Defective Drugs Cases...
DPT Vaccine Related Side Affects...

   There's no question that DPT vaccinations save lives; they have lowered the annual pertussis deaths from about 1000 annually to less than ten. Unfortunately, as reported by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the form of the vaccine used and sanctioned by the Centers for Disease Control also kills as many as 900 children per year, and leaves one of every 62,000 children immunized with permanent brain damage. Are those acceptable risks?

   In recent years, doctors across Canada stopped using the old combination vaccines, called DPT, and switched to a new product, called DTaP-IPV. There are well know side-effects from the use of the old DPT Vaccines and are typically caused by the pertussis (whooping cough) component. Because of this fact alone, many parents are fearful to have their children vaccinated.

   In Canada in 1996, there were 15 hospital admissions for seizures, all after the DPT vaccine, compared with only three in 1998, each after DTaP-IPV. All children who suffered adverse reactions to the new vaccine recovered fully. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that children be immunized with the new vaccine, but many vaccination programs still use DPT because it is less expensive.

   To add insult to injury, a purified vaccine is available that's virtually reaction-free, and has been produced and used in other countries for over 15 years, using technology the U.S. abandoned in the 1970's. However, it costs $9 more per injection.

   While most parents would happily cough up the additional money to ensure their children's safety, drug companies have lobbied to delay the use of the purified vaccine (acellular) for as long as possible probably because it will cut into their inflated 50 percent profit margins per vaccination. Symptoms of the DTP vaccine include fits of screaming, unresponsiveness, shock, vomiting, localized paralysis, and convulsions.

   By 1972, six major US pharmaceutical companies had developed a purified (acellular) form of the pertussis vaccine which was virtually reaction-free. Unfortunately, the purification process yielded less of the active component necessary to confer immunity increasing the cost of production from cents to dollars per dosage. Acellular vaccine production was abandoned. In 1977, British researcher Dr. Gordon T. Stewart, of the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Glasgow, documented adverse reactions to DPT vaccine and evaluated the benefit to risk ratio for children in the United Kingdom. His research demonstrated that 1 of every 54,000 children receiving the vaccine suffered encephalopathy (brain disfunction) with rare instances of mental retardation ensuing.

   Of the 160 adverse cases he examined, 40 percent demonstrated hyperkinesis (increased muscle movements accompanying brain dysfunction), infantile spasms, flaccid paralysis, and partial or complete amentia (severe mental retardation).

   He determined that adverse events were severely underreported or overlooked, that no protection from the disease was demonstrable in infants, and that claims by official bodies that risks of whooping-cough exceeded those of vaccination were very questionable. He estimated the risk of transient brain damage and mental defect to occur in 1 out of every 10,000 vaccinated, and risk for permanent brain damage to occur in 1 out of every 20,000 to 60,000 vaccinated.

   Sweden banned the pertussis vaccine from its vaccination program in 1979, related to concerns of safety and its questionable effectiveness. This country decided it would rather endure the disease as opposed to the vaccine. (Mr. Williamson correctly points out that the United Kingdom experienced outbreaks of pertussis during this time period, however, 100,000 cases with only 36 deaths was viewed by many as minor compared to the potential loss from mass immunizations of millions of citizens with a defective vaccine -- do the math yourself -- a potential for 900 deaths annually in this country alone from the vaccine.)

   In 1980, German researchers, Tonz and Bajc, compared incidences of seizures caused by the pertussis vaccine in Germany with those in America. German children suffered seizures at the rate of 1 per every 4800 infants immunized while American children demonstrated a rate of 1 seizure for every 600 infants immunized. One child in 1,750 would collapse in shock from the dose

   Dr. Kathleen Stratton and her colleagues at the Institute of Medicine reported in 1994 the Diphtheria and Tetanus (DT) portions of the DPT cocktail had been causally related to anaphylactic reactions (severe allergic reactions), Guillain-Barre Syndrome (numbness of the extremities with severe forms producing various degrees of paralysis), and brachial neuritis (inflammation of the brachial nerve). It remains inconclusive as to whether or not these portions of the vaccine cause residual seizure disorders, demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (infections of nerve cell linings causing muscle weakness and visual disturbances), mononeuropathy (single nerve inflammation), and arthritis.

Other Names:
Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus
DPT Immunization
DPT Innculation

Adverse Effects/ Potential Injuries:
Death
Brain Damage
Shock
Encephalopathy
Mental Retardation
Seizures
Hyperkinesis
Flaccid Paralysis
Amentia

Related Terms:
DTaP Vaccine
Whooping Cough
Pertussis
Tetanus

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