Vaccinations: the Debate

Saturday, July 28, 2007

By Gabrielle Fagan

Vaccinating our children is a routine part of protecting them from illness in childhood - but a new book queries whether it is worth the risk.

Dr Andrew Wakefield, who challenged the safety of the MMR vaccine because of fears over a possible link to autism, is currently fighting to save his career. Meanwhile the Government insists vaccines are essential and save millions of lives.

The result is that many parents are anxious and confused about the best course of action. And now another doctor, Dr Richard Halvorsen, raises his concerns - warning that the Government "misleads us about vaccines".

Author of a new book, The Truth About Vaccines, he claims that UK children are being used as "guinea pigs" and given "unnecessary" jabs for illnesses such as mumps, and a vaccine for whooping cough which has been "ineffective" in stamping out the illness.

Halvorsen is a GP who's spent five years researching vaccination and he says: "Vaccine programmes are not the magic bullet cure that they are claimed to be, and bombarding children with a cocktail of vaccines could be causing some serious health problems, with hundreds if not thousands of children adversely affected every year."

Dr Halvorsen points out that a child is supposed to have 25 vaccines by the time they are 15 months old. "There remains uncertainty whether the growing number of childhood vaccinations is contributing to the rising numbers of children affected by asthma, diabetes and other immune-related disorders," he claims.

"One vaccine expert disclosed to me that we will probably never be able to test the safety of vaccines while we bundle so many of them together and administer them at the same time.

"This means it's almost impossible to distinguish the side-effects of one from another."

Father-of-two Dr Halvorsen began his investigation after getting a request to write an article on the MMR vaccination. "Until then I had no particular opinion on vaccines and routinely gave them to my patients' children and my own, and felt secure in the knowledge that they were safe.

"Yet when I researched and tried to get the Government's side of the story on MMR, instead of being reassured, which I expected, I was dismayed to find that evidence showing it was safe was simply not there. It had been introduced with virtually no safety controls at all."

He believes vaccine risks are not properly assessed because, unlike drugs, vaccines generally do not undergo long-term safety trials.

"I have been told that there is no one study that can disprove that MMR may cause 10% of autism cases in this country in susceptible children. Studies can show that MMR does not cause all autism.

"That's not good enough, and when I found that out I offered patients measles, mumps and rubella vaccines singly."

All too often he says parents' understandable concerns are met with unacceptable reactions and hostility by health authorities and doctors. " I've heard stories of parents trying to decide whether to vaccinate their children being patronised and bullied and even told it was the equivalent of abusing their child if they didn't opt for a vaccine."

But he emphasises: "I am not anti-vaccination. They have an important role in the protection of children. I am in favour of some, while with others I believe they are not as effective as they are made out to be.

" All I'm calling for is the right for parents to have a truthful and open discussion on this issue."

The Truth About Vaccines, by Dr Richard Halvorsen, Gibson Square, £9.99

The pros and cons of vaccinations
DR Halvorsen looks at the case for and against controversial vaccines, but he says firmly: "Before making any final decisions, you are advised to consult a health professional about the specific needs of your child."

MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)
Dr Halvorsen believes the vaccine serves little purpose and points out that: "MMR is the first and only vaccine to contain three live viruses. The studies to look for potential problems that this previously untried combination might cause have never been done."

And he believes that in view of the controversy over suggested links to autism, the MMR should be withdrawn until adequate long-term safety studies on sufficient numbers of children can demonstrate its safety.

He analyses its individual elements:

MEASLES
Measles used to kill more people than smallpox, scarlet fever and diphtheria combined, but improved nutrition and hygiene meant that by the mid-1950s deaths dropped to around 100 per year.

Despite claims vaccination of 95% of the population would eradicate the disease, there have been outbreaks in schools where 99% of children have been vaccinated, writes Dr Halvorsen.

"Measles 4vaccine can cause permanent brain damage and SSPE (rare but fatal brain disease), though almost certainly less commonly than 'naturally caught' measles."

HIS VERDICT: On balance the risks of the disease remain greater than those associated with the vaccine, especially in vulnerable children with chronic illnesses.

MUMPS
It is a mild disease that rarely kills; most people get a slight swelling of the facial and neck glands and are then immune for life.

Because immunity wears off, giving the vaccine has resulted in raising the age which children catch mumps from early childhood to adolescence, where the symptoms are more likely to be severe and can include permanent hearing loss, a painful swelling of testicles and possible infertility, says Dr Halvorsen.

He also suggests that the mumps vaccine is less effective as part of MMR, than the single jab.

HIS VERDICT: This vaccination is unnecessary and the MMR vaccine is making the disease worse.

RUBELLA
The vaccine was introduced to save babies being born with deformities as a result of mothers catching the disease while pregnant, but even before MMR was introduced only 30 babies a year were damaged by rubella.

A Finnish study showed that after two MMR jabs, a third of girls lost all protection by age 15.

HIS VERDICT: Not recommended for children, and it would be more effective to screen teenage girls to check if they've acquired immunity and vaccinate only those who don't have it.

HPV
This is aimed at the "Human Papilloma Virus" which causes genital warts that can result in cervical cancer.

A new HPV vaccination programme has been recommended by health authorities for 12-year-old girls and could start across the UK in autumn 2008, subject to a review. The plan is to vaccinate girls before they have time to become infected with HPV, which is sexually transmitted.

In trials it has only prevented the pre-cancerous changes to cells rather than cancer itself, and it only protects against the two types of HPV that cause 70% of this cancer.

HIS VERDICT: Some women in trials of the vaccine developed potential auto-immune disorders - mainly arthritis-related. This vaccine looks promising but it is too early to introduce it on a national scale.

ALUMINIUM
Dr Halvorsen also has concerns about aluminium which is present in most childhood vaccines. He says: "It's highly toxic, is known to cause brain damage and has been implicated in behavioural problems in children."

On the day of vaccination, young babies are given doses of aluminium that are the equivalent of up to a thousand times the maximum advised daily safety levels, he says.

HIS VERDICT: You can lessen the amount of aluminium your baby receives by spreading out the vaccines over a period of time.

"Spread out the length of time between the Pediacel (5-in-1), meningitis C and pneumococcal vaccines, all of which contain aluminium, so the amount of aluminium your baby receives on any one day will be reduced."

Of the three meningitis C vaccines available, Miningitec has the least aluminium, says Dr Halvorsen.

Source: Belfast Telegraph