Vaccination: an analysis of the health risks—part II

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2003 by Gary Null, Martin Feldman

In addition, children born from women whose vaccine-induced immunity has faded are unprotected during their first year of life, when their immune system is still developing, and may suffer fatal complications should they be exposed to the infection.

Is the Chickenpox Vaccine Effective? If the effectiveness of the vaccine is measured by its ability to prevent the disease from occurring, the answer is simply no. As we read in an article published in Pediatrics, "In 1998, three years after vaccine licensure, child care centers in Los Angeles County continued to report varicella outbreaks." These outbreaks occurred in child care centers with high vaccine coverage as well as in those with low coverage, meaning that the infection spread regardless of child vaccination status. (25)

An interesting article clearly shows how questionable are data claiming reductions of diseases following immunization campaigns. This is what often happens: Reporting of a specific disease is encouraged until the start of a vaccination program. Thus, the disease appears to be present at certain rates. Then, after the vaccine enters the market, reporting is no longer required and therefore not done, and the rates of the disease seem to drop. But in reality the drop results from changes in reporting requirements and practices, not from an actual decline in the number of cases.

Vaccination against chickenpox will not prevent a child from contracting the disease. Rates of infection in vaccinated individuals--so-called "breakthrough varicella"--range from 20 to 34% in the 10 years following immunization. (26-28) Furthermore, even if vaccination reduces the number of skin lesions, the duration of the infection, and the occurrence of fever in individuals who develop breakthrough disease, it does not reduce the rate of constitutional complaints and that of complications. (29)

One study found that 18.6% of children who responded to varicella vaccination developed breakthrough disease after exposure to the infection in the five to 10 years following immunization. (30) Another study showed that 20-30% of vaccinees developed varicella in the 10 years following immunization. (31) In a third study, 34% of individuals vaccinated against chickenpox developed breakthrough disease in the seven to 10 years following immunization. (32)

Further Readings: Articles discuss the potential downside to the mass use of the chickenpox vaccine and reactions associated with it. (33-35)

Hepatitis B Vaccine

The hepatitis B vaccine, commercially available in the United States since 1982, was supposed to be given to every American child within 12 hours of birth. In spite of this measure, "the incidence of acute hepatitis B in this country has risen from 55 per 100,000 in 1981 to 63 per 100,000 in 1987," according to the New England Journal of Medicine. (36) Additionally, strong side effects have been reported following the use of this vaccine. In 1990, the Journal of Pediatric Child Health had this to say on the subject: "There have ... been reported six serious illnesses in a series of 200,000 hepatitis vaccinations, including aseptic meningitis, grand mal seizure, and possible transverse myelitis, as well as 56 minor illnesses considered likely due to the vaccine. These minor illnesses include neurological tremors, Bell's palsy, hives, herpes zoster, psoriasis, musculoskeletal generalized myalgia, joint inflammation ... influenza-like syndrome, injection site reaction, diarrhea, vomiting, and headache."