December 23, 2003*
Vaccination News
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Vaccine-related
►December 23, 2003 - Pentagon Defends Anthrax Vaccine Program - Reuters via Wired - "Zaid said if the Pentagon deems the shots 'voluntary,' they must allow service members and civilian contractors directed to get them to opt out with no repercussions...'When the next person is ordered to line up for the shot, they have to, before they inject the shot, say, "Listen, if you don't want to take this, you don't have to." If that person says, "No," they say, "OK, move on." That's informed consent.'...If that was not done, 'then they are in violation of the judge's order and subject to contempt of court.'"
►December 23, 2003 - Anthrax Vaccine a Personal Choice for Military - Lansing’s Bioport Could See Sales Slide - www.wilx.com - "Bioport says it plans to appeal the decision."
►December 23, 2003 - Federal judge: Anthrax vaccine not mandatory - Troops not meant to be 'guinea pigs' - www.delawareonline.com - "Sullivan's ruling could be of some help to a former Dover Air Force Base C-5 pilot who was honorably discharged in 2000 for refusing to be vaccinated. Former Air Force Maj. Sonnie Bates at one point faced a possible court martial for his refusal...A lawsuit challenging the vaccine filed by Bates in the Washington, D.C., court in 2001 was dismissed last year. But Sullivan's ruling could provide new grounds for Bates to seek reinstatement or restoration of the military pension he lost, said Bates' lawyer Mark Zaid, a Washington attorney also involved in the lawsuit that led to Sullivan's ruling Monday...'It's about time,' said Bates, now a civilian pilot. 'This may open the door for the walking wounded from this vaccine to get the health treatments they need and for some of the younger lieutenants, captains and airmen who had to end their careers because of this to rejoin the military.'"
►December 23, 2003 - FDA Probing Unlicensed Flu Vaccine Reports - Reuters - "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it is looking into reports of unlicensed influenza vaccine being peddled by some trying to take advantage of reports of vaccine shortages...Three influenza vaccines have been authorized by the FDA, shots made by Aventis Pasteur and a unit of Chiron Corp. as well as the nasal spray FluMist made by MedImmune Inc."
►December 23, 2003 - Pentagon will obey ruling on anthrax - USA Today - "The Pentagon will abide by a federal judge's ruling and, at least for now, not give anthrax vaccine to troops who do not want it, a high-ranking Defense Department official said Tuesday...The official, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be identified, said the vaccinations will continue for those troops who agree to them while the Justice Department, which represents the Pentagon, decides whether to appeal the ruling."
►December 23, 2003 - Myers: Troops Need Anthrax Vaccinations - Air Force Gen. Richard Myers Says Anthrax Vaccinations Important 'To Protect Troops' - AP via ABC News
►December 23, 2003 - Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs William Winkenwerder Briefing - www.defenselink.mil
►December 22, 2003 - Increasing demand for nasal vaccine - The Journal News - "The first time the Katonah Pharmacy held a clinic to offer the new nasal flu vaccine, only four people showed up...That was in October, when the supply of the standard vaccine was thought to be ample, and before the large-scale influenza outbreaks in the West and the highly publicized stories of healthy children dying of the flu...At another clinic on Saturday, 60 people filed through the drug store to have the vaccine, FluMist, squirted in their nostrils."
Comment: For more on how this "increasing demand" came about, go to How The Mass Media In The U.S. Created Flu Hysteria And Helped Drive The Vaccine Markets For The Makers Of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com
►December 22, 2003 - Nigeria debates polio program - Nigeria's National Assembly has begun a hearing to discuss the controversy over the polio immunisation campaign in the north of the country. - BBC
►December 22, 2003 - Otitis Media Pathogens Skewed by 7-Valent Pneumococcal Vaccine - (registration required) - Reuters Health via www.medscape.com - "Certain strains of bacteria are more prevalent in children with acute otitis media who have been inoculated with the pneumococcal 7-valent protein conjugate (PNC7) vaccine, researchers report, with strains not included in the vaccine being favored...As lead investigator Dr. M. Catherine McEllistrem told Reuters Health, 'the proportion of cases of pneumococcal acute otitis media due to non-vaccine serogroup strains rapidly increased from 1999 to 2001 in children who received at least two doses of PNC7 vaccine.'"
Comment: For more on the problem of changing serotypes as a result of vaccination, go to Scandals: Changing Disease Epidemiology Via Vaccines - Are We "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul"?
►December 23, 2003 -
FDA Investigating Reports of Unlicensed Influenza Vaccine - FDA Talk Paper►December 23, 2003 - Anthrax Shots Require Consent, Military Told - Washington Post - "A federal judge in Washington yesterday ordered the Pentagon to stop administering an anthrax vaccine to U.S. service members without their consent, ruling that defense officials cannot require troops to 'serve as guinea pigs for experimental drugs.'...Sullivan said he was not persuaded by arguments from Pentagon lawyers that administering the vaccine on a voluntary basis would interfere with military operations in Iraq and elsewhere. But if they believe that is the case, the judge said, federal law gives them the option of obtaining a presidential waiver of service members' right to informed consent. Such a waiver, Sullivan wrote, 'would be an expeditious end to this controversy.'"
►December 23, 2003 - Vaccine options - The Washington Times - "An alternative approach involves the application of option theory to ensure adequate supply of vaccine. Financial options are widely used to address uncertainty in markets. Call options give the holder the right, but not the obligation, to purchase a particular asset (the underlying asset, in this case, being additional vaccine doses) at a predetermined price, on or before a given date."
Comment: Note the advertisers for the Washington Times Editorial/Op-Ed.
►December 24, 2003 - Judge rules US troops were 'guinea pigs' for anthrax jabs - www.theage.com.au
►December 23, 2003 - Judge Halts Forced Military Anthrax Shots - Judge Tells U.S. to Stop Forcing Military Personnel to Get Anthrax Vaccine if They Don't Want It - AP via ABC News - "A court ruling against forcing soldiers to take anthrax vaccinations raises the question of whether officials should reconsider the punishments given those who refused the shots...Ruling that some use of the vaccine is experimental, a federal judge said Monday that servicemen and women should not have to take the vaccine unless they consent."
►December 23, 2003 - Vaccines in the News -
War Declared Over Anthrax Vaccine/Flu Panic and Profits - by Randall Neustaedter OMD - Natural Health Newsletter►December 22, 2003 - Flu warning - The Scotsman - "According to the Health Protection Agency, the type of virus in this year’s flu vaccine was slightly different to the one that has affected thousands of people in the past month...Millions of people vaccinated against flu may not have full protection of the Fujian strain of AH3N2. Doctors say this strain is more virulent than the Panama strain and has a higher mortality rate among young and old people. The Health Protection Agency intends to carry out tests to determine the extent of the problem. There has already been one outbreak of flu in an old people’s home where residents would routinely have been vaccinated...There are also reports that adult males seem to be away from work and suffering from flu a lot more than their wives. Some doctors suggest this is because young mothers pick up lots of infections from close contact with their children. Within a year or two, these women acquire immunity to many viruses...Other doctors have suggested that perhaps men don’t have such efficient immune systems."
►December 18, 2003 - Policy Decision Options During the First 5 Years Following Certification of Polio Eradication - (registration required) - www.medscape.com
Comment: Why do they keep playing us for fools? Surely they know (or should) how easy it is to manipulate statistics. Why do they keep ignoring the research that contradicts the so-called proof vindicating the vaccine and act as if this issue is obviously settled? Why, indeed?
Strikes Down Military's Mandatory
Anthrax Shots (requires registration) - AP and
www.ctnow.com - "The federal
government approved the vaccine three decades ago. But plaintiffs in the class
action suit - unidentified active duty, National Guard and civilian defense
employees - say the license does not include approval for use against inhalation
anthrax."
►December 22, 2003 - Judge Halts Military's Required Anthrax Shots (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times
Autism-related, developmental/behavioral issues
►December 22, 2003 - Low-Mercury Choices for Fish a Challenge - AP via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
►December 23, 2003 - Facts don't support furor over plants' mercury emissions - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "The growing outrage over mercury emissions by power plants seems a stretch, considering that the connection with health is only theoretical and tenuous."
Comment: And if you believe this.....
►December 26, 2003 - Residents 'Walk for Josh' at Eisenhower Park - The Westbury Times
►December 2003 - Developmental surveillance of infants and young children in pediatric primary care - journal article (Current Opinion in Pediatrics)
Comment: Compare to yesterday's guest column (reported earlier today) in the same paper, Facts don't support furor over plants' mercury emissions as well as Chester scientist challenges Mercury rules, posted just below.
►December 23, 2003 - Schafer Autism Report
"Vaccine-preventable" disease-related
►December 21, 2003 - Away on Business: - Influenza Concerns - Reuters Health via Yahoo!
►December 23, 2003 - Nursing Homes Cautious During Flu Season - AP via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
►December 22, 2003 - Taiwan on deadly bird flu alert - UPI via Medline
►December 22, 2003 - New flu strain could be harbinger of a pandemic - Wily virus able to dodge immune system defenses - San Francisco Chronicle
►December 22, 2003 - S. Korea Sends Troops to Kill Chickens to Stop Flu - www.voanews.com
►December 22, 2003 - Flu outbreak 'may have passed peak' - Health officials suggest the worst is already over - Canadian Press - "While the flu season arrived earlier than usual, and appears to be more severe than in the past three seasons, "current national and international data indicate that its impact is still within the expected range," Health Canada said in a statement posted on its website."
►December 22, 2003 - Bird Flu, Pig Cholera Spreading Nationwide - The Chosun Ilbo
►December 23, 2003 - Hepatitis Cases In Connecticut Traced To Restaurant (requires registration) - www.ctnow.com
►December 22, 2003 - How anthrax turns into a killer - Scientists in the United States say they have discovered how anthrax turns into a deadly killer. - BBC
►December 22, 2003 - Weekly Report of New Colorado Cases Shows Slight Decline - State of Colorado CDPHE
►December 21, 2003 - Health Officials Investigating the Flu in Death of 13-Year-Old Girl - First Coast News
►December 21, 2003 - Officials fear a flu pandemic chokehold - AP via www.fortwayne.com
►December 21, 2003 - Many take extra precaution against flu this winter - Fond Du Lac Reporter
►December 21, 2003 - Flu-worried public shakes off the 'weapon in our hands' - People avoid crowds, contact - Washington Post via Boston Globe
►December 21, 2003 - Parents of Flu-Sickened Children Encounter More Problems than Remedies - First Coast News
►December 21, 2003 - Whooping cough outbreak - Herald Sun Sunday, Australia
►December 21, 2003 - Open Door center steps up battle against TB - www.nyjournalnews.com
►December 20, 2003 - U.P. (Upper Peninsula) reports highest flu levels - www.eagleherald.com
►December 20, 2003 - Officials Fear Effects of Flu Outbreak in Young People - Washington Post
Other diseases/conditions (some already in the vaccine pipeline)
►December 19, 2003 - WHO urges China to step up SARS-preparedness - AFP via Yahoo!
►December 2003 - Malaria parasitaemia in relation to HIV status and vitamin A supplementation among pre-school children - journal article (Tropical Medicine & International Health)
►December 21, 2003 - You Can't Catch a Cold out in the Cold - HealthDay via Yahoo!
►December 20, 2003 - Uganda Looks to Children to Help Fight AIDS - Reuters Health via Yahoo!
►December 17, 2003 - SARS transmitted among airplanes - UPI via Medline
►December 21, 2003 - Antibiotic resistant bacteria frequently transmitted between intensive care patients - BioMedCentral via www.eurekalert.org
►December 2003 - The Virus That Changed My World - PLoS Biology - "When I first read this little poem in The Lancet in January 2003 (Heikkinen and Jarvinen 2003), it elicited little more than a bemused chortle. There are few who would deny the paradox that for all the medical advances providing cures for multitudinous diseases afflicting the human condition, there remains a large hole in the understanding of and treatment for the common cold. We know that it is caused mainly by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses, but that's about it. Having worked on coronaviruses for my doctoral thesis, I knew some of the many open questions."
►December 19. 2003 - Ill or just old? Towards a conceptual framework of the relation between ageing and disease - BioMedCentral
►December 22, 2003 - Superbugs lurk in intensive care - Patients in intensive care units may be most at risk from so-called superbugs, according to a study. - BBC
►December 13, 2003 - What Really Causes AIDS? - by Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati, PhD - letter (BMJ)
►December 23, 2003 - Child eczema 'has tripled since 1970s' - The Guardian, UK - "Nearly one in three children has suffered eczema by the age of three-and-a-half, triple the rate in the 1970s, a study suggested last night...A fifth of babies develop the condition in the first six months according to data on 14,000 children born since 1991...Researchers cannot yet identify reasons for the rise, although improvements in hygiene may mean that there are fewer chances for babies to develop immunity to the condition, and genetics, environment and diet may also be factors."
Comment: While not mentioned in the article as being among the many speculated causes, vaccinations are implicated in the significant increase in eczema and the many other chronic diseases now plaguing children. For more on this, go to Scandals: Prescription For Disaster - Is Vaccine Policy A "House of Cards"?
►December 23, 2003 -
Text: News Conference Regarding Possible Mad Cow Disease Outbreak - The New York Times►December 24, 2003 - $328,000 shot in the arm for 7 Sars projects - Straits Times
►January 2004 - Immature anti-inflammatory response in neonates - journal article (Clinical and Experimental Immunology) - "The inflammatory response plays a major role in the induction of several neonatal diseases. We hypothesize that an imbalance between the pro- and anti-inflammatory response is crucial for the previously shown enhanced production of proinflammatory cytokines in term and preterm infants during infection...These results demonstrate not only a diminished anti-inflammatory capacity but also a reduced response to anti-inflammatory stimuli in term and preterm infants. From these data we conclude that neonates display an immature compensatory anti-inflammatory response syndrome (CARS) which may predispose preterm infants to harmful effects of proinflammatory cytokines resulting in severe organ sequelae during infection."
Comment: Note the recent "possible (cytokine) link to SIDS". Do vaccines ever raise the level of cytokines in the brain?
►December 23, 2003 -
U.S. Discovers Its First Suspected Case of Mad Cow Disease - The New York TimesComment: For more on Mad Cow Disease, go to the Mad Cow Disease Online Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com
►December 22, 2003 - Asthma Drugs Ineffective In Smokers - Reuters Health via http://xtramsn.co.nz
Comment: Once again it has been demonstrated that individual differences re: both genetics and environment effect how well drugs work.
►December 21, 2003 - Citrus nutrient helps to slow down prostate cancer: Study - ANI via The Times of India
►December 21, 2003 - The nature of miracles: Why do some patients manage to beat the odds? - AP via Newsday
►December 13, 2003 - Nanoparticles hunt down and kill tumors - Science News via http://mentalhelp.net
►December 22, 2003 - $2.7m boost for Aboriginal health - www.news.com.au
►December 19, 2003 - Asia Health Authorities Ready for Return of SARS - Reuters Health via www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
►December 22, 2003 - WHO Says Stronger National Health Systems Critical to Health Gains - World Health Organization releases annual report - WHO via USINFO
►December 22, 2003 - What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease? - Newsday
►December 9, 2003 - Health and Poverty in the US - www.zmag.org
►December 21, 2003 - World's largest syphilis outbreak in Vancouver at risk of spreading - Canadian Press
Big pharma, research conduct, conflict of interest, ethics, FDA, oversight, approval process, warnings
►December 21, 2003 - U.S. drug industry's image is ailing - Companies move to defend themselves as public anger grows over increasing prices - www.indystar.com
►December 22, 2003 - Pharmacists warning on ibuprofen - www.news.com.au - "Pharmacists said the wider availability of the medicine gave the false impression it was safe for everybody...'The only winners are the manufacturers of ibuprofen who have lobbied long and hard to make their products available everywhere, to everyone.'...Currently available only at chemists, ibuprofen is commonly used for headaches, period pain, backaches and other muscular pain."
Comment: Isn't that fascinating. Ibuprofen was not sold over-the-counter in Australia until recently.....
►December 21, 2003 - Merck will not have to submit environmental study - AP via www.wcnc.com - "The incentives bill designed to bring a Merck & Co. plant to Treyburn Corporate Park here contains more than just monetary enticements...Merck will not have to submit an extensive environmental study required for projects that involve taxpayers' money...Officials with the N.C. Department of Commerce say they inserted the exemption from the State Environmental Policy Act into the bill so the mandated study wouldn't endanger the company's March construction plans."
►December 23, 2003 - The Ghost of Medical Atrocities: What's Next, After the Unveiling? (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Ever since 1972, when the American public first learned about the Tuskegee syphilis research that subjected African-American men to scientific experiments without their consent, the medical profession has had much explaining to do about its past...Since then, several disturbing instances have come to light. In those cases, scientists, physicians and the government-sanctioned research or treatments that we would today consider unethical, like trials of untested vaccines or medications on mentally retarded children and prisoners."
Comment: What has really changed?
►December 22, 2003 - Small Businessman Whistleblower Risks it all in the Name of Conscience - Common Dreams - "Imagine a businessman, consumer advocate and whistleblower all in one person. He is John Munsell, owner of the family business Montana Quality Foods, Inc...Mr. Munsell charged that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) tried to drive him out of business because he exposed the department's failure to act on evidence that the giant ConAgra beefpacking company was shipping E. coli contaminated ground beef carrying the USDA's own seal of approval as wholesome...The USDA's aggressive "do not look, do not tell" non-interference policy with ConAgra backfired when it was finally required to recall over 19 million pounds of ground beef and related trim during the summer of 2002. The reason: Laboratory tests confirmed E.coli 0157:H7 -- the same deadly germ that had taken lives and hospitalized many in previous contamination tragedies."
Mandatory vaccines, parental/health rights, legal
►2003 - A "Shaken Baby" Case Study: Judge Reverses CPS Decision That Woman Assaulted Infant - www.childabuselaw.info - "A Washington state woman's care of her foster infant has been vindicated by an administrative law judge. Child Protective Services had found that she had assaulted the baby. The judge found, on the contrary, that she saved the child's life by administering CPR when he went into a seizure."
►November 2003 - National Academy of Sciences Releases Key Report on Biomedical Research Liabilities - Arms Control Association
►December 18, 2003 - Radio tags could help health, hurt privacy - UPI via Medline
Miscellaneous
►December 23, 2003 - Study says combined PET/CT scans may be better than full-body MRIs - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
►December 23, 2003 - Arsenic-treated playground equipment faces the chop - The Sydney Morning Herald
►December 19, 2003 - Mixed-race youths may suffer more health problems, study shows - AP via www.islandpacket.com
►November 2003 - Breastfeeding status as a predictor of mortality among refugee children in an emergency situation in Guinea-Bissau - journal article (Tropical Medicine & International Health)
►December 23, 2003 - Indoor air is becoming polluted by powerful household chemicals - Don't take a deep breath - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Redflagsdaily.com - www.redflagsweekly.com
Breaking News Archives - each day's breaking news from December 1, 2003 (check here for breaking news you might have missed and breaking news that didn't ever hit the "front page")
More News - all the news most recently posted on this website
All the News - a running tab of everything posted on this website since October 29, 2003
Top Stories Archives - daily breaking and other important news stories
Daily News Archives - all the news posted on this website each day (from April 2001)
*Note: Starting December 10, 2003 news will be posted in the "daily news" pages based on when it was posted on this website, not by publication date.
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DISCLAIMER: 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.