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Healthy Home Economist / Healthy Pregnancy, Baby & Child / RhoGam Shot: Big Pharma Profit Ploy

RhoGam Shot: Big Pharma Profit Ploy

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • What is The Rh Factor?
  • Rh Factor and Pregnancy
  • RhoGam Shot and the Rh Factor
  • RhoGam Shot Dangers
  • RhoGam Shot and Thimerosal
  • RhoGam Shot During Pregnancy?
  • What To Do if You are Pregnant and Rh Negative?
  • Natural Ways to Prevent Blood Mixing Between Mother and Fetus

rhogam shot

The Rhogam shot is an injected vaccination given to all pregnant women with Rh negative blood.  This article examines the theory and basis for this injection and whether or not the purported benefits of the shot are truly of value as promoted in prenatal examination rooms.

What is The Rh Factor?

It is common knowledge that every person has a blood type identified as either  “O”, “A”, “B”, or “AB”.  In addition to this primary blood type, a person’s blood is either Rh positive or Rh negative.  This is known as the Rh factor.

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The Rh factor refers to a protein that may or may not be found on the surface of an individual’s red blood cells.   A person who has this protein present in her blood is Rh positive and a person who does not is Rh negative.

A person’s Rh factor is an inherited condition with Rh positive being the dominant gene.

Rh Factor and Pregnancy

When a woman who is Rh negative is pregnant, there is a slim chance of complications if the fetus she is carrying is Rh positive.

This small risk arises if there is any mixing of blood between the mother and the fetus.  Under normal circumstances, this never occurs, but in the event of a car accident or trauma to the mother’s belly, some mixing of blood is possible.   Mixing may also occur if there is a miscarriage, amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling (CVS), or birth interventions during the labor/birth process.

In the unlikely event mixing occurs, the Mother’s Rh negative blood would encounter the Rh protein from her Rh positive child’s blood and develop antibodies against it.   This process is called “sensitization”.

No harm can come to the baby the first time mixing occurs.   If any mixing of blood happens for the second time, however, some of these antibodies from the Mother’s blood could get into the bloodstream of the fetus and attack the red blood cells causing Rh Disease which puts the child at risk for stillbirth.   Babies born with severe Rh Disease require intensive treatment to survive.

RhoGam Shot and the Rh Factor

RhoGam is a vaccine like globulin shot that was developed in the late 1960s to keep a Rh negative woman from becoming sensitized to the Rh positive blood of her fetus in the unlikely event blood mixing occurs.  Rhogam works very much like an immunization.   It puts a small amount of Rh antibody into the mother’s blood to effectively fool it into thinking the foreign Rh protein has been eliminated.

The Rhogam shot does work, but only if the immunoglobulin is administered within 72 hours of the trauma that caused the blood mixing in the first place.

How to know during a 40 week gestation when/if any blood mixing occurred unless there is a direct event like a car wreck or a fall?

There isn’t any way to tell, which is why the completely arbitrary RhoGam shot at 28 weeks gestation (and again at 36 weeks with some doctors) makes no sense at all.

What also makes no sense is that doctors recommend that all Rh negative women get RhoGam during pregnancy even if the father is also Rh negative!   There is absolutely no need for Rh negative women with Rh negative partners to ever get RhoGam as the baby will always also be Rh negative and the risk from Rh antibodies is zero!

RhoGam Shot Dangers

What doctors never seem to admit or even talk about is the very real risk of putting RhoGam Rh antibodies into the mother’s bloodstream during gestation.  The Rh antibodies from the RhoGam shot hang around in the mother’s bloodstream for up to 12 weeks following the shot.    As a result, if blood mixing occurs during that period of time (as in a car wreck or other trauma), it is possible for some of the Rhogam antibodies to find their way into the fetus’ bloodstream and attack them causing the very Rh Disease in the fetus that the shot is supposed to prevent!

There is also the possibility of side effects from the RhoGam shot. Swelling, inflammation, hives and even anaphylactic shock are not out of the question. More concerning is that the Rh antibodies have the potential to negatively affect the immune response of either the mother or baby to other foreign substances that enter the bloodstream.

As with any donated blood product, the RhoGam shot also carries with it the possibility of blood born disease.  Each RhoGam shot contains the antibodies of several different donors pooled together which increases the liklihood of viruses slipping through undetected to the RhoGam recipient (1). It is virtually impossible to test and screen out all the various viruses that could be present in the donor blood (2).

RhoGam Shot and Thimerosal

The most troubling aspect of Rhogam could very well be the ingredients. Like many vaccines, the RhoGam shot used to contain thimerosal, an organomercury compound known to produce neurological damage, but this was supposedly phased out by 2001.

Studies performed by Health Advocacy in the Public Interest (HAPI) in 2004 found that despite vaccine manufacturers’ claims that thimerosal was no longer being used, in fact this 50% mercury containing compound was still routinely included in the manufacturing process with the thimerosal being “filtered out” of the final product.   The problem is that the filtering process doesn’t work very well. Mercury binds to the antigenic proteins and as such, cannot be 100% removed.

All vaccine vials tested by HAPI that were labeled “mercury free” did, in fact, contain this neurotoxin. All the vials also contained aluminum which enhances the toxicity of the mercury causing rapid death of brain neurons (3).

Is the Rhogam shot now truly mercury or even aluminum free?  Most likely not (4).  Product insert labels turn out not to be all that reliable.

RhoGam Shot During Pregnancy?

It used to be that Rhogam was only given after an Rh positive child was born  (a newborn can easily be typed via cord blood), if there was some birth intervention that made blood mixing a strong possibility, or if an accident or trauma occurred during pregnancy.

However, it seems that the prenatal RhoGam shots have become routine and arbitrary for all Rh negative women regardless of their partner’s Rh status and despite any pre-birth trauma or birth intervention.

Why the change?   It seems the most obvious reason is to pad the pockets of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (owned by Johnson and Johnson) as there is no additional protection to fetuses from such measures.

Routine RhoGam during pregnancy to all Rh negative mothers is simply a Big Pharma ploy to increase profits, not to protect babies from Rh Disease.

How so? In Europe, Rhogam is administered only after pregnancy! If it were really necessary during pregnancy, wouldn’t the timing be the same on that side of the Atlantic too? This article by Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, CHom is an excellent overview of both the pros and cons of the Rhogam shot (5). Another excellent source is the Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Childcare.

What To Do if You are Pregnant and Rh Negative?

If you are pregnant and Rh negative, the first question to consider is whether or not the father of your child is also Rh negative.  If he is, then there is absolutely no need for the RhoGam shot.  Period.  There is no risk to your baby whatsoever.

If a doctor tries to convince you otherwise, he/she is WRONG.   In fact, getting a RhoGam shot during pregnancy when both you and your partner are Rh negative needlessly endangers the life and health of your child!

How?  Because getting the RhoGam shot introduces Rh antibodies into your bloodstream which could get into your baby’s blood should a car wreck or other trauma occur. This could give your baby Rh Disease where it would be impossible otherwise without the shot.

If you are pregnant and Rh negative with a Rh positive partner, you should also decline a routine RhoGam shot during pregnancy because there is NO PROTECTION to the current baby you are carrying from the RhoGam shot while you are still pregnant. It is an arbitrary and useless shot during gestation UNLESS you are in a car wreck or have some other trauma happen to your belly.

The final question is whether or not you should have the RhoGam shot after the birth of your child. If you are Rh negative with an Rh negative father, the answer is once again a resounding “NO!”

If you are Rh negative with an Rh positive partner, RhoGam after birth might be called for if you were induced, had an epidural, C-section or other birth intervention which would have greatly increased the chances of blood mixing between yourself and your baby.

There is still a chance your baby is Rh negative even if your partner is Rh positive, so always have the baby’s cord blood typed after birth if you are considering Rhogam after an interventionist birth to determine if it is even of any potential value.

However, the likelihood that Rhogam still has neurotoxic preservatives such as thimerosal and/or aluminum despite labeling claims to the contrary make taking the shot under any circumstances a questionable decision.

If you had a natural birth with no induction or intervention of any kind where the placenta was permitted to detach naturally from the uterus, then RhoGam after birth is clearly unnecessary.

Natural Ways to Prevent Blood Mixing Between Mother and Fetus

Drinking Red Raspberry and Nettle Tea throughout pregnancy and especially during the last trimester helps to tone the uterus and keep it strong, reducing the chance of any blood mixing during birth.

In addition, ensuring that no fluoridated water or nonorganic tea (which is high in fluoride) are consumed during pregnancy is wise as fluoride interferes with collagen production.  The placenta attaches firmly to the uterus via collagen fibers.

As always, a healthy pregnancy diet is extremely protective in preventing any blood mixing.  My own Rh negative Mother (my Dad is Rh Positive) delivered 7 healthy, Rh positive children with no RhoGam shots by simply eating healthy and having natural births.

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Category: Healthy Home Plus, Healthy Pregnancy, Baby & Child
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her eBooks Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (310)

  1. Marsha Whitehouse

    Oct 23, 2021 at 10:46 am

    I have 8 children and 3 miscarriages. I have had MANY RHOGAM shots. About a year and a half ago, in March, (right about the start of COVID) I had a miscarriage at 17 weeks (with a rhogam shot) and then had an ischemic stroke four months later. I don’t have any risk factors for stroke (at the time of the stroke I had a bad waist to height ratio, so I guess that would have been a risk factor), but they tell me that I have an auto immune disease called APS. I am on blood thinners for the rest of my life because they scared me onto them, but I have been thinking more about my “disease” and wondering… I have listened to a recent interview with Natasha Mcbride and Mikaila Peterson, and she says that all autoimmune diseases are toxins floating around in your body, attaching to things in your body and then your body attacking toxic tissues and destroying them. Also, Tom Cowan recently had a talk where he’s linking damage in the body to vaccines, and an older article by Martin Michener, PHD on Water Stressors and blood flow, and so, I’m thinking that maybe my stroke was a reaction to the shot. Also, very interesting that COVID was out there (whatever it really is maybe 5G?) and I had a bloodstream full of toxins and then a stroke, (and blood clots AND ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME (APS) are associated with COVID)… Looking back, I really regret those shots. So thankful for people like Sarah who is not content to sit back and enjoy the benefits of her wisdom, but instead continually sticks her neck out to help people.

    Reply
  2. Alaina S.

    Feb 27, 2019 at 8:33 am

    I received the shot after my first two kids were born. Again after my first miscarriage but after my second one, I said no. Then my son was born. Healthy, strong and no jaundice. I refused to get it after he was born. I’m pregnant again and so far so good. My experience? A shot doesn’t determine life.

    Reply
  3. bobbie

    Feb 24, 2019 at 1:02 pm

    So babies would just die without the shot??? Nah.. Nice try.

    Reply
  4. Kaylee

    Feb 11, 2019 at 1:03 pm

    At 36 weeks of gestation, I had the rhogam shot administered and within 1hr my unborn child had a seizure that lasted at least 10 seconds. Without a doubt, it was the rhogam shot that triggered the seizure…too timely of an occurrence to be caused by anything else.

    Reply
  5. Talitha hogan

    Feb 10, 2019 at 11:12 pm

    I had a miscarriage about 2 years ago. The doctors kept urging me to get the rogam shot because I bleed very much… Then they took my blood and said that I was developing the antibodies and that if I didn’t get it within72 hours I would for sure never have a kid by my hisband(who is o+) they assured me they tested me and knew I was collecting the antibodies…. Well I’m 9 months pregnant with my 2nd kid (same dad) and now they tell me I need to get the shot now or my 2nd baby will be in danger… I’ve never had an accident and my current child is super healthy…. Then I find out it was never tested on pregnant women but on Rh-men…and that the insert clearly says that “currently there are no requirements to practice standards to test for the presence of anti d in order to determine adequacy or efficacy of dose following an injection of rogam” well I call BS….

    Reply
  6. Vivian

    Jan 30, 2019 at 5:24 am

    I am 24 weeks with 7th baby and O-. I had an abortion at 14. Received a rhogam shot pregnant with my first child who is RH+ and had mild jaundice. I do not know if I ever received a rhogam shot again but had 3 more RH+ babies, my 4th was an emergency c- section with twin B. I had a VBAC on #5. My second VBAC was baby #6 with no medical interventions and no rhogam shot he was born safely unassisted at home. I do not want a rhogam shot but feel less confident about my choices now that I am in school for nursing and hear all the fear mongering. My husband is RH+. I do not know the blood type of baby #5& #6. I am looking forward to a a second peaceful pregnancy and birth at home with no medical intervention. I am hoping to get feedback on my situation.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Jan 30, 2019 at 10:44 am

      I don’t give medical advice. Please use the information in this article to initiate a productive conversation with your practitioner.

  7. Jessie

    Jan 13, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    You say if both mother and father are rh negative then taking the Rhogam shot could be dangerous if trauma happens and the antibodies from the shot get into the baby’s bloodstream potentially causing rh disease, where there was no risk without the shot. But that makes no sense. The baby would be rh- so how could the antibodies from the shot attack her blood? Don’t they only attack rh+ blood?

    I’m curious if the antibodies from the shot could cause sensitization of the rh- fetus if blood is mixed though? Then that would compromise her future pregnancies if the fetus is a girl?

    Reply
  8. Dr. D.R

    Dec 9, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    Any antibody level means you should get Rhogam. Antibody levels will continue to rise, and they will rise rapidly unless Rhogam is administered.

    Reply
  9. Tracy

    Nov 16, 2018 at 9:32 pm

    Seriously??????? I work in the lab and this is insane to me. Girls do you but you’re putting your baby not yourself in danger. Be selfish because you’ve listened to crackpots about this shot being bad for you. Madness is real in this world

    Reply
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