Vaccination: an analysis of the health risks—part II

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

Dorey highlights the problem of shed vaccine virus, noting that it is incorrect to say that the MMR vaccine viruses are not infectious. "According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, July 4, 1987, immunocompromised children should be kept away from MMR vaccinated children for two weeks after vaccination due to the ... [possible shedding] of the virus.

"These events of infection occur because the vaccines contain live virus which can grow in the body and are excreted by the body." (85,86)

Measles Vaccine

A study published in 1994 in the Archives of Internal Medicine evaluated all US and Canadian articles reporting measles outbreaks in schools and found that, on average, 77% of all measles cases in these outbreaks were occurring among vaccinated individuals. The authors concluded that "the apparent paradox is that as measles immunization rates rise to high levels in a population, measles becomes a disease of immunized persons." (87)

One of the reasons for the resurgence of measles infection is that the antibody response to the vaccine virus is only temporary. One study shows that four years after MMR vaccination, measles antibodies fall below the putative protective levels in 28% of children and are no longer present in another 3% of vaccinees. (88) Experimenting with high-potency vaccines produced even poorer results. (89)

These are just samples of the numerous studies showing that the supposed protection offered by the vaccine is short-lasting. By contrast, natural immunity--that derived from contracting the disease--is permanent and is transferred from mothers to the babies in utero through the placenta. At birth, babies born from mothers who have had the disease are protected from the infection during their first year of life by the presence of a high concentration of natural antibodies circulating in their blood. Measles vaccination, on the other hand, induces lower antibody titers than does natural infection. Neutralizing measles antibodies passed by vaccinated women on to their newborns disappear rapidly, leaving the babies susceptible to the infection in their first year of life, when they are more at risk of complications.

This difference in infants' immunity levels is reflected in a 1995 study published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers found that 71% of 9-month-old infants and 95% of 12-month-olds had no detectable neutralizing measles antibodies in their blood. All infants with detectable measles antibodies at 9 or 12 months had mothers born before 1963, before the vaccine era. (90)

Measles infection is still a severe disease in adults. A study published in the American Journal of Medicine in 1993 shows that, of 68 patients over 14 years old who developed measles, 33 required hospitalization. Of these, nine were admitted to the intensive care unit, six required mechanical ventilation, and two died. The authors concluded: "Measles in adults may result in severe, life-threatening complications that utilize substantial medical resources. Physicians need to appreciate the clinical presentations and manifestations of severe measles in adults and to provide measles vaccine to nonimmune adults during community-wide outbreaks. (91) Again, immunization has failed to protect children from infection and has created a vulnerable population of infants and adults who are at risk of developing severe complications. What is the remedy proposed? Again--more vaccination!