Features

Regulars

Reader Mail

Northwest & Beyond

Envirowatch

Good Ideas from Different Countries

Global Warming Update

Workplace Issues

Bob's Random Legal Advice

Sweden and France quit vaccines with no regrets

by Doug Collins

A century ago, death from pertussis (whooping cough) occurred at amuch higher rate, but now given better sanitation and treatment, it isvery rare to die if one catches the disease in a developed country.Furthermore, the vaccination offers only incomplete and temporaryimmunity. In a 1984 outbreak of the disease in Washington State, 49percent of the 162 cases were fully vaccinated, a rate which istypical of other outbreaks (see www.909shot.com/Diseases/whooping.htmand www.whale.to/w/donegan.html). Because of the large ineffectivenessof the vaccine, its sometimes serious side effects, and the fact thatpertussis is just not the killer disease it once was, Swedendiscontinued the pertussis vaccine in 1979. During the ban, the infantmortality in Sweden from pertussis has been similar to that of fullyvaccinated populations. For example, three infant deaths frompertussis were recorded in Sweden from l987 to l99l, compared with asimilar-size vaccinated population group in New South Wales,Australia, in which four infant deaths from pertussis occurred duringa slightly longer time period. Complications due to pertussis inSweden have remained uncommon and almost unchanged compared to thetime before the ban (see ScheibnerÕs Vaccination: l00 Years ofOrthodox Research Shows that Vaccines Represent a Medical Assault onthe Immune System).

In the US, pressure by parents complaining of serious side effects anddeath from the vaccine led to the 1996 FDA licensing of a purifiedpertussis vaccine, which has been associated with fewer side effects.Despite the somewhat better safety of the revised vaccine, it is stillcomparatively ineffective in terms of protection.

In France, government officials halted hepatitis B vaccine schoolrequirements in 1998. FranceÕs health minister acted after numerousreports of symptoms resembling arthritis and multiple sclerosis.Citizen lawsuits against the companies SmithKline Beecham andPasteur-Merieux, which make and sell the hepatitis B vaccine, precededthe governmentÕs decision. Attorneys representing 15,000 Frenchcitizens have also sued government officials for understating thevaccineÕs risks and exaggerating its benefits. Unbeknownst to mostrecipients, the vaccine is the first genetically modified vaccine onthe market.