[NVIC] More Required Vaccines and Bogus Whooping Cough Cases

[Guest guest]

August 29, 2007

National Vaccine Information Center

A young boy on the beach was throwing the washed-up starfish back into

the ocean. A stranger passing by told him not to bother, because it would

not make any difference, there were thousands of beaches and millions of

starfish, and it would not be possible to save all of them. The boy reached

down, picked up a starfish, threw it back into the ocean and said, smiling

softly, " I made a difference for that one! "

NVIC E-news

" While there are a few exceptions, students who begin school without this

[Tdap] vaccination will have two weeks from September 1 to get it or,

legally, the schools will be obligated to exclude them from attending

school, according to Pospisil, spokesperson for the New York State

Department of Health.....The reason for the new vaccine is simple: to

protect the health of children and adults, Pospisil said. " We have had a

widespread outbreak of pertussis or whooping cough in New York State

throughout the previous year, 2006, and because of this, there will be a

protective benefit against whooping cough if people are vaccinated, " she

explained..... " The drug manufacturers have just approved a pertussis

[vaccine] for adults, " she noted....But according to Dr. Lawrence Palevsky,

a holistic pediatrician at the Northport Wellness Center, the new

immunization requirement, especially for pertussis, may be a bit

premature.... " I don't think true due diligence has been done to evaluate

the potential neurological complications in children above seven years old

who are given this vaccine " ....According to Dr. Alan Sherr, chiropractor

and director at the Northport Wellness Center, individuals who have not

received any vaccinations may have a natural immunity to a particular

virus. However, the case may be different for those who already have

participated in routine vaccinations since infancy. " - le

Centamore, Suffolk Life (August 22, 2007)

" A reported boom in U.S. whooping cough cases is now being questioned

after health officials discovered a regularly used lab test misdiagnosed

cases in suspected outbreaks in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

The false test results led thousands of people to take antibiotics

unnecessarily and even caused a New Hampshire hospital to limit the number

of patients admitted since hospital workers were thought to be

infected....Government health officials say cases have tripled in the

United States since 2001, with nearly 26,000 cases reported in 2005. Nearly

half of those cases were diagnosed with the testing method now called into

question, and that has raised doubts about the true number of

cases...... " It's been a roller coaster. Whoa, look at this big outbreak!

Whoa, it wasn't really pertussis! " said Dr. Schaffner, chairman of

Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine. " - Mike Stobbe,

Associated Press (August 23, 2007)

Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

When public health authorities choose to scare us by hyping the dangers of

infectious disease, like whooping cough (pertussis), the least we can

expect is that they have gotten their scientific facts straight. The

Keystone Cops act is not very reassuring: " Whoa, look at this big outbreak!

Whoa, it wasn't really pertussis! " .

For the last several years, public health officials have been beating the

drums, warning us that whooping cough is on the rise despite a more than 95

percent uptake of pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine by all children

entering kindergarten, who are required by most states to have 3-5 doses of

DTaP (diphtheria- tetanus-acellular pertussis) vaccine before they can

attend school. The CDC's solution has been to recommend yet another dose of

pertussis vaccine via a booster Tdap shot for all 11-12 year old children.

New York and other state health officials are in the process of persuading

politicians to add Tdap to state mandatory vaccination laws. That " more is

better " solution, say federal health officials, will finally stamp out

whooping cough.

But now, we find out that many of the whooping cough cases reported in the

" outbreaks " around the country, such as in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and

Tennessee, were bogus cases because some " speedy " lab tests to confirm

whooping cough give a false positive the majority of the time. So the

reported tripling of whooping cough cases in the past five years may be a

total fabrication and the push for children to get another booster dose of

Tdap at 11-12 years old may not make any difference at all.

There are other infectious organisms, such as parapertussis, which cause

respiratory disease that can mimic whooping cough and they are not covered

in the Tdap vaccine. Lab diagnosis is critical to accurately confirming and

treating whooping cough and it is unfortunate that it has taken so long to

uncover the ineffectiveness of the lab test used to confirm many suspected

whooping cough cases today.

But more importantly, the rush by federal health officials to add yet

another booster dose of vaccine without carefully investigating why

whooping cough is apparently occurring in a highly vaccinated child

population does not inspire confidence in the evidence with which the CDC

supports vaccine recommendations. Assumptions are a poor replacement for

scientific evidence.

Equally concerning is the lack of scientific evidence supporting the

safety of giving children entering puberty multiple vaccines, such as Tdap,

meningococcal, HPV and chicken pox vaccine and others without long term

studies evaluating the impact of pre-adolescent vaccination on brain and

immune function. Today, the CDC recommends that, by age 11, children should

have received 53-56 doses of 15 or 16 vaccines depending upon if the child

is a boy or girl. Where are the safety studies that demonstrate this much

vaccination leads to greater long term good health?

America's highly vaccinated children are in the midst of a chronic disease

and disability epidemic, with millions of them suffering with learning

disabilities, ADHD, autism, asthma, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disorder,

severe food allergies and other kinds of brain and immune dysfunction that

affected far fewer children in the past when far fewer vaccines were given

to them. The last thing our sick children need now is one more vaccine.

----------

Motives Behind Vaccine Requirements Questioned

Suffolk Life

August 22, 2007

by le Centamore

Click here for the URL:

The New York State Department of Health has announced a change in the

immunization requirements for school entry. Students who are entering sixth

grade on or after September 1, 2007 and who are 11 years of age or older

are now required to receive a combination vaccination called Tdap, related

to diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis, or whooping cough.

While there are a few exceptions, students who begin school without this

vaccination will have two weeks from September 1 to get it or, legally, the

schools will be obligated to exclude them from attending school, according

to Pospisil, spokesperson for the New York State Department of

Health. In addition, Pospisil said, " we anticipate that there will be a new

requirement regarding a booster dose for varicella - chicken pox - in the

near future. "

Although notice of the new immunization requirements was announced in

spring 2007, time is running out for those students who have not updated

their immunizations to meet the new requirements by the state.

Prior to the new requirement, Pospisil said, " students would have received

a 'booster' with tetanus and diphtheria, which has been recommended every

10 years - most sixth-graders would have originally received their first

diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine in infancy - so the pertussis

bundled in with the other two is an opportunity for them to get immunity

for all of them at the same time. "

Students who have received a Td, DT, or DTaP vaccination within the past

two years, may defer their Tdap for another two years, said Pospisil.

Students who are 10 years old and are entering sixth grade may also wait

until they turn 11 before they receive the vaccination, Pospisil said, but

they will be expected to follow through with the vaccinations once they

turn 11. Regarding children entering grades above sixth, Pospisil added,

" We recommend an eighth-grader, for example, who has not had a booster in

two years, consult with their healthcare provider regarding the Tdap. "

The reason for the new vaccine is simple: to protect the health of children

and adults, Pospisil said. " We have had a widespread outbreak of pertussis

or whooping cough in New York State throughout the previous year, 2006, and

because of this, there will be a protective benefit against whooping cough

if people are vaccinated, " she explained. Until recently, she added, a

vaccine for pertussis was only available for children, not adults. " The

drug manufacturers have just approved a pertussis [vaccine] for adults, "

she noted. " One is good for [those] ages 11 to 65, called Adacel, and the

other, for children ages 10 to 18, [is] called Boostrix. "

" In infancy, children receive DTP - diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis - but

the pertussis only lasts about seven years and then that child, as well as

all adults, would not be protected against pertussis or whooping cough, "

explained Donna McPartlan, a school nurse at Elwood Middle School.

Requiring 11-year-olds to receive this vaccine, said McPartlan, assures a

greater protection for not just children, but adults and infants, as well.

" How many adults go for shots? " McPartlan said. " Nobody. How am I going to

immunize my brand new mothers bringing home infant babies? I don't see them

before they are pregnant. So wouldn't it be great if I could immunize them

while they are in school so it would last, " she said, adding that all of

her students and their families have been reminded several times since the

initial announcement by the state DOH.

" We support anything that is going to provide good health for children, "

stated Adrienne Robb-Fund, assistant superintendent for elementary

education in Commack. " If the department of health thinks this is

important, we support it. " Moreover, Robb-Fund noted that, like most

schools, Commack sent notification of the new immunization requirements to

students and their families back in spring. " We haven't mandated it ...

it's the law, and technically, after 14 days, we are supposed to not have

the child in school, and that is what we want to avoid, " she said.

But according to Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, a holistic pediatrician at the

Northport Wellness Center, the new immunization requirement, especially for

pertussis, may be a bit premature. While Pospisil said that a pertussis

vaccine was not given to older children (versus infants) because there was

not one available for them, Palevsky said it is more a matter of health and

safety.

Regarding the DPT, Palevsky said, " Every single study that has been done in

the past on the DPT has clearly shown that it is not safe to give it to

children above the age of seven because of neurological complications. But

now all of a sudden what they are saying is that the new studies show that

there is no worry about neurological complications for children above seven

years old. It is a huge leap to go from 'there may be severe neurological

complications if children above the age of seven are getting the vaccine'

to 'it's now safe to give it to children at 11 years old.' I don't think

true due diligence has been done to evaluate the potential neurological

complications in children above seven years old who are given this vaccine. "

There is not enough evidence to support the safety of the new vaccine or

effectiveness in reducing the incidence of pertussis, according to

Palevsky. " We need to explore how an outbreak of an illness really occurs,

to understand why vaccination may not reduce the incidence of an infectious

illness like pertussis, " he said.

According to Dr. Alan Sherr, chiropractor and director at the Northport

Wellness Center, individuals who have not received any vaccinations may

have a natural immunity to a particular virus. However, the case may be

different for those who already have participated in routine vaccinations

since infancy. " There is a dilemma in the argument when you are looking at

a population that has already received all of their vaccines to this point

and do not carry any natural immunity on their own, " Sherr said. This

dilemma, he said, may raise the question: " Is it then appropriate to

vaccinate that population because they are already immune deficient? Should

we? Maybe .... Those children never had the opportunity of getting these

conditions on their own; by receiving them artificially, they don't have

them naturally. "

" The medical community believes that having the illness is bad for the

child. I don't believe it is, " said Palevsky. " In reality, experiencing the

natural illness has immune-boosting effects on the body. " And as for the

viruses in the required vaccines, if contracted, Palevsky said, " most

people can make a full recovery. "

But what about a second chicken pox vaccine, which according to Pospisil,

may be the next new immunization requirement imposed by the DOH on

middle-school-aged children?

According to McPartlan, an 11-year-old child who gets the chicken pox may

experience discomfort, a fever, itchiness and scarring. This child, she

said, will be excluded from school or day care. It also impacts the child's

mother or father economically and socially, she added, and could even pose

a greater health risk on other individuals, a pregnant aunt, for example.

" The virus could cause problems to the fetus .... if you spread it to

someone who is immuno-compromised, it can cause death, " she said.

But Palevsky argues that the main reason for giving children the varicella

vaccine is purely economic. " It is to keep parents from having to miss work

by having to stay home for a week when their kids get the chicken pox and

stay out of school, " he said. " It is more of an economical reason to give

the vaccine versus, 'a child has a great likelihood of suffering a bad

outcome from getting the chicken pox.' "

The new Tdap vaccine requirement has left some parents and caregivers

feeling more confident that their children will be further protected

against disease, and others feeling frustrated, questioning the intent of

the DOH, as well as the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine.

Jackie Carbone, a Centereach resident and an educator at a preschool in

Sayville, said that she is in full support of the new vaccine, as well as

others required by the DOH. " I think that it helps to protect children and

their immune systems against diseases that we could previously not protect

against, diseases that, if contracted, are debilitating or possibly life-

threatening. "

Deer Park resident Alayna Becker recently took her 13- year-old daughter to

be immunized with the Tdap. " I'm sure there is a good reason to have it -

protecting her health and that of others - that is why I got it for her, "

she said. But still, Becker questions the vaccine's effectiveness, since it

still is new. " They could change it along the way because, like other new

drugs, they may find it is not accurate, " Becker added. " I am always leery

when there are new requirements for vaccinations. "

" I am very concerned about another vaccine for our kids, " said Irene

Schmidt, a Huntington resident and mother of two children, ages three and

five. " How many more vaccines will be required when my children enter sixth

grade? I fear both the accumulating effects of additives like mercury and

also the unnatural influence that more vaccines will have on our children's

immune systems. " As a parent to a child on the autism spectrum, added

Schmidt, " I feel that the rise in the rate of autism needs to be

definitively explained before any new vaccines are mandated for our kids. "

According to the state DOH, by grade 12, students are required to receive

one to four doses of up to 10 different vaccines. Pospisil noted that, as

with any of the vaccines, exemptions for Tdap are made for those who have

proof of antibodies for the virus, valid religious justifications or valid

medical reasons explained by a child's physician.

For more information on the current state immunization requirements, visit

www.health.state. ny.us

CDC: Whooping cough cases misdiagnosed

Associated Press

August 23, 2007

By Mike Stobbe

Click here for the URL:

A reported boom in U.S. whooping cough cases is now being questioned after

health officials discovered a regularly used lab test misdiagnosed cases in

suspected outbreaks in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

The false test results led thousands of people to take antibiotics

unnecessarily and even caused a New Hampshire hospital to limit the number

of patients admitted since hospital workers were thought to be infected.

The testing errors were reported Thursday by researchers with the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a potentially fatal bacterial respiratory

infection. Its name comes from the sound victims make as they try to

recover their breath after a coughing fit.

Government health officials say cases have tripled in the United States

since 2001, with nearly 26,000 cases reported in 2005. Nearly half of those

cases were diagnosed with the testing method now called into question, and

that has raised doubts about the true number of cases.

" Are we in fact seeing an increase? " asked Dr. Tom , summarizing what

some are wondering. , a CDC epidemiologist, is co-author of the report

on the misdiagnoses.

The most accurate diagnostic testing for whooping cough requires a week or

more to grow the pertussis bacteria from a sample from a patient's nose or

throat. Sometimes that's too long for health authorities to take action to

prevent the disease from spreading.

Increasingly, doctors have depended on a faster, but less accurate test.

Different labs do the tests differently, leading to uneven results, experts

say.

Last October, the less accurate method was used to diagnose a 20-month-old

child with whooping cough at Children's Hospital Boston. Three dozen

specimens from hospital workers also tested positive as well. But those

results were wrong, according to the more reliable bacteria culture test

results, the CDC reported.

The same situation occurred in March 2006, when a lab worker at

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., was diagnosed with the

illness. Nearly 1,000 hospital workers were tested, treated and furloughed

to prevent infecting patients. Thousands were given antibiotics and

vaccinations. The precautions affected staffing levels, and the hospital

had to close off some beds. About 100 employees were diagnosed with

pertussis using the speedy test, results later found to be wrong.

In April 2004, a 5-week-old infant in one Tennessee community, which CDC

wouldn't identify, was diagnosed with whooping cough. Health officials

began looking for the illness in other residents. Ultimately nearly 1,500

people were checked or offered antibiotics; 43 tested positive at first.

But the more reliable test turned up negative results for all except the

baby, the CDC said.

" It's been a roller coaster. Whoa, looks at this big outbreak! Whoa, it

wasn't really pertussis! " said Dr. Schaffner, chairman of

Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine.

It's not clear why so many errors were detected in each incident,

said. Contamination of samples does not appear to be the explanation, he

added.

The CDC is planning a study to improve and standardize the method of faster

testing. In the meantime, people should still get recommended pertussis

vaccinations, said.

said he believes there is a real increase in cases, and that many are

going undiagnosed. Two states, Minnesota and Massachusetts, have beefed up

their case-finding and testing and have both seen whooping cough increases,

he said.

On the Net:

The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: http://www.cdc.gov/m mwr

National Vaccine Information Center

----------

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| 22180

--------------------------------------------------------

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Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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[Guest guest]

Thank you......this was very informative. Honestly I just wonder how much

longer this can be kept up before it all just explodes in big Pharma's faces.

---- Sheri Nakken <vaccineinfo@...> wrote:

>

> August 29, 2007

>

>

>

> National Vaccine Information Center

> A young boy on the beach was throwing the washed-up starfish back into

> the ocean. A stranger passing by told him not to bother, because it would

> not make any difference, there were thousands of beaches and millions of

> starfish, and it would not be possible to save all of them. The boy reached

> down, picked up a starfish, threw it back into the ocean and said, smiling

> softly, " I made a difference for that one! "

>

>

> NVIC E-news

>

> " While there are a few exceptions, students who begin school without this

> [Tdap] vaccination will have two weeks from September 1 to get it or,

> legally, the schools will be obligated to exclude them from attending

> school, according to Pospisil, spokesperson for the New York State

> Department of Health.....The reason for the new vaccine is simple: to

> protect the health of children and adults, Pospisil said. " We have had a

> widespread outbreak of pertussis or whooping cough in New York State

> throughout the previous year, 2006, and because of this, there will be a

> protective benefit against whooping cough if people are vaccinated, " she

> explained..... " The drug manufacturers have just approved a pertussis

> [vaccine] for adults, " she noted....But according to Dr. Lawrence Palevsky,

> a holistic pediatrician at the Northport Wellness Center, the new

> immunization requirement, especially for pertussis, may be a bit

> premature.... " I don't think true due diligence has been done to evaluate

> the potential neurological complications in children above seven years old

> who are given this vaccine " ....According to Dr. Alan Sherr, chiropractor

> and director at the Northport Wellness Center, individuals who have not

> received any vaccinations may have a natural immunity to a particular

> virus. However, the case may be different for those who already have

> participated in routine vaccinations since infancy. " - le

> Centamore, Suffolk Life (August 22, 2007)

>

> " A reported boom in U.S. whooping cough cases is now being questioned

> after health officials discovered a regularly used lab test misdiagnosed

> cases in suspected outbreaks in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

> The false test results led thousands of people to take antibiotics

> unnecessarily and even caused a New Hampshire hospital to limit the number

> of patients admitted since hospital workers were thought to be

> infected....Government health officials say cases have tripled in the

> United States since 2001, with nearly 26,000 cases reported in 2005. Nearly

> half of those cases were diagnosed with the testing method now called into

> question, and that has raised doubts about the true number of

> cases...... " It's been a roller coaster. Whoa, look at this big outbreak!

> Whoa, it wasn't really pertussis! " said Dr. Schaffner, chairman of

> Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine. " - Mike Stobbe,

> Associated Press (August 23, 2007)

>

> Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

>

> When public health authorities choose to scare us by hyping the dangers of

> infectious disease, like whooping cough (pertussis), the least we can

> expect is that they have gotten their scientific facts straight. The

> Keystone Cops act is not very reassuring: " Whoa, look at this big outbreak!

> Whoa, it wasn't really pertussis! " .

>

> For the last several years, public health officials have been beating the

> drums, warning us that whooping cough is on the rise despite a more than 95

> percent uptake of pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine by all children

> entering kindergarten, who are required by most states to have 3-5 doses of

> DTaP (diphtheria- tetanus-acellular pertussis) vaccine before they can

> attend school. The CDC's solution has been to recommend yet another dose of

> pertussis vaccine via a booster Tdap shot for all 11-12 year old children.

> New York and other state health officials are in the process of persuading

> politicians to add Tdap to state mandatory vaccination laws. That " more is

> better " solution, say federal health officials, will finally stamp out

> whooping cough.

>

> But now, we find out that many of the whooping cough cases reported in the

> " outbreaks " around the country, such as in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and

> Tennessee, were bogus cases because some " speedy " lab tests to confirm

> whooping cough give a false positive the majority of the time. So the

> reported tripling of whooping cough cases in the past five years may be a

> total fabrication and the push for children to get another booster dose of

> Tdap at 11-12 years old may not make any difference at all.

>

> There are other infectious organisms, such as parapertussis, which cause

> respiratory disease that can mimic whooping cough and they are not covered

> in the Tdap vaccine. Lab diagnosis is critical to accurately confirming and

> treating whooping cough and it is unfortunate that it has taken so long to

> uncover the ineffectiveness of the lab test used to confirm many suspected

> whooping cough cases today.

>

> But more importantly, the rush by federal health officials to add yet

> another booster dose of vaccine without carefully investigating why

> whooping cough is apparently occurring in a highly vaccinated child

> population does not inspire confidence in the evidence with which the CDC

> supports vaccine recommendations. Assumptions are a poor replacement for

> scientific evidence.

>

> Equally concerning is the lack of scientific evidence supporting the

> safety of giving children entering puberty multiple vaccines, such as Tdap,

> meningococcal, HPV and chicken pox vaccine and others without long term

> studies evaluating the impact of pre-adolescent vaccination on brain and

> immune function. Today, the CDC recommends that, by age 11, children should

> have received 53-56 doses of 15 or 16 vaccines depending upon if the child

> is a boy or girl. Where are the safety studies that demonstrate this much

> vaccination leads to greater long term good health?

>

> America's highly vaccinated children are in the midst of a chronic disease

> and disability epidemic, with millions of them suffering with learning

> disabilities, ADHD, autism, asthma, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disorder,

> severe food allergies and other kinds of brain and immune dysfunction that

> affected far fewer children in the past when far fewer vaccines were given

> to them. The last thing our sick children need now is one more vaccine.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ----------

>

>

>

>

> Motives Behind Vaccine Requirements Questioned

>

> Suffolk Life

> August 22, 2007

>

> by le Centamore

>

> Click here for the URL:

>

> The New York State Department of Health has announced a change in the

> immunization requirements for school entry. Students who are entering sixth

> grade on or after September 1, 2007 and who are 11 years of age or older

> are now required to receive a combination vaccination called Tdap, related

> to diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis, or whooping cough.

>

> While there are a few exceptions, students who begin school without this

> vaccination will have two weeks from September 1 to get it or, legally, the

> schools will be obligated to exclude them from attending school, according

> to Pospisil, spokesperson for the New York State Department of

> Health. In addition, Pospisil said, " we anticipate that there will be a new

> requirement regarding a booster dose for varicella - chicken pox - in the

> near future. "

>

> Although notice of the new immunization requirements was announced in

> spring 2007, time is running out for those students who have not updated

> their immunizations to meet the new requirements by the state.

>

> Prior to the new requirement, Pospisil said, " students would have received

> a 'booster' with tetanus and diphtheria, which has been recommended every

> 10 years - most sixth-graders would have originally received their first

> diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine in infancy - so the pertussis

> bundled in with the other two is an opportunity for them to get immunity

> for all of them at the same time. "

>

> Students who have received a Td, DT, or DTaP vaccination within the past

> two years, may defer their Tdap for another two years, said Pospisil.

> Students who are 10 years old and are entering sixth grade may also wait

> until they turn 11 before they receive the vaccination, Pospisil said, but

> they will be expected to follow through with the vaccinations once they

> turn 11. Regarding children entering grades above sixth, Pospisil added,

> " We recommend an eighth-grader, for example, who has not had a booster in

> two years, consult with their healthcare provider regarding the Tdap. "

>

> The reason for the new vaccine is simple: to protect the health of children

> and adults, Pospisil said. " We have had a widespread outbreak of pertussis

> or whooping cough in New York State throughout the previous year, 2006, and

> because of this, there will be a protective benefit against whooping cough

> if people are vaccinated, " she explained. Until recently, she added, a

> vaccine for pertussis was only available for children, not adults. " The

> drug manufacturers have just approved a pertussis [vaccine] for adults, "

> she noted. " One is good for [those] ages 11 to 65, called Adacel, and the

> other, for children ages 10 to 18, [is] called Boostrix. "

>

> " In infancy, children receive DTP - diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis - but

> the pertussis only lasts about seven years and then that child, as well as

> all adults, would not be protected against pertussis or whooping cough, "

> explained Donna McPartlan, a school nurse at Elwood Middle School.

> Requiring 11-year-olds to receive this vaccine, said McPartlan, assures a

> greater protection for not just children, but adults and infants, as well.

>

> " How many adults go for shots? " McPartlan said. " Nobody. How am I going to

> immunize my brand new mothers bringing home infant babies? I don't see them

> before they are pregnant. So wouldn't it be great if I could immunize them

> while they are in school so it would last, " she said, adding that all of

> her students and their families have been reminded several times since the

> initial announcement by the state DOH.

>

> " We support anything that is going to provide good health for children, "

> stated Adrienne Robb-Fund, assistant superintendent for elementary

> education in Commack. " If the department of health thinks this is

> important, we support it. " Moreover, Robb-Fund noted that, like most

> schools, Commack sent notification of the new immunization requirements to

> students and their families back in spring. " We haven't mandated it ...

> it's the law, and technically, after 14 days, we are supposed to not have

> the child in school, and that is what we want to avoid, " she said.

>

> But according to Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, a holistic pediatrician at the

> Northport Wellness Center, the new immunization requirement, especially for

> pertussis, may be a bit premature. While Pospisil said that a pertussis

> vaccine was not given to older children (versus infants) because there was

> not one available for them, Palevsky said it is more a matter of health and

> safety.

>

> Regarding the DPT, Palevsky said, " Every single study that has been done in

> the past on the DPT has clearly shown that it is not safe to give it to

> children above the age of seven because of neurological complications. But

> now all of a sudden what they are saying is that the new studies show that

> there is no worry about neurological complications for children above seven

> years old. It is a huge leap to go from 'there may be severe neurological

> complications if children above the age of seven are getting the vaccine'

> to 'it's now safe to give it to children at 11 years old.' I don't think

> true due diligence has been done to evaluate the potential neurological

> complications in children above seven years old who are given this vaccine. "

>

> There is not enough evidence to support the safety of the new vaccine or

> effectiveness in reducing the incidence of pertussis, according to

> Palevsky. " We need to explore how an outbreak of an illness really occurs,

> to understand why vaccination may not reduce the incidence of an infectious

> illness like pertussis, " he said.

>

> According to Dr. Alan Sherr, chiropractor and director at the Northport

> Wellness Center, individuals who have not received any vaccinations may

> have a natural immunity to a particular virus. However, the case may be

> different for those who already have participated in routine vaccinations

> since infancy. " There is a dilemma in the argument when you are looking at

> a population that has already received all of their vaccines to this point

> and do not carry any natural immunity on their own, " Sherr said. This

> dilemma, he said, may raise the question: " Is it then appropriate to

> vaccinate that population because they are already immune deficient? Should

> we? Maybe .... Those children never had the opportunity of getting these

> conditions on their own; by receiving them artificially, they don't have

> them naturally. "

>

> " The medical community believes that having the illness is bad for the

> child. I don't believe it is, " said Palevsky. " In reality, experiencing the

> natural illness has immune-boosting effects on the body. " And as for the

> viruses in the required vaccines, if contracted, Palevsky said, " most

> people can make a full recovery. "

>

> But what about a second chicken pox vaccine, which according to Pospisil,

> may be the next new immunization requirement imposed by the DOH on

> middle-school-aged children?

>

> According to McPartlan, an 11-year-old child who gets the chicken pox may

> experience discomfort, a fever, itchiness and scarring. This child, she

> said, will be excluded from school or day care. It also impacts the child's

> mother or father economically and socially, she added, and could even pose

> a greater health risk on other individuals, a pregnant aunt, for example.

> " The virus could cause problems to the fetus .... if you spread it to

> someone who is immuno-compromised, it can cause death, " she said.

>

> But Palevsky argues that the main reason for giving children the varicella

> vaccine is purely economic. " It is to keep parents from having to miss work

> by having to stay home for a week when their kids get the chicken pox and

> stay out of school, " he said. " It is more of an economical reason to give

> the vaccine versus, 'a child has a great likelihood of suffering a bad

> outcome from getting the chicken pox.' "

>

> The new Tdap vaccine requirement has left some parents and caregivers

> feeling more confident that their children will be further protected

> against disease, and others feeling frustrated, questioning the intent of

> the DOH, as well as the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine.

>

> Jackie Carbone, a Centereach resident and an educator at a preschool in

> Sayville, said that she is in full support of the new vaccine, as well as

> others required by the DOH. " I think that it helps to protect children and

> their immune systems against diseases that we could previously not protect

> against, diseases that, if contracted, are debilitating or possibly life-

> threatening. "

>

> Deer Park resident Alayna Becker recently took her 13- year-old daughter to

> be immunized with the Tdap. " I'm sure there is a good reason to have it -

> protecting her health and that of others - that is why I got it for her, "

> she said. But still, Becker questions the vaccine's effectiveness, since it

> still is new. " They could change it along the way because, like other new

> drugs, they may find it is not accurate, " Becker added. " I am always leery

> when there are new requirements for vaccinations. "

>

> " I am very concerned about another vaccine for our kids, " said Irene

> Schmidt, a Huntington resident and mother of two children, ages three and

> five. " How many more vaccines will be required when my children enter sixth

> grade? I fear both the accumulating effects of additives like mercury and

> also the unnatural influence that more vaccines will have on our children's

> immune systems. " As a parent to a child on the autism spectrum, added

> Schmidt, " I feel that the rise in the rate of autism needs to be

> definitively explained before any new vaccines are mandated for our kids. "

>

> According to the state DOH, by grade 12, students are required to receive

> one to four doses of up to 10 different vaccines. Pospisil noted that, as

> with any of the vaccines, exemptions for Tdap are made for those who have

> proof of antibodies for the virus, valid religious justifications or valid

> medical reasons explained by a child's physician.

>

> For more information on the current state immunization requirements, visit

> www.health.state. ny.us

>

> CDC: Whooping cough cases misdiagnosed

>

> Associated Press

> August 23, 2007

>

> By Mike Stobbe

>

> Click here for the URL:

>

> A reported boom in U.S. whooping cough cases is now being questioned after

> health officials discovered a regularly used lab test misdiagnosed cases in

> suspected outbreaks in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

>

> The false test results led thousands of people to take antibiotics

> unnecessarily and even caused a New Hampshire hospital to limit the number

> of patients admitted since hospital workers were thought to be infected.

>

> The testing errors were reported Thursday by researchers with the Centers

> for Disease Control and Prevention.

>

> Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a potentially fatal bacterial respiratory

> infection. Its name comes from the sound victims make as they try to

> recover their breath after a coughing fit.

>

> Government health officials say cases have tripled in the United States

> since 2001, with nearly 26,000 cases reported in 2005. Nearly half of those

> cases were diagnosed with the testing method now called into question, and

> that has raised doubts about the true number of cases.

>

> " Are we in fact seeing an increase? " asked Dr. Tom , summarizing what

> some are wondering. , a CDC epidemiologist, is co-author of the report

> on the misdiagnoses.

>

> The most accurate diagnostic testing for whooping cough requires a week or

> more to grow the pertussis bacteria from a sample from a patient's nose or

> throat. Sometimes that's too long for health authorities to take action to

> prevent the disease from spreading.

>

> Increasingly, doctors have depended on a faster, but less accurate test.

> Different labs do the tests differently, leading to uneven results, experts

> say.

>

> Last October, the less accurate method was used to diagnose a 20-month-old

> child with whooping cough at Children's Hospital Boston. Three dozen

> specimens from hospital workers also tested positive as well. But those

> results were wrong, according to the more reliable bacteria culture test

> results, the CDC reported.

>

> The same situation occurred in March 2006, when a lab worker at

> Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., was diagnosed with the

> illness. Nearly 1,000 hospital workers were tested, treated and furloughed

> to prevent infecting patients. Thousands were given antibiotics and

> vaccinations. The precautions affected staffing levels, and the hospital

> had to close off some beds. About 100 employees were diagnosed with

> pertussis using the speedy test, results later found to be wrong.

>

> In April 2004, a 5-week-old infant in one Tennessee community, which CDC

> wouldn't identify, was diagnosed with whooping cough. Health officials

> began looking for the illness in other residents. Ultimately nearly 1,500

> people were checked or offered antibiotics; 43 tested positive at first.

> But the more reliable test turned up negative results for all except the

> baby, the CDC said.

>

> " It's been a roller coaster. Whoa, looks at this big outbreak! Whoa, it

> wasn't really pertussis! " said Dr. Schaffner, chairman of

> Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine.

>

> It's not clear why so many errors were detected in each incident,

> said. Contamination of samples does not appear to be the explanation, he

> added.

>

> The CDC is planning a study to improve and standardize the method of faster

> testing. In the meantime, people should still get recommended pertussis

> vaccinations, said.

>

> said he believes there is a real increase in cases, and that many are

> going undiagnosed. Two states, Minnesota and Massachusetts, have beefed up

> their case-finding and testing and have both seen whooping cough increases,

> he said.

>

>

> On the Net:

>

> The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: http://www.cdc.gov/m mwr

>

>

>

> National Vaccine Information Center

>

> ----------

> email: news@...

> voice: 703-938-dpt3

> web: http://www.nvic.org

>

>

> NVIC E-News is a free service of the National Vaccine Information Center

> and is supported through membership donations.

>

> NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not

> receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co-

> founder.

>

> Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed

> consent rights at www.nvic.org

>

>

>

> National Vaccine Information Center | 204 Mill St. | Suite B1 | Vienna | VA

> | 22180

>

>

> --------------------------------------------------------

> Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

> Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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