Hepatitis B
-from NVIC and other
sources
Hepatitis B Not Highly
Contagious - Unlike other infectious diseases for which vaccines have been developed and
mandated in the U.S., hepatitis B is not common in childhood and is not highly contagious.
Hepatitis B is primarily an adult disease transmitted through infected body fluids, most
frequently infected blood, and is prevalent in high risk populations such as needle using
drug addicts; sexually promiscuous heterosexual and homosexual adults; residents and staff
of custodial institutions such as prisons; health care workers exposed to blood; persons
who require repeated blood transfusions and babies born to infected mothers.
According to CDC Prevention
Guidelines: A Guide to Action (1997), a book written by federal public health officials at
the U.S. government Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "the sources of [hepatitis B]
infection for most cases include intravenous drug use (28%), heterosexual contact with
infected persons or multiple partners (22%) and homosexual activity (9%)." According
to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (1994), mother to child transmission of
hepatitis B "is uncommon in North America and western Europe."
Although CDC officials have
made statements that hepatitis B is easy to catch through sharing toothbrushes or razors,
Eric Mast, M.D., Chief of the Surveillance Section, Hepatitis Branch of the CDC, stated in
a 1997 public hearing that: " although [the hepatitis B virus] is present in moderate
concentrations in saliva, it's not transmitted commonly by casual contact."
Hepatitis B, notes CDC expert
Dr. Eric Mast, is "a silent disease until people die as adults from the
complications." That is one reason federal public health officials keep pressing for
inoculation of babies and toddlers. Another: it is easier to prick a child than it is to
round up at-risk populations such as addicts and prostitutes.
Hepatitis B Not A Killer
Disease For Most - Symptoms of hepatitis B disease include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, low
grade fever, pain and swelling in joints, headache and cough that may occur one to two
weeks before the onset of jaundice (yellowing of the skin) and enlargement and tenderness
of the liver, which can last for three to four weeks. Fatigue can last up to a year.
According to Harrison's, in cases of acute hepatitis B "most patients do not require
hospital care" and "95 percent of patients have a favorable course and recover
completely" with the case-fatality ratio being "very low (approximately 0.1
percent)."
Those who recover completely
from hepatitis B infection acquire life-long immunity. Of those who do not recover
completely, fewer than 5 percent become chronic carriers of the virus with just one
quarter of these in danger of developing life threatening liver disease later in life,
according to Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease (1994), a medical college textbook.
The Guide to Clinical
Preventive Services (1996), written under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS), states that the risk of developing a chronic hepatitis B
infection is higher in infected infants than in infected older children and adults:
"Infections during infancy, while estimated to represent only 1-3% of cases, account
for 20-30% of chronic infections." Because infants born to infected mothers are at
highest risk for developing chronic hepatitis B infections, routine screening of pregnant
women for hepatitis B infection is one of the most important public health measures that
can be taken to prevent chronic hepatitis B carriers. The Merck Manual (1992), a major
medical reference used by physicians, notes that "postexposure vaccination is
recommended for newborn infants of hepatitis B positive mothers."
Hepatitis B Low In U.S. - The
U.S. and western Europe have always had among the lowest rates of hepatitis B disease in
the world (0.1% to 0.5% of the general population) compared to countries in the Far East
and Africa, where the disease affects 5-20% or more of the population. According to Guide
to Clinical Preventive Services, in the U.S. "the greatest reported incidence [of
hepatitis B] occurs in adults aged 20-39" and "the number of cases peaked in
1985 and has shown a continuous gradual decline since that time."
Even though hepatitis B disease
is uncommon in the general population in the U.S., it continues to be high among those
engaged in high-risk behaviors, especially IV drug use. Guide to Clinical Preventive
Services states that "In recent years, a growing number of injection drug users have
become infected; currently, between 60% and 80% of persons who use illicit drugs
parenterally (through the skin such as with a needle stick) have serologic evidence of
[hepatitis B] infection."
In 1991, there were 18,003
cases of hepatitis B reported in the U.S. out of a total U.S. population of 248 million.
According to the October 31, 1997 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the
CDC, in 1996 there were 10,637 cases of hepatitis B reported in the U.S. with 279 cases
reported in children under the age of 14 and the CDC stated that "Hepatitis B
continues to decline in most states, primarily because of a decrease in the number of
cases among injecting drug users and, to a lesser extent, among both homosexuals and
heterosexuals of both sexes."
Dr. Saul Krugman of New York University
conducted studies of hepatitis during the 1950s and 1960s:
(Under US army contracts) during the 1950s and 1960s on the
severely mentally retarded children. He infected children between three years old and
eleven with strains of the virus obtained from the feces of Willowbrook hepatitis patients
to study the natural history, effects, and progression of the disease.
CDC Recommends All Infants Get
Hep B Vaccine - Even though hepatitis B is an adult disease, is not highly contagious, is
not deadly for most who contract it, and is not in epidemic form in the U.S. (except among
high risk groups such as IV drug addicts), in 1991 the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that all infants be
injected with the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth before being discharged from
the hospital newborn nursery. A similar recommendation was also made by the Committee on
Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This, despite the fact
almost nothing is known about the health and integrity of an individual baby's immune and
neurological systems at birth.
In 1991, media reports
generated by the CDC used hepatitis B disease statistics that were not anchored in
documented fact but are still used today to promote mass hepatitis B vaccination. Most of
the inflated disease statistics originate with statements generated by the Centers for
Disease Control. In the 1991 ACIP Recommendations calling for mass vaccination with
hepatitis B vaccine published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC states
that there are an "estimated 1 million-1.25 million persons with chronic hepatitis B
infection in the United States" and that "each year approximately 4,000-5,000 of
these persons die from chronic liver disease" and that "an estimated
200,000-300,000 new [hepatitis B] infections occurred annually during the period
1980-1991." The CDC gives no scientific reference for this data other than the CDC.
Just one year before the
government's call for mass vaccination, hepatitis B vaccine maker SmithKline Beecham in
their 1990 hepatitis B vaccine product insert stated, "The CDC estimates that there
are approximately 0.5 to 1.0 million chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus in the U.S. and
that this pool of carriers grows by 2% to 3% (12,000 to 20,000 individuals)
annually."
figures show that the number of
hepatitis B vaccine-associated serious adverse event and death reports in American
children under the age of 14 outnumber the reported cases of hepatitis B disease in that
age group.
in 1996, there were 872 serious
adverse events reported to VAERS in children under 14 years of age who had been injected
with hepatitis B vaccine. The children were either taken to a hospital emergency room, had
life threatening health problems, were hospitalized or were left disabled following
vaccination. 214 of the children had received hepatitis B vaccine alone and the rest had
received hepatitis B vaccine in combination with other vaccines. 48 children were reported
to have died after they were injected with hepatitis B vaccine in 1996 and 13 of them had
received hepatitis B vaccine only before their deaths. By contrast, in 1996 only 279 cases
of hepatitis B disease were reported in children under age 14.
1997 hepatitis B disease
statistics from eight states reinforce the lack of hepatitis B disease in young children,
particularly in children under 5 years old. For children under 5 years old, New Hampshire
reported 1 case of hepatitis B; Washington state reported 2 cases; Michigan reported 9
cases; and Texas reported 13 cases. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois
reported no hepatitis B cases in children under 5 years old. By contrast, in 1997 there
were a total of 106 VAERS reports of hepatitis B vaccine-related serious adverse events
and 10 deaths in children under age 5 living in the eight states with 13 of the reported
serious adverse events and 2 deaths occurring in children receiving only hepatitis B
vaccine.
There were 24,775 hepatitis B
vaccine-related adverse events reported to VAERS in all age groups, including 9,673
serious adverse events and 439 deaths between July 1, 1990 and October 31, 1998. Out of
this total, 17,497 reports were in individuals who received only hepatitis B vaccine
without any other vaccines. 5,983 of the reports were for serious events and there were
146 deaths, which means that 35 percent of reports in all age groups after receipt of
hepatitis B vaccine only are for serious events.
During the same time period,
there was a total of 2,424 adverse event reports, with 1,209 serious events and 73 deaths
in children under age 14 who got hepatitis B vaccine alone without any other vaccines.
This means that 52 percent or 1 out of 2 reports for children under age 14, who only
receive hepatitis B vaccine, are for serious events.
VAERS depends primarily upon
physicians reporting and causation cannot be conclusively determined without in-depth
follow-up of each serious event and death report. NVIC maintains that reports made by
doctors to VAERS represent only a small fraction of the vaccine-related injuries and
deaths which occur in the U.S. every year. A former FDA Commissioner wrote in JAMA in 1993
that one study showed "only about 1 percent of serious events" attributable to
drug reactions are reported to the FDA.
1994 NVIC survey of 159 doctors’
offices in 7 states revealed that only 28 out of 159 doctors (18%) said they make a report
to the government when a child suffers a serious health problem following vaccination. In New
York, only one doctor out of 40 surveyed reported vaccine adverse events to the
government.
Despite mass vaccinations,
based on nationwide sampling of the prevalence of hepatitis B by the Centers for Disease
Control, 1988, to 1994, for comparison with figures from 1976 to 1980 [American Journal of
Public Health, vol. 89, no. 14, 1999]: H[epatitis] B V[irus] prevalence is unchanged by
hepatitis B [vaccine],"
Federal Recommendations Become State Laws - Because vaccination
requirements are controlled by states and not the federal government, in order for federal
health officials to achieve their goal of a 100 percent vaccination rate with new vaccines
marketed by drug companies, they must persuade states to turn federal vaccine policies
into state law. And, because during the past 50 years, most state legislatures have
completely turned over the power to mandate vaccines to state health department officials,
very infrequently do state legislators take a vote to approve the mandating of a new
vaccine such as hepatitis B. So, while American children born in 1948 were only required
by state health officials to show proof of smallpox vaccination to enter school, American
children born in 1998 are required by most states to be injected with 33 or 34 doses of 9
or 10 different viral and bacterial vaccines to enter school, including three doses of
hepatitis B vaccine.
This vaccine was never tested
for safety on infants. CDC's own Fact Sheet on the hepatitis B disease does not
include newborn babies as a risk group for that disease. 2002 BMJ-vaccine efficacy 14 years
after trial of hepatitis B vaccination in Gambian children concluded that Children
vaccinated in infancy are at increased risk of hepatitis B virus infection in the late
teens.
Federal Health Officials
Give State Health Officials Money To Force Hep B Vaccination - Following the 1991 CDC
recommendation for universal use of hepatitis B vaccine by all children, state health
department officials began issuing mandates requiring children to show proof they have
been injected with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine in order to attend daycare or
school. By the end of 1997, 35 states had regulations on the books requiring children to
get 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine and, yet, only 15 states had passed laws requiring
prenatal screening of pregnant mothers for hepatitis B infection.
To encourage states to mandate
use of hepatitis B vaccine by all children, federal health officials at the Centers for
Disease Control give grants and other financial incentives to state health departments to
reward them for promoting mass vaccination. Since 1965, the CDC has given state health
departments hundreds of millions of dollars through categorical grant programs to promote
mass use of federally recommended vaccines. At the same time, if state health officials do
not show federal health officials proof they have attained a certain vaccination rate in
their state, federal grants to state health departments can be withheld.
In 1993, the Comprehensive
Childhood Immunization Act of 1993 was passed giving the Department of Health and Human
Services (DHHS) the authority to award more than $400 million to states to set up state
vaccine registries to tag and track children and enforce mandatory vaccination with
federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine. The Performance Grant
Program rewards a state with either $50, $75 or $100 per child who is fully vaccinated
with all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine and, in 1995, DHHS
Secretary Donna Shalala gave the states the power to approve a newborn's social security
number in order to set up vaccine tracking registries in more than half the states. The
CDC plan is to hook up the state vaccine tracking registries in order to create a de facto
centralized electronic database containing every child's medical records.
Pharmaceutical Industry Also
Funds Forced Hep B Vaccination - In addition to federal grants, many states get money from
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Johnson & Johnson), which operates All Kids Count,
to set up vaccine tracking systems to enforce state vaccination mandates. (In 1989, Merck
& Co., the U.S. manufacturer of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), chicken pox and
hepatitis B vaccines, joined with Johnson & Johnson to form Worldwide Consumer
Pharmaceuticals Co. with the goal of becoming "one of the premier worldwide consumer
products companies." Merck's 1997 vaccine sales reached 1 billion dollars.)
All Kids Count is a project of
the Task Force for Child Survival and Development headquartered at The Carter Center
(former President Jimmy Carter) in Atlanta, which is directed by former CDC director Dr.
William Foege. The Task Force is supported by the World Health Organization, World Bank,
Rockefeller Foundation, United Nation's Population Fund and vaccine manufacturers,
entities which also sponsor the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI). The CVI,
headquartered in Geneva, was launched in 1990 at the World Summit for Children and
promotes "the development and utilization" of vaccines by all of the world's
children.
Forced vaccination with
hepatitis B vaccine is also promoted in states by non-profit organizations such as Every
Child by Two, founded in 1991 by former First Lady Rosalyn Carter and Betty Bumpers, wife
of Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers. Every Child by Two is funded in part by grants from
Merck, Lederle and Connaught, the three largest U.S. vaccine manufacturers.
The non-profit CDC Foundation,
which began operation in 1995, has raised more than $15 million in the past four years to
augment the CDC's campaign to enforce mass vaccination. The CDC Foundation, the Task Force
for Child Survival & Development and vaccine manufacturers funded the recent National
Immunization Conference held in Atlanta.
The five-year-old non-profit
Immunization Action Coalition operates the Hepatitis B Coalition, which nationally
promotes hepatitis B vaccination for all children. Funding comes from private donations,
including a grant from SmithKline Beecham, manufacturer of the hepatitis B vaccine, and a
new $750,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control. A newsletter produced by this
group contains the assurance that "Everything herein is reviewed by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention for technical accuracy (unless it is an opinion piece
written by a non-CDC author)."
Pharmacists Now Vaccinate -
SmithKline Beecham, through the American Pharmaceutical Association, has also funded a
nationwide campaign called "Pharmacy-Based Immunization Advocacy" which allows
pharmacists to vaccinate children and adults. As of 1998, the Hepatitis B Coalition
reports that 23 states have passed laws giving pharmacists the right to sell and
administer hepatitis B and other vaccines.
Families Penalized For Refusing
Hep B Vaccine - As state health departments accumulate power and money to force
vaccination with all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccine, child
and adult citizens are punished by both federal and state health officials with economic
sanctions for refusing to comply. Refusal to be injected with hepatitis B vaccine can
result in citizens being denied an education, including enrollment in daycare, elementary
school, high school, college and graduate school; denial of health insurance; denial of
employment; denial of federal entitlement benefits for poor children including food under
the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and medical care under Medicaid. In some
states, like Texas, a needy family loses $25 per month per child in state health benefits
if all children have not received all federally recommended vaccines, including hepatitis
B vaccine.
Hep B Vaccine Licensed By FDA
Without Adequate Proof of Long Term Safety - In 1986, the FDA gave Merck & Co. a
license to market the first recombinant DNA hepatitis B vaccine, which replaced the old
hepatitis B vaccines made from blood taken from human chronic hepatitis B virus carriers.
In awarding Merck & Co. and, later, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, licenses to
market their genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccines in the U.S., the FDA allowed both
drug companies to use "safety" studies which only included a few thousand
children monitored for only four or five days after vaccination to check for reactions. As
"proof" their hepatitis B vaccine is safe to be used in children, Merck &
Co. stated in their 1993 product insert that "In a group of studies, 1636 doses of
RECOMBIVAX HB were administered to 653 healthy infants and children (up to 10 years of
age) who were monitored for 5 days after each dose."
Merck & Co. found that
injection site and systemic complaints, such as fatigue and weakness, fever, headache and
arthralgia (joint pain), were reported following up to 17 percent of all hepatitis B
injections. Because the FDA did not require drug companies to provide scientific evidence
that hepatitis B vaccine does not compromise the immune and neurological systems of
children and adults over weeks, months or years post-vaccination, Merck & Co. warns in
the 1996 product insert that "As with any vaccine, there is the possibility that
broad use of the vaccine could reveal adverse reactions not observed in clinical
trials" and SmithKline Beecham (1993) has a similar warning that "it is possible
that expanded commercial use of the vaccine could reveal rare adverse reactions.
Another warning in the Merck
1996 product insert is "it is also not known whether the vaccine can cause fetal harm
when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity" and
"it is not known whether the vaccine is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs
are secreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when the vaccine is administered
to a nursing woman."
And, although doctors routinely
inject hepatitis B vaccine into children along with many other vaccines such as DPT, HIB,
MMR and chicken pox vaccine, Merck & Co. state in the 1996 product insert:
"Specific data are not yet available for the simultaneous administration of
RECOMBIVAX HB with other vaccines."
Hep B Vaccine Efficacy Also
Questioned - All vaccines stimulate only an artificial, temporary immunity, and the length
of immunity conferred by the hepatitis B vaccine and the future need for more
"booster" doses later in life is still not clear. Merck & Co state in their
1996 hepatitis B vaccine product insert that "the duration of the protective effect
of RECOMBIVAX HB in healthy vaccinees is unknown at present and the need for booster doses
is not yet defined."
In the CDC Prevention
Guidelines: A Guide to Action (1997), the CDC states "The duration of protection [of
hepatitis B vaccine] and need for booster doses are not yet fully defined. Between 30% and
50% of persons who develop adequate antibody after three doses of vaccine will lose
detectable antibody within 7 years but protection against viremic infection and clinical
disease appears to persist." If immunity only lasts 7 years, babies vaccinated with
hepatitis B vaccine may be candidates for more shots at age seven.
IOM Report Reveals Lack Of
Adequate Scientific Studies - In Adverse Events Associated with Childhood Vaccines
published in 1994 by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, observations
about the limitations of hepatitis B vaccine studies included the statements that "it
is important to note that individual trials usually involved a few hundred subjects for
study...when larger vaccination programs were monitored, observations of adverse events
were necessarily less detailed and less accurately reported" and "the studies
were not designed to assess serious, rare adverse events; the total number of recipients
is too small and the follow-up generally too short to detect rare or delayed serious
adverse reactions."
The IOM report also noted that
no controlled observational studies or controlled clinical trials have ever been held to
evaluate repeated reports that hepatitis B vaccine can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome;
arthritis; transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis and other central
demyelinating diseases of the nervous system (degeneration of the myelin sheath of the
brain that helps transmit nerve impulses); or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
A major conclusion of the Institute
of Medicine report was that almost no basic science research has been undertaken to define
at the cellular and molecular level the biological mechanism of vaccine-induced injury and
death. The report concluded that "The lack of adequate data regarding many of the
adverse events under study was of major concern to the committee...the committee
encountered many gaps and limitations in knowledge bearing directly or indirectly on the
safety of vaccines. These include inadequate understanding of the biologic mechanisms
underlying adverse events following natural infection or immunization, insufficient or
inconsistent information from case reports and case series...and inadequate size or length
of follow-up of many population-based epidemiologic studies…."
Medical Literature Cites Immune
System/Brain Damage - During the past decade, there have been many reports in the medical
literature (primarily in international medical journals rather than U.S. medical journals)
that hepatitis B vaccination is causing chronic immune and neurological disease in
children and adults, including lupus: Tudela & Bonal (1992); Mamoux & Dumont
(1994); Guiserix (1996); arthritis, including polyarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis:
Christan & Helin (1987); Hachulla et al (1990); Rogerson & Nye (1990); Biasi et al
(1993),(1994); Vautier & Carty (1994); Hassan & Oldham (1994); Rheumatic Review
(1994); Gross et al (1995); Pope et al (1995); Cathebras et al (1996); Soubrier et al
(1997); Guillain Barre Syndrome GBS): Shaw et al (1988), Tuohy (1989); demyelinating
disorders such as optic neuritis, Bell's Palsy, demyelinating neuropathy, transverse
myelitis and multiple sclerosis: Shaw et al (1988); WHO (1990); Reutens et al (1990);
Herroelen et al (1991); Nadler (1993); Brezin et al (1993); Mahassin et al (1993);
Kaplanski et al (1995); Baglivo et al (1996); Marsaudon & Barrault (1996); Berkman et
al (1996); Waisbren (1997); diabetes mellitus: Poutasi (1996); Classen (1996); chronic
fatigue: Salit (1993); Delage et al (1993); vascular disorders: Fried et al (1987);
Goolsby (1989); Cockwell et al (1990); Poullin & Gabriel (1994); Mathieu et al (1996);
Graniel et al (1997); and others.
In 1996, Burton A. Waisbren,
M.D., a cell biologist and infectious disease specialist, who is a founding member of the
Infectious Disease Society of America and past President of the Infectious Disease Society
of Milwaukee, pointed out in the Wisconsin Medical Journal that "there is an
increasing number of reports in the refereed medical literature about demyelinizing
diseases occurring after an individual has received the hepatitis B vaccination...since
the hepatitis B virus itself has been reported to cause autoimmune problems, should we not
be wary of giving antigens that seem to have triggered these problems?" Waisbren, in
a presentation before a 1996 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum, warned that
genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccines contain polypeptide sequences that are present
in human neurologic tissues such as myelin and that, by a mechanism called molecular
mimicry, these polypeptides can act as autoantigens which can induce autoimmune
demyelinating diseases of the brain such as multiple sclerosis.
In that same year, Montinari et
al published a study in Italy evaluating 30 children and adults, the majority aged 3 to 9
months, who suffered central nervous system disorders, such as seizures and autism,
following hepatitis B vaccination. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether
there is an immunogenetic basis (autoimmune type) responsible for the demyelination
process in the brain that can occur following recombinant hepatitis B vaccination. The
authors concluded "autoimmune diseases are more frequent in nations where vaccines
are widely used, the so called "clear" communities" and they identified
several potential genetic markers that "may visualize risk patients for autoimmune
diseases following hepatitis B vaccination.
Montinari's work to identify
genetic factors for predisposition to hepatitis B vaccine reactions is important in light
of the study in 1989 by Alper et al to identify genetic factors for those who do not
respond to hepatitis B vaccination. In that study, the authors concluded that there was
genetic predisposition to failure to respond to the vaccine. They stated: "These
results support our hypothesis that the production of anti-HBsAg [vaccine-induced
antibodies] is a dominant trait and that the inability to produce high titers of
anti-HBsAG after adequate immunization is a recessive trait..." The authors concluded
that the genetic markers they identified are most prevalent in caucasians of European
descent "and is associated with a wide variety of diseases with autoimmune features
in this population, including Type 1 diabetes mellitus..."
In 1996, Barthelow Classen,
M.D., CEO of Classen Immunotherapies Inc., published an epidemiologic study in the New
Zealand Medical Journal and reported that there was a 60 percent increase in Type 1
diabetes (juvenile diabetes) following a massive campaign in New Zealand from 1988 to 1991
to vaccinate babies six weeks of age or older with hepatitis B vaccine. His analysis of a
group of 100,000 New Zealand children prospectively followed since 1982 showed that the
incidence of diabetes before the hepatitis B vaccination program began in 1988 was 11.2
cases per 100,000 children per year while the incidence of diabetes following the
hepatitis B vaccination campaign was 18.2 cases per 100,000 children per year.
Vaccine Injuries Reported At
NVIC Conference on Vaccination - At the First International Public Conference on
Vaccination sponsored by the NVIC on September 13-15, 1997 in Alexandria, Virginia,
physicians and scientists from around the world gathered to speak about vaccine-induced
chronic illness. Canadian physician Byron Hyde, M.D., Chairman of the Nightingale Research
Foundation, and an internationally recognized authority on myalgic encephalomyelitis (also
known as chronic fatigue syndrome), spoke about the data he has accumulated on more than
200 cases of serious immune and neurological dysfunction following hepatitis B
vaccination. Dr. Hyde said:
"There was a nurse in Wisconsin
who had had two immunizations against hepatitis B. After the second, she started to
complain. They insisted that she have three more [shots], full dosage. They gave her the
first, she complained of headaches, pain, and they told her this was anxiety neurosis.
They gave her the fourth and fifth and she lost I.Q., measurable loss of intelligence,
measurable loss in stamina, all of the things you see in the worst cases of ME or chronic
fatigue syndrome.....A lot of these cases that we've looked at suggest demyelinating
disease, disseminated myelitis, localized injuries, three unexplained deaths...the problem
with all of this is that nobody has ever seriously studied it...."
Dr. Hyde was particularly
critical of the poor science and medicine that hurts patients. He concluded "Almost
all of these people who had adverse reactions after the first immunization, after the
second immunization were individuals who had immunological side effects and who told their
physicians and the physicians did nothing about it but continued to proceed with
immunization... I think part of the problem is the pharmaceutical companies and the
governments themselves have attempted to say 'Here, take this sugar pill, it is
danger-free, it is a wonderful thing, it has no risk, no problems' and doctors have become
lazy and actually believed this dangerous philosophy put out by the pharmaceutical
companies and the governments."
Hep B Vaccine Infant Deaths
Reported In VAERS - Even though fewer than 10 percent of all doctors report health
problems following vaccination, there are more than 16,000 reports of hospitalizations,
injuries and deaths following hepatitis B vaccination that have been reported to the U.S.
government Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since July 1990. There are
reports of deaths in infants under one month of age following hepatitis B vaccination in
VAERS, with most of the deaths being classified as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),
even though SIDS is not historically recognized in the medical literature as occurring in
babies under two months of age.
One of those death reports was
made for a 15-day old baby boy who died within 48 hours of his first dose of hepatitis B
vaccine. His father testified at a 1995 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum
workshop. He described what happened:
"For the first 13 days of
his life, Nicholas was no different than any other baby. He ate well. When he slept, he
slept well. He acted just like my first son acted when he came home from the
hospital." Nicholas was given a hepatitis B shot at his regular check up at the
pediatrician's office on the 13th day of his life. His father said:
"That night when I got
home from work, I noticed that Nicholas was crying a lot more than usual. In fact, he was
screaming some of the time. He was acting differently, but because we had just taken him
to the doctor for a checkup and they told us he was a big healthy boy, we thought
everything was OK. When he was just acting fussy, like babies sometimes do, we didn't know
anything about vaccines or that they can cause problems for some babies."
"Nicholas cried on and off
for most of the night. When I got up and went to work the next day, he was still crying on
and off. He continued during most of the day and into the evening. The next morning, his
mother found him dead in his crib. From the way he looked, he had been dead for several
hours."
An autopsy was done the next
day. A couple of weeks later, our pediatrician told us over the phone that the autopsy
showed Nicholas had died of sudden infant death syndrome. He told us Nicholas was one of
the healthiest babies he had ever seen…. What I didn't know then but I know now is
that the pediatrician had made a report within 17 days of Nicholas' death to the
government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, VAERS. In VAERS, Nicholas' death is
listed as SIDS. Even though I didn't know anything about vaccines or SIDS, something told
me that there was a reason why Nicholas died, and I had to find out why."
After seeing an article in the
Washington Post about the Institute of Medicine report on adverse events associated with
childhood vaccines, Nicholas's father called the National Vaccine Information Center and
began talking to experts and researching infant death and vaccines. Eventually a clinical
professor of pathology, who had reviewed Nicholas' medical records, autopsy and slides,
stated in writing that Nicholas did not die of SIDS but died a cardiac death, caused by
passive congestive changes with pulmonary edema and hemorrhage caused by the active
immunization with hepatitis B vaccine. The pathologist stated "I do not believe this
was a sudden infant death syndrome death. Sudden infant death syndrome is the most abused
diagnosis in pediatric pathology. In this particular case, the infant was two weeks old.
Sudden infant death at two weeks old is so rare as to be virtually unheard of."
The pathologist went on to say
that Nicholas was at high risk for congestive heart failure because his mother had
gestational diabetes, but that he would definitely have survived were it not for the
stress induced by the hepatitis B vaccination.
Nicholas's father, in his
testimony before the Institute of Medicine, asked "How many other newborn babies are
dying from the effects of hepatitis B vaccine, but are being wrongly diagnosed as SIDS and
no one ever knows the difference? I looked at the computer printouts of VAERS reports at
the National Vaccine Information Center, and I saw there were other reports of babies just
a few days or weeks old, who have died shortly after hepatitis B vaccination. Many are
listed as SIDS deaths, but are they?"
Adults Report Hep B Vaccine
Injury And Death To NVIC - As hepatitis B requirements force more adults to get vaccinated
as a condition for getting a higher education or working in the health care field, NVIC is
receiving more and more reaction reports like this one from a disabled nurse, who recently
wrote in:
"24 hours after my first
[hepatitis B] shot, I had muscle pain in legs and arms - was told this was 'normal.' Same
thing after 2nd shot. Six weeks after 2nd shot I had my first episode of Raynauds
[temporary loss of blood flow to fingers resulting in tingling, throbbing, swelling,
intense pain] and also began having rashes on arms and neck. At this point it was minor
and not constant. I asked if it had anything to do with the vaccine and was told no.
"Six months after the 1st
shot, I received the booster. From then (1995) to today, I have constant daily fevers up
to 100.5, tormenting rashes and prickling on arms, hands, neck and legs, muscle
degeneration, joint pain with restricted movement, difficulty swallowing and Raynauds has
become severe.
"I was perfectly healthy
until the hepatitis B vaccinations and still all the doctors tell me it has nothing to do
with my illness. I had reactions to two of the drugs they tried to treat me with. I am on
total disability because of these symptoms. I am an RN but was taught that the vaccines
were perfectly safe."
Parents Oppose Hepatitis B
Vaccine Mandate In Illinois - In the spring of 1997, a suburban Chicago mother of two
daughters, ages 9 and 11, became concerned when she received a notice from the school
system stating that her older daughter had to be vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine by
September 1997 or she would be barred from attending school. Although both of Kathy
Rothschild's daughters were fully vaccinated with all other childhood vaccines, she didn't
know anyone with hepatitis B and couldn't understand why her daughter had to get the
vaccine. Her research led her to a public library and then to NVIC.
With the help of Kathy
Rothschild's State Senator, Kathy Parker, an agreement by the Illinois Department of
Health to not voice opposition, and with support from NVIC members around the state, a
bill passed the Illinois Senate 52-2 on March 20, 1997, allowing parents the right to
philosophical exemption to vaccination. The bill also created a Task Force and required
the Board of Health to hold public hearings to review how Illinois public health employees
add new vaccines to state vaccination laws and how they implement those laws.
After the bill overwhelmingly
passed the Senate, the Illinois Department of Health went back on its pledge not to oppose
the bill and vigorously fought against the bill in the House, successfully killing it in
committee before it had a chance to come to a floor vote. However, the health department
did agree to roll back the hepatitis B mandate for one year (until September 1998) and to
hold three public hearings, which resulted in testimony from physician expert witnesses
and parents and reinforced the dangers of hepatitis B vaccine and the need for informed
consent rights to be established within state vaccine requirements.
Doctor, Mothers Say Vaccine
Safety Data Poor - In a December 1997 public hearing in Chicago before the Illinois Board
of Health, Mayer Eisenstein, M.D., M.P.H., who is board certified in public health and
preventive medicine, quality assurance utilization review, by the National Board of
Medical Examiners and has recently completed a law degree, testified against the proposed
hepatitis B mandate. He said: "The idea of giving this vaccine to a one-day old baby,
a newborn, is preposterous. There is no scientific evidence for this. In fact, I called up
the [hepatitis B vaccine] manufacturer and I had [a representative] come to St. Mary of
Nazareth Hospital, where I am Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and I asked him:
‘Show me your evidence on one-day old infants as to side effects [from the hepatitis
B vaccine]’ – we have none. Our studies were done on 5 and 10 year olds....As a
father, grandfather, a physician, as a lawyer, I want the option of not giving it to my
children unless I believe the scientific evidence is there."
Later during the public
hearing, a mother whose child reacted to the hepatitis B vaccine testified that "We
were told unless we had the shot our children were not getting into school. In the past, I
got the shots for my children. So I went and got the [hepatitis B] shot. First shot, my
daughter got slightly sick. We didn't associate it with the shot. We associated it with
possible flu. Her legs hurt. Her back hurt...."
"The second shot, within
two days of this shot, my daughter's symptoms went from mild to severe abdominal pain
around the clock. She couldn't eat. She couldn't sleep. Her legs hurt. She broke out in a
rash. She had eczema over most of her body. Going to the doctor, we were told it was in
her head, that she needed a psychiatrist. Then we decided we would find out for ourselves.
"It was the people who
gave me [information on the vaccine], the list that I should have gotten first that said
what the reactions were, including severe abdominal pain, eczema, rash, hair loss. My
doctor didn't tell me that. I was given a piece of paper that said reactions would be a
minimum, maybe a small fever. She had a fever the whole time.
"I never knew any of this
existed, and this is $18,000 later, a child who [had to be] out of school for the first
three months and was tutored at home. I don't want to see other kids go through this. I
think there should be more testing done. I think the parents should know that this shot
isn't for something that's easily picked up. This is for sexual transmission or drug use.
My child is ten years old. She plays with Barbie dolls and paints her fingernails. She
doesn't know about this stuff. I don't want to give her a shot to protect her from
something and someplace she's not at yet."
Citizens Make Plea for Informed
Consent - Before testifying at a Board of Health public hearing held in Springfield on
March 26, 1998, NVIC held a press conference in the State Capitol building. Then, along
with scores of Illinois parents who traveled to Springfield to make public comment, NVIC
President Barbara Loe Fisher Reverend Robert VandenBosch, President of the American
Research Foundation, and Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., professor of cell biology at Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston, presented formal testimony.
Fisher told the Board of Health
"There is a six year old girl named Katherine lying in a bed in Skokie, Illinois
unable to lift her head off her pillow or walk to the bathroom. Just 13 weeks ago,
Katherine was an ice skater with boundless energy and a dream of going to the Olympics.
Her mother didn't want her to get the hepatitis B shot but her pediatrician told her it
was a political issue like AIDS and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) was going to
mandate the vaccine soon. Katherine got that hepatitis B shot and now she may never skate
again. Where were her informed consent rights? And where will the doctors from the state
health department and the CDC and the AAP be when her mother carries her up the stairs to
the bathroom? And will the state of Illinois pay her medical bills when her insurance runs
out after DHHS and the Justice Department oppose giving her federal compensation?"
During limited public comment
time, all of the parents asked the Board of Health to allow citizens to follow the
judgement of their conscience when making vaccination decisions for their children,
including the right to exercise informed consent to vaccination without suffering
harassment and punishment at the hands of state health and school officials. Some, like a
young man who was kicked out of an Illinois college in the middle of the semester because
of his sincere religious beliefs, asked for the right to follow his religious convictions
without being punished by doctors employed by the state. He said:
"They have refused to give
me credit for this semester and have told me not to attend class and have cancelled my
appointment with my advisors. I applied for a religious exemption. Both my parents wrote
letters identifying my objection. We were refused on the grounds that, in order for a
religious exemption to occur, I must identify 'a recognized church or religious
organization.' I don't believe that anyone has a right to judge my religion. How does
recognition of my belief by another human being make it more or less? I am confused by the
word 'organized.' How does the number of people or the structure under which they operate
validate my beliefs? This is a violation of my Constitutional right to religious
freedom."
Rev. Robert VandenBosch, an
ethicist, warned that "The First Amendment [of the U.S. Constitution] clearly defines
the free exercise of religious beliefs and the moral rights of individuals to obey the
judgement of their conscience in matters of life and death. The Ninth Amendment of the
Constitution guarantees that governmental authority cannot override individual rights of
conscience. It states: 'The enumeration of the Constitution of certain rights shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.' One of the rights retained
by the people is the right of conscience."
Professor Of Cell Biology
Investigates Hep B Vaccine Damage - Professor Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., who has a
distinguished 25 year career in academic and laboratory science and has been honored by
the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her pioneering work in contraceptive
vaccine development, presented at the March 26 Illinois Board of Health hearing and
described disabling reactions to hepatitis B vaccine suffered by her brother and a
research assistant.
"Three years ago my
brother, who is a geologist Ph.D. agronomist with four college degrees, came to work with
me at Baylor College of Medicine to work on a collaborative project in molecular genetic
engineering of wheat proteins. He was required to take the hepatitis B vaccine. Within 24
hours to four days after the first injection, he had fever and severe fatigue for one
week. Two to four weeks after that injection, he ended up with a whole series of symptoms
that now 15 doctors have said are clearly symptoms of an adverse reaction to this
vaccination. Even workman's compensation for the state of Texas is compensating him for
over $300,000 worth of medical expenses."
"At about the same time, a
21-year old girl, a medical student, came to work in my lab for the summer, She, too, had
to get the hepatitis B vaccine. After the first injection, she had fever and fatigue.
Three weeks following her second injection, she lost vision in her one eye but, after 6
months, regained most of her sight. She was reluctant to get the third dose of vaccine,
and talked with her doctor and he told her this [hepatitis B] vaccine is the safest,
there's no problem. After the third injection, she ended up in the hospital for two months
extremely ill and she has lost all of her eyesight in one eye."
Dr. Dunbar went on to explain
to the Board of Health members that during the past three years of collecting data on the
hepatitis B vaccine, she has been contacted by hundreds of doctors and patients around the
world who have reported severe autoimmune and neurological complications to hepatitis B
vaccination in previously healthy children and adults, including serious rashes, fever,
joint pain, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis and lupus-like symptoms, rheumatoid
arthritis and neurological dysfunction. As a basic science researcher with expertise in
cell and molecular biology, she is investigating the possibility that molecular mimicry or
other autoimmune mechanisms may be the reason why the genetically engineered hepatitis B
vaccine "tricks" the immune systems of genetically susceptible individuals into
attacking their own bodies, causing debilitating autoimmune disorders.
After analyzing the data she
has accumulated, Dr. Dunbar, in collaboration with colleagues at other academic and
medical institutions, applied for a NIH research grant to investigate the role that
genetic factors may play in hepatitis B vaccine reactions and in vaccine failures. Their
goal is to identify genetic markers so high risk children and adults could be screened out
of the mass vaccination program and spared injury and death. The grant was turned down
twice by the government in July 1997 and July 1998 but Dr. Dunbar and her colleagues are
in the process of refiling the grant, along with additional data.
Hep B Vaccine Victims In France
Sue - An article in the July 31, 1998 issue of Science, an American scientific journal,
reports that French attorneys representing 15,000 French citizens filed a lawsuit against
the French government "accusing it of understating the vaccine's risks and
exaggerating the benefits for the average person." One French physician has
reportedly collected data on more than 600 people suffering from serious immune and
neurological dysfunction following hepatitis B vaccination, many with symptoms resembling
multiple sclerosis. Science quotes a World Health Organization official as saying
"These fears [of the hepatitis B vaccine] are quite unfounded" and reveals that
CDC employee Robert Chen, who is responsible for monitoring vaccine safety for the U.S.
government, has a simple explanation for the growing number of reports of hepatitis B
vaccine associated injury and death in the U.S., Canada and Europe. His scientific
analysis leads him to believe that "It's human nature to attribute cause to almost
anything that precedes a tragedy."
French health minister touched
off an international row when he stopped mass inoculation of French 11 and 12-year olds in
schools because of concern the shot might trigger neurological disorders. The French took
notice of a court ruling that found evidence the shots might be connected to symptoms
resembling multiple sclerosis.
The World Health Organization,
which administers the vaccine in about 100 nations, reacted with condemnation of the move,
claiming a "lack of scientific evidence" for it, and contending the French
health ministry’s data "do not demonstrate a causal association between HepB
immunization and central nervous system disease, including MS,"
World Health Organization
officials in Switzerland said they were "concerned the decision may lead to a loss of
public confidence in this vaccine," and prompt other countries to suspend usage.
The HepB shot, the World Health
Organization claims in its releases "is the first vaccine against a major human
cancer, as it is the chronic carriers of HepB who are at high risk of death from cirrhosis
of the liver and liver cancer."
Hep B Vaccination Can Mean A
Positive Hep B Blood Test - A little known fact about hepatitis B vaccine is that those
who are vaccinated can test positive for hepatitis B on some routine blood tests. NVIC has
received calls from adults who report that, after getting hepatitis B vaccine, they are
testing positive for hepatitis B when they undergo routine blood tests in doctor's
offices. The Red Cross maintains that more sensitive lab tests used by blood banks can
differentiate between hepatitis B antibodies produced by disease and those produced by the
vaccine.
HIV vaccines now being tested
in humans also produce positive tests for HIV. As noted in a September 1997 Washington
Post article about HIV vaccine trials: "Foremost among the worries of many would-be
volunteers is the problem of forever testing positive for AIDS antibodies...although
sophisticated laboratory tests can usually tell the difference between AIDS antibodies
caused by a vaccine and those that indicate a real HIV infection, few laboratories are
equipped to make that distinction. Moreover, as vaccines get better by more closely
mimicking the real infection, it will become more difficult to distinguish between the
two."
"No batch of vaccine can be
proved safe before it is given to children." Surgeon General of the United States
Leonard Scheele, addressing an AMA convention in 1955
"The only safe vaccine is a
vaccine that is never used" Dr. James A. Shannon, National Institutes of Health
(VAERS.hh.gov)
Over ten million vaccinations per year are given to children less than one year old,
usually between 2 months and 6 months of age. At this age, infants are at greatest risk
for certain medical events, including high fevers, seizures, and sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS). Some infants will by coincidence experience such an event shortly after a
vaccination.
"Our children face the
possibility of death or serious long-term adverse effects from mandated vaccines that aren’t
necessary or that have very limited benefits," said Jane M. Orient, MD, AAPS
Executive Director.
Is Forced Hepatitis B
Vaccination Paving Way For Forced Vaccination With AIDS Vaccine? Hepatitis B is the first
disease transmitted not by casual contact like smallpox or polio, but by high risk
behavior such as IV drug use and sexual promiscuity, that has been mandated for use by all
children. With the identical transmission routes as HIV, there are strong indications that
forced vaccination of infants and children with hepatitis B is just a trial run for forced
vaccination with an AIDS vaccine when it is put on the market in the next few years. AIDS
vaccines are currently in human trials as a race to bring them to market intensified after
a call last year by President Clinton to make the creation and use of an AIDS vaccine
"a national mission."
CDC Plans For Mass Vaccination
Of All Children With AIDS Vaccine – In a February 12, 1997 meeting of the CDC's
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Neal Halsey, M.D., chairman of the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, AAP liaison member
of the ACIP and Director of the Institute of Vaccine Safety at John's Hopkins University,
reminded HIV vaccine researchers and developers at the meeting that the CDC plans to
target 11 to 12 year old children for "universal application" of an HIV vaccine.
Halsey told them:
"One of the things that's
happened in the past with vaccines is that sometimes the manufacturers have developed them
and tested them primarily in an age group or a population which may not be the final
target population that this committee has considered. Over the last few years we have
developed a statement on adolescent immunization and it probably would be worth your
reading that, and others, because we really see age 11 to 12 as the target age for
introduction of vaccines for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. And I know that,
at this time, you are really studying adults and you're also some distance away from the
actual - having a [HIV] vaccine in hand that might be licensed and approved - but at least
it would be nice if there were studies that were planned in parallel when you move another
step in the direction of actually having a candidate vaccine, realizing where WE think we
would want to use universal application of such a vaccine. And so I think maybe [you
should get] a copy of the adolescent immunization statement."
With the Children's Vaccine
Initiative (CVI) and pharmaceutical industry setting up the mechanism for global mass
vaccination of children and adults, including the creation of national and international
vaccine tracking systems, countries with low HIV rates like the U.S. and Europe will be
forced to use an HIV vaccine in order to pay for the vaccination of populations in Asia
and Africa where HIV infection rates are skyrocketing. In 1996, HIV vaccine developer
Stanley Plotkin, M.D., of Pasteur Merieux Pharmaceuticals (who developed the rubella
vaccine and has been a vaccine policymaker member of the AAP Committee on Infectious
Disease and AAP liaison member of the ACIP) explained why mandatory vaccination in rich
countries like the U.S. help deliver vaccines to Third World markets:
"The keystone of the
[global mass vaccination] system is that the research costs [of drug companies] are
recouped in North America and Europe and the vaccines are sold in the developing world at
much, much lower margins...the relatively high rate of childhood vaccination seen lately
in most parts of the world is the result of that system," explained Plotkin.
CDC Tells Congress About Future
Vaccines - In testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources in
1997, CDC official Walter Orenstein, M.D., made a bid to persuade Congress to reauthorize
288 million dollars for the CDC's Immunization Grant Program in the $427 million 1998 DHHS
budget request for immunization activities. In a review of the history of vaccination, Dr.
Orenstein recounted that, although almost a century passed between the development of the
smallpox vaccine in 1796 and that of the rabies vaccine in the 1880's, by the middle of
the 20th century there were nearly two dozen vaccines on the market.
Painting a picture of the
future, Orenstein said: "On the horizon are vaccine technologies that would have been
considered science fiction just a decade ago, but are now reported at scientific meetings.
Snippets of synthetic DNA have worked as experimental vaccines in animals. Edible plants
have been bioengineered to become vaccine factories....vaccines have been enclosed in
microscopic capsules, permitting them to be released slowly over time..."
Orenstein reminded legislators
that "Every day about 11,000 babies are born in this country. Each of these children
starts with immunization coverage of zero. There is why our responsibility to our Nation's
children never ends; it must be sustained every day of every year....completing
state-based immunization registries is the cornerstone of assuring disease
prevention."
Vaccine Registries To Tag,
Track, Force Vaccination - Even though CDC officials admit that there is already a 96
percent vaccination rate in the U.S. with federally recommended vaccines, they are setting
up state vaccine tracking registries and plan to link them together to create a de facto
national electronic tracking system to ensure mass compliance with federal vaccine
policies. Citizens will be tagged with a number at birth and tracked even when moving from
state to state.
In 1995, DHHS Secretary Donna
Shalala appropriated the social security numbers assigned to newborns to allow states to
enter all babies in state vaccine tracking systems. In 1996, the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum
legislation, outlined plans for a "unique health care identifier" number, which
is an alternative to the social security number, to be assigned to citizens at birth and
electronically monitor their medical records, including vaccination records.
In a 1998 CDC publication
entitled Initiative on Immunization Registries, the CDC states that "we see [vaccine]
registries as a possible first step in the development of an electronic pediatric
record" and "computerized registries will eventually be capable of capturing
immunization for individuals of all ages" and "until a unique personal
identifier can be established on a national basis, multiple means of identification must
be used [in state vaccine registries]." Core data that is now collected in many state
vaccine tracking systems include a citizen's name, address, phone number, social security
number, birth date, sex, race, primary language, patient birth order, patient birth
registration number, patient Medicaid number, mother's name (including maiden name) and
social security number and father's name and social security number.
Most often state officials
automatically enroll newborns into the vaccine registry without informing parents or
giving them the right to "opt-out" of the registry. In the state of Texas,
PROVE, a parent group led by Dawn Richardson, worked to get legislation passed in 1997
requiring the state health departments to obtain a parent’s prior written consent to
enroll a child in a vaccine registry.
The CDC goes on to state that
one of their main goals is "establishing a target date to achieve the goal of
establishing immunization registries in every community in the Nation" and
"promoting the inter-operability of registries with other developing medical
information systems" and "promoting the automated exchange of immunization
records between registries."
What You Can Do - If you want
to make informed, voluntary decisions about hepatitis B vaccination, there are several
actions you can take to educate your community and protect your informed consent and
privacy rights. Circulate this newsletter in your community among your family, friends,
and neighbors. Get reprints by sending in the enclosed reprint order card. Reprints are
available for $1.25 each. Bulk pricing is available. Give copies to your doctors, lawyers,
teachers, school principals, nurses and others. Send a copy to your favorite newspaper,
radio and TV station. Send a copy to your state and federal legislators with a personal
letter. Report vaccine reactions by calling NVIC at 1-800-909SHOT or accessing NVIC's
website at www.nvic.org. If you are pregnant, get tested for hepatitis B disease. If you
are infected, your baby is a candidate for vaccination. Stand up for your informed consent
rights. If you do not test positive for hepatitis B; do not fall into one of the high risk
categories described in this newsletter; and decide you do not want your newborn
vaccinated before leaving the hospital newborn nursery, you can amend the "consent
for medical treatment" forms you sign upon entering the hospital before giving birth
by writing on the form that you do not give consent for hepatitis B vaccination of your
baby in the hospital. Check to see if your state has a vaccine tracking system and, if you
do not want your baby enrolled in a tracking system, find out how you can exercise your
informed consent rights. Get more information, including checking your state vaccination
laws for requirements and exemptions. Hepatitis B vaccine is required in 35 states. There
are medical exemptions in all states, religious exemption in all but two states (West
Virginia and Mississippi) and philosophical exemption in 16 states. Don't let anyone
intimidate or coerce you into taking action before you have had the opportunity to become
fully informed about all your options and are comfortable with your vaccination decision.
