I am old enough to remember the hysteria of polio summers. Tenn. In a halting voice, Walther told the story of her youngest daughter, Mary Catherine. While she was pregnant with Mary Catherine, Walther became aware of the antivaccine movement through a friend who told her that vaccines are harmful. When she delivered her baby, she saw a notice on the wall in the hospital nursery. It said to withhold all hepatitis B vaccines until a new thimerosal-free shipment arrived.
Thimerosal is a preservative that the body metabolizes into mercury.
Although no studies have suggested that thimerosal poses a risk, U.S. vaccine makers, after prodding from the AAP, have moved to eliminate thimerosal, Katz says. With that scant information, Walther, over the objections of her pediatrician, decided to delay her new daughter's immunizations. For some reason, I decided to take her to the doctor. By late that day, she was being admitted to the intensive care unit at Vanderbilt Hospital. For three days, she didn't move, she didn't cry.