Thread: Another fine product by Merck : "Rotavirus vaccine may harm infants"

Rotavirus vaccine may harm infants
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
22 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The government warned on Tuesday of potentially life-threatening twisting of the intestines in infants vaccinated against a virus that is the leading cause of early childhood diarrhea.

The condition, called intussusception, is the same that led to the withdrawal of the first rotavirus vaccine eight years ago.

The Food and Drug Administration said it was unknown whether the recently approved vaccine, called RotaTeq, caused the 28 new cases. The condition also can occur spontaneously. Indeed, the reports don't exceed the numbers expected to occur naturally each year — the so-called background rate, the FDA said.

"It looks like this is the natural background rate that we are seeing," said Dr. Michelle Goveia, medical director for pediatric medical affairs at the vaccine's manufacturer, Merck & Co. Inc. Goveia suggested heightened concerns about the previous vaccine, made by Wyeth, prompted the FDA to act.

In Tuesday's public health notification, the agency said it wanted in part to encourage reporting of any additional cases of intestinal twisting or blockage to help it assess any risks associated with the three-shot vaccine series. It also said the vaccine's label would mention the cases of intussusception.

"It's a known serious, life-threatening adverse event that is being seen at an expected level postmarketing. But because it is so serious, we asked the company to change the label," FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley said.

Dr. Paul Offit, the vaccine's co-inventor, said the 28 reports were well below the hundreds of cases one would expect naturally. He suggested the FDA wanted to "shake the tree" for more reports about the vaccine.

"I am actually encouraged by those data: 28 cases, when you would have expected at least 500 cases, that is really reassuring," said Offit, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "I don't see how those numbers suggest something's awry. If anything, they suggest nothing's awry."

The 28 cases included 16 infants who required intestinal surgery. There have been no reports of deaths.

RotaTeq received FDA approval in February 2006. At the time, the FDA and Merck said trials of the vaccine involving nearly 70,000 infants indicated it did not increase the risk of intussusception. But Merck and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are conducting follow-up studies of tens of thousands more infants to track any long-term effects of the vaccine. The FDA also is monitoring reports.

About 3.5 million doses of the Merck vaccine have been distributed in the U.S., though not all have been used, the FDA said.

The earlier rotavirus vaccine, Wyeth's RotaShield, was pulled from the U.S. market in 1999 after it was linked to a small increase in intussusception. It had been on the market a year.

In the United States, rotavirus sickens about 2.7 million children younger than 5, sends up to 70,000 to the hospital and causes 20 to 70 deaths each year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070213/...SW_pWenGas0NUE
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On the Net:

Food and Drug Administration notification on RotaTeq: http://www.fda.gov/cber/safety/phnrota021307.htm


Bowel problem seen in infants given Merck vaccine
By Bill Berkrot
1 hour, 24 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration said it was notifying health-care providers and consumers about reports of some 28 cases of infants suffering a serious bowel condition after receiving Merck & Co's new vaccine against the rotavirus.

The FDA said it was not immediately clear how many of the 28 reported cases were caused by the vaccine. It said the condition, known as intussusception, can occur in the absence of vaccination.

Some 3.5 million doses of Merck's RotaTeq have been distributed in the United States since its approval in February 2006, the FDA said.

The agency said the 28 reported cases do not exceed the number that might be expected, but it issued the warning to encourage reports of any additional cases.

The agency also said it was issuing the notification, which also was posted on the FDA Web site, to remind people that intussusception was a potential complication of RotaTeq.

The potentially life-threatening condition occurs when the intestine gets blocked or twisted and one portion telescopes into a nearby portion, causing an intestinal obstruction.

Intussusception causes intense abdominal pain. Most infants who are treated within 24 hours recover completely. A delay in treatment can result in serious complications, including tissue damage, perforation of the bowel and death.

The bowel problem spurred the recall in 1999 of Wyeth's RotaShield vaccine against rotavirus. The virus causes serious diarrhea and is a leading cause of hospitalization for infants.

Dr. Michelle Goveia, a Merck medical director, said RotaTeq was tested in trials involving 70,000 infants, and that little difference in cases of the bowel ailment were seen in those given the vaccine and those given placebos.

Within one year of treatment, 13 cases of the bowel problem were detected among infants that received RotaTeq, compared with 15 cases among those receiving placebos, Goveia said.

"We believe we designed the study rigorously and we didn't see a ... relationship," she said.

After RotaTeq was approved, a reporting system was created that allowed doctors and parents to report any problems among infants that received the vaccine.

Goveia said it would be difficult to determine how many, if any, of the 28 cases of intussusception reported under the surveillance system were due to the Merck vaccine. But she speculated most were naturally occurring cases, given the product's safety in the large clinical trials.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070213/...rNuXhZ299a24cA

Merck problem means extra shot for kids
By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer
Thu May 10, 5:30 PM ET

TRENTON, N.J. - Young children needing immunization against chickenpox and three other diseases likely will have to get an extra shot, due to manufacturing problems that have halted production of a four-disease combo vaccine made by Merck & Co.

Merck said Thursday that its ProQuad vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox, won't be available from about July until at least year's end. "It's too early to say at this point whether new (ProQuad) supplies will be available in 2008," said Mary Elizabeth Blake, spokeswoman for Merck's vaccines division.

However, the drugmaker expects to have plenty of two separate vaccines that cover the same diseases: Varivax, for chickenpox, and M-M-R II, for measles, mumps and rubella. The federal government recommends children get each of those shots twice, once at age 12 months to 15 months and again between ages four and six years old, or — when available — they can receive the ProQuad vaccine twice.

Last year, the government recommended the second chickenpox shot because of outbreaks among schoolchildren, apparently due to waning potency of the vaccine.

Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck is the only U.S. source for vaccines against the varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox in children and shingles in adults. Blake said Merck decided to shift available supply of the key vaccine ingredient against chickenpox — live but weakened varicella virus — from ProQuad to Varivax and its shingles vaccine, Zostavax.

The drugmaker recently informed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of its decision. "It makes sense to cut back on ProQuad first" because that requires more virus, said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of the CDC's immunization services division.

He said the agency had been assured there would be an adequate supply of both Varivax, with an expected demand of more than 8 million doses, and Merck's Zostavax vaccine against shingles.

Zostavax was just approved last May and is recommended for all adults aged 60 and older. Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash that strikes roughly one in four adults who previously had chickenpox. The government does not have a firm projection of demand for Zostavax, Rodewald said.

According to the CDC, Merck charges private doctors about $45 for M-M-R II and $75 for Varivax, slightly less than the $125 price for ProQuad. All or most of the cost of getting the shots is generally covered by private insurance and the federal Vaccines for Children program for the poor.

In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Merck shares fell 97 cents to $51.08, near their 52-week high of $52.63.

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AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this story.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/...xOd9MvmTms0NUE

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On the Net: Merck: http://www.merck.com

Recommended vaccine schedules: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/child-sc...olor-print.pdf



Let's see - Merck starts having problems with getting their Gardacil vaccine mandated and their stock slides meaning a dip in profits. Then they have a problem with another of their "mandated" vaccines which require addition shots = addition fees which = a jump in profits ??

realheaven One of my biggest dilemas right now is whether to get my 5 year old vaccinated. She got all her baby shots but is terrified to go to school now that she heard that she has to get a few more shots before school begins. I usually didn't think twice about giving them to my children until I talked to a neurosurgeon and biologist who told me that shots here were not needed, in the u.s. that is.

I have had my children vaccinated fr the measles, mumps, polio - all of which can kill or leave with serious disabilities. I will not have my children vaccinated for the chicken pox as the vaccine has a host of problems and they are not confered the lifelong immunity that they aquire with getting the natural immunity of actually getting chicken pox. They will NOT be giving my daughter the HPV vaccine. PERIOD.

Do your research. If your doc will not discuss with you - find a new doctor.

Parents use religion to avoid vaccines
By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago

BOSTON - Sabrina Rahim doesn't practice any particular faith, but she had no problem signing a letter declaring that because of her deeply held religious beliefs, her 4-year-old son should be exempt from the vaccinations required to enter preschool.

She is among a small but growing number of parents around the country who are claiming religious exemptions to avoid vaccinating their children when the real reason may be skepticism of the shots or concern they can cause other illnesses. Some of these parents say they are being forced to lie because of the way the vaccination laws are written in their states.

"It's misleading," Rahim admitted, but she said she fears that earlier vaccinations may be to blame for her son's autism. "I find it very troubling, but for my son's safety, I feel this is the only option we have."

An Associated Press examination of states' vaccination records and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many states are seeing increases in the rate of religious exemptions claimed for kindergartners.

"Do I think that religious exemptions have become the default? Absolutely," said Dr. Paul Offit, head of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and one of the harshest critics of the anti-vaccine movement. He said the resistance to vaccines is "an irrational, fear-based decision."

The number of exemptions is extremely small in percentage terms and represents just a few thousand of the 3.7 million children entering kindergarten in 2005, the most recent figure available.

But public health officials say it takes only a few people to cause an outbreak that can put large numbers of lives at risk.

"When you choose not to get a vaccine, you're not just making a choice for yourself, you're making a choice for the person sitting next to you," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of the CDC's Immunization Services Division.

All states have some requirement that youngsters be immunized against such childhood diseases as measles, mumps, chickenpox, diphtheria and whooping cough.

Twenty-eight states, including Florida, Massachusetts and New York, allow parents to opt out for medical or religious reasons only. Twenty other states, among them California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio, also allow parents to cite personal or philosophical reasons. Mississippi and West Virginia allow exemptions for medical reasons only.

From 2003 to 2007, religious exemptions for kindergartners increased, in some cases doubled or tripled, in 20 of the 28 states that allow only medical or religious exemptions, the AP found. Religious exemptions decreased in three of these states — Nebraska, Wyoming, South Carolina — and were unchanged in five others.

The rate of exemption requests is also increasing.

For example, in Massachusetts, the rate of those seeking exemptions has more than doubled in the past decade — from 0.24 percent, or 210, in 1996 to 0.60 percent, or 474, in 2006.

In Florida, 1,249 children claimed religious exemptions in 2006, almost double the 661 who did so just four years earlier. That was an increase of 0.3 to 0.6 percent of the student population. Georgia, New Hampshire and Alabama saw their rates double in the past four years.

The numbers from the various states cannot be added up with accuracy. Some states used a sampling of students to gauge levels of vaccinations. Others surveyed all or nearly all students.

Fifteen of the 20 states that allow both religious and philosophical exemptions have seen increases in both, according to the AP's findings.

While some parents — Christian Scientists and certain fundamentalists, for example — have genuine religious objections to medicine, it is clear that others are simply distrustful of shots.

Some parents say they are not convinced vaccinations help. Others fear the vaccinations themselves may make their children sick and even cause autism.

Even though government-funded studies have found no link between vaccines and autism, loosely organized groups of parents and even popular cultural figures such as radio host Don Imus have voiced concerns. Most of the furor on Internet message boards and Web sites has been about a mercury-based preservative once used in vaccines that some believe contributes to neurological disorders.

Unvaccinated children can spread diseases to others who have not gotten their shots or those for whom vaccinations provided less-than-complete protection.

In 1991, a religious group in Philadelphia that chose not to immunize its children touched off an outbreak of measles that claimed at least eight lives and sickened more than 700 people, mostly children.

And in 2005, an Indiana girl who had not been immunized picked up the measles virus at an orphanage in Romania and unknowingly brought it back to a church group. Within a month, the number of people infected had grown to 31 in what health officials said was the nation's worst outbreak of the disease in a decade.

Rachel Magni, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mother in Newton, Mass., said she is afraid vaccines could harm her children and "overwhelm their bodies." Even though she attends a Protestant church that allows vaccinations, Magni pursued a religious exemption so her 4-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son, who have never been vaccinated, could attend preschool.

"I felt that the risk of the vaccine was worse than the risk of the actual disease," she said.

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, one of the leading vaccine skeptic groups, said she discourages parents from pursuing religious exemptions unless they are genuine. Instead, Fisher said, parents should work to change the laws in their states.

"We counsel that if you do not live in a state that has a philosophical exemption, you still have to obey the law," she said.

Even so, Fisher said, she empathizes with parents tempted to claim the religious exemption: "If a parent has a child who has had a deterioration after vaccination and the doctor says that's just a coincidence, you have to keep vaccinating this child, what is the parent left with?"

Offit said he knows of no state that enforces any penalty for parents who falsely claim a religious exemption.

"I think that wouldn't be worth it because that's just such an emotional issue for people. Our country was founded on the notion of religious freedom," he said.

In 2002, four Arkansas families challenged the state's policy allowing religious exemptions only if a parent could prove membership in a recognized religion prohibiting vaccination. The court struck down the policy and the state began allowing both religious and philosophical exemptions.

Religious and medical exemptions, which had been climbing, plummeted, while the number of philosophical exemptions spiked.

In the first year alone, more parents applied for philosophical exemptions than religious and medical exemptions combined. From 2001 to 2004, the total number of students seeking exemptions in Arkansas more than doubled, from 529 to 1,145.

Dr. Janet Levitan, a pediatrician in Brookline, Mass., said she counsels patients who worry that vaccines could harm their children to pursue a religious exemption if that is their only option.

"I tell them if you don't want to vaccinate for philosophical reasons and the state doesn't allow that, then say it's for religious reasons," she said. "It says you have to state that vaccination conflicts with your religious belief. It doesn't say you have to actually have that religious belief. So just state it."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071017/...i5onP0q4es0NUE

Parents ordered to court for kids' shots
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 17, 6:09 PM ET

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - Scores of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle.

The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations. Two months into the school year, school officials realized that more than 2,000 students in the county still didn't have the vaccinations they were supposed to have before attending class.

So Circuit Court Judge C. Philip Nichols ordered parents in a letter to appear at the courthouse Saturday and either get their children vaccinated on the spot or risk up to 10 days in jail. They could also provide proof of vaccination or an explanation why their kids didn't have them.

By about 8:30 a.m., the line of parents stretched outside the courthouse in the county on the east side of Washington.

Many of them complained that their children already were properly immunized but the school system had misplaced the records. They said efforts to get the paperwork straightened out had been futile. "It was very intimidating," Territa Wooden of Largo said of the letter. She said she presented the paperwork at the courthouse Saturday and resolved the matter.

"I could be home asleep. My son had his shots," said Veinell Dickens of Upper Marlboro, who also blamed errant paperwork.

Aloma Martin of Fort Washington brought her children, Delontay and Taron, in 10th and 6th grade, for their hepatitis shots. She said she had been trying to get the vaccinations for more than a month, since the school system sent a warning letter. She had an appointment for Monday, but came to the courthouse to be safe. "It was very heavy handed," she said of the county's action. "From that letter, it sounded like they were going to start putting us in jail."

School officials deemed the court action a success. School system spokesman John White said the number of children lacking vaccinations dropped from 2,300 at the time the judge sent the letter to about 1,100 Friday.

After Saturday's session, 172 more students were brought into compliance, including 101 students who received vaccinations at the courthouse and 71 whose records were updated.

That still left more than 900 students out of compliance with vaccination requirements, White said. "Obviously, we still have some more work to do," he said.

Any children who still lack immunizations could be expelled. Their parents could then be brought up on truancy charges, which can result in a 10-day jail sentence for a first offense and 30 days for a second.

Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn Ivey couldn't say Saturday whether he would prosecute parents who fail to comply. "We have to sit down with school and health services," he said. "We haven't ruled anything out. We need to figure out where we stand."

White said the school system, with about 132,000 students, has been trying for two years to get parents to comply with state law. That law allows children to skip vaccines if they have a medical or religious exemption. It was unclear how many medical or religious exemptions were involved.

Maryland, like all states, requires children to be immunized against several childhood illnesses including polio, mumps and measles. In recent years, it also has required that students up to high school age be vaccinated against hepatitis B and chicken pox.

Nichols said nobody actually came before him Saturday, but he was there if any parent asked to see him.

The judge noted the unhappy looks of some of the kids in line waiting for vaccinations. "It's cute. It looks like their parents are dragging them to church," Nichols said.

Several organizations opposed to mass vaccinations demonstrated outside the courthouse. While the medical consensus is that vaccines are safe and effective, some people blame immunizations for a rise in autism and other medical problems. "People should have a choice" in getting their children immunized, said Charles Frohman, representing a physicians' group opposed to vaccines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071117/...UnR834pqys0NUE

The judge noted the unhappy looks of some of the kids in line waiting for vaccinations. "It's cute. It looks like their parents are dragging them to church," Nichols said.

On a side note that comment is asine on sooo many levels ....

While the medical consensus is that vaccines are safe and effective, some people blame immunizations for a rise in autism and other medical problems.

Vaccine claims to get their day in court
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jun 4, 9:44 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Science has spoken when it comes to the theory that some childhood vaccines can cause autism. They don't, the Institute of Medicine concluded three years ago. Soon, it will be the courts turn to speak.

More than 4,800 claims have been filed against the federal government during the past six years alleging that a child contracted autism as a result of a vaccine. The first test case from among those claims will be the subject of a hearing that was to begin next Monday in a little-known "People's Court" — the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. A special master appointed by the court will hear the case.

For the parents filing a claim, there is the potential for vindication, and for financial redress.

The test case addresses the theory that the cause of autism is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in combination with other vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal. That preservative, which contains a form of mercury, is no longer in routine childhood vaccines. However, it is used in influenza vaccines.

One of the parents who has filed a claim against the federal government and has great interest in the case is Scott Bono of Durham, N.C. His son, Jackson, 18, has autism. While acknowledging the findings of the IOM's study, Bono believes those findings were preordained by the federal government. "The charge before the IOM committee was: 'You're not going to find anything wrong here,'" Bono said.

He said that parents of children with autism have been marginalized, but they see specific outcomes in their children that are consistent with exposure to mercury. And those outcomes did not present themselves until after they received their vaccinations. In short, the children tell the story better than the numbers, he said. "It's a thrill in the sense that, for the first time, the stories of these children are going to be heard in court," Bono said.

In July 1999, the U.S. government asked vaccine manufacturers to eliminate or reduce, as expeditiously as possible, the mercury content of their vaccines to avoid any possibility of infants who receive vaccines being exposed to more mercury than is recommended by federal guidelines.

Dr. Paul Offit, who developed a vaccine for the rotovirus, is chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He said epidemiological studies pick up minute, almost invisible differences in the populations that have received a vaccine versus those that have not.

For example, a swine flu vaccine in the 1970s caused the sometimes paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome in 1 out of 100,000 cases, he said.

But no such correlations have been found for autism, which affects about 1 out of 150 children, he said. "It should be easily picked up," he said. "It hasn't been and the reason it hasn't been is because vaccines do not cause autism."

Offit said mercury is part of the natural environment. There's no escaping it and, in fact, children will get more mercury from breast milk than they get from a vaccine. Yet, he's frustrated when he hears lawmakers speak of having zero tolerance for mercury. "On this planet you can't have zero tolerance for mercury," he said. "You would have to move to another planet."

Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction. Those affected often have trouble communicating, and they exhibit unusual or severely limited activities and interests. Meanwhile, classic symptoms of mercury poisoning include anxiety, fatigue and abnormal irritation, as well as cognitive and motor dysfunction.

The report from the Institute of Medicine pointed to five large studies, here and abroad, that tracked thousands of children since 2001 and found no association between autism and vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal.

Members of the National Autism Association see drug manufacturers and the federal government as working too closely together to the point that the federal government is working to protect the industry from liability. The association says its mission is to raise awareness of environmental toxins as causing neurological damage that often results in an autism or related diagnosis.

Bono, a member of the association, said he doesn't believe his son was intentionally poisoned. "I just want someone to step up and say, 'You're right, this did happen,'" he said.

During the hearing, lawyers for the parents were expected to present their expert testimony during the first week. Then lawyers representing the federal government were expected to present their case. The hearing was to be open to the public.

Officials planned to post transcripts on the court's Web site about 24 hours after each day's proceedings.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070605/...L5wEmFWQWs0NUE

On the Net:
U.S. Court of Federal Claims: http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov
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Children with autism get day in court
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jun 11, 1:10 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The parents of 12-year-old Michelle Cedillo asked a federal court Monday to find that their child's autism was caused by common childhood vaccines, a precedent-setting case that could pave the way for thousands of autistic children to receive compensation from a government fund set up to help people injured by the shots.

Wearing noise-canceling headphones, Michelle, of Yuma, Ariz., was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair at the start of the proceedings before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She stayed only a short time.

Her parents, Theresa and Michael Cedillo, allege a preservative called thimerosal that had been used in vaccines weakened their daughter's immune system and prevented her body from clearing the measles virus after she was immunized for the disease at age 15 months.

Today, Michelle suffers from a litany of health problems, including severe autism, inflammatory bowel disease, glaucoma and epilepsy. "We hope to find out what happened and hopefully get the help she needs," said Theresa Cedillo, who takes care of her daughter full time at home.

Special Master George Hastings Jr. thanked the family for allowing theirs to be the first of nine test cases that will help guide the resolution of some of the nearly 5,000 similar claims lodged with the government. "Clearly the story of Michelle's life is a tragic one," Hastings said in pledging to listen carefully to the evidence presented during the three-week hearing.

The burden of proof is easier than in a traditional court. Plaintiffs only have to prove that a link between autism and the shots is more likely than not, based on a preponderance of evidence. Large scientific studies have found no association between autism and vaccines containing thimerosal.

But many parents say their children's symptoms did not show up until after their children received the vaccines, required by many states for admission to school. "These are families who followed the rules. These are families who brought children in for vaccines. These are families who immunized their children," said the Cedillos' attorney, Thomas Powers.

Powers said that the science regarding a possible vaccine-autism link is in dispute. Government attorney Vincent Matanoski dismissed much of what the plaintiffs are expected to present as conjecture or speculation. "You'll find their hypotheses untested or, when tested, have been found false," Matanoski said.

Since 1999, more than 4,800 families have filed claims with the government alleging their children developed autism as a result of routine vaccinations. Most contend that a preservative called thimerosal is to blame for the impaired social interaction typical of the disorder.

The court is being asked to decide whether there is a link between autism and childhood vaccines. If it finds one exists, the families could be eligible for compensation under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, a program established by Congress to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines by safeguarding manufacturers from lawsuits. Under the program, people injured by vaccines receive compensation through a special trust fund.

Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction. Those affected often have trouble communicating, and they exhibit unusual or severely limited activities and interests. Classic symptoms of mercury poisoning include anxiety, fatigue and abnormal irritation, as well as cognitive and motor dysfunction.

Monday's case addresses the theory that the cause of autism is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in combination with other vaccines containing thimerosal. The preservative, about 50 percent mercury by weight, is no longer found in routine childhood vaccines but is used in some flu shots.

In July 1999, the U.S. government asked vaccine manufacturers to eliminate or reduce, as expeditiously as possible, the mercury content of their vaccines to avoid any possibility of infants who receive vaccines being exposed to more mercury than is recommended by federal guidelines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/...bp2M7fOkla24cA

ok heres a stupid question for someone........Is saying you dont want your child to have the shots because of religious reasons the only reason you can use to get out of having them?

An article writen about the intimidation of the vaccine bullies firsthand. She writes about getting dropped by her son’s pediatrician in 2004 for questioning conventional wisdom about giving the hep B vaccine to babies in 2004:

Beware of vaccine bullies


Posted: February 4, 2004





Why on earth should we vaccinate our newborn baby against Hepatitis B – a virus that is contracted mostly through intravenous drug use and sexual contact? That is the question my husband and I had for the doctors and nurses at the hospital where our son was born two and a half months ago.

We didn't get very good answers. It was "convenient," "recommended" and "routine," the medical staff assured us. We wanted more information. A nurse gave us a brochure, which explained that babies whose mothers had the Hep B virus were at high risk of developing acute Hep B infections. Well, I tested negative for Hep B. The Centers for Disease Control named unprotected sex, IV drug use and being stuck with a needle on the job as the likeliest routes of Hep B transmission. Well, my husband and I both work primarily from home, our two children stay at home, and neither we nor our 3-year-old daughter nor our baby (for heaven's sake!) live the Kid Rock-and-Pamela Anderson Lee lifestyle.

When we told the hospital staff that we simply wanted more time to think about giving the Hep B shot to our son – doesn't "informed consent" mean we should be truly informed? – we were badgered aggressively. Some lectured us about the need to "get on the proper vaccination schedule." Others warned that Maryland, like more than 40 other states, requires all schoolchildren to be vaccinated for Hep B. Teachers, however, are not subject to the mandate, which is driven not just by altruistic concern for children's health. Ohio legislator Dale Van Vyven snuck the Hep B mandate into a 1998 hazardous-waste bill at the behest of profit-maximizing vaccine manufacturers' lobbyists.

The "everybody does it" and "for the greater good" arguments worked when we were overcautious, over-trusting, first-time parents who submitted our daughter to every single vaccine without question. This time, we resolved not to be rushed or bullied. We declined to give our son the politically correct Hep B shot, decided to do more research, and then took up the issue with our pediatrician.

Boy, were we in for a rude awakening. Our doctor parroted the American Academy of Pediatrics line and mindlessly emphasized the efficacy of vaccines in eradicating childhood diseases. Well, we weren't questioning their collective efficacy. We questioned what the individual health benefits and health risks to our newborn were. Physicians have blindly plied vaccines before that have done more harm than good. A childhood rotavirus vaccine, for example, was approved for widespread use in 1998 and withdrawn from the market less than a year later after causing an increase in the incidence of painful bowel obstruction among infants.

Our doctor, however, pooh-poohed our inquiries about potential side effects. He seemed to have no idea what those risks were and no interest in finding out. He was also incredibly condescending: "95 percent of what you read on the Internet" is unreliable, he sermonized, as if we were too dumb to separate scientific fact from fraud.

In the end, we concluded that some of the vaccines were more worth the risks than others. At my son's two-month checkup, the pediatrician expected him to receive a triple-combination shot called "Pediarix" (consisting of Hep B, inactivated polio, and DTaP, which covers diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis), as well as HiB (for certain bacterial infections) and Prevnar (for meningitis and blood infections). I reiterated my refusal of Hep B, accepted DTaP and HiB, and asked to put off polio and Prevnar. In response, I received a threat: Get all the vaccines or get out of our practice.

"Informed consent"? Ha. This was uninformed coercion.

We're leaving for another practice, a little bitter but wiser. The strong-arm tactics of the medical establishment mustn't intimidate parents from challenging the universal vaccine orthodoxy. When it comes to protecting our children's health, skepticism is the best medicine.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=36926


Now, as I’ve said before, I’m no anti-vaccine absolutist. My kids are up-to-date, but I refused to be coerced or bullied into anything over the past three years. The Prince George’s County parents should take the same position. The problem lies with the physicians who are unwilling to discuss the risks of vaccines, the pro-vaccination groups that provide incorrect information about the duration of protection, and the physicians who refuse to care for children who are not “fully” vaccinated. The problem is compounded by policymakers who pass laws barring children from school if they have not received the Hep B vaccine.

Mandatory chickenpox vaccination is also questionable:

Varicella Vaccine May Increase Shingles Risk in Elderly

LONDON (Reuters Health) May 02 - Scientists said on Thursday that immunising children against varicella could increase the risk of shingles in adults.
The team, at Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service, said that although vaccination would save thousands of lives over time, thousands of elderly people could also die from the complications of herpes zoster.

Writing in the journal Vaccine, they called for a re-evaluation of the policy of mass varicella vaccination that has been introduced already in the United States and is imminent in many other countries. In 1995, the varicella vaccine was approved for use in children older than 1 year in the US and is now required for school entry.

Dr. Marc Brisson and his team report that adults living with children have more exposure to the virus and enjoy high levels of protection against shingles. Being close to children means that adults are exposed to the varicella, which acts like a "booster" vaccine against reactivation of the infection, they believe. But if all children were vaccinated, adults who have had chickenpox would not receive ongoing exposure, and would therefore be at greater risk of developing shingles.

The researchers worked out a mathematical model that predicts that eliminating chickenpox in a country the size of the United States would prevent 186 million cases of the disease and 5,000 deaths over 50 years.

However they said it could also result in 21 million more cases of shingles and 5000 deaths.

The PHLS said in a statement it was working out what the impact might be of introducing a chickenpox vaccine in Britain.

"As more evidence becomes available, it will be shared with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which advises the Department of Health on the immunisation schedule."

http://www.vaccinationnews.com/daily...ShingElder.htm

Parents are being treated like child abusers by the Maryland public education system, but who’s exploiting whom? If you’re wondering why the schools didn’t simply threaten to kick the kids out of school–as opposed to jailing and fining their parents–the answer is all in the money. The schools are funded based on average-daily-attendance. Every body in a classroom is cash in their pockets.

But never question the motives of the Nanny State, right?

It’s for the children.