A little more vaccine info

[Guest guest]

Thanks from R. Stearns, D.C.

M.D.s questioning wisdom of giving second

dose of measles vaccine

For years, health advocacy groups such as the National

Vaccine Information Center

(NVIC) have raised concerns about the safety and

effectiveness of the measles, mumps

and rubella (MMR) vaccine, particularly the

controversial second dose.

More recently, medical experts have joined them in

questioning the wisdom of subjecting

children to the drug, which has been linked to numerous

cases of inflammatory bowel

disease and autism.

Particularly in Britain, M.D.s are speaking out about

the vaccine. The Telegraph of Britain

reported that Dr. Fletcher, a senior scientific

civil servant and assessor to the

Committee on Safety of Medicines -- who formerly served

as principal medical officer at

Britain's Department of Health -- thinks the

introduction of the vaccine 12 years ago was

premature. Fletcher says the department should have

waited for a year and conducted

more research.

In another article published three days later, the

Telegraph quoted Wakefield, a

consultant gastroenterologist at the Royal Free Hospital

in London, as saying that in the

" majority " of cases parents had documentary evidence

that their child's physical and

mental decline had followed the vaccination.

These doctors aren't alone in their concerns. A report

published in a major British

medical journal revealed that nearly half of all health

professionals surveyed have

reservations about the second dose of the MMR vaccine.

The researchers surveyed 140 health visitors, 204

practice nurses and 165 general

practitioners in the North Wales Health Authority area

about their knowledge, attitudes

and practices regarding MMR vaccination. They found that

48% of the professionals had

reservations about the second dose of the vaccine --

although only three percent

disagreed with the policy of giving it.

Most shocking was the news that these medical providers

hadn't even tried to educate

themselves about the drug. Despite nationally available

resources on immunization,

nearly a fifth of general practitioners reported that

they had not read the MMR section in

the " green book " and 29% reported that they had not

received the Health Education

Authority's fact sheet on MMR immunization.

SOURCES: " MMR doctor links 170 cases of autism to

vaccine, " by Lorraine Fraser,

medical correspondent, Telegraph, Jan 21, 2001.

" MMR jab was launched too early, says health chief, " by

Celia Hall, medical editor,

Telegraph, Jan. 18, 2001.

" Second dose of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine:

questionnaire survey of health

professionals, " British Medical Journal, January 13,

2001.