[Media UK, Jan 2001] MMR VACCINE IN JAPAN

March 24, 2001

From at http://www.whale.to/

MMR VACCINE IN JAPAN

<../vaccines/informed.html>The Informed Parent March 2001

Transcript of a Channel 4 news broadcast.

31/1/01, presented by Ian in Osaka, Japan.

Scene opens with a film of parents and their child looking at a photograph

album.

Ian W: " The reality of their terrible loss emerges. They had a son and when

he was 21 months old they took him for an MMR vaccination. (Close up of

photo of unconscious infant with naso-gastric tube in situ). Two days later

he was in a coma from which he never recovered. That was eight years ago

and still the family is fighting for proper compensation from the Japanese

government. "

Kayoka Kinoshita (mother): " We are the victims, not only of that vaccine,

but of a failure to make proper information about possible side-effects

available to us. It fills me with resentment and anger. " Shot of nursery

school. Children being served with food and eating lunch.

Ian W: " Nursery schools used to help organise mass vaccinations and for 4

years, from 1989, MMR was recommended by the authorities until, that is,

the evidence of side-effects could no longer be ignored. More than anybody

else it was Shunsuke Fuji who battled to extract and then publish

information from Japans secretive and high-handed bureaucrats " .

Shot of book-lined, untidy office in the Osaka Inoculation Information

Centre where a telephone is ringing. Shunsuke Fuji walks in and picks up

the telephone, listens, then says:

" If your childs already two, even catching measles wouldnt be so serious,

so why bother with an inoculation? "

Ian W: " The authorities eventually admitted that more than 1000 people

suffered side-effects from MMR, mostly meningitis. Three died before the

drug was withdrawn in 1993 " . Shunsuke Fuji: " They began using MMR in April

1989 and by July doctors were already warning of side-effects, but the

government didnt take any notice because it was not convenient for them.

They kept using it for another 3 years, securing the profits for the

manufacturers " .

Shot of childrens playground and children playing.

Ian W: " The problem was pinned on the mumps component of the inoculation

which was changed and which is not used in Britain. But the damage had been

done by the vaccine and by the governments sloppy response. Parents no

longer trust any MMR so doctors in Japan now give a separate measles

inoculation to children between the ages of one and six years old. It is

given as a single shot: no boosters are necessary. They do accept that

Japans rate of measles is high - 4,500 cases and 69 deaths between 1994

and 1998, but doctors here claim it was high even when MMR was used and

they strongly reject British criticism of the single vaccine " . Shot of

clinic at Osaka Red Cross Hospital with Dr Hidebeko Yamomoto drawing up a

syringe of dear liquid.

Dr Yamamoto: " The reason there are more measles cases here compared with

other countries is not that we use the single measles inoculation but

because we only give it after the child is one year old. That is the

problem. The measles cases usually originate in children in under one year

and spreads from them, so we should really think about giving the jabs

earlier " .

Change of scene to childrens playground. Little girl on swing being pushed

by father.

Ian W: " Not only has Japan abandoned MMR in favour of the single measles

shot, but this has had a wider impact. Such is public disillusion with

whats seen as dishonest, bungling bureaucrats that it has undermined

public confidence in vaccination.

When Mayu (close up of little girl on swing) was born six years ago, her

parents were wary of all vaccines. They insisted on an allergy test before

a measles jab. This proved positive. A full inoculation might of killed

their daughter. Last year, though, Mayu contracted a serious dose of

measles. Thankfully, she fully recovered. Her parents opinions have

hardened: like a growing number of Japanese they would rather risk illness

than vaccines " .

Tomoko Kitakata (Mayus mother): " I have a distrust and fear about putting

dangerous things into the body. I also doubt whether the answers from the

government are true - or even from doctors - because they all say something

different. We have to make our own choice " .

Ian W: " Like everywhere, the overwhelming concern of parents here is the

health of their children. But Japans experience with vaccines and the

response of the authorities has hardly inspired confidence " .

Editor: This transcript was put together by a TIP subscriber and sent in.

Many thanks.