Our findings show a positive correlation between the number of vaccine doses administered and the percentage of hospitalizations and deaths. Since vaccines are given to millions of infants annually, it is imperative that health authorities have scientific data from synergistic toxicity studies on all combinations of vaccines that infants might receive. Finding ways to increase vaccine safety should be the highest priority. While each childhood vaccine has individually undergone clinical trials to assess safety, studies have not been conducted to determine the safety (or efficacy) of combining vaccines during a single physician visit as recommended by CDC guidelines. For example, 2-, 4-, and 6-month-old infants are expected to receive vaccines for polio, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, rotavirus, Haemophilus influenzae type B, and pneumococcal, all during a single well-baby visit—even though this combination of 8 vaccine doses was never tested in clinical trials. An article written by Guess, representing a vaccine manufacturer, claimed that it is “impractical to conduct preapproval studies of all combinations [of vaccines] in clinical practice.”1 However, a recent study by Miller and Goldman found that among the developed nations, infant mortality increased with an increase in the number of vaccine doses.2 Similar associations have also been found with respect to other serious adverse outcomes. Delong reported that the higher the proportion of children receiving recommended vaccinations, the higher the prevalence of autism or speech and language impairment.3 A CDC report on mixed exposures to chemical substances and other stressors, including prescribed pharmaceuticals, found that they may produce “increased or unexpected deleterious health effects.” In addition, “exposures to mixed stressors can produce health consequences that are additive, synergistic, antagonistic, or can potentiate the response expected from individual component exposures.”4 Administering six, seven, or eight vaccine doses to an infant during a single physician visit may certainly be more convenient for parents—rather than making additional trips to the doctor’s office—but evidence of a positive association between infant adverse reactions and the number of vaccine doses administered confirms that vaccine safety must remain the highest priority. A disproportionate number of hospitalizations were due to the administration of the at-birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccination: 809 (73%) of the 1115 VAERS cases reported the receipt of hepatitis B vaccine; 242 (30%) of these 809 were reported as hospitalized. Several studies provide evidence of correlations between hepatitis B vaccination and serious adverse reactions, including pediatric multiple sclerosis.6–12 Thus, the newborn dose of hepatitis B vaccine, administered at a time when the immune system is most immature, may be contributing to increased vulnerability to serious adverse reactions causing disproportionately high rates of hospitalizations during the neonatal period. According to Ottaviani et al., ‘Any case of sudden unexpected death occurring … in infancy, especially soon after a vaccination, should always undergo a full necropsy study,’ otherwise a true association between vaccination and death may escape detection.16 A recent study by Kuhnert et al. demonstrated a 16-fold increase in unexplained sudden unexpected death after the fourth dose of a penta- (5-in-1) or hexavalent (6-in-1) vaccine.17 Similarly, Zinka et al. reported 6 cases of sudden infant death syndrome that occurred within 48 hours following the administration of a hexavalent vaccine. At postmortal examination, these cases showed “unusual findings in the brain” that appeared compatible with an association between hexavalent vaccination and sudden infant death syndrome.18 These examples provide additional evidence that cases of vaccine-related mortality are likely underreported in VAERS. Common vaccine substances include antigens (attenuated viruses, bacteria, and toxoids), preservatives (thimerosal, benzethonium chloride, 2-phenoxyethanol, and phenol), adjuvants (aluminum salts), additives (ammonium sulfate, glycerin, sodium borate, polysorbate 80, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, and potassium chloride), stabilizers (fetal bovine serum, monosodium glutamate, human serum albumin, and porcine gelatin), antibiotics (neomycin, streptomycin, and polymyxin B), and inactivating chemicals (formalin, glutaraldehyde, and polyoxyethylene). Some reports have postulated that environmental factors, including vaccine administration, can trigger an adverse reaction due to its various components or agents that deplete body resources and/or cause immune insults.22–24 These trends not only have a biological plausibility but are supported by evidence from case reports, case series, and other studies using entirely different methodologies and specific population cohorts. Studies have not been conducted to determine the safety (or efficacy) of administering multiple vaccine doses in a variety of combinations as recommended by CDC guidelines. Our findings show a positive correlation between the number of vaccine doses administered and the percentage of hospitalizations and deaths reported to VAERS. In addition, younger infants were significantly more likely than older infants to be hospitalized or die after receiving vaccines. Since vaccines are administered to millions of infants every year, it is imperative that health authorities have scientific data from synergistic toxicity studies on all combinations of vaccines that infants are likely to receive; universal vaccine recommendations must be supported by such studies. Adverse reaction trends detected in VAERS have important implications for vaccine recipients and health care providers. Finding ways to increase vaccine safety should be the highest priority. Further inspection of potential correlations between increasing vaccine doses, hospitalizations, and death is essential. Health care policy makers have an obligation to determine whether immunization schedules are achieving their desired goals. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3547435/
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:45:06 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015