When these adults lose their immunity to the virus, it comes out of its hiding places (the body’s dorsal-root ganglia) and that adult develops herpes zoster (HZ).  Before VZV vaccination there were about 4 million cases per year and 1 million cases of HZ. Fifty children would die each year from complications (90 people die each year from lightening sticks just as a point of reference).

Now, initially the vaccine was found to be very effective but that was because not everyone was vaccinated so those that were vaccinated kept getting their vaccine induced immunity boosted by the wild virus just like the adults were keeping the HZ at bay for the same reason. Ten years after its introduction the efficacy of the vaccine had dropped to less than 60%, because there were almost no unvaccinated kids circulating the wild virus. At the same time HZ cases among adults went up 90%.

Big Pharma's ever ready answer was to vaccinate the adults to replace the natural immune boosting presence of circulating wild virus.

The cost of vaccinating adults with a VZV vaccine to achieve protection close to that which occurs naturally when VZV incidence could cost as much as $40 billion dollars – that is a lot a chicken scratch to Big Pharma for a vaccine that wasn’t really needed in the first place.

Essentially, the VZV vaccine shifted the disease from children to an older age group and the vaccine lost efficacy in the childhood age group as well for the same reason - vaccinated children benefited from exposure to their peers who caught wild chicken pox.

In other words, while it would not be in Big Pharma's interest to let kids opt out of the VZV vaccine it would benefit those who did get vaccinated if there were a lot of other kids who weren't vaccinated.

But to Big Pharma this isn't about disease control this is about money only. The cost-benefit of universal VZV vaccination needs to take into account the risk of off-setting the natural balance that results in continual disease and expensive remediation’s for illnesses that would never have taken place without the vaccination being given in the first place. With the meningitis vaccine is it worth killing three children and making 1000 more seriously ill to prevent one case of the disease?

This is a perfect example to demonstrate that vaccinology is far more nuanced than physicians and the public understand. It is not that vaccines are bad, it is you don't force them on everyone, because you end up working against public health interests. The goal should not be to vaccinate everyone, the goal should be to protect the public health and in this case we get better disease control if everyone isn't vaccinated. Additionally, most people think that most vaccines control the spread of disease, but they don't. Many control how sick any one person gets should they come down with the disease, but the vaccine does not control the spread of that disease.

This is just not information Big Pharma wants politicians and the public to know. They want to sell their vaccines to everyone and many times over and over... it is all about the money to them. The IPV vaccine for polio is not capable of stopping the spread of polio, so why force it on the population? I could keep listing examples, but I think I made my point.

I also contacted Robert Krakow for a response. He was one of the principal authors of "Unanswered Questions", the revelation in 2011 that our federal government had for years been compensating children for vaccine injuries that included autism, and he is a former NY City prosecutor who now specializes in vaccine injury cases.

This is what he had to say about Zostavax.

Given the obvious risk of serious injury from the Zostavax vaccine, any person over 50 should proceed with caution regarding the commercially promoted recommendation to get this vaccine. While shingles can be serious in rare cases, my personal view is that efforts to maintain good health and a strong immune system will serve us better in preventing shingles than obtaining this vaccine, which has the undeniable risk of serious injury. There are almost 5000 reports of adverse events after Zostavax. The vaccine contains substances that can provoke autoimmunity, including human DNA contamination, gelatin, neomycin and other problematic substances. As with many vaccines, I am not convinced that the vaccine or its components have been properly tested.

The promotion of Zostavax on television and other places is as irresponsible as it is inappropriate. The value of the vaccine is overstated, while the risk of adverse reactions is downplayed. This skews the benefit/cost analysis that all of us must employ when we individually decide to take any vaccine or drug.  

The result of all this is that an individual’s right to make informed decisions about his or her health is being overridden by bloated claims of efficacy and safety, coupled with risks that are hidden from view. Because of misinformation, our informed consent is, effectively, being overridden. This is not an acceptable situation for any American.

Our emerging experience with Zostavax mirrors our experience with childhood vaccines. Benefits are exaggerated while risk is minimized, all in the context of relentless promotion. The difference with Zostavax is that we can more easily see when injury occurs in adults as compared with developmental injuries in children that are difficult to recognize and diagnose, and are often confused with unrelated disorders. The sad result for both adults and children is the same: unnecessary injury and suffering, often lifelong.

It is the policy of our nation that vaccine injuries do occur and the victims of vaccines should be compensated. For the most part, it is unknown how such injuries occur and how often they occur. Despite this reality, there exists relentless commercial promotion of vaccines. For the sake of the health of our people, this must stop. Public education regarding vaccine risk should be increased, and more rigorous testing of all vaccines brought to market should be applied. Unless this happens, the disturbing trend of increasing vaccine injury will persist as new and exotic vaccines are introduced into the marketplace with dubious justification, except for the bountiful commercial windfall it confers on vaccine manufacturers.

Krakow also addressed the question posed by a friend: "Can you explain why someone is able to sue Merck over Zostavax? Is the NVICP only for childhood vaccines?"

This was his answer:

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) created the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which provides a legal mechanism for determining whether vaccine injuries for covered vaccines should be compensated. The key phrase is "covered vaccine." To be a "covered vaccine" for which compensation is available under the VICP, a vaccine must be added to the vaccine Table, either by legislation or through administrative rule making by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This applies to all vaccines, whether for adults or children. While the NCVIA includes the term "Childhood" in its title, this is misleading as adult vaccines may be covered under the Vaccine Act. In fact, in recent years most cases that have been compensated have been filed by adults, primarily due to the increased number of doses of the influenza vaccine that have been administered, mostly to adults.

Zostavax, which is a shingles/herpes zoster vaccine manufactured by Merck, is approved for adults over 50 years of age. It is NOT a covered vaccine under the NCVIA and, therefore, cannot be subject to a claim for compensation for vaccine injury under the VICP. The vaccine could be covered under NCVIA, but at present is not. I do not believe there has been an effort by the Secretary of HHS to bring NCVIA/VICP coverage to Zostavax, but this could happen.

The herpes zoster vaccine that is covered under NCVIA/VICP is the varicella vaccine, known by its trade name, Varivax, also manufactured by Merck. Varivax is included in the ACIP/CDC recommended childhood vaccine schedule. (Usually, but not always, when ACIP recommends a vaccine, steps are taken to add the vaccine to the NCVIA/VICP Table of covered vaccines.)  

Both Varivax and Zostavax are diploid human cell line manufactured vaccines, manufactured using the MRC-5 (Medical Research Council cell strain 5) cell line. The Varivax has been shown to contain human DNA contamination Zostavax also likely contains human DNA contamination. An experienced pharmaceutical researcher who has examined Zostavax has advised me that Zostavax for adults contains five time more human DNA contamination than the Varivax vaccine for children. It has been theorized that the DNA contamination can cause injury by either DNA insertion into the human genome or by provoking autoimmunity, although this theory is controversial and unaccepted to date in scientific or legal venues. I am cocounsel for the petitioners in a proceeding pending in the VICP, in which petitioners claim that the diploid human cell line vaccines cause autism.

The Law Office of Robert J. Krakow is accepting representation in Zostavax claims outside the VICP, in addition to VICP claims for other vaccines. Zostavax claims brought in the VICP have been dismissed as not covered by NCVIA.

I am available to answer any of your vaccine injury related questions.
Robert Krakow

 The issue of vaccine safety is not just the claim that vaccines cause autism, something everyone quickly says has been debunked. We need to realize all vaccines carry real risks. This is true for any medical product or procedure, yet in the case of vaccines, few people are willing to acknowledge it.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.