The Dr. Hyman Show
Why Vaccine Safety Is So Hard to Talk About — with Dr. Joel Warsh
Wed, 21 May 2025
Dr. Joel Warsh was trained in conventional pediatrics—but he quickly realized that vaccine conversations often overlook what matters most to you and your child’s unique health needs. On this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show, discover how Dr. Warsh blends medical research with real patient experience to offer an honest, balanced conversation about vaccines. Together, we share a practical discussion—exploring what we know and what we don’t—to empower you to make informed decisions. We explore: • How you can better understand vaccine risks and benefits to protect your child wisely • What questions to ask your pediatrician to ensure your concerns are heard • Ways you can strengthen your child’s immune system naturally before and after vaccination • Why focusing on prevention and root health supports your child’s long-term wellness Tune in for a grounded, thoughtful look at a complex topic—one that respects your questions, your values, and your role as a parent. View Show Notes From This EpisodeGet Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hymanhttps://drhyman.com/pages/picks?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcastSign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journalhttps://drhyman.com/pages/longevity?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcastJoin the 10-Day Detox to Reset Your Healthhttps://drhyman.com/pages/10-day-detoxJoin the Hyman Hive for Expert Support and Real Resultshttps://drhyman.com/pages/hyman-hive This episode is brought to you by Fatty15, PerfectAmino,Big Bold Health, LMNT, Pique Head to fatty15.com/hyman and use code HYMAN for 15% off your 90-day subscription Starter Kit. Get pure essential amino acids today. Go to bodyhealth.com and use HYMAN20 to get 20% off your first order. Try HTB Immune Energy Chews for yourself, visit bigboldhealth.com and use code DRMARK 25 at checkout to get 25% off your purchase today. Get a free LMNT Sample Pack with any order—just head to drinklmnt.com/hyman. Head to piquelife.com/hyman to get 20% off + a free beaker and frother today.
Chapter 1: Why is vaccine safety a controversial topic?
Coming up on this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show. Vaccines, we're not allowed to talk about it as any other medical treatment, which has benefits and it has risks.
We need honesty. We need to have discussions not to stop people from vaccinating, not to stop vaccines, but to hold these companies liable in some way or to hold them accountable. Dr. Joel Wersch is a pediatrician. And opening up honest conversations around vaccines. Helping people make informed choices. With confidence.
Every single vaccine, before it hits the market, it's studied against a placebo. The thing is, a lot of those placebos are not inert.
Not everybody is the same. Each of us have different genetics, different immune systems. At Mayo Clinic, they're looking at how different people respond to vaccines.
Why do the kids that are living an unvaccinated lifestyle have a lower risk of autoimmune disease? Is it the food that they're eating? What is it about their lifestyle that's different?
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Chapter 2: What questions should parents ask about vaccines?
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Now, before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone by my personal practice, there's simply not enough time for me to do this at scale. And that's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you better understand, well, you. If you're looking for data about your biology, check out Function Health for real-time lab insights.
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This is a place for your conversations that matter. And this one matters more than most. It's about vaccines and it's very controversial. It's very confusing for both parents and even doctors and scientists because when we have a topic like this that has been taboo to talk about, it's hard to get answers.
And so I'm really excited for this podcast with Dr. Joel Gator Warsh, who's a board-certified pediatrician in Los Angeles, California. He specializes in parenting, vaccines, wellness, and integrated medicine. He's got a great Instagram at Dr. Joel Gator. He gives great advice on there.
He's the author of a new book on vaccines, Between a Shot and a Hard Place, Tackling Vaccine Questions with Balance, Data, and Clarity. Wow, that's refreshing. He has a master's degree in epidemiology and community health. He got his medical degree at Thomas Jefferson and did his pediatric residency at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
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Chapter 3: How can we improve vaccine safety and transparency?
Right?
You could probably ask 30 doctors and they've never seen it. And they collectively practice hundreds of years of medicine. Personally, I have seen many, many cases where parents say, look, my kid got vaccinated and then afterwards they got sick or they got autism. And I could, I would literally say dozens in my small kind of cohort of patients who've had autism It's not uncommon.
And so it causes the question of like, what's happening with these kids? Are they just susceptible to it? And I always hear the same story. That's why I sort of mentioned the susceptibility. C-section, bottle fed, colic, lots of antibiotics, ear infections, you know, strep throat, whatever. Boom, they get the vaccine at 15 months and then
wow, they're off to the races where they have regressive autism. Regressive autism is where you're developing fine, you're talking, you're walking, you're doing all the normal things, and then you stop and you go backwards. And that's like, well, they weren't born with this. What happened? And so nobody wants to ask that question.
And when I sort of dug deep into these kids' health, they had terrible gut issues. They had tons of heavy metals in their system. They had lots of nutritional deficiencies. They sort of had a susceptibility when you started looking at it. And when you correct these things, these kids often would improve or get better, which was amazing to me.
So I was able to undo the harmful effects by actually treating it.
People would say, almost everybody would say, no, the science has been done. They would say that. And that's what I would have said 10 years ago. And I think that's why it's so important to talk about it. Because when you say something like, oh, well, you know, this child had this thing happen after they got a vaccine. Then the knee-jerk reaction is saying, no, no, what are you talking about?
The science is settled. It's been debunked. We have so much research on all the vaccines. And we know that vaccines don't have anything to do with autism. Nothing shocked me more when doing this book than looking at the autism research. Yeah.
Now, I want to be clear, I don't think vaccines cause autism.
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Chapter 4: What historical context is important for vaccine discussions?
I mean, I really didn't even know that aborted fetal tissue was in there until you start learning about vaccines. I mean, these are just things that they're not aborting fetuses now, they're using old old aborted fetal tissue. But it just brings into question when people are called anti-vax kooks, well, maybe they have a reason why they're concerned.
Or maybe they're vegan and they don't want to inject something that has pork, you know, pork products in there, which gelatin does. I mean, they're taken from pigs. So some of the vaccines have that in there. So these are just things that, as someone who's open-minded, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. But I think it's reasonable if you understand those reasons why somebody might be hesitant
That can help build bridges. And I think we need to build bridges as an understanding to why people might be more hesitant that we give them credit for, as opposed to calling them some sort of crazy mom, crazy dad, they're crazy anti-vaxxer. Well, maybe they have personal beliefs that are different than mine. And not everyone has to have the same beliefs or the same understanding of everything.
So that was really interesting long-term studies that we don't have any. We really don't have any vaccinated versus unvaccinated trials. That's crazy to me and autism research.
I mean, it's interesting, you know, I've heard RFK Jr. talk about this, and Del Bigtree also, who worked with him on this issue, he said they actually met with Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins, they went to the NIH, they sat with them, and they asked them, can you please show us the data on which this whole program is based, and the randomized controlled trials, and And they said, we have them.
And then they push, they push, they push. And then ultimately they don't have them. Can you kind of speak to that? Is that legit?
That is legit. That's in there. You know, I read all those transcripts and I read the FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act requests. And they were, I mean, they've put in many Freedom of Information Acts over the years now, but they were basically saying like, show us the research and the data, show us the placebo controlled trials. Show us the data that shows that all vaccines don't cause autism.
Like, provide it to us, please. We're not saying that it doesn't exist, but for example, with the hepatitis B vaccine, like we were talking about, please show us the information and the safety trials that were more than four or five days. Please show us the polio studies that were done.
And that's what those, you know, when we're talking about like the Aaron Siri and RFK not wanting the polio vaccine, like that's what they're talking about. They were asking for more information and more data and what data exists because they couldn't find it. And that's the same thing. I couldn't find this stuff. Like you're really trying to look for it.
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