In todays news .... Fear of the Needle

[Guest guest]

http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2008/07/06/news/top_story/139909.t

xt

Fear of the Needle ---

Statistics show serious side effects from immunizations rarely occur,

but the controversy around vaccine safety continues to boil - leaving

many parents confused and sometimes opting out of shots that health

officials say protect against devastating diseases still commonplace

around the world.

" Statistics don't mean a thing if it's your child, " said Angie

Vasquez of Heyburn, who still feels the anguish of her baby daughter

Stephani's death 10 years ago after a routine vaccination.

" I want to make the public aware of the dangers of vaccines, " Vasquez

said. " I want to let parents know both sides before making the

decision. Most people trust their physicians and if they tell them

it's the right thing to do, they'll do it. But, when it's your child

it's your choice. "

Stephani was Vasquez's third child and healthy from the start. When

she was 2 months old, she received a reminder in the mail for a well-

baby check that included a vaccination for DPT/Hib.

Five days after the shot, Stephani was cranky and constantly crying.

When the baby slept through the night without feeding, Vasquez let

her sleep thinking the baby was exhausted. When Vasquez awoke at 6

a.m. to feed Stephani, she was ice cold and pure white like a little

porcelain doll.

" I didn't know vaccines could do that. I thought vaccines protected

your baby, " Vasquez said.

The autopsy performed on Stephani showed she died from Haemophilus

influenza Type b or Hib, one of the diseases she was vaccinated

against several days earlier.

Without answers, Vasquez started digging and doing research. She

reported her daughter's death on the Center for Disease Control and

Prevention's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and found the

vaccine lot number her daughter had been given had been reported to

VAERS 34 times and listed as causing another death.

Vasquez retained a lawyer, Curtis Webb of Twin Falls to represent her

and they filed a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation

Program and traveled to Boston for the hearing. Vasquez was offered a

settlement choice of $250,000 and a gag order on the case or $125,000

and no gag order. She chose the latter.

South Central Public Health District Nurse and Immunization

Coordinator, Klamm said although the risks of a serious problem

occurring after a vaccine is rare, anything foreign introduced into

the body may cause a bad reaction in certain individuals, including

over-the-counter medicines, herbal or natural remedies.

But, at least vaccines have undergone stringent testing and the

benefits and risks are known and the devastation that the diseases

they prevent are still a very real threat, Klamm said.

" Ask someone who is 60, 70 or 80 years-old and they will tell you

what measles and mumps are really like or the devastating effects of

rubella when you are pregnant. I guarantee you will have a

handicapped child, " Klamm said.

Burley resident Boswell, now 65, was 4 when she contracted

polio. The disease affected both her arms and her legs and she spent

the following two years in a convalescent home in Boise separated

from her family.

" I was one of the lucky ones, I don't have a lot of recall of the

pain, " Boswell said. For many years she walked with a brace on her

left leg and today is confined to a wheelchair.

" My leg is like a limp rag, " she said. " It has feeling in it but the

disease destroys the muscles. "

Boswell said even though she had the disease, she is still vulnerable

to contracting it again and is regularly vaccinated against it.

" These are not just some little kids' diseases, " Boswell said.

Vasquez said she believes many of the diseases the CDC is credited

with eradicating through its vaccination programs were actually on

the decline anyway.

" They have a natural cycle, " she says. " They had already run their

course and were on the decline. "

Klamm said when vaccines were invented death rates decreased

dramatically - and it wasn't because people learned to wash their

hands or take antibiotics.

Although, diseases do run in a cycles they are never completely

eradicated and an active case can always be found somewhere in the

world, Klamm said.

" They are just a plane ride away. If you want to die of measles, "

Klamm said, " go to Africa. " Measles kill more people in Africa than

tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria combined, she said.

" If we don't open our eyes and look at the studies, history will

repeat itself with these diseases, " Klamm said.

South Central Public Health Epidemiologist Manager Cheryle Becker

said 77 measles cases have been reported to the CDC in 2008 and 76 of

those were un-immunized people or people who lacked documentation of

vaccination. There have been six outbreaks around the nation this

year including the latest cases in Washington.

For un-immunized people who contract some of these diseases as

adults, the effects and mortality may be even more severe.

While adults account for only 5 percent of the chickenpox cases, they

account for 35 percent of the deaths from the disease.

Klamm said she thinks there is a dangerous trend for parents to

listen to their doctor and then decide what treatments they want to

pursue.

Often parents are finding health information on the Internet, which

means the reliability of the source is often questionable.

" A lot of the information out there is just inaccurate, " she says.

Klamm said some families rely on the " herd immunity " theory that

reasons if the majority of the people in a community are already

immunized there is no need to immunize their children and risk a bad

reaction.

Some parents still say they do not want to immunize their children

because they heard the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination causes

autism from the thiomersal, which is a type of mercury. Klamm said

thiomersal, which was commonly used as a preservative in some

vaccines was never in the MMR vaccine. In 2001, it was taken out of

all childhood vaccinations and today remains only in the adult dosage

of the influenza vaccine.

" So in all these kids under 8 years-old, what is causing their

autism, " Klamm said. " I would never deny that autism is awful, it is,

but so is cancer. Do we always have to have something to blame?

Vaccines aren't perfect, but neither is human life. People take these

chances because they haven't seen the diseases. "

Parents also worry that their child's immune system may be

compromised by giving too many shots or too many at once, Klamm said.

In June, a federal advisory panel endorsed two new combination

vaccines to reduce the number of needle sticks for young children. A

four-in-one shot to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis

and polio that is given once to preschool-aged children was approved

along with a five-in-one shot for diptheria, tetanus, pertussis,

polio and Haemophilus influenza type b. Youngsters get four does by

age 2. The combination shots do not change the recommended vaccine

schedules they just reduce the number of needle pokes for the child.

Klamm said even though the number of vaccinations has increased over

the past 100 years the number of immunologic challenges contained in

vaccines has actually decreased.

South Central Public Health District Division Director of

Communicable Diseases Tom Machala said the state recommends a child

receive 13 immunizations by the age of 5. But since some vaccines

require multiple doses in a child's life, the number of needle sticks

can be higher than 13.

The smallpox vaccine contained about 200 viral proteins and today the

recommended vaccines combined contain less than 130.

Klamm also said the vaccine viruses are so disabled that they can not

weaken the immune system and vaccinated children are not at greater

risk of other infections than unvaccinated children.

Vasquez said she is not so sure and thinks the CDC's motives are not

so pure.

" It's all about money, " Vasquez said. " It's not about health, there's

a lot of money behind vaccinations. Can you ever trust anyone who's

on the payroll to tell you the truth? "

Vasquez said her two older children received all their vaccinations

but her two children born after Stephani's death were not vaccinated.

" Their learning skills are better and they don't get sick as much, "

she says.

But, for un-immunized children, the questions may extend past whether

or not they will get a disease to whether or not they will be allowed

to attend school.

Machala said although laws vary nationwide, in Idaho each school

district determines what types of immunization exemptions to allow,

which can range from medical to religious or philosophical.

Vasquez said she has made it a priority in her life to educate and

advocate for immunization choice for parents. She knows the risks of

not immunizing her children and is willing to take the chance.

" I'm not saying don't vaccinate, I'm just saying educate yourself

before you do, " Vasquez said.

" If they get one of the diseases you at least get a chance to take

care of them so they can get better. If they have a bad reaction to a

vaccination, it's irreversible. " Vasquez said.

" All I can say to the parents who look down on me for not vaccinating

my other children, is at least you get to still hold yours, I have to

go to the cemetery to visit mine. "

Laurie Welch may be reached at or

lwelch@....