CBS Covers Court Award for DTaP (Whooping Cough Vaccine) Death
Sharyl Attkisson has covered the case of Elias Tembenis at CBS News. We reported on the US Vaccine Court win in December (HERE) when the result was made public. Read and comment on the story at CBS HERE. Is this court decision the reason the media phalanx against "anti-vaccinationists" has been so strong? The Tembenis family (whom we know) believed in vaccination, trusted that they were protecting their son - and now visit his gravesite. Vaccine safety is NOT anti-vaccine. If a child who dies from Pertussis "matters" (and of course (s)he does) shouldn't a child who dies as a result of Pertussis vaccination matter equally?
"The tragic death of little Elias Tembenis is yet another vaccine injury case you probably won't hear much about. Yet some medical experts believe it could teach us something about how to make vaccination safer.
It could also add to the limited body of knowledge as to why the vast majority of kids are vaccinated safely, but a minority become seriously ill, brain-damaged or even die. Still, government officials have said they have no plans to study cases like Elias': cases that victims are winning against the government in the little-known federal vaccine court.
According to court and medical records, Elias was born on Aug. 23, 2000 and appeared healthy until Dec. 26 when he received his second dose of DTaP vaccine. His parents noticed some swelling around the injection site. According to court records:
"Early in the morning on December 27, 2000, Elias's parents found himseizing in his crib and took him to the emergency room ("ER")...Within one day, he developed a fever, which led to a complex febrile seizure. Subsequently, Elias developed epilepsy. This fact pattern is commonly seen in the Vaccine Program."
According to court records, after the DTaP reaction, the once-healthy baby ended up with debilitating medical problems, including features of autism, ear infections and developmental delay. His parents first filed their case as one of the "omnibus" group of autism cases to be heard in federal vaccine court.
According to those familiar with the case, the couple felt their chances of winning with the autism cases was slim because the idea of a link between vaccines and autism is so controversial. So they separated their case from the autism group and filed on the basis of their son's epilepsy and seizures.
They recently prevailed in court. It's one more example where vaccine-injured children who end up with autism are quietly winning their cases, but only when they focus on the more general argument of seizures or brain damage rather than autism.
Some victory. On Nov. 17, 2007 Elias' illnesses became to much for him. The little seven year old boy died. If the right people bothered to study the medical details of the case, they might learn something about why Elias got so sick from his vaccines, and how to identify ahead of time what babies might have the same problem. The former head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Bernardine Healy, has said such study would actually protect the integrity of the vaccine program, rather than threaten it (as she says many government officials fear). So far, though, no takers. Elias' case becomes quietly filed away in vaccine court archives with nearly 1,300 other vaccine brain injuries-none of them apparently being pooled for study. An undetermined number of them, like Elias', involving autism diagnoses.
What made these children get sick? Why couldn't they tolerate their vaccines when most kids can? Unanswered questions.
Read both sides of Elias' case, including the government's argument against it."
In 1977 my 18 month old son got a dot shot in less than 24 hours he
Died. The health department told us he would act like he had a cold.
That. Night he did not feel good and I let him sleep with us..
The next morning he had his eyes open but he had no reaction to us.
Rushed him to the ER and then they sent him too UT hospital.
A few hours and the doctors told us about brain damage liver ,kidney failure he T.J. Smith was turning black with all these dots.
The Doctors did knot say what was making him sick then they told us he was gone ... less than 24 hrs after his DPT shot, told us later after autopsy it was a form of meningitis. 18 months old that was 41 years ago he turned 42 this past May. Did the shot kill him?
Posted by: Greg smith | June 23, 2017 at 12:41 AM
I took the Tdap at the hospital where I work despite telling them I was allergic to it, the employee nurse gave it to me anyway. That night, I went to work and was nauseated all night. When I got off that morning my vision started to fade, followed by a severe headache in the back of my head. When night came, I had lost my voice and my tongue was swollen. I will never take another mandated vaccine even if loose my job. I actually thought I would die, I have never been that sick before in my life. I will take my chances.
Posted by: O. Smith | November 03, 2014 at 05:02 PM
In the 50's when I was a baby I was given my first DPT shots. Had a very severe reaction. The clinic wanted to give more doses. But I was so sick and swollen that my Mom took me to an older physician and he told her that another dose would have killed me. I was allergic to the pertussis vaccine. Then when I was around 10 I started passing out. I would faint 2 to 3 times a year. Then finally at the age of 61 was diagnosed as having seizures. Now on seizure meds. Always wondered if it came from that pertussis vaccine!
Posted by: Carol holmes | November 13, 2013 at 10:37 PM
Tamdate;
Good Gosh Tamdate -- what kind of heartless talk is that?
Is this what we have become -I don't think sin anymore is irrational behavior, being a drug addict, can't stop drinking and so forth -- it is not caring about other human beings. We have done this through out history though - haven't we.
I feel a lump in my throat at the way human beings feel toward other human beings.
Posted by: Benedetta | February 25, 2013 at 10:22 AM
I have tried to get a health waiver for my daughter going into 6th grade. (NY State) I'm told by the Dept of health that it is virtually impossible, but that there is a fund that will (perhaps) compensate me if she is injured.
Posted by: Tamdate | February 25, 2013 at 08:35 AM
My daughter is now 12 years old. On her first vaccination, at 2 months, she had a severe reaction after receiving the shots. She was a baby who never cried, not even when she was hungry. You just had to be aware of her feeding schedule. She cried some after the shot and fell asleep on the way home in the car. Then, when she awoke, she went into an excruciating screaming crying fit. She cried for hours. My husband and I called the doctor and they assured us she was fine because she had no fever. Finally she fell over and went to sleep after about 5-6 hours. We went through this for almost 2 days, while calling the doctor continuously, nearly every hour. They kept telling us she was fine. We were new parents and didn't know what to do. Finally, my husband and I decided to take her to the hospital. When we arrived, she was crying so bad that they immediately tested her for Meningitis. They returned and told us they were unable to get any spinal fluid because she was so small. Finally, they admitted her, put her in an isolated room, and administered an IV. I promise, after about 5 minutes of receiving the IV she stopped crying and was sound asleep. We asked what they gave her and was denied that information. SHE NEVER CRIED AGAIN! EVEN AFTER WAKING UP. The hospital kept her for 4 days and upon releasing her, I finally requested to speak to the doctors. They couldn't tell me anything about what was wrong with her. They just said, take her home and if it happens again bring her back. Angry at the lack of answers we switched doctors after that. When we changed to an older doctor, as soon as I explained what happened and he read her medical records, he said it was a reaction to PERTUSSIS. He wanted to take it out for the next round of vaccines. However, after extensive research, my husband and I decided to wait until she was old enough to speak to us and tell us where she hurt before giving any more vaccines. We waited until she was 3, her doctor administered the "DT" shot without the pertussis and everything was fine. Today our daughter is normal and has no sign of her ordeal with the first vaccines. However, we are convinced that without the lord guiding us, we may have allowed the vaccines at 4 months as they are scheduled and she may have been living with autism. As a special needs teacher, I have looked at medical records and talked with many parents of children living with autism. Many of them feel that their child's condition is related to the vaccines. However, the federal government, or medical personnel will never admit it, because of the legal and MORAL responsiblity it would entail.
Posted by: Tammy | May 11, 2012 at 11:14 AM
@ barbaraj - I did a bit of searching the package inserts for TdaP, DPT, and hepatitis B vaccines.
http://www.immunize.org/packageinserts/
Tripedia and Pediarix actually cite apnea, seizures, and SIDS on their prescribing information.
Engerix b, Pediarix, Daptacel, Pentacel, Tripedia, Kinrix, Infanrix cite apnea on their prescribing information. Infanrix, Engerix b, Comvax, Recombivax, Pediarix, Daptacel, Tripedia, Kinrix, Pentacel, Boostrix, and Pediarix cite seizures on their prescribing information.
“Adverse events reported during post-approval use of Tripedia vaccine include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, SIDS, anaphylactic reaction, cellulitis, autism, convulsion/grand mal convulsion, encephalopathy, hypotonia, neuropathy, somnolence and apnea.”
https://www.vaccineshoppe.com/image.cfm?doc_id=5966&image_type=product_pdf
“In 14 clinical trials, 5 deaths were reported among 8,088 (0.06%) recipients of PEDIARIX and 1 death was reported among 2,287 (0.04%) recipients of comparator vaccines. Causes of death in the group that received PEDIARIX included 2 cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and one case of each of the following: convulsive disorder, congenital immunodeficiency with sepsis, and neuroblastoma. One case of SIDS was reported in the comparator group. The rate of SIDS among all recipients of PEDIARIX across the 14 trials was 0.25/1,000. The rate of SIDS observed for recipients of PEDIARIX in the German safety study was 0.2/1,000 infants (reported rate of SIDS in Germany in the latter part of the 1990s was 0.7/1,000 newborns). The reported rate of SIDS in the United States from 1990 to 1994 was 1.2/1,000 live births. By chance alone, some cases of SIDS can be expected to follow receipt of pertussis-containing vaccines.”
http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_pediarix.pdf
Tripedia and Decavac have thimerosal. Tripedia, Decavac, Daptacel, Pentacel, Adacel, Pediarix, Infanrix, Boostrix, and Kinrix have aluminum salts. Pediarix, Tripedia, Infanrix, Pentacel, Boostrix, and Kinrix have polysorbate 80. Engerix b, Comvax, Recombivax, Twinrix have aluminum salts. Twinrix has thimerosal.
Posted by: patrons99 | January 23, 2011 at 12:47 AM
I’d just like to clarify and add to my earlier comment in this thread.
Sharyl Attkisson deserves strong praise for this article, but I do differ with her as to this particular statement:
“If the right people bothered to study the medical details of the case, they might learn something about why Elias got so sick from his vaccines, and how to identify ahead of time what babies might have the same problem.”
Her statement implies that there are just a subset of the general population who might be vulnerable to a severe adverse vaccine reaction. I have to disagree.
What if the sole “vulnerability factor” to having an adverse vaccine reaction was being alive? Life depends on flowing blood. We are all vulnerable to severe adverse vaccine reactions. That does not mean that we will all have an adverse vaccine reaction. Many times, I suspect, the injuries are subclinical. But they are injuries just the same, and they are cummulative, in direct relationship to the vaccine schedules and mandated inoculations we receive from cradle to grave. Every person who ever experiences a cardiologic, neurologic, peripheral vascular, gastroenterologic, endocrine, rheumatologic, or infectious “event” needs to be asked as to their vaccination history, and whether vaccination preceded the event. The temporal relationship and identity of the potentially-related vaccine(s) must be carefully documented. This is no longer discretionary. IMHO, we must do this! The brand, lot number, and date of vaccine administration must be documented. It can no longer be assumed that vaccination is a generally safe and well-tolerated, invasive, medical procedure. Informed consents must properly reflect risks. Vaccination should never be performed without a properly executed informed consent.
Reports of vaccine-related arrhythmias and siezures may be very important epidemiologic "signals". Could the basic underlying pathophysiology be the same? If so, would we not ALL be vulnerable, perhaps in varying degrees, depending on our individual pre-existing, baseline state of health? Could our pre-existing baseline state of health be directly influenced by our total body burden of aluminum, mercury, and fluoride? Could our pre-existing baseline state of health be directly influenced by dietary deficiencies, e.g. dietary sulfur? Could our pre-existing baseline state of health be influenced by the degree of atherogenic cardiovascular disease that we possess? The hemodynamic, hemorheologic theory of atherogenesis has not be disproven.
“Vaccines Are One Big Experiment Causing Hundreds of Diseases in the Modern World” by Andrew Moulden, MD, PhD
http://preventdisease.com/news/09/092109_vaccines_responsible_for_all_diseases.shtml
“No oxygen to electrically active cells causes depolarization. In the heart, ischemia causes arrhythmia - a seizure to the heart. In the brain, ischemia causes seizures - arrhythmia to the brain. Seizures are a symptom of impaired blood flow and oxygenation just like vaccine induced autism-spectrum is a symptom of the same process.
You can have autism without seizures. You can have seizures without autism. You can have brain damages with or without autism or seizures. This is all ischemia - immediate and delayed, from instability of blood flow dynamics.“
Posted by: patrons99 | January 22, 2011 at 09:40 AM
Here's the story of another Vaccine Court award for post-DPT seizures: http://www.vaccinationnews.com/rally/forceskiespeech.htm
Posted by: Sandy Gottstein | January 21, 2011 at 04:37 PM
@ barbaraj - How much risk are we willing to accept with any vaccine on the schedules?
They cannot deny that there is risk of sudden death with TdaP. By placing apnea on the package insert, it is tantamount to a legal admission, that there is risk of sudden death. Why would FDA allow such an agent to remain on the market? Did Elias’ parents sign an informed consent prior to his receiving the TdaP? If so, did the informed consent disclose risk of fevers, siezures, autism, apnea, death?
http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_pediarix.pdf
Posted by: patrons99 | January 20, 2011 at 11:23 PM
“If the right people bothered to study the medical details of the case, they might learn something about why Elias got so sick from his vaccines, and how to identify ahead of time what babies might have the same problem.”
Sharyl deserves strong praise for this article, but I do differ with her as to this particular paragraph.
Personally, I don't believe that it will ever be possible to identify ahead of time what babies might have the same problem. All babies are vulnerable to microvascular ischemic injury to the brain. Microvascular ischemic injury to the brain can result in siezures, fevers, apnea, and autism, amongst other brain damages. Even with a "perfect" diet, no mercury amalgam fillings, and no fluoridated water and toothpaste, we are all vulnerable to brain injuries of this type.
“When an infant dies of “sudden infant death” or “no cause of death” after vaccination, the actual cause of death is impaired blood flow, in this case to the microscopic, watershed, end-capillary vessels in the brain stem controlling the central drive for respiration. The impaired blood flow has to be bilateral. This causes a cessation of breathing. Cardio respiratory arrest ensues in a perfectly healthy human. Coroners will not find cause of death as the cause of death “no microscopic capillary blood flow” in life is also present for us all in death – no blood flow.” – Andrew Moulden, MD, PhD
Posted by: patrons99 | January 20, 2011 at 11:17 PM
@Kara - so now seizures are just a normal childhood disease from which kids recover with no lasting harm. Uh huh. They make it sound like the chicken pox I had as a kid before it became a "scourge" with an "alarmingly high rate of complications". Does having a seizure give you lifelong immunity too?
It is shocking that childhood seizures are now the new normal. I suppose since parents accepted 1 in 6 kids on psychiatric medications, 1 in 100 with ASD, and 70 pediatric vaccine doses, this one is small potatoes. What is wrong with people?
Posted by: Jeff C. | January 20, 2011 at 08:25 PM
Patron:"There is an unmistakable, undeniable pattern of SIDS deaths and preceeding vaccination. DPT, DTaP, and Hep B inoculations have been implicated."
They don't make an effort to hide this,as shown in their newest dtap combo shot info. The fact sheet on Pediarix shows an increased risk of apnea,if that leads to sids should we say, pediarix doesn't cause sids, apnea does. Is that how they suggest it's to be understood?
Posted by: barbaraj | January 20, 2011 at 05:42 PM
A statement was released by the FDA and the CDC:
"The FDA and CDC have detected an increase in reports of febrile seizures among children younger than 2 who received Fluzone, the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur."
"In the meantime, the recommendation for vaccinating children against influenza -- that everyone 6 months and older should be immunized -- remains unchanged.
The FDA statement noted that all of the children with febrile seizure recovered with no lasting effects and advised parents and caregivers to speak with their children's healthcare providers about any questions or concerns."
http://www.medpagetoday.com/ProductAlert/DevicesandVaccines/24449
Posted by: Kara | January 20, 2011 at 04:50 PM
Carol, You said "Paul Offit would say that the little boy was going to develop epilepsy anyway..."
How right you are! He and others get away with this because you can never know the potential of an infant or child.
That's why we need properly designed and conducted studies of never-vaccinated children (and others). And that's why they don't want them.
You might not know from any study whether a particular child would have gotten epilepsy or whatever, but you CAN find out what is happening in the population and the likelihood and/or possibility that it would have otherwise happened.
Posted by: Sandy Gottstein | January 20, 2011 at 01:28 PM
Infant Vaccine Deaths - But Who's Counting? (No news is NOT good news
http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/Feb_22_02/Scandal5.htm
Posted by: Sandy Gottstein | January 20, 2011 at 01:23 PM
Soon, in the very near future, if not already, we will outnumber the vaccine zealots. If there is anything that politicians understand thoroughly, it is votes - votes matter to our lawmakers and our democracy. There are many good reasons why our ranks are growing.
“Outbreaks Prove That Whooping Cough Vaccines Don’t Work” by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO on January 11, 2011.
http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2699
“Vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - Is There a Link?”
http://www.thinktwice.com/sids.htm
Sudden unexplained death and disease can occur at any age - in infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. How often was there a preceeding vaccination within a month or so of the death or disease onset? If the question is never asked, a pattern will be much more difficult to discern. The question must be asked, because vaccine reactions can be acute, subacute, or chronic. The risk for vaccine reactions is cummulative and synergistic, in relation to the combined number and quantity of toxins in the vaccine schedules and mandated inoculations. There is evidence that vaccine toxicity is systematic, directly related to the vaccine schedules and the number of mandated inoculations. There is very likely to be dose-response relationship. We do not yet know whether the relationship is linear or something else, e.g. exponential. How close to the combined, composite LD50 are we for the vaccine schedules? Real question.
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/documents/vaccines/Immunization%20Graphs%20PPT%20-%20RO%202009.pdf
http://gaia-health.com/articles101/000123-MortalityRatesChildren.pdf
Posted by: patrons99 | January 20, 2011 at 12:38 PM
When my daughter had an immediate neurological reaction to her vaccines, I expected to get referred to a research team somewhere like Johns Hopkins. I expected to be connected with somebody or some group in govt or industry who'd be interested in finding out why she reacted so badly to her shots. I thought they'd want to learn from her situation to prevent other kids from a similar outcome. I knew then and know today that her case history would offer some clues that can help vaccines be made safer.
I am still shocked to have experienced complete disinterest in any investigations into her health whatsoever. I am also still shocked to have done my own research and found the complete absence of any research that looks at kids who can't tolerate vaccines.
The best I ever got was a form letter from VAERS that asked, "has the patient recovered?"
There were no questions about her health history, my pregnancy with her, no gathering of the details of her dramatic transformation that started soon after the shots. Nothing.
And I was ready to share it all. I wanted to help ensure other children in the future didn't have similar reactions.
I naively thought somebody, some group, some entity in the government or industry was out there proactively working to maximize the safety of vaccines.
I was shocked to experience first hand the other "big hungry lie" - that "vaccines are the most tested and safest pharmaceuticals out there."
Baloney.
How can this be true when they don't spend a single minute of time looking at children who do react to their shots?!
Posted by: Beth | January 20, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Here's a column I posted yesterday on vaccination and epilepsy:
"Does Vaccination Play a Role in the Incidence and Apparent Rise of Epilepsy?"
http://www.vaccinationnews.com/20110119VaccinationandEpilepsyGottsteinS
Posted by: Sandy Gottstein | January 20, 2011 at 11:16 AM
It is so unfair that there is not a shred of sympathy for vaccine related deaths and injury- partly due to the fact that this is determined in vaccine court and rarely reported on. Infuriating. And unfair. Good for CBS to cover this little boy's tragic death.
Posted by: Jen | January 20, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Paul Offit would say that the little boy was going to develop epilepsy anyway and his chorus would chime in with "the benefits outweigh the risks." But we don't know what the risk actually is.
In the case of whooping cough vaccine, we don't even know what the benefit is. In California, the majority of people diagnosed with whooping cough are fully vaccinated against the disease. KPBS recently did a documentary on this. Here it is: http://www.kpbs.org/news/envision/whoopingcough/
Posted by: Carol | January 20, 2011 at 10:04 AM
"Is this court decision the reason the media phalanx against "anti-vaccinationists" has been so strong?" Hmmmmm. Good question.
There is an unmistakable, undeniable pattern of SIDS deaths and preceeding vaccination. DPT, DTaP, and Hep B inoculations have been implicated.
“Vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - Is There a Link?”
http://www.thinktwice.com/sids.htm
See also, these links to Dr Al-Bayati’s work in this area.
http://www.vacinfo.org/Man179_200.pdf
http://www.vacinfo.org/Man86_116.pdf
http://www.toxi-health.com/adversereactionstovaccines.html
http://www.toxi-health.com/falseaccusationsofsbs.html
http://www.freeyurko.bizland.com/albayatisum.html
Posted by: patrons99 | January 20, 2011 at 09:06 AM