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Transcibed by and made available by Families for Natural
Living,
www.FamiliesforNaturalLiving.org
or FNLemail@aol.com. From the
National
Vaccine Information Center's Second International Public Conference,
"Science for Hope and Healing: Challenging the Status Quo" on
September 8 -
10, 2000 in Arlington, Va. For more information on the NVIC see
www.909shot.com
"Pneumococcal Vaccine and Otitis Media" by Dr. Erdem Cantekin
Erdem Cantekin, Ph.D., is Professor of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh.
An internationally recognized authority on otitis media and has studied causes
and treatments for ear infection and sinusitis in his 25 year career. An
early, outspoken critic of the overuse of antibiotics to treat ear infections,
Dr. Cantekin has published more than 150 articles and abstracts in the medical
literature on eustachian tube function, ear tube
surgery, antibiotic resistance and conflicts of interest in biomedical research
and manufacturer sponsored medicine.
Cantekin discussed the new Prevnar vaccine for pneumococcal, as endorsed by the
American Academy of Pediatrics. "The alleged benefits for this new
vaccine are greatly exaggerated and the risks are significant," said
Cantekin. "The bacteria pneumococcus, with more than 90 serotypes,
is a common pathogen. Though pneumococcus causes various diseases the
carriage rate and serotype distribution rates in different groups are not know.
Also, it is not known how pneumococcus transmutes itself into a pathogen.
The role of pneumococcus in the microbiological balance is not known. It
does
contribute to 3,000 cases a year of meningitis, 50,000 a year of bacteremia,
500,000 cases of pneumonia, and seven million cases of otitis media or ear
infections.
"With all of these unknowns, the vaccination of newborns with seven
pneumococcal serotypes and possible eradication of those serotypes, is an
uninformed experiment at best," said Cantekin.
"Unfortunately, our public health officials have no good estimates of
these carriage rates in common populations. The rates of healthy newborns
contracting these diseases are not well
documented and yet to be determined. Yet in February 2000 Prevnar,
a seven-valent, conjugate vaccine was approved for infants and toddlers. The
FDA did not approve pneumococcal for pneumonia or otitis media. This
approval was limited and paradoxical because three years earlier the New England Journal of Medicine the scientists
had concluded that 'bacterial meningitis in the US is now a disease
predominately of adults rather than infants and young children.'"
Cantekin pointed out that the study on Prevnar violated rules of
internationally accepted methods of reporting clinical trials by publishing the
results when they were incomplete. For example, regarding pneumonia there
was no information at all. All the results were presented in a "confusing
nonstandard format." Also, the control group for the study did
not receive a placebo, but another meningitis vaccine. Other questions remained
unanswered: "If this HMO trial was going to be the only foundation to
vaccinate every newborn in the United States, why were those findings,
involving 38,000 captive HMO children, not published in a leading medical
journal? The results were instead published in a journal well known to be
the mouthpiece of drug manufacturers. It is also troubling
that, prior to the publication of primary results, the medical economic
analysis was rushed to publication in the Journal of the American Medical
Association. Then a string of publications appeared in print - this was a
well-organized effort to capture the newborn population as quickly as
possible. Prevnar is not effective for
otitis media or pneumonia and the prevention of meningitis data are
inconclusive. Why does the American
Academy of Pediatrics want our children to be immunized using Prevnar?
Why are all those experts excited about this new vaccine? I'm afraid the
answer does not lie in the scientific realm.
Endorsements by experts become more puzzling if we examine the adverse or
peculiar effects of the vaccine in the HMO trial. As shown here, Prevnar
had four times more seizures, four times more gastritis than the control group,
significantly more developed asthma, one death in the Prevnar group.
Strangely, there were twice as many SIDS in
the control group, but remember the control group was receiving another
experimental vaccine.
"The big push for Prevnar came from its supposed prevention of otitis
media, even though it had not been approved for this use. The promise of
saving children from this common, self-limiting disease now turned into
persistent childhood pest, is an excellent strategy, for marketing. Every
parent knows and abhors otitis media. "Simple facts about otitis media is
that 60 percent of the cases are viral, less than 40 percent are bacterial,
and perhaps 25 percent of all otitis media is due to pneumococcus. In two days,
90 percent of the otitis cases resolve by itself without treatment. Regardless of these facts our experts for
two decades have been recommending aggressive interventions, such as long
duration antibiotic therapy and designer drugs, antibiotic prophylaxis and then
followed by aggressive surgery. This clinical practice, not supported by
existing scientific based evidence, fuels our $5 billion a year otitis media
medical economics. So if Prevnar could stop the cycle of drug and slash,
it would have been a great public benefit. But that is not the case. The FDA data both from Finland and the HMO
trial show that the prevention benefit is less than four percent. Despite this,
the economic spin goes on."
When the JAMA rushed to publish the economic analysis deployment of Prevnar
in the US prior to the publication of the HMO trial results, Cantekin wrote a
letter to the editor. In this letter he pointed out that all of the money
the vaccine was supposed to save health care consumers would be saved without
the vaccine if health care providers would stick to the clinical guidelines for
the treatment of otitis media. His letter to the editor was rejected. "Prevnar will have the same effect that
antibiotic abuse currently has
because, by changing serotype, it will exert selective pressure on the
microbial ecology. This vaccine is the perfect example of a profit driven
health care with no checks and balances. In our $1 trillion health care
system the public health for people's interest are supposedly in the hands of
three government agencies: the FDA, the CDC, and the NIH. These three
pillars of our public health system are more and more in the hand of expert
panels and advisory committees with ad hoc appointed outsiders. Such
experts dictate policies, control the complex biomedical information system,
and directly influence the taxpayers' health and wealth. Those experts
are frequently in the state of conflict of interest because they also serve
those special interest groups who profit from their expert decisions.
Most experts are in financial relationships with these special interest groups
and are usually registered with the speaker offices of various manufacturers.
In other words, they are paid lobbyist. The perils of such interlocking
conflicts are dangerous to public health. With increasing frequency we witness
the media exposures of these white coat crimes. I think it is time that a
reform act was in order and the people demand better controls from the
government to protect their health and their pocket books." (Too see
some of the 150 papers Dr. Cantekin has written, go to the National Library of
Medicine, PubMed, at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi)
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)
Hot Topics - selected stories, by category
Return to Vaccination News Home Page (for best results, right click to "open in new window")
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.