A Shot in the dark

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http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=12892

Spokane

Shot in the dark

Heartbroken woman wonders if vaccines killed her infant son

By JoNel Aleccia

Staff writer

December 23, 2007

Federal health officials are reviewing whether routine immunizations contributed

to the deaths of as many as three North Idaho babies this fall, a spokesman for

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.

The agency has requested autopsy reports and medical records for at least two

children and could seek them for a third Kootenai County infant, all of whom

died in September and October, apparently within days of receiving recommended

vaccines.

There's no clear link between the vaccines and the deaths, which were classified

as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, said Curtis , a spokesman for the

CDC. " There is nothing so far to indicate that there is a particular problem

other than these children died in the same city, " said.

But the mother of one of the children said it's no coincidence that her

4-month-old son died within days of receiving injections to prevent serious

childhood illnesses, including diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B,

polio, rotavirus and invasive pneumococcal disease.

" My baby was so healthy, " said , 39, of Hayden. " He was extremely

full of life, energy and vitality. "

Nevertheless, early on the morning of Sept. 15, less than three days after Vance

Vernon received a round of vaccines at Lakeside Pediatric and Adolescent

Medicine in Coeur d'Alene, his mother awoke to a nightmare.

" It was about 5:15 a.m. I woke up and thought, 'He's not making any noise! "

recalled. " I went to pick him up and then I screamed. "

Her 16 1/2-pound boy was warm and his lips were still pink, but he wasn't

moving. Blood was crusted beneath his eyes, and his clothes and toys were

covered with a bloody froth.

As her husband, , 46, called 911, worked frantically to resuscitate

their child. But in the emergency room at Kootenai Medical Center, doctors said

Vance had been dead for several hours.

" I grabbed my baby in my arms and held him up and I screamed, 'How in the hell

did this happen?' " said. " Was it the vaccines? "

Medical officials from the CDC and the federal Food and Drug Administration are

working to answer that question for the s and for families of two other

babies who died within six weeks of each other.

Two of the deaths have been logged in the voluntary Vaccine Adverse Event

Reporting System VAERS jointly operated by the CDC and FDA, agency officials

said. But Dr. West, the Kootenai County coroner, confirmed that three

infants died this fall within days of immunization.

Waddel Died Sept. 4, 2007

Vance Died Sept. 15, 2007

Paiytu Ames Died Oct. 10, 2007

All from the same pediatricians office.

Parents of the other babies could not be reached for comment.

Autopsies failed to detect any specific vaccine reactions, West said, forcing a

determination of SIDS a " diagnosis of exclusion, " he noted.

He said he welcomes the federal review. " It is a little bit unusual but not

totally unheard of, " West said. " It deserves the investigative clout of the

CDC. "

confirmed that her son's death was one of the Idaho cases reported to

VAERS. The other reported child likely was also under the care of the Coeur

d'Alene pediatric group, said. That raises the possibility the children

received vaccines from the same batch.

If the CDC receives three reports of deaths or 10 reports of serious non-fatal

injuries related to the same lot of a vaccine, it launches a review, said.

In Vance 's case, the immunizations included a dose of Pediarix, a

combined vaccine that contains DTaP, hepatitis B and inactivated polio vaccines.

His mother's records indicate the lot number of the vaccine manufactured by

GlaxoKline was AC21B124B. He also received a dose of Prevnar, lot number

B54007C, a vaccine manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

, of the CDC, said it would be up to the medical practice to decide whether

to suspend use of the vaccine. Dr. Hickok, the pediatrician for 's

son, did not return calls about the issue. A representative for the medical

practice declined to comment.

Those two vaccines are the most likely to be implicated in any adverse events,

said Terzian, a Virginia lawyer who specializes in vaccine injury cases.

Terzian said the s have a good chance of receiving compensation for their

son's death through a federal program because it occurred so soon after

immunization, well within the 72 hours required by federal rules.

Information provided by drug manufacturers and attached to the vaccines reports

low numbers of associated deaths. In 14 clinical trials of Pediarix, five deaths

were reported among 8,088 recipients of the vaccine, including two cases of

SIDS.

In a study of more than 34,000 children in which about half received Prevnar and

half received a control vaccine, a dozen deaths, including five SIDS deaths,

occurred in the Prevnar group. By contrast, 21 deaths occurred in the control

group, including four SIDS deaths, according to manufacturer data.

Immunization specialists acknowledge that any death following vaccination is a

tragedy. But they emphasize that far more children died or fell ill in the era

before vaccinations.

" For the most part, disease is always going to be more risky than getting a

vaccine, " said Pender, health educator for the immunization program at

the Washington state Department of Health.

That is no comfort to . She hopes her experience inspires parents

to educate themselves about the risks of vaccines and prompts them to monitor

any reaction, however slight. She plans to file a claim through the National

Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which provides a maximum of $250,000 after

a vaccine-related death.

In return, all records related to her son's injury and death will be sealed by

the drug manufacturers. is optimistic that they'll use the data to

improve product safety so other families won't experience her tragedy.

" My hope is they're compiling data and statistics to make things better, " she

said. " I'm trying to believe in the inherent goodness of something here. "