceptible to a variety of other illnesses (and I now believe this vaccine was an inflection point in the general decline of humanity’s health).

Vaccine Injury Susceptibility

Wilson repeatedly highlighted that constitutionally sensitive individuals were much more likely to be injured by the smallpox vaccine. This observation in turn led to many authors⁵⁷ encouraging giving vaccines at a later age, a study⁵⁸ linking allergies to severe rabies vaccine reactions and a 1953 article⁵⁹ on DPT encephalitis that concluded it was unwise to immunize any child with a pre-existing conditions suggesting increased susceptibility to DPT injuries.

Over the decades, many others through their observations of vaccine injuries have likewise offered similar advice on vaccination (as sensitive patients are more likely to become vaccine-injured). Yet, to protect vaccine sales, authorities always reject those pre-existing conditions for medical exemptions.

Vaccine Induced Microstrokes

The following qualities stand out in all of Wilson’s reports:

Each of these can be explained through vaccine induced microstrokes (triggered by zeta potential changes which cause blood cells to electrically clump together).

Note: The zeta potential concept underlies many diseases (particularly vaccination injuries) and hence was covered in much more detail here (e.g., improving zeta potential cures or improves many complex diseases).

Since zeta potential changes are systemic, they will show up in many parts of the body, and typically it is easiest to observe via changes in the cranial nerves (as certain ones are particularly sensitive to a loss of blood flow from systemic vascular congestion). Additionally:

Finally, Forest Maraedy,⁶² after noticing how frequently people’s faces were, realized that in photography from a century ago, those asymmetries were quite rare and argued they were due to vaccine injuries damaging cranial nerves (as the cranial nerves govern many aspects of the face such as the eyes being centered and the facial muscles being even).

Additionally, in the same way cranial nerve deficits were often reported alongside vaccine encephalitis, Maraedy (and many others) observed that those asymmetries were more common in children with autism. In parallel, autistic children frequently have a wide range of other neurological disorders (e.g., studies find between 10% to 30% suffer from seizures⁶³) but this neurologic damage is always glossed over as conventional autism therapy prioritizes behavioral modification therapy and psychiatric medications.

Note: Because of how doctors are trained, when diagnostic signs of a stroke occur in children, they often aren’t viewed as such (since children don’t “get strokes”) and instead given other diagnoses that recognize the asymmetry but provide no explanation for its cause (e.g., strabismus). Dr. Andrew Moulden, after realizing many children were developing signs of strokes after vaccination (which often correlated with subsequent neurological injuries), uncovered the pivotal link between zeta potential and vaccine injury.⁶⁴

Conclusion

With vaccines, the same patterns keep repeating: unusual neurological injuries, officials insisting vaccines are “safe and effective” despite evidence to the contrary, and the medical establishment covering injuries for the “greater good” Sadly, this has been going on ever since the days of smallpox, but due to the MAHA moment, we at last have a chance to expose and end this cycle.

Author’s Note: This is an abridged version of a longer article which details each of these forgotten studies of vaccine injuries (and can be read here). Additionally a companion article on how vaccines cause debilitating microstrokes can be read here, along with one on how vaccines cause autism (which can be read here).

A Note from Dr. Mercola About the Author

A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician from the Midwest and a longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate AMD’s exceptional insight on a wide range of topics and am grateful to share it. I also respect AMD’s desire to remain anonymous since AMD is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD’s work, be sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.

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