All the News October 29 - 31, 2003



!!! October 31, 2003 - Regressive Autism and MMR Vaccination - This article was originally scheduled to appear as the lead for the Vaccination News sponsored online conference on autism to be held at Redflagsdaily.com, but is being released sooner due to the breaking news today in the UK. - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Melanoma Vaccine Developed At The University Of Virginia Shows Promise In Clinical Trial - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - ACS: Durable Immunity From Anticancer Vaccine, Hints at Prevention of Recurrence - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Herpes vaccine trials - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Oral Vaccines Show Promise - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Refusal of Polio Vaccines in Nigeria Could Have Tragic Consequences, warns WHO - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Analysis and Critique of the  CDC's Handling of the Thimerosal Exposure Assessment Based on Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) Information - Safe Minds - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - No confidence in MMR - Editorial Comment - "It is a propaganda war the Scottish Executive is losing. However, the potential casualties are not ministers but children and pregnant women." - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - MMR is safe, says expert who helped make autism link - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Study Challenges Polio as Cause Of FDR's Illness - Researchers Blame Guillain-Barré - The Washington Post - "Franklin D. Roosevelt's triumph over disability, his ascent to the presidency, his reputation as one of the greatest men of the 20th century -- all are inextricably linked to the disease that paralyzed his legs in 1921, when he was 39 years old. That disease, everyone knows, was polio." - How many polio victims were actually victims of something else? - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Scientists clash over MMR jab - "Two scientists at the centre of the MMR controversy have clashed in public, creating more confusion for parents...Both were involved in the 1998 research which raised public fears about a possible link between the triple jab and autism." - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Safety of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: A Two-Phased Study of Computerized Health Maintenance Organization Databases - posted October 31, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Emerging viruses set to soar - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - From the analyst's couch - Vaccines of the future - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Researchers make vaccine-evading mousepox virus, igniting scientific debate  - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Study Suggests FDR Did Not Have Polio - The Guardian, UK - "Franklin D. Roosevelt may not have had polio at all, but a paralyzing disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome, Texas researchers say in a study that calls into question all the history books and presidential biographies."  - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - State pushes for fewer drugs in germ fight - Doctors are overprescribing antibiotics, often at the behest of pushy patients, N.M.'s health secretary says. - "Overuse of antibiotics has fueled an increase in drug-resistant germs, Montoya said...Antibiotic resistance is described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as 'one of the world's most pressing health problems.'"  - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - NIGERIA: Muslim leader cautiously welcomes checks on polio vaccine  - posted October 31, 2003

October 25, 2003 - Myocarditis after smallpox vaccination (requires registration)  - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Hopes high, but an AIDS vaccine still years away - "Vaccine development has been particularly tricky due in large part to the nature of HIV, which infects and kills the immune cells that fight diseases -- the same cells a vaccine must mobilize to prevent HIV infection...Complicating matters, the virus is a moving target for vaccine developers, constantly changing its surface makeup." - But what if HIV has nothing to do with AIDS, as many believe? - posted October 31, 2003

October 28, 2003 - Experimental vaccine to prevent shingles part of national study in U.S. - To learn how the chickenpox vaccine may be related to an increase in shingles, click here. - posted October 31, 2003

October 28, 2003 - Hep B vaccine challenge launched - A group of patients are planning legal action claiming they suffered side effects after being vaccinated against Hepatitis B. - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Melanoma vaccine developed at the University of Virginia shows promise in clinical trial - posted October 31, 2003

November 1, 2003 - UK government denies that smallpox vaccination plans have fallen short of target -  - posted October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 - Doctors giving MMR 'by stealth' - "Family doctors have been accused of administering the MMR jab by stealth to children coming into their surgeries to receive other vaccinations...At least 50 horrified parents have complained that their GPs have 'mistakenly' given their children the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, it has emerged." - posted October 31, 2003evolv door

January 2001 - Revolving door between the US Government and Industry - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Alarming MMR Increase Shows Need For Parent Choice - "It is now crucial that the Scottish Government allows parents who wish to have their children vaccinated with single injection to do so. Parents must be given choice over the way their children are treated, which is a concept that all too often escapes this centralising administration. A failure to move in this direction may lead to a measles epidemic, causing misery and a potential loss of life." - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Scientist urges parents to let their children have MMR vaccine - "A doctor whose research has been seized upon for the last five years by parents opposed to the measles, mumps and rubella combined vaccine has urged them not to fear the childhood immunization, saying lingering concerns over a link with autism are unfounded...In a letter published this week in The Lancet medical journal, Dr. Simon Murch warned the proportion of toddlers getting the vaccine, known as MMR, has dropped so low in Britain that major measles epidemics are likely this winter." - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Increase in MMR reports - There has been a rise in the notifications of measles, mumps and rubella over the past 18 months, latest figures have revealed. -  posted October 31, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Efforts to Stop Polio Will Extend to Chad - $3 Million Vaccination Campaign Planned - "A polio outbreak spreading from a longtime hotbed of the disease in northern Nigeria has reached Chad, the fourth African nation this year to experience a resurgence of the disease, which public health authorities hope to eradicate globally by 2005." - posted October 31, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Health Employees Cautioned About New Flu Vaccine - from Barbara Loe Fisher of NVIC note: "US health care workers, better educated now after their experience with weighing the benefits and risks of smallpox vaccine, are also getting smarter about weighing the benefits and risks of using newly licensed vaccines such as just squirt-it-up your-nose live virus FLUMIST vaccine. A no-brainer for them as well as for lots of other Americans: why take a chance on getting flu symptoms that can also infect others with vaccine strain live flu virus and make them sick too?" - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Whooping cough outbreak - "Health officials do not know who made the four unimmunized children sick, but say they believe the youngsters contributed to the spread of the illness. Pertussis circulates in low levels in a community all the time, mainly among adults for whom immunity has worn off. Even immunized children like the Cooks can get sick because the pertussis vaccine does not confer 100 percent immunity, and immunity starts to diminish during childhood...'I think that parents who are unwilling to vaccinate their children are basically playing a game of roulette," he said. "It's one thing to put their own children at risk. It's another thing to put the rest of the population at risk, which is what they're doing.'" - How is it that the unvaccinated are putting the population at risk?  What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect the vaccinated? - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - The Toxicology of Mercury — Current Exposures and Clinical Manifestations (New England Journal of Medicine - fee required) - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - FDA to Seek Genetic Information from Drug Makers- "U.S. health regulators will encourage drug makers to submit data on genetic differences that may predict how new medicines behave in different people, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) said on Wednesday." - Any chance vaccines will be included? - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - The Cost of Courage: Doctor says whistleblowers need more protection - "Like other critics, Dench thinks that hospital-based peer review panels too often are biased in favor of hospital administrators or certain powerful physicians who use their authority to punish doctors who speak up about patient care concerns. Creating a statewide group not attached to a particular hospital would go a long way toward making that system fairer, he believes." - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Bacterial Meningitis in Children with Cochlear Implants - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - US develops lethal new viruses - "A scientist funded by the US government has deliberately created an extremely deadly form of mousepox, a relative of the smallpox virus, through genetic engineering...The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally protect them." - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - UNICEF Makes Case for Oral Vaccines - "UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Ganni Murzi, has appealed to Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to help resolve the impasse over vaccines safety and resolve the issues by facilitate a national dialogue between the traditional rulers, religious leaders and stakeholders, adding that an early solution will guarantee full Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) protection to the children of Nigeria." - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Nasal flu vaccine still has bugs - Mist has more risks, is more expensive than traditional shot - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Nigeria to Test Polio Vaccines for HIV - "Nigerian authorities said Wednesday polio vaccines recently administered in a nationwide campaign will undergo laboratory testing to calm fears about AIDS...Health workers on Friday launched a drive to immunize 15 million African children at immediate risk of contracting polio -- an effort hampered in Nigeria by an assertion by Islamic radicals the vaccination drive is part of a U.S. plan to decimate the Muslim population by spreading AIDS and infertility." - posted October 30, 2003

October 15, 2003 - Flu shot, anyone? - "Gotten your flu shot yet? Whether you have or not, one leading congressman's warning might frighten you more than the needle." - posted October 30, 2003

October 30, 2003 - Hopes high, but an AIDS vaccine still years away - "Vaccine development has been particularly tricky due in large part to the nature of HIV, which infects and kills the immune cells that fight diseases -- the same cells a vaccine must mobilize to prevent HIV infection...Complicating matters, the virus is a moving target for vaccine developers, constantly changing its surface makeup." - But what if HIV has nothing to do with AIDS, as many believe? - posted October 30, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Influenza Season Strikes Early in Western Canada- posted October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Cash boost for vaccines: Funding prospects for vaccine development may be looking up, say analysts - "Pharmaceutical companies have been leaving the vaccine market claiming unprofitability, and investment in vaccine companies has been slack, but there are bright spots on the horizon for certain types of vaccines and for new funding sources, said industry representatives attending the Vaccines meeting held October 22–24 in Arlington, Va., cosponsored by The Scientist."- posted October 29, 2003

October 23, 2003 - Whooping cough outbreaks most in decades - "Across the United States, cases of the deadly disease whooping cough are appearing more frequently than in decades and public health officials worry the increases are due at least in part to the reluctance of some parents to vaccinate their children."  Appears to contradict the article just below.... - posted October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Vaccination Coverage High In 2002-2003 October 2003 • Volume 37 • Number 10 (requires registration) - from Barbara Loe Fisher of NVIC note: "Vaccination rates are at an all time high for children entering kindergarten. The USA has vaccination rates that are approaching 100 percent for some vaccines like DTAP, which is supposed to protect against whooping cough. It is poor vaccine efficacy, not poor vaccine uptake that generates whooping cough in highly vaccinated populations such as the US. In most whooping cough "outbreaks" the majority of the cases occur in the vaccinated. A 95 percent vaccination rate in any population is more than enough for herd immunity to be in force. The unvaccinated catch it from someone - most likely someone who has been vaccinated considering the fact there is a 95 percent plus uptake in American children." - posted October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Some of AIDS Bill Directed To Injections - "Senators agreed Tuesday to direct a part of a $15 billion global AIDS bill toward the problems of unsafe medical injections in Africa, potentially one of few mandates from Congress on how the money should be spent...Sessions said conservative estimates show as many as 1,000 people a day die of AIDS from unsafe medical treatment." - For more on this, click here. - posted October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 - Nigeria calls for vaccine checks - Nigeria has asked international donor agencies to check a polio vaccine after three of its northern states halted an immunisation drive over safety fears. - posted October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 -  New Flu Shot Recommendations Will Require Many More Office Visits - "Although the CDC has deemed influenza vaccine administration safe and effective even when given during an acute illness, this issue will likely remain a concern of parents and clinicians. Based on this supposition, they estimate that 74% of children would require at least one additional visit if vaccinations were given only during well-child care visits." - posted October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 - A soldier's tale: military misdiagnosis - He was a decorated Green Beret, but when his performance faltered, the Army gave him the boot - not medical treatment for his deadly disease -   "It's also theoretically possible that the soldier was given a contaminated vaccine...In 2001, certain vaccine manufacturers admitted that they were using fetal calf serum and other materials from cattle raised in countries at high risk for mad cow disease, in spite of years of warnings from the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccines include those to prevent polio, diphtheria, tetanus and anthrax...'Jamie was given all those,' his father said." - posted October 29, 2003

October 27, 2003 - Whooping cough deaths on rise in infants - "The number of deaths from whooping cough in infants too young to be vaccinated is on the increase in the United States, health experts have told United Press International. In an attempt to battle this trend, health officials are considering inoculating infants sooner -- perhaps within days after birth -- or vaccinating adolescents and adults, who can be unwitting carriers of the disease." - posted October 29, 2003

October 27, 2003 - Protection for vaccine makers - Product liability concerns continue to hinder vaccine development - The Scientist- "A number of conditions have been falsely attributed to vaccines, Halsey noted. The public fails to understand that when one event follows another, they are not necessarily causally related. For example, he said, the public has been reluctant to accept that the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine or thimerosal-containing vaccines do not cause autism, despite elegant studies demonstrating this, such as those conducted by Kreesten Madsen at the University of Aarhus in Denmark." - For Safe Minds' response to the Denmark study, click here.- posted October 29, 2003

October 24, 2003 - Respiratory Diphtheria in a Pennsylvania Resident Recently Returned from Haiti: Report Underscores Importance of Vaccination to Prevent Diphtheria - But what are the long-term consequences of the disease vs. the long-term consequences of the vaccine?  Where are the long-term studies which would help us arrive at genuine understanding of this question?  Will this particular man recover? - posted October 29, 2003