Fwd: Vaccination Information

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In a message dated 9/11/00 10:48:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, NJAICV writes:

<<

The AMA, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Family

Physicians, March of Dimes and 18 other public health organizations will

be co-sponsoring a Senate briefing next week to call attention to recent

reports and studies on vaccination and immunization. The organizations will

focus closely on " Calling the Shots " -- a report from the Institute of

Medicine -- as well as the release of state case studies on vaccination and

immunization. Through the briefing, the health care groups aim to educate

lawmakers about the country's pressing need to shore up the country's

immunization and vaccination infrastructure. For more information, e-mail

litjen_tan@... or go to

http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309070295?OpenDocument.

************************************************

>>

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NVIC Vaccination Information

September 2, 2000

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1.WHO warns of Olympic flu outbreak

2.Researchers discover subclinical form of BSE

3.More " cot deaths " occur in day care than at home

4.The future of research into rotavirus vaccine

5. " Olympics: Get Vaccinated, Athletes Told as Flu Stalks Games "

6.DATELINE JUNE 2000: Many public health organizations

co-sponsored a Senate briefing to call attention

to recent reports and studies on vaccination and immunization

**********************************************

WHO warns of Olympic flu outbreak

(my comment (Carolyn): Way to capitalize on the media attention

guys...geesh, who can beat free advertising?)

Meryl Dorey wrote:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2000/09/item20000901162434_1.htm

" The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Olympic Games could coincide

with an influenza outbreak, if the number of cases keeps rising in Sydney.

Deputy director of the organisation's Melbourne influenza centre, Alan

Hampson, says three strains of flu are infecting Sydney and the number of

cases appears to be increasing.

He says it is the first time the Olympics has been held at the start of

spring when the flu season often peaks. " ...

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Researchers discover subclinical form of BSE

Meryl Dorey wrote:

(OK - so it can be subclinical and anyone (animal or human though they don't

say that) can be infected without knowing about it. This sounds like it

makes a lot of sense. But to say that mice were easily infected when

injected with this material and then for the UK government and other

governments around to world to insist that the risk to the tens of millions

of children who would have received infected vaccines was very low is

nothing short of a lie.)

http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7260/528/b

" Subclinical form of BSE may exist: A subclinical form of bovine spongiform

encephalopathy may exist in sheep, pigs, and poultry that were exposed to

BSE via contaminated feed. The research by the Medical Research Council's

prion unit means that experiments into how easily BSE can move from cattle

to infect people and other animals have to be repeated (full story in News

extra at bmj.com).

More children smoke in developing countries: About 20% of school children in

developing countries are already regular smokers, reports a survey

coordinated by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the US

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. " ...

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More " cot deaths " occur in day care than at home

Meryl Dorey wrote:

(Interesting. The title of this article says specifically that more cases of

cot death occur at day care than at home and yet, when you read it you find

that 20% occur in day care (more than the researchers expected admittedly)

and 80% occur at home. With this sort of treatment of statistics, how the

hell do they expect anyone to trust any of their figures. And of course,

while sleep position is mentioned as the cause of these deaths, there is not

one mention of vaccination.)

http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7260/529/a

" Many cases of the sudden infant death syndrome (cot deaths) occur in day

care settings, where carers may be less aware of the importance of putting

babies to sleep on their backs, new research has found.

In a study of 1916 cases of the sudden infant death syndrome in 11 US

states, researchers found that about 20 391 deathsoccurred in day care

settings. The biggest risk seemed to be in home day care (at the home of a

neighbour or local person), rather than in organised, licensed childcare

centres.

About 60% of the day care deaths occurred in these home care settings. These

tended to be unlicensed and run by older women with less access to

paediatricians and others who promote strategies for reducing the risk of

the sudden infant death syndrome, said Dr Moon, the study's lead

author and a paediatrician at the Children's National Medical Center in

Washington, DC (Pediatrics 2000;106:295-300). " ...

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The future of research into rotavirus vaccine

Meryl Dorey wrote:

(And this guy has the nerve to call himself a bioethicist? He would not know

the meaning of the word ethics. While he sits in his tall white tower

discussing the lives of children he has never met and never seen, he does

not mention even once the prospect of fully informing these children's

parents and allowing them the option to decide for themselves. But of

course, if you allow informed choice, parents might choose not to give the

vaccine to their children and that can't be allowed, right? The best

prevention for rotavirus is full breastfeeding without supplementation.

Rotavirus is almost unheard of in fully breastfed children - no matter where

they live! But if we even discuss that option, the multi-national

pharmaceutical and forumla companies (and it's no coincidence that many of

the formula companies are subsidiaries of the pharmaceutical companies, is

it?) might get upset and that could affect advertising dollars and we can't

have that, can we? Bioethicist? I think that is as much an oxymoron as

military intelligence and jumbo shrimp!)

http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7260/525

" The future of a potentially lifesaving vaccine for developing countries has

been imperiled by its recent withdrawal from the United States market. In

August 1998, tetravalent rhesus rotavirus vaccine was licensed for routine

vaccination in the United States on the basis of randomised controlled

trials there and in Finland. The trials showed that the vaccine had an

efficacy of 49-68% in preventing rotavirus diarrhoea overall and,

importantly, 69-91% efficacy in preventing severe disease.1-4

In July 1999 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a

clustering of cases of intussusception in the weeks after vaccination with

tetravalent rhesus rotavirus vaccine, representing an additional risk of 1

in 10 000 for this complication.5 On the basis of this finding they

recommended " postponing administration of tetravalent rhesus rotavirus

vaccine to children, " and in October 1999 the manufacturer voluntarily

withdrew the product from the United States market. This leaves researchers

with a moral quandary: should randomised controlled trials of tetravalent

rhesus rotavirus vaccine proceed in developing countries?

Firstly, it may be thought that other vaccines in development (for example,

human-bovine rotavirus vaccine) may not cause intussusception. This is pure

speculation. About one million children have been vaccinated with

tetravalent rhesus rotavirus vaccine. Other vaccines in development have two

or three orders of magnitude less experience in humans, numbers far too

small to rule out a complication in the order of 1 in 10 000. Indeed, we

cannot rule out the possibility that rotavirus itself causes intussusception

in children who are predisposed to this problem; thus, vaccination with any

live oral agent may be a triggering event.6 Secondly, the public health

community generally believes that one must do no harm. " .... (my comment:

HA!)

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Doug Hertford wrote:

" Olympics: Get Vaccinated, Athletes Told as Flu Stalks Games "

Reuters (www.reuters.com) (09/01/00)

" Olympic athletes are being warned to get vaccinated for influenza

before heading to Sydney, which is undergoing a winter flu

epidemic. Alan Hampson of the World Health Organization Center

for Influenza in Melbourne said that while the Sydney flu strain

peaked in July last year, the virus is still increasing this

year. According to Hampson, three flu strains including A Sydney

are currently active in Sydney. He said the flu could easily

spread in the crowds and stadiums that people will flock to in

the coming weeks; however, he noted there is still time to get

vaccinated before the Olympics start. " ...

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(worth the read!!!)

Doug Hertford Wrote:

The AMA, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Family

Physicians, March of Dimes and 18 other public health organizations will

be

co-sponsoring a Senate briefing next week to call attention to recent

reports

and studies on vaccination and immunization. The organizations will

focus

closely on " Calling the Shots " -- a report from the Institute of

Medicine -- as

well as the release of state case studies on vaccination and

immunization.

Through the briefing, the health care groups aim to educate lawmakers

about the

country's pressing need to shore up the country's immunization and

vaccination

infrastructure. For more information, e-mail litjen_tan@... or

go to

http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309070295?OpenDocument.

************************************************

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