HEPATITIS B VACCINE:
THE UNTOLD STORY
Parents Question Forced Vaccination As Reports of
Hepatitis B Vaccine Reactions Multiply
In increasing numbers, parents across the country are
contacting the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) to report opposition to
regulations being enacted by state health department officials that legally require
children to be injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine before being allowed to
attend daycare, kindergarten, elementary school, high school or college. Simultaneously,
as more schools and employers bow to pressure from government health officials and require
individuals to show proof they have been injected with hepatitis B vaccine before being
allowed to get an education or a job, reports of serious health problems following
hepatitis B vaccination among children and adults are multiplying.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) maintains
that federal and state public health officials are promoting forced vaccination with
hepatitis B vaccine without truthfully informing the public about the risks of hepatitis B
disease in America or the known and unknown risks of hepatitis B vaccine. Without being
provided with accurate and complete information about disease and vaccine risks, citizens
cannot exercise informed consent, which becomes a human right when an individual considers
undergoing a medical procedure that could cause injury or death.
Following is a general overview of what is and is not known
about hepatitis B disease, the hepatitis B vaccine and the politics of hepatitis B
vaccination.
Hepatitis B Not Highly Contagious - Unlike other infectious diseases for
which vaccines have been developed and mandated in the U.S., hepatitis B is not common in
childhood and is not highly contagious. Hepatitis B is primarily an adult disease
transmitted through infected body fluids, most frequently infected blood, and is prevalent
in high risk populations such as needle using drug addicts; sexually promiscuous
heterosexual and homosexual adults; residents and staff of custodial institutions such as
prisons; health care workers exposed to blood; persons who require repeated blood
transfusions and babies born to infected mothers.
According to CDC Prevention Guidelines: A Guide to
Action (1997), a book written by federal public health officials at the U.S.
government Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "the sources of [hepatitis B] infection
for most cases include intravenous drug use (28%), heterosexual contact with infected
persons or multiple partners (22%) and homosexual activity (9%)." According to Harrison's
Principles of Internal Medicine (1994), mother to child transmission of hepatitis B
"is uncommon in North America and western Europe."
Although CDC officials have made statements that hepatitis
B is easy to catch through sharing toothbrushes or razors, Eric Mast, M.D., Chief of the
Surveillance Section, Hepatitis Branch of the CDC, stated in a 1997 public hearing that:
" although [the hepatitis B virus] is present in moderate concentrations in saliva,
it's not transmitted commonly by casual contact."
Hepatitis B Not A Killer Disease For Most - Symptoms of hepatitis B disease include nausea, vomiting, fatigue,
low grade fever, pain and swelling in joints, headache and cough that may occur one to two
weeks before the onset of jaundice (yellowing of the skin) and enlargement and tenderness
of the liver, which can last for three to four weeks. Fatigue can last up to a year.
According to Harrison's, in cases of acute hepatitis B "most patients do not
require hospital care" and "95 percent of patients have a favorable course and
recover completely" with the case-fatality ratio being "very low (approximately
0.1 percent)."
Those who recover completely from hepatitis B infection
acquire life-long immunity. Of those who do not recover completely, fewer than 5 percent
become chronic carriers of the virus with just one quarter of these in danger of
developing life threatening liver disease later in life, according to Robbins
Pathologic Basis of Disease (1994), a medical college textbook.
The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services (1996),
written under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS),
states that the risk of developing a chronic hepatitis B infection is higher in infected
infants than in infected older children and adults: "Infections during infancy, while
estimated to represent only 1-3% of cases, account for 20-30% of chronic infections."
Because infants born to infected mothers are at highest risk for developing chronic
hepatitis B infections, routine screening of pregnant women for hepatitis B infection is
one of the most important public health measures that can be taken to prevent chronic
hepatitis B carriers. The Merck Manual (1992), a major medical reference used by
physicians, notes that "postexposure vaccination is recommended for newborn infants
of hepatitis B positive mothers."
Hepatitis B Low In U.S. - The U.S. and western Europe have always had among the lowest rates
of hepatitis B disease in the world (0.1% to 0.5% of the general population) compared to
countries in the Far East and Africa, where the disease affects 5-20% or more of the
population. According to Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, in the U.S.
"the greatest reported incidence [of hepatitis B] occurs in adults aged 20-39"
and "the number of cases peaked in 1985 and has shown a continuous gradual decline
since that time."
Even though hepatitis B disease is uncommon in the general
population in the U.S., it continues to be high among those engaged in high-risk
behaviors, especially IV drug use. Guide to Clinical Preventive Services states
that "In recent years, a growing number of injection drug users have become infected;
currently, between 60% and 80% of persons who use illicit drugs parenterally (through the
skin such as with a needle stick) have serologic evidence of [hepatitis B]
infection."
In 1991, there were 18,003 cases of hepatitis B reported in
the U.S. out of a total U.S. population of 248 million. According to the October 31, 1997 Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report published by the CDC, in 1996 there were 10,637 cases of
hepatitis B reported in the U.S. with 279 cases reported in children under the age of 14
and the CDC stated that "Hepatitis B continues to decline in most states, primarily
because of a decrease in the number of cases among injecting drug users and, to a lesser
extent, among both homosexuals and heterosexuals of both sexes."
CDC Recommends All Infants Get Hep B Vaccine - Even though hepatitis B is an adult disease, is not highly
contagious, is not deadly for most who contract it, and is not in epidemic form in the
U.S. (except among high risk groups such as IV drug addicts), in 1991 the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
recommended that all infants be injected with the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine at
birth before being discharged from the hospital newborn nursery. A similar recommendation
was also made by the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP). This, despite the fact almost nothing is known about the health and
integrity of an individual baby's immune and neurological systems at birth.
In 1991, media reports generated by the CDC used hepatitis
B disease statistics that were not anchored in documented fact but are still used today to
promote mass hepatitis B vaccination. Most of the inflated disease statistics originate
with statements generated by the Centers for Disease Control. In the 1991 ACIP
Recommendations calling for mass vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine published in the Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC states that there are an "estimated 1
million-1.25 million persons with chronic hepatitis B infection in the United States"
and that "each year approximately 4,000-5,000 of these persons die from chronic liver
disease" and that "an estimated 200,000-300,000 new [hepatitis B] infections
occurred annually during the period 1980-1991." The CDC gives no scientific reference
for this data other than the CDC.
Just one year before the government's call for mass
vaccination, hepatitis B vaccine maker SmithKline Beecham in their 1990 hepatitis B
vaccine product insert stated, "The CDC estimates that there are approximately 0.5 to
1.0 million chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus in the U.S. and that this pool of
carriers grows by 2% to 3% (12,000 to 20,000 individuals) annually."
Federal Recommendations Become State Laws - Because vaccination requirements are controlled by states and not
the federal government, in order for federal health officials to achieve their goal of a
100 percent vaccination rate with new vaccines marketed by drug companies, they must
persuade states to turn federal vaccine policies into state law. And, because during the
past 50 years, most state legislatures have completely turned over the power to mandate
vaccines to state health department officials, very infrequently do state legislators take
a vote to approve the mandating of a new vaccine such as hepatitis B. So, while American
children born in 1948 were only required by state health officials to show proof of
smallpox vaccination to enter school, American children born in 1998 are required by most
states to be injected with 33 or 34 doses of 9 or 10 different viral and bacterial
vaccines to enter school, including three doses of hepatitis B vaccine.
Federal Health Officials Give State Health Officials
Money To Force Hep B Vaccination - Following
the 1991 CDC recommendation for universal use of hepatitis B vaccine by all children,
state health department officials began issuing mandates requiring children to show proof
they have been injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine in order to attend daycare
or school. By the end of 1997, 35 states had regulations on the books requiring children
to get 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine and, yet, only 15 states had passed laws requiring
prenatal screening of pregnant mothers for hepatitis B infection.
To encourage states to mandate use of hepatitis B vaccine
by all children, federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control give grants
and other financial incentives to state health departments to reward them for promoting
mass vaccination. Since 1965, the CDC has given state health departments hundreds of
millions of dollars through categorical grant programs to promote mass use of federally
recommended vaccines. At the same time, if state health officials do not show federal
health officials proof they have attained a certain vaccination rate in their state,
federal grants to state health departments can be withheld.
In 1993, the Comprehensive Childhood Immunization Act of
1993 was passed giving the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) the authority to
award more than $400 million to states to set up state vaccine registries to tag and track
children and enforce mandatory vaccination with federally recommended vaccines, including
hepatitis B vaccine. The Performance Grant Program rewards a state with either $50, $75 or
$100 per child who is fully vaccinated with all federally recommended vaccines, including
hepatitis B vaccine and, in 1995, DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala gave the states the power
to approve a newborn's social security number in order to set up vaccine tracking
registries in more than half the states. The CDC plan is to hook up the state vaccine
tracking registries in order to create a de facto centralized electronic database
containing every child's medical records.
Pharmaceutical Industry Also Funds Forced Hep B
Vaccination - In addition to federal grants,
many states get money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Johnson & Johnson),
which operates All Kids Count, to set up vaccine tracking systems to enforce state
vaccination mandates. (In 1989, Merck & Co., the U.S. manufacturer of the measles,
mumps, rubella (MMR), chicken pox and hepatitis B vaccines, joined with Johnson &
Johnson to form Worldwide Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co. with the goal of becoming "one
of the premier worldwide consumer products companies." Merck's 1997 vaccine sales
reached 1 billion dollars.)
All Kids Count is a project of the Task Force for Child
Survival and Development headquartered at The Carter Center (former President Jimmy
Carter) in Atlanta, which is directed by former CDC director Dr. William Foege. The Task
Force is supported by the World Health Organization, World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation,
United Nation's Population Fund and vaccine manufacturers, entities which also sponsor the
Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI). The CVI, headquartered in Geneva, was launched in
1990 at the World Summit for Children and promotes "the development and
utilization" of vaccines by all of the world's children.
Forced vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine is also
promoted in states by non-profit organizations such as Every Child by Two, founded in 1991
by former First Lady Rosalyn Carter and Betty Bumpers, wife of Arkansas Senator Dale
Bumpers. Every Child by Two is funded in part by grants from Merck, Lederle and Connaught,
the three largest U.S. vaccine manufacturers.
The non-profit CDC Foundation, which began operation in
1995, has raised more than $15 million in the past four years to augment the CDC's
campaign to enforce mass vaccination. The CDC Foundation, the Task Force for Child
Survival & Development and vaccine manufacturers funded the recent National
Immunization Conference held in Atlanta.
The five-year-old non-profit Immunization Action Coalition
operates the Hepatitis B Coalition, which nationally promotes hepatitis B vaccination for
all children. Funding comes from private donations, including a grant from SmithKline
Beecham, manufacturer of the hepatitis B vaccine, and a new $750,000 grant from the
Centers for Disease Control. A newsletter produced by this group contains the assurance
that "Everything herein is reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
for technical accuracy (unless it is an opinion piece written by a non-CDC author)."
Pharmacists Now Vaccinate - SmithKline Beecham, through the American Pharmaceutical
Association, has also funded a nationwide campaign called "Pharmacy-Based
Immunization Advocacy" which allows pharmacists to vaccinate children and adults. As
of 1998, the Hepatitis B Coalition reports that 23 states have passed laws giving
pharmacists the right to sell and administer hepatitis B and other vaccines.
Families Penalized For Refusing Hep B Vaccine - As state health departments accumulate power and money to force
vaccination with all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine, child
and adult citizens are punished by both federal and state health officials with economic
sanctions for refusing to comply. Refusal to be injected with hepatitis B vaccine can
result in citizens being denied an education, including enrollment in daycare, elementary
school, high school, college and graduate school; denial of health insurance; denial of
employment; denial of federal entitlement benefits for poor children including food under
the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and medical care under Medicaid. In some
states, like Texas, a needy family loses $25 per month per child in state health benefits
if all children have not received all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis
B vaccine.
Hep B Vaccine Licensed By FDA Without Adequate Proof
of Long Term Safety - In 1986, the FDA gave
Merck & Co. a license to market the first recombinant DNA hepatitis B vaccine, which
replaced the old hepatitis B vaccines made from blood taken from human chronic hepatitis B
virus carriers. In awarding Merck & Co. and, later, SmithKline Beecham
Pharmaceuticals, licenses to market their genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccines in
the U.S., the FDA allowed both drug companies to use "safety" studies which only
included a few thousand children monitored for only four or five days after vaccination to
check for reactions. As "proof" their hepatitis B vaccine is safe to be used in
children, Merck & Co. stated in their 1993 product insert that "In a group of
studies, 1636 doses of RECOMBIVAX HB were administered to 653 healthy infants and children
(up to 10 years of age) who were monitored for 5 days after each dose."
Merck & Co. found that injection site and systemic
complaints, such as fatigue and weakness, fever, headache and arthralgia (joint pain),
were reported following up to 17 percent of all hepatitis B injections. Because the FDA
did not require drug companies to provide scientific evidence that hepatitis B vaccine
does not compromise the immune and neurological systems of children and adults over weeks,
months or years post-vaccination, Merck & Co. warns in the 1996 product insert that
"As with any vaccine, there is the possibility that broad use of the vaccine could
reveal adverse reactions not observed in clinical trials" and SmithKline Beecham
(1993) has a similar warning that "it is possible that expanded commercial use of the
vaccine could reveal rare adverse reactions.
Another warning in the Merck 1996 product insert is
"it is also not known whether the vaccine can cause fetal harm when administered to a
pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity" and "it is not known whether
the vaccine is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are secreted in human milk,
caution should be exercised when the vaccine is administered to a nursing woman."
And, although doctors routinely inject hepatitis B vaccine
into children along with many other vaccines such as DPT, HIB, MMR and chicken pox
vaccine, Merck & Co. state in the 1996 product insert: "Specific data are not yet
available for the simultaneous administration of RECOMBIVAX HB with other vaccines."
Hep B Vaccine Efficacy Also Questioned - All vaccines stimulate only an artificial, temporary immunity, and
the length of immunity conferred by the hepatitis B vaccine and the future need for more
"booster" doses later in life is still not clear. Merck & Co state in their
1996 hepatitis B vaccine product insert that "the duration of the protective effect
of RECOMBIVAX HB in healthy vaccinees is unknown at present and the need for booster doses
is not yet defined."
In the CDC Prevention Guidelines: A Guide to Action
(1997), the CDC states "The duration of protection [of hepatitis B vaccine] and need
for booster doses are not yet fully defined. Between 30% and 50% of persons who develop
adequate antibody after three doses of vaccine will lose detectable antibody within 7
years but protection against viremic infection and clinical disease appears to
persist." If immunity only lasts 7 years, babies vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine
may be candidates for more shots at age seven.
IOM Report Reveals Lack Of Adequate Scientific
Studies - In Adverse Events Associated with
Childhood Vaccines published in 1994 by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of
Sciences, observations about the limitations of hepatitis B vaccine studies included the
statements that "it is important to note that individual trials usually involved a
few hundred subjects for study...when larger vaccination programs were monitored,
observations of adverse events were necessarily less detailed and less accurately
reported" and "the studies were not designed to assess serious, rare adverse
events; the total number of recipients is too small and the follow-up generally too short
to detect rare or delayed serious adverse reactions."
The IOM report also noted that no controlled observational
studies or controlled clinical trials have ever been held to evaluate repeated reports
that hepatitis B vaccine can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome; arthritis; transverse
myelitis, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis and other central demyelinating diseases of
the nervous system (degeneration of the myelin sheath of the brain that helps transmit
nerve impulses); or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
A major conclusion of the Institute of Medicine report was
that almost no basic science research has been undertaken to define at the cellular and
molecular level the biological mechanism of vaccine-induced injury and death. The report
concluded that "The lack of adequate data regarding many of the adverse events under
study was of major concern to the committee...the committee encountered many gaps and
limitations in knowledge bearing directly or indirectly on the safety of vaccines. These
include inadequate understanding of the biologic mechanisms underlying adverse events
following natural infection or immunization, insufficient or inconsistent information from
case reports and case series...and inadequate size or length of follow-up of many
population-based epidemiologic studies…."
Medical Literature Cites Immune System/Brain Damage - During the past decade, there have been many reports in the medical
literature (primarily in international medical journals rather than U.S. medical journals)
that hepatitis B vaccination is causing chronic immune and neurological disease in
children and adults, including lupus: Tudela & Bonal (1992); Mamoux &
Dumont (1994); Guiserix (1996); arthritis, including polyarthritis and rheumatoid
arthritis: Christan & Helin (1987); Hachulla et al (1990); Rogerson & Nye
(1990); Biasi et al (1993),(1994); Vautier & Carty (1994); Hassan & Oldham (1994);
Rheumatic Review (1994); Gross et al (1995); Pope et al (1995); Cathebras et al
(1996); Soubrier et al (1997); Guillain Barre Syndrome GBS): Shaw et al (1988),
Tuohy (1989); demyelinating disorders such as optic neuritis, Bell's Palsy,
demyelinating neuropathy, transverse myelitis and multiple sclerosis: Shaw et al
(1988); WHO (1990); Reutens et al (1990); Herroelen et al (1991); Nadler (1993);
Brezin et al (1993); Mahassin et al (1993); Kaplanski et al (1995); Baglivo et al (1996);
Marsaudon & Barrault (1996); Berkman et al (1996); Waisbren (1997); diabetes
mellitus: Poutasi (1996); Classen (1996); chronic fatigue: Salit (1993); Delage
et al (1993); vascular disorders: Fried et al (1987); Goolsby (1989); Cockwell et
al (1990); Poullin & Gabriel (1994); Mathieu et al (1996); Graniel et al (1997); and
others.
In 1996, Burton A. Waisbren, M.D., a cell biologist and
infectious disease specialist, who is a founding member of the Infectious Disease Society
of America and past President of the Infectious Disease Society of Milwaukee, pointed out
in the Wisconsin Medical Journal that "there is an increasing number of
reports in the refereed medical literature about demyelinizing diseases occurring after an
individual has received the hepatitis B vaccination...since the hepatitis B virus itself
has been reported to cause autoimmune problems, should we not be wary of giving antigens
that seem to have triggered these problems?" Waisbren, in a presentation before a
1996 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum, warned that genetically engineered
hepatitis B vaccines contain polypeptide sequences that are present in human neurologic
tissues such as myelin and that, by a mechanism called molecular mimicry, these
polypeptides can act as autoantigens which can induce autoimmune demyelinating diseases of
the brain such as multiple sclerosis.
In that same year, Montinari et al published a study in
Italy evaluating 30 children and adults, the majority aged 3 to 9 months, who suffered
central nervous system disorders, such as seizures and autism, following hepatitis B
vaccination. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there is an immunogenetic
basis (autoimmune type) responsible for the demyelination process in the brain that can
occur following recombinant hepatitis B vaccination. The authors concluded
"autoimmune diseases are more frequent in nations where vaccines are widely used, the
so called "clear" communities" and they identified several potential
genetic markers that "may visualize risk patients for autoimmune diseases following
hepatitis B vaccination.
Montinari's work to identify genetic factors for
predisposition to hepatitis B vaccine reactions is important in light of the study in 1989
by Alper et al to identify genetic factors for those who do not respond to hepatitis B
vaccination. In that study, the authors concluded that there was genetic predisposition to
failure to respond to the vaccine. They stated: "These results support our hypothesis
that the production of anti-HBsAg [vaccine-induced antibodies] is a dominant trait and
that the inability to produce high titers of anti-HBsAG after adequate immunization is a
recessive trait..." The authors concluded that the genetic markers they identified
are most prevalent in caucasians of European descent "and is associated with a wide
variety of diseases with autoimmune features in this population, including Type 1 diabetes
mellitus..."
In 1996, Barthelow Classen, M.D., CEO of Classen
Immunotherapies Inc., published an epidemiologic study in the New Zealand Medical
Journal and reported that there was a 60 percent increase in Type 1 diabetes (juvenile
diabetes) following a massive campaign in New Zealand from 1988 to 1991 to vaccinate
babies six weeks of age or older with hepatitis B vaccine. His analysis of a group of
100,000 New Zealand children prospectively followed since 1982 showed that the incidence
of diabetes before the hepatitis B vaccination program began in 1988 was 11.2 cases per
100,000 children per year while the incidence of diabetes following the hepatitis B
vaccination campaign was 18.2 cases per 100,000 children per year.
Vaccine Injuries Reported At NVIC Conference on
Vaccination - At the First International Public
Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the NVIC on September 13-15, 1997 in Alexandria,
Virginia, physicians and scientists from around the world gathered to speak about
vaccine-induced chronic illness. Canadian physician Byron Hyde, M.D., Chairman of the
Nightingale Research Foundation, and an internationally recognized authority on myalgic
encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome), spoke about the data he has
accumulated on more than 200 cases of serious immune and neurological dysfunction
following hepatitis B vaccination. Dr. Hyde said:
"There was a nurse in Wisconsin who had had two
immunizations against hepatitis B. After the second, she started to complain. They
insisted that she have three more [shots], full dosage. They gave her the first, she
complained of headaches, pain, and they told her this was anxiety neurosis. They gave her
the fourth and fifth and she lost I.Q., measurable loss of intelligence, measurable loss
in stamina, all of the things you see in the worst cases of ME or chronic fatigue
syndrome.....A lot of these cases that we've looked at suggest demyelinating disease,
disseminated myelitis, localized injuries, three unexplained deaths...the problem with all
of this is that nobody has ever seriously studied it...."
Dr. Hyde was particularly critical of the poor science and
medicine that hurts patients. He concluded "Almost all of these people who had
adverse reactions after the first immunization, after the second immunization were
individuals who had immunological side effects and who told their physicians and the
physicians did nothing about it but continued to proceed with immunization... I think part
of the problem is the pharmaceutical companies and the governments themselves have
attempted to say 'Here, take this sugar pill, it is danger-free, it is a wonderful thing,
it has no risk, no problems' and doctors have become lazy and actually believed this
dangerous philosophy put out by the pharmaceutical companies and the governments."
Hep B Vaccine Infant Deaths Reported In VAERS - Even though fewer than 10 percent of all doctors report health
problems following vaccination, there are more than 16,000 reports of hospitalizations,
injuries and deaths following hepatitis B vaccination that have been reported to the U.S.
government Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since July 1990. There are
reports of deaths in infants under one month of age following hepatitis B vaccination in
VAERS, with most of the deaths being classified as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),
even though SIDS is not historically recognized in the medical literature as occurring in
babies under two months of age.
One of those death reports was made for a 15-day old baby
boy who died within 48 hours of his first dose of hepatitis B vaccine. His father
testified at a 1995 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum workshop. He described what
happened:
"For the first 13 days of his life, Nicholas was no
different than any other baby. He ate well. When he slept, he slept well. He acted just
like my first son acted when he came home from the hospital." Nicholas was given a
hepatitis B shot at his regular check up at the pediatrician's office on the 13th day of
his life. His father said:
"That night when I got home from work, I noticed that
Nicholas was crying a lot more than usual. In fact, he was screaming some of the time. He
was acting differently, but because we had just taken him to the doctor for a checkup and
they told us he was a big healthy boy, we thought everything was OK. When he was just
acting fussy, like babies sometimes do, we didn't know anything about vaccines or that
they can cause problems for some babies."
"Nicholas cried on and off for most of the night. When
I got up and went to work the next day, he was still crying on and off. He continued
during most of the day and into the evening. The next morning, his mother found him dead
in his crib. From the way he looked, he had been dead for several hours."
An autopsy was done the next day. A couple of weeks later,
our pediatrician told us over the phone that the autopsy showed Nicholas had died of
sudden infant death syndrome. He told us Nicholas was one of the healthiest babies he had
ever seen…. What I didn't know then but I know now is that the pediatrician had made
a report within 17 days of Nicholas' death to the government's Vaccine Adverse Event
Reporting System, VAERS. In VAERS, Nicholas' death is listed as SIDS. Even though I didn't
know anything about vaccines or SIDS, something told me that there was a reason why
Nicholas died, and I had to find out why."
After seeing an article in the Washington Post about
the Institute of Medicine report on adverse events associated with childhood vaccines,
Nicholas's father called the National Vaccine Information Center and began talking to
experts and researching infant death and vaccines. Eventually a clinical professor of
pathology, who had reviewed Nicholas' medical records, autopsy and slides, stated in
writing that Nicholas did not die of SIDS but died a cardiac death, caused by passive
congestive changes with pulmonary edema and hemorrhage caused by the active immunization
with hepatitis B vaccine. The pathologist stated "I do not believe this was a sudden
infant death syndrome death. Sudden infant death syndrome is the most abused diagnosis in
pediatric pathology. In this particular case, the infant was two weeks old. Sudden infant
death at two weeks old is so rare as to be virtually unheard of."
The pathologist went on to say that Nicholas was at high
risk for congestive heart failure because his mother had gestational diabetes, but that he
would definitely have survived were it not for the stress induced by the hepatitis B
vaccination.
Nicholas's father, in his testimony before the Institute of
Medicine, asked "How many other newborn babies are dying from the effects of
hepatitis B vaccine, but are being wrongly diagnosed as SIDS and no one ever knows the
difference? I looked at the computer printouts of VAERS reports at the National Vaccine
Information Center, and I saw there were other reports of babies just a few days or weeks
old, who have died shortly after hepatitis B vaccination. Many are listed as SIDS deaths,
but are they?"
Adults Report Hep B Vaccine Injury And Death To NVIC
- As hepatitis B
requirements force more adults to get vaccinated as a condition for getting a higher
education or working in the health care field, NVIC is receiving more and more reaction
reports like this one from a disabled nurse, who recently wrote in:
"24 hours after my first [hepatitis B] shot, I had
muscle pain in legs and arms - was told this was 'normal.' Same thing after 2nd shot. Six
weeks after 2nd shot I had my first episode of Raynauds [temporary loss of blood flow to
fingers resulting in tingling, throbbing, swelling, intense pain] and also began having
rashes on arms and neck. At this point it was minor and not constant. I asked if it had
anything to do with the vaccine and was told no.
"Six months after the 1st shot, I received
the booster. From then (1995) to today, I have constant daily fevers up to 100.5,
tormenting rashes and prickling on arms, hands, neck and legs, muscle degeneration, joint
pain with restricted movement, difficulty swallowing and Raynauds has become severe.
"I was perfectly healthy until the hepatitis B
vaccinations and still all the doctors tell me it has nothing to do with my illness. I had
reactions to two of the drugs they tried to treat me with. I am on total disability
because of these symptoms. I am an RN but was taught that the vaccines were perfectly
safe."
Parents Oppose Hepatitis B Vaccine Mandate In
Illinois - In the spring of 1997, a suburban
Chicago mother of two daughters, ages 9 and 11, became concerned when she received a
notice from the school system stating that her older daughter had to be vaccinated with
hepatitis B vaccine by September 1997 or she would be barred from attending school.
Although both of Kathy Rothschild's daughters were fully vaccinated with all other
childhood vaccines, she didn't know anyone with hepatitis B and couldn't understand why
her daughter had to get the vaccine. Her research led her to a public library and then to
NVIC.
With the help of Kathy Rothschild's State Senator, Kathy
Parker, an agreement by the Illinois Department of Health to not voice opposition, and
with support from NVIC members around the state, a bill passed the Illinois Senate 52-2 on
March 20, 1997, allowing parents the right to philosophical exemption to vaccination. The
bill also created a Task Force and required the Board of Health to hold public hearings to
review how Illinois public health employees add new vaccines to state vaccination laws and
how they implement those laws.
After the bill overwhelmingly passed the Senate, the
Illinois Department of Health went back on its pledge not to oppose the bill and
vigorously fought against the bill in the House, successfully killing it in committee
before it had a chance to come to a floor vote. However, the health department did agree
to roll back the hepatitis B mandate for one year (until September 1998) and to hold three
public hearings, which resulted in testimony from physician expert witnesses and parents
and reinforced the dangers of hepatitis B vaccine and the need for informed consent rights
to be established within state vaccine requirements.
Doctor, Mothers Say Vaccine Safety Data Poor - In a December 1997 public hearing in Chicago before the Illinois
Board of Health, Mayer Eisenstein, M.D., M.P.H., who is board certified in public health
and preventive medicine, quality assurance utilization review, by the National Board of
Medical Examiners and has recently completed a law degree, testified against the proposed
hepatitis B mandate. He said: "The idea of giving this vaccine to a one-day old baby,
a newborn, is preposterous. There is no scientific evidence for this. In fact, I called up
the [hepatitis B vaccine] manufacturer and I had [a representative] come to St. Mary of
Nazareth Hospital, where I am Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and I asked him:
‘Show me your evidence on one-day old infants as to side effects [from the hepatitis
B vaccine]’ – we have none. Our studies were done on 5 and 10 year olds....As a
father, grandfather, a physician, as a lawyer, I want the option of not giving it to my
children unless I believe the scientific evidence is there."
Later during the public hearing, a mother whose child
reacted to the hepatitis B vaccine testified that "We were told unless we had the
shot our children were not getting into school. In the past, I got the shots for my
children. So I went and got the [hepatitis B] shot. First shot, my daughter got slightly
sick. We didn't associate it with the shot. We associated it with possible flu. Her legs
hurt. Her back hurt...."
"The second shot, within two days of this shot, my
daughter's symptoms went from mild to severe abdominal pain around the clock. She couldn't
eat. She couldn't sleep. Her legs hurt. She broke out in a rash. She had eczema over most
of her body. Going to the doctor, we were told it was in her head, that she needed a
psychiatrist. Then we decided we would find out for ourselves.
"It was the people who gave me [information on the
vaccine], the list that I should have gotten first that said what the reactions were,
including severe abdominal pain, eczema, rash, hair loss. My doctor didn't tell me that. I
was given a piece of paper that said reactions would be a minimum, maybe a small fever.
She had a fever the whole time.
"I never knew any of this existed, and this is $18,000
later, a child who [had to be] out of school for the first three months and was tutored at
home. I don't want to see other kids go through this. I think there should be more testing
done. I think the parents should know that this shot isn't for something that's easily
picked up. This is for sexual transmission or drug use. My child is ten years old. She
plays with Barbie dolls and paints her fingernails. She doesn't know about this stuff. I
don't want to give her a shot to protect her from something and someplace she's not at
yet."
Citizens Make Plea for Informed Consent - Before testifying at a Board of Health public hearing held in
Springfield on March 26, 1998, NVIC held a press conference in the State Capitol building.
Then, along with scores of Illinois parents who traveled to Springfield to make public
comment, NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher Reverend Robert VandenBosch, President of the
American Research Foundation, and Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., professor of cell biology at
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, presented formal testimony.
Fisher told the Board of Health "There is a six year
old girl named Katherine lying in a bed in Skokie, Illinois unable to lift her head off
her pillow or walk to the bathroom. Just 13 weeks ago, Katherine was an ice skater with
boundless energy and a dream of going to the Olympics. Her mother didn't want her to get
the hepatitis B shot but her pediatrician told her it was a political issue like AIDS and
the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) was going to mandate the vaccine soon. Katherine
got that hepatitis B shot and now she may never skate again. Where were her informed
consent rights? And where will the doctors from the state health department and the CDC
and the AAP be when her mother carries her up the stairs to the bathroom? And will the
state of Illinois pay her medical bills when her insurance runs out after DHHS and the
Justice Department oppose giving her federal compensation?"
During limited public comment time, all of the parents
asked the Board of Health to allow citizens to follow the judgement of their conscience
when making vaccination decisions for their children, including the right to exercise
informed consent to vaccination without suffering harassment and punishment at the hands
of state health and school officials. Some, like a young man who was kicked out of an
Illinois college in the middle of the semester because of his sincere religious beliefs,
asked for the right to follow his religious convictions without being punished by doctors
employed by the state. He said:
"They have refused to give me credit for this semester
and have told me not to attend class and have cancelled my appointment with my advisors. I
applied for a religious exemption. Both my parents wrote letters identifying my objection.
We were refused on the grounds that, in order for a religious exemption to occur, I must
identify 'a recognized church or religious organization.' I don't believe that anyone has
a right to judge my religion. How does recognition of my belief by another human being
make it more or less? I am confused by the word 'organized.' How does the number of people
or the structure under which they operate validate my beliefs? This is a violation of my
Constitutional right to religious freedom."
Rev. Robert VandenBosch, an ethicist, warned that "The
First Amendment [of the U.S. Constitution] clearly defines the free exercise of religious
beliefs and the moral rights of individuals to obey the judgement of their conscience in
matters of life and death. The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that
governmental authority cannot override individual rights of conscience. It states: 'The
enumeration of the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.' One of the rights retained by the people is the
right of conscience."
Professor Of Cell Biology Investigates Hep B Vaccine
Damage - Professor Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., who
has a distinguished 25 year career in academic and laboratory science and has been honored
by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her pioneering work in contraceptive
vaccine development, presented at the March 26 Illinois Board of Health hearing and
described disabling reactions to hepatitis B vaccine suffered by her brother and a
research assistant.
"Three years ago my brother, who is a geologist Ph.D.
agronomist with four college degrees, came to work with me at Baylor College of Medicine
to work on a collaborative project in molecular genetic engineering of wheat proteins. He
was required to take the hepatitis B vaccine. Within 24 hours to four days after the first
injection, he had fever and severe fatigue for one week. Two to four weeks after that
injection, he ended up with a whole series of symptoms that now 15 doctors have said are
clearly symptoms of an adverse reaction to this vaccination. Even workman's compensation
for the state of Texas is compensating him for over $300,000 worth of medical
expenses."
"At about the same time, a 21-year old girl, a medical
student, came to work in my lab for the summer, She, too, had to get the hepatitis B
vaccine. After the first injection, she had fever and fatigue. Three weeks following her
second injection, she lost vision in her one eye but, after 6 months, regained most of her
sight. She was reluctant to get the third dose of vaccine, and talked with her doctor and
he told her this [hepatitis B] vaccine is the safest, there's no problem. After the third
injection, she ended up in the hospital for two months extremely ill and she has lost all
of her eyesight in one eye."
Dr. Dunbar went on to explain to the Board of Health
members that during the past three years of collecting data on the hepatitis B vaccine,
she has been contacted by hundreds of doctors and patients around the world who have
reported severe autoimmune and neurological complications to hepatitis B vaccination in
previously healthy children and adults, including serious rashes, fever, joint pain,
chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis and lupus-like symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis and
neurological dysfunction. As a basic science researcher with expertise in cell and
molecular biology, she is investigating the possibility that molecular mimicry or other
autoimmune mechanisms may be the reason why the genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine
"tricks" the immune systems of genetically susceptible individuals into
attacking their own bodies, causing debilitating autoimmune disorders.
After analyzing the data she has accumulated, Dr. Dunbar,
in collaboration with colleagues at other academic and medical institutions, applied for a
NIH research grant to investigate the role that genetic factors may play in hepatitis B
vaccine reactions and in vaccine failures. Their goal is to identify genetic markers so
high risk children and adults could be screened out of the mass vaccination program and
spared injury and death. The grant was turned down twice by the government in July 1997
and July 1998 but Dr. Dunbar and her colleagues are in the process of refiling the grant,
along with additional data.
Hep B Vaccine Victims In France Sue - An article in the July 31, 1998 issue of Science, an
American scientific journal, reports that French attorneys representing 15,000 French
citizens filed a lawsuit against the French government "accusing it of understating
the vaccine's risks and exaggerating the benefits for the average person." One French
physician has reportedly collected data on more than 600 people suffering from serious
immune and neurological dysfunction following hepatitis B vaccination, many with symptoms
resembling multiple sclerosis. Science quotes a World Health Organization official
as saying "These fears [of the hepatitis B vaccine] are quite unfounded" and
reveals that CDC employee Robert Chen, who is responsible for monitoring vaccine safety
for the U.S. government, has a simple explanation for the growing number of reports of
hepatitis B vaccine associated injury and death in the U.S., Canada and Europe. His
scientific analysis leads him to believe that "It's human nature to attribute cause
to almost anything that precedes a tragedy."
Hep B Vaccination Can Mean A Positive Hep B Blood
Test - A little known fact about hepatitis B
vaccine is that those who are vaccinated can test positive for hepatitis B on some routine
blood tests. NVIC has received calls from adults who report that, after getting hepatitis
B vaccine, they are testing positive for hepatitis B when they undergo routine blood tests
in doctor's offices. The Red Cross maintains that more sensitive lab tests used by blood
banks can differentiate between hepatitis B antibodies produced by disease and those
produced by the vaccine.
HIV vaccines now being tested in humans also produce
positive tests for HIV. As noted in a September 1997 Washington Post article about
HIV vaccine trials: "Foremost among the worries of many would-be volunteers is the
problem of forever testing positive for AIDS antibodies...although sophisticated
laboratory tests can usually tell the difference between AIDS antibodies caused by a
vaccine and those that indicate a real HIV infection, few laboratories are equipped to
make that distinction. Moreover, as vaccines get better by more closely mimicking the real
infection, it will become more difficult to distinguish between the two."
Is Forced Hepatitis B Vaccination Paving Way For
Forced Vaccination With AIDS Vaccine?Hepatitis
B is the first disease transmitted not by casual contact like smallpox or polio, but by
high risk behavior such as IV drug use and sexual promiscuity, that has been mandated for
use by all children. With the identical transmission routes as HIV, there are strong
indications that forced vaccination of infants and children with hepatitis B is just a
trial run for forced vaccination with an AIDS vaccine when it is put on the market in the
next few years. AIDS vaccines are currently in human trials as a race to bring them to
market intensified after a call last year by President Clinton to make the creation and
use of an AIDS vaccine "a national mission."
CDC Plans For Mass Vaccination Of All Children With
AIDS Vaccine – In a February 12,
1997 meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Neal
Halsey, M.D., chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious
Diseases, AAP liaison member of the ACIP and Director of the Institute of Vaccine Safety
at John's Hopkins University, reminded HIV vaccine researchers and developers at the
meeting that the CDC plans to target 11 to 12 year old children for "universal
application" of an HIV vaccine. Halsey told them:
"One of the things that's happened in the past with
vaccines is that sometimes the manufacturers have developed them and tested them primarily
in an age group or a population which may not be the final target population that this
committee has considered. Over the last few years we have developed a statement on
adolescent immunization and it probably would be worth your reading that, and others,
because we really see age 11 to 12 as the target age for introduction of vaccines for
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. And I know that, at this time, you are really
studying adults and you're also some distance away from the actual - having a [HIV]
vaccine in hand that might be licensed and approved - but at least it would be nice if
there were studies that were planned in parallel when you move another step in the
direction of actually having a candidate vaccine, realizing where WE think we would want
to use universal application of such a vaccine. And so I think maybe [you should get] a
copy of the adolescent immunization statement."
With the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI) and
pharmaceutical industry setting up the mechanism for global mass vaccination of children
and adults, including the creation of national and international vaccine tracking systems,
countries with low HIV rates like the U.S. and Europe will be forced to use an HIV vaccine
in order to pay for the vaccination of populations in Asia and Africa where HIV infection
rates are skyrocketing. In 1996, HIV vaccine developer Stanley Plotkin, M.D., of Pasteur
Merieux Pharmaceuticals (who developed the rubella vaccine and has been a vaccine
policymaker member of the AAP Committee on Infectious Disease and AAP liaison member of
the ACIP) explained why mandatory vaccination in rich countries like the U.S. help deliver
vaccines to Third World markets:
"The keystone of the [global mass vaccination] system
is that the research costs [of drug companies] are recouped in North America and Europe
and the vaccines are sold in the developing world at much, much lower margins...the
relatively high rate of childhood vaccination seen lately in most parts of the world is
the result of that system," explained Plotkin.
CDC Tells Congress About Future Vaccines - In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human
Resources in 1997, CDC official Walter Orenstein, M.D., made a bid to persuade Congress to
reauthorize 288 million dollars for the CDC's Immunization Grant Program in the $427
million 1998 DHHS budget request for immunization activities. In a review of the history
of vaccination, Dr. Orenstein recounted that, although almost a century passed between the
development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 and that of the rabies vaccine in the 1880's,
by the middle of the 20th century there were nearly two dozen vaccines on the market.
Painting a picture of the future, Orenstein said: "On
the horizon are vaccine technologies that would have been considered science fiction just
a decade ago, but are now reported at scientific meetings. Snippets of synthetic DNA have
worked as experimental vaccines in animals. Edible plants have been bioengineered to
become vaccine factories....vaccines have been enclosed in microscopic capsules,
permitting them to be released slowly over time..."
Orenstein reminded legislators that "Every day about
11,000 babies are born in this country. Each of these children starts with immunization
coverage of zero. There is why our responsibility to our Nation's children never ends; it
must be sustained every day of every year....completing state-based immunization
registries is the cornerstone of assuring disease prevention."
Vaccine Registries To Tag, Track, Force Vaccination - Even though CDC officials admit that there is already a 96 percent
vaccination rate in the U.S. with federally recommended vaccines, they are setting up
state vaccine tracking registries and plan to link them together to create a de facto
national electronic tracking system to ensure mass compliance with federal vaccine
policies. Citizens will be tagged with a number at birth and tracked even when moving from
state to state.
In 1995, DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala appropriated the
social security numbers assigned to newborns to allow states to enter all babies in state
vaccine tracking systems. In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum legislation, outlined plans for a
"unique health care identifier" number, which is an alternative to the social
security number, to be assigned to citizens at birth and electronically monitor their
medical records, including vaccination records.
In a 1998 CDC publication entitled Initiative on
Immunization Registries, the CDC states that "we see [vaccine] registries as a
possible first step in the development of an electronic pediatric record" and
"computerized registries will eventually be capable of capturing immunization for
individuals of all ages" and "until a unique personal identifier can be
established on a national basis, multiple means of identification must be used [in state
vaccine registries]." Core data that is now collected in many state vaccine tracking
systems include a citizen's name, address, phone number, social security number, birth
date, sex, race, primary language, patient birth order, patient birth registration number,
patient Medicaid number, mother's name (including maiden name) and social security number
and father's name and social security number.
Most often state officials automatically enroll newborns
into the vaccine registry without informing parents or giving them the right to
"opt-out" of the registry. In the state of Texas, PROVE, a parent group led by
Dawn Richardson, worked to get legislation passed in 1997 requiring the state health
departments to obtain a parent’s prior written consent to enroll a child in a vaccine
registry.
The CDC goes on to state that one of their main goals is
"establishing a target date to achieve the goal of establishing immunization
registries in every community in the Nation" and "promoting the
inter-operability of registries with other developing medical information systems"
and "promoting the automated exchange of immunization records between
registries."
What You Can Do - If you want to make informed, voluntary decisions about hepatitis B
vaccination, there are several actions you can take to educate your community and protect
your informed consent and privacy rights. Circulate this newsletter in your
community among your family, friends, and neighbors. Get reprints by sending in the
enclosed reprint order card. Reprints are available for $1.25 each. Bulk pricing is
available. Give copies to your doctors, lawyers, teachers, school principals, nurses and
others. Send a copy to your favorite newspaper, radio and TV station. Send a copy to your
state and federal legislators with a personal letter. Report vaccine reactions by
calling NVIC at 1-800-909SHOT or accessing NVIC's website at www.909SHOT.com. If you
are pregnant, get tested for hepatitis B disease. If you are infected, your baby is a
candidate for vaccination. Stand up for your informed consent rights. If you do not
test positive for hepatitis B; do not fall into one of the high risk categories described
in this newsletter; and decide you do not want your newborn vaccinated before leaving the
hospital newborn nursery, you can amend the "consent for medical treatment"
forms you sign upon entering the hospital before giving birth by writing on the form that
you do not give consent for hepatitis B vaccination of your baby in the hospital. Check to
see if your state has a vaccine tracking system and, if you do not want your baby enrolled
in a tracking system, find out how you can exercise your informed consent rights. Get
more information, including checking your state vaccination laws for requirements and
exemptions. Hepatitis B vaccine is required in 35 states. There are medical exemptions in
all states, religious exemption in all but two states (West Virginia and Mississippi) and
philosophical exemption in 16 states. Don't let anyone intimidate or coerce you into
taking action before you have had the opportunity to become fully informed about all your
options and are comfortable with your vaccination decision.
=======================================================
Leonard Horowitz
AIDS LINKED TO POLIO HEPATITUS SHOTS
Fri May 4 12:21:49 2001
WEDNESDAY MAY 2 2001
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22643
AIDS linked to vaccinesMedical journal report connects outbreak to polio,
hepatitis shots
A new twist on the theory that vaccines may have triggered the AIDS pandemic
is advanced in the May 2001 issue of the scientific journal Medical
Hypotheses by an independent investigator and author of a best-selling book
on the subject.
The report, by Dr. Leonard Horowitz, explains for the first time the link
between the human AIDS virus, HIV and the chimpanzee immunodeficiency virus.
The new theory proposes that HIV/AIDS was triggered by hepatitis B (HB)
vaccines, partly developed in chimpanzees, then given to homosexual men in
New York City and blacks in central Africa during the early to mid-1970s --
some of whom had received suspect polio vaccines a decade earlier.
Horowitz, who holds a post-doctoral degree in public health from Harvard
University, presented his preliminary findings at the XI International
Conference on AIDS in Vancouver in 1996. Last November, his controversial
thesis attracted a standing room only audience in Boston at the annual
American Public Health Association conference. The subject of a recent BBC
documentary, his publication in Medical Hypotheses underlies widespread
suspicions, especially among minority populations, that HIV/AIDS was vaccine
induced. Based on a three-year study of the pandemic's origin relayed in his
American bestseller, "Emerging Viruses: AIDS and Ebola -- Nature, Accident or
Intentional?" Dr. Horowitz determined that risky pilot HB vaccine trials
involved growing hepatitis viruses in chimpanzees commonly known to be
contaminated with retroviruses related to HIV. These findings scientifically
explain for the first time how the chimpanzee AIDS virus (SIVcpz), closely
related to HIV's gene sequence, suddenly jumped species to humans
simultaneously on two far-removed continents.
Four lots of HB vaccine containing 200,000 human doses, believed to be
contaminated with gene sequences common to HIV/SIVcpz, were prepared by
passing live HB viruses, grown in chimpanzees, to polio vaccine recipients
previously exposed to monkey cancer viruses already suspected of playing a
role in initiating AIDS. The final preparations were injected into
homosexuals in New York City and blacks in Central Africa between 1974 and
1975. According to several investigators, this may best explain how and why
there was a sudden simultaneous outbreak of at least four major HIV strains,
on two far-removed continents, in two demographically distinct populations,
in the late 1970s, corresponding to the only complete virus discoveries.
These disclosures come at a time of heightened concern regarding the risks
posed by HIV/AIDS to minority groups and U.S. national security.
"HIV certainly has links to sub-human African primates," Horowitz explained.
"What was done to these monkeys and chimpanzees during viral vaccine
experiments should come under closer scientific scrutiny."
HIV certainly has links to sub-human African primates. What was done to these
monkeys and chimpanzees during viral vaccine experiments should come under
closer scientific scrutiny.
============================================================
The Danger of Hepatitis B
Vaccine
by Kevin B. O'Reilly
Kristin Jennings was explaining what
happened to her 3?-year-old son, Dylan. She
recounted how he was a "completely healthy"
two-week-old baby before he received his
hepatitis B vaccination, at the
recommendation of his pediatrician.
She told of his extreme agitation and high
fever the night of the vaccination, and how
he stopped breathing in the doctor's office
the next day. He was feverish for three days
and projectile vomited on the fourth. On the
fifth day, all the tests came back negative
and Dylan was to be released. That's when he
started having seizures, and drifting in and
out of consciousness.
Jennings relayed how a CAT scan revealed
tremendous swelling of Dylan's brain. Three
months later, she and her husband, Jeb
Jennings, learned that Dylan had suffered 40
percent brain damage as a result of
meningo-encephalitis (swelling of the brain)
- almost the entire left side of his brain.
Even under the best of circumstances Dylan
would have a severe learning disability and
mild cerebral palsy, doctors told the
Jennings. Under the worst case scenario, he
would be mentally retarded and confined to a
wheelchair.
That's when Dylan could be heard crying and
yelping in the background, having just
awakened from a nap. His mother asked him
whether he wanted to say, "Hi." A sweet
little boy's voice spat out the word. "Hi,"
Dylan said.
"Do you want to say, 'Bye'?" his mother
asked. In the same fashion, he spat out a
heartily brief, "Bye."
"That's about half his vocabulary," Jennings
said.
Though it has cost the Jennings, who live in
Vail, Colo., more than $50,000 for
occupational, physical, and alternative
therapies in the last three years to ensure
that Dylan could walk on his own and "be the
best person he could be," he was fortunate,
at least, to survive.
Not An Isolated Story
Lyla Rose Belkin of Manhattan, N.Y., was not
so lucky. She died on Sept. 16, 1998 at the
age of five weeks, about 15 hours after
receiving her second hepatitis B vaccine
shot. That night, her father Michael Belkin
said, Lyla "was extremely agitated, noisy,
and feisty, and then she fell asleep
suddenly and stopped breathing."
The New York City medical examiner ruled the
death Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS),
because there wasn't evidence to indicate
any other cause of death. The coroner's
notes said, "brain is swollen" - just like
Dylan's was.
These are just two of the many stories of
parents whose children, usually infants,
have suffered severe reactions shortly after
being given the hepatitis B vaccine, which
was licensed by the FDA in 1982. As of 1999,
about 36,000 reports had been filed with the
Centers for Disease Control's Vaccine
Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since
1991, when the hepatitis B vaccine was
recommended for all infants by a CDC
advisory panel.
Hepatitis B is a serious disease caused by a
virus that attacks the liver. The virus can
cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis of the
liver, liver cancer, liver failure, and
death.
It is present in the blood and bodily fluids
of an infected individual and can be
transmitted through sexual activity,
intravenous drug use, and perinatally - that
is, from an infected mother to her child
during birth.
"It's not like a flu virus, where you get
the virus and you get over it and it goes
away," explained Dr. Pamela Diaz, medical
director for acute disease surveillance at
the Chicago Department of Health. "With
hepatitis B, there are two possibilities:
you can get over it and it goes away, or it
can stay with you as a chronic infection for
the rest of your life."
The CDC estimates that there are as many as
1.25 million Americans chronically infected
with hepatitis B. Every year, the CDC says,
between 140,000 and 320,000 people in the
United States become infected with hepatitis
B, but only half of those infections are
symptomatic. Every year, between 140 and 320
Americans die of the disease, according to
the CDC.
The CDC says that hepatitis B rates were
down 55 percent through 1993, though they
are going up among three groups: "sexually
active heterosexuals, homosexual men, and
injection drug users." Forty-one states have
added hepatitis B to their list of
vaccinations required for children entering
elementary school.
Neurological Damage from Vaccination
Many of the parents who have reported
adverse events to VAERS believe that the
hepatitis B vaccine injured their children,
though researchers at the Atlanta, Ga.-based
CDC say that there is no scientific evidence
of any serious reactions to the vaccine.
"The most common side effect is a mild
redness at the injection site, and an
occasional mild fever," said Diaz of the
Chicago Health Department.
Dr. Jane M. Orient, executive director of
the Arizona-based Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), and an
opponent of the mandatory hepatitis B
vaccine, disagrees.
"It's much more common for the baby to
scream for days on end inconsolably," she
said, "which is probably evidence for some
neurological damage that's going on, which
may or may not be permanent."
Diaz noted that in order for the hepatitis B
vaccine to be licensed by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), it had to go through a
"very, very rigorous" testing process. The
approval process usually takes 10 to 12
years, Diaz said, and includes randomized,
double-blind clinical trials using placebos.
"The hepatitis B vaccine was tested on
adults and in infants, because of the high
rate of carriage in China and Southeast
Asia," Diaz said, "where there were problems
with perinatal transmission, and a huge
problem with liver cancer, etc. Initially, a
lot of the vaccine trials were done in that
part of the world."
It is precisely where the trials were
originally conducted that troubles Orient.
"All the really bad long-term chronic
crippling conditions [caused by the
hepatitis B vaccine] have occurred in
Caucasians," Orient said.
"But the safety studies pre-licensure for
infants were done on Asians, like Taiwanese
or Alaskan Indians or Eskimos, who have a
much higher risk for the disease and may
also not have the genetic factors that
predispose a bad reaction to the vaccine."
Jennings said she almost immediately
suspected that Dylan was injured by the
hepatitis B vaccine, and mentioned it to her
doctors. She says they dismissed her
concerns, saying that the hepatitis B
vaccine couldn't have caused Dylan's
problems.
"They made me feel like I was a bad mother,
that I exposed the baby to some unknown
virus," Jennings said. "I took him out to
the supermarket when he was two weeks of age
and he caught something there. You know
that's the way that I think they make you
feel. They don't mean to, but the burden's
placed on you that your baby got sick." Not
one of the doctors who treated Dylan during
his first stay in the hospital, when he was
having seizures and his brain had swollen,
reported the matter to VAERS, Jennings said.
No Report, No Data
This is in spite of the fact that VAERS
"encourages reporting of any clinically
significant adverse event that occurs after
the administration of any vaccine licensed
in the United States, even if it is not
certain that the vaccine caused the event."
This is one of the many controversies
surrounding VAERS. Parents and advocates for
limiting the hepatitis B vaccine's use among
infants and children say that, at most, 10
percent of doctors report adverse reactions
to VAERS.
In spite of VAERS being "underreported," in
their opinion, these same advocates have
attempted to use VAERS data to show that for
children under 14 the risk of an adverse
reaction to the hepatitis B vaccine is
higher than the risk of acquiring the
disease itself.
"There were 872 serious adverse events
reported to VAERS in children under 14 years
of age who had been injected with hepatitis
B vaccine," said Barbara Loe Fisher,
co-founder and president of the National
Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a vaccine
safety advocacy organization.
"The children were either taken to a
hospital emergency room, had life
threatening health problems, were
hospitalized or were left disabled following
vaccination. Forty-eight children were
reported to have died after they were
injected with hepatitis B vaccine in 1996.
By contrast, in 1996 only 279 cases of
hepatitis B disease were reported in
children under age 14."
Diaz says that VAERS data cannot be used to
reach such a conclusion. "VAERS is an
adverse events reporting system, so any
adverse event that occurs after vaccination,
no matter how long after vaccination, can be
included.
"And so," Diaz continued, "albeit that VAERS
collects a lot of information about adverse
events and vaccine history, it's not
designed to associate causality."
Dr. Deborah Wexler explained it differently.
"Many times in looking for answers [about
why children become ill], we do tend to draw
associations to something that happened very
recently," said Wexler, executive director
of the St. Paul, Minn.-based Immunization
Action Coalition, which works to boost
immunization rates.
"In terms of children," Wexler continued,
"it would not be uncommon to be able to find
within a certain time frame a point at which
a vaccine was given. That doesn't make it a
cause."
So, if VAERS is not designed to associate
causality and is statistically questionable,
what is its purpose? "There might be very,
very rare events that wouldn't get picked up
in clinical trials that might be detected
with VAERS," Diaz explained.
"It should be looked at in the sense that,
'We've had these reports, could there
possibly be an association, let's go look
and find out and do a study do determine
that.' It's a way of generating hypotheses
post-licensure."
Sexually Active, Heroin-Injecting Babies
So, don't the thousands of adverse events
reports so far justify a new round of safety
studies on the hepatitis B vaccine? "Most
definitely," Diaz said, "we always need to
continue to monitor safety." What especially
angered Michael Belkin and his wife, Lorna,
was when they discovered that hepatitis B
was most prevalent among high- risk
populations of adults such as the sexually
adventurous, intravenous drug users, and
medical workers.
"Why in the world is this being given to
babies?" Belkin asked himself.
The reason, says Diaz, is that while most
adults do not become chronic carriers of the
disease, "if you acquire it as an infant,
unfortunately the scales are tipped toward
the baby being a chronic carrier.
"Ninety percent of babies become chronic
carriers," said Diaz. "Many who have the
virus chronically are asymptomatic. A number
of individuals will, however, go on to
chronic hepatitis B symptoms mostly
associated with liver damage, like cirrhosis
and liver cancer."
Wexler added that "children who acquire
hepatitis B have a 25 percent chance of
dying of liver disease as adults."
Jane Orient of AAPS finds this logic
questionable. "They say that the risk of the
disease is worse than the risk of the
vaccine. Well," she said, "if you get
hepatitis B the chance of having a bad
outcome is maybe greater than your risk of
getting a bad outcome from taking the
vaccine.
"But what they don't take into consideration
is that you may be very, very unlikely to
ever get the disease. It is not easily
contagious. It is often a lifestyle or
occupational factor, something that you are
not likely to get in casual contact."
Barbara Loe Fisher of NVIC agrees. "You know
you don't get hepatitis B by being next to
someone who sneezed in an elevator. It's not
like whooping cough or the measles. This is
a very different kind of disease to require
children to be vaccinated for."
"We're taught to believe that vaccinations
are safe and effective," Kristin Jennings
said. "We all buy into that - I, as a new
mother, did. I'm not against all
vaccinations. Every parent should have the
right to choose what is right for their
child.
"But with the hepatitis B vaccine ? it is
criminal to require it to be given to a
newborn. They are not in a high-risk
category."
===================================================
Mass Murder in
Medicine:
Dr. Len Horowitz
on “The Insight Hour”
Discussing
“Iatrogenocide”
Dr. Len Horowitz, internationally
known authority in public health and emerging diseases, and the nationally syndicated
radio talk show host of “The Insight Hour,” delves into the darkest side of
drug-based medicine, including the mass killing and poisoning of people for profit and
politics. This free program is dedicated and donated to grassroots activists and
organizations worldwide working to stop this ongoing medically-induced mass murder that
Dr. Horowitz christens “iatrogenocide.” Find out why trusted vaccines, blood
supplies, and drugs play a primary role in what amounts to genocide for profit,
psychosocial control, and even depopulation. We urge you to make copies of this
exceptional 45-minute presentation, help spread this recording, and stop the killing.
(To order bulk quantities of this
tape for dissemination by activists and activist organizations please call toll free
1-888-508-4787 or order over the Internet at www.AmericanRedDoubleCross.com
====================================================================
NEW! Pentagon plans for
smallpox outbreak
NEW! Divine
Revelations versus Smallpox Vaccinations
NEW! Smallpox
Vaccination Risks Versus Natural Healing of Smallpox
NEW! Smallpox
Vaccine Test Results from Baylor University
NEW!
Investigators Conclude Russian
Defector is Lead Suspect in Anthrax Mailings Case
NEW!
Disease
Deities on Capitol Hill Address Autism: Vaccine Injuries Reflect a Deeper Political
Pathology
NEW!
USGAO Commits FRAUD IN AIDS Cover-up
OF “Special Virus Cancer Program” Investigation: Officials Lie and Omit Dr.
Horowitz’s Expert Testimony
Vaccination: The UnGodly Practice
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/vaccination.htm
A proclamation on Vaccinations
http://www.apfn/apfn/vaccine1.htm
MMR Vaccine And Subsequent Cases of Autism Suspected
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/vaccine2.htm
Human Waste Being Used In Fertilizer In Washington State
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/waste.htm
AIDS [HIV]
'The Manufactured Virus'
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/aids.htm
Polio Vaccines and the Origin of AIDS
http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/Elswood94.html
Artificial Sweeteners Conspiracy to Make Americans Sick
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/sick.htm
Fluoride
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fluoride.htm
Shocking News About Fluoride
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/flouride.htm
TOP FLUORIDE EXPERT APOLOGIZES FOR PUSHING POISON
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fluoride-expert.htm
Why Americans Are SHEEPLES: FLUORIDE
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/sheeples.htm
Fluoride is a Corrosive Poison
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/poison.htm
Fluoride - The Lunatic Drug
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/water.htm
Who Decides What Drugs Are Forced on Children?
http://educate-yourself.org/vcdwhodecidesschlaflyfeb01.html
SETTING US UP FOR LETHAL FLU
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/flu.htm
Soldiers Disciplined For Refusal of Anthrax Vaccine
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/soldiers.htm
POPULATION CONTROL AND THE U.N
http://apfn.org/apfn/control2.htm
Contrails (Chemtrails)
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/contrails.htm
...More on Contrails (Chemtrails)
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/morecontrails.htm
Subject: chemtrails/contrails
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/con_chem.htm
More Efforts To Force Injections On Our Children
http://educate-yourself.org/vdnoshotsnoschoolnokids3dec0.html
Vaccinations May Be Rx For Disaster
http://educate-yourself.org/vdvaccinesprescripfordisaster.html
West Nile virus appears in NYC
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/nycvirus.htm
POLLUTION, VIOLENCE, AND HEALTH
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/pollution.htm
HOW THE ANTHRAX VACCINE RUINED MY LIFE
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/anthrax.htm
Secret US Human Biological Experimentation
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/experiment.htm
The
short, eye-opening eBook linked below is titled
Aluminum in
Vaccines — a Neurological Gamble, by Neil
Miller, director of the Thinktwice Global Vaccine
Institute. It documents the hazards associated with
aluminum-laden vaccines. Children are receiving high
concentrations of aluminum in their shots.
