December 18, 2003 - Flu Hitting Unusually Hard at Young Kids - The Cincinnati Enquirer/Post - "Flu sweeping across the country appears to be hitting unusually hard at young children, and experts say occasional reports of deaths among otherwise healthy youngsters are especially worrisome...The flu is rarely fatal for the young, although it can cause severe illness. Some doctors in western states, where the disease has been worst so far, say this may be the most intense flu season for children since the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69...Federal health authorities do not keep records on flu cases or deaths, so precise data are sparse. However, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said reports so far are troubling."

Comment:  If they don't keep records on flu cases or deaths, how, on earth, can they be making these claims?

December 17, 2003 - 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 @ www.redflagsdaily.com

December 17, 2003 - Man gave unlicensed flu shots, state says - Registered counselor was charging $45 for each shot - King County Journal - "A man with no medical license who gave $45 flu shots here is under investigation by the state Department of Health and the Bellevue Police Department, officials said Tuesday...Officials and at least one parent are wondering if the shots actually contained vaccine."

Comment:  Who knows what was in those vials? 

January 2004 -Developmental, behavioural and somatic factors in pervasive developmental disorders: preliminary analysis. - journal article (Child Care Health Dev) - "RESULTS: Preliminary results showed general agreement with the principle diagnostic differences between the PDD subgroups with patients diagnosed with AS showing an increased frequency of skills acquired before symptom onset (two- to three-word phrase speech, toileting skills) and a decreased frequency of regression in acquired skills when compared with other PDD subgroups. Developmental milestones such as the achievement of bowel and bladder continence were also more frequently reported for the AS group..."

December 17, 2003 - Center Aims to Demystify Vaccines - HealthDayNews via ABC News - "Those little vials containing vaccines can frighten parents — enough, in some cases, that they don't get their children immunized...Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, hopes to demystify the vials and the vaccines...'If you look at that little vial, it's mysterious — people don't know what's in there' he says. 'We're trying to make it less frightening.'...The center Offit leads started in 2000 to give parents and physicians accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information about vaccines."

Comment: Accurate according to whom?  The Committee on Government Reform considered Offit's various conflicts of interest to be important enough to include him in their investigation:  “FACA: Conflicts of Interest and Vaccine Development: Preserving the Integrity of the Process”, Thursday, June 15, 2000)

December 18, 2003 - Fears over fall in uptake of MMR jab - EveningNews24, UK - "THE number of parents opting to give their children the controversial MMR vaccine has dropped in Norwich and Norfolk...The five per cent drop in uptake of the vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, but has been linked with autism, reflects the national trend of more parents shunning the treatment."

1997 - Are serological responses to acellular pertussis antigens sufficient criteria to ensure that new combination vaccines are effective for prevention of disease? - journal article - (Dev Biol Stand) - "Unfortunately, the antibody titres induced by acellular pertussis vaccines do not correlate with vaccine efficacy. Thus, although diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine has been considered a prime building block in the development of new combination vaccines, modifying DTaP by the addition of new vaccine components may decrease the ability of the vaccine to protect against pertussis without a change in serum antibody response. For this reason, immunogenicity is not an adequate or safe basis for licensing combination vaccines containing acellular pertussis."