Re: Did your child receive Proquad?

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I find it appalling that such a vaccine even exists.

Did your child receive Proquad?

Hi there,Any parents on this board have kids diagnosed with autism whoreceived the Proquad (MMR+ varicella vaccine)?It's a relatively new vaccine released in 2005. Many of you saw thissearch a couple years ago - now that the vaccine's been out awhile(and in light of it's known problems) - we're asking parents again incase younger kids are emerging.If your child with autism did get this vaccine, please e-mail DanOlmsted - olmsted.dan@...Or, if your child participated in any clinical trials involvingVaricella or MMR (or both) conducted 1998-2004 (WA state and others) -please get in touch.Thanks ------------------------------------------------------Here's the story from two weeks ago about the findings with thisvaccine.Kids Vaccine Linked To Fever, SeizuresProQuad Vaccine Linked To More Convulsions; CDC Panel AmendsPreference For ComboATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2008E-Mail StoryPrint StorySphereShareText Size: A A A(AP) Children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions whenthey got a Merck & Co. combination vaccine instead of two separateshots, according to a new study presented Wednesday.The results prompted a federal advisory panel on vaccines to waterdown their preference for the combo vaccine ProQuad, which protectsagainst measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox.In the study of children ages 12 months through 23 months, the rateof seizures was twice as high in toddlers who got ProQuad, comparedwith those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the threeother diseases.The risk translates to about one extra case of convulsion for every2,000 doses of ProQuad given said Dr. Nicola Klein, who lead thefederally funded study. She presented the data at a meeting of theAdvisory Committee on Immunization Practices.The study focused on children who develop fevers and then go intoconvulsions _ an occurrence that frightens parents but usually has nolingering consequences. There were no deaths in the new study.ProQuad was licensed in 2005. It's been in extremely short supplysince last year, when Merck suspended production because ofmanufacturing problems. The company expects to resume ProQuadproduction next year.The panel had previously taken a position that they preferred doctorsgive children as few needlesticks as possible, and that ProQuad ispreferable to giving separate shots.It voted Wednesday to amend that, to say they're no longer voicing apreference for ProQuad over the separate shots."Safety, shortages, delivery issues _ lots of reasons not to statesuch a strong preference," said member panel Patsy Stinchfield, aninfectious disease expert at Children's Hospitals and Clinics ofMinnesota.Merck officials said their own research, though preliminary, alsoshowed a doubling of the risk in children within five to 12 days ofvaccination. However, the occurrence was low _ about 5 cases in10,000, Merck officials said.They said there was five times more chickenpox antigen, the keyingredient, in the ProQuad shot than in the stand-alone chickenpoxshot. But they said it's not clear that would explain the differencein seizure rates.For some reason, the difference disappears when comparing rates for30 days, Merck officials added.Klein's research checked seizure rates only at seven to 10 days aftervaccination, and looked at about 43,000 kids who got ProQuad and315,000 who got the two other shots together. It found fever-relatedseizures occurred at a rate of 9 per 10,000 children vaccinated withProQuad, compared with 4 per 10,000 for those who got separate shots.Klein is co-director of Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center inOakland, Calif., one of seven sites in the study. Her work was fundedby the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.ProQuad costs $124 per dose, about the same as the two other shotscombined.