A Mulligan for Vaccines?

By Harry Hofherr

Remember when doctors used to take Wednesdays off? It was jokingly assumed they went golfing. As a former caddy I can testify that there were plenty of doctors hacking up the links on Wednesday’s, and every other day of the week as well. But for all the time they spent on the sport, most of them weren’t all that good. They took a lot of Mulligan’s.

For non-golfers, a Mulligan is a do-over. When you make a really bad shot you do it over. Sometimes a bad golfer takes more than one do-over. They try, try, try, until they get it right.

According to Dr. Paul Offit, today’s doctors are taking Mulligans on vaccines.

I read his book about the contaminated polio vaccine debacle, The Cutter Incident, a couple of years ago. It’s a diatribe against trial lawyers, government regulators, and the jury system. He is quite sympathetic to the vaccine manufacturers because, I suspect, they were just cranking up a huge industry Offit would later profit handsomely from. He gave Cutter Labs a Mulligan even after they injected 200,000 people with a nasty strain of live polio virus, permanently paralyzing 200 and killing 10.

Dr. Offit has written a new book about the false prophets and phony cures for autism. I haven’t read it but, and I’m just guessing here, I’ll bet he says there is no autism epidemic, the people trying to help their children are suckers, the phony cures being sold are dangerous unscientific and don’t work, and since Modern Medicine doesn’t know what causes autism they can’t fix it so you’re on your own. Oh yeah, I’m almost certain he says vaccines didn’t do it.

In fact, Offit is proudly proclaiming that babies can withstand 100,000 vaccines.  One of the reasons he’s proclaiming this magical number is, according to him, “today’s vaccines are the safest ever”.

Say what? Today’s vaccines are the safest ever?

A reader might reasonably imply from that statement that earlier vaccines were less safe than they are today, maybe even unsafe. It appears Offit is taking a whole lot of Mulligan’s on all the vaccines he helped mandate for babies.

His implication begs a few simple questions. When did vaccines become safer? Which ones are safer and what versions are they safer than? Is RotaTeq 2.0 safer than 1.0? (See Kim Stagliano’s piece on the 83 deaths associated with Offit’s new vaccine (HERE))
Are today’s vaccines safer than last years or the ones five years ago, or ten years ago?

Did vaccines become safe when the manufacturers claimed they took the DNA mutagen ethylmercury out of them? Or was it when they reduced the number of antigens, like Offit coached Amanda Peet to say? Or was it when a vaccine developer came up with the convenient idea to put three or four or five vaccines in one syringe without adequately testing to see what kind of stresses that would place on a developing immune system? Were vaccines safe when a child only got 2 or 3? How about when only 10 vaccinations were mandated for kids? Maybe vaccines were made safer by virtue of the sheer numbers that have been introduced and mandated over the past twenty plus years. Maybe it's the old safety in numbers theory being put into practice.

In the war on diseases the CDC tries to sell us vaccines as a lifeboat for humanity. But even the sturdiest lifeboats capsize. By trying to develop a vaccine to fight every microbe, we are jeopardizing our lifeboat. Look at the raw VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) numbers. They keep climbing in spite of the dismal compliance record of pediatricians. In 1991 there were 2,107 adverse events reported to VAERS. In 1999 there were 12,322 events reported. In 2005 there were 15,772. In 2006 there were 17,433 events filed. Last year, 2007, there were 28,525 reports of adverse events. All these adverse events increased as the number of mandated vaccines increased, coincidentally. 

Is it any wonder that last week 22 major medical groups came together in a marketing campaign designed to assure the public that vaccines are safe and that parents need to have more faith in Modern Medicine?

According to Dr. Renee Jenkins, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, even if a small percentage of infants are damaged by vaccines the benefits still outweigh the risks. That may be true, but how can we be sure? She won’t tell us who’s at risk from getting all these safer vaccines, and doesn’t want to conduct the research into finding the answer. Nor will she tell us what percentage of infants is at risk from all this safety. Instead of real research into vaccine safety we get a marketing campaign based on the denial of risk. A quarter of a million adverse events reported to VAERS since 1991 is a significant number of risks, even if it’s estimated to be only 1-10% of the actual adverse events. But Dr’s Jenkins, Offit, and the 22 groups reassure us that vaccines are safe and the risks do not include neurological damages like autism. They say all the studies prove vaccines are safe, except for the studies they won’t do. 

Without a vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study, the rest of them are at best, questionable.

When we look at the real risks of vaccines we need to remember the biggest risk. If the science is incomplete, if the ingredients are toxic, if the production is flawed, and if our regulatory oversight is AWOL, we put all of humanity at risk.

Maybe we ought to do a bit more homework. We don’t get to take a Mulligan on this shot.

Harry Hofherr and his wife have three children; two daughters and a son, Eric 11, who has autism. He has been in sales and marketing for over 25 years.

Comments

[Concerned]

Not sure why my post from last night wasn't loaded onto the site, but here it is again:

Dear Pharma?,
I agree with you 100% that it is imperative to study the subsets (noise, outliers, etc.). Critical needs would be to determine:
- what makes these kids outliers and what is the root cause (e.g. random chance, mutation, prenatal practices/ exposure, etc.)
- what type of screening test can be developed to identify which kids may be susceptible
- what factors (e.g. exposure to chemicals, vaccines, drugs (OTC or prescription), stress, head trauma, food additives, etc., etc.) could exacerbate the condition
- after what age are kids no longer or less susceptible to these factors, if any are identified
- what can be done to implement health policies to help to protect these kids and ensure that all available data are shared with professional organizations, physicians, and parents
I believe that these types of investigations should be conducted no matter what the health condition and what the possible cause may be. Feel free to add on to anything that I have listed.

[Kelli Ann Davis]

“The human body is an amazingly complicated system and more is being learned about it every day.”

BINGO! Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding!!! Someone, throw the man a bone.

Concerned, you’ve just hit the nail on the head!!! So tell me, where is the SINGLE STUDY that demonstrates the safety of the *current vaccine schedule* -- you know, the one where they look at the long term (that would be more than a few months) effects of *all* the vaccines which are given during the first several years of life??

Considering how unique each person is (think fingerprint) don’t you think it’s a little on the arrogant side for officials to continue to *add* vaccine after vaccine to the bloated schedule without taking the time to SEE how it effects the “amazingly complicated system” called the human body???

[John Stone]

Dear Concerned,

One of the most troubling things is that when people attack Andrew Wakefield they revert not evidence but what one might call the science of Deerology. For the record Wakefield is the author of in the region of 150 peer review publications of which the Lancet study is only one, and despite legend it has not been retracted by the journal. The key study regarding the presence of persistent measles virus in the gut of a sub-group of autistic children is Uhlmann (2002):

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=11950955

This has not been withdrawn: in fact it was quietly endorsed by the recent Hornig study:

"Our results differ with reports noting MV RNA in ileal biopsies of 75% of ASD vs. 6% of control children [10], [41]. Discrepancies are unlikely to represent differences in experimental technique because similar primer and probe sequences, cycling conditions and instruments were employed in this and earlier reports; furthermore, one of the three laboratories participating in this study performed the assays described in earlier reports. Other factors to consider include differences in patient age, sex, origin (Europe vs. North America), GI disease, recency of MMR vaccine administration at time of biopsy, and methods for confirming neuropsychiatric status in cases and controls."

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003140

Hornig endorsed the methodology of Uhlmann, exonerated the lab, but fudged it own data:

http://www.jabs.org.uk/pages/yazbak%20on%20cdc%20study.pdf

Note that the 3 labs (including O'Leary's) identified persistent measles virus from the ileum of two case (one autistic, one-non-autsistic but both with bowel disease, and having had MMR). Did their symptoms start prior to MMR - Hornig does not tell us, though it would bolster their case for "lack of association" if they had.

But this is only the beginning of Deer's problem, because based on his allegations the three doctors on trial at the UK General Medical Council stand (absurdly) accused of fabricating the children's gut symptoms for their own (mysterious) ends. This means that actually no one will dare investigate or treat gut symptoms of autistic children in the UK (this is criminal). Prior to the hearing commencing our National Autistic Society posted this statement:

"The National Autistic Society (NAS) is keenly aware of the concerns of parents surrounding suggested links between autism and the MMR vaccine. The charity is concerned that the GMC hearing, and surrounding media coverage, will create further confusion and make it even more difficult for parents to access appropriate medical advice for their children.

"It is particularly important that this case is not allowed to increase the lack of sympathy that some parents of children with autism have encountered from health professionals, particularly on suspected gut and bowel problems. Parents have reported to the NAS that in some cases their concerns have been dismissed as hysteria following previous publicity around the MMR vaccine. It is crucial that health professionals listen to parents' concerns and respect their views as the experts on their individual children.

"There is an urgent need for further, authoritative research into the causes of autism, to improve our understanding of the condition, to respond to parents' concerns and to enable us to ensure that there are appropriate services and support in place to meet people's needs."

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=459&a=13952

Deer has placed the Hornig study on his website:

http://briandeer.com/mmr/hornig-lipkin.pdf

but he is in a doublebind, because it undermines his allegations of unethical practice against the doctors, and it supports the Uhlmann study. We have yet to hear his explanation.

[Harry Hofherr]

Dearest Concerned;

My, my, you are a prolific defender of the indefensible. Were you by any chance a defender at the Alamo in a previous life?

Just curious.

Harry

[Tim Kasemodel]

Harry,

Glad to see a great parent like you chime in on Offit's greatest attempt at competition to Charmin TP.

I am especially intrigued by the very telling increase in the numbers of VAERS reports.

Nice to see you writing - but it seems wierd to even read AOA - Laura and I have been off line for a while due to all the wonderful things autism brings to a family that the ND think we should appreciate - like a kid chewing his stiches out of his wrist that he cut pounding on windows due to gut pain........

Keep on writing for us other dads!!

Tim

[Pharma?]

Well Concerned, I still think you're undersetimating the ability of the crowd here to do their own research and come to different conclusions than do you..Brian Deer, good lord.

Please drop the patronizing tone if you want to have a decent discussion. My point is very simple, we need to study the subsets (noise, outliers, etc.) in order to learn anything. By ignoring them, there can be no progress and the autism epidemic will continue. You seem to agree with this assessment, so maybe there is common ground here, regardless of what you think about Dr. Wakefield's work.

Now, if there are succeptible subsets (I'll give you this as an untested variable even though we all know better), does that not mean that risk is unequally distributed across the population?

You seem to be taking the Public Health attitude that everyone shares the same risk, so that if they do not follow the vaccination order, they are negligent and liable.

"Similarly, any person who deliberately disregards health policies that are designed to protect them, and they or their children catch a disease that would have been prevented by a vaccine, they should be responsible for any costs associated with outbreaks. "

Does the same statement stand if some subset is virtualy guarenteed to be damaged by the vaccines and withholds? Are they meant to be forced to be injected with something that has a high chance of damaging them? You are claiming to fight for the rights of victims, but this is clearly infringing on human rights to force them to sacrifice for the herd. Are these not victims?

[Concerned]

Dear Managing Editor,
I have experience in a number of areas throughout my career including medical/legal investigations, toxicology, research, infectious diseases, and health policy. I spent years working to help victims of crimes who could not or would not speak for themselves by tring to expose those who committed the crimes. I also worked in research, infectious diseases, and health policy to try to continue to protect people and hopefully prevent people from getting sick. I want there to be answers to health related dilemmas and for people to work together to find these answers. I see both sides of these issues and want to help clear up some common misconceptions.

[John]

Concerned, Lets face it. No matter what, you are here to dispute the beliefs of the readers of this site. You're spewing out things that you are well aware that we dispute

You still haven't told us which organization you're affiliated with.. So I repeat Go AWAY!

[Concerned]

Managing Editor: Dear "Concerned", I notice your url links to an AAP slide on infectious disease. Are you an infectious disease specialist? Shall we play what's my line?

To Phama?,
You state that "The fact is that there is no epidemiological study that is worth a damn concerning vaccines and autism. Nada. Nothing. They are all designed to discard and ignore outlier data, such as Hannah Poling, and my kids. The rest of the data points for the general population are then all nice and random so no relationship can be found - convenient." I would support any research that would be conducted to determine why any existing research does not show a link between vaccines and autism.

To date (at least to the best of my knowledge), the most convincing evidence of a link between vaccines and autism was published by Andrew Wakefield in The Lancet in 1998. Of course, years later, it was found out that the author developed this theory and the article as part of a scam to make a lot of money on law suits as a result of this faulty research (read this for more info: http://briandeer.com/mmr-lancet.htm).

If indeed there is some link that has yet to be proven, perhaps there will be some type of genetic test that can help to identify who may be at risk for developing autism or any other condition. The human body is an amazingly complicated system and more is being learned about it every day. Let's all hope that many of these unanswered questions will not be unanswered for too long.

[Concerned]

Managing Editor: Dear "Concerned", I notice your url links to an AAP slide on infectious disease. Are you an infectious disease specialist? Shall we play what's my line?

John,
I have been treating you and others with respect and I would appreciate the same common courtesy. I have nothing but the best wishes for you and all others on this board and wish the best of health for all children, no matter what it takes.

There have been many important advances in public health over the past hundred or so years and you are correct that clean water, safe food supply, and efficient sewage are critical to improving the health burden of the developing world, but you are very much mistaken about vaccines. Vaccines save hundreds of thousands of lives each year around the world and we are very fortunate, in the US, to not see these terrible diseases on a daily basis. The success of vaccines in preventing disease causes some people to think that they are no longer necessary. With regard to the importance of vaccines in preventing epidemics in the 3rd world, here is a link to some efforts from the GAVI Aliance, which is a remarkable organization dedicated to improving health of people around the world: http://www.gavialliance.org/performance/country_stories/index.php

Unfortunately, no amount of scientific evidence or proof of countless lives being saved is likely to make you see things differently. This, of course, is your prerogative and I would welcome you to conduct or support research that is scientifically sound and well-designed to show connections between thimerosal and autism. I would also welcome you to look at other environmental and genetic factors that could be responsible for autism. The cause(s) should be identified, confirmed, and then eliminated, no matter what they are.

[Concerned]

Managing Editor: Dear "Concerned", I notice your url links to an AAP slide on infectious disease. Are you an infectious disease specialist? Shall we play what's my line?

Lisa,
Thank you for the tone of your message. I understand that my opinion will be unpopular on this site but I hoped to provide a perspective from someone who has seen how vaccines have saved countless lives over the years and who is concerned by the recent outbreaks of diseases that are easily preventable by the use of vaccines. The internet is an amazing tool but it is dangerous when people spread incorrect information that has not been properly confirmed, particularly when it deals with health-related matters.

Below I will refute your arguments where you referred to my "mis-statements" and cite credible sources to back my statements:
1) Your statement: "the flu vaccine contains more than "trace amounts in select flu vaccines". The majority (92% or so) contain 25 micrograms of thimerosal" is inaccurate. There are flu vaccines available to people of all ages that have no thimerosal in them. Particularly single-dose formulations of Fluzone Inactivated TIV for children aged 6-35 months, FluMist LAIV for people 2-29 years of age, Afluria Inactivated TIV for people 18 years of age and older. This information can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/vaxsupply.htm#table

2) Your statement "the Tetanus vaccine given to anyone over the age of 7 also still contains thimerosal" is also incorrect. As with the flu vaccine, there are options for each age range. Please go to http://www.fda.gov/CBER/vaccine/thimerosal.htm for more information (Td for children 7-9 years of age and Boostrix for children 10-18 years of age).

3) Your statement "main priorities of professional societies are to protect their members; much like a union." I agree that professional societies have a function to protect their members, but not like a union. Physicians are often so busy running their practice, treating patients, and trying to have a life that they do not have time to review all medical research and investigate the benefits and risks of various procedures and medicines. Therefore, the AAP and other similar organizations collaborate with the CDC and other organizations to ensure that each organization understands the needs and concerns of the other. These organizations then make recommendations for physicians to follow, which ensures that they have the latest information and helps to protect them from frivolous law suits.

4) Your statement "They should not be setting any policy as it is a huge conflict of interest. Vaccines make up a large percentage of a pediatricians income." I disagree with the first sentence and described the reasons above in #3. Regarding the statement about vaccines making up a large percentage of pediatricians income…this is very much not true. Pediatricians must pay out a large amount of money to purchase and store vaccines in their office to ensure that they have adequate supplies for when patients need them. They also must purchase and upkeep the refrigerators, freezers, and temperature monitoring systems to ensure that the vaccines have been kept at the proper temperature to ensure that they will work as they are supposed to. If a temperature excursion occurs, the physician is responsible for paying thousands of dollars to replace the vaccines that had been compromised. Many physicians only get a small (~$25 fee) for administering vaccines, but much depends on how the vaccines are being paid for (e.g. insurance, VFC fund, charge patient). I'm sure that there are some who may charge more than they should, but that's another issue.

5) Your statement: "Both side can present horrible pictures of people damaged by disease or vaccines. This does not prove a thing." I totally agree. It is a terrible injustice to children who catch a disease that could have been prevented. And, if/when vaccines do cause serious adverse events, it is also terrible and should be investigated and reported. Any agency, company, or person who knowingly hides such information should be held accountable. Similarly, any person who deliberately disregards health policies that are designed to protect them, and they or their children catch a disease that would have been prevented by a vaccine, they should be responsible for any costs associated with outbreaks. For example, a recent measles outbreak involving only three people cost $142,000 to investigate and contain (source: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/common/press_releases/2005/measles_outbreak_070505.asp and http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5708a3.htm)

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

Concerned,

To expand on what Pharma? said... These comments:

"The removal of thimerosal from vaccines was done in the absence of any credible epidemiological studies that associated thimerosal exposure to autism. Government agencies, professional medical societies, and vaccine manufacturers spent many millions of dollars conducting research on the subject to try to find a link but none was found."

...deserve more attention. The thimerosal was removed because they knew it was a huge problem. This isn't rocket science -- it's biochemistry. It's brain-dead to think that 130x the EPA limit of mercury injected into an undeveloped immune system isn't going to cause some problems. The most amazing thing in the world is that most kids were able to absorb and eliminate these toxins with no apparent (at least not yet) side effects.

"none was found" is not the same as "none exists". The studies done to date did not contain sufficient statistical power to identify a susceptibility in a small percentage of the population. AND, the head of the CDC has already agreed that the one study that everyone has been basing this incorrect statement on is flawed in several ways.

Ask yourself why they've spent millions of dollars trying to exonerate the use of thimerosal rather than actually looking at the kids who've been affected. Ask yourself why there is sooo much opposition to a vaccinated vs unvaccinated population study.

You should be concerned. But I think if you start looking at the empirical science associated with this issue you'll change what you're concerned about (assuming that you're an objective observer).

[Pharma?]

"The removal of thimerosal from vaccines was done in the absence of any credible epidemiological studies that associated thimerosal exposure to autism. Government agencies, professional medical societies, and vaccine manufacturers spent many millions of dollars conducting research on the subject to try to find a link but none was found. Because there was a small chance of a theoretical risk, the vaccine manufacturers reformulated their products to remove thimerosal. It would have been easy for these agencies and companies to only stand by the scientific and epidemiological evidence, but they all worked together because of a theoretical risk."

This whole paragraph from concerned just about sums up the Pharma attitude. I'm sorry Mr. Concerned, but you just don't get it. The fact is that there is no epidemiological study that is worth a damn concerning vaccines and autism. Nada. Nothing. They are all designed to discard and ignore outlier data, such as Hannah Poling, and my kids. The rest of the data points for the general population are then all nice and random so no relationship can be found - convenient.

Do you actually think the folks on this blog who investigate these "studies" can't see what has been done? Do you really think that the "family" of parents of autistic kids is not filled with college grads (and professors) who can't figure out how to do statistical regression analysis?

Your language is pure Pharma doublespeak, maybe learned from press releases while reading the morning paper or maybe on the job, though it doesn't really matter. I like the part about Pharma being so generous to help us all out and take out mercury just to be safe. Ha Ha. That was a good one, even if you were serious.

[Lisa]

I would like to address several mis-statements by concerned. First, the flu vaccine contains more than "trace amounts in select flu vaccines". The majority (92% or so) contain 25 micrograms of thimerosal. The Tetanus vaccine given to anyone over the age of 7 also still contains thimerosal. Second the "main priorities of professional societies" are to protect their members; much like a union. They should not be setting any policy as it is a huge conflict of interest. Vaccines make up a large percentage of a pediatricians income. Both side can present horrible pictures of people damaged by disease or vaccines. This does not prove a thing.

[John]

Concerned-did I ever say "health problems"- My son is one of the "Lucky" ones- we adjusted his diet very early on.. But he still carries a toxic Lead/Mercury burden and at 9 years of age is just beginging to speak again. I am the father of a little boy who desperately wants to communicate with the outside world and is so frustrated by his inability to do so.. He lost his ability to communicate thanks to corporate greed and you cannot tell me otherwise.

The majority of Vaccines are a sham designed only to produce profits-we have the engineers of the world to thank, for bringing the vast majority of epidemics under control. If you want to control 3rd world epidemics, provide them with better infrastructure. (Clean water,safe food supply and efficent sewage)

If you want to discover the cause of Autism- stop the revolving door between CDC/FDA and Pharma- shut down the Vaccine Injury court and move these cases to state courts. Believe me we'll have proof quickly then

So Tell me which Vaccinate at all costs groups are you with? then go away

[Concerned]

John,
I am very sorry to hear that your son has health problems. It is always heartbreaking when the youngest and most innocent of us has to suffer no matter what the condition or cause. A very close friend of mine has a son who is autistic and I was with her throughout the time from when he was first diagnosed and throughout the next 7+ years through today. It has not been easy for her and I'm sure it is not easy for you. I hope and pray that something can be done to reduce the incidence of autism and to help those who are already autistic and their families.

bek,
Unfortunately, not all nurses or doctors know all that they should about the medicines (whether they be vaccines or drugs) that they administer. It is indeed a false statement to state that no vaccines have thimerosal in them. However, this is more likely the fault of the nurse's lack of knowledge and not the fault of the FDA, CDC, or AAP as they are all aware of which vaccines still use thimerosal as a preservative and which ones are thimerosal free. As you probably know, thimerosal has been completely removed from Hep B, MMR, DTaP, and others for a number of years yet it may still be present in trace amounts in select flu vaccines.

The removal of thimerosal from vaccines was done in the absence of any credible epidemiological studies that associated thimerosal exposure to autism. Government agencies, professional medical societies, and vaccine manufacturers spent many millions of dollars conducting research on the subject to try to find a link but none was found. Because there was a small chance of a theoretical risk, the vaccine manufacturers reformulated their products to remove thimerosal. It would have been easy for these agencies and companies to only stand by the scientific and epidemiological evidence, but they all worked together because of a theoretical risk.

Pharmaceutical companies work very closely with the FDA throughout the drug/vaccine development process from preclinical testing throughout all phases of development and beyond. It is not uncommon for prelicensure research to take >10 years and cost $1 billion or more. Vaccines, in particular, take a long time to prove efficacy in preventing diseases (as opposed to giving someone a pill and monitoring their blood pressure or pain sensitivity moments later...). So, there is more of an opportunity to monitor safety throughout this time period and in a greater number of subjects. You note that no studies are conducted on multiple vaccines, but this is not the case. The FDA requests concomitant use studies to be conducted on novel vaccines; sometimes these are conducted before licensure and sometimes they are to be Phase IV post-licensure commitments and are to be completed in a set time following FDA approval.

The FDA is very strict in their review and generally takes from 6-10 months to review a mountain of documentation. The CDC and FDA work together on VAERS to continue safety evaluations of potential vaccine-related adverse events. One must be careful in looking at VAERS data because events are reported whether or not they are vaccine related. Because of this, the CDC also conducts post-marketed safety evaluations using the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) project, which is more accurate and the data is often confirmed with physicians instead of just anyone reporting.

I'm sorry for being a bit long-winded, but I just wanted to provide a little background to readers on potential sources of research data where reporters or others may mine data in an effort to draw conclusions.

I agree with you that not all vaccines are necessary for more people (e.g. yellow fever, anthrax, etc.). However, vaccinations against measles, rubella, rotavirus, DTP, varicella, and hepatitis are critical because these diseases are very dangerous and sometimes fatal (even in the US). Measles is a terrible disease that is highly contagious and often causes long-term sequelae and even death, yet many people are refusing to get their children vaccinated because of unfounded safety concerns. As a result, there have been a number of outbreaks in the US and measles is now an endemic disease in the UK.

Children need to be protected from diseases or conditions no matter what causes them. People also said that smallpox and polio could never be eliminated but the efforts of health agencies, vaccine manufacturers, and others made or are making this happen.

[John]

Sorry Concerned, but I don't live in a fantasy world..

I live in a world where my son is damaged by vaccines..

[bek]

Hello concerned:
If the main priorities of AAP FDA and CDC were also to tell the truth, I would be more willing to trust. (one eg..When they say no vaccines containing thimerosal are given to children, that is a false statement. I have talked to many nurses that believe there are no vaccines made with thimerosal and are shocked to read the vaccine inserts-you see, they listen to the CDC and the AAP.)
If another top priority is to acknowledge that vaccines are NOT safe for everyone (that is WHY the VAERS exists) and examine more closely every single one of the people who WERE vaccine damaged and compensated for their injury and try to determine what went wrong, I would be more willing to trust.
And the comment that people are looking for answers to problems when no answers exist.....Many of the people posting here witnessed their child get vaccinated and their child immediately was not the same ever again. That IS a problem WITH an answer.
The research......like someone said earlier, if you looked at the data in the research, that tells a far different story than the conclusion to the research. Reporters are not looking at studies closely enough and just reporting what the CDC tells them. And yes, the CDC does review the data with vaccines for safety, but no safety study has EVER been done on multiple vaccines. NO STUDY< Yet multiple vaccines are recommended and administered to children everyday.
We know that some of the vaccines that are recommended for our children could prevent a serious illness (I say could because not everyone that is fully vaccinated is immune) and that if they are spared a serious illness then complications could be avoided. But some of these vaccines are not necessary for most people.

No one wants illness or unnecessary suffering in this world, but it is a fact of life and can never be fully eliminated. Anyone that says otherwise is just trying to sell you something.

[Concerned]

The main priorities of professional societies like the AAP and government/ policy organizations like the FDA and CDC are to ensure public safety through informed health decisions. Recommendations from these organizations are only made after reviewing incredible amounts of data, particularly with vaccines. It is easy for anyone to post inaccurate information on the internet that disputes valid large-scale scientific/medical research on vaccines or other important medicines and people are quick to believe this because they are looking for answers to problems when no answers currently exist (e.g. autism). I pray that someday there will be valid research to prove what causes autism and hope that parents understand the consequences of not vaccinating their children against terrible diseases. Please look at this page from the AAP website to see what could happen if you do not vaccinate your child: http://www.aap.org/new/idphotos2.htm#5 .
There are terrible diseases in this world that could be eliminated to end needless suffering, but not if parents decide not to vaccinate their children because of fears of a condition that has no scientific basis.

[Anne Dachel]

Web Pick of the Week
Publishers Weekly http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6599758.html?industryid=47139

has a review out on Offit's book. It wasn't a glowing report like from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Most notable was this comment:

"Overall, Offit's text seems unbalanced: though he takes on the '$40-billion-a-year' alternative medicine industry, he's largely silent on the much larger pharmaceutical industry; and after 10 chapters of debunking the 'false prophets,' there's just one brief chapter on what is known about autism causes and cures. A thorough and convincing debunker, however, Offit will likely leave parents still hunting for information, albeit better armed to find it."

Someone else noticed Offit's failure to address the power and influence of the vaccine makers.

Anne Dachel
Media editor

[Kathy]

I wish my daughter could have a do-over.