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 Vaccination: An Updated Analysis of the Health Risks: Part 2
Source: The Townsend Newsletter, 11/07 By Gary Null, Ph.D. and Martin Feldman, M.D.
Date: 03/04/08
Go to http://www.vaccinenation.net/ for more on the film by Gary Null
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the reasons why we should
challenge the assumption that vaccines are safe and effective.
These
reasons include the adverse effects associated with vaccines, the
unsound principles on which they are based, questions about whether
vaccinations have really eliminated disease, the toxic ingredients used
in vaccines, and vaccine failures and waning immunity. In Part 2, we
look at the effects of specific vaccines, including those for
diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, chickenpox, hepatitis B,
measles, mumps and rubella.,
DIPHTHERIA, TETANUS AND PERTUSSIS VACCINE
Diphtheria Toxoid
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
incidence of diphtheria was reduced to zero by 2004, from an estimated
average of 21,053 cases per year in the 20th century. But as with other
infectious diseases, much of the decline in mortality from diphtheria
had occurred before the vaccine was used. This mortality rate fell from
40 deaths per 100,000 in 1900 to approximately 16 per 100,000 in 1920,
when the diphtheria vaccine was introduced in the U.S.
Pertussis Vaccine
Despite high levels of childhood vaccination coverage for pertussis
(whooping cough), the largest outbreak of this disease in four decades
has occurred in recent years. There were 25,827 reported cases of
pertussis in 2004 (the actual incidence could be higher due to
underreporting), compared with a low of 1,010 in 1976.
According to the CDC, the reported rate of pertussis per 100,000
population increased from 1.8 in 1994 to 8.9 in 2004. The 2004 rate was
the third consecutive annual increase in the incidence of pertussis.
The CDC notes that two-thirds of reported cases of pertussis now occur
among adolescents and adults due to the waning of vaccine-induced
immunity. This waning occurs five to 10 years after receipt of the
vaccine.
Similar trends in pertussis were noted nearly 20 years ago in a 1988
report. After the U.S. mandated whooping cough vaccination in 1978, the
incidence of the disease in the next eight years trebled. The highest
incidence was in infants less than 1 year old. However, the highest
relative increase was in adolescents and adults.
In 2006, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
addressed the rise of whooping cough among adolescents by recommending
that they receive another dose of pertussis vaccine. The Tdap vaccine
(which also contains tetanus and diphtheria toxoids) is now recommended
for all children age 11 to 18 and replaces the tetanus-diphtheria
booster previously given to adolescents. The Tdap booster adds to the
five doses of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus that children already
receive before their seventh birthday.
Several research papers suggest that immunization programs have not yet
brought pertussis under control. A 2006 article reports that pertussis
"has reemerged worldwide as a cause of substantial morbidity and
mortality in infants, children, and adolescents, despite high
vaccination rates." Another report, published in 2005, states that an
increased incidence of pertussis "has been observed worldwide since the
introduction of widespread vaccination." These researchers say that
there has been "a general shift in the age distribution of pertussis
toward older groups" and that "despite high coverage rates for primary
immunization in infants and children, pertussis continues to be a
global concern, with increased incidence widely noted."
On the other hand, the merit of the pertussis vaccine is indicated by a
2006 paper. This research evaluated state-level rates of nonmedical
exemptions (those based on religious or personal beliefs) to mandatory
vaccination from 1991 to 2004 and the incidence of pertussis among
people 18 and younger from 1986 to 2004. The study found that an
increased incidence of pertussis was associated with state policies
granting personal-belief exemptions and the easier granting of
exemptions.
Replacement of the whole cell pertussis vaccine. The U.S. made a major
vaccine substitution in the 1990s when it replaced the diphtheria,
tetanus and whole cell pertussis vaccine (DTP) with a diphtheria,
tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP). The whole cell vaccine
has been associated with serious adverse reactions (such as seizures
and encephalopathy).
Studies have since found a decline in the number of adverse reactions
to pertussis-containing vaccines. An analysis of reports made to the
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) from 1991 to 2001 found
that the overall reporting rate decreased substantially after use of
the acellular petussis vaccine compared with the whole cell version
(12.5 vs. 26.2 reports per 100,000 net doses distributed).
An analysis of VAERS data from 1995 (when the whole cell vaccine was in
use) to 1998 (when the acellular vaccine was predominant) found that
the number of reports concerning pertussis fell from 2071 in 1995 to
491 in the first half of 1998. Events categorized as "nonfatal serious"
fell from 334 in 1995 to 93 (first-half ‘98). However, the decrease in
reports involving deaths was modest, from 85 deaths in 1995 to 77 in
1997 and 41 in the first half of 1998.
Recent comparisons of the whole cell and acellular pertussis vaccines
confirm that the older version caused more adverse reactions. One study
of VAERS evaluated the number of emergency room visits,
life-threatening reactions, hospitalizations, disabilities, deaths,
seizures, infantile spasms, encephalitis/encephalopathy, autism, sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS), and speech disorders that began within
three days of receipt of pertussis-containing vaccines. The study found
statistical increases for all of these events, except cerebellar
ataxia, following whole cell vaccination compared with acellular
vaccination. In Japan, an analysis of two decades of use of the
acellular vaccine showed that while neurological illnesses were rare
with both types of pertussis vaccine, the incidences of
encephalopathy/encephalitis and status epileptics/frequent convulsions,
febrile seizures/provocation of convulsions, and sudden deaths were
significantly lower with the acellular than the whole cell vaccine. A
study in Canad
a reported a 79 percent decrease in febrile seizures and a 60 percent
to 67 percent decrease in hypotonic-hyporesponsive episodes following
the introduction of the acellular vaccine there.
Other research has associated the whole cell vaccine with neurological
complications, including convulsions, hypotonic-hyporesponsive
episodes, paralysis, and encephalopathy. Sadly, the DTP vaccine also
has been associated with SIDS, the unexpected death of an infant for
which autopsy cannot reveal a determining cause. In 1982 William Torch
reported that his investigation of 70 SIDS cases (which was triggered
by a report of 12 such deaths occurring within 3 1/2 to 19 hours of DPT
vaccination) found that two-thirds of the victims had been vaccinated
from a half day to three weeks prior to death.
Torch reaffirmed a link between DTP and SIDS in 1986, when he presented
11 new cases of SIDS and one of near-miss syndrome occurring within 24
hours of DTP injection Analysis of these and more than 150 cases of DTP
postvaccinal deaths reported in the literature-about half of which were
sudden or anaphylactic-led Torch to conclude: "Although many feel that
the DPT-SIDS relationship is temporal, this author and others maintain
a casual relationship exists in a yet-to-be-determined SIDS fraction."
Other researchers also have uncovered a relationship between DTP and
SIDS. , However, the CDC reported in 1996 that several studies
conducted in the 1980s did not find an association between DTP
vaccination and SIDS.
Pertussis vaccination and asthma. A 1994 study found that children
immunized against whooping cough were five times more likely to suffer
from asthma than those who did not receive the vaccine. Another study
of almost 2,000 children born between 1974 and 1984 showed that
vaccination against whooping cough was associated with a 76 percent
increased risk of developing asthma and other allergic diseases later
in life. On the other hand, a study published by the CDC of more than
160,000 children did not find an association between the DTP vaccine
and the risk of asthma. A 2006 report from the Netherlands also found
that receipt of the DTP/polio vaccine in infancy was not related to
reported atopic disorders at primary school age.
Tetanus Toxoid
The literature includes articles on neurological reactions to the tetanus vaccination and other adverse reactions.
POLIO VACCINE
Three types of polio vaccines have been used throughout the world: 1)
the OPV, or oral polio vaccine (Sabin vaccine), consisting of live
attenuated poliovirus; 2) the IPV, or inactivated polio vaccine (Salk
vaccine), consisting of killed poliovirus and given by injection; and
3) the eIPV, an enhanced potency inactivated polio vaccine, consisting
of killed poliovirus with high viral antigen content.
In the United States, the IPV (enhanced potency version) has
been recommended for routine childhood vaccination against polio since
2000. Before that, the live attenuated OPV was the polio vaccine of
choice for more than three decades. This vaccine, however, actually
caused polio-vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP)-in a
small percentage of recipients. The risk of VAPP "became more difficult
to justify" as polio was controlled worldwide and importations of wild
poliovirus to the U.S. became less likely, according to an article in
the Journal of the American Medical Association.
As a result, in 1996 the government recommended a sequential schedule
using both IPV and OPV for the childhood polio vaccination series. The
ACIP then recommended the all-IPV schedule in 2000.
According to the CDC, the overall risk for VAPP is
approximately 1 case in 2.4 million OPV doses distributed, while the
first-dose risk is 1 case in 750,000 doses distributed. The OPV has
caused the only indigenous cases of polio reported in the U.S. since
1979. Between 1980 and 1998, 144 cases of VAPP were reported. Another
VAPP case occurred in 1999, and in 2005 a case of imported VAPP was
reported in the U.S. after an unvaccinated American woman traveled to
Central America and was exposed to an infant vaccinated with OPV. In
late 2005, four cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) involving a
poliovirus strain used in the OPV were identified in unvaccinated
children in an Amish community in Minnesota. The source of these
infections is not known, since the OPV has not been used in the U.S.
since 2000.
During the time that the trivalent OPV was used in the U.S. (from 1963
to 1999), an inactivated polio vaccine was available. The original IPV,
developed by Jonas Salk, was used to immunize American children from
1955 to 1962. According to the JAMA article, the OPV became preferred
to the IPV because it provided better intestinal immunity, was able to
indirectly vaccinate susceptible contacts through transmission of
vaccine polioviruses, was easier to administer, and cost less.
Although IPV does not cause VAPP, the severity profiles of reports to
VAERS on IPV and OPV in infants up to 6 months of age were "remarkably
similar." Among the most frequent symptoms reported for IPV were fever,
SIDS, convulsions, agitation, apnea, and stupor. Reports of fatalities
in 1998 per 100,000 doses distributed were somewhat higher for IPV than
for OPV. Of 142 fatalities reported for both IPV and OPV in 1997-1998,
89 indicated SIDS.
Polio vaccine and Guillain-Barre syndrome. GBS is a disease that
involves the nervous system and is characterized by muscle weakness,
numbness, loss of reflexes, and paralysis.
In Finland in 1985 there was an increase in the incidence of
GBS a few weeks after the implementation of a nationwide campaign using
OPV. And in Brazil, an analysis of 38 cases of paralysis diagnosed as
GBS led in all cases to the isolation of the vaccine strains of the
poliovirus. All patients had been vaccinated with the OPV months or
years before the onset of symptoms. In contrast, two other studies
failed to find a correlation between GBS and the OPV.
Vaccine viruses also have been isolated from patients with paralysis
diagnosed as transverse myelitis (TM), and in patients with facial
paralysis (FP). Most individuals with TM and FP had received the OPV
months or years prior to the onset of disease, indicating that the
virus may remain latent and revert to virulence later in time.
Polio vaccine and SV40-related cancers. Research conducted in
the past few decades has revealed that several types of cancer may be
associated with the receipt of polio vaccines more than 40 years ago
that were contaminated with a monkey virus.
In 1960 it was discovered that the Salk IPV was contaminated
with SV40 (simian virus 40), which was derived from the monkey cells
used to grow the vaccine viruses. The SV40 survived inactivation with
formaldehyde, the method used to kill the poliovirus for use in the
vaccine. More than 98 million Americans were vaccinated during the time
period (from 1955 to 1963) that injectable and oral doses of the polio
vaccine were contaminated with SV40. These people today have SV40
sequences integrated into their genetic code.
Animal studies have demonstrated the ability of SV40 to
integrate its DNA into that of the host cell and induce malignancy.
Unfortunately, studies show that the virus retains these same
properties in humans and is associated with increased rates of certain
cancers. Integration and replication of SV40 has been documented in 13
percent to 43 percent of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, 47 percent to 83
percent of mesotheliomas (malignant tumors of the lining of the lungs),
11 percent to 90 percent of different types of brain tumors,50 percent
of osteosarcomas, more than 33 percent of other types of bone
tumors,and 28 percent of bronchopulmonary carcinomas.
A continuing concern is that SV40 may be transmitted from person to
person. The virus has been detected in people born in the 1980s and
1990s, decades after the tainted polio vaccine was no longer in use.
SV40 is now present in children, as noted by Kurt Link, M.D., in his
2005 book The Vaccine Controversy, and the CDC takes this as evidence
that SV40 is a naturally acquired infection unrelated to exposure to
the contaminated polio vaccine. But as Dr. Link states, it is more
likely that people infected by the vaccine have transmitted SV40 to
others or to their offspring (such as through semen). The implication,
he says, is that "any SV40 problems may not, as had been hoped, fade
away with time. There is even now, ironically, work being done to
provide a vaccine against SV40."
It should be noted that other research indicates there is no
association between SV40 and an increased risk of rare cancers such as
ependymomas, osteosarcomas, and mesotheliomas. One study compared rates
of cancer after 30 years in birth cohorts who were likely to have
received SV40-contaminated vaccine as infants and children with rates
in people who not unexposed. Age-specific cancer rates were not
significantly elevated for those exposed to the tainted vaccine.
Another study found no increased number of cancer deaths among 1,073
people who received SV40-contaminated vaccine, and a 35-year follow-up
found no deaths from the types of tumors that have been linked to SV40.
CHICKENPOX VACCINE
Another example of changes to the U.S. vaccination protocol was the
addition in 2006 of a second dose of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine to
the childhood immunization schedule. This dose is recommended for
universal vaccination of all children at age 4 to 6 and for any child,
adolescent or adult who previously has received only one dose. The
first dose of the varicella vaccine was recommended for children in
1995.
The ACIP recommended the second dose at 4 to 6 years of age "to further
improve protection against the disease." The fact is, outbreaks of
varicella have occurred despite increasing coverage with the first dose
of the vaccine. In a survey of 59 jurisdictions (states, large cities,
and U.S. territories) by the CDC, 45 jurisdictions were notified of at
least once varicella outbreak in 2004 and 13 were notified of six or
more. Data obtained on 190 outbreaks in 2004 showed that two-thirds
occurred in elementary schools.
Varicella outbreaks may occur even in highly vaccinated communities,
and vaccinated children are still at risk of contracting the disease.
According to the CDC, 11 percent to 17 percent of vaccinated children
have developed chickenpox-so-called "breakthrough varicella"-in recent
outbreaks of the disease among vaccinated schoolchildren. In three
studies, rates of infection in vaccinated individuals ranged from 18
percent to 34 percent anywhere from five to 10 years following
immunization.
In other recent studies of chickenpox outbreaks, vaccine effectiveness
against varicella of any severity ranged from 44 percent to 87 percent.
Effectiveness was as high as 97 percent for moderate or severe illness.
Research also shows that people with breakthrough varicella tend to
have milder illness than do unvaccinated people who contract the
disease, although the vaccinated individuals can be just as infectious.
VAERS received 6,574 reports of adverse events for the varicalla
vaccine from March 17, 1995 to July 25, 1998. Approximately 4 percent
of reports concerned serious events (such as anaphylaxis,
thrombocytopenia, pneumonia and convulsions) and deaths.
The dangers of adult chickenpox. In most cases chickenpox is a benign,
self-limiting disease in children, and the natural immunity derived
from contracting the disease is permanent. Vaccine-induced immunity, on
the other hand, lasts only an estimated six to 10 years. The temporary
nature of vaccine-induced immunity can create a more dangerous
situation by postponing the child’s vulnerability until adulthood, when
death from the disease is 30 times more likely.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Vienna, Va.,
advises parents to seriously consider not using the chickenpox vaccine
in healthy children. According to Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounder and
president, "The case/fatality ratio in healthy children is 1 death per
100,000 children. In adults it rises to 31 deaths per 100,000. So it
basically is an experiment. That is really what happens with most of
these vaccines that they bring out. They really don’t know what the
long-term effect is going to be." Dr. Link, however, cautions that if
most children are immunized according to the current U.S. policy of
universal vaccination, "it may be unwise to try to avoid vaccination
because of the hazard of later acquiring varicella as an adult."
The temporary immunity provided by the vaccine is a particular concern
for pregnant women. Normally, 90 percent of adult women are immune to
varicella and transfer this immunity to their babies during pregnancy.
But the immunity induced by vaccination, which lasts only five to 10
years, may be gone by the time a woman enters her reproductive stage,
leaving pregnant women at risk of contracting the infection and
transmitting it to the fetus. Fetal varicella syndrome is characterized
by multiple congenital malformations and is often fatal for the fetus.
In addition, children born to women whose vaccine-induced immunity has
faded are unprotected during the first year of life, when their immune
system is still developing, and may suffer fatal complications if
exposed to the infection.
Another potential problem in the coming years is an increase
in the rate of shingles due to widespread use of the varicella vaccine.
As Dr. Link explains, the varicella zoster virus causes both chickenpox
and herpes zoster (shingles). The virus could lie dormant for many
years and later become active and cause shingles due to a reduction in
immunity. One report states that mass vaccination with varicella "is
expected to cause a major epidemic of herpes zoster." And while some
research has not found in increase in the rate of shingles, reports Dr.
Link, it will be years before we know whether the vaccine virus is too
weak to be activated or the immunity produced by the vaccine is too
weak to control the virus.
It is of interest that the FDA approved the first vaccine for herpes
zoster in 2006. Zostavax is a live vaccine licensed for use in people
age 60 and older. In a study of approximately 38,000 people, the
vaccine reduced the incidence of herpes zoster by about 50 percent
overall. Effectiveness ranged from 64 percent for people age 60 - 69 to
18 percent for those 80 and older.
HEPATITIS B VACCINE
The hepatitis B vaccine became commercially available in the U.S. in
1982 and was recommended for certain high-risk groups of people.
However, when vaccination programs aimed at these groups did not stem
an increase in hepatitis B infections, the ACIP recommended universal
immunization of infants against this disease in 1991.
An analysis of reports made to VAERS over 11 years-from 1991 to
2001-found that hepatitis B was the most frequently mentioned vaccine
in 1991-1995 reports and the second most commonly mentioned (after
varicella) in 1996-2001 reports.
An earlier study found that 12,520 adverse reactions to hepatitis B
were reported to VAERS from 1991 to 1994, with 14 percent of these
reactions involving newborns and infants. Approximately one-third of
reactions involved an emergency room visit or hospitalization,
according to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
(AAPS). There were 440 deaths, about 180 of which were attributed to
SIDS.
Dr. Jane M. Orient, executive director of AAPS, has stated that
according to a federal government study, "Children younger than 14 are
three times more likely to die or suffer adverse reactions after
receiving hepatitis B vaccines than to catch the disease."
In adults, hepatitis B vaccination was associated with serious
autoimmune disorders in one analysis of VAERS data and a review of the
literature, published in 2004. These disorders included arthritis,
pancytopenia/ thrombocytopenia, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid
arthritis, myelitis, Gullain-Barre syndrome, and optic neuritis. In
adult use of the hepatitis B vaccine, there were 465 positive
re-challenge adverse events.
Other articles associate the hepatitis B vaccine with complications of
the nervous system and joints and other adverse effects. The Institute
of Medicine stated in 2002 that "the epidemiological evidence favors
rejection of a causal relationship between the hepatitis B vaccine in
adults and multiple sclerosis." (The evidence was inadequate to accept
or reject a causal association with other demyelinating conditions.) A
case-control study published by the CDC in 2003 also found that the
hepatitis B vaccine is not associated with an increased risk of
multiple sclerosis or optic neuritis. However, a case-control study
published in 2004 concluded that its findings "are consistent with the
hypothesis that immunization with the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine
is associated with an increased risk of MS, and challenge the idea that
the relation between hepatitis B vaccination and risk of MS is well
understood."
The purpose of vaccinations is to reduce the risks of complications
associated with the diseases they are designed to prevent.
Complications from a vaccine should not outweigh those derived from the
disease. And yet, according to Dr. Philip Incao, who has studied
vaccinations and the immune system for three decades, in the case of
hepatitis B, "...the conclusion is obvious that the risks of hepatitis
B vaccination far outweigh its benefits."
Are vaccine-induced antibodies only temporary? Vaccine supporters claim
that the development of an antibody response to a vaccine virus equals
protection against the disease. So we now vaccinate children against
hepatitis B to prevent them from contracting the disease later in life.
But for this to occur, the level of antibodies that are supposed to be
protective must remain high for very long periods of time.
A study published in 2004 reports that antibodies to hepatitis
B surface antigen (anti-HBs) had disappeared by five years of age in
most of the low-risk children studied who were vaccinated from birth
against hepatitis B. A study in the Gambia found that fewer than half
of vaccinees had detectable anti-HBs 15 years after vaccination and
that vaccine efficacy against infection among 20- to 24-year-olds was
70.9 percent. A positive finding was that hepatitis B vaccination in
early life can provide long-lasting protection against carriage of the
hepatitis B virus-a major risk factor for liver cirrhosis and
hepatocellular carcinoma-despite decreasing levels of anti-HBs.
One study of adult hepatitis B vaccination evaluated the persistence of
anti-hepatitis-B antibodies in 635 homosexual men immunized against the
virus. After five years, antibodies no longer existed in 15 percent and
had declined sharply-below levels deemed to be protective-in another 27
percent. Hepatitis B developed in 55 men, and two became carriers of
the virus. Another study found that after three years, 36 percent of
individuals who initially responded to the hepatitis B immunization
lost anti-heptatitis-B antibodies.
Why then are we needlessly vaccinating millions of children if by the
time they’ll be adults and might be exposed to the virus, they won’t
have the antibodies that are supposed to protect them? And, in any
case, are these antibodies offering protection against the disease?
MEASLES, MUMPS, AND RUBELLA (MMR) VACCINE
In recent
years, two of three diseases targeted by the MMR vaccine-measles and
rubella-have been virtually eliminated in the United States. The last
major resurgence of measles occurred in 1989 – 1991, when more than
55,000 cases and approximately 120 deaths were reported. The ACIP
recommended in 1989 that a second dose of measles-containing vaccine be
added to the childhood vaccination schedule, and the incidence of
measles began to fall in 1992. A record low of 37 cases were reported
in 2004. In 2000, a panel of experts convened by the CDC determined
that measles was no longer endemic in the U.S. Similarly, the incidence
of rubella fell to nine cases in 2004, and it was determined that
rubella is no longer endemic in the U.S.
Despite this success, concerns remain about adverse effects of MMR
vaccination. The Institute of Medicine has found evidence that this
vaccine can cause anaphylaxis, thrombocytopenia, and acute arthritis. ,
Other research has associated the vaccine with adverse effects on the
nervous system gastrointestinal tract,and joints.
Meryl Dorey, editor of the Australian publication Vaccination? The
Choice is Yours and president of the Australian Vaccination Network,
points out that the MMR vaccine is associated with Guillain-Barre
paralysis, multiple sclerosis, and aseptic meningitis, a swelling of
the lining of the brain that can be fatal. The CDC has noted that while
cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome following MMR vaccination have been
reported, the IOM has found the evidence "insufficient to accept or
reject a causal relationship."
Measles Vaccine
Vaccine failures. A study published in 1994 evaluated all U.S. and
Canadian articles reporting measles outbreaks in schools and found
that, on average, 77 percent of these infections occurred in vaccinated
people. The authors concluded, "The apparent paradox is that as measles
immunization rates rise to high levels in a population, measles becomes
a disease of immunized persons." The New England Journal of Medicine
has reported that 60 percent of all measles cases among American
schoolchildren between 1985 and 1986 occurred in those who were
vaccinated. Other studies confirm a high percentage of measles among
vaccinated subjects. ,
Vulnerabilities related to the measles vaccine. Natural immunity to
measles-derived from contracting the disease-is permanent and is
transferred from mothers to babies in utero through the placenta.
Babies born to mothers who have had the disease are protected from the
infection during their first year of life by the presence of a high
concentration of natural antibodies circulating in their blood. Measles
vaccination, on the other hand, induces lower antibody titers than does
natural infection. Neutralizing measles antibodies passed by vaccinated
women to their newborns disappear rapidly, leaving the babies
susceptible to the infection in their first year of life, when they are
more at risk of complications.
This difference in infants’ immunity levels is reflected in a
1995 study. Researchers found that 71 percent of 9-month-olds and 95
percent of 12-month-olds had no detectable neutralizing measles
antibodies in their blood. All infants with detectable measles
antibodies at 9 or 12 months had mothers born before 1963, before the
vaccine era.
Research confirms that antibody response to the vaccine virus is only
temporary. One study shows that four years after MMR vaccination,
measles antibodies fell below the putative protective levels in 28
percent of children and were no longer present in another 3 percent of
vaccinees. Experimenting with high-potency vaccines produced even
poorer results.
Jamie Murphy, author of What Every Parent Should Know About Childhood
Immunization, argues that rather than preventing measles, the vaccine
may simply suppress it, only to have it manifest as other forms of
disease with age. He asserts that quite a few diseases are associated
with the measles vaccine, including "encephalopathies (brain damage),
aseptic meningitis, cranial nerve palsy, learning disabilities,
hyperkinesis and severe mental retardation...." Several studies have
documented that measles vaccination produces immune suppression that
contributes to an increased susceptibility to other infections. One
study links measles vaccination to Crohn’s disease.
Problems with vaccine testing. In a response to information provided by
the World Health Organization, author and lecturer Trevor Gunn has
identified shortcomings in the testing of vaccines and the rationale
for mass immunization, particularly with regards to measles. One
problem is that vaccine studies use seroconversion, or antibody
presence in the bloodstream, to indicate effectiveness. When UK health
authorities say that the measles vaccine is 90 percent effective, they
do not mean that it reduces the incidence, severity, or death rate of
the disease by 90 percent, but rather that 90 percent of recipients
produce a certain level of antibodies to the viral agents. However, the
level of serum antibodies does not correlate with the body’s ability to
fight illness. People with low antibody levels may demonstrate
immunity, while people with higher antibody levels may have no
immunity.
Given this disconnect, says Gunn, we must "place a greater
reliance on obtaining efficacy results of immunisation from population
studies." These studies measure the level of disease protection in
populations after they’ve been inoculated, using cohort groups matched
for age, population and disease exposure similarities, and so forth.
Although WHO quoted references to a number of population studies in its
communication with Gunn, the author says that all of the studies were
conducted in developing countries. Thus, the results cannot be
"directly extrapolate to developed countries," where people may fear
that the risks of vaccination outweigh the risk of contracting a
disease such as measles.
In addition, notes Gunn, population studies referenced by WHO show the
difficulties of vaccine testing. One study, for example, suggests that
measles vaccination reduces childhood mortality by 30 percent. However,
the control group was not non-vaccinated, but rather included children
who did not seroconvert and thus were assumed to have no immune
response to the vaccine. In this case, we would not know whether deaths
in the control group were due directly to the vaccine, to its lack of
effectiveness, or to lack of natural immunity provided by the measles
itself. In another group in this study, 15 of 123 did not have antibody
conversion after vaccination, so their results were excluded as well.
Three of this group actually died. We do not know the cause of these
deaths, or whether the remaining 12 in the group were prevented from
getting the disease. In another study, the cohort group was
cherrypicked for people who did not have a history of measles. This
group may have been less likely to die from measles in general or may
be heartier in general than the people who were selected against in the
study.
Mumps Vaccine
Although mumps infection is a largely benign disease when contracted
during childhood, it becomes more dangerous in older children and
adults, who are more susceptible to severe neurological, testicular,
and ovarian complications from the infection. It is alarming to see
that vaccination is clearly shifting the occurrence of this disease
from young children toward those who are older.
A large outbreak of mumps occurred in the United States in 2006, with
5,783 cases being reported to the CDC in less than 10 months (from
January 1 to October 7). The median age for the mumps patients was 22
years, and the highest age-specific rate was among people 18 to 24
years of age, many of them college students.
Questions about efficacy. The resurgence of mumps raises concerns about
vaccine failure. Although the CDC does not know the vaccination history
of all the 2006 cases, it has reported that 63 percent of 1,798
patients in Iowa (which had the highest number of cases) had received
one or two doses of the MMR vaccine.
Other mumps outbreaks have occurred in highly vaccinated populations in
the U.S. and Europe. The populations in several of these studies had
virtually complete vaccination coverage. In a high school population
with more than 95 percent coverage, 53 of 54 students who got the
disease were vaccinated. In a Tennessee school with 98 percent
coverage, 67 of 68 students who got mumps were vaccinated. Thus, mumps
cases in this instance were attributed mostly to vaccine failure.
Perhaps the boldest statement on the efficacy of the mumps vaccine
comes from the authors of a epidemiological study conducted in
Switzerland. They found a fivefold increase in the number of mumps
cases from 1990 to 1993, especially in vaccinated children. Among the
authors’ conclusions was: "The Rubini [mumps] strain vaccines, which
are the most commonly used in Switzerland, seem to have played an
important role in the clear increase in mumps cases since 1990."
Urabe strain and meningitis. Another strain of mumps virus used in
vaccines has been associated with the development of aseptic
meningitis. The Urabe strain is not used in vaccines in the U.S., but
it has been used in Canada and the United Kingdom in the past. This
strain of mumps virus was identified as the cause of aseptic meningitis
in 1989 in patients who developed meningitis 21 days after injection.
The virus isolated from these patients was identical to that used in
the vaccine.
The Urabe strain of the mumps virus was removed from Canadian
vaccines in 1989 because of a meningitis outbreak. The strain was
removed in the UK in 1992. According to Trevor Gunn, when laboratory
and hospital reports were cross-linked to vaccination records there,
"the [perceived low risk of meningitis from this particular vaccine]
rose to between 1 in 4,000 and 1 in 21,000." Despite these vaccine
withdrawals, a mass immunization campaign targeting children 1 to 11
years old was carried out in 1997 in Salvador, Brazil, with a
Urabe-containing MMR vaccine. An outbreak of aseptic meningitis
followed, with 58 cases diagnosed.
Rubella Vaccine
A study published in 1981 found that 15 years after receiving rubella
vaccination, one in 11 children lost protection and became susceptible
to re-infection. This is worrisome because rubella infection is
especially dangerous when contracted during pregnancy, since the fetus
may develop malformations if exposed to the virus. Again, the lack of
permanent immunity offered by vaccinations is creating serious problems
down the line.
Viera Scheibner, a retired research scientist, notes that in a
1991 report on the adverse effects of pertussis and rubella vaccines
from the Institute of Medicine, "the evidence indicated a causal
relationship between RA 27/3 rubella vaccine and acute arthritis in 13
percent to 15 percent of adult women. Also some individuals were shown
to go on to develop chronic arthritis."
In Part 3: Rotavirus, meningococcal, and smallpox vaccines; provocation
diseases associated with vaccination; economic and legal issues and the
right to refuse vaccination.
The Authors
Gary Null, Ph.D., has authored more than 50
books on health and nutrition and numerous articles published in
research journals. He holds a Ph.D. in human nutrition and public
health science from the Union Graduate School. Null maintains a Website
at www.garynull.com that presents information on how to optimize health
through nutrition, lifestyle factors and alternative medicine.
Martin Feldman, M.D., practices complementary medicine. He is
an Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology at the Mount Sinai School
of Medicine in New York City.
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