ACIP Vaccine Advisory Program Suggests Costly Program for Mild Non-Fatal Hepatitis A in Homeless
Note: I read this article about the recent ACIP meeting and recommendations with a jaundiced eye - pun intended. Explain to me how a program to vaccinated the homeless for a disease that while contagious, is relatively mild and usually non-life threatening (per the article below) is cost effective or even possible? This is a 2 dose process. How do you convince the homeless population to return for a vaccination they may not trust for myriad reasons including mental illness? Also, they are recommending the vaccine for the homeless age 1 and older. 12 months old. The disease is spread by sex, dirty needles and contaminated food (again, per the article.) The rationale is that if ACIP rubber stamps a vaccine, it's more likely to be administered. I appreciate that the homeless have unique medical needs and deserve the same care as the homed population. Especially children. K
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On ABC.go
For the first time, a U.S. advisory committee is recommending a routine vaccination for homeless people, voting Wednesday to urge hepatitis A shots to prevent future outbreaks of the contagious liver disease.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices made the recommendation at a meeting in Atlanta. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to adopt it and send guidance to health care providers.
Homeless encampments can contribute to disease through unsanitary conditions. Hepatitis A spreads person to person through contaminated food or dirty needles used for injection drugs. The virus also can spread from sexual contact with an infected person.
The recommendation would make it easier for shelters, emergency rooms and clinics that serve the homeless to offer hepatitis A shots along with other services.
Hepatitis A vaccinations already are recommended for children at age 1 and for others in danger of infection, such as drug users, some international travelers and men who have sex with men.
The committee of health experts voted unanimously to add homeless people to those groups. The panel is charged with developing recommendations for the CDC on the use of vaccines in the United States.
Health experts have seen an increase in hepatitis A outbreaks and suspected exposures, caused in part by homelessness and drug use.
Twelve states have reported more than 7,500 hepatitis A infections from January 2017 to October 2018, according to the CDC. There were more than 4,300 hospitalizations and about 74 deaths.
Homeless people have made up a large percentage of the cases in San Diego and Utah. Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee have also reported cases among homeless people.
With even low rates of routine vaccination, the spread of hepatitis A can be slowed, Dr. Noele Nelson of the CDC told the committee before the vote. The recommendation is for a two-dose series of shots, but even one dose can provide immunity for 11 years, Nelson said.
At $28 per dose, a price available through the public health system, the cost of routine vaccination could be in the millions of dollars, Nelson said, but fighting a prolonged outbreak can be even more expensive and disruptive to the health care system.
The nation's homeless population increased last year for the first time since 2010, driven by a surge in the number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities where rising rents are the main cause.
Homelessness affects men, women and children of all ages and ethnicities. About 3 million people, or 1 percent of the population, are homeless in a given year, according to the government.
Hepatitis A virus can cause a mild to severe illness lasting a few weeks to several months and, rarely, can lead to death. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, loss of appetite and nausea.
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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Is this now a vaccine required by law then in Kentucky?
https://www.somerset-kentucky.com/news/parents-reminded-of-vaccination-law/article_e9027fb4-ef4d-11e7-82c4-d7ee5d53a521.html
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | November 30, 2018 at 07:29 PM
Thank you, Jeannette. I see that MRC-5 cell lines are from an aborted male fetus in 1966. So foreign protein injected into the body, of course it would cause autoimmune reactions in -- of those vaccinated. I didn't know whether to say some or many. The list of excipients is overwhelming. Beyond that, just injecting the weakened pathogen would be enough to screw up the immune system of -- of those vaxxed, even apart from any excipients. Although most people seem to walk away from vaccinations and not be seriously affected by any of the ingredients. Although once you took into account all the syndromes caused by vaccines but never obviously linked to them, you'd wind up with another accounting. But then when diphtheria, Hib disease, tetanus, or polio came back, then we'd have to do another one. I think we're always going to get back to the bottom line of not taking any vaccine unless you have a really good reason to do so, and get the bare minimum, if any.
Posted by: cia parker | October 29, 2018 at 06:24 PM
I've always thought of hep-A as being a mild disease unless you have underlying liver problems. I was interested in the fatality rate and just found this at the CDC site:
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/index.htm
Among those who seek medical attention for it and get a diagnosis, the fatality rate is between 3.5% and 6%, which is very high. I think the important thing that a lot more people get it than are reported, and I'd like to see how many people have antibodies to it on a population basis. It may also be that a lot more people than before have compromised their livers through drinking and drug use, both legal and illegal. No, that's probably not true, I think a lot of people have always abused alcohol.
Posted by: cia parker | October 29, 2018 at 05:34 PM
@Pam, thank you. I agree, all the public comments I've been able to watch so far have been very good to have on record.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | October 28, 2018 at 06:04 PM
Benedetta,
Thanks. I bet we'll see a stretch in the definition of homeless to any infant that might be taken somewhere out of the home (not that this is funny).
Cia,
I believe Dr. Thomas claimed seeing only one case of autistic regression in his practice, though in past presentations he speaks of observing four regressions in four consecutive years before leaving (or getting kicked out for wanting to change vaccine practices) of a group practice, so I'm guessing this was since he left that group.
It looks like all Hep A vaccines contain MRC-5 cell lines in the excipients lists:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf
This reminds me of Dr. Deisher on the Highwire in interview speaking of how she has observed a jump in the autism rates whenever a vaccine grown with human cell lines has been introduced. She is trying to research a possible roll for vaccines impacting stem cells globally in the body (I hope that's an accurate representation).
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | October 28, 2018 at 05:55 PM
Jeannette Bishop . I don't think they did. It is just for homeless babies that are 12 months of age. It is a two dose vaccine. I did not click on the link you gave. I am assuming it was the article that I even shared on my facebook.
If you click on it and read the entire title it has a question mark at the end of the title.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 28, 2018 at 01:14 PM
Bill – I really don't believe that "many homeless people choose to live homeless" — certainly not in New England or in Canada during the winter.
Nor would I agree that a dirty band-aid is better than no band-aid at all!
The homeless need access to affordable housing, employment, and social services — including mental health and addiction services — far more than they need a Hep-A vaccine.
Posted by: Cait from Canada | October 28, 2018 at 12:27 PM
I looked at the recommended childhood vaccination list from 2011 and saw that even then the hep-A vaccine was recommended at 12 and 18 months old. I don't think it's recommended in many developed countries, maybe not undeveloped ones either.
Thank you, Jeannette, for the link to Dr. Thomas' FB page. What he said was interesting, especially about the only children in his practice who got autism had recently gotten the hep-A vaccine. I hadn't seen anything else specifically linking this vaccine to autism, and would be interested in learning if there's any evidence as to whether it's this vaccine in particular or that there's a certain number of vaccines that, once you pass that number, you're much more likely to react with autism.
"Paul Thomas
October 25 at 9:36 AM ·
...
OK - we now know it is official: THE CDC committee that makes the vaccine recommendations for our country (the ACIP) is purely a marketing branch of the pharmaceutical companies.
Q: How many cases of hepatitis A have I seen in my busy 30 year pediatric career working in the high risk west coast of the USA?
A: ZERO
Q: Why would you give a vaccine made from aborted fetal cells that contains a huge dose of neurotoxic and immune disrupting aluminum for a disease that is basically killing ZERO children?
A: Get the ACIP to add it to the schedule and therefor due to vaccine mandates everyone instantly has to get it! IT IS THE MONEY!
Q: Have I personally seen harm from the hepatitis A vaccine?
A: YES! The only case of regressive autism in my practice occurred shortly after a selectively vaccinated child got the Hepatitis A vaccine.
Q: Do you want to see the autism rate and rates of all autoimmune conditions go through the roof?
A: Let this become a mandated vaccine and that outcome is inevitable."
Posted by: cia parker | October 28, 2018 at 10:09 AM
I think it's like with many VPDs, they aren't usually serious except for the immunocompromised.
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There is no such thing as a vaccine preventable disease. And there never has been.
Posted by: Barry | October 28, 2018 at 10:02 AM
The best way to have no questions asked, is to inject your product into the most marginalized, easily silenced, population of people, like infants and the homeless. Well done Merck!!!! See you at the Christmas party!
Posted by: annie | October 27, 2018 at 11:32 PM
Thanks Jeannette for the link for Dr Thomas' post on Hep A His post leads to another link that displays video of the recent ACIP meeting and the HERO moms who showed up to speak to the committee. They were excellent!!
A must see is a nurse who really let the Advisory committee know how she and others feel about their toxic flu shot, their corrupt child vaccine "schedule", the autism epidemic, etc. This woman was awesome and her testimony should be shared everywhere!!
https://vaxxter.com/nurse-gives-explosive-flu-shot-speech-before-cdc-advisory-committee/
Posted by: Pam | October 27, 2018 at 09:43 PM
Did they add the vaccine to the infant vaccine schedule also?
https://www.facebook.com/paulthomasmd/posts/10155824503063085
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | October 27, 2018 at 03:49 PM
I just looked it up and found this: https://www.livescience.com/62757-how-do-you-die-from-hepatitis.html
It says that in August there was an outbreak of hep-A in Michigan which caused death in 3.2% of those who got it. This is an Australian article which says that there it causes death in one in 250 people who get it. Usually in those who already have hep-B or C, or are homeless etc.
I got it after traveling in the West with my father, and visiting both Navajo and Hopi reservations. We ate Navajo fry bread at a café, and when I got hep-A a month later, thought that that's probably where I got it. It wasn't bad, but it turned the whites of my eyes yellow. And then I recovered. That was before I was diagnosed with MS and was very healthy.
I think it's like with many VPDs, they aren't usually serious except for the immunocompromised. It's not a dangerous disease in children, and is another disease that's really just better to get as a child. Nearly everyone in the Third World gets it naturally while growing up.
I remember an outbreak on the West Coast many years ago in which some died from eating fresh produce which had the virus on it. But, like all vaccines, there have been many serious reactions to it. I don't need to worry about it since I've had it, but if I hadn't, I still wouldn't get the vaccine. I think you need to inform people and then let them choose, make sure they know how harmless it is in healthy children, and how beneficial it is for them to get natural immunity. For those who are immunocompromised, drug addicts, alcoholics, homeless, etc., same thing, tell them they are at higher risk from the disease and then let them make their choice.
Posted by: cia parker | October 27, 2018 at 01:50 PM
It's amazing to me that the government interference that has led to this crisis is not rejected, but people call for more interference. It's truly mind-boggling. I'm supposing people really don't see how it's interference by the government that's causing this (land restrictions, oppressive taxation, etc.).
If land weren't artificially made so expensive, and people weren't poisoned on the regular, this wouldn't even be an issue. The fact that the answer to lack of cleanliness is to jab someone with toxins is beyond reason. :(
Posted by: Holli | October 27, 2018 at 12:20 PM
Vaccination is the bottom basement bargain in medicine. Much easier to give a vaccine to a homeless, than to actually give mental health help along with a warm or cool room, a bathroom, a shower, clean water, with a bed and some clothes and oh yeah; clean food. Yeah what Bob Moffit said much more elegantly
And along the way give it to newborns too cause each vaccine added to the schedule will give the pharma companies ? What was that estimate? Surely I am remembering it wrong - 3 billion a year? Please some one that remembers correct me.
Hep B, then HIV, Cholera, even Typhoid has returned, but not to the Appalachians this time; California has it. Which state now has those ignorant, hay seeds, Hill Billies, backward Red Necks, I can't wait to see some cartoons of the barefoot, boozing, lazy, poverty ridden Californians like they use to draw about the people of the Appalachians? LOL. ---- and now Hep A. Is there a limit on diseases that filth can grow? Don't think so .
Posted by: Benedetta | October 27, 2018 at 12:17 PM
If anybody need a hepatitis A shot it is a homeless person. Also if you want to clean up homeless encampments do so and use prison labor to do it obviously with the utmost protective gear like hazmat suits. Blame St. Ronald Reagan for the problem with his deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. Latly SAFE vaccines do save live just not the toxic ones given now.
Posted by: will | October 27, 2018 at 11:45 AM
Coming into winter here; on a practical level, warm socks and hand warmers to prevent frost bite would be a lot more life changing, health wise. Unfortunately sock companies don't have the same political influence.
Posted by: Hera | October 27, 2018 at 11:39 AM
Here we go again! I have to echo and support the comment from Bob Moffit, above. And as bad as the "homeless problem" is in San Francisco, it's just as bad in southern California, also. Youtube has MANY videos for us to see up close and personal the situation. To say that "rising rents" is a *major* cause of homelessness is a gross exaggeration. Homelessness occurs for lots of reasons, and yes, drug use of various kinds is also a major factor. Another overlooked FACT is that many homeless people *CHOOSE* to live homeless. Again, alcohol and drug use is a common reason for this. *ALL* of our cities, counties, and States need to do a MUCH better job of dealing with homelessness. Even in the small New England college town I live in, the "homeless problem" is much worse than it should be, and also YES!, the City Council is a major factor in *NOT* dealing effectively with homelessness. Hey, honestly, most homeless people are not easy to deal with, on a personal level. But America's fractured and incompetent Public Health system needs strengthening, not enriching the Vaxx industry with "dirty band-aid" solutions like a Hep A vaxx.... Yes, this proposed Hep A vaxx is just putting a dirty Band-Aid on the gaping bullet wound of homelessness.... Yes, I suppose that even a dirty Band-Aid is better than no Band-Aid at all.... **SIGH**
KEEP UP the GOOD WORK, people!
Posted by: Bill | October 27, 2018 at 10:24 AM
"Hepatitis A vaccinations already are recommended for children at age 1 and for others in danger of infection, such as drug users, some international travelers and men who have sex with men." - because 1 year old children are totally comparable with the others at risk? How does any human not notice the above paragraph makes 1 year old children out to be sexually active drug users? The people carrying on with this charade of vaccine advertising through false news stories should be so very ashamed :(
Posted by: Kat | October 27, 2018 at 08:51 AM
"Homeless encampments can contribute to disease through unsanitary conditions. Hepatitis A spreads person to person through contaminated food or dirty needles used for injection drugs. The virus also can spread from sexual contact with an infected person."
Times have changed .. sometimes not for the better .. consider .. BEFORE vaccines .. the very same conditions found in today's "homeless encampments" .. "unsanitary conditions, contaminated food, sexual contact with an infected person, etc" were COMMON in all developed countries with "living conditions" eerily similar to "homeless encampments" today. These unsanitary "living conditions" were well-known for spreading disease among the population. In those days … IMPROVING THOSE UNSANITARY LIVING CONDITIONS WERE CRITICAL .. AND .. PROVEN EFFECTIVE IN ELIMINATING MOST OF THE MAJOR DISEASE THEN COMMON.
Apparently .. today … VACCINES have replaced any priority for government public health conditions to IMPROVE UNSANITARY DISEASE RIDDEN HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS .. which appears to be a POLITICAL SOLUTION to a vexing problem of what to do with "homeless encampments".
Consider .. POLITICALLY .. it should not be too difficult to identify why …. "the nation's homeless population increased last year for the first time since 2010, driven by a surge in the number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities where rising rents are the main cause."?
Some video of the once beautiful city of San Francisco shows block after block of homeless encampments .. literally hundreds of people living among squalor commonly found in the most under-developed .. poorest countries in the world .. discarded needles and human waste strewn everywhere. How in God's name has this not only been allowed to happen .. but .. with the solution to those unhealthy encampments the introduction of a VACCINE .. these unsanitary conditions appear to have been ACCEPTED by government made impotent by POLITICS.
Posted by: bob moffit | October 27, 2018 at 06:32 AM