MEETING FIVE Hepatitis B Vaccine and
Demyelinating Neurological Disorders
Agenda and Presentations
The fifth meeting of the Immunization
Safety Review Committee was held March 11-12, 2002 in Washington,
DC. On March 11th, the meeting was open to the public. The topic of
this meeting was the possible association between hepatitis B
vaccine and neurological disorders. The meeting was part of the
information gathering process of the committee.
The
meeting agenda which contains speaker's slides and a
recording of the day's presentations is available for your review.
Commissioned Background Paper and
Other Materials Reviewed by the Committee
As one of its data gathering activities,
the committee asked Drs. Emmanuelle Waubant and Olaf Stuve of the
University of California at San Francisco, to write a paper
addressing diagnostic issues and mechanistic issues related to the
putative relationship between Hepatitis B vaccine and demyelinating
disease.
The committee wishes to note that this
represents the views of Dr. Waubant and Dr. Stuve and does NOT
necessarily reflect the conclusions the committee will draw during
its deliberations at the March 2002 meeting. The committee further
notes that this paper is one source of many that it will review in
the course of its deliberations.
Other Materials Reviewed by the
Committee
A Public Access File (PAF) has been
created for the Immunization Safety Review Committee, which includes
most written materials submitted to the committee from persons who
are not officers, employees, or agents of the National Academies.
The PAF may be reviewed by making an appointment with the Public
Access Records Office (PARO) of the National Academies. The
attached list includes most of the PAF records related to
the March 11-12 meeting on the Hepatitis B Vaccine and Neurological
Disorders. Note that the PAF for this activity is updated
continuously and may not be complete at the time of posting. Please
check with the PARO if you have any questions regarding the PAF.
Link to the report on Hepatitis B Vaccine and Demyelinating
Neurological Disorders
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"