support Hepatitits B vaccine and other issues raised.

[Guest guest]

this was sent to me by a friend a i want to share it with you: Anurse and her coworkers mentioned receiving HEP B vaccine and then beginning FMS symptoms. If anyone is interested there is a Vaccine and Autoimmune Injury Board. http://discserver.snap.com/Indices/100223.html

Offspring Magazine> This is an incredible article on the vaccine safety movement. They onlyhave> part of it on the website. Everyone should buy this magazine for the full> article.>> Kathi > National Vaccine Information Center> ----------> Who's Calling the Shots?> By Walecia Konrad with on Ginsburg>> When , a mother in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania, took her> daughter Brittany to the doctor at four months, she'd already fallenbehind> in her immunizations. So the pediatrician's nurse suggested a quick fix:> They'd give the baby girl both doses of her DTP shot (for diphtheria,> tetanus and pertussis), which are routinely administered at two-month> intervals.>> balked. "Isn't there a reason they space them apart?" she asked.> When offered instead to bring her daughter back one month later,> the nurse called the doctor in. Despite her protests, the pediatriciangave> her daughter the second shot anyway. stormed out of the office,> vowing to find another doctor. When she didn't come back for her next> scheduled visit two months later, she got a call from the pediatrician's> office. An apology? Hardly. The staffer warned that she'd be> reported to child services for neglect if she didn't get her daughter> vaccinated properly. "The doctor is the one who should have beenreported,"> fumes . "She didn't want to deal with anyone who asked any> questions.">> Threats? Harassment? Over childhood immunizations? There was a time-not so> long ago, either-when vaccinations were a simple, routine part of child> care, as nonconfrontational as diaper changes. And there's no denying that> vaccines have been one of the major medical triumphs of the last forty> years: Smallpox has been eradicated, and both polio and diphtheria havebeen> all but wiped out in the Western Hemisphere. It's estimated that before1963> there were as many as 4 million cases of the measles and 500 deaths from> that disease annually in the U.S.; in 1999 there were just 86 occurrences.> The Hib vaccine has helped stem the number of cases of Haemophilus> influenzae type b-once the leading cause of childhood bacterial meningitis> and postnatal mental retardation-from 20,000 a year in the early '80s to54> in 1998.>> But vaccines have become the subject of a fierce debate between a growing> cadre of anti-vaccine activists and the medical establishment. Theactivists> claim that vaccines can, in fact, hurt children-causing brain damage,> autism, even death-and they want to allow parents to opt out of the> mandatory immunization schedule and to improve the safety of the shots> children get. "Parents have a right to informed consent-to get all the> information and then make a decision," says Dawn , founder of> Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE). Doctors and publichealth> officials, by and large, have reacted with patronizing dismissal,> characterizing advocates as a fringe element-"misguided folks" peddling> "misguided information," as one doctor says.>> Then last summer there was a flurry of news that brought attention to the> anti-vaccine case: Safer versions of two core vaccines-DTP and polio-were> put on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's schedule, a move> that backhandedly acknowledged the activists' claims. After that came the> rotavirus debacle, in which the new vaccine, supposed to guard against a> severe form of childhood diarrhea, was found to cause life-threateningbowel> obstructions in infants. Just nine months after introducing the vaccine,the> Federal Drug Administration recommended that it be pulled. As rotavirusmade> headlines, more and more parents began wondering what was going on. If the> doctors had made a mistake this time, maybe they didn't really know that> much after all. Maybe we should all be worrying about immunizations.> Suddenly, the vaccine safety movement had gone mainstream.>> Where does that leave you? Most likely in your pediatrician's waitingroom,> wondering how seriously you should take the anti-vaccine claims andwhether> your doctor is (a) really up on this debate and ( telling you all youneed> to know about the side effects of the twenty-four shots of vaccine your> child will likely get over the next four years.>> The vaccine whirlwind starts literally at birth, when many hospitals> inoculate infants against hep-atitis B, an incurable disease that causes> severe liver damage, but one that is usually transmitted sexually. By your> baby's two-month checkup, he's due for an onslaught of shots: a seconddose> of hep B and the first shots for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; polio;> and Hib. Just watching the needles piercing your infant's thigh ispainful.> Whatever happened to the polio vaccine we drank from a cup as kids? That's> the one the CDC took off its vaccination list last year, after vaccine> safety advocates spent years publicizing what the government already knew:> The tiny number of polio cases occurring annually in the U.S. wereactually> caused by the oral vaccine, which contained the live virus.>> By the time of your child's four-month well-baby checkup, you're full of> questions. Your son ran a slight fever after his last shots-a common minor> reaction. But do you need to worry? Like many parents, you turn to the> Internet for reassurance. Your search only raises your anxiety. At the> National Vaccine Information Center's Web site (www.909shot.com), for> example, you read about a Swedish study of 215,000 children who receivedthe> DTP shot. One in 17,000 either died from a reaction or ended up with> permanent brain damage. The CDC site (www.cdc.gov/nip) says, "The risks of> serious disease from not vaccinating are far greater than the risks of> serious reaction to the vaccination," but how are you to judge the real> danger to your child?>> It doesn't help that all your Web surfing has landed your name on a couple> of e-mail lists. Your inbox is full of dire messages with scary subject> lines like "The Damning Evidence That the Medical Establishment Has Chosen> to Ignore." One, headlined "Dirty Vaccines," implies that vaccines madewith> bovine material might be carrying mad cow disease. Every doctor visit is> starting to feel like a game of Russian roulette. Meanwhile, your son, now> one year old, is due for his first measles-mumps-rubella shot, andfrankly,> you're terrified. This is the vaccine that some activists claim is linkedto> the skyrocketing incidence of autism in the U.S. and Britain. Scientists> dispute that there's any such connection, but what if . . . ?>> FOR THE COMPLETE STORY, PICK UP THE JUNE/JULY ISSUE OF OFFSPRING AVAILABLE> ON NEWSSTANDS TODAY