Were WA's (Australia) Flu vaccine children guinea pigs?

[Guest guest]

WA = Western Australia

 

 

 

 

 

Media release - Were WA's Flu vaccine children guinea

pigs?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do WA parents know

that their

children were part of a vaccine study?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), Australia's national

vaccination and health safety watchdog, would like to ask if the parents

of Western Australia whose children were vaccinated against seasonal flu

- with such devastating effect - are aware that their children were part

of a study funded by the vaccine manufacturers CSL Pty Ltd and Sanofi

Pasteur? (1a,1b)

This study, run via the Telethon Institute and initiated in 2008 at a

cost of $1.2 million, was put together to pre-emptively determine if flu

vaccines were effective in children.

" One has to wonder about the ethics involved when children are

offered a new vaccine which has never been used in this age group before

as part of a study funded by the vaccine's manufacturers and parents

aren't even told. Especially when the State Government has pushed so hard

to get parents to agree to this vaccine - even sending personal letters

out to families with children in this age range using information from

the Medicare database. " says Meryl Dorey, media spokesperson for the

AVN.

Unanswered questions:

Yesterday, the AVN submitted a series of questions to West Australia's

Health Minister and Shadow Health Minister. Though the Shadow Minister

has responded to say that he has submitted our questions to the

Department of Health, we have not received any response from the

Minister's office. Below are the questions we feel need to be

answered.

1- Is the AH1N1 portion of these vaccines recycled from the unused doses

of last year's swine flu shots.? If so, considering that those shots are

now at or past their use-by date, could this be the cause of the current

problem?

 

2- Is this vaccine being administered from multi-dose or single dose

vials? If we are using multi-dose vials, why was that decision made since

the risk of cross-infection and also the risk from the mercury-based

preservative, thiomersal, are unnecessary in a non-emergency

situation?

 

3- Is the vaccine used in WA the same vaccine being used across Australia

and if so, are these sorts of reactions being reported in other

locations?

 

4- Were all of these vaccines administered in a particular clinic setting

or were they distributed across WA?

 

5- Can the government release the Lot and Batch numbers of the vaccines

associated with this cluster of reactions so that others can be made

aware that it might be a hot lot?

 

6- Has there been a higher-than normal rate of reactions reported in

adults and adolescents who are receiving seasonal flu vaccines this

year?

 

7- Did the 45 children who reacted to these shots over the last couple of

days receive any other vaccines at the same time as their seasonal flu

shots?

 

8- Is the West Australian government aware of the published results of a

recent 40-year retrospective study conducted by the Cochrane

Collaboration into the effectiveness of influenza vaccines in children?

The results are displayed in the following graphs:

 

 

Dr Thomas Jefferson who is a worldwide expert on influenza vaccines and

who worked on this retrospective study, reported in the British Medical

Journal that, " In children under 2 years inactivated vaccines had

the same field efficacy as placebo,8 and in healthy people under 65

vaccination did not affect hospital stay, time off work, or death from

influenza and its complications. " (2)

" While there may be hundreds and even thousands of children and

adults who have already reacted to this year's seasonal flu vaccine (The

Perth Now (3) forum has had almost 300 comments posted regarding this

issue - the majority of those from people whose children have had

reactions), it is essential that the government immediately put together

a task-force to investigate how the decision was made to use this

vaccine, what independent research was available to show that it was

either safe or effective and what role - if any - the vaccine

manufacturers played in introducing this vaccine to the childhood

schedule. " Ms Dorey stated.

1. a) Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, Media

Release 15th February 2008,

Free vaccines to help fight child influenza.

b) Government of Western Australia, Director of the Department of Health,

2008, Dr. Paul Van Buynder.

(2) BMJ 2006;333:912-915 (28 October),

doi:10.1136/bmj.38995.531701.80

(3)

 

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/was-free-influenza-vaccination-program-has-been-suspended-for-children-under-five/story-e6frg12c-1225857140885

 

 

About Australian

Vaccination Network,

Inc.

The AVN is a non-profit, volunteer-run charitable association. Since

1994, the AVN has provided information and support to the general

community who are trying to make informed choices about vaccination and

health. Their lobbying in Federal Parliament has ensured that compulsory

vaccination for children has not come to pass and they are the major

reporters of vaccine adverse reactions to ADRAC (The Adverse Drug

Reactions Advisory Committee).

 

For more information visit

 

www.avn.org.au

Ph: 02 6687

1699 Fax: 02 6687 2032 Mobile: 0414 872

032

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Australian Vaccination Network

Living Wisdom magazine

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