UK Parliamentary Committee Jettisons Vaccines As Strategy To Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Age of Autism re-posts its submission authored by its UK editor, John Stone, to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into antimicrobial resistance. The resulting committee report only mentions vaccines once, and not as a major strategy against antimicrobial resistance. This is in contrast to a British government report of 2016 in which the lead author Jim (Lord) O'Neill saw vaccines as the major tool in combatting the problem, which had occasioned the AoA evidence to the parliamentary committee. Whatever the prospect for creating new antibiotic products the committee - perhaps in a new spirit of realism - appear to have abandoned expanding the vaccine program as a substitute.
Written evidence from John Stone (Age of Autism)
[1] Vaccines are mentioned as one strategy against antimicrobial resistance (1) and this submission seeks to caution against the idea of substituting one kind of over-medication with another (Age of Autism is an on-line newspaper concerned with the publicly unaccounted adverse effects of vaccination).
[2] In the United Kingdom, an infant already receives by 12 months on the routine schedule (2):-
DTaP, Polio, HiB, HepB+Rotavirus+13 Strain Pneumococcal+MenB (8 weeks)
DTaP, Polio, HiB, HepB+Rotavirus (12 weeks)
DTaP, Polio, HiB,HepB+13 Strain Preumococcal+MenB (16 weeks)
13 Strain Pneumococcal+MMR+HiB, MenC
[3] In 2011 Miller and Goldman reported (3):
“The infant mortality rate (IMR) is one of the most important indicators of the socio-economic well-being and public health conditions of a country. The US childhood immunization schedule specifies 26 vaccine doses for infants aged less than 1 year—the most in the world—yet 33 nations have lower IMRs. Using linear regression, the immunization schedules of these 34 nations were examined and a correlation coefficient of r = 0.70 (p < 0.0001) was found between IMRs and the number of vaccine doses routinely given to infants. Nations were also grouped into five different vaccine dose ranges: 12–14, 15–17, 18–20, 21–23, and 24–26. The mean IMRs of all nations within each group were then calculated. Linear regression analysis of unweighted mean IMRs showed a high statistically significant correlation between increasing number of vaccine doses and increasing infant mortality rates, with r = 0.992 (p = 0.0009). Using the Tukey-Kramer test, statistically significant differences in mean IMRs were found between nations giving 12–14 vaccine doses and those giving 21–23, and 24–26 doses. A closer inspection of correlations between vaccine doses, biochemical or synergistic toxicity, and IMRs is essential.”
[4] There is presently no hard science supporting the general expandability of the programme and its safety despite several hundreds of products in the pipeline (4) all waiting to be licensed, recommended and in many other countries mandated. Often in the last decade, and even quite recently British health officials (including Prof David Salisbury (5), Sir Liam Donaldson (6) and Prof Elizabeth Miller (7)) were apt to cite the 10,000 vaccine doctrine of Prof Paul Offit (8) in order to reassure the public. There were several obvious things wrong with Offit’s claim that 10,000 or 100,000 vaccines administered to an infant in one go might be safe. Offit was comparing routine exposure to environmental pathogens, with cocktails of serious disease derived pathogens; it took no account, for example, of the use of adjuvants to boost the antigens and the route of administration was nothing like routine exposure to pathogens in the environment i.e. in most cases injected when normally we have skin, the digestive system, the lungs which have evolved to protect us (9).
[5] Last year I was attacked by the Every Child By Two website (10), to which Offit is an advisor (11) and executive member (12), for suggesting he ever meant it literally (despite copious evidence (9, 13)), so the doctrinal/theoretical basis for the safety of the expanding programme seems to have evaporated, without it being replaced by anything else.
[6] The can be no assumption that vaccines boost general resistance, and publications from the team led by Aaby and Benn suggest negative possibilities (14, 15, 16).
[7] Recent studies have questioned whether pneumococcal vaccines actually result in a reduction of pneumococcal illness, or make the problem worse. For instance, Vila-Corcoles reported in a study of more than 2m middle-aged and elderly adults in Catalonia (17):
“After multivariable adjustments we found that the PCV13 vaccination did not alter significantly the risk of pneumococcal pneumonia (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio [mHR]: 1.17; 95% CI: 0.75–1.83; p = 0.493) and all-cause death (mHR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.97–1.18; p = 0.190), although it remained significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause pneumonia (mHR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.48–1.94; p < 0.001). In stratified analyses focused on middle-aged or elderly persons and immunocompromised or immunocompetent subjects, PCV13 vaccination did not appear effective either.”
[8] In Mawson’s small but ground-breaking vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study of home-schooled children (18) it was found that 1.2% of unvaccinated children had had pneumonia against 6.4% vaccinated, while 5.8% unvaccinated had had Otitis Media against 19.8 vaccinated. However unpalatable it is to health officials and vaccine manufacturers it is urgent that this study – which looked at the effects of general vaccination against a range of health outcomes - be expanded.
[9] Vaccines may offer no panacea to the problem of antimicrobial resistance, will interact with it in unpredictable ways, and likely make it worse. Politicians need to be wary of being railroaded by industry objectives which are a matter of commercial exploitation and not the public good.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Jim O’Neill etc., Tackling Drug-Resistant Infections Globally: The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, May 2016, ‘Intervention 6: Promote development and use of vaccines and alternatives’, p.40-3 https://amr-review.org/sites/default/files/160518_Final%20paper_with%20cover.pdf
(2) Childhood vaccines timeline https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/childhood-vaccines-timeline/
(3) Miller NZ & Goldman GS, Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?, Human and Experimental Toxicology May 2011, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0960327111407644
(4) Medicines in Development for Vaccines (sic), “Washington, D.C. (April 20, 2012) America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are developing nearly 300 vaccines…”
(5) John Stone, What David Salisbury said and the DOH’s position on multiple vaccine safety, BMJ Rapid Responses 20 September 2004, https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/30/what-david-salisbury-said-and-dohs-position-multiple-vaccine-safety
(6) John Stone, Irresponsible claims about vaccine safety? Questions for Sir Liam Donaldson and Prof Lewis Wolpert, BMJ Rapid Responses 3 July 2004, https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/30/irresponsible-claims-about-vaccine-safety-questions-sir-liam-donaldson-and
(7) Elizabeth Miller, Controversies and challenges of vaccination: an interview with Elizabeth Miller, BMC Med. 2015; 13: 267. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608187/ Miller can make a rhetorical defence: “Despite strong arguments against the overload hypothesis…” but of course an argument is not evidence. The citation is to the Offit article.
(8) Offit PA, Quarles J, Gerber MA, Hackett CJ, Marcuse EK, Kollman TR, et al. Addressing parents’ concerns: do multiple vaccines overwhelm or weaken the infant's immune system? Pediatrics. 2002;109:124–9. doi: 10.1542/peds.109.1.124.
(9) Paul Offit, Are childhood vaccines safe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQQ7izQOPdw Segment 27mins to 29.20.
(10) Joel A Harrison, John Stone and the “Best of Age of Autism”: Just Plain Wrong About Everything, 27 February 2017, https://www.ecbt.org/index.php/facts_and_issues/article/john_stone_and_the_best_of_age_of_autism_just_plain_wrong_about_everything
(11) ECBT Advisory Board https://www.ecbt.org/index.php/about/article/scientific_advisory_board
(12) ECBT Board https://www.ecbt.org/index.php/about/article/board
(13) For instance, a newsletter from Offit’s hospital Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) states: “No doubt about it, the immunization schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) can seem daunting. Your child can receive up to 23 shots by the time she's 2 years old and as many as six shots at a singledoctor visit. So it's not surprising that many parents have concerns about how vaccines might affect a child's developing immunity and often cite these as a reason to refuse a vaccine….But it should be the least of your worries. "Children have an enormous capacity to respond safely to challenges to the immune system from vaccines," says Dr. Offit. "A baby's body is bombarded with immunologic challenges - from bacteria in food to the dust they breathe. Compared to what they typically encounter and manage during the day, vaccines are literally a drop in the ocean." In fact, Dr. Offit's studies show that in theory, healthy infants could safely get up to 100,000 vaccines at once.” https://web.archive.org/web/20060907100428/https://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=81553
(14) Aaby P, Whittle H, Benn CS, Vaccine programmes must consider their effect on general resistance, BMJ 2012; 344 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e3769 (Published 14 June 2012)
(15) Sankoh O et al, The non-specific effects of vaccines and other childhood interventions: the contribution of INDEPTH Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems, Int J Epidemiol. 2014 Jun;43(3):645-53. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyu101. Epub 2014 May 30.
(16) Benn CS, Sorup S, Aaby P, BNJ Rapid Responses to Tielemans et al, Non-specific effects of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination in high income setting: population based cohort study in the Netherlands, 20 September 2017, 16 November 2017 and 7 May 2018 https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3862/rapid-responses
(17) Vila-Corcoles A et al, Evaluating clinical effectiveness of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination against pneumonia among middle-aged and older adults in Catalonia: results from the EPIVAC cohort study, 18 December 2017, BMC Infectious Diseases201818:196, https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-018-3096-7
(18) Mawson AR, Ray B, Bhuiyan AR, Jacob B, Pilot comparative study on the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated 6- to 12- year old U.S. children, Table 2 Vaccination status and health outcomes – Acute Conditions, Journal of Translational Science, 24 April 2017, https://www.oatext.com/Pilot-comparative-study-on-the-health-of-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-6-to-12-year-old-U-S-children.php#Article
Eindecker, Here is a Reuters article taken derived from The Public Library of Medicine.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-infants-mortality/u-s-infant-mortality-high-even-for-full-term-babies-idUSKBN1GX2ST
Summing up: For full-term babies the U.S. has from 50% to 200% greater infant mortality (by age 1 year) compared to virtually all other Western Countries, with 43% of such U.S. babies dying from SIDS, most all on either side of 6 months of age.
As U.S. full-term babies (born healthiy) at 6 months have recieved 26 toxic vaccine doses by injection, is it any wonder SUID deaths make up 43% of such infant deaths. Of course the Medical Establishment has concocted spurious rational for such deaths such as being accidentally smothered when sleeping with their parents. What hogwash.
The truth of death by vaccine is beyond obvious -- . By the way my generation born during the 1940s had the best "herd immunity" ever in modern life, as we ALL got all the childhood diseases and sailed through with lasting immunity, with virtually no sickness absence in Kindergarten and Grade School. Not to mention no "polio" because we all sailed through with this enterovirus infection around the age of one (no problems, perhaps subclinical mild symptoms unreported to Medical Authorities).
Since you are apparently clueless about "polio" just go to the Westen Price Foundation and read documentation by author Jim West clearly indicting the hundreds of millions of pounds of neurotoxic agricultural chemicals spread and sprayed and ramped up into the 1950s when the "Polio Panic" took off. Of course those affected were already immune to polio as they had it as infants and were actually immune. BUT, of course, the corrupt Medical Powers rushed in "to save everybody" with a extremely toxic vaccine, and completely ignored many scientists that correctly cited the immense broadcasting of toxic Ag chemicals were the true culprit. Same bullcrap you espouse today.
Posted by: david m burd | October 27, 2018 at 08:56 AM
An acquaintance of mine, from over many years - started delivering pharma drugs to my parents. It is very nice to have this service for them. His teen age daughter had an car accident and hurt her head. It lead to C diff. Long story short; I now know some one that had to have a fecal transplant in our little back woods community.
The man that owns the same pharma that has the delivery service, was in the hospital this spring with his stomach. His wife figured out it was the Helicobacter pylori (ulcer causing organism) all while the doctors were looking for cancer. Long story short; just a few weeks ago he underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor.
Vaccines do not cause autism (need to clear throat from embarrassment while saying that) but it can and does cause brain injury, according to the CDCs own website. They don't contest that.
Our wise medical society may have finally figured out by now that those super duper microbes, and mutating organisms are not being grown in the water of sympathy florist vases, but from stopping the use of cleaning solutions that contains mercury. By using such a product it cleared out /wiped out the whole eco- system leaving only a few microbes that can not usually compete with the others, but are able to withstand mercury, and also antibiotics.
Now let them further figure out that an injured brain will allow the gut to grow lots of other things as well.
Oh, and that vaccines do damage the brain every last time, and there is at this moment none of us; not a single human being that is really functioning up to what God/ nature (depending what you decide to believe in) intended.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 26, 2018 at 02:46 PM
@ Eindecker "it’s the hospital acquired infections that are the real issue, not the type of thing you or I might visit the GP for."
Ah yes. After around a decade and a few £millions down the drain, attempts to develop a vaccine for Clostridium difficile have finally been abandoned. (I'm a survivor and was interested in this). I also watched the sharks move in on this deadly hospital infection. Everything from Ozone to copper door handles was offered to the NHS for infection control. A mega expensive antibiotic was used on the worst cases, although most 'worst case' patients died. My own regional health authority spent £hundreds of thousands on useless alcohol hand gel dispensers on every hospital ward. This stuff does not kill C diff spores and worse, the hand operated pump action actually SPREAD germs. Washing hands thoroughly with soap and running water is the only way to clear C diff spores.
C diff is caused by broad spectrum antibiotics killing all the friendly gut bacteria, leaving a clear field for C diff spores to 'hatch out' with their deadly toxins. The spores are resistant to heat and disinfectants and persist on hospital ward surfaces. My own life was almost certainly saved by a junior doctor's advice to take probiotics. Yes those cheap wee bottles of live yogurt drinks. I hate yoghurt but forced them down. As part of my campaigning I wrote to the Government suggesting NHS hospitals might consider substituting live yogurts for inactive ones as a patient food choice. These cost no more, but don't keep as long, but considering the huge cost to the NHS of treating and barrier nursing C diff patients, this would be cost effective. After around 10 years I noted this is still being considered by UK health authorities. I personally advise friends and relatives going into hospital on how to avoid C diff.
Antibiotics have saved my life on at least 3 occasions, so I am not about to advocate substituting any 'natural' cures for serious infections. However, I would not dream of visiting a GP for a sore throat, before at least a week on hot 'lemon and honey' and some TLC. Some common sense is desperately needed in our sick NHS.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | October 25, 2018 at 07:35 PM
Eindecker your to far down the Pharma rabbit hole to be retrieved.Lettuce see,I used essential oils this summer on my Black current plants that had come under attack from Aphids neem oil sprayed with water on the underside of the leaves did the trick superbly.
The joined up thinkers amongst us think it would work on a commercial scale and benefit humans at the same time..unlike the over use of antibiotics.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/06/25/essential-oils-antibiotics.aspx
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
Scientists say the overuse of antibiotics for people and animals is lessening their effectiveness so much that even a slight injury or infection could turn into a serious medical crisis
Using special techniques, researchers have used the antibacterial properties of essential oils to create a bioactive coating to protect against infection, which may help prevent millions of infections every year
Drug-resistant bacteria has caused farmers to take a closer look at plant extracts for both people and animals, while scientists are also targeting biofilm growth on failing aquatic sensors due to marine organisms
Essential oils such as tea tree oil, peppermint, cinnamon and lavender have potent properties that can kill harmful bacteria strains such as salmonella and E. coli, eliminate intestinal worms, and improve acne, shingles and even MRSA
By Dr. Mercola
It's quite likely that whether you visit your doctor for back pain, anxiety or an ingrown toenail, you won't leave without a prescription of some kind. Cold and flu symptoms are among the most common reasons why people visit their doctors and, often, antibiotics are the go-to remedy. Repeatedly taking antibiotics causes major problems, however, as overuse of this type of medication, both in the health care setting and in industrial agriculture, has resulted in increased resistance.
In fact, every time you take antibiotics, your body builds resistance, they become less and less effective and, worse, any bacterium that survives the medication also builds resistance. One of the worst aspects of drug-resistant bacteria, or superbugs, is that an alarming number are found on the biofilm — a thin slimy surface substance — that forms on medical devices, including implants.
Pharma For Prison(Including Eindecker)
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | October 25, 2018 at 01:04 PM
Eindecker
You didn’t answer my question - as to vaccines and herd immunity as JB Handley has been pointing out they are ineffective because they keep on wearing off. It’s a boon to the manufacturers because officials just prescribe more doses.
Posted by: John Stone | October 25, 2018 at 12:55 PM
Its a VOTE WINNER Eindecker !
http://deadstate.org/gop-candidate-for-governor-we-shouldnt-be-vaccinating-kids-for-no-reason/
As the debate around the efficacy of vaccines ramps up again, a video taken over the summer has surfaced showing Connecticut’s GOP candidate for governor Bob Stefanowski questioning the need for childhood vaccines.
The video, obtained by NBC Connecticut, is about two minutes long and doesn’t provide any context for what was said before Stefanowski made his comments.
Someone in the audience questioned Stefanowski about Connecticut’s laws that require students attending public schools to be up to date on their vaccinations.
“Do you think the state should dictate [immunizations] or should local [Boards of Education] handle that?” the audience member asked.
According to Stefanowski, he doesn’t the reason why vaccines should be mandated for public school students.
“I think it depends on the vaccination,” Stefanowski replies in the video. “We shouldn’t be dumping a lot of drugs into kids for no reason.”
As NBC Connecticut points out, Connecticut mandates that students entering pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and seventh grade be immunized against diseases such as measles, rubella, pertussis, and tetanus. Some schools and programs also require that individuals in daycare and youth camps get a flu shot. The same goes for college students living in on-campus housing.
In the video, Stefanowski clarified that he and his wife had their children immunized, but he emphasized it as a “choice.”
This August, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that a measles outbreak had spread across 21 states and the District of Columbia. Most of the people who contracted the disease were not vaccinated. According to the CDC, 107 people had contracted the disease from Jan. 1 to July 14.
Posted by: Hans Litten | October 25, 2018 at 12:36 PM
Hans Litten: Thanks for the Volcker link. He's right, of course. I think Trump had no idea what he was getting into when he claimed he was going to drain the swamp. It is un-drainable, except by the people rising up and saying no more. And yes, the undertakers always put out "Help Wanted" signs when governments take action. A good business to get into.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | October 25, 2018 at 08:57 AM
Oh the irony "Pharma For Prison" Angus the article and Parliamentary Report was all about trying to get Pharma to start investing in antibiotic research again!! Unfortunately if you had your way they'd all be in prison, ah well!
John I've re-read the Miller paper again this morning, there was no attempt to remove confounding factors re infant mortality rates, as Healy pointed out the variable Miller and Goldman were looking at, infant mortality, is not reported in any consistent manner across the various countries rendering the analysis meaningless. You make the comment “there was still going to be very little correlation between high vaccination and low mortality.” Well yes, thanks to vaccines & herd immunity few people in advanced countries now die of infectious disease.
Whatever, the issue of a looming crisis because of a lack of antibiotics to treat resistant organisms is a very difficult problem to solve, inevitably it will involve the pharmaceutical industry coming up with “new chemical entities” to plug the gap, it’s the hospital acquired infections that are the real issue, not the type of thing you or I might visit the GP for. There are already significant problems in hospitals in Israel and the east coast of the US with carbapenem resistant Gram negatives.
Posted by: Eindecker | October 25, 2018 at 08:40 AM
I knew it was only a matter of time. Vaccines for the homeless.
It the only solution they haven't tried to solve the homelessness problem !
Msg to the UK criminoThorites :
Wait until the coldest bitterest day of the winter and do a hard mandatory flu vaccine drive for the homeless in the UK. I think we could cure homelessness in a Single night !
Should we alert the undertakers of the upcoming bonanza ?
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/24/health/hepatitis-a-vaccine-homeless-cdc/index.html
Posted by: Hans Litten | October 25, 2018 at 05:47 AM
Eindecker the answer is...
"Without commenting directly on vaccine science I believe it is possible to recognize the elements of social control here. The authoritarian construction is far more certain than the safety of the products. Offit gives us to understand that even if our children were to receive 10,000 vaccines in one go it would still be safe: therefore there can be no issue over 5 or 10 in one go, or dozens over the course of a childhood. In fact, in most cases the practitioners will know only slightly more about the products than the assenting parents. Moreover, everyone has to be persuaded that are no real long-term adverse consequences, and even where they are apparent they are coincidental."
https://www.ageofautism.com/2010/05/paul-offits-10000-vaccines-and-the-milgram-experiment.html
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | October 25, 2018 at 03:44 AM
It's not often I agree with Eindeker, but his comment 'that developing vaccines specifically targeting antibiotic resistant bacteria organisms is a forlorn hope. ' is exactly correct. It is also the case existing vaccines targeting bacterial infections are failing, as bacteria are very clever at developing resistance to antibiotics, disinfectants and of course vaccines. The mechanism is the same in all cases. Those few surviving bacteria are resistant to just about everything. You know the rest.
One very good example of this is the Pertussis (Whooping Cough) vaccine, which is now failing to protect a significant percentage of those persons vaccinated. Worse, the evolved form of this disease is nastier than the naturally acquired Whooping Cough which I contracted in the 1950s. Babies are particularly at risk since these days, previously vaccinated mothers have little or no immunity to transfer naturally to their babies. Knee jerk attempts by health authorities to vaccinate pregnant mothers and members of their families (cocooning) fill me with despair. A failed vaccine is a failed vaccine.
Recent efforts to persuade GPs to reduce their antibiotic prescribing, has resulted in confusion. Medicine should never be a 'tick box - one size fits all' business. My Grandson got Scarlet Fever, after a GP initially refused antibiotics for his throat infection. He's fine, but complications from Scarlet Fever can be dire for immune compromised patients and those with co-morbidities.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | October 25, 2018 at 02:33 AM
Eindecker
I don’t think anyone said there was a condemnation of the vaccine program but clearly there is a change of emphasis from the O’Neill report, where vaccines were going to rescue everybody - certainly in the publicity for it. If it’ is more muted it is more realistic. I am not sure that the Miller/Goldman paper was the “mainstay” but just the first of several citations, nevertheless I believed it was interesting because whatever the confounders there was still going to be very little correlation between high vaccination and low mortality.
I think we are in an at once ridiculous and frightening situation with hundreds more vaccines waiting to be licensed, recommended or mandated, with an inverse expectation that this will improve general health or lower mortality - and with an almost entirely predatory relation to the public interest. How many more do you think would be a good idea?
Posted by: John Stone | October 24, 2018 at 07:02 PM
John this may be for the only time that I at least partially agree with you in that developing vaccines specifically targeting antibiotic resistant bacteria organisms is a forlorn hope. But on the other hand is this the single mention of vaccines that you refer to in the report: There should also be a clear message about the value of vaccination programmes in preventing both primary and secondary infection; encouraging uptake also helps to reduce antimicrobial use and AMR. hardly a ringing condemnation of the vaccine program John, more like a heavy emphasis on the need to maintain vaccination programs and their uptake.
To be honest John if you use fundamentally flawed publications like that of Miller & Goldberg comparing infant mortality rates across countries as a mainstay of your thesis then I doubt very much if your submission had any influence of the considerations of the Parliamentary Committee. Bernadine Healy discussed the potential errors in direct comparisons of infant mortality rates between countries in a U.S. News & World Report story headlined, "Behind the Baby Count" (Sept. 24, 2006).
First, it’s shaky ground to compare U.S. infant mortality with reports from other countries. The United States counts all births as live if they show any sign of life, regardless of prematurity or size. This includes what many other countries report as stillbirths. In Austria and Germany, fetal weight must be at least 500 grams (1 pound) to count as a live birth; in other parts of Europe, such as Switzerland, the fetus must be at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) long. In Belgium and France, births at less than 26 weeks of pregnancy are registered as lifeless. And some countries don’t reliably register babies who die within the first 24 hours of birth. Thus, the United States is sure to report higher infant mortality rates. For this very reason, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which collects the European numbers, warns of head-to-head comparisons by country.
Infant mortality in developed countries is not about healthy babies dying of treatable conditions as in the past. Most of the infants we lose today are born critically ill, and 40 percent die within the first day of life. The major causes are low birth weight and prematurity, and congenital malformations. As Nicholas Eberstadt, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, points out, Norway, which has one of the lowest infant mortality rates, shows no better infant survival than the United States when you factor in weight at birth.
Posted by: Eindeker | October 24, 2018 at 05:36 PM
Good news! I think it's fair to say, Mr. Stone, that you've saved some from vaccinosis.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | October 24, 2018 at 05:34 PM
Only John can pull that tohether so brilliantly.
Thanks John
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | October 24, 2018 at 01:41 PM
Brilliant, John.
Well done for making a difference.
I wonder if some people in Westminster are beginning to realise the truth?
Posted by: Susan Welch | October 24, 2018 at 09:19 AM
Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker thinks 'we're in a hell of a mess'
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/former-fed-chairman-paul-volcker-thinks-were-in-a-hell-of-a-mess/ar-BBOMRum?ocid=ientp
In a book set for release Oct. 30, Volcker laments the current state of conditions, particularly the monied interests eating away at the system of governing.
"There is no force on earth that can stand up effectively, year after year, against the thousands of individuals and hundreds of millions of dollars in the Washington swamp aimed at influencing the legislative and electoral process," he writes, according to Sorkin
--------------------------------------------------------------
& I bet Paul doesn't even know the half of it !
Posted by: Hans Litten | October 24, 2018 at 05:43 AM
John Stone made a strong case which was impossible to argue against, what a hero!!
Posted by: Pete | October 24, 2018 at 03:55 AM
Well done AoA and John Stone. What an excellent submission and you got a result. The UK House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, is made up of cross party members of Parliament. There have been recent legal changes to make political lobbying, by corporations and other vested interests, more publicly transparent, including a register of lobbyists. MPs already have to declare any donations or 'sponsorship'.
Vaccines have become very profitable, and there is huge pressure by manufacturers to add more and more of them to UK child vaccination schedules. There was a huge 'push' to get meningitis B vaccine Bexsero, into the child schedule. The tactics included a lot of publicity involving a meningitis damaged child, including interviews with the parents. Needless to say the tactics worked, with a public petition demanding the vaccine be included in the child vaccine schedule. In fact, this deadly infection is thankfully very rare, and if caught early, can be successfully treated with antibiotics. Parents, and particularly GPs and hospital doctors, need to be more aware of the symptoms and act quickly when a case is suspected. Better a dose of unnecessary antibiotics than allowing this infection to progress to the point of limb removal or death.
I find it hopeful to see our political representatives at last listening and making decisions based on stone cold (forgive the pun) facts and proper scientific data analyses, rather than emotional public appeals and the ridiculous fantasy nonsense of Paul Proffit. (oops another pun)
Posted by: Jenny Allan | October 24, 2018 at 02:53 AM