{"id":1927776,"date":"2023-05-10T01:12:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T05:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/horrible-idea-first-vaccine-for-birth-control-now-in-clinical-trials\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T01:12:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T05:12:35","slug":"horrible-idea-first-vaccine-for-birth-control-now-in-clinical-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/horrible-idea-first-vaccine-for-birth-control-now-in-clinical-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHorrible Idea\u201d: First Vaccine for Birth Control Now in Clinical Trials"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhorrible-idea-first-vaccine-for-birth-control-now-in-clinical-trials%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1927776&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p> \t\t\t\t\tRather than disrupt the menstrual cycle, as hormonal forms of birth control do, the vaccine uses the immune system to prevent pregnancy by blocking fertilization.<\/p>\n<p> This article was originally published by The Defender \u2014Children\u2019s Health Defense\u2019s News &#038; Views Website<\/p>\n<p> Humanity\u2019s first contraceptive vaccine is already in clinical trials, according to an article published this week in\u00a0The Atlantic.<\/p>\n<p> Reporter\u00a0Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D., described the vaccine, as envisioned by its developer Professor\u00a0Gursaran Pran Talwar, stating that it would be:<\/p>\n<p> \u201cA new form of contraception that could block pregnancy without the usual trade-offs\u2014an intervention that\u2019s long-acting but reversible; cheap, discreet, and easy to administer; less invasive than an intrauterine device and more convenient than a daily pill.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cIt would skip messy, sometimes dangerous side effects, such as weight gain, mood swings, and rare but risky blood clots and strokes. It would embody the sort of \u2018set it and forget it\u2019 model that\u2019s become a gold standard for health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Rather than disrupting the menstrual cycle, as hormonal forms of birth control do, the vaccine uses the immune system to prevent pregnancy by blocking fertilization.<\/p>\n<p> Talwar first developed the vaccine and patented a version of it in the early 1990s. That version, meant to be effective for two years before a booster was needed, was reported to be \u201cnearly 100 percent effective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Talwar, former director of India\u2019s National Institute of Immunology, told Wu he developed the vaccine because he knew women in India who were struggling to feed large families, but were unhappy with existing forms of contraception.<\/p>\n<p> He said he wanted to make something, \u201cfree of all problems,\u201d so he created a vaccine that would neutralize the\u00a0human chorionic gonadotropin\u00a0(hCG) hormone, known as \u201cthe pregnancy hormone\u201d because it is necessary for fertilized eggs to implant.<\/p>\n<p> But\u00a0Brian Hooker, Ph.D., P.E., chief scientific officer for\u00a0Children\u2019s Health Defense, said such a vaccine doesn\u2019t just have problems, \u201cIt is an absolutely horrible idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Hooker told\u00a0The Defender:<\/p>\n<p> \u201cSo much can go wrong by \u2018immunizing\u2019 a woman with hCG identical to the hormone she produces, or men with sperm proteins to attack their own sperm at the production site.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThe big question that comes to mind is \u2018reversibility.\u2019 It is very difficult to turn off an immune response complete with\u00a0memory B-cells\u00a0after it has been turned on. My fear is that many would be left permanently sterile from this type of vaccine.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cAlso, the problems posed by this technology related to autoimmunity are myriad.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cEssentially, by coaxing the body to attack human proteins, you also put human tissues, including primarily vital reproductive organs, in the line of fire for many harsh inflammatory processes associated with an immune response.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThis is one bad idea!\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Mary Lou Singleton, midwife and family nurse practitioner, also raised safety concerns. She told The Defender:<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThis would be the first vaccine designed to provoke an immune response against a normal, healthy bodily process.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cLike all living organisms that reproduce sexually, the human body is organized around our reproductive potential.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cWe have no idea what the long-term consequences of programming the immune system to attack the part of our body that sustains early pregnancy may be, but we do know that the history of medicine is full of unintended consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> The Atlantic article didn\u2019t focus on possible health risks. Instead, it touted Talwar et al.\u2019s\u00a01994 vaccine clinical trial, where only 1 of 119 women in the study became pregnant.<\/p>\n<p> The limitations, Wu said, are in the fact that although they didn\u2019t get pregnant, about 20 percent of the women did not produce the threshold amount of antibodies for the trial to be successful. This would be considered sufficiently effective for a regular vaccine, Wu wrote, but for contraception, expectations are higher.<\/p>\n<p> Another limitation she noted is that a three-shot series could be \u201ccumbersome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> But, she wrote, \u201cThere is some reason to think these issues aren\u2019t insurmountable,\u201d because immunocontraceptives have been used for decades by\u00a0wildlife scientists\u00a0to prevent pregnancies \u201cas a more humane alternative to culling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Immunocontraception has primarily been used on captive animals, but it also has been used for population control of some wild species such as white-tailed deer, wild horses, bison, and elephants, according to the\u00a0Humane Society of the United States.<\/p>\n<p> Dr. Julie Levy, a feline infectious disease expert at the University of Florida who has worked on immunocontraceptives in animals described the challenge of creating an effective contraceptive vaccine as \u201ctrying to immunize an animal against itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Wu also mentioned that the hCG vaccine has \u201cencountered some issues with tolerability,\u201d in that some women develop \u201cpainless but prominent nodules,\u201d which she said indicates the adjuvants in the vaccine are \u201criling up the immune system a tad too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> That means scientists will have to \u201ctinker with dosing or ingredients,\u201d before the vaccine is ready, she wrote.<\/p>\n<p> But, she argued this vaccine is important because it could fill clear gaps in the contraceptive market.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cNearly half of the world\u2019s pregnancies are unplanned,\u201d and access to existing contraception is \u201cinconsistent, inequitable, and still stymied by stigma and misinformation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p> Drawing on an interview with\u00a0Debanjana Choudhuri, director of Programs and Partnerships at India\u2019s Foundation for Reproductive Health Services, Wu added:<\/p>\n<p> \u201cA temporary contraception, packaged into a super-safe vaccine, could offer convenience and privacy, with potential appeal for young urbanites, who have already been enthusiastic about injectable contraceptives and might not mind getting boosts.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cMost important, adding a vaccine to the repertoire gives people \u2018another choice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u2018Pregnancy Is Not a Disease\u2019 The real challenge to launching a birth control vaccine, Wu wrote, is that some might stigmatize it because of the history of contraception imposed on women, particularly the poor, mentally ill, and people of color, without their consent or to their detriment.<\/p>\n<p> Sanghamitra Singh, Ph.D., the policy and program lead at the Population Foundation of India, told Wu that \u201cpregnancy is not a disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Wu conceded that vaccination against pregnancy might \u201cunintentionally\u201d imply that pregnancy is a problem to be eradicated and that could stigmatize the shot.<\/p>\n<p> Singleton said she also had concerns about potential abuse.<\/p>\n<p> She added:<\/p>\n<p> \u201cPeople in power all over the world continue to curtail the reproductive rights of women through forced and coerced long-term contraception and sterilization.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cAs anti-natalism and concerns about overpopulation rise among the ruling classes, will this technology be added to state-mandated vaccination schedules for teenagers, immigrant women, poor women, or other groups labeled \u2018high-risk\u2019 for undesired pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Wu also conceded that the administration of the vaccine could \u201craise the specter of the eradication of fertility in society\u2019s most vulnerable subsects,\u201d because, according to\u00a0Lisa Campo-Engelstein, Ph.D., a reproductive bioethicist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, the ease of administering it might mean it would be more likely to be given without fully\u00a0informed consent.<\/p>\n<p> This might be a problem, Wu pointed out, in today\u2019s climate where many people are already \u201cdisinclined toward shots,\u201d especially amid \u201cfalse accusations that other immunizations compromise fertility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> But recent\u00a0Pfizer data\u00a0obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests showed a link between the\u00a0COVID-19\u00a0vaccine and miscarriage and birth defects.<\/p>\n<p> Pfizer\u2019s animal studies for the vaccine showed major red flags regarding both pregnancy loss and fetal abnormalities.<\/p>\n<p> The documents also revealed that the drugmaker elected not to follow up the vast majority of pregnancies in the original\u00a0human trials, despite high miscarriage rates in the minority they did follow.<\/p>\n<p> Singleton said the question of vaccine safety was already difficult to discuss, and combining that with a discussion of contraception could raise even more challenges.<\/p>\n<p> She said:<\/p>\n<p> \u201cAs has become evident over the past few years, mainstream society allows no dialogue or critique on the subject of vaccine safety. Already it is difficult for women\u2019s health activists to broach the topic of the safety and long-term effects of hormonal contraception.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cCombining the medical sacred cows of birth control and contraception seems like a recipe for a medical intervention no one will be allowed to question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Wu\u2019s article attributes the fact that Talwar\u2019s vaccine has made little progress since the early \u201990s to \u201cbad timing.\u201d He only recently got approval to run trials on his new \u201cvaccine recipe.\u201d But, she reported the research is moving forward and may also be directed toward immunotherapy for certain cancers.<\/p>\n<p> This article was originally published by The Defender\u2014Children\u2019s Health Defense\u2019s News &#038; Views Website under Creative Commons license CC<br \/>\n BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children\u2019s Health Defense.<\/p>\n<p> Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rather than disrupt the menstrual cycle, as hormonal forms of birth control do, the vaccine uses the immune system to prevent pregnancy by blocking fertilization. This article was originally published by The Defender \u2014Children\u2019s Health Defense\u2019s News &amp; Views Website Humanity\u2019s first contraceptive vaccine is already in clinical trials, according to an article published this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1927777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[14795,10442,18859,4154,6766,11024,3954],"class_list":["post-1927776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-horrible","tag-birth","tag-clinical","tag-control","tag-idea","tag-trials","tag-vaccine"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1927777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}