Posted on 01/26/2015 5:27:28 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
[This article was first published on Sept. 2, 2014]
A CDC senior epidemiologist stepped forward last week to say that he and his CDC colleagues omitted data that linked MMR vaccine to autism in a 2004 study. The scientist, William Thompson, said “I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information.”
Dr. Frank DeStefano, CDC Director of Immunization Safety
A coauthor of the questioned study is Dr. Frank DeStefano, Director of the CDC Immunization Safety Office. In a telephone interview last week, DeStefano defended the study and reiterated the commonly accepted position that there’s no “causal” link between vaccines and autism.
But he acknowledged the prospect that vaccines might rarely trigger autism.
“I guess, that, that is a possibility,” said DeStefano. “It’s hard to predict who those children might be, but certainly, individual cases can be studied to look at those possibilities.”
It is a significant admission from a leading health official at an agency that has worked for nearly 15 years to dispel the public of any notion of a tie between vaccines and autism. Vaccines are among the most heralded medical inventions of our time. Billions of people have been vaccinated worldwide, countless lives have been saved and debilitating injuries prevented. The possibility that vaccines may also partly be responsible for autism, in individual cases, is not something public health officials are typically eager to address.
One such individual case is that of Hannah Poling.
Listen to Dr. DeStefano’s interview
Hannah Poling
Hannah Poling was considered normal, happy and precocious until 19 months of age when she was vaccinated against nine diseases in one doctor’s visit: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, varicella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae. Afterward, she developed high fevers, had screaming fits, stopped eating, didn’t respond when spoken to and began showing signs of autism.
In federal “vaccine court,” the U.S. government defends injury claims on behalf of vaccine makers
In 2002, Hannah’s parents—her father a neurologist, her mother a nurse and attorney—filed a claim in a specially-created federal vaccine court in which the U.S. Department of Justice defends vaccine interests. Hannah was to serve as a test case to help decide the outcome of thousands of vaccine-autism claims.
The case was strong. In 2007, contemplating Hannah would win her claim, sources say the vaccine court analyzed what the broader financial impact might be. It found that a flood of similar vaccine-autism claims would quickly deplete the government’s vaccine injury compensation fund, which is supported by a small fee patients pay on each dose of vaccine.
But instead of allowing Hannah’s case to publicly serve as a precedent for other possible victims, the government took another course: it quietly settled the case and sealed the results. Other families with autistic children were never to know. Hannah’s family petitioned the court to be allowed to reveal the findings but the government fought to keep the case sealed—and prevailed.
Still, news of Hannah’s case leaked out in 2008—along with the medical explanation for her vaccine-related “autistic encephalopathy [brain damage].”
Vaccines prevent many diseases that once routinely killed or harmed. But can vaccines trigger autism in a small subset of vulnerable children? Image from: Public Health Image Library
In a court-submitted opinion, neurologist Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, Director of Medical Research at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, stated that he had “personally witnessed [Hannah’s] developmental regression” following “vaccine-induced fever and immune stimulation.”
Whether vaccines “caused” or “triggered” Hannah’s autism, the result was the same: but for her vaccinations, Zimmerman said, “Hannah may have led a normal full productive life.” Instead, she suffers “significant lifelong disability.”
A second underlying condition that was aggravated by vaccines, resulting in mental retardation and autism, is tuberous sclerosis or “TS,” according to a 1986 vaccine court case. According to the National Institutes of Health, TS affects 1 in every 6,000 newborns.
Not all children who developed autism as a result of vaccine injuries, as determined by vaccine court, had identifiable pre-existing conditions. But I asked the CDC’s DeStefano whether it was worth trying to figure out what underlying conditions put kids at risk so they can be tested in advance and, if vulnerable, spared.
“That’s very difficult to do,” DeStefano told me. He said the CDC’s priorities are gaining a better understanding of the pathogenesis, genetics and biology of autism. “And then, I think… it’d be more feasible to try to establish if vaccines in an individual case, say a person with a certain set of genes…if we ever get to that point, then that kind of research might be fruitful.”
See CDC’s recommended vaccination schedule
Not worthy of study?
But it turns out the CDC has ruled out that sort of research. A CDC spokesman told me that the agency is not “currently investigating the relation between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Further, CDC does not have any planned research addressing vaccines and autism.”
As of May, 2010 the government had compensated 1,296 vaccine brain damage (encephalopathy/encephalitis and seizure cases) but was not tracking how many of the brain-injured children specifically ended up with autism.
“CDC believes that this topic has been thoroughly studied and no causal links have been found,” said the spokesman in an email.
Seven years after Hannah’s case settled, twenty-eight years after the TS case, it’s impossible to know how many similar children, if any, are out there. And the government isn’t trying to find out.
Above: click to hear Part 1 of Sharyl Attkisson telephone interview with CDC Director of Immunization Safety Dr. Frank DeStefano about the possibility of vaccines triggering autism, Aug. 26, 2014
Transcript:
(Part 1)
Attkisson: And is, is the pos—the current position that any potential link between vaccines and autism, secondary, any kind at all, has been entirely ruled out 100%?
DeStefano: I re, you know, I re—uh, I think every hypothesis that’s been looked at has been, uh, ruled out.
Attkisson: But, I mean, are you, are you, can I say the CDC’s position is that if anybody thinks there’s anything anymore, it’s a myth? It’s all been disproven?
DeStefano: Wouldn’t say it’s a myth, I’d say, you know, all the evidence, thus far, points to that there’s not a causal association between vaccines and autism.
Attkisson: What about secondary?
DeStefano: Sec—I don’t understand what do you mean “secondary”?
Attkisson: What about not “causal,” but “as a result of” vaccines, as in the Poling case? The medical expert found, you know, as a result of the damages she had from the vaccines, she ended up with autism. And the distinction was made in the medical expert, ‘well, that’s not ‘causal’, it’s sort of a ‘but for’ but it’s not a ‘causal.’
DeStefano: Yeah, I mean, I mean in that case, you know, she had a, I mean, you know, she had an underlying uh biological illness that uh either vaccination, or it could’ve been an infection that that would trigger some physiological stress in her, uh, seems to have, you know, could’ve, could’ve caused uh, um, manifestations that, characteristics of autism which, you, you know, appears to be what happened in her case.
Attkisson: But I mean doesn’t that, is—isn’t that a “link”? It’s not a “causal” link, but isn’t that a potential link between vaccination and autism if certain children with a “underyling biological illness” can have a “trigger” through vaccination?
DeStefano: [Unintell] as you call it, a secondary link if you wanna call it that way, w– in certain children, I mean ri—I mean, I, maybe that, but, you know, then I guess, that, that is a possibility.
Above: click to hear Part 2 of interview with CDC’s Dr. DeStefano
(Part 2)
Attkisson: Do you think that’s an important area of study so we could figure out which kids might have that predisposition?
DeStefano: uh, [phone noise] Yeah, I mean, I think um…You know, I think it’s something that, uh, well I mean, you know, in terms of uh… I mean, It’s hard, it’s hard to say, you know, I mean it’s like, um…I mean how how important that is. I mean, it’s a theoretical possibility, I guess the, the Poling case maybe suggested it could happen. Uh, but [unintell] cause it’s hard to predict who those children might be, but certainly, um individual cases, uh, can be studied to try to, uh, to look at those, uh, those possibilities.
Attkisson: Well I would just think—and then, then I’ll let you go in a few minutes unless you have more time—but as a parent, if my kid had whatever Poling had and we could figure that out, that would be one kid you would cull out [from vaccination] versus not worry about other kids if they don’t have that predisposition. But maybe you could identify the ones that would be vulnerable. But I haven’t seen that there’s any—is there an area of study trying to do such a thing within CDC or funded by CDC? Or NIH?
DeStefano: Well, in terms of like, you know, the area at CDC that’s that’s studying autism and possible causal relationships of autism, uh, you know, whatever they may be, uh, is in the Center the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disability, and they, they do monitoring for autism prevalence and they do have, uh, studies trying to go on, you know, going on to, to look at, uh, a number of factors that could be, uh, related to, uh, increasing the risk of autism or causing autism.
Above: click to hear Part 3 of interview with CDC’s Dr. DeStefano
(Part 3)
Attkisson: I mean I think to sum up, you’re you’re saying what I, what I think is also the case just based on my own research: that while the government has ruled out any known “causal” link between autism and vaccines, it hasn’t ruled out the possibility, and in fact there seems to be at least one case where it’s acknowledged what I called a “secondary” link, meaning not “causal” but uh “triggered.” And the result for the parent, you know, may–to them it may be one and the same. And they may be trying to figure out which kids, you know, might have that predisposition.
DeStefano: Yeah, but you know, that’s very difficult to do. That’s almost circular reasoning, say, you know, kind of, you can’t, I mean, you know, the, the useful thing for parents who are clinically would be able to identify the kids who are gonna have, I mean, this way we’re identifying one certain child after the fact and say, you know, maybe in that one child, it was this or that that happened to him. But uh, it’s very difficult to make a causal link in in just one case.
Attkisson: Well, but isn’t that what you guys are supposed to do, figure it out? That’s a, as you know, autism is such a huge problem, even if a teeny percentage is perhaps triggered by vaccination, I would think that’d be very, very important to, to learn and try to figure out. You guys are the best at it, I’m sure somebody there can do it over time.
DeStefano: Yeah…[unintell] I think…[unintell] have a better understanding of uh of the pathogenesis of autism and the genetics and the biology and then, I think, I mean, and then, and then, with these individual cases, it’d be, you know, more feasible to try to establish if, uh, if, if vaccines in an individual case, say a person with a certain, certain set of genes or something, you know, if we ever get to that point, then that kind of research, uh, might be fruitful, you know.
National Vaccine Information Center
Well, since we don’t know what causes autism, there is a “theoretical possibility” that nearly anything might cause it. That’s not really much of an admission, and it certainly doesn’t support the claims the anti-vaxxers like to make.
You’d be surprised how many pediatric practices these days will ‘fire’ you as a patient for even suggesting such a thing. Many will call CPS if you leave without getting the ‘recommended schedule’.
Insurance companies penalize pediatric practices if their vaccination rate falls under 95% on the recommended schedule.
And parents with kids in daycare don’t have a choice to delay vaccines.
I can see spacing them out, I had mine spaced out.
Moderation is always the key when dealing with much of the human body.
This is anecdotal, but my wife’s girlfriend also married a GI and he took her back to NJ. They had a child and the doctors said “take all these shots”. They did, the baby became a basic vegetable. I never forgot that.
The problem with all these vaccines is that the manufacturers are given immunity once it is approved by the government - and trying to get the government to admit anything it doesn’t want to is a Herculean task, at best.
All vaccines contain ‘adjuvants’. It’s their entire purpose.
That is horrible!!
I have gotten three flu shots in my life and within three days of each shot, became terribly ill. One of the illnesses lasted over a month and I dropped to 90 lbs. (Asian flu) The only times I got the flu was just after a flu shot. Of course, I was politely informed that the shot could never cause the flu, that I was simply unfortunate enough to have caught one that wasn’t included in the vaccine.
Well, see that is where I’m in agreement.
For me its always about CHOICE.
I believe the right CHOICE is vaccination in moderation.
I find mandatory compliance to be disgusting.
Or maybe they were all senior citizens who were vaccinated 50+ years ago and never got boosters.
[ Strange, I have a whole slew of females in my family that lack ovarian cancer.
This mysterious outbreak seems to have passed them over as they received their vaccinations for diseases that had a great deal of fatalities associated with them in the past. ]
Not everyone has the same immune system you know, there is a lot of difference between families, one family I knew had all sorts of issues with allergies, while another family could breathe ragweed all day without any sort of reaction.
Vaccines do need to be taken with care and there is much research that should be done concerning long term effects.
But then again I am not anti-vaccine, just someone who thinks a person should use caution when dealing with anything that could affect one’s immune system.
You’d be in the minority then.
I live in a state where even suggesting your kid might not need the Hepatitis B vaccine at ONE DAY OLD will get a call to child services underway.
1. Who is arguing that vaccines are not effective? Straw man.
2. 9 vaccines in one sitting sets off my common sense meter. How about one at a time?
3. Where’s your Autism graph?
I’m not saying vaccines cause Autism, I don’t know. Why the mocking and dismissive attitude?
Usually the guidelines aren’t absolutely specific (from my memory). For example, child X doesn’t have to have 3 vaccines on birthday Y. A month or so was not only allowed at my practice (and the one previously) but completely understood by the pediatrician. Personally, if a doctor’s office threatened to call CPS for a 30 day delay before another vaccine, I would look for another doctor. They would be the same practice that called if the child was 5 pounds overweight or other such nonsense. I think the biggest factor is the time it takes for a parent to reschedule and keep the appointment. I realize a lot of Moms work and taking off may be an issue. However, I’d do it again in a heartbeat and have recommended it to many of my younger friends just having babies (all of whom have taken my advice)
You don’t have a choice to look for another doctor. This has happened to someone I know personally. You either get all the vaccines they think necessary, right then, or they call CPS and put you under investigation.
I personally asked why my child needed the Hep B vaccine immediately after birth and was told it was necessary and any refusal would necessitate a call to CPS. This was at a major hospital in the biggest city in the state.
A friend of mine was really in a quandry about getting her daughter vaccinated due to fears of autism ..... she had a long talk with the pediatrician and they came up with a schedule that spread the shots out over two years (might have been 3, can’t remember exactly), rather than giving multiple vaccines to her at the same time. Her daughter (and only child, it turns out), is healthy in all respects.
To me, it’s just common sense not to ‘assault’ a baby’s system with multiple vaccines at the same time .... 9 is ridiculous.
What use to scare the dickens out of me was when the nurse presented you with a paper and a government phone number in case there was a vaccine “negative reaction”. In short, you are right, Gaffer. The vaccine companies have no responsibilities and if there is some sort of horrible reactions.. you deal with the government. What they do.. I don’t know. I sort of assumed they kept the “stats” and gave the parent information on how to deal with a child that wasn’t the same (that is just an assumption though)
Are you in Canada or what state? I’m not saying it doesn’t exist.. I have never heard of such strict guidelines that the doctor would call CPS over an extended timeline. Very sad indeed.
A CDC senior epidemiologist stepped forward last week to say that he and his CDC colleagues omitted data that linked MMR vaccine to autism in a 2004 study.
Dishonesty by government researchers is what causes people to question their results.
1 Gardasil vaccine of the 3 shots made my granddaughter a very sick for life 16 year old. All on the advice of her Pediatrician. She now has progressive RA, Fibromyalgia and several food issues she did not have before. She was a active ribbon gymnast, horse back rider, water skiing.
HPV Vaccine Victim Sues Merck | Gardasil Dangers
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/24/hpv-vaccine-victim-sues-merck.aspx
US Courts order $6 MILLION TO GARDAISIL VICTIMS http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/stress-and-health-dr-lind/2013/apr/10/us-court-pays-6-million-gardasil-victims/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/30/the-greater-good.aspx
Want more scary: OP DRUGS Kidney failure deaths, A Fib, Jaw Degeneration and A Typical Femur Fractures
Reclast has the highest warning.
Reclast UPS kidney failure, A FIB risk. Not to be given to Asthma patients.
http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/news/20110901/fda-osteoporsis-drug_ups-kidney-failure-risk
Safety update for osteoporosis drugs, bisphosphonates, and atypical femur fractures, A FIB, Jaw Degeneration, Kidney failure deaths.
http://www.fda.gov/drugs/drugsafety/drugsafetypodcasts/ucm229800.htm
Black box warning Foreto
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21853
Digestive
New restrictions on use of domperidone issued by the MHRA
http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news/new-restrictions-on-use-of-domperidone-issued-by-the-mhra/11137797.article
UAE hospitals warned over Domperidone ‘sudden death’ risk
http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/medicines/human/referrals/Domperidone-containing_medicines/human_referral_prac_000021.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac05805c516f
Drug can be fatal for elderly patients, says ministry
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/health/uae-hospitals-warned-over-domperidone-sudden-death-risk-1.1348043
http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news/new-restrictions-on-use-of-domperidone-issued-by-the-mhra/11137797.article
Popular heartburn and anti-nausea drug taken by millions to be curtailed after nearly SIXTY die from heart problems after taking the medication
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2613729/Popular-heartburn-anti-nausea-drug-taken-millions-curtailed-nearly-SIXTY-die-heart-problems-taking-medication.html
Yes, she is.
There’s a possibility that my anti-hippo whistle works.
I use it every am and there had been no hippo sightings here in the New Mexico mountains.
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