Gloria Lemay Discourages Pregnant Women from Getting “Swine” Flu Vaccine

In her latest two blog posts, private birth attendant Gloria Lemay discourages people—especially pregnant women—from being vaccinated against the H1N1 novel flu virus.

As a care provider for pregnant women, Lemay should be aware that infection with H1N1 flu has proved particularly lethal in pregnant women: since April, 2009, 100 pregnant women have been admitted to ICU in the U.S. for H1N1-related illness; 28 of these died.

Moreover, seasonal flu infection has been associated with increased risk of spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) and preterm birth. A CDC report on H1N1 outbreaks in California from April-May 2009 indicated that, among 5 pregnant women hospitalized during that period, one experienced a spontaneous abortion at 13 weeks’ gestation, another had premature rupture of membranes at 35 weeks.

Yet Lemay appears to be discouraging pregnant women from getting vaccinated against the virus, in direct contradiction to current recommendations of national and international medical organizations.^[1]

Ms. Lemay cites several sources for her claim that “flu shots are more dangerous than any flu,” but no actual science:

• A news report of a young women who developed dystonia 10 days after receiving an H1N1 vaccination;
• A Fox News program featuring “vaccine expert” (per Lemay) and “infectious disease expert” (per Fox News) Kent Holtorf, MD,^[2] who manages to pack a number of inaccurate statements^[3] about H1N1 flu and the vaccine into a 3.5-minute segment;
• An anti-vaccine seminar conducted by well-known anti-vax doc Andrew Moulden^[4];
• Three anti-vaccination websites;
• And last, but never least, Joseph Mercola, arguably the most popular of anti-vaccine cranks.^[5]

On her blog, Ms. Lemay urges readers to pass this information on to pregnant couples, and, in a subsequent post, claims she is “very worried” about pregnant women and children getting the vaccine.

I’m very worried about any pregnant  women who would take health advice from Gloria Lemay.

1. 1. The CDC, ACOG, AMA, AAFP, AAP, ACNM, The March of Dimes, and WHO all recommend pregnant women get vaccinated against H1N1 flu.
2. 2. Kent Holtorf, MD, is a co-founder of the Holtorf Medical Group, a company that claims to specialize in treating a wide array of “hormonal” problems,  including  “Complex Endocrine Dysfunction, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Bioidentical Hormone Replacement, Infectious Diseases, Fatigue Syndromes and Neurological Illnesses” (insurance not accepted.) I found no evidence that he has specialized training in vaccinology, immunology or infectious disease, and found only two articles indexed in PubMed citing Holtorf as an author, both about hormone therapy.
3. 3. Among the inaccuracies is the statement that H1N1 appears to be losing virulence, that the vaccine contains “high levels” of adjuvants (which he calls “adjuncts”) to “increase potency,” and which are not, in fact, included in the U.S. vaccine), and that vaccines have been linked to autism (not according to the science) and “shown to cause autism” in children with mitochondrial dysfunction (No. There was a legal case in so-called “vaccine court” that held that a child’s mitochondrial disorder may have been aggrevated by vaccination, causing, among other things, “autistic-like” symptoms. A court case is not scientific proof.)
4. 4. Moulden’s background is outlined in this post at Respectful Insolence. He runs a rather amazing website called brainguardmd.com, which markets his  “therapies” for a wide variety of neurological problems.
5. 5. Mercola’s claims about H1N1 and the vaccine are handily debunked here.