OLMSTED ON AUTISM: CDC triggers measles outbreak
By DAN OLMSTED
I'm starting to think we should rename the CDC the Centers for Disease Contagion. You've all seen the news that there are suddenly more measles cases in the United States and the CDC is blaming it in part on the increasing reluctance of parents to vaccinate their kids.
But it's the CDC's fault, and no other. Getting the "measles shot" means getting the MMR, and the MMR is "the autism shot" in the minds of many, many parents.
That's what Jenny McCarthy called it just before her doctor assured her it was not, just before he gave it to Evan, just before Evan regressed into autism. That's the shot they're trying to crucify Andy Wakefield for warning about -- for saying way back in 1998 that it might be best to split up the components while we figure this out. (That was several hundred thousand autism cases ago. Good luck trying to get just a measles shot.) The MMR is the shot Merck combined with chickenpox vaccine and ended up giving kids twice the number of fever-induced seizures. And the MMR's the shot the CDC still recommends at 12 months on the same office visit as the chickenpox shot. They see nothing, they learn nothing, and then they blame it all on parents who do.
Instead of acknowledging or connecting any of this, the media call in their experts -- doctors all, of course -- to remind everyone to look at the nice, color-coded,, easy to understand immunization schedule the CDC so helpfully posts (Thanks, Dr. Nancy!). That, they suggest, would set everyone's mind at ease and get all our kiddies back on schedule.
I doubt it. I think it would scare parents even further to death, if such a thing is technically possible.
Let me tell you one reason why I'm not shy or circumspect about squarely blaming the CDC for this -- because Jon Poling, Hannah's dad, predicted something like this, or much worse, just a few week ago. And he said just what I'm saying. In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 11, he wrote: "The current vaccine schedule, co-sponsored by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, injures a small but significant minority of children, my daughter unfortunately being one of those victims. Every day, more parents and some pediatricians reject the current vaccine schedule. In an abundance of caution, meaningful reform must be performed urgently to prevent the re-emergence of serious diseases like polio or measles.
"As a neurologist, I have cared for those afflicted with SSPE (a rare but dreaded neurological complication of measles), paralytic polio and tetanus. If these serious vaccine-preventable diseases again become commonplace, the fault will rest solely on the shoulders of public health leaders and policymakers who have failed to heed the writing on the wall (scribbled by my 9-year old daughter)."
Dr, Poling is the real deal, educated at Johns Hopkins, devoted both to his daughter and his patients, tempered by reality. He's mild-mannered. He's mainstream. He's credible. To repeat for emphasis:
He says that if a disease like measles emerges again, "the fault will rest solely on the shoulders of public health leaders and policymakers."
That's the CDC. Right now they're triggering a measles outbreak, and that may just be the start of the havoc they're going to cause unless Congress or the (next) president reminds them who's REALLY in control around here.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism
Please see my site and let me know if you are open to writing out this subject matter. Thank you Lawnee www.joit4kids.com
Posted by: lawnee oslon | May 06, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Once again the media is guilty of thoughtlessly running whatever the CDC dopes want them to.
In each of the parroted stories the material data is severely lacking. One does NOT assess the situation in terms of unvaccinated versus vaccinated. One assesses the situation in terms of avoidable cases versus unavoidable cases.
It is one thing to point out that there are a high number of measles victims among the unvaccinated, but it is just dopey to not qualify the snarky unvaccinated remarks of the CDC by requiring them to state the exact number of infants and toddlers with the measles. Each case in the too young class must count as unavoidable cases regardless of the emotional attachment to mass vaccination. The bottom line is avoidable versus unavoidable. That's it.
This "unwillingness to admit the unavoidable cases are really unavoidable" paradox does raise valid questions.
Are we really supposed to believe what? That these children aren't vaccinated because their immune systems are too young and tender to be injected with the live measles virus? Yet they are catching the measles virus and recovering?
If the unvaccinated are catching measles, I'd say they won't be needing the ??R vaccine in their lifetimes. Can we count on the vaccine industrial complex to make a note of that for future reference?
Posted by: Media Scholar | May 05, 2008 at 11:54 PM
I've been posting a link to Merck's recent FDA warning letter all over the Internet (mostly pro-vaccine sites) to see if any drug company lawyers, investors, etc could illuminate me on why in the world would a company like Merck with such a healthy profit margin allow for such shoddy production and quality control as to warrant dozens of violations in recent FDA inspections. So far, only 2 people have chosen to weigh in on the warning letter. The rest simply change the subject to something else.
If you haven't read the letter, read it line by line. Many of the violations deal with vaccines. The mistakes they made are sure to have lead to disease, maybe even death. The number of mistakes makes me believe it's their operating MO. I'd love to see Dan do a piece on this subject that would gather national attention. Maybe the subject line could read "Merck plant cited for shipping defective, potentially deadly vaccines". That would really chap the pro-vaccine lobby's hide! Here's a link to the warning letter they don't want you to see:
http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6756c.htm
Posted by: Mike | May 05, 2008 at 01:31 AM
I want to put my comment on record and say this - I blame mercury and the combo vaccines - namely the DTaP and the MMR for my child's autism. Parents for starters need to reject the combo vaccines outright. Completely, absolutely, definitely.
I also want to say that there is no mystery, it IS the vaccines! The thing is, it gets confusing to pinpoint the "cause" because of genetics and the fact that the bacteria and the viruses are now encoded in the DNA. So its harder to get those bad bugs out especially when the immune system is so compromised that its easy for the child to pick up infections so easily from the environment, thereby complicating the picture. I especially hate the wintertime virus cocktail invite by the flu shot when everyone gets sick because of the mercury triggering latent infections.
Wish we had some back-up (like computers have) immune systems to fight this C**P. In the case of humans, once the software is corrupted its well nigh impossible to rewire the hard drive especially if its unable to boot up on its own. If the mitochondria is damaged too much.
Also, its no mystery that the measles plays a very big role in autism. Its very easily identifiable by the red, runny eyes, excessive sneezing, the hanging of the head upside down, the red rash on the face and trunk and the cognitive disconnect and spacing out. The pediatricians and the CDC and the pharmaceutical industry (whoever manufactures the MMR) - this is lethal, this vaccine is killing off the future of many kids and throwing them into autism. This MMR needs to be buried somewhere and it needs to be destroyed. All of it.
Someone somewhere needs to make the decision to recall this vaccine and do away with it. It is going to cost billions to rehabilitate the injured kids, this is very hard to eradicate. You have got to stop this before its too late.
Posted by: Blackie | May 03, 2008 at 08:05 PM
Just out of curiosity, I went to the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) site to see how many adverse events have been reported so far this year. These are for all vaccines, not just MMR vaccine. Now remember, the FDA and CDC don't put much stock in these numbers. (Until it comes to telling you reactions are rare.)
There have been 70 cases of measles as of today.
As of today, there have been 3,787 adverse events associated with vaccination reported to VAERS.
Let's just give the CDC some slack and say that perhaps some events were reported more than once, or weren't really associated with the vaccine, and let's cut that number by a third. That still leaves 1,262 adverse events ranging from fever, dizziness, going limp and staring, joint pain, aseptic meningitis, to babies stopping breathing, to "sudden death." I don't really have the time to read 3,787 lines in detail, but that's just a sample. Most of what I read happened right after or within a few hours of vaccination.
To see the PDR list of measles vaccine complications, visit my blog, www.vaccinesandmychild.blogspot.com, where I typed them up today just for kicks.
Sara
Posted by: Sara | May 03, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Following on my post below, one problem you may soon encounter in the US is that the CDC may find it relatively easy to track down many more cases of measles if they put their minds to it. This may not mean that problem is any more significant than before they started looking. For instance, the current rise in the UK has certainly coincided with a political campaign against Andrew Wakefield - and of course, unlike autism, measles is notifiable -but agitating about it may drive up identification.
A notable factor in the UK is that much of any shortfall in MMR uptake is likely to be made up by people paying for single shots privately, which is yet another reason why things may not be what they seem (and why coverage is rally very high). And while Wakefield is being publicly blamed for the increase in measles (notably by a shamelessly politicised BBC) the reality is that the pharmaceutical companies decided not to renew their UK licenses for single jabs immediately following Wakefield's advice in 1998, thus deliberately precipitating a crisis in public trust which then could be blamed on Wakefield.
Be prepared for more dirty tricks your side.
Posted by: John Stone | May 03, 2008 at 04:56 PM
Bring on the measles. First, they have no way to prove that the "outbreak" wasn't caused by the sloughing off of a vaccinated person recently shot up with their cocktails. They can spout off about unvaccinated people all they like, but let's see the real numbers. How many of the 64 were vaccinated and how many weren't?
Second, out of 64 people, in the article I read, there were no deaths. Take that same 64 people and inject them all with the required 48 vaccines in five years time and you'll have, in my opinion, at least one dead, one autistic, one asthmatic, one diabetic, one with arthritis, one with ADD, one with ADHD, one learning disabled, one with fibromyalgia (sp), one with Gullian Barre Syndrome, one who dies of SIDS, etc.
I had measles as a child and did fine. I also had chicken pox, mumps and scarlett fever.
Posted by: Mary | May 03, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Dan
The reality at present, however, is surely that the US has a trickle of reported cases and that it is far too early to be greatly affected by the fall out of the Poling affair, though not too early for CDC counter-information to whirr into action.
I think there are lots of imponderables about the risks and benefits of vaccinating or not vaccinating, and a lot of relevant information is suppressed. Certainly, in the developed world the same levels of risk do not pertain if you get it as they did a century ago. By the time measles vaccine was introduced in the UK 40 years ago mortality had dwindled to about 1% of early in the century, and was perhaps on course to disappear anyway. Treatment with high dose vitamin A is very effective.
I honestly wonder also whether you do not get a lot of sub-clinical measles in the US which never gets reported. This was the situation in Europe a few years ago:
http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=414
John
Posted by: John Stone | May 03, 2008 at 10:20 AM
"Instead of acknowledging or connecting any of this, the media call in their experts -- doctors all, of course -- to remind everyone to look at the nice, color-coded,, easy to understand immunization schedule the CDC so helpfully posts (Thanks, Dr. Nancy!)."
I can't stand the plastic looking smug expression on that woman's face. Maybe the next time my son is tearing up books I can send him to her house. Maybe once he is done with the lovely books she has in her private library (must be poring over all those PDRs where she gets her info from) she might rethink her stance on the safety of vaccines.
Posted by: Snyderman? | May 03, 2008 at 09:57 AM
Dr. Poling, his wife and beautiful Hannah are true heroes in this little saga (little?). I think that through the efforts of people like him and his family, that some resolution might begin, and I think it will start very soon. I watch the news and the various Autism sites every day (I'm an addict, I admit) for the newest developments. When it begins, I feel it will cause a major shake-up, maybe bigger than anything else we've seen.
Posted by: Craig Willoughby | May 03, 2008 at 09:09 AM