Vaccine Leery, Parents Holding `Chickenpox Parties' To Infect * Michigan Mom Says Mercury In Vaccine Harmed Child * Setting the Vaccine Shortage Record Straight * New Book Looks At Vaccines And Kids

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VACCINE/MERCURY

* Vaccine Leery, Parents Holding `Chickenpox Parties' To Infect

* Michigan Mom Says Mercury In Vaccine Harmed Child

* Setting the Vaccine Shortage Record Straight

* New Book Looks At Vaccines And Kids

Vaccine Leery, Some Parents Holding `Chickenpox Parties' To Infect

Their Kids

[This has been done in England in the past few years. By Dan Nephin,

Associated Press.]

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/292/nation/Leery_of_vaccine_some_parents_:.s

html <-- address ends here.

AP-The kids who attend parties at Connie Shoemaker's house get

something more than ice cream or cake. They get exposed to chickenpox.

Shoemaker and other parents leery of the relatively new chickenpox

vaccine are holding “chickenpox parties,” inviting healthy children to play

with infected ones in hopes the youngsters will catch the disease and gain

lifetime immunity.

“It's a natural way to deal with the problem instead of introducing

more chemicals into kids,” Shoemaker said.

She said she is not anti-vaccine she has had her children vaccinated

against other diseases. But with the vaccine only 6 years old, she said she

is not sure whether it really protects people for life, and she believes she

is avoiding more serious complications from chickenpox in adulthood.

“To me, I wanted to deal with the known factor, not the unknown

factor,” said Shoemaker, who also home-schools her children.

Such gatherings have been around, at least informally, for years, even

before the chickenpox vaccine, and for childhood diseases such as mumps and

measles, too. Parents knew their children would eventually get such diseases

and wanted to get it over with at their convenience.

Health officials discourage such gatherings.

Chickenpox is usually no more serious than fever and itchy spots, but

there are risks, particularly in grown-ups. The disease can cause brain

swelling, pneumonia and skin infections in children and adults, according to

the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“I think there has been a general misconception that chickenpox is a

benign disease,” said Dr. Karin Galil, an infectious-disease specialist with

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Before the chickenpox vaccine, 100 people died annually and 5,000 to

9,000 were hospitalized. The vaccine is safe and up to 95 percent effective

against mild to serious strains, Galil said, and those who do contract

chickenpox despite being vaccinated develop less severe cases.

Generally, people who have chickenpox are immune for life, but a small

number get the disease more than once. Galil said the CDC believes the

vaccine will last a lifetime, citing studies in Japan that show it has

protected people for 25 years so far. Doctors say serious reactions are

rare.

Last month, Shoemaker sent her three children to the house of a friend

whose child had chickenpox, hoping they would catch the highly contagious

virus. It worked, and since then, Shoemaker, who lives in about 30

miles north of Pittsburgh, has held three chickenpox parties for other

families.

Two weeks ago, Tammy Swanberg, 38, took two of her children, ages 3

and 5, to Shoemaker's house to get them infected. As of Wednesday, they had

not developed any symptoms. “I think that vaccines can have their place, but

sometimes I think our society just abuses them,” Swanberg said.

Some of those who choose intentional infection are leery of vaccines

in general or cite religious reasons.

Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information

Center in Vienna, Va., said she founded the group after her son suffered

brain damage from a reaction to a vaccine for another disease. Fisher said

parents should have the right not to have their children vaccinated.

About half of all states now require the chickenpox vaccine for

schoolchildren. Next year, the vaccination or proof of having had chickenpox

will be required in Pennsylvania schools.

On the Net:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov

National Vaccine Information Center: http://www.909shot.com

American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

* * *

Michigan Mom Says Mercury In Vaccine Harmed Child

[by Bob Wheaton in the Flint Journal.]

http://fl.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20011022f22a1vaccinesmercur

y.frm <-- article ends here.

Evan White sits barefoot on the middle of the kitchen table, ignoring

pleas from his mother to get down.

" I go to school, " says Evan, 3.

When he's asked where he goes to preschool, Evan ignores the question

and turns his head.

Evan's four-word sentence is a sign of progress to his mother, Tami.

" For him to say that is a big deal, " she said.

" He's (almost) 4 years old and he can't hold a conversation, " White

said.

The Grand Blanc Township woman believes her son's slow development was

caused by mercury used as a preservative in vaccines given to Evan and other

children nationwide.

She's not alone.

A coalition of more than 35 law firms in 25 states recently filed a

lawsuit to try to force drug companies to study how the presence of mercury

in vaccines has affected children.

Parents who sued say their children have autism or other brain

disorders as a result of vaccines given to them to protect them from

diseases such as hepatitis.

Tami White isn't part of the lawsuit, but she's talking to a lawyer to

find out her options.

She has examined Evan's immunization records and found that many of

his vaccines were manufactured by companies that used thimerosal - a

preservative that includes mercury - to store multiple doses of vaccines in

large bottles.

" I feel like someone damaged my child, " White said. " I allowed them to

vaccinate my child, not to poison my child. "

Evan White is the youngest of Greg and Tami White's three children. He was

born Dec. 21, 1997.

Evan's speech and communication skills have lagged behind other

children his age, Tami White said. He has behavior problems and previously

suffered from sleep apnea and exhibited autistic-like behavior.

At one time, she thought Evan might be deaf.

Many of the problems began a couple of months after he received a

series of vaccinations at the age of 15 months, White said.

" There's just no doubt in my mind that everything that's happened to

my child is directly the result of this. And I'd really like to know how

many other people in the area are in the same boat and do not know about

this. "

White had suspected the vaccines might be the source of Evan's problems. She

became convinced when she researched thimerosal in vaccines after reading a

story in The Flint Journal about the lawsuits.

" It makes me sick, " she said. " You think you're doing the right thing.

The government wants you to vaccinate your child. The state wants you to

vaccinate your child. Everybody wants you to vaccinate your child. "

Few vaccines given to U.S. children today contain thimerosal.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of

Pediatrics in 1999 recommended a change to a mercury-free vaccine.

The National Academy of Sciences recently released a report saying

researchers still are unable to determine whether there is a link between

thimerosal and disorders in children.

However, the report concluded that " the effort to remove thimerosal

from vaccines was a prudent measure in support of the public health goal to

reduce the mercury exposure of infants and children as much as possible. "

The number of children with autism is on the rise, said Jan ,

director of special education for the Genesee Intermediate School District.

But said he doesn't know what if any effect thimerosal has had

on the increase.

" The suspicion that vaccines may be linked to autism has been around

for some time, " said. " To my knowledge, there has not been any

conclusive determination made about that relationship. "

The number of autistic students served by the Genesee Intermediate School

District and the county's public and charter schools increased from 88 in

1996 to 176 in 2000, according to figures from the GISD.

Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in vaccinations since the

1940s, but small infants now get more immunizations than in the past.

Tami White recently began taking Evan to a homeopathic nurse in her

search for answers to his developmental problems.

Homeopaths practice an alternative form of medicine by treating

diseases with small doses of drugs that would produce symptoms similar to

that disease if given to healthy people.

Last week, White cut her son's hair so the homeopath could have a gram

of it analyzed for mercury in a lab. She expects to get results in about two

weeks.

If enough mercury shows up, Evan could undergo chelation therapy,

which removes metals from a person's body.

Evan's homeopath, Margaret Paris, said she agrees vaccines could be

the source of his problems.

" I think the vaccines are real problematic, " said Paris, whose office

is in Brighton. " Can I prove it? No. Clinical practice bears it out. "

White wonders if her son will ever be able to catch up to other children his

age, and she dreads the day he starts school because of vaccination

requirements.

" At this point, I don't know if I would let him be vaccinated, " she

said. " Even without the mercury in them, it would really scare me. I don't

know if I could do it. "

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* * *

Setting the Vaccine Shortage Record Straight

[Last Friday, October 19, we ran an article in the FEAT Newsletter,

“DTP-Vax Shortage May Delay Immunization of Millions of Infants.

http://www.feat.org/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0110 & L=featnews & O=D & P=6326 In it,

some vaccine manufacturers tried to shift some of the blame to the vaccine

reform Safe Minds organization. A similar article appeared in the LA Times,

as well. Lyn Redwood, the president of Safe Minds replies below to those

charges.]

In reading the Wall Street Journal article one would assume that the

concerns about mercury raised by our organization, SAFE MIND's, was the

reason for the current vaccine shortage.

This is misleading and incorrect. I have been attending ACIP meeting

over the past several years and the subject of shortages comes up very

frequently.

As every ER in this country is aware of, there is a shortage of

tetanus vaccine at present and only contaminated wounds are receiving

prophylaxis with the vaccine and routine scheduled immunizations in persons

without injury are being delayed.

What I feel is the real reason behind the shortage is the decision by

Wyeth Lederle to pull out of the infant vaccine market in December of 2000.

The following information was sent to me from a very reliable source

which sheds some light into some of the problems this manufacturer has been

facing over the past year, which may have lead to their decision to drop out

of the market.

Lyn Redwood, Pres. SAFE MIND's

Letters:

I contacted Medeva - which by the way as

recently been purchased by Celltech, so now it is

Celltech Medeva. I learned that Medeva ships

vaccines for Wyeth Lederle. On June 15, 2000 the

FDA seized DT vaccine manufacturered by Wyeth at

their Marietta, PA plant. Production of products

was haulted last December on four injectable

products including the DT vaccine and their flu

vaccine. The facility is undergoing manufacturing

process improvements. Product was seized at a

warehouse in Vonore, Tenn and filed in Knoxville

Federal court citing good manufacturing practices

violations that rendered the products " adultuerate

while held for sale after shipment in interstate

commerce "

The FDA has previously cited Wyeth with

warnings about sterility failures for products

manufactured at the company's West Chester, PA

facility. FDA noted that Wyeth's

disinfection procedures and its adherence to them

are not sufficient to prevent failures and

therefore, " call into question the assurance of

sterility... "

This occurs at a time when Wyeth is under

separate investigation of its compliance with

FDA's adverse event reporting rules. In May, AHP

disclosed that the land US Attorney is

investigating Wyeth-Ayerst's AERs and the

reporitng of adverse events related to Redux and

Pondimin.

This information was published in the

June 19, 2000 issue of the Pink Sheet that was

faxed to me by the PR office at Medeva.

Dear Friends,

I just received a fax from my husband’s

work of a medication shortage of tetanus toxoid,

tetanus/diphtheria toxoid and DPT vaccine.

Evidently Medeva, who produces vaccines for

Wyeth-Ayerst was " Closed " by the FDA.

The details of this closure are

unavailable, but usually relate to the

manufacturing practices. They anticipate a

severe shortage over the next few months of

these vaccines. The pharmacy is attempting to

obtain as many of the remaining vaccines as

possible. The only product available is in

multi-dose vials. It is critical that these

agents be reserved for prophylactic use in

actual exposurers and for the most vulnerable

patients. Please contact me if you would like

a copy of this actual letter. Lyn Redwood

The Safe Mind website is at: http://www.safeminds.org

* * *

New Book Looks At Vaccines And Kids

[by Walls / Asbury Park Press.]

http://detnews.com:80/2001/health/0110/19/b06n-322414.htm

Odds are, your child will never experience a serious reaction to a

vaccination. Or be struck by lightning.

Yet statistical anomalies happen, and children with certain

disabilities, such as seizure disorders, allergies or compromised immunity,

may be at higher risk for adverse reactions to vaccines.

For parents concerned with how, when or whether to immunize their

children, a Warner Books publication released this month, What Your Doctor

May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations provides extensive and

sometimes disconcerting background on the administration of vaccines in this

country and guidelines for minimizing risks.

The author, Dr. Cave, a Baton Rouge, La., family

practitioner who specializes in treatment of children with autism and

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, examines the increase in

childhood-onset disabilities and the acceleration of immunizations to

children, and calls for additional research into a possible connection.

Cave doesn't advocate a ban on vaccines or recommend parents stop

vaccinating their children. She does, however, encourage parents to become

educated about the vaccines and their options for changing the schedule of

dosages.

A particularly valuable feature is the book's inclusion of copies of

the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Information Sheets for

immunizations recommended for preventing childhood diseases such as the MMR

(measles, mumps and rubella), DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertusis), Hib

(Haemophilus influenza type , polio, hepatitis B, pneumococcal and

varicella (chicken pox), most of which are administered in three- and

four-shot doses each and complete by the time a child is 2 years old.

The sheets describe side effects associated with the vaccine and the

odds of experiencing a mild, moderate or severe reaction, and lists who

should avoid or postpone the vaccinations, for example, people with moderate

to severe illnesses at the time the shot is scheduled, or people with

allergies to a specific vaccine ingredient such as neomycin.

Cave recommends parents review the information sheets before

scheduling the injections and provides guidelines for spacing out certain

vaccines rather than clumping them in multiple doses.

Also included are contact numbers and addresses for medical

associations and related organizations, organizations and web sites

specifically related to vaccines, information on the national vaccine injury

compensation program and how to seek exemptions of the mandated vaccines for

school-age children.

Of course, children whose conditions are aggravated by vaccinations

also may experience serious side effects if they contract the disease. Cave

gives parents tools to help them weigh the odds, possible effects and along

with their pediatricians, make healthy choices for their children.

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