In Greece, all vaccines on the National Immunisation Programme (including Hep B and chickenpox!) are compulsory for admission to school (school is compulsory as well by the way!). The only exemption is a medical exemption reports Sandrine.
We have just launched a petition (within Greece) requesting freedom of choice
regarding vaccination of our children. We also have a lawyer who is putting
together a file of scientific and legal arguments to support our case. Towards
the end of May, after the elections, she will present our case at various
relevant bodies such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, the
Institute of Child Health and the National Immunisation Committee.
I am really excited about this and I hope that it will at least help open the
debate on this issue and prepare the grounds should a Court case arise in the
future.
The Campaign is relying on donations (we need to raise 5,000 euros). If you are
willing and able to help, we’d be really grateful!
Please use the Arnica Paypal account to send your donations stating “Greek Vaccination Freedom Campaign”.
We also have a special bank account for this purpose in Greece, but I believe that the cost for an
international transfer is quite high. In any case, if you don’t have a paypal account and still wish to make a donation, please email me and we will find another way.
The petition can be found at:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/åëåõèåñßá-åðéëïãÞò-ãéá-ôïí-åì.html
It is in Greek and we are only collecting signatures from within Greece at the
moment, but here is a translation of the text in English for your information.
PETITION
FREEDOM OF CHOICE FOR THE VACCINATION OF OUR CHILDREN
Target: Greek Ministry of Health, Greek Ministry of Education
Region: Greece
Background
In Greece, all school-age children are required to provide proof that they have
received all vaccines listed on the National Immunisation Programme in order to
be admitted to school. The only exemption to this requirement is a medical
exemption. According to the latest National Immunisation Programme (2011), this
amounts to a total of 14 different vaccines, with many requiring multiple doses.
According to the authorities, compulsory vaccination is necessary in order to
protect public health. However, each vaccine comes with a list of potential
adverse effects and we believe that no one should have the right to force
parents to take such risks for their children.
Most parents who claim freedom of choice regarding vaccination have serious
concerns over the short term and long term safety of vaccines, as well as doubts
over their efficacy.
Vaccines contain toxic ingredients, such as aluminium derivatives, known to
cause brain damage, formaldehyde, which is carcinogenic, Monosodium Glutamate
(MSG), which is a neurotoxin and polysorbate 80, which is linked to severe
anaphylactic reactions. Additionally, the Package Insert and Patient Information
Leaflet of each vaccine list a number of possible short term adverse reactions
ranging from redness at the injection site to a high fever, seizures and
anaphylactic shock. Studies have also associated vaccines with autism, as well
as auto-immune disorders such as Diabetes Mellitus, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid
arthritis and Gillain-Barre Syndrome to mention just a few. Additionally,
vaccines have not been tested to see whether they cause cancer or fertility
impairment.
Much of the research carried out on vaccines is funded by the pharmaceutical
industry. In its December 2009 Factsheet (no. 335), the World Health
Organisation reported: “Corruption in the pharmaceutical sector occurs
throughout all stages of the medicines chain, from research and development to
dispensing and promotion”.
There is now an increasing number of medical experts, such as those belonging to
the International Medical Council on Vaccination, who openly disagree with the
generally accepted view that vaccines are safe and efficacious. The conclusions
of the Council have been reached individually by each member, after rigorous
personal research, study and observation.
Finally, many of the “vaccine-preventable” diseases are either so rare or so
mild, that a parent should have the freedom to decide whether or not they want
to vaccinate their child. Most vaccination exemptions are only given after a
child has already been damaged by a vaccine. It is the parents who will have to
live with and take care of a vaccine-damaged child. Therefore, parents should
have the freedom to choose what risks they are willing to take.
Petition:
We, the undersigned, request that vaccines are no longer compulsory for
attendance to school. Since the pharmaceutical companies admit (in their package
inserts) that vaccines may cause serious side effects, including permanent
injury, we believe that forcing parents to take such a risk is unconstitutional
and an invasion of our human rights.
We therefore petition for freedom of choice regarding vaccination of our
children.
The way that non vaccinating parents were wrongly accused made the viewer believe that child death from disease (in this case a baby from whooping cough) was because of non vaccinated children.
Friends and relatives, and the wider community, will judge non vaccinating parents and their children. The topic is emotive already (a mother on line shared that she was spat at after a mother & toddler group because she does not vaccinate) but this accusation needs retracting by the program makers as already on line some parents have been incited to be aggressive towards others.
Clearly the presenter lead the question to the parents of the baby who died, and did not have the facts to back up the allegation which are..
1. 95% of UK children are fully vaccinated which is the level required as set down by the WHO for herd immunity
2. This vaccine is not effective, ‘lasting’ for around 3 years, and so the Dept of Health is considering an extra booster
3. Whooping cough appears in the vaccinated
4. If a mother has had whooping cough then her baby is less likely to contract whooping cough at such young age (before the vaccines at 4 months) and if she breastfeeds the risks of complications from whooping cough (and Hib) are reduced
One baby a year tragically dies from whooping cough each year but the show’s omission to say this would imply that these deaths are more widespread. They misrepresented the risk of disease and were scaremongering.
I will keep you updated on this compliant. Meanwhile I have included more detail below.
Whooping cough goes in cycles – please look at the HPA website to see that we are not experiencing unusually high cases of whooping cough during this generation. As for vaccination coverage, 95% of UK parents use this vaccine so the WHO level for ‘herd immunity’ has been reached. So why are babies still getting whooping cough and why does a baby die from whooping cough every year here?
This vaccine is the least effective, the UK gov is planning on bringing in another booster, as the number of cases of whooping cough has risen in the older age groups as it is thought that the effects of the vaccine ‘wear off’.
Whooping cough often goes undiagnosed as parent and GP thinks that the persistent cough can’t be whooping cough. This means that contagious children are going to school with whooping cough and spreading the bacteria around. Non vaccinated parents are more likely to be aware of disease symptoms and not take their children out if they are suspected of having whooping cough.
Why are babies getting whooping so young? Naturally the mother would confer natural immunity for the early months if she had had whooping cough, and if she was breast feeding would see a baby through any respiratory infection without complication. Well less mothers are able to pass on that immunity and less are breastfeeding their babies.
Why are the authorities and the media implying that non vaccinating parents are to blame for the increase then? It doesn’t seem logical that if most ARE vaccinating how can the non vaccinated be blamed. Why isn’t the Q. asked about this vaccine efficacy? And why aren’t the authorities asking us to be vigilant and informed about our children’s cough before mixing with tiny babies and why aren’t parents told more about the benefits of lower infections and hospitalisation when a baby is exclusively breastfed?
If you don’t have time to research vaccines then please accept that there are 2 sides and the government will only tell you one side of a story. Did you know for example, that formaldehyde is added to vaccines in the attempt to make the animal DNA, animal protein and virus inactive. That the placebo in vaccine safety trials are always OTHER VACCINES, it is never benign. That there is not a control group and that the health outcomes for the vaccinated and the unvaccinated have never been officially compared.
POLIO ERADICATION STORY
There is a very different side of this news item that mainstream UK news is not mentioning, and I would like to know why?
New Delhi, Jan. 15:
“India’s health ministry, celebrating a year of freedom from wild polio, now faces a dilemma that public health experts had predicted years ago: the very vaccine it is using to fight polio is causing more polio paralysis than the wild poliovirus.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120116/jsp/frontpage/story_15011108.jsp
…. in reality, the incidence of limb-paralysis in children has increased after the Polio Eradication Initiative!
The Web site of the National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP) reveals that the number of cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) in children increased from 3,047 to 60,466 (20 times) during 1997 to 2011!
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2837352.ece?homepage=true
With many stories of forced vaccinations in the Developing World, where there is no compensation for ADRs, surely this makes a mockery of informed choice and state responsibility. For example, there were recently some arrests of teachers refusing entry of armed Polio vaccination teams to the school..
“We arrested some staff members but released them after they swore to cooperate with us.”
The ‘data’ may show less Polio in the developing World but at what cost? Are the children healthier? Is paralysis any less or is it just called by a different name? Where is the journalistic quality here? The UK found that the chances of developed polio from vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPV) were higher than from wild polio and changed to the inactive vaccine in 2004 …..
Furthermore, Polio is very much associated with poor clean water & sanitation and nutrition. The WHO puts water as a first priority overall as a prevention to reduce mortality (vaccines are placed second) and UNICEF puts exclusive Breastfeeding first for reducing child mortality in the under 5s. So why has UK spending on water programs reduced and where is the investment in promotion of Breastfeeding?
In comparison, £800,000,000 tax payers money was given to GAVI last June to increase the vaccination programs but where is evidence of better health outcomes overall? Vaccines are not necessarily linked to better long term health but the presumption is left unchallenged. Why is the UK Government not independently assessing this GAVI contract and why are your journalists not asking questions?
Please explain why the BBC does not even scratch the surface.
I look forward to your reply.
Nicola Adolphe, Arnica member and researcher, had 45 minutes with Stephen O’Brien, International Development Minister in December. She was presenting data from the The Spirit Level which looked at breast feeding, water & sanitation, and nutrition having far greater outcomes than vaccines in all countries. Dr Jayne Donegan was her partner. The fact that this meeting even took place is an amazing start, thanks to Nicola and her MP Oliver Letwin.
The GAVI message of 5 million lives saved was embedded into the political mantra and as Comic Relief is now supporting GAVI I guess we have our work cut out!
The main item to follow up is that Oliver Letwin MP said that the WHO should monitor and compare the vaccinated countries and the unvaccinated, with the variable of breastfeeding uptake. Unicef states on their site that Exclusive Breastfeeding is the single most effective intervention for preventing child deaths under a year. And I much rather see a breast feeding mother poster any day, compared to a starving child with a needle in their arm.
The girls asked that the outcomes should not just be linked to ‘numbers’ of vaccines given but on health outcomes overall. There was some stuttering but yes health outcomes were of course important. As with any pledge I wonder if the ‘agreement’ has a ‘change of mind’ clause, just in case the health outcomes were not improved. But it seems that monitoring this money and the safety of delivering millions of doses of vaccines is not a concern to Mr O’Brien.
The Minister wanted to leave all policy to the WHO and responsibility to GAVI, but considering that many GAVI board members have financial interests in the manufacture of vaccines and the WHO has missed some vital safety issues in the past, we shouldn’t be complacent. It was admitted in the meeting that there is no evidence that live vaccines are safe for Aids sufferers (indeed the manufacturers advise against giving live vaccines to HIV and Aids patients). The WHO sanctions this practice based only upon one study looking at HIV sufferers, not Aids. A UK government aide offered that there also was no evidence of harm…. mmm, we will send them the Merck manual which states
“Immunocompromised patients should not receive live-virus vaccines, which could provoke severe or fatal infections.”
Anyway, thank you to all who wrote letters to your MPs, we will keep you in touch with the next phase.
Water will still be hot on the agenda as water is officially THE most effective intervention in the world say the HPA, yet just a few percent of Aid goes to water programs and this has dropped over the years. Something just does not add up.
p.s. I don’t suppose these news items will ring any bells for any one…
New neurological ‘Nodding Syndrome‘ in S Sudan – the CDC are looking into malnutrition as a possible cause. I guess they will not look at the Polio vaccination as a possible cause? 6 million children were vaccinated in 2010 after mass drive, many of whom had several doses. Malnutrition will be indicated of course but not to investigate a live vaccine, when neurological ADRs are the most reported serious ADR with vaccines, is a glaring omission.
I have several experiences in the last month that I have to share!
I sit on a patient engagement group with a lead GP and members of the PCT who are illuminated with the idea that patients should be respected and listened too, more than just to satisfy authorisation for the new white paper but because it is the right thing to do. (Not forgetting that the patient’s experience is the third strand of evidence based evidence so their health outcomes should improve also!)
The GP said that he “wanted patient involvement to be meaningful and authentic”
and when we presented it to the Clinical Commissioning Board (a shadow of the PCT) where I am a member, the board showed excitement with the draft report. Every GP practice is enjoying a visit to support new patient reference groups, and the word patient engagement and HealthWatch is creeping into more and more policy documents.
A GP from my local practice told me that she would prefer not to prescribe antibiotics
“I think that antibiotics are incorrectly credited much of the time” she said, “Often the body would have got better anyway in the time a person takes antibiotics.”
And the second GP on a follow up visit said, “It is so refreshing to meet a parent who does not want Antibiotics! So often the parent puts pressure on us to prescribe when we know it is not in the child’s best interest.”
For my daughter’s blocked sinus symptom the GP suggested steaming
with Eucalyptus 3 times a day for 3 days.
For my son’s wart the GP said that
“the body would get rid of it by itself and as long as it is not hurting, then best to leave it to nature…. “
If we wanted to speed up the process we could try banana skins or tape!
The surgery does not recommend any product for children as they can damage more healthy skin.
And in the waiting room the message flashing on the screen reads..
DO NOT ROUTINELY GIVE CALPOL BEFORE ‘IMMUNISATION’ AS IT MAY MASK A CHILD’S FEVER
So lets all have a great year of communicating with the health professionals and sharing our learning and respect for nature… be bold like the Chinese Dragon.
There’s so much I could say about the conference ‘Immunisation, Working Together to Protect the Nation’; the disagreements between the speakers, key items lacking in current knowledge, the blank gaze of the chair, Dr Helen Bedford, when I asked her about long term health outcomes, or the smugness of Dr Heidi Larson, former anthropologist, dissecting the Psychological reasons for the resistance to vaccines.
I could have focused on Professor John Oxford, virologist, who used the word witch and a non-vaccinating mother in the same sentence. Who showed Blake’s painting of a family meeting in heaven, so we would understand the gravity of the flu. Who told another speaker that he wouldn’t want to be vaccinated in his pharmacy if he had just vaccinated a Hepatitis B patient due to the risk of catching Hepatitis B! No comment. I will leave this to another speaker who was overheard calling him paranoid…
But they were passing details to the real message that I took with me from this conference. Which was that the immunisation program does not work together with the people it reports to serve and protect. And that this prophylactic intervention, that has never been tested with a benign placebo but other vaccines and never a control group, may have paid a price far greater than its success claims. No intelligent comment was offered from the speakers on the lack of safety testing.
The lack of compassion for Jackie Fletcher and Alli Edwards from the JABS support group will haunt me forever. Jackie, a beautiful dignified woman who introduced herself, as a mother of a vaccine damaged child. She asked questions about the lack of opportunities for parents’ groups to get involved in vaccination policy and challenged them on the current ineffective monitoring system with its inherent failure to follow up on the limited yellow card reports. She respectfully asked how do they expect to get accurate safety data if they don’t monitor and follow up on serious side effects. Alli Edwards, a most elegant mother, trying to rein in her passion, again asking legitimate questions.
At least no one questioned why they were there, like Professor David Salisbury did last year. But the answers were hollow.
The Flu Fairy from West Suffolk was one of the speakers. Elaine spent her happy hours persuading employees of the local Hospital to get their flu jab, Hepatitis B or MMR. She was very proud of her 1,000th flu shot. Alli asked her what she would do if one of the employees suffered an adverse reaction to the vaccine. Unfortunately this senior nurse answered, rather shamefully, that she didn’t think that adults suffered ADRs from vaccines.
Alli reminded her that there was a Hep B support group for employees who had debilitating injury after this vaccine and I offered that the Department of Work and Pensions paid dozens of such compensation to adults for vaccine damage.
That a medical person was administering potentially life threatening and debilitating products without knowledge is extraordinary.
I take this to imply that the employees were not fully informed. I have subsequently found these figures.
“One victim wrote:
“The injuries we suffered as a result of the Hepatitis B vaccination are devastating. We have permanent serious health problems, lost our jobs, our careers, independence, ambitions, family life and the joy of life.”
Stated by a medical doctor suffering from vaccine damage.
However, I applauded Nurse Ramsden on allowing employees to check their antibody levels before unnecessary vaccinating, say for the MMR. Some health authorities demand vaccination in the contract and it is rare to give this option.
Then what followed was unbelievable.
Dr David Elliman turned to the nurse and gently scolded, ‘That is concerning, this could give the wrong message to parents.’ Heavens forbid the parents realize that they could accept fewer vaccines for their children.
A shaking Jackie stood up and said that blood tests were a very useful tool and could reduce the risk of children being needlessly exposed to risks of severe damage. She stated that she could cite many accounts and gave two examples. One was a little boy who had started with seizures 10 days after his MMR and ended up in a drug induced coma to try and stabilize him. When he was five the immunization consultant at the local hospital had contacted his parents to ask about his ‘booster’ MMR. The parents and the boy’s GP were reluctant to risk giving it again. JABS advised a blood test which the GP happily undertook. The results showed the boy had good antibody levels so did not need to be exposed to any further risk.
Jackie also told of her own boy who had suffered a catastrophic reaction to his MMR vaccination. This hadn’t stopped three different branches of the D o H contacting her when his ‘booster’ MMR was due. Blood tests showed that he was covered for the three diseases. She said it was wrong of Dr Elliman to negate the value of blood tests. Incidentally Jackie’s son is now 20. He is in a wheelchair, has no speech and regular epileptic fits. Finally this year his damage was officially linked to the MMR and he received a (pitifully small) payment from the Vaccine Damage Payment Fund.
Apparently testing the blood would just tie up resources that could be better spent elsewhere added Dr Jenny Harries, JCVI, Joint Committee for Vaccines and Immunisation.
Tie up resources to potentially save lives? Now did I miss something?
Here is a valid point made by a paying member of the conference, (nearly all others would have been covered by their employer or drug company.) By a mother whose child was not protected but permanently damaged by the recommended vaccines. What a difference a simple blood test may have made. Instead, several boosters are given of most vaccines when they ‘work’ in 95% of recipients. Boosters for all are to cover those 5%. So again the end justifying the means argument rises again. Most children are at further risk of adverse reactions in order to cover the small minority for which the vaccine has not ‘worked’.
Jackie Fletcher’s experience and idea was totally walked over. David Elliman told us how we needed to up the vaccine rates to protect those vulnerable children. His background is in child protection and community child health. Since 1996 two children had tragically died and two had sadly suffered serious damage from measles, all immune suppressed children, he shared. David’s role would understandably be to protect those groups of children by arguing for mass vaccination. However, in his noble pursuit, is he and those around him blinded to the cost?
No acknowledgment, let alone compassion, was shown towards vaccine damage, quite the opposite. He told me in a break that if Jackie had her way, parents could be asking for whichever vaccines they wanted. He also looked panicked when I told him proudly of Healthwatch’s part in the new White Paper where patients had a greater involvement in their care. Patient choice sat uncomfortably. I wanted to remind him that Evidence Based Medicine has three strands of which patient experience and choice was an important part but I sure he had just forgotten.
Jackie could have stood up again and told the audience that since that time the government had paid out on 4 children’s death from vaccines. She could have said that the government has paid out £3.5m to patients left disabled by vaccinations just since 1997. In fact, 917 payments have been made since the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was introduced in 1979 until 2005 when The Evening Standard demanded this information under the FOI. (The US has paid out $2 billion for vaccine damage by the way.)
Would it have made any difference? I doubt it. Surely, managers and policy makers know the figures. But the maths just does not add up. 2 million children unvaccinated with MMR in the UK, a further million without the booster. Only 2 deaths and 2 serious complications from the wild measles but dozens more damaged by the MMR officially. I wish I had been on the ball with my questions at this point.
Now lets consider the potential true figure of vaccine damage.
Dr Harries, Joint Director of Public Health, and JCVI member, had proudly told us in her presentation that the UK has one of the best records for reporting of ADRs and that patients could report an ADR for themselves. I had to challenge this because at the first ADR conference in 2011 we were told by the MHRA (where the Yellow Cards are sent to) that only 6% of the public knew about this system and speakers said that they estimated only around 10% of ADRs are reported. The Brussels hearing on Pharmocovigilance, that I attended in 2009, had warned of the same and called it an epidemic of ADRs.
I suggest that 2 measles deaths and 2 complications is the sum of it since 1996. Yet the official figure of 4 for vaccine damage payments where the child has died following MMR and 4 for severe vaccine damage from the MMR is just a small proportion. Jackie Fletcher’s JABS support group holds reports for approximately 2,000 children.
The multi-party MMR legal action, at its peak in 2003, had 1,400 live legal aid certificates which showed that the cases were compelling enough to have the support of the Legal Aid Board. Has anyone ever contacted her about them she asked? Has anyone ever contacted anyone who filed a Yellow Card for more details? NO she told us.
Most in public health have a duty to protect the weak and to reduce disease, and indeed the professionals and many committee members come from this background. However, where is the ADR Czar? Where is the voice of the parent in this? Defenseless otherwise healthy babies have no voice.
And what about Dr David Elliman, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, our Immunisation spokesman? While he was preparing the hearing against Dr Jayne Donegan, accused of peddling junk science in 2006 in supporting a non-vaccinating mother in a custody hearing, for which she was totally cleared by the GMC, Baby P died. Dr Elliman was one of the senior managers on the case and found to be lacking by The Evening Standard investigation in 2009.
Interesting that the slogan on Haringey’s headed paper was Working together for Childrens’ Health. It has left me wondering. You should wonder too.
Dear Sir / Madam, (to HIV agencies in Sudan)
I am requesting information about the safety procedures of administering the Rotavirus vaccine, introduced recently in Sudan, for babies under 6 months who may have infections, especially HIV.
The vaccine insert warns against this practice but I am interested to know how many babies are there in Sudan of this age who may have HIV or Aids, and what surveillance and testing is being done before vaccination? I was pleased to read that the WHO report on Sudan’s Rotavirus vaccine program stressing that “
the use of rotavirus vaccines should be part of a comprehensive strategy to control diarrhoeal diseases; this strategy should include, among other interventions, improvements in hygiene and sanitation, zinc supplementation, community-based administration of oral rehydration solution and overall improvements in case management.”
http://www.emro.who.int/sudan/news.htm
Breastfeeding must also be included in this comprehensive strategy. For example, breastfed children are over 6 times less likely to die from diarrhea, The Disease Control Priorities Project (DCPP) gives this important data: Exclusive breastfeeding means no other food or drink, not even water, is permitted, except for supplements of vitamins and minerals or necessary medicines. The optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding is six months (WHO 2001). A meta-analysis of three observational studies in developing countries shows that breastfed children under age 6 months are 6.1 times less likely to die of diarrhea than infants who are not breastfed (WHO Collaborative Study Team 2000).
http://www.dcp2.org/pubs/DCP/19/Section/2542
I look forward to hearing what strategies you have to support these sensible interventions and what safety protocol you will be following or supporting when vaccinating children who may already have an infection such as HIV or Aids.
Many thanks for your work in the area of health in Sudan and for your considered reply,
Dear Sir / Madam, (To the UNICEF reps in Nigeria)
I am most concerned about Officials in Nigeria’s northern Kano state insisting that parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio may be prosecuted and could face jail time.
(And that 131 children were vaccinated at gunpoint in Nsanje, Africa
http://www.malawivoice.com/latest-news/131-children-vaccinated-at-gunpoint-in-nsanje/)
The reason I am contacting you is that this government order issued this week comes as UNICEF had been pressuring Nigeria’s northern states to promote the polio Vaccination.
I was at the GAVI conference where a journalist asked about compensation and the question was avoided. However, I am concerned that ‘promoters’ of health and vaccines would still want informed choice and a damage payment scheme, especially as many thousands of cases of paralytic Polio are vaccine induced. If health prevention is forced surely it means ethically that you need to have a good safety surveillance in place, treatment and compensation, like we attempt to do in the West.
Polio can harm but so too can the vaccine…There are many cases of vaccine injury but here is a rare case of compensation
Further concern is that immunosuppressed individuals should not take the live Oral Polio Vaccine, including people with AIDS, HIV infection, other immunodeficiency diseases. Please see the vaccine insert from the manufacturer for contraindications. Therefore, I wonder how babies are being tested for HIV and AIDs before being vaccinated with Polio.
My questions therefore are:
Do you support forced vaccination with threat of jail or at gunpoint? If this is happening how will you respond?
How are vaccines delivered safely in response to the manufacturers own recommendations which are not to vaccinate those with infection?
How will vaccine damage monitored and be compensated?
I look forward to your considered reply,
Many Thanks
On Monday 18th, a toddler will be taken to the nurse for his vaccinations. In this case it is not a normal event. The mother is having to comply with a court order to catch up on all vaccines by the age of 2 years (11 vaccines in 8 months) on request of the absent father in a custody hearing.
How is it that the main carer can be forced to vaccinate against his or her wishes, when this ‘preventable’ medical intervention comes with high potential risks?
The Law does not walk on solid ground here.
Judges have ordered vaccinations for children when one parent fights for them in this way, usually fathers in custody hearings, but may be doing so emotively. The non-vaccinating mother is not a pretty social picture and the judge is asked to consider that she is acting irresponsibly by the father’s lawyers. Often GPs, not always the family GP who may have a considered opinion in the case, suggest that the mother has not adequately ‘protected’ her child or children. The judge has always acted for the father and current medical advise.
Jayne Donegan GP was called as the family doctor to support a mother who was in this position. Dr Donegan stated that the mother was not acting irresponsibly and went further to say that she was not putting her child in any mortal danger by not vaccinating. The judge accused her of peddling Junk Science and promptly reported her to the GMC who bought charges of serious professional misconduct. The judge also ordered that the child in question be forcibly vaccinated.
Jayne won her case but was asked not to discuss it by her Union and so the verdict is not common knowledge. Perhaps it should be. If the courts in our member’s case had been aware of the GMC summing up perhaps they would have taken a different view. http://www.jayne-donegan.co.uk/gmc
It was later ruled that indeed the rights of the main carer’s over ruled the first judgement, and the child could not be vaccinated against the mother’s will. For a while it seemed that sense prevailed…. but unfortunately what then happened could not be undone. 2 years later the father, now with custody, took the child to a GP and vaccinated anyway….
Our first mother facing the start of so many catch up vaccines starting on Monday knows all this. She knows that even if she wins her case under human rights as a main carer, the father’s father, who is a GP, will just vaccinate her son anyway, if he wins custody, and if she doesn’t comply with the courts at this stage it may affect the custody outcome.
Many hearts go out to her and her son, and trust that he remains as healthy as he is today. After all, there is no study that shows he will be healthier with all those vaccines and no doctor in the land, including Dr David Eliman, who can guarantee that an adverse reaction will not happen.
Perhaps not as shocking as 131 children vaccinated at gunpoint in, Nsanje, Africa but equally unsettling.
I attended the 1st International Conference on patient reporting of suspected Adverse Drug Reactions
in London in June, organised by PRIMM (Prescribing and Research in Medicines Management) and the DSRU (Drug Safety Research Unit). It was very well organised, if not well attended. Up to million Britons are hospitalised by prescription medicines every year, costing the NHS £2 Billion, and ADRs are the 5th leading cause of death in Europe causing £79 billion. Tony Avery was one of dozens of professors who had written an open letter to David Cameron warning him of an epidemic of ADRs.
My eyes were opened to the vast possible life threatening and debilitating side effects from drugs whose testing is not thorough, monitoring in the Community phase 5 is poor and patient reporting is little known about. For example, pathological gambling effect from a Parkinson medication, and suicide from an acne medication. Prof Simon Maxwell reminded us that “All drugs are poisons depending on the dose”… may I add and dependent on the patient.
GPs have only 2-3 hours training in recognising ADRs, Pharmacology was removed by the BMA, and often GPs will just change the dose or prescribe another drug before stopping the problem drug. Thankfully Pharmacists spot many errors in prescribing and are in the highest group of health professionals is reporting ADRs to the MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency.)
7,000 prescriptions are written daily so with an error rate of 5-10% so that equates to hundreds of mistakes every day. My personal issue is that GPs often do not follow up their prescribing and so can not effectively reflect or evaluate their professional practice. Patients do not always cash in the prescription, or even use the drug even though taken, may have a problem with the drug but may not share this information or may share it with another GP. Unless GPs see patients through a illness period, how can they monitor their practice?
Shelley Gandi from the MHRA told us that only 10% of ADRs are reported to them and everyone agreed that Patient Reporting is vital. The patient was found to write a more detailed and accurate report, especially about the psychological effect and the reduced quality of life, compared to the health professional who will pick up on the life threatening effects. Patients can of course use the Yellow Card, available on line and in most pharmacists, but less than 10% of the population is aware of this. Promoting the Yellow Card is vital of course, but we need to share our experiences with our GPs to reduce the incidence in the first place.
My question:
“It is common for today’s babies and toddlers to be regularly ill with colds and infections, and have allergies and atopic conditions, but more worrying is that everyone thinks that this is normal. However, parents who use few pharmaceutical products find that their children are rarely ill or immune compromised, and so are not ‘normal’. If ill health is a side effect of combinations of vaccines, antibiotics and anti pyretics, then how can the side effects be even suspected as a result, let alone be assigned to each product?”
My Question was not answered at the conference, but was followed up with a possibility of a study by a Prof of Pharmacy and Chemistry “I do acknowledge that a combination of products makes it difficult to identify which product caused an ADR and that is the next area on which I wish to work. It is possible that we could consider doing some epidemiological research in this area..”
That’s good.
The patients were so respected here, that’s good too.
Please see this very good site for more about ADRs http://www.april.org.uk
APRIL was founded by the amazing Millie Kieve who began researching for information about adverse drug reactions (ADR’s) after the tragic death of her daughter Karen in 1995.