# 3632
“I’m shocked! Absolutely shocked that scientists would want to track potential vaccine side effects!”- Captain Renault
Tonight’s big story is a breathless bit of prose out of the UK about warning letters that went out to about 600 neurologists asking them to report any and all cases of GBS (Guillain-Barré syndrome) they may see this fall and winter, irrespective of whether the patient received a swine flu vaccine.
We are, judging by the tone of this report, supposed to be shocked by this revelation.
Those who bothered to listen to Friday’s NBSB public meeting heard that there are a number of programs being utilized here in the United States to do exactly the same thing.
In other words, it isn’t a secret . . . it makes for good science, and it just makes sense.
But of course, that doesn’t sell papers.
First the report, then a bit of discussion.
Warning, the entire article is pretty long, but probably worth following the links so you can enjoy the `full flavor’ of this story.
Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America
By Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 11:05 PM on 15th August 2009
Prevention: Is the swine flu jab safe?
A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.
The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.
It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.
GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.
The letter, sent to about 600 neurologists on July 29, is the first sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications.
It refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when:
- More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu.
- 500 cases of GBS were detected.
- The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times.
- The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear.
- The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected.
Concerns have already been raised that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown.
First, no one knows what causes Guillain-Barré syndrome.
It seems to attack about 1 person out of a million in the US each year, and according to the National Institute of Health (NIH) website:
Usually Guillain-Barré occurs a few days or weeks after the patient has had symptoms of a respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infection. Occasionally, surgery or vaccinations will trigger the syndrome.
The disorder can develop over the course of hours or days, or it may take up to 3 to 4 weeks. No one yet knows why Guillain-Barré strikes some people and not others or what sets the disease in motion.
What scientists do know is that the body's immune system begins to attack the body itself, causing what is known as an autoimmune disease.
In other words, there are a lot of possible triggers. And people who haven’t taken a vaccine can still get GBS.
BUT, in 1976 it is true that we saw a higher than usual number of GBS cases; instead of affecting 1 person in 1,000,000 which is the normal `background rate’ of the disease, among flu shot recipients it was showing up in about 1 out of every 80,000.
Out of 40 millions vaccinations, roughly 500 cases of GBS appeared. And of those, 25 died.
Exactly why this happened has never been adequately explained, although it seems likely that the swine flu vaccine that year was at least partially at fault. Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid out by the US government in damage claims, and the vaccination program was halted 10 weeks after it started.
No one in public health is unaware of this history.
And while vaccines are made differently today than they were in 1976 (The ‘76 swine flu shot was a `live virus’), the possibility exists with any new vaccine of discovering rare, but serious, adverse effects.
Vaccines are drugs. All drugs can have side effects. There is no such thing as a completely benign drug.
As with any medicine, there is a balancing act between the harm that it may do verses the disease it may cure, attenuate, or prevent. Some medicines are very powerful, even toxic, and can only be justified for extremely serious conditions.
Chemo-therapy for cancer is a good example. We’d never give that – considering the serious adverse side effects – for some minor malady.
Flu vaccines historically have a pretty good safety record, but they probably are responsible for some rare (and perhaps undetected) side effects. When something happens to perhaps only 1 person out of a million, it is very difficult to link it to a specific drug, vaccine, or cause.
So it is safe to say that health officials are aware of the problems of 1976, and that they are understandably interested in detecting – at the earliest possible instance – any adverse side effects linked to this new pandemic vaccine.
Which is why they have notified 600 neurologists in the UK to be on the lookout of GBS cases.
And here in the US, the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System), the military (with over 1 million personnel getting shots, and intense follow up), and the VSD project (Vaccine Safety Datalink)will all be looking intently to see if any adverse effects show up from the vaccine.
There is nothing untoward here, nothing suspicious, and certainly no attempt to hide the fact that they are aware of the potential for adverse effects (that’s why these programs exist) from vaccines.
The only thing that would be shocking, or a scandal, would be if officials were turning a blind eye to potential adverse effects of this vaccine. THAT would be a gross dereliction of duty.
Is there a possibility that this fall’s pandemic vaccine could have serious adverse side effects?
Sure, it’s always a possibility, anytime you take a drug or medication. The odds of having a problem are very low, but the risks are not zero.
If you distrust vaccines, or believe this virus to be `too mild’ to risk trying to prevent it with a vaccine . . . then don’t take the jab.
That’s your right.
There is, after all, always the possibility that we could see a repeat of the 1976 swine flu vaccine debacle. The odds of that happening may be low, but once again, they aren’t zero. And if that happens, it could easily scuttle the vaccination program, just as it did 30 years ago.
But I worry more about bad publicity, based more on innuendo and suspicion than on science, derailing this vaccination program. The demonization of this vaccine has already begun on the Internet, and in the press, by anti-vaccine advocates.
Consider: Roughly 1 million pregnancies end in miscarriage every year in the United States. That’s about 80,000 a month, or 20,000 a week.
With the push to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of pregnant women first . . . how long before we start seeing stories of women who got the shot and a few days or weeks later miscarried?
Not long, is my guess.
There will be heartbroken prospective parents, no doubt, who will seriously question if the vaccine contributed to their loss. And there will be newspapers and websites more than willing to highlight their plight.
After all, it makes good copy.
It won’t really matter whether the vaccine is the culprit. While it would take weeks, or even months, for scientists to establish a causal link between any rare adverse effect and the vaccine, an irresponsible newspaper can do it overnight with just one hatchet-job of a story.
And all of this will help stoke the fears that are already present in society, and can be counted on to intensify during a crisis.
There are many who believe swine flu is a (pick one: government /UN/ Big Pharma) engineered virus, that the vaccine is part of a massive depopulation plan, and that all of this is a prelude to ________ (fill in the blank with your favorite nemesis) taking over the country or world.
Politics, religion, and pseudo-science are driving the agenda here, and the level of fear, vitriol, and misinformation flowing from the Internet, and even from some print journalism, is truly astounding.
Given the forces lined up against it, of all of the challenges that face public health officials this fall and winter (and those are considerable), it may well be that winning the hearts and minds of the public on the safety and wisdom of vaccination will prove to be the toughest.
