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
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctors-fire-patients-who-refuse-vaccines-for-their-children-ethical/
The CPS threat was made by my BFF’s pediatrician. Yes, she found another one. But not before her kid got every single shot on the schedule for that particular visit at one time. Who would dare call the MD’s bluff on that?
I am so sorry what happened to your granddaughter. Prayers for her recovery. The doctors are now recommending the HPV vaccine for boys as well. My son had a physical at 17 (before heading off to college). The doctor kept pressuring him to have the vaccine and I voiced that I didn’t agree with that one. Finally, he said to my son to come back at 18 (when I obviously didn’t have a say). My son’s response was “Doc, my cervix is just fine. Thank you”.
Having had both forms of Measles as a kid, I now get shingles and can’t take the vaccine. My immune system is to compromised. I’ve had 2 patches of shingles 10 yrs apart. Thankfully they were small and cleared with topical creams.
Now that I am older I have to worry about OA, OP, FMS, Gastroparesis, spinal degeneration, and GERD those OA drugs caused. OP caused by taking PPI’s for to many years. Vicious circle. Take 1 pill to fix what another pill caused.
We forget much of our immune system is in our GUT.
Earthbiotics
http://www.earthbiotic.com/home/4574574457
Nutrition for Healthy Skin: Silica,
Niacin, Vitamin K2, and Probiotics
http://chriskresser.com/nutrition-for-healthy-skin-silica-niacin-vitamin-k2-and-probiotics
Benefits of Probiotics
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0905c.shtml
Don’t for get Digestive Enzymes are also a gut necessity.
I can not believe they still push Gardasil, and now for boys as well.
They are now giving them vaccines before they leave the hospital as newborns.
I’m like you old school on vaccines, space them. You are only over whelming their immune system if you don’t space them. So it takes a few extra trips to the doc. Better safe than sorry.
Here is what google turned up. I remember reading a article where a baby was given 8 or 9 vaccines at once and died.
https://www.google.com/search?q=baby+dies+after+vaccination&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
I don’t even give my dogs their heart and flea meds at the same time, unless I want to be cleaning up puke.
Let’s not forget the vaccines made with tissue from murdered babies: http://www.cogforlife.org/vaccineListOrigFormat.pdf
Unbelievably sad. You know... spacing vaccines is just plain common sense to me. It doesn’t take someone with a doctorate in biochemistry or whatever to realize pumping a baby with so many vaccines at once will cause problems. And a newborn?! Dear Lord....
I have had probably 15 flu shots over my working career, and then one every year since I retired. I never suffered any illness in the time period after the shot. Never got the flu, either around the time of the shot or afterwards.
A person who gets a flu shot receives dead virus and cannot get the flu from dead virus— because they’re dead and can’t replicate— being dead and all. It takes 2 weeks for the shot to take effect. It is possible to have been exposed around the time of inoculation, prior to becoming immune.
I have read two scientific studies that find that the flu shot isn’t particularly efficacious in seniors, so I will probably stop taking it— even though I get it at no cost through my health plan.
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/03/13/cid.cis307
“Increased risk of non-influenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine”
Rumors are they will make it mandatory.
I posted on my FB that the DOD MANDATED last March where TRICARE LIFE Ret. Military were forced to buy their daily meds and was challenged. Under a discussion on vaccines. If DOD can mandate where you buy your daily meds they can MANDATE what you have to take all in the name of saving money. It is a cumbersome system. Bottles are over large, shoved in your mail box UNSIGNED FOR. We are not talking cheap drugs. For us those 5 drugs Express Scripts has to provide is $3K for 3 months. The rest we get at the Navy base. Only reason we have to use ES for those 5 is that the is small and only carries a set amount of meds.
ES has a very bad habit of over riding a DR’s DAW for a generic. Some DAW’s are written for a reason. Patient is allergic to generic or the generic does not contain enough of the med portion for ‘small window’ drugs like Synthroid, to be effective. I had sores in my mouth, hair falling out, and heading into a thyroid crisis when my name brand was switched to generic. Plus they have a bad rep for FRAUD.
Do people not do any fact checking any more.
DOD Mandates: TRICARE For Life Begins Notifications for Pharmacy Pilot Program http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121679
Incorrect.
Chicken pox is the virus related to shingles, not measles.
TOLD you I was right about Ebola.
Maybe my buddies in the Infectious Diseases branch knew what the heck they were telling you (through me) after all!
What % of kids who gets measles died from it?
I got measles, Chicken pox, then shingles twice. No problem. Suffer through it.
1 flu shot and I’ve been sick for 15 years. Measles are not smallpox, not polio. We can live with measles and chicken pox. Let’s not weaken the human race by giving a questionable vaccine for every damn non deadly disease or sniffles
I suspect it’s because the Liberians figured out the anti-HIV meds on hand actually worked.
The outbreak still continues though.
Any H2H transmission is opportunity for that ‘lucky genetic break’ that turns it out badly.
Gardasil mandatory? What a nightmare. I am so sorry for what has happened to your granddaughter.
ROFLOL, you have 1 smart young man.
The reason they are targeting boys, is they transmit HPV via unprotected sex.
My baby sister is a hairstylist who bonds for one of those hair clubs for men. Has her own shop. So she works with chems, and I suppose there are some things like Hep B or Flu shots she is required to have as she works with the public. And those are linked to this Lichen Planus she has developed.
Well now she has this nightmare to deal with. Lichen Planus http://www.americanskin.org/resource/lichen.php, 3 skin types, oral and vaginal. It is NOT CURABLE. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=lichen+planus+pictures&qs=IM&form=QBILPG&pq=lichen+planus%2C+&sc=8-15&sp=4&sk=IM3 It is NOT CURABLE.
I asserted over and over again that Ebola would never spread easily in America. I knew before I even reached out to you that you would claim the reason it never spread in the United States was that UFO’s came and shared the secret cure, or something like that.
Surprisingly, you didn’t go that far, but the day’s not over yet.
Wow, personal attack much?
Guess that’s all you got.
Alert me when your directorate’s ‘solution’ doesn’t involve a vaccine grown in giant vats of extract of dead baby...
This is what I'd do if my kids were young now. I don't remember mine having so many vaccines at one time 30+ years ago.
Both my daughter and daughter in law are currently pregnant. My advice to them will be vaccinate but spread it out.
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