All homeopathic doctors, members of the Dutch Association of Homeopathic Doctors (VHAN) were invited to fill in a form with 20 questions for all the new patients seen in 1999 which they believed to have health problems related to vaccination. In the questionnaire three main questions were at the forefront. 1. Are health problems after vaccination more frequent than generally believed? 2. What kind of problems are at stake and with which vaccinations they are related? 3. What kind of treatment was used and what were the results? We received 209 cases, what is a very satisfying number.

Results. Most patients/parents came on their own initiative (173), 11 were referred by doctors, no paediatrician! There was no significant difference between males and females. Most patients are children under two years. The probable diagnosis was made mostly because the complaints started after the vaccination (133) or because of the increase of existing complaints after vaccination (35), only in 10 cases the diagnosis was made on the clinical picture. The responsible vaccination was DTPP/Hib in 114 cases, DTPP in 31 cases, MMR in 60 cases, DTPol 14, DTP/MMR 3, Influenza 5, HIB 6, tropical vaccinations 4, BCG 3, Hepatitis B 2, tetanos 1. To understand this numbers it is important to know that DTPP/HIB vaccination is given 4 times (in the first year), that the HIB is given rarely alone, that the DTPol is given only once alone (4 year) and once together with MMR (9 year), that the MMR is give twice, alone at 14 months and combined with DTP at 9 years, that there is no mass vaccination of BCG, that only medical professionals and people at risk get a Hepatitis B vaccination. Interesting question was: How long after vaccination the complaints or aggravation of complaints manifested itself for the first time? On the first day 51, on the second or third day 28, on the 4th to 7th day 18, in the second and third week 38, in the 4th and 5th week 7, in the sixth week or later 30. In many countries complaints arising after more than three days after vaccination are not considered any more to have any relation with the precedent vaccination. On our research that would mean that 54% would be rejected unjustly. The main complaints after vaccination are skin problems 40%, respiratory problems 56%, digestive problems 21%,, neurological complaints 18%, development complaints 7%, emotional complaints 21%, general complaints (malaise, weakness, sleeplessness, immunologic problems, etc.) 32%. The lapse of time between the beginning of the complaints and the first homeopathic consultation was quite long, most patients/parents have a long way to go before finding help probably due to failure of a correct diagnosis. Less than one week 8, one to four weeks 13, one to three months 35, four to twelve months 60, more than one year 92 (44%). Important is also to realise that the presence or absence of an acute reaction in chronic complaints is not a good indication for causality. In 30% there was no acute reaction. The duration of the acute reaction was less than one day in 32%, one to three days in 46% and longer than three days in 22%. Only three cases were reported to the administration of side-effects of vaccination (RIVM) (2%). In far the most cases (141) nobody (patient, parents or doctor) had thought that there was any relationship with vaccination, in 32 cases the patient/parents thought there was an relationship but not the doctor, in 11 cases both patient/ parents and doctor agreed about a probable relationship.

The homeopathic treatment was mainly done with potentised vaccines (94%), in 62% there was also a constitutional treatment during or after the treatment with potentised vaccines. The treatment with Thuja was only applied in 2% of the cases. In 73 % homeopathy was the only treatment, in 27% the patient got also another treatment, most of time bronchodilators, corticosteroids, anti-epileptics, Ritalin, etc. The results of homeopathic treatment are interesting. In most cases there was no or only a slight initial aggravation (161), but in 41 cases the aggravation was quite strong. 64 patients cured completely (31%), in 89 cases there was a strong amelioration (43%). That means that 74% was cured or strongly ameliorated what is a very good result. In 32 cases the was only a slight amelioration, 17 no result at all, in 3 cases there was rather an aggravation of complaints.. These results were obtained after an average of 63 days. In 48% of the cases the follow-up is more than a half year. The probability of the relationship of the complaints with a preceded vaccination, estimated before the treatment, was in 86 cases very probable, in 86 probable, in 30 no opinion. After the treatment in 135 cases the probability was very strong, in 43 cases probable, in 6 cases no opinion and in 12 cases improbable and in 4 very improbable. This means that the number of pronounced opinions increased strongly and this confirms that the use of potentised vaccines is seen as a diagnostic tool by homeopathic doctors.