Northern Ireland news website - deaths after vaccines, swine flu + MR

March 21, 2011

SEVERAL DIFFERENT CASES IN THE ARTICLE BELOW

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http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/2/vaccines/northern-ireland-death-linked-to-swine-flu-vaccine

A person has died in Northern Ireland after being given their swine

flu vaccination, The Detail can reveal.

The death was reported as a suspected adverse reaction to the H1N1

vaccine sometime between January 1st, 2010 and February 8th, 2011. The

report was among hundreds submitted from Northern Ireland to the central

government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical

devices work and are acceptably safe.

A wide range of side effects suspected to be linked to the swine flu and

cervical cancer vaccinations – given to teenage girls – were reported by

healthcare professionals, patients, parents and carers in Northern

Ireland to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

during 2009, 2010 and the early weeks of 2011.

The MHRA’s Yellow Card Adverse Reaction (ADR) scheme allows health

professionals and patients to report suspected adverse drug/vaccine

reactions on a voluntary basis and was introduced in 1964 after the

Thalidomide tragedy highlighted the urgent need for routine monitoring of

medicines. It receives more than 20,000 reports of possible side effects

across the UK each year.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that almost £2m

has been paid out in compensation to 25 people in Northern Ireland

severely disabled by vaccines since 1979.

The MHRA said that it could give no further details on the recent

Northern Ireland death including the age of the person or when the death

occurred.

Surprisingly, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland claims to hold

no information on the fatality and it also confirmed in response to a

Freedom of Information request from The Detail that it is “not routinely

provided” with information on adverse reaction reports originating from

the province.

The Coroner’s Service is not investigating the latest vaccine-related

death.

The MHRA has stressed that adverse reaction reports are not proof that

the reactions were caused by the vaccine/drug and that the flu vaccines

are mainly given to elderly people and those with serious, chronic

underlying illnesses.

Thousands of children and adults receive vaccinations every year in

Northern Ireland and the overwhelming majority suffer no ill effects and

certainly no serious damage.

However, The Detail has investigated what happens on the rare occasions

when vaccines do go wrong and it makes disturbing reading.

Getting vaccinated / Press Eye

What does the government do when a serious side effect is recorded? And

what support is given to families? The answer to both questions appears

to be very little.

Today we highlight the case of one Co Down family living with the

heartache of their 15-year-old son dying days after receiving a

vaccination at school in 1994.

There is no doubt in Anne and Harry Coulter’s minds that the combined

Measles and Rubella vaccine received 10 days previously

played a part in his death.

And we speak to the mother of a 19-year-old boy living in England who

finally received government compensation after he was severely disabled

by the MMR vaccine he received at 13-months-old. His mum Jackie Fletcher

set up the well-known parents’ campaign group Jabs to provide support for

other families concerned about vaccines.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Department of

Health, Social Services and Public Safety said it does not hold any

department communication on the recent death linked to the H1N1 vaccine

or action taken by the department after it was reported under the Yellow

Card scheme.

It stated: “DHSSPSNI does not have access to individual Yellow Card case

reports and is not routinely provided with Yellow Card statistics, or

case reports, that originated from Northern Ireland, including any

information that may allow individual patients to be

identified.”

A spokeswoman for the Coroner’s Service said: “From the establishment of

the service in 2006 to date, we have no records of a death being directly

attributable to a vaccine or resulting from an adverse reaction to a

vaccine.”

However, she added: “There may have been instances where the family of

the deceased are concerned that a vaccine may have caused or contributed

to the death but this has not been found to be the case following further

investigation.”

Following a request from The Detail, the MHRA has provided statistics on

adverse reactions to the swine flu (H1N1) and cervical cancer (Human

Papilloma virus – HPV) injections reported by people in Northern Ireland

over the last two years.

Ninety-four reports covering 261 reactions to the HPV jab were received

from Northern Ireland from January 1, 2009 to February 8th, 2011. During

the same period, a total of 112 reports covering 233 reactions to the

H1N1 vaccine were also received.

The agency was unable to confirm whether other serious reported reactions

to H1N1 during 2010/11 were connected to the person who died or if these

were other extremely serious conditions impacting on other people in

Northern Ireland.

Many of the reactions reported over the two year period were short lived

and not serious and include nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness and

rashes.

However, more serious adverse reaction reports received from Northern

Ireland for H1N1 during 2009 include nervous system disorders, lip

swelling, chest discomfort, muscle pains, hallucination and heart

palpitations.

Suspected reactions to the HPV vaccine in the same year include

convulsions, increased heart rate, throat tightness and face

swelling.

As well as the death reported in 2010/11, other suspected side effects

reported for H1N1 during this period include a heart attack, a bleeding

disorder, chest pain, joint swelling, loss of consciousness, narcolepsy,

renal disorder, breathlessness, acute respiratory distress syndrome,

circulatory collapse, capillary leak syndrome and low blood

pressure.

For HPV, suspected reactions in 2010/11 include palpitations, blurred

vision, swollen lymph nodes, chest pain, irregular heart rate, muscle

pains, weight bearing difficulty, loss of consciousness, unresponsive to

stimuli, nerve paralysis and disorientation.

The Detail requested an interview with Health Minister McGimpsey

or Chief Medical Officer McBride, but this was declined. Instead,

a spokeswoman provided answers to questions we put forward.

This response included: " The department is aware that from time to

time adverse reactions to medicines, including vaccines, will

occur.

“As reactions can cover a wide range of symptoms of varying severity,

reporting the total number of adverse reactions in Northern Ireland, or

indeed any particular sub-region of the UK, would, in itself, not be

particularly useful.”

Another answer included: “Vaccines are not given lightly and the benefits

of vaccine in preventing serious disease far outweigh the risks of any

side effects.”

A UK-wide report by the MHRA looked at the 3,310 reports of 8,608

suspected adverse reactions to new H1N1 swine flu vaccines received

between October 2009 and March 2010 including 32 reported deaths. It

concluded that “the balance of benefits and risks” for the vaccines

“remains positive”.

The UK-wide deaths include seven cases of stillbirths, two of neonatal

death and 26 reports of spontaneous abortion reported for H1N1 vaccines –

however, the MHRA report states “there is no evidence of any H1N1

vaccine-associated risk to pregnancy”.

It adds: “Given that most people vaccinated in the UK to date have had

serious, chronic pre-existing medical conditions it is not unexpected

that some of these people may experience a progression or worsening of

their condition and die shortly after being vaccinated.”

And: “…It is important to bear in mind that these are likely to be purely

coincidental events and would have occurred anyway in the absence of a

vaccination.

“Although the death may have occurred shortly after receiving the

vaccine, this does not in itself mean that the vaccine was responsible

for the death.”

Retired GP and South Belfast MP Dr Alasdair McDonnell is a strong

advocate of government vaccination programmes.

He said: " While there can be adverse reactions and thank God

occasionally but rarely death, the point is that the vaccine prevents a

lot more illness and a lot more death.

“For every child that has an adverse reaction to a vaccine you probably

have 200 or 300 children who might have been seriously damaged by the

illness or four or five out of that number might have died as a result of

the illness.

“I am not saying that vaccines are perfect or that there isn’t a risk

with them. There is a risk with everything you do, even taking a

paracetamol tablet.”

Almost 150 claims have been made on behalf of children who received

vaccines in Northern Ireland since the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was

introduced by the government in 1979.

In a response to a Freedom of Information request from The Detail, the

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that almost £2m has

been paid out in compensation to 25 people vaccinated in the province

since 1979.

In each of these cases a vaccine damage award was granted because it was

accepted that individuals had been severely disabled as a result of a

vaccine listed in the VDP Act – which includes MMR, tetanus, whooping

cough and polio.

Disappointingly, the DWP said it was unable to give details of the

specific vaccination to which each payment relates and also was unable to

provide details of the damage or disability caused.

The DWP response states: “A Vaccine Damage award is made if it is

accepted that a person is severely disabled as a result of vaccination

against any of the diseases listed in the VDP Act. The VDPU is not

required to determine the nature of that severe disability, nor attribute

it to a particular vaccination. Therefore this information is not

collated by the VDPU.”

By the age of five most children in Northern Ireland will have received

vaccinations at two, three and four months of age, 12 months old, 15

months old and booster injections – including a second MMR (Measles,

Mumps and Rubella) jab – before they start school.

One of the most high profile vaccine scares centred on the MMR jab and

its possible link to autism in children. However, research carried out by

Dr Wakefield has now been discredited.

The DHSSPSNI website states that since the MMR was introduced here in

1988, the number of children catching measles, mumps and rubella has

“fallen to an all time low”. It also says that MMR uptake rates in

Northern Ireland are the highest in the British Isles with nine out of 10

parents here choosing to have their child immunised.

The medical profession has to consider the hard statistics. There is a

low risk of a reaction to most vaccines and a huge benefit to vaccinating

thousands of children against some very serious diseases.

According to one leading Northern Ireland GP, vaccinations are about

weighing up the benefits against the risk.

Dr Dunn, chairman of the NI General Practitioners Committee of the

BMA, said: “Doctors’ view on MMR has not changed. We think it is a safe

vaccination and that the illnesses it protects against are very

serious.

“Sometimes you get a mild reaction, like a temperature. That is all I

have ever seen.”

However, he continued: “I have had people who have blamed MMR for autism

in their children but in days gone by they would have blamed whooping

cough.

“Around the age of a year and a half or two some children who have been

developing normally develop autism. Parents then wrack their brains to

try and think what could have caused it.”

Dr Dunn continued: “I think you can have a reaction to anything. The

doctors and the nurses know that and are prepared if someone has an

anaphylactic reaction. Vaccinations and all of medicine is about weighing

up the benefits against the risk concerned.

“Measles is a severe illness. There used to be a ward in the Ulster

Hospital for children brain damaged by measles. They were just lying

there and some children died from measles in those days. People have

forgotten about how serious it was.”

Doctors’ surgeries across Northern Ireland receive thousands of pounds

each year for meeting vaccination targets for MMR and other childhood

vaccines.

Thousands of parents in Northern Ireland have opted to pay privately for

single vaccinations rather than the combined three-in-one MMR jab. Single

jabs cost around £100 each. However, even the single vaccine route is now

less straightforward.

There are over 500 children on a waiting list for the mumps vaccine at

Synergy Healthcare clinic in Belfast – the main clinic for single

vaccines in Northern Ireland. The main manufacturer Merck confirmed in

2009 that it would no longer produce the single mumps vaccine and this

has resulted in a UK-wide shortage.

Synergy fears that some parents may now choose not to immunise their

children at all if they cannot obtain the three components of the MMR in

single form.

Figures provided by the Public Health Agency show there were 628 cases of

mumps in Northern Ireland in 2009 – compared to 135 in 2008. There were

also 51 cases of measles and 14 of Rubella.

Despite thousands of children being immunised and a higher take up rate

than other parts of the UK, these diseases haven’t gone away entirely and

probably never will.

More on this story

’s story: One family’s battle for answers

Rob’s story: The fight for compensation

The Department of Health answers our

questions

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

Vaccines -

http://vaccinationdangers.wordpress.com/ Homeopathy

http://homeopathycures.wordpress.com

Vaccine Dangers, Childhood Disease Classes & Homeopathy

Online/email courses - next classes start March 4

March 21, 2011