TRACKING VACCINE-RELATED SIDE-EFFECTS

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* Health and Healing *

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 10:32 PM

TRACKING VACCINE-RELATED SIDE-EFFECTS

 

 

- http://www.redflagsweekly.com/nass/2002_april22.html -

 

THE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TASK OF TRACKING VACCINE-RELATED SIDE-EFFECTS

 

SO MANY OBSTACLES, SO LITTLE COMMITMENT

 

By Meryl Nass, MD

 

April 22, 2002 - This week I got calls from two people, unknown to each other,

who had developed pemphigus vulgaris after receiving anthrax vaccine. Pemphigus

vulgaris (which I’ll call PV for short) is a rare autoimmune disease in which

thin-walled blisters form on the skin and mucous membranes, caused by antibodies

that bind to the skin cells which then separate from each other. In the past it

was 60% to 90% fatal, but now, with the wonders of steroids and

immunosuppressants, it is only about 10% fatal. (The 10% includes those who die

from side effects of the treatment.) PV most commonly occurs in the elderly. The

two people I spoke with were in their twenties and thirties.

 

Does anthrax vaccine cause PV? That’s a big question. How do you go about

answering it?

 

Autoimmune diseases have been said to be the fourth largest category of disease

in the United States. What causes them? Good question. The jury is still out.

They seem to be more common in those with a genetic predisposition (if your

family members have them), but chronic infections and toxic exposures also can

predispose one to these illnesses. Even cancers may contribute to autoimmunity.

Eaton-Lambert syndrome, for example, is an occasional accompaniment of small

cell lung cancer, and results in muscle weakness due to auto-antibodies to

calcium channels, which are essential in order for muscles to contract.

 

Do vaccines cause autoimmune disorders? The answer, no surprise here, is maybe.

 

There are only a handful of case reports linking PV to vaccines. No proof here.

 

What is needed is a large case series that explores the likelihood of developing

PV after vaccination. But because this is a rare disease, it is very difficult

to do this kind of study, and the study would be quite expensive. Who would want

to fund such a study? If no association was found between vaccines and PV, then

nothing would change in medical practice.

 

If an association was found, PV would still be a rare side effect. The result

would be a decrease in adult vaccinations for influenza, pneumococcal pneumonia,

and hepatitis. This would please no one in government or the drug and healthcare

industries. They are your funders.

 

Have I made clear why such a study will never be done?

 

What if you did a study of all those who have received anthrax vaccines and

compared them to those who have not, to see if there were more cases of PV in

the vaccinated group?

 

Only those who work for the DOD receive anthrax vaccinations, and the DOD is not

the least bit interested in allowing independent studies done of its population.

Instead, it has used the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS) database to

demonstrate that those vaccinated are much healthier than those not vaccinated.

Statistically, this outcome is too good to be true. Although the result proves

only that the study data and/or methodology are worthless, that has not stopped

the DOD from using DMSS, over and over, to " prove " the vaccine’s safety.

 

Well then, what about doctors reporting to FDA or CDC about adverse reactions

that patients develop following vaccination. Surely there must be useful data

here?

 

The problem is that these are voluntary reports. No doctors will decide to

report unless they have a suspicion that the vaccine could cause the side

effect. One only suspects the vaccine if there exist reports that the vaccine

has caused this side effect before. If the package insert and the medical

literature do not list this side effect of the vaccine, most medical

practitioners dismiss the idea that the vaccine caused the side effect.

Remember, since nearly all autoimmune diseases have unknown causes, doctors are

not going to spend much time pondering why they occur.

 

Rubella vaccine can cause acute arthritis, a common symptom of autoimmunity. I

found 88 reports in the literature, beginning in 1969, which discuss this link.

The Institute of Medicine has reviewed the world literature and agreed that

rubella vaccine can cause arthritis. One study published in 1982 found that 28%

of vaccinated women, if they had no pre-existing antibodies to rubella, acquire

joint pain or inflammation. Although the percentage of recipients who develop

persisting joint pain is unclear, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation

Program and US Court of Federal Claims have accepted a causal relationship, if

joint pain develops between one and six weeks after vaccination.

 

Where do FDA and CDC stand on this issue? They have joined with Kaiser

Permanente of California to use its computerized database of Kaiser HMO

rs to (relatively cheaply) resolve vaccine questions. Their 1997

retrospective review found no relationship between vaccination and chronic joint

or neurological symptoms, with the exception of carpal tunnel syndrome. Not much

help here, but the number of cases and controls was relatively small.

 

Who reports to VAERS, the federal program that collects reports of adverse

events following vaccinations? Almost always it is the vaccinators, not the

vaccine recipients, who know about the VAERS reporting system. A huge percentage

of visits to pediatricians are for routine vaccinations. Not only are vaccines

their bread and butter, but pediatricians have been trained to view vaccines as

the foundation of a preventive medical practice.

 

 

Several years ago I treated a young woman for migraine. I asked why she had

suddenly developed migraines, and was told that it was due to stress. Her

17-month-old child had suddenly regressed, stopped talking, and developed a

high-pitched whine two months earlier, shortly after his MMR vaccine. I

mentioned to her that the MMR had been reported to cause autism, and that she

should have her child assessed for this condition.

 

A few weeks later I heard from her furious pediatrician that the MMR did not

cause autism, and please don’t tell his mothers that it does.

 

Can you see why reporting of such potential adverse reactions by pediatricians

will be low?

 

Back to my two callers. I think it will be impossible to collect the data to

prove that PV, on its own, is caused by anthrax vaccine.

 

However, a huge number of autoimmune conditions have been reported after anthrax

vaccine. Additional symptoms of unknown origin, which I expect will also turn

out to be autoimmune, have been reported frequently.

 

I think demonstrating that anthrax vaccine is associated with this variety of

illnesses can be done, and that the illnesses result from hyperstimulation of

the immune system by a too potent, dirty, and too frequently dosed vaccine.

 

Wish me luck!

 

 

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