Vaccines and Measles Outbreaks

  – by Dr. Neville Wilson.   (February 2015)

 ( An abridged version of this article was printed in the Irish Medical Times on  13.03.15 )

 

In the IMT edition of 20/02/15, in characteristic combatant style, a certain Irish Medical doctor and regular columnist for the Irish Medical Times (IMT), reprimands parents of unvaccinated children, and attributes to them blame them for the spontaneous outbreaks of measles in communities abroad and at home.

 

His recommended punishment is the withholding of child’s benefits for children whose parents fail to provide a vaccination certificate, as proof of their compliance.

 

The doctor is uninhibited in his attack on the pedigree of such parents, portraying them as “believers in quackery and pseudo science”, despite the likelihood of them being middle class citizens and highly educated, and possibly even well informed.

 

Without any reservation, or recognition that their reasons may be science based and authentic, he acts a Prosecutor, Judge, Jury and Executioner, and metes out a judgement, that responsible physicians would brand as unjustly harsh and morally reprehensible.

 

My response is to act as Devil’s Advocate, and to offer reasonable and compassionate argument for the legitimacy of concerns expressed by a growing number of health conscious parents who are troubled by infant vaccinations.

 

Questions about the contents of popular vaccines, such as neurotoxins, carcinogens, toxic metals, foreign animal and viral DNA,  are entirely legitimate, and their harmful impact on the delicate immune system of the developing brain in young children cannot simply be dismissed without evidence to the contrary. And many insightful parents, who believe in scientific integrity, are asking these questions.

 

Contrary to the claims of Dr. Paul Offit , who claims that a child is able to withstand 100,000 innoculations at once, without any adverse consequence, Dr. Russell Blaylock, a respectable Neurosurgeon and expert on excitotoxins, believes that most of the damage caused by vaccines is hidden, and that vaccines in fact suppress, rather than stimulate, immunity.

 

(Dr. Offit is reported to have received a $350,000 grant from Merck to develop a rotavirus vaccine, and currently serves on the scientific advisory board for Merck, and has also served on the CDC advisory board that approved the addition of a rotavirus vaccine to the US National Immunization Programme (NIP) in 1998. Dr. Offit’s Rotavirus vaccine generated $665 million for Merck in 2008) – (1)

 

MEASLES OUTBREAKS:

 

The backdrop for the Doctor’s case against conscientious objectors to enforced vaccination, is the recent outbreak of measles in Disneyland, USA, purportedly caused by an unvaccinated visitor to the entertainment center.

 

That premature assumption, however, has been dismissed as being groundless, leaving the cause of the outbreak unknown, and purely speculative.

 

Outbreaks of measles are reported regularly from various countries, with 644 cases being reported in the USA in 2004.

 

In recent years outbreaks have occurred in the Phillipines and in France, and often occurring in unvaccinated, as well as highly vaccinated communities.

 

In a New York measles outbreak in 2004, 18 of the 20 people with measles had already been vaccinated against measles.

Was the outbreak caused by the 2 unvaccinated children, or by the shedding of the live virus by the 18 vaccinated children ?

 

Shedding refers to the common occurrence of vaccinated children carrying live viruses and transmitting them to others through respiratory droplets or urine during the early days following  vaccination.

 

Measles outbreaks can theoretically be caused by this method in highly vaccinated communities.

 

In Colorado, a similar outbreak occurred in 1991, in a community that had a vaccine rate of 98%.  (2)(Am J Public Health 1991 Mar 8.1(3):360-4)

 

The Swansea measles outbreak in 2012 occurred despite a massive immunization campaign in the UK.

 

The NEJM reports a measles outbreak in Texas in 1981, in which 99% of the population had been vaccinated.

 

There is clinical evidence that the measles virus can circulate and survive, even within an apparently immune population. (3)

 

While one plausible cause for these measles outbreaks is the large scale importation of unvaccinated people from other countries across these borders. (Not the case in the Disneyland outbreak.)

 

Small groups of children will automatically be excluded from vaccination programmes because of legitimate contraindications to the use of the vaccine. This means that those who are immunocompromised, or have allergies to components of vaccines may not be vaccinated, and may thus contract and transmit the virus.

 

Refusal to receive the vaccine may also be based on grounds of unproven safety, or for practical, religious, socio-cultural or for other reasons given by parents who uphold their legitimate right to informed consent. (National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986)

 

Measles outbreaks in Ireland  have also occurred with reported numbers of cases as follows : 55(2008), 162 (2009), 405 (2010), 300 (2011), and 50 cases reported in West Cork in 2012. Of these 12% had been vaccinated previously and 88% were unvaccinated.

 

The only deaths reported were of 3 children in 2000, but the clinical details have not been reported.

 

In a recent Newstalk Radio programme, Irish GP, Sinead Beirne was asked by a radio listener whether a child should be re-vaccinated following a bad reaction to the vaccine.  Her response was “keep vaccinating – there is compelling evidence for safety”. Her reply to this concerned parent is a contradiction of vaccine safety protocol, and represents a gross failure to inform and advise  parents accordingly.

 

This appears to be the standard pattern of official response to vaccine enquiries, with little being said about the potential for harm in some groups of children.

 

Alan Phillips, Attorney at Law writes, “ modern vaccine policy and law has been driven by fear based propaganda designed to further private pharmaceutical interests, and possibly non-monetary goals as well. It is time to correct this problem”

 

And he further states,  “ We need to bring transparency and honesty to the political process and healthcare policy, introducing legislation to end the unnecessary discrimination imposed on innocent children and parents every time there is a community outbreak of an infectious disease” (4)

 

Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, a former fellow of the American Academy of Paediatricians, highlights the lack of safety studies for vaccines, stating that there is legitimate uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and that doctors need to be sufficiently informed to advise anxious parents accordingly. (5)

 

Vaccine manufacturers are able to find refuge in a Bill, passed in 1986, which shields them from liability, imposing a monumental financial burden on taxpayers.

 

A UK Court ruled that the MMR vaccine, given to a young boy at age 13 months, caused severe brain damage still evident at age 18 years, and ordered the Government to pay compensation for the vaccine caused harm. (6)

 

VACCINE FAILURE :

 

Another less perceived cause of measles outbreaks is vaccine failure, which may be primary or secondary.

 

Primary vaccine failure occurs in a small number of vaccines where failure of vaccine uptake fails to cause the required seroconversion, leaving the individual unprotected, and in need of a second or “booster dose”, usually at school entry age.

 

Secondary vaccine failure is caused by waning immunity in the vaccinated person, resulting in greater susceptibility to the measles virus, and potential for spreading the virus.

 

Primary and Secondary vaccination failure may lead to the paradoxical situation whereby measles in highly immunized societies occurs primarily among those previously vaccinated. (7)

 

Laboratory studies show that even 2 doses of measles vaccine may fail to provide measles-specific neutralizing antibodies. (8)

 

 

 

ARE ALL VACCINES SAFE ?

 

In a USA Congressional Hearing, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) boldly asserted that all vaccines “ were safe and highly effective, and the best way for parents to protect their kids”. (9)

 

When asked whether there was any scientific evidence that vaccines caused autism, she replied in the negative, reaffirming that all vaccines are safe.

 

When asked about the risks of contracting the measles infection, she offered the fearsome warning about the potential for “death, pneumonia and encephalitis, and other brain disorders”.

 

Notably, she omitted to make reference to the measles vaccine package insert, which in small print, warns of similar conditions being caused by the vaccine, ie “death, pneumonia and cerebral disorders like SSPE, among many others.

 

The National Childhood Encephalopathy Study, in 1980, reported that measles vaccinations caused serious neurological disorders in 1 child out of every 87,000 children vaccinated. (10), but it is likely to be more frequent  given that the reporting rate in the UK is only about 10%.  (11)

 

Between1968 and 2005 the UK Department of Health reported 114 cases of encephalitis in children who had received a measles vaccine (12)

 

David Keppler, a former FDA Commissioner, stated that only 6% of adverse events are reported by parents, with 94% of cases being unreported. (13)

 

Adverse outcomes for measles infections may occur, but these are rare, and usually benign, with more severe outcomes likely to be found amongst children whose health and immune status has been compromised by conditions of inadequate nutrition or pre-existing medical conditions.

 

During the measles outbreak in Swansea, Wales (2012-2013) 664 cases were reported, with one death documented, and that of a 25 year old male who developed pneumonia after contracting measles.

 

It was established that he had a compromised health status, in poor health, and was being treated for alcohol addiction. (14)

 

It is well established that measles has a low mortality rate in well nourished healthy children.

 

Despite this documented fact, scaremongering tactics are commonplace in the popular media, warning of impending death from measles infection, more recently being branded in some circles as the “killer disease”.

 

A BMJ editorial in 1963 argued that “measles is a mild disease, and many patients and doctors may feel that no protective agent is required “ (15)

 

In a 1980 British Medical Journal (BMJ) edition Prof. George Dick, vaccine expert, advocated that a “mild wild measles virus should run its natural course in order to give natural life-long protection to the healthy children of the community, and to offer vaccine selectively to those who are most vulnerable” .(16)

 

Information from The Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS)  reveals that there have been no measles deaths in the USA since 2003, whereas there have been 108 deaths reported due to measles vaccines ! (17)

 

We cannot blame intelligent parents for raising concerns in the light of these disturbing statistics !

 

There are also interesting statistics which show a natural decline in measles, as with all other common infectious diseases, prior to the advent of vaccines, certainly so in the USA, where great alarm is being expressed in the media by the current outbreaks.

 

The mean annual mortality for measles also declined in England and Wales from 1900 to 1950, long before the measles vaccine was introduced there in 1967.

 

I served in a remote Mission Hospital in rural Africa from 1980 – 1982, where infected children from remote villages were frequently admitted for a variety of childhood infectious diseases, including measles. (18)

 

I do not recall any deaths from measles during this period, but many did contact pneumonia, as a secondary bacterial infection, and these were invariably well managed with standard medical care and appropriate nutrition.

 

So, is measles the “killer disease” as it is often purported to be , and which the CDC claims it is ?

 

Like many of my generation, I had measles as a child, and was nursed at home by a caring mother, without medical intervention, and without prior measles vaccination.

At that time Measles was widely considered to be a common and benign childhood infection from which full recovery was inevitable, and there was no public conversation or concerns  about “deaths from measles infections”.

 

Natural recovery from childhood diseases stimulates lifelong immunity, whereas vaccines can only provide temporary protection, with the added risk of an adverse event.

 

The temporary protection afforded by a vaccine requires most vaccines to be repeated as a “booster dose” at a later stage, inducing an artificial immunity.

 

VACCINE HARM:

 

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Programme (VICP) has so far paid out $2.671,223,269.97 as compensation in 3,535 awards for autism and vaccine damaged children. (19)

 

Vaccine Courts, in the USA and Italy, have clearly ruled that certain vaccines have been causally linked to autism, and have accordingly paid substantial amounts in compensation to vaccine injured children.

 

A similar ruling in a UK Court in 2010, implicated the MMR vaccine in brain damage suffered by a 13 month old boy, who remains a cripple in his teenage years. The court ordered the UK Government to pay compensation for the vaccine damage and costs of medical treatment. (6)

 

Merck, a well known vaccine producer, was reported as having falsified mumps vaccine test data to fabricate a 95% efficacy rate, required by the FDA for licencing of the vaccine.

 

According to papers before the Court, 2 former Merck virologists, Stephen Krahling and Joan Wiochowski, reported that “Merck knowingly spiked the blood test with animal antibodies in order to artificially inflate the appearance of immune system antibodies” (20)

 

These 2 whistleblowers have reported that Merck vaccine fraud has been going on since the late 1990s.

 

Merck has denied these allegations, despite the testimonies of its 2 former employees.

 

(It was reported in CBC News on 23 April, 2009, that Merck had created a fake “peer reviewed” Journal called the “Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine” to promote its pro Vioxx articles.

 

Vioxx was pulled off the market after 60,000 deaths from Vioxx use were notified.) 21

 

Reports of fraudulent activities within the CDC, have also been reported.

 

A former CDC scientist, who has since turned whistleblower, is now cooperating with the Courts in the investigation of scientific fraud within the Centre. (22)

 

Despite the assurances by Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC, that all vaccines are safe, a recent whistleblower has admitted to fraudulent behavior within the CDC, and the wrongful cover up of data revealing vaccine harm to vulnerable children.

 

On 27 August 2014 Dr. William Thompson, a senior scientist with the CDC, admitted to omitting data for the 2004 edition of Journal of Paediatrics, implicating African-American males who were at great risk for autism following the MMR vaccine before the age of 36 months. (22)

 

(Dr. Thompson is a distinguished scientist who has worked at the CDC since 1998.  In an act of great courage he felt morally constrained to release thousands of pages of CDC documents, containing research data, to the US Congress, unveiling a long history of  fraudulent studies and medical cover-ups by the CDC, which effectively hid the failures and risks of certain vaccines.)

 

Dr. Thompson is currently cooperating with members of a Congressional subcommittee and has been granted protective immunity by President Obama. (23)

 

While the mainstream media has kept the covers on these recent disturbing revelations, several independent journalists are bringing the details to the public domain where full exposure and legal consequences are being awaited.

 

Details of the fraudulent activities and concealed data by the CDC are available here: (24)

 

 

It is therefore not surprising that well informed parents are cautious about the enforced imposition of vaccine policy, and the lack of transparency for vaccine safety studies.

 

The recently reported vindication of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who was wrongfully accused by a freelance journalist, of falsifying data about the ill effects of the MMR, has further raised suspicions among concerned parents about the tendency to bury evidence of vaccine harm.

 

Freelance journalist, Brian Deer, acting on behalf of the Rupert Murdoch Group, fabricated accusations against Dr. Wakefield and had these non-truths published in a British Medical Journal by Editor Dr. Fiona Godlee, details of which have been shown to be false and fraudulent in nature.

 

Dr. Wakefield has initiated legal proceedings against Brian Deer, the BMJ Editor, and the General Medical Council for the wrongfully accusations against him and for the unwarranted loss of his Medical Licence in the UK. (25)

 

The findings of Dr. Wakefiled have been replicated by other pathologists, including his former colleague, Prof. Walker- Smith. (25)

 

Finally, Irish doctor describes these concerned parents as being ignorant about matters of science, despite acknowledging that they are invariably well educated and well informed, and many of whom might be medical doctors as ourselves !

 

A Dutch study reports that these parents who were concerned about the introduction of additional vaccines to the schedule were likely to be intelligent and well informed, (26),  a finding replicated in a Swiss study. (27)

 

In a 2003 UK survey, one third of family doctors reported that they were troubled by the increasing load of infant vaccines being  added to the national vaccination schedule. (28)

 

The condemnation of concerned parents who seek assurances of vaccine safety is clearly unwarranted, and the recommendations to withhold child benefits from their children is morally reprehensible and entirely inappropriate.

 

Our mandate as physicians is to hear the valid concerns of our patients and to respond to them with compassion in ways that are scientifically supported, clinically safe and ethically sound.

 

Dr. Neville Wilson,

Medical Director,

The Leinster Clinic,

Maynooth.

27 Feb 2015

 

REFERENCES:

 

1. Wired October 19, 2009
2. Am J Public Health 1991, March 8; 1(3):360-4
3. Vaccine 1989; 7(4):345-8
4. attorney@vaccinerights.com
5. www.NVIC.org
6. Sunday Times Aug 29,2010.
7. Arch Intern Med 1994;154:1815-20. Polard, G.A.
8. Vaccine 2011 June; 27(29):4485-91
9. Anne Schuchat : Congressional Hearing on Vaccine Safety.
10. Report on the National Encephalopathy Study, HMSO 1980.
11. Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunizations Minutes 15 Oct 1973.
12. MHRA DOH Nov 21, 2005
13. David Kepler
14. Swansea Measles Report
15. BMJ 1963; 5360:759-60
16. BMJ 1980; 280(6224):1186
17. www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html
18. Bethesda Mission Hospital, Zululand Now a Sate Hospital since 1982.
19. HRSA Health Reforms and Administration National Vaccinew Information Compensation Programme
20. www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/478
21. Corpwatch March 7, 2007
22. www.healthimpactnews.com/2015/
23. www.healthimpactnews.com/2015/obama-grants-immunity
24. why-is-the-mainstreammedia-ignoring-measles-vaccine-fraud-cases?
25. www.Natural News.com Jan 26, 2011 Dr Wakefield Demands Retraction from BMJ…
26. Vaccine 2005,23(24)3103-7
27. deSante Publique 2005;53(4);341-50
28. Child Immunization Survey Report 9 March, 2006. www.immunization nhs.uk/files/HP surveyreport.

 

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