All U.S. kids should get flu vaccine, panel says

[Steve Gardner]

This comes close to a call for mandatory vacinations from what I can see. Not sure I'd be thrilled about the prospect of such a scheme here in the UK.

These stories always arouse my suspicion of government and my irritation at the huge profits big pharma will make as the result of this recommendation, should it get implemented.

Also, I wonder how many of the panel are vested in the sector.

Source: Reuters

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All U.S. children aged from six months up to 18 should be immunized every year against influenza, a panel of federal vaccine advisers said on Wednesday.

The panel, which advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine matters, agreed unanimously at its regular meeting in Atlanta that the new recommendations should go into effect as soon as possible, but no later than the 2009-2010 flu season.

The vote from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices would add about 30 million children to the list of those who should be vaccinated, CDC spokesman Curtis Allen said. The current recommendations cover children aged 6 months to 5 years old.

"There about 59 million (children aged 5 to 18) but a lot of those children are already covered under current recommendations," Allen said in a telephone interview.

Based on current vaccination rates, the CDC predicts about 7 million additional children will be vaccinated because of the expanded recommendations.

Flu infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population each year and kills an estimated 36,000 Americans in an average year, most of them elderly. It can also kill young children, often previously healthy children.

The CDC said last week that 22 children had died in this year's flu season so far. Flu is active in all 50 states now.

Last year, 68 children died of flu in 26 states during a very mild influenza season, according to reports compiled by the CDC. Of them, 39 were aged 5 to 17 and more than 90 percent of all the children who died had not been vaccinated.

"We are very pleased," said Gary Stein of Families Fighting Flu, who spoke to the meeting.

"Doctors follow these recommendations in advising their patients," added Stein, whose 4-year-old daughter Jessica died of influenza in 2002. "Parents read it, and vaccination rates are so low that this awareness strongly follows the guidance."

NOT JUST A ROUTINE BUG

Dr. Carol Baker, president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, agreed.

Babies aged 6 months to 2 years have a very high risk of complications and death from flu, but only 20 percent were vaccinated against influenza in 2006-2007, even though they are regularly being vaccinated against other diseases at this age.

"I think most parents do not understand how dangerous influenza is," Baker, a pediatrician, said in a telephone interview.

"I think even some health care providers have that attitude, especially those who choose not to vaccinate themselves and who spread flu to their patients."

This year's flu vaccine is considered a poor match for two of the strains. Because the virus mutates so quickly, the vaccine is usually formulated afresh each year and includes three different strains of the virus.

For the next flu season beginning at the end of 2008, all three strains will be replaced in the vaccines available globally, the CDC and World Health Organization say.

Besides children, people aged 50 and older are advised to get annual flu vaccines, as well as anyone with certain chronic medical conditions such as cancer or diabetes, people in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and caretakers of any of these groups.

Five companies now make flu vaccine for the U.S. market -- Sanofi Pasteur, Australia's CSL Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Novartis AG and nasal spray maker MedImmune, recently acquired by AstraZeneca Plc.

[teddy]

This does not come as a surprise to me.

It has been demonstrated that people high up in the FDA in the US are financially connected in some way to many of the products they are responsible for validating.

Kids now take up to 25 vaccines before they reach school. These vaccines contain heavy metals such as mercury that are dangerous. Although medical authorities claim vaccines are safe, and for example the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, I do not believe it. It has been proven elsewhere that heavy metals are toxins and can cause nuerological problems in some people. I reckon we could cut down the number of vaccines we need as kids to a handful. I simply don't trust the medical authorities. As usual, the message is that "all scientists agree that they are safe", and yet like global warming, 9/11, and many other matters, it is simple not true to say that all scientists agree. Many do not agree, but we don't hear about them because the media does not cover their point of view. Pharma has bought the medical authorities and politicians, IMO, and they use scare tactics to make sure all parents get their kids fully dosed up in the stuff.

Vaccines suppress our immune system. Many of them are not fully tested before being let loose on the public.

Many gulf war soldiers were given all sorts of vaccines before going to the first gulf war, and it is thought that one of the vaccines for anthrax is responsible for Gulf War Syndrome, especially as some who didn't actually go out to the middle east also came down with it.

The flu vaccine probably still contains mercury. It's probably useless in most cases because it is last years flu anyway that it prevents. It's disgraceful, but when I talked about this issue on another forum, I was met with disdain - like I was some kind of wacko.

All I can say to people is, remember BSE and government denials of that?

[Steve Gardner]

What's the vaccine policy over there in Italy, Teddy? Do they similarly favour the pro argument?

I agree with you, for the most part (and I did search elsewhere for the debate you were having but couldn't find it). First and foremost, I want people to have choice - real choice. Choice driven not by vested interests and lop-sided arguments, but by open debate and transaprency regarding the vaccines and their composition.

Personally, I resist all efforts by my GP to immunise me against the flu. I have arthritis, as you know, and take a nasty little cocktail of drugs to ease the swelling and combat the pain. But the combination of the disease itself and the drugs I take leaves me susceptible to respiratory infections. My GP seems to prey on this vulnerability and sends me countless letters as we approach the winter months, urging me to have the vaccine.

I haven't and I won't.

I've no doubt these proposals are going to be adopted over there. I'm interested to see whether there are going to be any similar developments over here in the near future.

[teddy]

Over here it's a little bit like everywhere else, although not quite as bad yet - perhaps just a year or two behind. The topic I discussed was in the General Chat forum and will be on the 2nd or 3rd page by now. It's worth reading how people's opinions are on matters like this, how much trust they have in the establishment, and also how they disappear when challenged with facts.

I think you are right in resisting the flu vaccine. It's probably one of the stupidest of them all, but obviously makes a lot of money for the pharma industry.

[Steve Gardner]

teddy said:

The topic I discussed was in the General Chat forum...

Ah ha! That explains why I couldn't find it. I only looked in the politics board. I'll go check it out.

[teddy]

It's now at the top because I've just posted this link in a new post.
www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html

[Steve Gardner]

I've just been reading it - and now I have to go back and read your latest post.

It's the same old, same old over there. If you'd have asked me who I thought you'd have been up against, I'd have said Stu, Argyle Dude and Stanley for sure, although Stanley does it for the sport rather than because he has any firm view.

BTW, I see he's banned. What did he do?

[Steve Gardner]

I wonder which of them will be first to use this extract as the basis of a rebuttal.

In its written concession, the government said the child had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was "aggravated" by her shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis.

"The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder," the concession says, "which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD."

That's a pretty interesting decision and with 4,900 cases pending, it's no surprise the concession is framed in this way. Unless all 4,900 have 'a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder', I'm sure the government can wriggle out of any attempts to establish this case as a precedent.

[teddy]

This is where collectivism vs individualism comes into the argument, in my view - in other words the writings of Freedom Force International are pertinent. People have been brainwashed into the "for the great good" idea without realizing that it's for the greater good of governments, not necessarily the people. There will be no response to the Huntington Post article, I don't immagine, because once a person has a view on something, they're not going to change it, and they won't debate it if the debate starts stacking up against them.

Not sure about the ban as I don't follow things closely there.

[Steve Gardner]

I just posted an article called The Federal Reserve Conspiracy, which contained this horrifying quotation (emphasis mine), attributed to Betrand Russell.

"It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fichte laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished. But in his day this was an unattainable ideal. . . .

In (the) future such failures are not likely to occur where there is dictatorship. Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. Even if all are miserable, all will believe themselves happy, because the government will tell them that they are so."

[Steve Gardner]

More of the same.

Source: The Washington Post

Judge Dismisses Suit Against Pentagon's Vaccination Policy

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 1, 2008; Page A02

An attorney for six Defense Department employees said yesterday that they will appeal a federal judge's dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the Pentagon's policy of compulsory anthrax vaccinations for certain troops.

The employees had argued that, as military personnel, they should not be forced to take the vaccine because there is no scientific proof that it is effective for humans, said Mark Zaid, their attorney. The class-action lawsuit had asked the court to block the Pentagon from inoculating the plaintiffs and to rule that the vaccine was improperly licensed by the Food and Drug Administration.

But U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled yesterday that the FDA "did not act arbitrarily or capriciously" and granted the government's request to dismiss the case.

Zaid said the FDA incorrectly drew conclusions about the effectiveness of the vaccine in people based on old studies involving animals. "This case has repercussions far beyond the anthrax program," he said. "Anyone who is concerned about vaccine safety should be wary of this judicial decision."

The shots have been required for most military personnel and civilian employees assigned to homeland bioterrorism defense or deployed for 15 or more consecutive days in Iraq, Afghanistan or South Korea.

Cynthia O. Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said troops must be vaccinated to protect against biological attacks.

"The FDA has repeatedly found, and independent medical experts have confirmed, that anthrax vaccine is safe and effective," she said. Heidi Rebello, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said the agency is pleased with the decision.

The lawsuit -- filed against the FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon -- is the third of its kind and the latest chapter in a dispute that has been going on for at least six years.

It follows another suit by the same group that led a federal judge to halt mandatory vaccinations in October 2004 on the grounds that an FDA review of the vaccine was insufficient. The anthrax vaccine was then administered on a voluntary basis.

After the FDA reviewed the vaccine again and approved it in December 2005, the Pentagon said in October 2006 that it would resume mandatory vaccinations for more than 200,000 troops.

[teddy]

Listen to this interview for a perfect example of double-speak.
"Those with Mitochondrial disorders are prone to developing autism if their bodies are put under stress"
"Yes, vaccines can cause fevers and other stresses on the system and so could sometimes cause autism"
"Vaccines do not cause autism" !!

[Steve Gardner]

Great find.

The video does a neat job of dismantling Gerberding. But, you know, it goes beyond her duplicity; it also shows just how anaemic the mainstream media is.

Here we have an apparent specialist in the field talking complete bollocks and being allowed to get away with doing so.

[Steve Gardner]

I'd just love to see teddy's face when he first reads this - assuming, of course, this is the first time.

Source and full article: BBC

Tough sanctions are being proposed for parents who refuse routine vaccinations, such as MMR.

In an article for the Fabian Society, leading public health expert Sir Sandy Macara called for child benefit to be linked with vaccination uptake.

And Labour MP Mary Creagh said children should have to prove they are vaccinated before they start school to improve uptake of MMR.

Here is that press release from the Fabian Society, which includes this rather interestingly worded comment:

Sir Sandy emphasized tying the MMR jab to a universal benefit would mean that every family, whatever their position in society, was targeted.

Anyone else find the use of the word 'targeted' a bit unsettling?

Children who have not had jabs should not be able to start school says MP

LINK CHILD BENEFIT TO JABS SAYS SENIOR HEALTH EXPERT PUBLIC OPINION IN FAVOUR OF GOVERNMENT ACTION

The government should combat low vaccination rates by ensuring no child can start school until they have had the MMR jab, says MP Mary Creagh in the upcoming Fabian Reviewmagazine.

Creagh, who is MP forWakefield and chairs Gordon Brown’s manifesto group on public health, says theUK should follow the successful US model where parents have to prove they have had their children vaccinated before starting school[1].

While Sir Sandy Macara,chair of the British Medical Association council from 1993 to 1998, argues that another way to increase levels of vaccination would be to link it to a universal benefit such as child benefit. Sir Sandy emphasized tying the MMR jab to a universal benefit would mean that every family, whatever their position in society, was targeted.

“It would help make the clear argument that this was being done for the public good rather than the benefit of individuals.”

A poll by YouGov for the Fabian Society suggested that the public would back government action on MMR to address large rises in mumps and measles' cases.

It found that 63% of thepublic felt that immunisation only worked if everyone was covered, and only 31%felt if was purely up to families to make the choice.

In the upcoming issue ofthe Fabian Review magazine, Creagh argues: “One hundred years ago,thousands of children died or were left disabled by measles, mumps, and rubella(German measles).” In the 1980s and 1990s these diseases were almost eradicated,but following unfounded claims of the MMR vaccine causing autism,vaccination rates dropped, she says.

“Childhood vaccination rates are as low as 11% in inner London and cases of measles, mumps andrubella are rising sharply,” she says in an article for a health-themed issue ofthe Fabian Review. In the US MMR vaccination rates are 95.6% for childrenattending kindergarten. “Labour should imitate the successful US model introduced by President Clinton.”

The responsibility for ensuring children are vaccinated by the age of five should be held by the Local Education Authorities rather than health visitors or GPs, she adds.

She argues that the rangeof childhood jabs should be extended to include chicken pox, which canlead to a form of meningitis and rotavirus (winter vomiting disease).

And children under two should be added to the annual winter flu vaccination programme as it is morevirulent at that age, she says.

A health service that accentuates prevention is key to the success of the NHS in decades to come, shesaid.

For further comments:

Mary Creagh: 07968 748531
Sir Sandy Macara: 01179682838.

For Fabian comments – Rachael Jolley (07958 105877) or Tom Hampson (07802 331841) or

Editor’s notes.

Figures published by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy show rates of MMR immunisation in theLondon region lag behind the rest of the country at 57.2 per cent. The North East region has thehighest MMR take up rate in England, with 80.4 per cent of children vaccinated.Immunisation levels in Westminster are just 11.7%.

The poll was carried outby YouGov and was a sample of 2,032 people in the UK, and is a representative sample byage, gender, net income and social grade.

The article is part of ahealth-themed issue Fabian Review which will be published on May 15, celebrating the 60thbirthday of the NHS and suggesting key health policies for the future.

US vaccinationrate for MMR jabs for children attending kindergarten in 2006/7 was 95.6%,according to US governmentfigures.

In 2006 a 13-year-old boywas the first Briton for 14 years to die of measles. In 2006 incidents of measles were 13 timestheir 1998 levels and mumps cases 37 times higher.

The Fabian Reviewrepresents not the collective view of the society, but the views of individual writers.

Website:www.fabians.org.uk

[1] Except on religious ormedical grounds

[teddy]

Well what a combination!
We have the Fabian Society - collectivists of the highest order, out to govern every aspect of your life, and achieving their goal through little steps so gradual that you don't notice it happening.

There is something manipulative about the following statement:
“It would help make the clear argument that this was being done for the public good rather than the benefit of individuals.”

They then actually lie by saying it is mandatory in the US to go to school which it is not; people can opt out in most states. They then talk about how many used to die a hundred years ago because of measles, mumps and rubella, not mentioning the fact that care for sufferers of such viruses has improved enormously. Of course we should also include chickenpox vaccines as mandatory because chickenpox may cause other things. And children under two should be given the flu vaccine! Yeah, even though statistically it has been shown that it doesn't stop flu and is in fact very poor at doing so. I'm going to have a look at the fabian website - it should make for interesting reading.