Update on Vaccination

By the time this last was printed, more news about the 'Immunization Debacle' was available, a lot of it in the 'mainstream' press. Some are worth talking about.

In TIME magazine, August 23rd, there was a small article reporting how in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the warring sides have "stopped fighting in most areas, to allow 10 MILLION children to be vaccinated against polio"!! The report went on to say:

"President Laurent Kabila and anti-government guerrilla leaders controlling eastern Congo assured the UN that they would stop shooting to enable the immunizations to take place".

Again in TIME magazine, this time in the September 20th issue, there was a two page report, titled "Vaccine Jitters". An interesting mixture of gentle pro/con article that tries to toe the line for the 'authorities' whilst making some interesting observations to suggest that all may not be well!

It seems that "alarmed by reports of severe reactions, a series of unsettling announcements by health authorities and contentious congressional hearings, not to mention fear-mongering on the Internet, a small but growing number of American parents are contesting national vaccination policy".

Somehow, they got the idea that perhaps a series of 22 injections by the age of six may not be as 'safe' as the authorities insist. Some parents even 'charge' that inoculations have brought on such disorders as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes and even autism! Well! Although the "evidence is largely anecdotal" according to the article.

Anecdotal? Only two paragraphs later, the article tells us that each year, an average of eight children are infected by polio "by the otherwise highly effective Sabin oral vaccine".

Apparently, this danger was highlighted in June, when the PDA [Food and Drug Administration] ". . .recommended the Salk killed-virus vaccine, which is safe but somewhat less effective be used . . .". SAFE? Don't they remember why they stopped using the Salk vaccine in the first place?? [See page 8 of our report last issue.]

I wonder if we will ever see a report on how many of the 10 million children in Congo will be effected?

Next, we have the report that in July, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Public Health Service urged vaccine makers "to remove the trace of MERCURY preservative added to many vaccines to kill bacteria".

[Are they kidding? Remove mercury? What idiot put it in there in the first place? By the way, this is just one of the many 'details' that did not get mentioned in our "The Immunization Debacle" report.]

The head of the national immunization program for the Centers for Disease Control, Dr Walter Orenstein said, "We took action before evidence of any harm. But even with a theoretical risk, we wanted to work with manufacturers to get to thimerosal-free [mercury-free] products as soon as possible".

Now they must be kidding. Before evidence of harm? Theoretical risk? But it seems, just to be sure, the academy has pushed back the age for the first of 3 hepatitis-B shots, which also contain mercury, from birth, to 2 to 6 month, in children whose mothers have tested negative for the disease. Nice of them.

More 'concerns' were raised in August, when a congressional-subcommittee hearing learned that the DTP, the combination diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis is 'still on the market'! As far back as 1994, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences warned that DTP was responsible for cases of brain damage. A safer version, DtaP is now recommended by the CDC.

Dear Friends, I hope you forgive my ironic and sometimes sarcastic responses in this report. Ironic responses are all right however, I should not use sarcasm. That clearly belongs to my 'old', 'human' self. I am afraid that this kind of stupidity tends to bring out the worst in me.

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