[NVIC] VAERS Data: Fewer Autism Reports?

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" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

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BL Fisher Note:

Interpretation of VAERS data used to confirm or deny that thimerosal

preservatives in vaccines is the sole cause of the autism epidemic in the

U.S. should be undertaken and viewed with caution. Definitive conclusions

about the mercury poisoning hypothesis cannot be made until developmental

disability data from the State of California and other states, as well as

the US Department of Education, is compiled for children born after 2003 and

compared with those born before 2003 when DPT/DtaP, HIB and hepatitis B

vaccines contained large amounts of thimerosal..

The federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) was centralized

and reorganized under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

Although the law mandated that physicians report serious adverse events

following vaccination to VAERS, there are no penalties for not reporting and

it is thought that fewer than 10 percent of all vaccine providers actually

report. VAERS, however, also accepts reports from parents. Since VAERS

became operational in 1988, the National Vaccine Information Center has

assisted many parents of vaccine injured children in making reports to VAERS

when their doctors refused to report.

Between 1999 and 2002, there was a large amount of national publicity

about the possibility that vaccines can cause autism either after exposure

to live MMR vaccine or to significant amounts of mercury preservatives in

vaccines. In 1999, statistics coming out of the state of California

confirmed the autism " epidemic " and in 2000, a vaccine injured autistic

child ( Rollens) was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine. In

addition, a series of well publicized congressional hearings were held

between 1999 and 2002 which explored the links between autism and

vaccination.

This spotlight on the autism-vaccine connection plus coinciding publicity

about VAERS and the existence of a federal vaccine injury compensation may

well have caused an increase in reports to VAERS of neurodevelopmental

delays following vaccination. The majority of the more than 5,000 vaccine

associated autism cases were filed in the Vaccine Injury Compensation

Program (VICP) between 2000 and 2002, indicating an increased public

awareness of the autism-vaccine connection.

Between 2003 and 2005, a series of epidemiological studies conducted in

Europe and reports issued by the Institute of Medicine in the U.S. were

published and publicized. These studies and reports flatly dismissed a

causal relationship between vaccination and autism or other

neurodevelopmental delays. This negative publicity arguing against a

vaccine-autism connection would have had a chilling effect on physician

voluntary reporting of vaccine-associated neurodevelopmental delays to VAERS

and would have discouraged parent reporting.

Mercury is a known neurotoxin and does not belong in vaccines or any

other product given to humans, especially children. However, it is dangerous

to assume that mercury is the only component of vaccines responsible for the

autism epidemic or that mercury toxicity is the only biological mechanism

involved in vaccine-induced chronic brain and immune system dysfunction.

It may be too early to tell how much of a role mercury preservatives in

vaccines have had on the incidence of vaccine-induced autism and other

neuroimmune disorders in children. However, it is not too early to demand

that all known neurotoxins, including mercury, be removed from vaccines.

ANALYSIS OF VAERS DATA AND NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS

Medical Science Monitor 2006 May 29;12(6):CR231-239 [Epub ahead of print]

An assessment of downward trends in neurodevelopmental disorders in the

United States following removal of thimerosal from childhood vaccines.

Full text in PDF:

http://www.medscimonit.com/pub/vol_12/no_6/8025.pdf

Geier DA, Geier MR.

Graduate Student, Department of Biochemistry, Washington University,

Washington, DC, U.S.A.

Background: The US is in the midst of an epidemic of neurodevelopmental

disorders (NDs). Thimerosal is an ethylmercury-containing compound added to

some childhood vaccines. Several previous epidemiological studies conducted

in the US have associated Thimerosal-containing vaccine (TCV) administration

with NDs.

Material/Methods: An ecological study was undertaken to evaluate

NDs reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) from 1991

through 2004 by date of receipt and by date of vaccine administration. The

NDs examined included autism, mental retardation, and speech disorders.

Statistical trend analysis was employed to evaluate the effects of removal

of Thimerosal on the proportion of NDs reported to VAERS.

Results: There was a peak in the proportion of ND reports received by VAERS

in 2001-2002 and in

the proportion of ND reports by date of vaccine administration in 1998.

There were significant reductions in the proportion of NDs reported to VAERS

as Thimerosal was begun to be removed from childhood vaccines in the US from

mid-1999 onwards.

Conclusions: The present study provides the first

epidemiological evidence showing that as Thimerosal was removed from

childhood vaccines, the number of NDs has decreased in the US. The analysis

techniques utilized attempted to minimize chance or bias/confounding.

Additional research should be conducted to further evaluate the relationship

between TCVs and NDs. This is especially true because the handling of

vaccine safety data from the National Immunization Program of the CDC has

been called into question by the Institute of Medicine of the National

Academy of Sciences in 2005.

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