FW: NH PARENTS WANT MANDATORY HEP B ELIMINATED

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EVEN BETTER!!!!!

immunizations; group wants state to stop requiring hepatitis b vaccine

October 27, 1998

A group of concerned parents is asking the state to abolish a rule

requiring all children entering school to get the Hepatitis B vaccine,

saying it may cause neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis

(MS). Hepatitis B is a virus that can lead to liver failure, liver

cancer or death. The virus is spread primarily through unprotected sex

and needle- sharing among drug users, but may also be spread from mother

to child at birth or through contact among children.

An estimated 200,000 Americans are infected each year, including 36,000

children under

20, said Dr. Mast, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC). More

than 1 million Americans are chronically infected, and about 5,000 die

each year, he

said. But a spokesman for New Hampshire Citizens for Health Freedom

said some scientists believe the vaccine may cause diseases of the

nervous system, especially when given to very young children. At best,

there is insufficient evidence of the vaccine's safety, Gerhard Bedding

said.

" People should hear both sides of the story - there's serious

disagreement in the medical community, " Bedding said. The debate over

the vaccine intensified when the health minister of France suspended

that country's Hepatitis B immunization program for 11-year-olds over

concern it could cause multiple sclerosis in some people. The World

Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern that other countries would

follow suit or delay starting a Hepatitis B vaccination program, even

though the vaccine has an " outstanding record of safety and efficiency.

"

Mast also said research on the vaccine has found no support for the

theory that it

causes multiple sclerosis or other diseases of the nervous system.

Starting in 1993, New Hampshire began recommending the three-step

vaccine for all infants; in 1997, it began requiring all children born

in 1993 or later to get vaccinated before starting school. Parents may

get a religious exemption to any vaccination.

Bedding's group recently started a petition drive to overturn the school

vaccination

requirement. Bedding argues that infants and younger children are at

very low risk for the disease because they are not sexually active or

using illegal drugs. If the vaccine is required at all, it should not be

mandatory until children approach their teenage years, when

experimentation with sex and drugs may put them at risk, he said.

State epidemiologist Dr. Greenblatt said that in the last five

years, nine cases of Hepatitis B have been reported in New Hampshire

children under 18. But Mast said such statistics are deceptive. Often,

infected children display no symptoms until later in life, but in the

meantime they may spread the disease to other children. One-third of

children get the disease at birth from their mothers, but another

two-thirds get it from another infected child or family member, he said.

Children also are much more likely than adults to develop chronic

infections that can lead to death, he said. While 90 percent of adults

recover completely from hepatitis B, 90 percent of infants exposed at

birth develop chronic infections and children age 1 to 5 have a 30 to 60

percent risk of chronic disease, studies show. " It's really a silent

disease until people die as adults from the complications of cirrhosis

and liver cancer, " Mast said. Greenblatt said the state is concerned

with preventing the disease before it becomes an epidemic. The effects

of the vaccine last through adolescence and into adulthood, he said.

" We're interested in offering children protection both during their

younger years and their adolescent years, when they're more inclined to

engage in high-risk behavior, such as sex without protection or drug

use, " he said. " While no vaccine can claim to be perfectly safe, they

far outweigh the risk of the disease. "