The war on immunization Pt:1

by Dr. Jerrol Thompson 21.APR.11

I wish to respond to three articles in the newspaper by Senator Anesia Baptiste and Annmarie Ballantyne members of the Thusians. In a March 25th interview in the Vincentian newspaper, Anesia slammed immunization stating: why should we encourage people to take things which are bad for them, but seemingly under some pressure from the NDP, in her April 8th column she said it was a lie, and denied she was against the Immunization Amendment Bill. However in two consecutive weeks, April 8th and 15th, Internet review articles by Thusian Annmarie Ballantyne clearly indicate there is a veritable war and crusade being waged against Immunization here in St. Vincent & the Grenadines by the Thusian and other ominous forces.{{more}}

Unfortunately, Annmarie’s reliance on dubious web sites such as think-twice and vac-lib or quoting Sherri Tempenny DO (A doctor of Osteopathic Medicine trained in Emergency Medicine but practiced Alternative Medicine), who now runs a radio program and whose two books are sold exclusively on the anti-government Alex Jones Info Wars web site. Tempenny, a strident apologist and defender of discredited Andrew Wakefield, can hardly be considered an expert researcher. It is only her own website which claims she is, “respected as one of the country’s most knowledgeable and outspoken physicians regarding the impact of vaccines on health.” A search on (PubMed) for literature in her name comes up with zero results. Other publications question her credentials (Scientific Blogger PamMD) This clearly indicates that Annmarie does not understand what or who she was quoting or was it an unwillingness to give the full story. Her assertion that diseases naturally become extinct is wrong and lacks an understanding of how and why epidemics reoccur. It ignores the fact that Measles recorded 733,000 deaths worldwide in 2000 but vaccination has reduced it to 164,000 deaths in 2008 (an 87% reduction) but still above the 73,000 WHO target due to a slowing of vaccination in certain countries (MMWR 2009-58). A 2005 Measles outbreak in Indiana USA shattered the notion that deaths now only occur in developing countries. It brought the spotlight back on those who refused to be immunized and its danger to others. Whooping cough still records 195,000 deaths worldwide. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic had 22 Million cases and killed 18,000 worldwide, (3,900 in the USA). The ordinary flu virus killed half a million people in 2009.

Unfortunately Vaccines are not effective in 10% of people who receive them; this has spawned another angry group who also attempted law suits because their children contracted the disease they were vaccinated for. Today the Internet is a treasure trove of data and information. One can look up a topic and find dozens of articles which give a negative opinion and dozens which can project the completely opposite. At a time when thousands of Netbooks are about to be distributed to students, an important lesion is that the information one finds on the Internet has to be properly assessed before it is used. There is an old adage: data is not information; information is not knowledge; and knowledge is not transformed into wisdom unless it is effectively used.

I am confident this onslaught of dangerous, irresponsible rhetoric aimed at undermining immunization and suggesting to people that they should not be vaccinated, will be soundly rejected by Vincentians, but it begs the question, Why the onslaught?

SAFETY. Last year over 100 million people got the flu vaccine but no major safety issues appeared. That’s reassuring, but it’s no proof that something rare and unexpected can’t happen. Like any medication, no vaccine is 100% safe for everyone. People with allergies to eggs for example, can’t take flu vaccines because eggs are involved in the manufacturing process. Most vaccines cause mild reactions such as one in three persons gets a sore arm from the shot, some a little redness or swelling on their arm. 10% of people feel tired, headaches or run a low grade fever. However, vaccines may also trigger rare but serious reactions, even among people with no apparent allergies or sensitivities. So if vaccines aren’t 100% safe, why risk them? Well it is simple. Approved vaccines including the 2009 H1N1 swine flu vaccine or MMR are calculated to be much less risky than the diseases they prevent. For every million people who get a flu shot, one or two may develop a serious neurological reaction called Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). But catching the flu itself causes far more serious problems, including GBS, in far greater numbers. Since a large proportion of an affected population in an epidemic will get the disease, (mild or severe) the vaccine risk is far smaller than the disease itself.

NO AUTISM. In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield a UK Gastroenterologist published what was thought to be a ground breaking article in the prestigious medical journal the Lancet. It linked MMR (Measles Mumps, Rubella) Vaccine to Autism in 12 children. The article essentially launched the Anti-vaccination movement which now thought that they finally had their proof. He instantly became the celebrity poster boy, commanding huge speaking engagements fees in the USA, while in England and Ireland vaccination rates fell below 80%, far below the 95% rate required to provide herd immunity and adequately protect a society. There was a resurgence of measles in many countries including the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK and hundreds died. Parents of many autistic children suffered guilt, blaming themselves, (wrongly) believing Wakefield’s implied message: that it was their own fault that their children became Autistic. Wakefield’s results have never been replicated by any other researchers since.

It was only after a brilliant exposé in the Sunday Times February 22, 2004, by Brian Deer that it was revealed that, Wakefield’s findings and the public alarm created had no scientific basis whatsoever. Wakefield had been paid to create evidence against the vaccine, while planning extraordinary business schemes, meant to profit from the scare. He had appeared to the entire world to be an independent researcher but Wakefield changed and misreported data to rig the results published in the Lancet. He had been hired to attack MMR by a lawyer, Richard Barr who filed a speculative class action lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers. Wakefield’s lucrative contract with Barr had two goals, to find evidence for “a new syndrome”, intended to be the centerpiece of (the later failed) litigation and cash in. Wakefield created the grossest conflict of interest according to the Times as the UK Legal Aid Fund: run by the government to give poorer people access to justice was charged by Wakefield at an extraordinary rate of £150 an hour, billed through a company owned by his wife. The total bill for generic work alone was £435,643 (about $750,000 US). The Sunday Times revelation stated: “the doctor had a direct, personal, but undeclared, financial interest in his research results”. Money given to Wakefield by the fund was part of a staggering £18million of taxpayers’ money to have been shared by Barr, Wakefield and their group to discredit MMR. Even more surprising, Wakefield had filed a patent on products, including his own supposedly “safer” single measles vaccine, which only stood any prospect of success if confidence in MMR was damaged. Wakefield was discredited, the British GMC eventually revoked his medical license for “callous disregard” and in 2010 The Lancet published an unprecedented full retraction of the 1998 article. (briandeer.com/mmr-lancet) However, it was the angry reaction of thousands of parents and one-time anti-vaccination followers who for 12 years had been duped, or the tens of thousands of dead unimmunized children that most stands out in the wake of the Anti-vaccine crusade. Annemarie must have seen these articles in her research, they are too numerous to miss, but after the rest of the world has caught on. The Thusian callously ignore it in a quest (with the NDP) to start a Vincentian anti-vaccine crusade. Then there is this reference to France…Continued next issue.