The immunization schedule in this country keeps growing ever more complex as time goes on. (Or, we might say, as “Big Pharma” finds more and more ways to make a profit.)

Thirty years ago, infants were only vaccinated against five diseases – diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, rotavirus and polio. Now, according to standard immunization schedules, healthy infants are scheduled to receive immunizations against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, varicella, and pneumococcus.

The CDC’s recommended vaccination schedule now states that American children should receive 25 to 30 vaccines before they are 5 years old. But look at the grid for these immunizations: When your tiny, helpless baby is just 2 months old, he or she could visit the doctor and be immunized for – all in one day – Hepatitis B, rotavirus, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenza B, pneumococcal and polio. At 12 months, the list is even more horrible.

And while an adult may have more strength with which to fight back, the assault does not stop. What vaccines would the CDC recommend for healthy adults? The Singer Health Report writer, an exceedingly healthy female of 58 years, consulted the CDC’s quiz, What Vaccines Do You Need? (http://www2.cdc.gov/nip/adultImmSched). Answering the questions (not living in a nursing home, don’t plan to travel internationally soon, etc.) the writer found that she needs a booster of Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis and a seasonal flu shot. By receiving these shots, she would receive 50 mcg. of thimerosal, and doses of aluminum, hydrochloric acid and formaldehyde!

Next, the quiz was consulted for an extremely healthy 45-year-old male who travels internationally for business and who lives with his mother-in-law from Venezuela. He would need the following vaccines: Measles, mumps and rubella, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, seasonal flu, Meningococcal and the Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis booster. This healthy person, if he caught up on his vaccinations before his next international trip, would receive 75 mcg of thimerosal plus multiple doses of aluminum, hydrochloric acid, monosodium glutamate and formaldehyde.

To understand this assault on health from this multiplicity of vaccines, it would be necessary to go much further than just an analysis of the effects of thimerosal. The effects of all the other additives and the forms of the viruses themselves – and the sheer volume of confusing and challenging material to the immune system – must be examined in detail before this subject is put to bed.

Source: National Academy of Sciences, Infant Immunizations Not Shown to Be Harmful to Children’s Immune Systems, February 20, 2010, http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=10306

Source: Centers for Disease Control, Recommended Immunization Schedule for Persons Aged 0 Through 6 Years, 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/2010/10_0-6yrs-schedule-pr.pdf

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, What Vaccines Do You Need?, January 12, 2010, http://www2.cdc.gov/nip/adultImmSched/

Source: Institute for Vaccine Safety, Thimerosal Content in Some US Licensed Vaccines, February 23, 2010, http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm

The common cold holds down the number one spot for office visits, but it might be a surprise that following close behind in the number two spot are sports and exercise related injuries. Sports injuries have long been moving up the list of the most common reasons that Baby Boomers seek medical attention and have now become more common than anything except colds.

On one hand, there is something positive to be seen in this statistic. It means that Baby Boomers are actually exercising with greater frequency. On the down side, encouraged by doctors to follow an exercise program of three to five times per week, the now mainly middle-aged boomers (78 million of them born between 1946 and 1964) are experiencing injuries in record numbers, too.

The types of injuries sustained and the medical treatment prescribed for them is becoming all too common in society today. Boomers are getting knee and hip replacements, surgery for cartilage and ligament damage and treatment for a whole slew of stress fractures, tendonitis, bursitis and arthritis, as well as endless prescriptions for pain killers, anti-inflamitories and muscle relaxants.

In addition to the cost of doctor visits, hospital stays and surgery, lost time in the workplace totaled 488 million days of restricted work among middle-aged Americans as early as 2002 as provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Costs associated with emergency room visits have risen sharply in recent years, too.

Chiropractors have long been strong supporters of exercise as part of a healthy patient lifestyle. A recent national survey of Chiropractors showed that the overwhelming majority of Doctors of Chiropractic support a healthy patient lifestyle: 97.8% recommend exercise, 93.6% recommend maintenance and wellness care, and 93.2% even provide ergonomic (equipment design) recommendations.

Unfortunately for Baby Boomers, enough of them are not heeding the advice of chiropractors or are not seeking out chiropractors as their healthcare provider in adequate numbers. In fact, according to a recent survey of Complementary and Alternative Medicine that included 31,044 Americans, only 7.5% of the general population utilizes Chiropractic services.

Americans would be well advised to increasingly seek out the advice of a Chiropractor to put them on the straight and narrow when exercising. They would receive education in how to reduce the growing prevalence of obesity, heart disease and diabetes that is becoming a plague upon the Boomer generation.

Most professional sports teams today have a chiropractor on staff to handle an assortment of injuries and to help in the planning of a team’s total wellness program. Individual Baby Boomers would be wise to add a chiropractor to their medical support team to help them achieve a happier, healthier and more injury-free lifestyle.

Sources: The World Chiropractic Alliance. http://www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/tcj/2006/jun/e.htm