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It's up!!! July 27, 2005! We couldn't have done it without you all!
Some parents question safety of vaccinations
CATHERINE DOLINSKI
THE STAR-BANNER
A billboard against vaccines for babies is located at Shannon Mobile Home Sales property, 4575 North U.S. 441.
JANNET WALSH/STAR-BANNER OCALA - Not all Marion County parents are crowding into health clinics seeking vaccinations for their children.
Wendy Callahan of Hawthorne proudly takes credit for the "Love Them, Protect Them, Never Inject Them" billboard that appeared along North U.S. Highway 441 in Ocala.
The sign, posted since July 27 on the site of Shannon Mobile Homes Sales, claims that vaccines can cause serious health problems such as autism, chronic ear infections and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Callahan is not a doctor. She is a mother whose son, Chase, suffered three months of seizures at age 15 months after receiving a round of vaccinations. Her daughter Leah, she said, stopped breathing after receiving vaccinations at age 2 months.
"This was when I was getting into the elevator afterward," Callahan recalled. "I ran back and told them she had stopped breathing; they looked at me like I was crazy. I actually had to shake her to get her to start breathing again."
Leah, now 7, is healthy, Callahan said, as is Chase, now 6. But Callahan has joined a national movement of parents convinced that vaccines are toxic substances that injure children.
"I want to get to the moms before they vaccinate their children and allow them to make an informed choice," said Callahan, who paid $900 for the billboard, funded largely through donations. She has enough money, she said, to keep the sign up up for two more months, and is aiming for a year.
Callahan home-schools both of her children for fear that "the vaccine-mobile will come to catch them up on their vaccines," she said. "One more could kill my son."
Though rare, it is possible for seizures and other allergic reactions to result from vaccinations, said Dr. Suzie Kerns, a pediatrician in Ocala.
That does not, however, negate their importance, she said.
"Vaccines are among the greatest medical advances in medical history," Kerns said. "The diseases that used to claim our children back around the turn of the century no longer do because of vaccines. The benefits are straightforward and proven."
During the 1980s, Kerns said, she saw children with "devastating" problems like meningitis due to infection of the Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, bacteria.
Vaccinations have since made Hib infections rare, she said. Meanwhile, studies show that dangerous diseases gain strength when vaccination rates fall off.
In 1998, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blamed a measles outbreak in an Alaskan school on students' failures to get second measles shots. Health officials in Ireland attributed measles outbreaks in 2002 to flagging vaccination rates.
"It's a parent's responsibility not only to protect their child but also to protect others," Kerns said. "By their children not being vaccinated, it does put some people at risk."
The debate is not new. For years, parents questioned whether thimerosal in vaccines was contributing to the rise in autism. Thimerosal, a preservative, contains a mercury compound related to another mercury compound proven to cause learning disabilities.
Though studies failed to conclusively link autism with thimerosal, it was mostly eliminated from child vaccines in 2001. Jo Pike, executive director of the National Autism Association, said mercury continues to be her group's main concern about vaccines - especially since some vaccines containing thimerosal have not expired and continue to be administered.
On July 19, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration held a press conference where they urged more autism research but disputed any link with modern vaccination, citing a recent Institute of Medicine study.
Callahan rejects those assurances. Recently, she joined the board of the Florida chapter of The Autism Autoimmunity Project, another anti-vaccination group based in Davie.
TAAP chapter president April Oakes believes that a vaccination left her daughter Casi autistic and ultimately led her to death at age 4 in 1999. "I had to learn about vaccinations the hard way," Oakes said. "We are parents who know without question that our babies are vaccine injured."
State health department officials stand by their federal counterparts.
"The Department of Health takes the safety of anybody vaccinated very seriously," spokesman Doc Kokol said. "Because of that, we follow the true experts in the field. Both the CDC and FDA have noted that these drugs are safe, and that they are effective, and we will continue to follow their guidelines."
Kokol added that concerned parents should speak with their doctors. "We would hope they would use the best science and medical advice" in making their decisions, he said.
__________
Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (352) 867-4119 or
catherine.dolinski@starbanner.com.
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/LEADER/208110316&SearchID=73218334099283
Exemptions to immunizations
According to the Star-Banner's front page article of Aug. 4, "School Preparations" by Rick Cundiff, "not getting immunizations isn't an option." This statement is only half true. In all 50 states, there are exemptions available to any parent who does not want to take a chance on injecting their child with toxic substances.
In Florida, a religious exemption or medical waiver is accepted for filing with the health department. If filed, a parent can still have their child attend any government or private school or daycare.
When I made the decision to no longer immunize my children, I wrote out a simple statement of my religious convictions against immunizations and filed one for each child. I felt that injecting my children with potentially harmful substances, toxic cocktails and cells derived from aborted babies, was an irresponsible act as a Christian and dangerous from any angle.
Medical exemptions can also be obtained from sympathetic doctors or for children with a known sensitivity to certain vaccine substances. When one begins to research vaccine efficacy and safety, one has to ask the question: How can something that is produced using mercury derivatives, potentially contaminated animal cells and other toxins too many to name in this letter be good for you?
Also, those of us that take a hard right-to-life stance should have a strong philosophical objection to the fact that numerous vaccines were concocted using the cells of precious babies lost through abortion.
According to Marion County School District mouthpiece, Kevin Christian, more than 700 400 children were sent home due to not having immunizations. The state cannot turn away a child who has on file with the health department an exemption against immunization. That is information that seems to be less than readily available to most parents.
Another question: If immunized children are indeed immune to the diseases they were vaccinated for, why turn away the children that are not vaccinated? Could it be possible that these required immunizations are really not as effective as advertised?
My hat is off to Wendy Callahan, who has spent many hours of her time and energy trying to inform the public about vaccine dangers. I am especially glad she was able to secure a billboard on the highway that will reach many parents and that the Star-Banner gave her coverage. She has a passion for informing parents about the dangerous side effects of vaccines, and she should be commended for the effort she has put forth.
Eileen Slattery
Belleview
CATHERINE DOLINSKI
THE STAR-BANNER
A billboard against vaccines for babies is located at Shannon Mobile Home Sales property, 4575 North U.S. 441.
JANNET WALSH/STAR-BANNER OCALA - Not all Marion County parents are crowding into health clinics seeking vaccinations for their children.
Wendy Callahan of Hawthorne proudly takes credit for the "Love Them, Protect Them, Never Inject Them" billboard that appeared along North U.S. Highway 441 in Ocala.
The sign, posted since July 27 on the site of Shannon Mobile Homes Sales, claims that vaccines can cause serious health problems such as autism, chronic ear infections and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Callahan is not a doctor. She is a mother whose son, Chase, suffered three months of seizures at age 15 months after receiving a round of vaccinations. Her daughter Leah, she said, stopped breathing after receiving vaccinations at age 2 months.
"This was when I was getting into the elevator afterward," Callahan recalled. "I ran back and told them she had stopped breathing; they looked at me like I was crazy. I actually had to shake her to get her to start breathing again."
Leah, now 7, is healthy, Callahan said, as is Chase, now 6. But Callahan has joined a national movement of parents convinced that vaccines are toxic substances that injure children.
"I want to get to the moms before they vaccinate their children and allow them to make an informed choice," said Callahan, who paid $900 for the billboard, funded largely through donations. She has enough money, she said, to keep the sign up up for two more months, and is aiming for a year.
Callahan home-schools both of her children for fear that "the vaccine-mobile will come to catch them up on their vaccines," she said. "One more could kill my son."
Though rare, it is possible for seizures and other allergic reactions to result from vaccinations, said Dr. Suzie Kerns, a pediatrician in Ocala.
That does not, however, negate their importance, she said.
"Vaccines are among the greatest medical advances in medical history," Kerns said. "The diseases that used to claim our children back around the turn of the century no longer do because of vaccines. The benefits are straightforward and proven."
During the 1980s, Kerns said, she saw children with "devastating" problems like meningitis due to infection of the Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, bacteria.
Vaccinations have since made Hib infections rare, she said. Meanwhile, studies show that dangerous diseases gain strength when vaccination rates fall off.
In 1998, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blamed a measles outbreak in an Alaskan school on students' failures to get second measles shots. Health officials in Ireland attributed measles outbreaks in 2002 to flagging vaccination rates.
"It's a parent's responsibility not only to protect their child but also to protect others," Kerns said. "By their children not being vaccinated, it does put some people at risk."
The debate is not new. For years, parents questioned whether thimerosal in vaccines was contributing to the rise in autism. Thimerosal, a preservative, contains a mercury compound related to another mercury compound proven to cause learning disabilities.
Though studies failed to conclusively link autism with thimerosal, it was mostly eliminated from child vaccines in 2001. Jo Pike, executive director of the National Autism Association, said mercury continues to be her group's main concern about vaccines - especially since some vaccines containing thimerosal have not expired and continue to be administered.
On July 19, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration held a press conference where they urged more autism research but disputed any link with modern vaccination, citing a recent Institute of Medicine study.
Callahan rejects those assurances. Recently, she joined the board of the Florida chapter of The Autism Autoimmunity Project, another anti-vaccination group based in Davie.
TAAP chapter president April Oakes believes that a vaccination left her daughter Casi autistic and ultimately led her to death at age 4 in 1999. "I had to learn about vaccinations the hard way," Oakes said. "We are parents who know without question that our babies are vaccine injured."
State health department officials stand by their federal counterparts.
"The Department of Health takes the safety of anybody vaccinated very seriously," spokesman Doc Kokol said. "Because of that, we follow the true experts in the field. Both the CDC and FDA have noted that these drugs are safe, and that they are effective, and we will continue to follow their guidelines."
Kokol added that concerned parents should speak with their doctors. "We would hope they would use the best science and medical advice" in making their decisions, he said.
__________
Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (352) 867-4119 or
catherine.dolinski@starbanner.com.
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/LEADER/208110316&SearchID=73218334099283
Exemptions to immunizations
According to the Star-Banner's front page article of Aug. 4, "School Preparations" by Rick Cundiff, "not getting immunizations isn't an option." This statement is only half true. In all 50 states, there are exemptions available to any parent who does not want to take a chance on injecting their child with toxic substances.
In Florida, a religious exemption or medical waiver is accepted for filing with the health department. If filed, a parent can still have their child attend any government or private school or daycare.
When I made the decision to no longer immunize my children, I wrote out a simple statement of my religious convictions against immunizations and filed one for each child. I felt that injecting my children with potentially harmful substances, toxic cocktails and cells derived from aborted babies, was an irresponsible act as a Christian and dangerous from any angle.
Medical exemptions can also be obtained from sympathetic doctors or for children with a known sensitivity to certain vaccine substances. When one begins to research vaccine efficacy and safety, one has to ask the question: How can something that is produced using mercury derivatives, potentially contaminated animal cells and other toxins too many to name in this letter be good for you?
Also, those of us that take a hard right-to-life stance should have a strong philosophical objection to the fact that numerous vaccines were concocted using the cells of precious babies lost through abortion.
According to Marion County School District mouthpiece, Kevin Christian, more than 700 400 children were sent home due to not having immunizations. The state cannot turn away a child who has on file with the health department an exemption against immunization. That is information that seems to be less than readily available to most parents.
Another question: If immunized children are indeed immune to the diseases they were vaccinated for, why turn away the children that are not vaccinated? Could it be possible that these required immunizations are really not as effective as advertised?
My hat is off to Wendy Callahan, who has spent many hours of her time and energy trying to inform the public about vaccine dangers. I am especially glad she was able to secure a billboard on the highway that will reach many parents and that the Star-Banner gave her coverage. She has a passion for informing parents about the dangerous side effects of vaccines, and she should be commended for the effort she has put forth.
Eileen Slattery
Belleview
Prevention or problem?
BY ALLISON SEAMAN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER
Charlie Parker Reeder, 2, in the arms of his father, John Reeder, is vaccinated by Dr. Mac Van Gilder in his New York City office.
MARILYN K. YEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES FILE 2002
It never ceases to amaze me how few parents understand that their children cannot be denied the right to an education simply because they refuse to vaccinate their children. A recent Star-Banner article said children would not be allowed to attend school until proof of immunization is furnished. This scare tactic is patently untrue and a misrepresentation of fact.
Florida recognizes a religious exemption waiver that any parent can obtain at the health department when choosing not to vaccinate. You simply sign this waiver and give a copy to your child's school for their permanent record. Why is this right to opt out of vaccinating not commonly known and, quite frankly, hidden from parents?
Parents are frightened to death by a medical community that makes a pretty decent living selling vaccine. It upset me to also read Dr. Suzie Kerns' statement that not vaccinating children "puts some people at risk," implying parents opting out of the current vaccination protocol are jeopardizing the health and safety of others. Hogwash.
Most people would be interested to know that the incidence of life-threatening disease was on a marked decline before the vaccination program's inception. Also, there has never, ever been any long-term human trial on the efficacy of the vaccination program - ever. So how is it that these doctors are so emphatic about the safety of these vaccines? What do they really know about them long term?
Further, it is interesting to note that the Amish, a historically unvaccinated population for generations, have fared just fine over the years with no significant epidemic of disease.
Conversely, our vaccinated population, adults and children, is suffering from explosive numbers of people with autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic childhood asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromayagia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia and Parkinson's.
Is it really so implausible for anyone to entertain that vaccinations might be making our country sick? Give me a break, please. The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and pharmaceutical companies for years have accused many very reputable doctors of making unfounded claims linking vaccinations to injury. What is the payoff?
Many have put their money, in funding of independent research, and reputations on the line just to find out the truth, one way or the other. Meanwhile, reputable doctors from very esteemed universities, hospitals and faculties have had their reputations sullied by doctors working for pharmaceutical companies or doctors who may just want to keep selling vaccine.
Drs. David and Mark Geier received a congressional order to use the existing Department of Health and Human Services' Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, vaccine injury data to get to the truth. But this data was kept from them for years, thereby stalling the study. Why?
David Kirby's book, "Evidence of Harm," will enlighten any who chooses to inform themselves about the Geier study and then some.
"Vaccinate because I say so" just isn't good enough anymore.
Being the mother of an autistic son damaged by his vaccines, I have earned the right to shout that statement from the rooftops. Parents should not be frightened into blindly following the herd vaccination program for fear their children will be denied an education. Do your homework, and make an informed choice in spite of the "big lie."
Allison Seaman resides in Ocala.
From the August 2005 Idaho Observer:
Florida VacLib chapter squirreled away money until...
OCALA, Florida—VacLib Florida Chapter Director Wendy Callahan has been dreaming about an anti-vac billboard for over two years. A year ago she vowed to make the dream a reality and started squirreling money away—a dollar here, five dollars there. Last May, when she was getting close to having enough money, Wendy began calling around to find the right billboard company at the right price.
In May Wendy informed the VacLib network that she had had priced the cost of creating the artwork for the billboard and the cost per month to keep the billboard up.
Wendy’s enthusiasm was infectious and caused a flurry of activity among several people in the network to develop a powerful billboard message. VacLib webmanager Dewey Duffel in Montana and VacLib Arizona Chapter Director Kim Medlin really took the project to heart and can be credited with piecing together various components into the excellent design that now graces Ocala.
Though the text of the billboard is altered from the original (as memorialized in the VacLib postcards and business cards, available in quantities), the message is clear and bold—and it’s so near a McDonald’s restaurant that a high percentage of people in the area who need vaccine truth are going to find it.
The billboard cost about $900 for the first month and will cost $400 for each additional month. At this time it appears the Lamar billboard company is willing to keep the "Love Them. Protect Them. NEVER Inject Them" message up in this location as long as the monthly rent is paid.
As you can see, the only contact number indicated is the VacLib website. Dewey Duffel is monitoring the site to see whether or not there is an increase in cyber traffic that can be attributed to the billboard.
Since the billboard went up, Wendy has been contacted by the local newspaper and the big sign has made the evening news.
Vaccination Liberation - vaclib.org
BY ALLISON SEAMAN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER
Charlie Parker Reeder, 2, in the arms of his father, John Reeder, is vaccinated by Dr. Mac Van Gilder in his New York City office.
MARILYN K. YEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES FILE 2002
It never ceases to amaze me how few parents understand that their children cannot be denied the right to an education simply because they refuse to vaccinate their children. A recent Star-Banner article said children would not be allowed to attend school until proof of immunization is furnished. This scare tactic is patently untrue and a misrepresentation of fact.
Florida recognizes a religious exemption waiver that any parent can obtain at the health department when choosing not to vaccinate. You simply sign this waiver and give a copy to your child's school for their permanent record. Why is this right to opt out of vaccinating not commonly known and, quite frankly, hidden from parents?
Parents are frightened to death by a medical community that makes a pretty decent living selling vaccine. It upset me to also read Dr. Suzie Kerns' statement that not vaccinating children "puts some people at risk," implying parents opting out of the current vaccination protocol are jeopardizing the health and safety of others. Hogwash.
Most people would be interested to know that the incidence of life-threatening disease was on a marked decline before the vaccination program's inception. Also, there has never, ever been any long-term human trial on the efficacy of the vaccination program - ever. So how is it that these doctors are so emphatic about the safety of these vaccines? What do they really know about them long term?
Further, it is interesting to note that the Amish, a historically unvaccinated population for generations, have fared just fine over the years with no significant epidemic of disease.
Conversely, our vaccinated population, adults and children, is suffering from explosive numbers of people with autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic childhood asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromayagia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia and Parkinson's.
Is it really so implausible for anyone to entertain that vaccinations might be making our country sick? Give me a break, please. The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and pharmaceutical companies for years have accused many very reputable doctors of making unfounded claims linking vaccinations to injury. What is the payoff?
Many have put their money, in funding of independent research, and reputations on the line just to find out the truth, one way or the other. Meanwhile, reputable doctors from very esteemed universities, hospitals and faculties have had their reputations sullied by doctors working for pharmaceutical companies or doctors who may just want to keep selling vaccine.
Drs. David and Mark Geier received a congressional order to use the existing Department of Health and Human Services' Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, vaccine injury data to get to the truth. But this data was kept from them for years, thereby stalling the study. Why?
David Kirby's book, "Evidence of Harm," will enlighten any who chooses to inform themselves about the Geier study and then some.
"Vaccinate because I say so" just isn't good enough anymore.
Being the mother of an autistic son damaged by his vaccines, I have earned the right to shout that statement from the rooftops. Parents should not be frightened into blindly following the herd vaccination program for fear their children will be denied an education. Do your homework, and make an informed choice in spite of the "big lie."
Allison Seaman resides in Ocala.
From the August 2005 Idaho Observer:
Florida VacLib chapter squirreled away money until...
OCALA, Florida—VacLib Florida Chapter Director Wendy Callahan has been dreaming about an anti-vac billboard for over two years. A year ago she vowed to make the dream a reality and started squirreling money away—a dollar here, five dollars there. Last May, when she was getting close to having enough money, Wendy began calling around to find the right billboard company at the right price.
In May Wendy informed the VacLib network that she had had priced the cost of creating the artwork for the billboard and the cost per month to keep the billboard up.
Wendy’s enthusiasm was infectious and caused a flurry of activity among several people in the network to develop a powerful billboard message. VacLib webmanager Dewey Duffel in Montana and VacLib Arizona Chapter Director Kim Medlin really took the project to heart and can be credited with piecing together various components into the excellent design that now graces Ocala.
Though the text of the billboard is altered from the original (as memorialized in the VacLib postcards and business cards, available in quantities), the message is clear and bold—and it’s so near a McDonald’s restaurant that a high percentage of people in the area who need vaccine truth are going to find it.
The billboard cost about $900 for the first month and will cost $400 for each additional month. At this time it appears the Lamar billboard company is willing to keep the "Love Them. Protect Them. NEVER Inject Them" message up in this location as long as the monthly rent is paid.
As you can see, the only contact number indicated is the VacLib website. Dewey Duffel is monitoring the site to see whether or not there is an increase in cyber traffic that can be attributed to the billboard.
Since the billboard went up, Wendy has been contacted by the local newspaper and the big sign has made the evening news.
Vaccination Liberation - vaclib.org
August 8, 2005
Florida Mom Calls For End of Vaccinations
By Mara Burney
We might expect concerned parents to live by slogans like: "Love them, protect them, tell them about the dangers of smoking" or "Love them, protect them, make them wear their seatbelts" or "Love them, protect them, keep them away from guns." But love them, protect them, never get them vaccinated? Huh?
Wendy Callahan, a concerned mother from Hawthorne, FL, has purchased billboard space in Marion County, where she has erected a huge sign urging parents to "Love Them, Protect Them, Never Inject Them." The billboard, which Callahan hopes to leave up for an entire year, claims that vaccines can cause autism, chronic ear infections, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Unfortunately, the mere suggestion of risk can have a very profound effect on people's choices. If the current media blitz continues, parents may be left with the impression that their children are safer if left unvaccinated, and this dangerous misinformation could lead to a resurgence of deadly pathogens which are currently kept at bay by immunization (see ACSH's booklet Vaccinations: What Parents Need to Know).
These predictions are not simply hypothetical. In 1974, Japan had completely eliminated deaths from pertussis (whooping cough), with only 393 cases reported that year for the entire country. However, as is happening today, rumors began to spread that the vaccine was unsafe, and within a few years the number of infants receiving the vaccine plummeted from 80% to 10%. In 1979, a major pertussis epidemic ensued, with 13,000 cases nationwide resulting in 113 deaths over the next three years. Realizing that they had made a mistake when they discontinued the vaccine, the Japanese Ministry of Health reinstituted it in 1981, and the number of cases dropped again.(1)
When public health officials say that vaccines are "safe," they do not mean that they are entirely risk-free. But as with any medical intervention, the benefits and risks must be weighed. For instance, the Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine carries a risk of anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) of 1 in 600,000.(2) But compare this to the 1.2 million deaths per year worldwide that result from HBV infections, and it becomes clear that to forego an HBV vaccination would be unwise.(3) The same can be said of diphtheria, measles, and other diseases. In other words, vaccines do carry some small risk, but the benefits of receiving them (both for individual health and for population health) are orders of magnitude greater.
Recent concerns about the safety of vaccines seem to center on two perceived risks. The first and most widely discussed is thimerosal, a vaccine preservative. There is no sound evidence linking thimerosal to autism or any other disease. Even so, it has been eliminated from most childhood vaccines as a precaution, and the last remaining stocks of thimerosal-containing products were due to expire in 2003. A second concern that many parents have is that the bacterial or viral components themselves in the vaccines may make children sick, especially since so many vaccines are given together in the first few years of life. However, infants are exposed to tens of thousands of new bacteria and viruses after birth, so the amount contained in the eleven recommended vaccines is miniscule when put in perspective. In fact, the Vaccine Center of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia estimates that an infant would have to receive about 10,000 vaccines to overwhelm its immune system!(4)
Successful vaccination programs in the U.S. have all but eliminated diseases such as measles, polio, and Hib meningitis, which used to cause thousands of deaths and disabilities each year. Hopefully parents with concerns will go to their pediatricians for advice, because the proven benefits of vaccines are too numerous to place on one billboard.
1 http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/fs/gen/Why.htm
http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743
2 http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743
3 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/471470_1
4 http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743
Mara Burney is a research associate at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com
Florida Mom Calls For End of Vaccinations
By Mara Burney
We might expect concerned parents to live by slogans like: "Love them, protect them, tell them about the dangers of smoking" or "Love them, protect them, make them wear their seatbelts" or "Love them, protect them, keep them away from guns." But love them, protect them, never get them vaccinated? Huh?
Wendy Callahan, a concerned mother from Hawthorne, FL, has purchased billboard space in Marion County, where she has erected a huge sign urging parents to "Love Them, Protect Them, Never Inject Them." The billboard, which Callahan hopes to leave up for an entire year, claims that vaccines can cause autism, chronic ear infections, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Unfortunately, the mere suggestion of risk can have a very profound effect on people's choices. If the current media blitz continues, parents may be left with the impression that their children are safer if left unvaccinated, and this dangerous misinformation could lead to a resurgence of deadly pathogens which are currently kept at bay by immunization (see ACSH's booklet Vaccinations: What Parents Need to Know).
These predictions are not simply hypothetical. In 1974, Japan had completely eliminated deaths from pertussis (whooping cough), with only 393 cases reported that year for the entire country. However, as is happening today, rumors began to spread that the vaccine was unsafe, and within a few years the number of infants receiving the vaccine plummeted from 80% to 10%. In 1979, a major pertussis epidemic ensued, with 13,000 cases nationwide resulting in 113 deaths over the next three years. Realizing that they had made a mistake when they discontinued the vaccine, the Japanese Ministry of Health reinstituted it in 1981, and the number of cases dropped again.(1)
When public health officials say that vaccines are "safe," they do not mean that they are entirely risk-free. But as with any medical intervention, the benefits and risks must be weighed. For instance, the Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine carries a risk of anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) of 1 in 600,000.(2) But compare this to the 1.2 million deaths per year worldwide that result from HBV infections, and it becomes clear that to forego an HBV vaccination would be unwise.(3) The same can be said of diphtheria, measles, and other diseases. In other words, vaccines do carry some small risk, but the benefits of receiving them (both for individual health and for population health) are orders of magnitude greater.
Recent concerns about the safety of vaccines seem to center on two perceived risks. The first and most widely discussed is thimerosal, a vaccine preservative. There is no sound evidence linking thimerosal to autism or any other disease. Even so, it has been eliminated from most childhood vaccines as a precaution, and the last remaining stocks of thimerosal-containing products were due to expire in 2003. A second concern that many parents have is that the bacterial or viral components themselves in the vaccines may make children sick, especially since so many vaccines are given together in the first few years of life. However, infants are exposed to tens of thousands of new bacteria and viruses after birth, so the amount contained in the eleven recommended vaccines is miniscule when put in perspective. In fact, the Vaccine Center of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia estimates that an infant would have to receive about 10,000 vaccines to overwhelm its immune system!(4)
Successful vaccination programs in the U.S. have all but eliminated diseases such as measles, polio, and Hib meningitis, which used to cause thousands of deaths and disabilities each year. Hopefully parents with concerns will go to their pediatricians for advice, because the proven benefits of vaccines are too numerous to place on one billboard.
1 http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/fs/gen/Why.htm
http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743
2 http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743
3 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/471470_1
4 http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743
Mara Burney is a research associate at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com
