Dr. Meryl Nass, MD Why are legislatures imposing vaccine mandates now?
We invite you to read the full blog entry: Why are legislatures imposing vaccine mandates now? My testimony to the New Brunswick, Canada legislature on August 27, 2019
By Dr. Meryl Nass, MD
... I am a veteran of the vaccine war in the US, and today I feel compelled to speak about what I saw in that war. Legislators were forced to change their votes to revoke vaccine exemptions and rescind the historic right to consent to medical procedures. The vaccine war is a dirty war, in which platitudes about protecting the most vulnerable are invoked by the same pharmaceutical companies that paid $2.7 billion in criminal penalties in the US between 2012 and 2015. The vaccine industry generates enormous profits (estimated 10-40%), benefits from a government-guaranteed market, and receives almost total liability protection. No other industry can rival these benefits. And this industry's rapacious desire to grow and guarantee its Canadian market is the reason we are here today.
Let me add context to this discussion by noting that in 2014, the NY Times said it cost $2200 to fully vaccinate one child. At that price, it cost $163 billion dollars to fully vaccinate every US child.
May I apologize at the outset for using mostly US data? I provide Canadian and New Brunswick information when available.
- Pharma's Pilgrimage to New Brunswick
Since March 2019, representatives of the three largest vaccine manufacturers in North America: GSK, Merck and Sanofi, have made their way to New Brunswick to meet with ministers, public servants and lawmakers. This is not coincidental. Pharmaceutical companies are colluding to expand on legislative victories gained in the US. Using a media storm over measles, censorship of numerous vaccine-related websites, new support for mandates from professional organizations that have benefitted from industry largesse, and deals with Democratic party leaders, the right to religious and philosophic vaccine exemptions has been voted away by legislatures in California, New York and Maine. In the recent case of New York, the Speaker of the NY Assembly was caught on videotape directing a committee member to change his vote in order for the mandate legislation to move forward.
This was not an idle pilgrimage to one of Canada's smallest provinces. For Pharma it is the gateway to all of Canada.
The vaccine industry in 2019 is at a crossroads.
On the one hand, the vaccine business is booming. Several vaccines have been newly licensed, a robust industry-FDA revolving door has been established, and the children of North America are receiving more vaccines than ever before. Merck, for example, reported increased sales in the second quarter of 2019 for Gardasil HPV vaccine of 46% (to over $3 billion US annually) compared to last year, and increased sales of 58% for its MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) vaccine. These are Merck's 3d and 4th biggest sellers. This year's US measles outbreak (about 1200 cases) and media-driven fears of contagion contributed to vaccine uptake.
On the other hand, the industry does not want to shoulder the considerable expense of developing, testing and licensing new vaccines--over 100 of which are in development--without a government guarantee that they will be purchased.
Vaccines are being developed for everything from acne to cancers.
Vaccine mandates guarantee a vaccine market, now and in the future. Mandates put in place today will enforce the uptake of vaccines on the currently required list, plus other vaccines yet to be added.
Industry Challenges
In 2019, the vaccine industry faces threatening legal challenges.
- a) An expert witness for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in the 2007 omnibus vaccine autism case (affecting the outcome for thousands of cases of alleged vaccine injury leading to autism), neurology professor Andrew Zimmerman, MD recently filed an affidavit stating that his expert testimony was altered by DOJ lawyers--that he told them that in certain cases, autism can be a consequence of vaccination. The case for which Prof. Zimmerman's testimony was allegedly changed resulted in a denial of benefits for thousands of families with autistic children. It also led to a negative conclusion in the US Vaccine Court, for all future cases, that autism might be a consequence of vaccination. Potentially thousands of denied cases will need to be re-litigated.
- b) Gardasil, a Merck vaccine used to prevent HPV infections and putatively cancer, is facing lawsuits around the world for neurologic injuries and deaths. The Japanese government rescinded its recommendation for Gardasil due to the widespread side effects reported. Recall that Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, MMR, varicella and other vaccines, hid the lethal side effects of Vioxx for nearly five years, paying out $4.85 billion US dollars to settle 27,000 injury claims. FDA scientist David Graham, MD estimated that 39,000 to 61,000 excess deaths occurred due to Vioxx.
- c) Danish physician and anthropologist Peter Aaby, and the group he leads, have been studying vaccines in Africa for 40 years. After completing hundreds of vaccine studies, they have concluded that the DPT vaccine increases infant mortality, by 100% or more, in African infants. His group notes, "All studies of the introduction of DTP have found increased overall mortality." You may be interested in his eye-opening talk at a recent Symposium on Scientific Freedom in Copenhagen.
The Best Defense is a Good Offense
Facing these challenges, in 2019 the vaccine industry seized its opportunity from a prolonged US measles outbreak. A flawlessly conducted PR campaign conducted for the industry helped ram through legislation for enforced vaccine mandates in the US, and now the industry is repeating the strategy in Canada.
In the wake of the 2015 Disneyland measles epidemic, coupled with millions of dollars in lobbying fees and direct donations to legislators, California's legislators voted to end non-medical vaccine exemptions. And this month, they are considering a bill that would tighten the granting of medical exemptions.
One of the unforeseen consequences of California's vaccine mandate was the wholesale withdrawal of children from public schools. California's Department of Public Health reported that the number of homeschooled, unvaccinated kindergartners soared from 2,000 to nearly 7,000 between 2016 and 2018, following California's vaccine mandate.
Is New Brunswick prepared for a significant reduction in the number of children who attend public school?
Read the full blog entry at Meryl Nass, MD.
"A status quo that is more friendly to us than we like to imagine."
Greg, the status quo is that vaccine companies want mo money, mo money, and politicians along with professional business organizations will collude with them to reap the whirlwind at public expense.
(The first link Dr Nass provides in the pilgrimage section is mind blowing.)
Yes, there are some presidential candidates slightly hedging their bets.
It is likely they will be denied a platform to run, as our US media has been thoroughly pharmed.
There are still some hopes in litigation, but it is atrocious that many will suffer in the meantime. I hope, on a local political level, we will be able to staunch the pharma legislative pushovers until that hope is fulfilled.
I did find this link to the public testimonies about bill 39.
https://www.vaccine-injury.info/public-comment-on-bill-39-new-brunswick-canada-vaccine-mandates
Posted by: greyone | September 16, 2019 at 01:54 PM
No-Vax, I respectfully disagree with you that vaccines mandates are such a political slam-dunk for provaxxers. Indeed the Democrat party seems to be heavily tilting their way and Trump did betray us by telling people to get their MMR, but reflect again on SB276. All but one Republican Legislature voted against it. Consider also that despite West Virginia and Mississippi always having their mandates, just about every red State seems to be now balking at them, shooting down such proposals. This is also true for some blue States, and where we even find Colorado's Governor declaring that he would veto any such legislation that arrives on his desk.
Guys, we should move away from the perception that pharma has every politician on a string, and they can tug them every which way. Indeed pharma has a powerful sway, but it is mitigated by other things such as partisanship, votes milking, and just plain ego.
Bob, you pointed out just about every Democratic presidential candidate say they're in favour of vaccines. Pay attention though to how many had 'no comment' on the precise issue of mandates. And why should they sell the farm on the matter? Is it sensible to say something that may piss-off up to a quarter of voters? Sure it can be argued that the math favours pandering to the other three-quarter provaxx votes, but can such votes be counted on? Are gullible parents who dutifully vaccinate their kids and may even say in opinion polls that they're in favour of vaccines really that concern about the issue that it will factor significantly into their voting? Likely they will be more preoccupied with other stuff. 'Antivaxxers', however, are more likely to be singe-issue voters who will seek out the candidates that support their stance.
Even Trump, despite his comment, do we expect him to completely throw away his advantage -- an advantage that can be argued got him elected in the first place -- and declare that he has had a complete change of heart? Will he promise that if he gets re-elected for his second term he will ensure that vaccination is the law of the land? Whatever evidence exist that Trump is stupid, I can't see any suggesting that he will be that stupid. Expect a delicate dance between him and Biden on the issue, and which will essentially uphold the status quo. A status quo that is more friendly to us than we like to imagine.
Posted by: Greg | September 14, 2019 at 10:24 PM
Greyone, I am not sure. I gave incorrect link for the panel discussion. Here is correct one.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5269118
Posted by: Greg | September 14, 2019 at 03:35 PM
Greg
did AMMI and Canada Public Health present?
AMMI has had Merck and Pfizer vaccines as sponsors.
There are probably grants at this time to model how the economically disadvantaged, and or indigenous population will suffer for lack of vaccines. Look for strategies that will then tie public aid to mandated vaccination. Is this prohibited by Canadian law?
Posted by: greyone | September 14, 2019 at 02:15 PM
Hi Dr Nass and Everyone, the Education Minister, Dominic Cardi, that is proposing the bill recently held panel discussions on the bill. I am pleased to say it didn't go well for her. Grieving parents overwhelmed the panel, so much so that MLA leaders started sympathizing, stating that they were having cold feet and not sure if they would vote for the bill. Sears also flew in to testify on our side. I haven't heard much about next steps and it seems like things are in a limbo.
Interestingly though, with the worldwide vaccine mandates push, it seems to be hitting Canada and the UK less aggressively. Maybe John Stone can offer his opinion on this. Is there something about our shared monarchy and constitutions that poses a steeper obstacle to vaccine mandates? Indeed Cardi also stated that she wasn't sure how the bill would fare constitutionally, since the issue has never been adjudicated.
Indeed our Canadian Charter explicitly grants us conscientious and religious rights that would apply to refusing vaccines. In fact, in the three provinces that have mandatory reporting (Ontario, NB, and now recently BC) parents can submit affidavits exempting their kids on those grounds. I understand the US constitution also grants its citizens the right to refuse vaccines, but the Jacobson ruling setting a precedent, effectively overriding those rights and allowing the government to fine people or bar unvaxxed kids from school.
Still, is it a case that vaccine mandates would still face a steeper constitutional challenge in Canada? Is it due to the fact that the right to an education is enshrined federally and making it so much of a bigger hurdle for the Government to argue that school mandates should be imposed since they're in the pressing interest of the state? Or does vaccination mandates face a steeper constitutional challenge simply because we have no Jacobson, and no precedents for the courts to side with mandates. All the issues would then have to be debated, and especially the science supporting the claim that vaccines are 'safe and effective'.
Indeed when considering all the recent US rulings upholding school mandates, I am struck how little science is taken up in them. It's always a case of falling back on Jacobson. In Canada, however, it would appear the Government would need to put all its cards on the table and argue the science. Is this the reason then for a lesser push? They are well aware that the emperor truly has no clothes and fear being mercilessly exposed in court?
Interestingly, with a recent Ontario custody battle surrounding vaccination an arbitrator dealt with a case with a father wanting to vaccinate their child and a mother refusing. Toni Bark even testified in the case as an expert witness, testifying that vaccines were indeed risky and dangerous. The arbitrator went on to rule in favour of the mother, and agreeing that vaccines were indeed risky. Is this an harbinger of things to come should vaccine science be tested in court?
https://mail.yahoo.com/d/3/edit/8589782975?.lang=en-CA
https://nationalpost.com/news/arbitrator-sides-with-ontario-parent-who-refuses-to-immunize-child-cites-anti-vaccination-expert
Posted by: Greg | September 14, 2019 at 12:54 PM
Go listen to Peter Aaby on youtube: "Most of you think we know what our vaccines are doing - we don't, Peter Aaby" It's a great presentation.
Posted by: Beverly S | September 14, 2019 at 11:33 AM
Re: the Fluad vaccine mentioned at the end of Dr, Nass's article....Gatti and Montanari found micro- or nanoclumps (my word) of CaSiAl, FeSiTi, SiMgAlFe, and SBa in Fluad vaccine.
https://medcraveonline.com/IJVV/IJVV-04-00072.pdf
Posted by: Carol | September 14, 2019 at 11:15 AM
@no-vac
Thanks for Buzzfeed article on Presidential candidate views on vaccines .. a question that MUST be asked of candidates DURING televised national debate ..
I was not surprised to read ALL candidates support vaccines without any reservation as to what the SCIENCE shows … vaccines are safe and efficient .. are not connected to autism .. not one candidate had any reservation regarding the SCIENCE they claim to be aware of.
This is exactly the SAME RESPONSE all political candidates gave when asked if they supported our invasion of Iraq .. to remove Saddam because he had amassed a large storage of WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION .. all quoted INTELLIGENCE SERVICES (SCIENTISTS) AS RELIABLE .. TRUSTED .. WELL INFORMED SOURCES GUARANTEEING THAT SADDAM NOT ONLY HAD THE WEAPONS .. BUT .. THROUGH SATELLITE IMAGES (SCIENCE) THEY KNEW EXACTLY WHERE SADDAM HAD THE WEAPONS STORED.
Today .. whenever a politician is asked about the Iraq War .. most admit they were wrong to believe the Iraq War was justified because .. surprise surprise .. no weapons of mass destruction were found. Yet .. TODAY .. the very same GULLIBLE POLITICIANS are terrified to question the SCIENCE on vaccines .. lest they be called the dreaded ANTI-VAXX label .. best to just mumble the science is settled .. vaccines have proven to be miracles in preventing DEADLY DISEASES AND EVERYONE SHOULD BE VACCINATED .. NO EXEMPTIONS ALLOWED.
Our country lost TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS … HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DEAD AND MADE REFUGEES THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST .. THE CARNARGE CONTINUES TO THIS DAY .. MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER LAUNCHING THE IRAQ WAR ..
When the truth of vaccine SCIENCE is finally exposed for the sham it is built upon .. the damages done will dwarf the damages done by the IRAQ WAR .. for today's generation as well as future generations not yet born.
The SCIENCE IS SETTLED propaganda on vaccines will go down in history as man's greatest failure to protect himself from SOPHISTRY MASQUERADING AS SCIENCE.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 14, 2019 at 07:35 AM
In the US the situation is rather tragic. It looks that all democratic presidential candidates have been bought by pharma mafia and Trump deserted us. Hence, there is no chance of winning the vaccine war on political arena. We must turn to massive civil disobedience and sue the government for conspiring with big pharma in maiming and killing our children with mandatory toxic vaccines. The consequence of this is biological degeneration of our nation and destruction of our country. This is already evident on many fronts. All the social reforms which democrats propose look ridiculous and dangerous when they also support medical fascism.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/claudiakoerner/2020-presidential-candidates-vaccines-measles-health
Posted by: no-vac | September 13, 2019 at 10:52 PM
Thank you Dr. Nass!
Posted by: Dena Churchill | September 13, 2019 at 08:13 PM
Pertinent to this excellent testimony by Dr. Nass is the email I just sent out to my email group, which I wanted to share with my friends and fellow activists here on AoA :)
Thought for the weekend: "Disable the mandates, not the children"
This thought came to me this morning, and the email below is in tribute to my vaccine-disabled son, Ryan, and to the countless others, whose health, cognitive abilities, ability to communicate and form relationships, independence, and potential have been shattered and sacrificed due to their "routine" childhood vaccinations. Don't let what they have suffered and lost, and continue to endure, along with their families, be in vain.
To that end, please consider sharing one, some, or all of the following with those you know who are still not aware of the dangers, inefficacies, and lack of need for vaccines, or about the corruption and propaganda that underlie them from manufacture to mandate, and beyond.
Recent articles:
"Regaining Our Right to Refuse Vaccinations" by Laura Hayes
https://www.ageofautism.com/2019/06/regaining-our-right-to-refuse-vaccinations.html
"Vaccine IQ Test" by Laura Hayes
https://www.ageofautism.com/2019/09/vaccine-iq-test.html
"Here Is What I Don't Understand" by Laura Hayes
https://www.ageofautism.com/2019/09/here-is-what-i-dont-understand.html
Two comprehensive presentations, 80-min. each (video links and transcripts included):
"Vaccines: What Is There to Be 'Pro' About" by Laura Hayes
https://www.ageofautism.com/2016/12/vaccines-what-is-there-to-be-pro-about-laura-hayes-to-weston-a-price-foundation-conference.html
YouTube link only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zopucNn_DHs
"Why Is This Legal?" by Laura Hayes
https://www.ageofautism.com/2018/11/why-is-this-legal-presentation-on-vaccines-by-laura-hayes.html
YouTube link only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSjYpgevcA
For a fairly-complete listing of my work, with links, click here:
https://www.ageofautism.com/exclusives.html
PDFs are attached for the first 3 articles listed above, as they are brief, and easy to print and share with others. The first PDF below, titled "4-pager", is a reformatted, condensed version of the first article above, so that it can be reprinted on just 2 pieces of paper, using the front and back. *(AoA readers: PDFs for the first 2 are available on AoA...for pdf of the 3rd, email Kim to request it, or perhaps she will add the pdf link to the article as she has done for the other two.)
Consider hosting a small get-together to watch one of my comprehensive presentations. Should you do that, perhaps you might want to begin by reading the "Vaccine IQ Test" out loud before viewing the presentation, and allow time after for people to mingle and discuss what they have just heard.
Unless and until we reach a large enough tipping point to turn this tyranny on its head, I predict that next up will be: home schoolers and those on IEPs being added to SB277 in CA; laws similar to CA's SB277 and the just-signed SB276 being introduced and becoming law in all 50 states; and vaccine mandates for adults (mandates for many adults already exist).
I urge you to join the movement to ban vaccine mandates and to fully restore individual and parental rights with regard to medical decision making, including vaccination decisions. Informed consent involves a formal opting in, not a formal opting out, and never the inability to opt out. The Nuremberg Code, signed after and as a result of heinous WWII war crimes in the form of medical experimentation on humans without their consent, and often without their knowledge, clearly states, and was meant to codify forever, that: The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. Voluntary means just that, in accordance with one's free will, and in this case, with regard to bodily sovereignty, and in the complete absence of any government interference, coercion, threats, cost, fines, loss of rights, or other penalty.
Children belong to their parents, not to the state. It is not one child's job to supposedly protect another child. If vaccines work, the vaccinated have nothing to fear from the unvaccinated. Vaccine mandates, and medical mandates of any sort, cannot exist in a free and ethical society.
Robust health and sound development are not the result of injecting toxin-and-poison-laden syringes on a frequent and regular basis under the skin and deep into the muscle tissues, where that which is injected cannot be recalled or deactivated, where it will persist, where it will cross through cell walls and across the blood-brain barrier, where it will be deposited into organs and bones, and where it will wreak havoc over the course of a lifetime.
Speak up and speak out now, or be prepared to be silenced, and vaccinated regularly against your will in order to remain free and participating in society.
Laura
Posted by: Laura Hayes | September 13, 2019 at 05:04 PM
interesting article.
Posted by: greyone | September 13, 2019 at 04:23 PM
Thank you for posting Dr. Nass's testimony here on AoA, as I was hoping to read it.
Great job, Dr. Nass...thank you!
What is the current status of the bill in New Brunswick?
Posted by: Laura Hayes | September 13, 2019 at 01:07 PM
Thank you, Dr. Nass, for this excellent article.
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | September 13, 2019 at 10:11 AM
Excellent piece. Thanks for publishing it. One of her most compelling points is this: that the unvaccinated present no risk to the immunocompromised, but, through viral shedding, the recently vaccinated demonstrably do. Is the school nurse giving shots? Brilliant move.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | September 13, 2019 at 09:25 AM
African clearances in progress .
Kenya third country where a barely working vaccine is being rolled out
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/health/malaria-vaccine-malawi.html
Widespread Testing Begins on Malaria Vaccine That Is Only Partly Effective
Despite the vaccine’s drawbacks, the W.H.O. endorsed testing on 360,000 children, in an effort to lower death rates in Africa.
Posted by: Hans Litten | September 13, 2019 at 07:26 AM
The following article was published on February 9, 2016 … wherein I tried to warn AoA community of the stated goals of the CDC's National Adult Immunization Plan for the year 2020 .. which are as follows:
/
"The stated goals of the CDC's National Adult Immunization Plan for the year 2020 are as follows:
#1 to strengthen the adult immunization infrastructure
#2 improve access to adult vaccines
#3 increase community demand for adult immunizations
#4 foster innovation in adult vaccine development and vaccination related technologies.
However since 2010 when the National Adult Immunization Plan was first introduced efforts to improve adult immunization have been in their own opinion disappointing necessitating the issuance of the
(What follows is my own "edited for brevity" draft of the CDC's 2015 "Executive Summary" Italics and bold are mine not theirs)
"Vaccination is considered one of the most important public health achievements of the 20th century and continues to offer great promise in the 21st century. Vaccines save lives and improve the quality of life by preventing serious diseases and their consequences. However, the benefits of vaccines are not realized equally across the U.S. population. Adult vaccination rates remain low in the United States, and significant racial and ethnic disparities also exist.
"The US Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Plan (NVP), released in 2010, is a road map for vaccines and immunization programs for the decade 2010-2020. While the NVP provides a vision for improving protections from vaccine preventable diseases across the lifespan, vaccination coverage levels among adults are not on track to meet Healthy People 2020 targets. The National Vaccine Advisory Committee and numerous stakeholder groups have emphasized the need for focused attention on adult vaccines and vaccinations. The National Adult Immunization Plan (NAP) outlined here results from the recognition that progress has been slow, and there is a need for a national adult immunization strategic plan."
I suspect the recent … all out war against existing "exemptions" for children .. is actually targeted at ADULTS .. the primary goal of the CDC's National Adult Immunization Plan for the year 2020 .. the entire article is LENGHTY but I like to think worth reading as the year 2020 comes ever closer to their GOAL.
https:/www.ageofautism.com/2016/02/dr-benjamin-rush-forewarned-nation-on-medical-tyranny.html
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 13, 2019 at 06:53 AM
This Vaccine War is a Global coordinated one :
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/japanese-encephalitis-kills-154-in-assam-the-highest-since-2014/story-mwDReeGewst9m5WiV6ep3J.html
Japanese Encephalitis kills 154 in Assam, the highest since 2014
Assam’s health department will launch a state wide adult vaccination campaign in November covering all districts to combat Japanese Encephalitis.
https://www.rxlist.com/je-vax-side-effects-drug-center.htm
Since 1989, an apparently new pattern of adverse reactions has been reported among vaccinees in Europe, North America, and Australia.12,13,14 The reactions have been characterized by urticaria, often in a generalized distribution, or angioedema of the extremities, face, especially of the lips and oropharynx. Three vaccine recipients developed respiratory distress. Distress or collapse due to hypotension or other causes led to hospitalization in several cases. Most reactions were treated successfully with antihistamines or oral steroids; however some patients were hospitalized for parenteral steroid therapy. Three patients developed an erythema multiforme or erythema nodosum and some patients have had joint swelling. Some vaccinees complained of generalized itching without objective evidence of a rash.
An important feature of the reactions has been the interval between vaccination and onset of symptoms. Reactions after a first vaccine dose occurred after a median of 12 hours after immunization (88% of reactions occurred within 3 days). The interval between administration of a second dose and onset of symptoms generally was longer, (median 3 days and possibly as long as 2 weeks). Reactions have occurred after a second or third dose, when preceding doses were received uneventfully.
Between November 1991 and May 1992, the US Navy immunized 35,253 US personnel (marines, other military and dependents) with JE-VAX (japanese encephalitis virus vaccine inactivated) on Okinawa. The overall reaction rate, 62.4 per 10,000 vaccinees (95% confidence interval 54.2 to 70.6) includes persons reporting urticaria, angioedema, generalized itching and wheezing. The reaction rate per 10,000 vaccinees was 26.7 (95% confidence interval 21.3 to 32.1), 30.8 (95% confidence interval 24.6 to 37.0) or 12.2 (95% confidence interval 7.9 to 16.5) after the first, second or third dose, respectively.6 These reactions were generally mild to moderate in severity. Nine out of 35,253 persons immunized were hospitalized (2.6 per 10,000 vaccinees) primarily to allow administration of intravenous steroids for refractory urticaria. None of these reactions were considered life-threatening.
A case-control study conducted as part of the JE immunization campaign in Okinawa found that persons developing these reactions after JE vaccination were more likely to have had a past history of urticaria after hymenoptera envenomation, drugs, physical or other provocations or of idiopathic origins (relative risk 9.1, 95% confidence interval 1.8 to 50.9).6 The vaccine constituents responsible for these adverse reactions have not been identified.
Other serious adverse events reported following vaccination include (1) one case of Guillain-Barré syndrome after JE vaccination has been reported in the United States since 1984 (this patient was diagnosed as having mononucleosis three weeks before the onset of weakness); (2) one case of urticaria, hepatitis and respiratory failure one week after dose 2 (this person showed effusion and infiltrate on chest x-ray and eosinophilia); (3) one case of respiratory and renal failure one week after a dose (this 26-month-old male had infiltrate on chest x-ray and acid fast bacilli in sputum); and (4) one case of newly diagnosed hypertension in a young adult male presenting with a headache several hours after receiving dose one. The relationship of JE-VAX (japanese encephalitis virus vaccine inactivated) to the etiology of these adverse events is unknown.
https://punchng.com/kenya-adopts-worlds-first-malaria-vaccine/
Kenya on Friday became the third country to start routinely innoculating infants against malaria, using the world’s first vaccine to combat a disease that kills 800 children globally every day.
The vaccine — RTS,S — targets the deadliest and most common form of malaria parasite in Africa, where children under five account for two-thirds of all global deaths from the mosquito-born illness.
Kenya, which is rolling-out RTS,S in the western county of Homa Bay, joins Malawi and Ghana, which earlier this year commenced their own pilot vaccination programmes supported by the World Health Organization.
“This is the most advanced malaria vaccine that we have today. It has been in the making for the last almost three decades,” Dr Richard Mihigo, WHO’s coordinator of immunisation and vaccine development programme, told AFP before the Kenyan launch, which will expand to other malaria-prone areas of the country.
“Children are the most vulnerable group to this severe disease that is malaria, so protecting children can make a big impact in preventing malaria.”
The vaccine will be added in these pilot areas to the other routine shots given to young children under national immunisation schedules.
RTS,S acts against ‘Plasmodium falciparum’, the deadliest form of malaria, and the most prevalent in Africa, where illness and death from the disease remains high despite some gains.
The shots, administered over four doses, have been shown in clinical trials to significantly reduce cases of malaria, and malaria-related complications, in young children.
The vaccine prevented about four in 10 cases of malaria and three in 10 cases of the most severe, life-threatening form of the disease, within the trial group, WHO says.
RTS,S will be considered for use more broadly as a tool to fight malaria, alongside other preventative measures such as long-lasting insecticidal nets.
The disease kills more than 400,000 people around the world every year. Of these, about 290,000 were children under five.
WHO says a child dies roughly every two minutes from malaria somewhere in the world.
Most of these are in Africa, where more than 90 per cent of the world’s malaria cases — and fatalities — occur.
Posted by: Hans Litten | September 13, 2019 at 06:50 AM