ethics, legalities in decisions about vaccines

[Guest guest]

InnerLight Biological Research

& Health Education Foundation

 

 

 

Research Article

Aticle Title Date Posted

Hepatitis B Vaccine? part 4 2002-08-07 20:13:31

 

Rev. Robert VandenBosch, an ethicist, warned that 'The

First Amendment [of the U.S. Constitution] clearly

defines the free exercise of religious beliefs and the

moral rights of individuals to obey the judgment of

their conscience in matters of life and death. The

Ninth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that

governmental authority cannot override individual

rights of conscience. It states: 'The enumeration of

the Constitution of certain rights shall not be

construed to deny or disparage others retained by the

people.' One of the rights retained by the people is

the right of conscience.'

 

Professor Of Cell Biology Investigates Hep B Vaccine

Damage - Professor Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., who has a

distinguished 25 year career in academic and

laboratory science and has been honored by the U.S.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her pioneering

work in contraceptive vaccine development, presented

at the March 26 Illinois Board of Health hearing and

described disabling reactions to hepatitis B vaccine

suffered by her brother and a research assistant.

 

'Three years ago my brother, who is a geologist Ph.D.

agronomist with four college degrees, came to work

with me at Baylor College of Medicine to work on a

collaborative project in molecular genetic engineering

of wheat proteins. He was required to take the

hepatitis B vaccine. Within 24 hours to four days

after the first injection, he had fever and severe

fatigue for one week. Two to four weeks after that

injection, he ended up with a whole series of symptoms

that now 15 doctors have said are clearly symptoms of

an adverse reaction to this vaccination. Even

workman's compensation for the state of Texas is

compensating him for over $300,000 worth of medical

expenses.'

 

'At about the same time, a 21-year old girl, a medical

student, came to work in my lab for the summer, She,

too, had to get the hepatitis B vaccine. After the

first injection, she had fever and fatigue. Three

weeks following her second injection, she lost vision

in her one eye but, after 6 months, regained most of

her sight. She was reluctant to get the third dose of

vaccine, and talked with her doctor and he told her

this [hepatitis B] vaccine is the safest; there's no

problem. After the third injection, she ended up in

the hospital for two months extremely ill and she has

lost all of her eyesight in one eye.'

 

Dr. Dunbar went on to explain to the Board of Health

members that during the past three years of collecting

data on the hepatitis B vaccine, she has been

contacted by hundreds of doctors and patients around

the world who have reported severe autoimmune and

neurological complications to hepatitis B vaccination

in previously healthy children and adults, including

serious rashes, fever, joint pain, chronic fatigue,

multiple sclerosis and lupus-like symptoms, rheumatoid

arthritis and neurological dysfunction. As a basic

science researcher with expertise in cell and

molecular biology, she is investigating the

possibility that molecular mimicry or other autoimmune

mechanisms may be the reason why the genetically

engineered hepatitis B vaccine 'tricks' the immune

systems of genetically susceptible individuals into

attacking their own bodies, causing debilitating

autoimmune disorders.

 

After analyzing the data she has accumulated, Dr.

Dunbar, in collaboration with colleagues at other

academic and medical institutions, applied for a NIH

research grant to investigate the role that genetic

factors may play in hepatitis B vaccine reactions and

in vaccine failures. Their goal is to identify genetic

markers so high risk children and adults could be

screened out of the mass vaccination program and

spared injury and death. The grant was turned down

twice by the government in July 1997 and July 1998 but

Dr. Dunbar and her colleagues are in the process of

refiling the grant, along with additional data.

 

Hep B Vaccine Victims In France Sue - An article in

the July 31, 1998 issue of Science, an American

scientific journal, reports that French attorneys

representing 15,000 French citizens filed a lawsuit

against the French government 'accusing it of

understating the vaccine's risks and exaggerating the

benefits for the average person.' One French physician

has reportedly collected data on more than 600 people

suffering from serious immune and neurological

dysfunction following hepatitis B vaccination, many

with symptoms resembling multiple sclerosis. Science

quotes a World Health Organization official as saying

'These fears [of the hepatitis B vaccine] are quite

unfounded' and reveals that CDC employee Robert Chen,

who is responsible for monitoring vaccine safety for

the U.S. government, has a simple explanation for the

growing number of reports of hepatitis B vaccine

associated injury and death in the U.S., Canada and

Europe. His scientific analysis leads him to believe

that 'It's human nature to attribute cause to almost

anything that precedes a tragedy.'

 

Hep B Vaccination Can Mean A Positive Hep B Blood Test

- A little known fact about hepatitis B vaccine is

that those who are vaccinated can test positive for

hepatitis B on some routine blood tests. NVIC has

received calls from adults who report that, after

getting hepatitis B vaccine, they are testing positive

for hepatitis B when they undergo routine blood tests

in doctor's offices. The Red Cross maintains that more

sensitive lab tests used by blood banks can

differentiate between hepatitis B antibodies produced

by disease and those produced by the vaccine.

 

HIV vaccines now being tested in humans also produce

positive tests for HIV. As noted in a September 1997

Washington Post article about HIV vaccine trials:

'Foremost among the worries of many would-be

volunteers is the problem of forever testing positive

for AIDS antibodies...although sophisticated

laboratory tests can usually tell the difference

between AIDS antibodies caused by a vaccine and those

that indicate a real HIV infection, few laboratories

are equipped to make that distinction. Moreover, as

vaccines get better by more closely mimicking the real

infection, it will become more difficult to

distinguish between the two.'

 

Is Forced Hepatitis B Vaccination Paving Way For

Forced Vaccination With AIDS Vaccine? Hepatitis B is

the first disease transmitted not by casual contact

like smallpox or polio, but by high-risk behavior such

as IV drug use and sexual promiscuity, that has been

mandated for use by all children. With the identical

transmission routes as HIV, there are strong

indications that forced vaccination of infants and

children with hepatitis B is just a trial run for

forced vaccination with an AIDS vaccine when it is put

on the market in the next few years. AIDS vaccines are

currently in human trials as a race to bring them to

market intensified after a call last year by President

Clinton to make the creation and use of an AIDS

vaccine 'a national mission.'

 

CDC Plans For Mass Vaccination Of All Children With

AIDS Vaccine - In a February 12, 1997 meeting of the

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices

(ACIP), Neal Halsey, M.D., chairman of the American

Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious

Diseases, AAP liaison member of the ACIP and Director

of the Institute of Vaccine Safety at John's Hopkins

University, reminded HIV vaccine researchers and

developers at the meeting that the CDC plans to target

11 to 12 year old children for 'universal application'

of an HIV vaccine. Halsey told them:

 

'One of the things that's happened in the past with

vaccines is that sometimes the manufacturers have

developed them and tested them primarily in an age

group or a population which may not be the final

target population that this committee has considered.

Over the last few years we have developed a statement

on adolescent immunization and it probably would be

worth your reading that, and others, because we really

see age 11 to 12 as the target age for introduction of

vaccines for prevention of sexually transmitted

diseases. And I know that, at this time, you are

really studying adults and you're also some distance

away from the actual - having a [HIV] vaccine in hand

that might be licensed and approved - but at least it

would be nice if there were studies that were planned

in parallel when you move another step in the

direction of actually having a candidate vaccine,

realizing where WE think we would want to use

universal application of such a vaccine. And so I

think maybe [you should get] a copy of the adolescent

immunization statement.'

 

With the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI) and

pharmaceutical industry setting up the mechanism for

global mass vaccination of children and adults,

including the creation of national and international

vaccine tracking systems, countries with low HIV rates

like the U.S. and Europe will be forced to use an HIV

vaccine in order to pay for the vaccination of

populations in Asia and Africa where HIV infection

rates are skyrocketing. In 1996, HIV vaccine developer

Stanley Plotkin, M.D., of Pasteur Merieux

Pharmaceuticals (who developed the rubella vaccine and

has been a vaccine policymaker member of the AAP

Committee on Infectious Disease and AAP liaison member

of the ACIP) explained why mandatory vaccination in

rich countries like the U.S. help deliver vaccines to

Third World markets:

 

'The keystone of the [global mass vaccination] system

is that the research costs [of drug companies] are

recouped in North America and Europe and the vaccines

are sold in the developing world at much, much lower

margins...the relatively high rate of childhood

vaccination seen lately in most parts of the world is

the result of that system,' explained Plotkin.

 

CDC Tells Congress About Future Vaccines - In

testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor

and Human Resources in 1997, CDC official Walter

Orenstein, M.D., made a bid to persuade Congress to

reauthorize 288 million dollars for the CDC's

Immunization Grant Program in the $427 million 1998

DHHS budget request for immunization activities. In a

review of the history of vaccination, Dr. Orenstein

recounted that, although almost a century passed

between the development of the smallpox vaccine in

1796 and that of the rabies vaccine in the 1880's, by

the middle of the 20th century there were nearly two

dozen vaccines on the market.

 

Painting a picture of the future, Orenstein said: 'On

the horizon are vaccine technologies that would have

been considered science fiction just a decade ago, but

are now reported at scientific meetings. Snippets of

synthetic DNA have worked as experimental vaccines in

animals. Edible plants have been bioengineered to

become vaccine factories....vaccines have been

enclosed in microscopic capsules, permitting them to

be released slowly over time...'

 

Orenstein reminded legislators that 'Every day about

11,000 babies are born in this country. Each of these

children starts with immunization coverage of zero.

There is why our responsibility to our Nation's

children never ends; it must be sustained every day of

every year.... completing state-based immunization

registries is the cornerstone of assuring disease

prevention.'

 

Vaccine Registries To Tag, Track, Force Vaccination -

Even though CDC officials admit that there is already

a 96 percent vaccination rate in the U.S. with

federally recommended vaccines, they are setting up

state vaccine tracking registries and plan to link

them together to create a de facto national electronic

tracking system to ensure mass compliance with federal

vaccine policies. Citizens will be tagged with a

number at birth and tracked even when moving from

state to state.

 

In 1995, DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala appropriated the

social security numbers assigned to newborns to allow

states to enter all babies in state vaccine tracking

systems. In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and

Accountability Act (HIPAA), also known as the

Kennedy-Kassebaum legislation, outlined plans for a

'unique health care identifier' number, which is an

alternative to the social security number, to be

assigned to citizens at birth and electronically

monitor their medical records, including vaccination

records.

 

In a 1998 CDC publication entitled Initiative on

Immunization Registries, the CDC states that 'we see

[vaccine] registries as a possible first step in the

development of an electronic pediatric record' and

'computerized registries will eventually be capable of

capturing immunization for individuals of all ages'

and 'until a unique personal identifier can be

established on a national basis, multiple means of

identification must be used [in state vaccine

registries].' Core data that is now collected in many

state vaccine tracking systems include a citizen's

name, address, phone number, social security number,

birth date, sex, race, primary language, patient birth

order, patient birth registration number, patient

Medicaid number, mother's name (including maiden name)

and social security number and father's name and

social security number.

 

Most often state officials automatically enroll

newborns into the vaccine registry without informing

parents or giving them the right to 'opt-out' of the

registry. In the state of Texas, PROVE, a parent group

led by Dawn Richardson, worked to get legislation

passed in 1997 requiring the state health departments

to obtain a parent's prior written consent to enroll a

child in a vaccine registry.

 

The CDC goes on to state that one of their main goals

is 'establishing a target date to achieve the goal of

establishing immunization registries in every

community in the Nation' and 'promoting the

inter-operability of registries with other developing

medical information systems' and 'promoting the

automated exchange of immunization records between

registries.'

 

What You Can Do - If you want to make informed,

voluntary decisions about hepatitis B vaccination,

there are several actions you can take to educate your

community and protect your informed consent and

privacy rights. Circulate this newsletter in your

community among your family, friends, and neighbors.

Get reprints by sending in the enclosed reprint order

card. Reprints are available for $1.25 each. Bulk

pricing is available. Give copies to your doctors,

lawyers, teachers, school principals, nurses and

others. Send a copy to your favorite newspaper, radio

and TV station. Send a copy to your state and federal

legislators with a personal letter. Report vaccine

reactions by calling NVIC at 1-800-909SHOT or

accessing NVIC's website at www.909SHOT.com. If you

are pregnant, get tested for hepatitis B disease. If

you are infected, your baby is a candidate for

vaccination. Stand up for your informed consent

rights. If you do not test positive for hepatitis B;

do not fall into one of the high risk categories

described in this newsletter; and decide you do not

want your newborn vaccinated before leaving the

hospital newborn nursery, you can amend the 'consent

for medical treatment' forms you sign upon entering

the hospital before giving birth by writing on the

form that you do not give consent for hepatitis B

vaccination of your baby in the hospital. Check to see

if your state has a vaccine tracking system and, if

you do not want your baby enrolled in a tracking

system, find out how you can exercise your informed

consent rights. Get more information, including

checking your state vaccination laws for requirements

and exemptions. Hepatitis B vaccine is required in 35

states. There are medical exemptions in all states,

religious exemption in all but two states (West

Virginia and Mississippi) and philosophical exemption

in 16 states. Don't let anyone intimidate or coerce

you into taking action before you have had the

opportunity to become fully informed about all your

options and are comfortable with your vaccination

decision.

 

 

 

 

 

© 2002 InnerLight Biological Research & Health

Education Foundation

134 E. 200 North Alpine, UT 84004

Email: info

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