Gambling with Rubella Vaccine - how John
Major's government saved costs.
By Janine Roberts - >
Government scientist Dr Elizabeth Miller
recommended the Measles and Rubella campaign (MR) in November 1994
when 8 million English children were jabbed campaign as helping "the
interruption of rubella transmission in the United Kingdom.
The Chief Medical Officer on 27th
September 1994 advised doctors and nurses not to pass on the
manufacturer's warning that it was dangerous to be pregnant near the
time of vaccination to the 1 million teenage girls being vaccinated.
He stated: "We do not believe there is justification for counseling
all girls to avoid pregnancy for one month following immunisation'.
He also recommended that girls not be asked when was their last
period and that information on the risk of vaccination to pregnancy
be only to be made available to girls that asked
SmithKline Beecham, gives the following
warning in bold print on the leaflet it supplied last year with the
vaccine to the Department of Health: "Never give to pregnant women,
or women of child-bearing age not fully aware of the need to avoid
pregnancy for one month after vaccination." This is the only warning
so stressed by the company. A spokesman for the company said that
they were aware the Department had deleted the warning, but "we are
keeping the warning in place. We prefer in such cases to deal
directly with the physician and make a best judgment on a case by
case basis."
Dawn Corrigan is the mother of a 1 year
old son, George, who came down with ITP last December. She reports:
"On Christmas Day, 10 days after he had the MMR, I found his nappy
full of blood. His nose then started bleeding. The roof of his mouth
was dark mauve. His skin was covered in spots. It was really
frightening. He was 2 weeks in hospital and still is not fully
recovered."
The Department justified ignoring this
warning by saying that no children born to mothers immunized during
pregnancy showed signs of vaccine damage. However this missed the
point. The principle danger today is that the vaccine may cause the
baby die prior to birth. The Report of the U.S. Preventive Services
Task Force in 1989 stated: ""Rubella is generally a minor illness,
but it can result in serious fetal complications when women become
infected during pregnancy. Between 30 percent;and 80 percent of
fetuses of women with rubella become infected, depending on when
during the pregnancy maternal infection occurs.. When a mother
catches rubella in the first 3 months of pregnancy in most cases it
causes a miscarriage or still birth".
Dawn Corrigan is the mother of a 1 year
old son, George, who came down with ITP last December. She reports:
"On Christmas Day, 10 days after he had the MMR, I found his nappy
full of blood. His nose then started bleeding. The roof of his mouth
was dark mauve. His skin was covered in spots. It was really
frightening. He was 2 weeks in hospital and still is not fully
recovered."
Dawn Corrigan is the mother of a 1 year
old son, George, who came down with ITP last December. She reports:
"On Christmas Day, 10 days after he had the MMR, I found his nappy
full of blood. His nose then started bleeding. The roof of his mouth
was dark mauve. His skin was covered in spots. It was really
frightening. He was 2 weeks in hospital and still is not fully
recovered."
Government scientists reported on 11
November 1994 that in 1991 there were 8 terminations and in 1992 ten
terminations all caused by vaccination. No figures were then
available for 1993 or 1994. Such figures scarcely accorded with the
Chief Medical Officer's assurance to doctors on the 27th September
1994 that "there was no objective evidence of harm" to pregnant women
from vaccination.
The previous UK practice for rubella was
to vaccinate the whole population at between 1 and 2 years of age, to
offer vaccination to teenage girls with a warning to avoid pregnancy
for 12 weeks and to immunise pregnant women susceptible to rubella
immediately after their baby's birth.
However even vaccination after giving
birth is not totally without risk. One mother, a nurse by profession,
who had not suffered from rubella during her pregnancy or before,
reported to the JABS parents support group that her child became
seriously ill with viral encephalis rubella immediately after her
inoculation while she was nursing her child, As rubella antibodies
had appeared in her child's blood, she now fears she passed on
rubella through her milk. The US Taskforce report stated: "Although
further evidence is needed regarding the risks of transmitting
rubella to breast-fed infants, the virus has been isolated in the
breast milk of up to two-thirds of vaccinated women." Yet the need
for the girls to be vaccinated for rubella last November was minimal
because nearly all were already immune. Government scientists
reported in the Communicable Disease Report of 24 June 1994 that 99%
of girls aged from 15 to 19 were already immune to rubella and
probably for life. They did not predict any rubella epidemic.
The Department needlessly vaccinated most
teenage girls because it was cheaper to do so than to check records.
Government scientists reported in the report of 24 June 1994 that:
"The Department of Health recommends that single antigen rubella
vaccine need not to given to girls who have a documented history of
MMR vaccination. The administrative cost of checking records may
outweigh the cost of extra doses of vaccine especially if the
vaccination is performed in schools."
It was not only girls that were put at
risk. Boys normally do not have to fear rubella as it is a mild
disease for them. But by having the vaccine they ran the risk of
arthritis - as did the girls. The Institute of Medicine, based at the
National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC, reported in 1991 that
the evidence indicated that the RA 27/3 rubella vaccine manufactured
by SmithKline Beecham and used in the UK caused acute arthritis The
government again did not pass on any warning.
The only reason why boys were were
vaccinated last November was to insure that they did not pass on the
disease to teenage girls. However with such a high immunity rate
among girls, the likelihood of this was relatively remote.
David, the 5 year old son of Julia Powell
in Wales became arthritic after his vaccination. His mother said: "He
would spend endless nights screaming with the pain. He couldn't run.
He walked like a crippled old man. He had splints put on his legs to
straighten them at night. He wore a plaster on his arm to straighten
it. He is now going into remission but the hospital said the
arthritis will never leave him. It can return and cripple him at any
time."
Ashley Wade, the 8 year old son of Lisa
Finley, went down with arthritis soon after being vaccinated last
November and soon could not walk. He then was found to also have
allergic purpura. His mother said: "Our son's immune system was
seriously damaged. The antibodies in his blood were attacking his
organs and blood vessels.. It is untreatable. I feel terribly guilty
for agreeing to his vaccination."
(The Independent on Sunday has unused
photos of this child and mum) James the 12 year old son of Susanne
Severn, a nurse, became violently ill 4 weeks after his vaccination.
He began to suffer from aching arthritic joints.It soon got worse.
"He went from being a keen football player to being like a cabbage.
He could not walk and his knees were very swollen. It was really very
frightening. He became virtually lifeless. Eventually he was
diagnosed as having iga necropathy. The antibodies in his blood were
attacking his kidneys, killing them. The disease can be controlled
but not cured." The rubella inoculations of last year were not
effective in their prime objective of eliminating rubella. In the
first 20 weeks of this year 2,461 cases of rubella were reported in
England and Wales. In the first 20 weeks of last year there were
2,869 cases. The difference is minimal. It scarcely seems the result
was worth the extremely damaging side effects reported. END
For more Information contact JABS at 1
Gawsworth Road, Golborne, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 3RF, UK. Tel
01942 7113 565
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