Vaccunation Vaccination CCrriissiiss VVVVVVVVVVAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEE FFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Because there are many questions about vaccinations, and because there is a strong movement on foot to require every child in the land to receive a complete series of them, -this brief overview of the vaccination problem has been prepared. HHaarrvveessttiimmee BBooookkss THE VACCINATION CRISIS BY VANCE FERRELL I NTRODUCTION Routine vaccinations are given to many children. Physicians refer to them as the “baby shots." There are also special vaccinations for people in high-risk settings-such as travelers about to enplane to a hazardous country. How should we relate to vaccinations for ourselves and our children? Here is some data which may provide help. Because there are many questions about vaccinations, and because there is a strong movement on foot to require every child in the land to receive a complete series of them, -this brief overview of the vaccination problem has been prepared. However, the decision whether or not to vaccinate is a personal one. The author is a researcher and not a health practitioner. This is a decision you must make personally. It is hoped that this data will provide you with the basis for additional study on your own. Only In that way can you make an intelligent decision. Vaccines primarily consist of dead or weakened ("attenuated") germs of the same type of disease, which are injected into the body in the hope that it will stimulate the organism to produce protein antibodies to protect it against disease. There is growing pressure from special interest groups to require nationwide vaccination of children. In view of that fact, there is an urgent need to examine the information available on this matter . "There is a growing suspicion that immunization against relatively harmless childhood diseases may be responsible for the dramatic increase in autoimmune diseases since mass inoculations were introduced. These are fearful diseases such as cancer, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, lupus erythematosus, and the Guillain-8arre syndrome. “An autoimmune disease can be explained simply as one in which the body's defense mechanisms cannot distinguish between foreign invaders and ordinary body tissues, with the consequence that the body begins to destroy itself. Have we traded mumps and measles for cancer and leukemia?"- Robert Mendelsohn, How to Raise a Healthy ChIld, p. 211. Let us begin with the "mandatory" vaccinations. These are the ones, which, in most states, your child is required to take in order to be admitted to public school: -CHAPTER ONE – “MANDANTORY” VACCINATIONS MEASLES "My name is Wendy Scholl. I reside in the State of Florida with my husband, Gary, and three daughters, Stacy, Holly, and Jackie. Let me stress that all three of our daughters were born healthy, normal babies. I am here to tell of Stacy's reaction to the measles vaccine. . where according to the medical profession, anything within 7 to 10 days after the vaccine to do with neurological sequelae or seizures or brain damage fits a measles reaction. . " At 16 months old, Stacy received her measles shot. She was a happy, healthy, normal baby, typical, curious, playful until the 10th day after her shot, when I walked into her room to find her laying in her crib, flat on her stomach, her head twisted to one side. Her eyes were glassy and affixed. "She was panting, struggling to breathe. Her small head lay in a pool of blood that hung from her mouth. It was a terrifying sight, yet at that point I didn't realize that my happy, bouncing baby was never to be the same again. "When we arrived at the emergency room, Stacy's temperature was 107 degrees. The first 4 days of Stacy's hospital stay she battled for life. She was in a coma and had kidney failure. Her lungs filled with fluid and she had on- going seizures. "Her diagnosis was 'post-vaccinal encephalitis' and her prognosis was grave. She was paralyzed on her left side, prone to seizures, had visual problems. However, we were told by doctors we were extremely lucky. I didn't feel lucky. "We were horrified that this vaccine which was given only : to ensure that she would have a safer childhood, almost killed her. I didn't know that the possibility of this type of reaction even existed. But now, it is our reality. "-Wendy Scholl, testImony given to Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment; 98th Congress, 2nd Session, December 19, 1984; In Vaccine Injury Compensation, p. 110. Most cases of measles (more rarely called rubeola or English measles) are not serious, when large numbers of the population have been exposed to the germ. The symptoms generally leave within two weeks. However, one case in 100,000 leads to subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which produces hardening of the brain and is generally fatal. By 1955, there were .03 deaths per 100,000. Then, in 1963, a research team headed by J.F. Enders, developed the measles vaccine. Mass inoculations began. According to a November 1969 National Health Federation report, a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) disclosed that people who have been vaccinated for measles, have a 14 times greater chance of contracting the disease than those who were not vaccinated. A 1985 study by the U.S. government noted that 80 percent of "non-preventable" cases of measles, occurred in people who had been vaccinated (20th Immunization Conference Proceedings, May 6-9, 1985, p. 21). "Measles transmission has been clearly documented among vaccinated persons. In some large outbreaks.”over 95 percent of the cases have a history of vaccination."- Federal Drug Administration Workshop to Review Warnings, September 18, 1992, p. 27 (reported by Dr. Atklnson of the Centers for Disease Control [CDC]). "The World Health Organization did a study and found that while, in an unimmunized, measles- susceptible group of children, the normal rate of contraction of disease was 2.4 percent; in the control group that had been immunized, the rate of contraction rose to 33.5 percent."-Paavo Alrola, Ph.D., Everywoman's Book, 1979, p. 279. A survey of pediatricians in New York City reveals that only 3.2 percent of them were actually reporting measles cases to the health department. A study of medical books reveals that measles vaccine may cause learning disability, retardation, ataxia, aseptic meningitis, seizure disorders, paralysis, and death. Secondary complications associated with the vaccine include encephalitis, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, multiple sclerosis, toxic epidermal necrolysis, anaphylactic shock, Reye's syndrome, Guillain-Barre syndrome, blood clotting disorders, juvenile-onset diabetes, and possibly Hodgkin's disease and cancer (R.S. Mendelsohn, How to Raise a Healthy Child, p. 215). “Although one of the reasons for giving measles vaccine is to prevent the known complications of encephalitis and pneumonia, the vaccine itself may cause encephalitis. Further, one-half of all the reported cases of measles in the last few years have been in vaccinated individuals."-The Dangers of Immunization, 1987, p. 53. "Measles in former days was one of the more common childhood diseases. Although it can cause serious complications, it is a relatively minor illness in the vast majority of cases. .today's promotional campaigns for the vaccines seldom mention that the measles vaccine itself is known to be associated with serious complications including encephalitis with severe, permanent brain damage and mental retardation."-Dr. Alan Hlnman, Centers for Disease Control, quoted In The Dangers of Immunization, 1987, p. 56. For some reason, since measles vaccination began in 1963, adolescents and young adults have more frequently been getting measles. Yet they are at greater risk of pneumonia and liver abnormalities then children (Infectious Diseases, January 1982, p. 21). The youngest children receiving the vaccine are especially at risk. For example, 15-month-old children are at greatest risk (CDG: Measles Mumps, and Rubella, 1991, p. , 1). By 1993, children under a year constituted more than 25 percent of all measles cases, yet it was quite rare for such small children to contract measles before the vaccine was discovered in 1963. When asked about this strange situation, CDC officials said it was due to mothers who were themselves vaccinated as children. Here is a fact which the experts know: When a child is vaccinated, and does not therefore contract measles, he develops no natural immunity to the disease. Therefore then immunity cannot be passed on to his children (D.Q. Haney, "Wave of Infant Measles Stems from '60s Vaccinations, " Albuquerque Journal, November 23, 1992, p. 83). According to the New England Journal of Medicine (October 4, 1990), Vitamin A helps protect the body of the child against serious complications, stemming from measles. Strange, new forms of "measles" came into being with the advent of measles vaccinations. Similar results have followed the introduction of other vaccines. These are diseases with a startling new array of complications. “The syndrome of 'atypical measles'-pneumonia’ petechiae [skin blotching], edema, and severe pain-is not only difficult to diagnose [as being “measles"] but is often over-looked entirely. Likewise, symptoms of atypical mumps- anorexia, vomiting, and erythematous [red] rashes, without any parotid [near the ear] involvement-require extensive serological testing to rule out other concurrent diseases."- W. James, Immunization: the Reality Behind the Myth, 1988, p.34. TETANUS Here are several interesting statistics to compare: During the Second World War, there were 12 recorded cases of tetanus. Four of them occurred in military personnel vaccinated against the disease. There have been less than 100 cases of tetanus in the entire nation (U.S.) since 1976. The majority of those cases were over 50. During that time, no deaths occurred among any tetanus cases under 30 years of age. Tetanus vaccines are not responsible for the success, since they only immunize for 12 years or less, and most of the vaccines are given to children. Yet, in contrast, the tetanus vaccine itself results in a variety of serious complications, including recurrent abscesses, high fever, inner ear nerve damage, anaphylactic shock, loss of consciousness, and demyelinating neuropathy (progressive nerve degeneration). (See U.S. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports for additional information on these statistics.) Why then are children vaccinated for tetanus? Tetanus infection steadily decreased throughout the 20th century because of better attention to wound hygiene. And that was before the tetanus vaccine was developed. Although 40 percent of the population is not now vaccinated against tetanus, the disease continues to decline. Wounds should be cleansed well, and not allowed to close until healing has occurred beneath the surface of the skin. Careful washing with soap and water, hydrogen peroxide, etc. are said to eliminate the danger of tetanus infection. According to Issac Golden, Ph.D., in his Vaccination: A Review of Risks and Alternatives (1991, p. 31), there have been such severe reactions to tetanus shots, that the vaccine has been heavily diluted -causing it to be clinically ineffective in preventing the disease. A New England Journal of Medicine study (November 26, 1981) revealed that tetanus booster vaccinations cause T - lymphocyte blood count ratios to temporarily drop below normal -with the greatest decrease coming two weeks after the vaccination. If you have read articles about AIDS, you will recognize the danger here -since it is reduced T - lymphocytes which bring on full-blown AIDS. The NEJM article went on to explain that these altered ratios are similar to those in AIDS patients. DIPHTHERIA Dennis Hillier was a healthy English boy who excelled in football, running, and other games. After the first vaccination, he had slightly confused speech, but no one had connected it with the injection. Two months after his second diphtheria inoculation, he died in October 1942 of a rare form of encephalitis. In later describing the case, Dr. W. Russell Brain said at a meeting of the Section of Neurology of the Royal Society of Medicine in February 1943: "The patient, a boy of eleven, developed symptoms after anti-diphtheria inoculation." He then described several other cases of nervous disorders and poliomyelitis occurring within a few days after vaccination against diphtheria. Then he concluded, "The relation of the infection to the inoculation was at present unsettled." Cases of diphtheria are rare. In America, only five cases were reported in 1980. From 1900 to 1930, a greater than 90 percent decline in diphtheria cases occurred. Later on, the diphtheria vaccine was developed. Scientists tell us the decline was due to better nutrition and sanitation. The Bureau of Biologics, working with the FDA, came out with a 1975 report (November 20-21, 1975), which disclosed that diphtheria toxoid "is not as effective an immunizing agent as might be anticipated." Noting that diphtheria may occur in vaccinated individuals, they said that "the permanence of immunity induced by the toxoid. .is open to question." On the average, 50 percent of the cases occur in those who have been vaccinated (R.S. Mendelsohn, How to Raise a Healthy Child, p. 223). An interesting sequence of events occurred during World War II: The diphtheria rate throughout Europe was low by the late 1930s. But, after Germany began compulsory diphtheria vaccinations in 1939, 150,000 vaccinated cases of the disease developed within three years. France had refused it, but was forced to give compulsory diphtheria vaccinations after German occupation. By 1943, there were nearly 47,000 cases. But, in nearby Norway, which consistently refused to vaccinate for the disease, there were only 50 cases (E. McBean, Ph.D., Vaccinations Do Not Protect, 1991, p. 8). In Sweden, diphtheria virtually disappeared without any immunizations. "In regard to the decline of diphtheria in Great Britain during 1943 and 1944, we are reminded that the 58 British physicians who signed a memorial in 1938 against compulsory immunizations in Guernsey were able to point to the virtual disappearance of diphtheria in Sweden without any immunization. On the other hand, if we turn to Germany, we find that after Dr. Frick's order for compulsory immunizations, ..[Germanyl in 1945 had come to be regarded as the storm. center of diphtheria in Europe. From 40,000 there had been an increase to 250,000 cases. "An article, March 1944, in a publication called Pour la Famille points out the rise in cases of diphtheria after compulsory immunization. For instance, the increase in Paris was as much as 30 percent. In Hungary where immunizations had been compulsory since 1938 the rise was 35 percent in two years. In the Canton of Geneva, where immunizations have been enforced since 1933, the number of cases trebled from 1941 to 1943."-E.D. Hume, Bechamp or Pasteur? 1963, pp. 217, 218. "During a 1969 outbreak of diphtheria in Chicago, four of the sixteen victims had been 'fully immunized against the disease,' according to the Chicago Board of Health. Five others had received one or more doses of the vaccine, and two of these people had tested at full immunity. In another report of diphtheria cases, three of which were fatal, one person who died and fourteen out of twenty- three carriers had been fully immunized. "-Robert Mendelsohn, M.D., Confessions of a Medical Heretic, 1979, p. 143. POLIO Polio can result in severe paralysis, however, 90 percent of those who are exposed to it, even during an epidemic, produce no symptoms (M. Burnet and V. White, Natural History of Infectious Disease, 1972, p. 16). From 1923 to 1953, polio in the U.S. had declined by 47 percent. A similar de- cline occurred in Europe. Its steep rate of decline continued after the Salk vaccine was produced in 1955, and the Sabin oral vaccine came on the market in 1959. Today polio is almost non-existent. Many European countries refused to use the polio vaccines, yet their rate of decline continued at the same pace as in America. Scientific studies have been made of areas in which mass polio vaccinations have occurred. Frequently, the rate of polio infection more than doubled afterward. Studies in half a dozen states are discussed in Allen Hannah, Case Against Vaccinations, 1985, p. 146. For example, during a one-year period from August 30, 1954 to August 30, 1955, Massachusetts had 273 cases before mass inoculations began, and 2,027 cases afterward. That was a 642 percent increase in the polio rate. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine in 1955. It used dead polio viruses. In 1976, he testified before a congressional committee that the live-virus (oral) vaccine (for practical purposes, the only kind used in America since the early 1960s) was "the principle if not sole cause" of all reported polio cases since 1961. The next year Dr. Salk made this statement in Science magazine: "The live polio virus vaccine has been the predominant cause of domestically arising cases of paralytic poliomyelitis in the United States since 1972. To avoid the occurrence of such cases, it would be necessary to discontinue the routine use of live polio vaccine. "-Dr. Jonas Salk, Science, April 4, 1977. In 1955, a new disease began being reported. It was named "paralytic polio. " This new disease was entirely caused by polio vaccinations. As the "wild" polio continued to lessen, the vaccine-induced type greatly increased. (Polio which has been contracted naturally -that is, not from polio vaccination -is so rare in the last several couple decades that medical experts have given it a special name: "wild polio.” In an in-depth study of the ten-year period from 1973-1983, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that 87 percent of all polio cases were caused by polio vaccine. In 1992, the CDC officially stated that the oral polio vaccine was responsible for nearly all polio cases in the United States. Their conclusions, based on research covring the years 1982 to 1992, bore this significant title: "Epidemiologisty of Polio in the U.S. One Decade after the Last Reported Case of Indigenous Wild Virus Associated Disease” (Stebel, et. al., CDC, February 1992, pp. 568-579). The re- port said that every case of polio in the United States (with the exception of imported cases) during those years was caused by the vaccine. The report also noted that five Americans contracted polio during that time while traveling over-seas, and that three of them had previously received polio vaccine. There is a special -very dangerous-problem associated with the oral polio vaccine which you should be aware of: The vaccine can be injected into a child; then you can touch that child and contract paralytic polio! The son of a nurse who lives near the present writer had that experience several years ago. He was In medical school on the West Coast and, one evening, held a baby in his arms that had received the oral polio vaccine. The baby did not contract paralytic polio, but the young man which briefly held him did. The primary cause is touching a minute amount of the baby's stool. Somehow, some of it must have been on the baby's blanket and the young man touched it. The polio virus passed through his skin. He was crippled for life because of the incident. "The second anxiety about your unvaccinated child's exposure to others concerns polio. Children who are immunized early in life with the oral, live vaccine may shed the virus in their stools. Exposure of your child to recently vaccinated children is a potential hazard. .Parents should be vocal about their concerns. Ask whether playmates and other children in daycare have recently received the oral polio vaccine."-RandaII Neustaedter, O.M.D., The Immunization Decision, 1990, p. 89. “The only likely means of exposure to polio are travel to a foreign country, and contact with the feces of a child who has been immunized with the oral vaccine within the previous 6 to 8 weeks."-Op. cit., p. 41. In 1948, Benjamin F. Sandler, a physician at the Oteen Veterans Hospital in North Carolina, published a book entitled, Diet Prevents Polio. Sandier had done careful research into nutrition and how the polio virus worked. The book revealed that when a person ate a sizeable amount of food containing processed sugar, that sugar leached the calcium from their bones, muscles, and nerves. The polio virus was able to attack the weakened nerves -and crippling polio was the result. Statistics showed that countries with the highest per capita sugar consumption had the most polio cases. Sandier noted that children eat the most sugar foods (soft drinks, ice cream, candy, etc.) in hot weather, and it was well -known that polio especially strikes in the summer. (Processed sugar, taken into the body, absorbs calcium and other minerals from the body in order to be used. This is because the purified sugar has had the minerals naturally accompanying it removed. This leaching of minerals can result in polio.) Sandler did not stop with the book; he went on the radio in the spring of 1949 and warned people throughout North Carolina to not eat sugar foods that summer. The news-papers picked up the story and carried it throughout the state. Alerted to the danger, people feared to eat high-sugar foods that summer. The North Carolina Department of Health later reported that there were 2,498 polio cases in 1948 and only 229 in 1949 (see pages 43 and 146 in the 1951 edition of Dr. Sandler's book). “In the history of poliomyelitis, from the time of widespread epidemics in previous decades up to the present, there is another side of the story which has seldom been told. This is the relationship between polio and dietary sugar. When one considers that sugar in any form was rare or even unknown to the vast majority of people until relatively recent times, and when we realize that the consumption of sugar has risen precipitously since the turn of the century to the present level of 125 pounds per year for every man, woman, and child in America, then we should begin to suspect the harm that is being done to human health."-The Dangers of Immunization, 1988, p. 59. In spite of the facts, efforts have continually been made to suggest that polio is being "stamped out" by polio vaccines. But, in a 1983 television interview, Dr. R.S. Mendelsohn said that polio disappeared in Europe during the 1940s and 1950s without mass vaccination, and that polio hardly exists in the Third World where only 10 percent of the people have been vaccinated against polio (Phil Donahue Show, January 12, 1983). During Congressional hearings on bill 10541, these facts were brought out: In 1958, Israel carried out mass polio immunizations. Immediately, a major ‘type I" polio epidemic occurred. In 1961 I Massachusetts had a "type III" polio out-break after an earnest effort to inoculate the population. "There were more paralytic cases in the triple vaccinates than in the unvaccinated." "In 1957, a spokesman for the North Carolina Health Department made glowing claims for the efficacy of the Salk vaccine, showing how polio steadily decreased from 1953 to 1957. His figures were challenged by Dr. Fred Klenner who pointed out that it was not until 1955 that a single person in the state received a polio vaccine injection. [The polio vaccine was not invented until that year.) Even then, injections were administered on a very limited basis because of the number of polio cases resulting from the vaccine. It was not until 1956 'that polio vaccinations assumed “inspiring" proportions. .The 61 percent drop in polio cases in 1954 was credited to the Salk vaccine, when it wasn't even in the state' By 1957 polio was on the increase."-W. James, Immunization: Reality Behind the Myth, 1988, p. 27. Polio vaccination began in the mid-950s. Since then, there has been such a remarkable upturn in the number of polio cases that the trend has been to officially report polio cases as "meningitis. " "In a California Report of Communicable Disease, polio showed a 0 [zero] count, while an accompanying asterisk explained, 'All such cases are now reported as meningitis.' -Organic Consumer Report, March 11, 1975. "It is now seriously suggested that the sIow virus may be the cause of a number of degenerative diseases Including rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. It Is further possible that some of the attenuated [live, but chemically weakened] strains of vaccines that we advocate may be Implicated with these diseases. Of polio immunization. .Fred Klenner (North Carolina) has stated, “Many here voice a silent view that the Salk and Sabin vaccines, being made of monkey kidney tissue, have been directly responsible for the major increase of leukemia in this country." -Glen C. Dettman, "Immunization, Ascorbate, and Death, " Australian Nurses Journal, December 1977. A British researcher, Martin, was the first to point out the connection between polio -and vaccinations against diphtheria or pertussis. He also noted that the paralysis tended to affect the arm which had received the injection: "Concerning the subject of 'provocation poliomyelitis,’ Martin (1950) in London first drew attention to the relation between inoculation against diphtheria or pertussis and an attack of poliomyelitis when he described fifteen cases that he had seen between 1944 and 1949. Paralysis came on, as a rule, seven to twenty-one days after injection and affected the left arm, into which injections are commonly given, four times as often as the right. Interest in this relationship was greatly stimulated by the observations of McCloskey in Australia and Geffen in London. McCloskey (1950) investigated 375 cases of poliomyelitis during an epidemic In Victoria In 1949 and found that 31 of the patients had been inoculated against diphtheria or pertussis, alone or in combination, within five to thirty-two days. "In London, Geffen (1950) noted that In the 1949 epidemic, 30 out of 182 paralytic patients under five years of age had been immunized against diphtheria, pertussis, or both within four weeks of contracting polio. In all these cases the limb last injected was paralyzed. . “The conclusion drawn from these various reports was greatly strengthened by the statistical analysis carried out by Hill and Knowelden (1950) which showed an excess of poliomyelitis cases in children who had been inoculated within the previous twenty-eight days with pertussis vaccine or combinations of the triple vaccine."-Randolph Society, The Dangers of Immunization, 1987, pp. 44-45. They then quote Wilson as saying: " The mode of action of the injected vaccine is open to doubt. The most probable explanation is that it acts like a fixation abscess and allows viruses circulating in the blood stream to settle down at the site of injection and thence proceed via the nerve fibres to the spinal cord. The greater the irritating effect of the vaccine, the more likely this is to happen. "-Op. cit., p. 45. MUMPS Mumps is rarely harmful in childhood, and usually disappears within ten days after contracting it naturally. Life-long immunity is the result. But it is dangerous for males after puberty to contract it. About 35 percent develop orchitis, or Inflammation of the testes. This can result in sterility. Because the mumps vaccine gives an immunity which is not lifelong -but gradually disappears, boys who have received the mumps vaccine can develop mumps later in life, with hazardous complications. Statistics reveal that mumps after childhood is becoming more frequent, as a result of mumps vaccinations (R.S. Mendelsohn, M.D., How to Raise a Healthy Child, pp. 29-30, 213-214). The mumps vaccine can also cause immediate and harmful reactions, including febrile seizures, rashes, unilateral nerve deafness, and, occasionally, encephalitis. A recently-developed mumps vaccine is said to produce a higher incidence of encephalitis ("Clinical and Epidemiological Features of Mumps Meningo-encephalitis and Possible Vaccine-Related Disease, ' Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, November 1989, pp. 751-754). “Use of the mumps vaccine, which has been associated with serious side effects, seems unjustifiable. Administering the vaccine during adolescence may just prolong the problem of waning immunity and shift the disease and its complications to an even older population."-Randall Neustaedter, O.M.D., The Immunization Decision, 1990, p. 60. It has been said that children should be inoculated against rubella in order to protect pregnant women from catching the disease from them. But a study by Dr. Stephen Schoenbaum and colleagues in 1975-specifically done to find out about that -revealed the surprising fact that adult women contract rubella from other adults, not from children (S.C. Schoenbaum, et al., "Epidemiology of Congenital Rubella Syndrome: The Role of Material Parity, " Journal of the American Medical Association, 1975, Vol. 233, pp. 151-155). The following was reported in the American Journal of Diseases of Children: "A 20-month-old white boy was well until ten days after inoculation with the combined mumps - rubella vaccine. Initial complaints were the inability to stand on the left leg and pain in all extremities. The weakness progressed to include both legs and ascended to involve all extremities. .Examination revealed an apprehensive child with a complete flaccid paralysis of all extremities and inability to hold his head up. The patient had marked soft tissue tenderness of all extremities. Neuralogic evaluation revealed no muscle stretch reflexes."-J.R. Gunderson, "Guillain-Barre Syndrome: Occurrence Following Combined Mumps-Rubella Vaccine, " American Journal of Diseases of Childhood, 1973, Vol. 125, pp. 834-835. INFLUENZA (FLU) Most people call influenza "the flue. " The flu vaccines vary in type and effects, from year to year. New strains are constantly being developed in an effort to conquer the latest flu epidemic. Of course, this also means that last year's flu vaccination can do little to help a person the next year. "In 1976 more than 500 people who received their flu shots were paralyzed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. Thirty of them died. During that same year the incidence of Guillain-Barre among fiu- vaccinated U.S. Army personnel was 50 percent greater than among unvaccinated civilians. Dr. John Seal of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease believes that 'any or all flue vaccines are capable of causing Guillain-Barre."-N.Z. Miller, Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective?, 1992, p. 44. Medical records reveal that one of the effects of the swine- influenza vaccine program was multiple sclerosis and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Commenting on this relationship, Dr. Waisbren suggested that it may be that the myelin coating on the outside of the nerves may have been damaged or destroyed by viruses in the swine-flue vaccine: "Is it possible that antigen in the swine-influenza vaccine evokes in some patients an immune response to myelin- basic proteins-those that surround the peripheral nerves in patients who developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, and those around the central nerves in patients who developed a disorder similar to multiple sclerosis?"-Burton A. Walsbrent M.D., "Swine Influenza Vaccine, " Annals of Internal Medicine, July 1982, p. 149. Dr. Robert Couch, Baylor University, Houston, Texas, testified before the U.S. Public Health Service Immunization Practices Advisory Committee in January 1982. He told them of various elderly individuals who had a history of chronic disorders. After they received influenza vaccination, some of their allergies and other problems worsened; some with hypertension had increased blood pressure; some with diabetes had higher blood sugar; some with gout got worse; some with Parkinson's disease had increased clumsiness. “Reports linking immunizations to Reye's syndrome continue to appear, ‘ln an epidemic affecting 22 children in Montreal, five had received vaccines (consisting of measles, rubella, DPT, and Sabin polio vaccines) within three weeks prior to their hospitalization. “While the Center for Disease Control had been quick to suggest a relationship between Reye's syndrome and certain flu outbreaks, they have not, to my knowledge, given equal time to a consideration of an association between this disease and the flu vaccine itself."-Robert Mendelsohn, .M.D., San Francisco Chronicle, May 22, 1978. GERMAN MEASLES (RUBELLA) The other name for German Measles is rubella. When a child contracts it, the result is a mild disease with few problems. In fact, most of the time few recognize that they have it. The symptoms are a runny nose, sore throat, very slight fever, and somewhat enlarged, tender lymph nodes on the side of the neck. Pink, slightly raised spots appear on the skin. But the situation is entirely different if a pregnant woman develops the disease within the first trimester (the first three months of pregnancy). Her baby may be born with birth defects such as limb defects, mental retardation, impaired vision, damaged hearing, or heart malformation. Obviously, it is dangerous to inoculate a young girl against rubella ! Later, when the immunity wears off, she has grown up-and then may contract rubella during early pregnancy. The result may be a defective child. For this reason alone, rubella vaccinations should never be indiscriminately given to children. Although It is a known fact in medical circles that approximately 25 percent of those vaccinated against rubella lose that immunity within five years (R.S. Mendelsohn, The Risks of Immunizations, 1988, p. 4), yet children- including girls -are routinely given their MMR shots -which includes rubella vaccine. "Rubella vaccine is unnecessary to administer to boys, rubella illness being of little consequence for males. But the danger of infection of pregnant women by rubella virus is a very serious concern. J. Anthony Morris, Ph.D., former Food and Drug Administration executive, pointed out in the National Health Federation Bulletin in 1977, 'No boy should be given rubella vaccine because in boys rubella is a relatively minor disease. Rubella vaccination increases the chances that a pregnant mother can contract the vaccine virus from a son who has been recently vaccinated.' "-The Dangers of Immunization, 1987, p. 53. “As much as 26 percent of children receiving rubella vaccination in national testing programs developed arthralgia and arthritis. Many had to seek medical attention, and some were hospitalized to test for rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis."-"Science Aftermath, " Science, March 26, 1977. “It is clear that vaccination of children [for rubella], which has only been done for several years, is not very successful."-Dr. Plotkln, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. A study made, during a Casper, Wyoming, German Measles epidemic, revealed that 73 percent of the children developing it were already immunized against it. In an outbreak in Melbourne,