May 2014 – Mass vaccination has drastically altered the natural epidemiology of measles making the disease more dangerous than in the pre-vaccine era. “Several decades following the vaccine’s introduction, the measles death rate rose, largely because the vaccine made adults, expectant mothers and infants more vulnerable”, writes National Post columnist Lawrence Solomon in his recent article, “The Untold Story of Measles”. He provides insight into the history of measles, the high burden of mortality among the disadvantaged and the fact that measles containing vaccines have pushed the disease into age groups previously protected by natural immunity .
Prior to the introduction of measles containing vaccines in the mid 1960’s, measles mortality had plummeted by 98-99.6%. Measles is a “self-limiting infection of short duration, moderate severity, and low fatality” said Alexander Langmuir, MD, known as “the father of infectious disease epidemiology.” By the time a vaccine was developed, measles mortality in the developed world had declined to minimal levels. Langmuir admitted that the measles vaccine was created because it could be done, not because it was needed.
Before mass vaccination, Parents welcomed measles in childhood because they knew it conferred lifelong immunity and protected them from the known dangers of the disease in adulthood. True herd immunity was maintained by cyclical visitations of the disease in susceptible children, most of whom got measles by age ten. On recovery from the disease, they gained the benefit of lifelong immunity as did the vast majority of the adult population who’d also had measles in childhood. Prior to vaccination, mothers were naturally immune to measles and transmitted that immunity to their infants via the placenta and breast milk.
It’s estimated that between 2 to 10% of people do not develop adequate ‘protective antibodies’ even after two shots and in others, vaccine immunity wanes over time. This has created invisible pools of susceptible people, leaving unknown numbers of fully vaccinated adults at risk of the disease. Health officials are unable to predict who among the vaccinated are susceptible to the disease should they come in contact with the measles virus. Rather than admit this widespread problem, they prefer to blame the unvaccinated for ongoing measles outbreaks.
Occasionally, the truth slips however, when one of their own admits that infections are occurring in fully vaccinated people whose immunity has waned over time and that there is no way of knowing who is susceptible. “Adults vaccinated against measles decades ago aren’t all immune”, announced a recent Vancouver Sun headline. “There’s sort of a ticking time bomb here: how many of these people exist, we don’t know, and who they are, we can’t identify them”, says Dr. Brian Lichty, associate professor of molecular medicine at McMaster University. Without doing blood tests on everyone, there’s no way to determine who’s at risk.
The dismantling of long lasting immunity by four decades of mass vaccination with MMR vaccine isn’t something health officials want to talk about. They’re busy doing damage control as measles breaks out in fully vaccinated people as well as in those who are unvaccinated. The promise of “one shot will provide lifelong immunity” rings hollow now. No one’s in a mood to admit that what was predicted in the medical literature long ago is now upon us, i.e. that measles would break out in the fully vaccinated because vaccine immunity wanes over time, increasing adult susceptibility to the disease. A case in point documents the reality of a fully vaccinated person able to transmit measles to others.
The lifelong protection from measles enjoyed by the vast majority of people in the pre-vaccine era has been sacrificed for a vast medical experiment that assumed vaccine immunity was the same as natural immunity. The theory that measles vaccine would eradicate the disease and that vaccine derived immunity is equivalent to the long lasting immunity gained from having had the disease, is false. This erroneous assumption is now being admitted by vaccine researchers themselves.
In a companion article, “Vaccines can’t prevent measles outbreaks”, Lawrence Solomon writes, “Measles in highly immunized societies occurs primarily among those previously immunized”. He discusses the published work of Dr. Gregory Poland, a professor of medicine, founder and leader of the Mayo Clinics Vaccine Research Group. As a vaccine defender and harsh critic of the “irrationality of the antivaccinationists”, Poland nevertheless admits in a 2012 paper that the measles vaccine (MMR) has failed, is unlikely to ever live up to the job expected of it, and that it’s time for a “major rethink … outbreaks are occurring even in highly developed countries where vaccine access, public health infrastructure, and health literacy are not significant issues. This is unexpected and a worrisome harbinger — measles outbreaks are occurring where they are least expected.” He suggests it’s time for health officials to accept that the many drawbacks of the current measles vaccine make it unworkable and that it’s time to get on with developing the next generation of personalized vaccines that marry vaccinology and genomics known as vaccinomics. Lawrence Solomon tackles this futuristic technology in his article, “Vaccinomics: personal vaccines”.
Despite the known failure of the current measles vaccine and the fact that it has made measles a more dangerous disease, health officials relentlessly press the public to keep vaccinating. They panic when measles breaks out, terrified it will spread to the vaccinated, yet ignore the positive health aspects in the few children who do get measles and gain the benefit of long term immunity to the disease. In this article, PhD researcher Viera Scheibner writes, “Having measles not only results in life-long specific immunity to measles, but also in life-long non-specific immunity to degenerative diseases of bone and cartilage, sebaceous skin diseases, immunoreactive diseases and certain tumours.”
Except for the rare investigative journalist like Lawrence Solomon, few are willing to tread where this reporter has gone. In her article Straight talk on measles vaccine in Canada, Age of Autism’s Anne Dachel interviews Lawrence Solomon and asks him “Why are there not more people in the media giving us stories like the ones you’ve written? Why do most journalists seem more like stenographers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?” Solomon’s reply is very revealing and pinpoints the reasons why mainstream media is unwilling to challenge the medical status quo and are paralyzed from reporting the truth about vaccines:
“Most journalists are intimidated by science. In political issues, they are confident of understanding the issues, and in the validity of their opinions. They often even consider their political opinions to be superior to those of the “experts,” whether politicians or academics in political science.
This confidence in their own judgment disappears when the subject turns to a scientific discipline. Here they often become meek and helpless. Fearing that they would be unable to understand the science, they accept the official view, becoming the stenographers you liken them to.
Peer pressure also plays a role. Among media elites, questioning vaccines is akin to questioning evolution. Most journalists would not want to be stigmatized as ignorant.
The stakes involved also loom large. The consequences for a journalist in getting it wrong in covering a political issue, or a sporting event, or a business development amount to embarrassment. Getting it wrong in vaccines, and possibly being responsible for the death or disability of innocents, involves taking on more responsibility than many journalists can countenance. Even if the journalist doesn’t get it wrong, in the absence of proof he will be blamed as if he did, making him a pariah. Again, this isn’t the role that journalists want for themselves.”
Beyond the failure of MMR vaccine to deliver the empty promise of lifelong immunity, health officials prefer to keep a tight lid on the collateral damage inflicted by the vaccine. Data compiled by the National Vaccine Information Center from government sources in the U.S. reveals the following disturbing statistics:
- In the U.S. as of July 9, 2012 there have been 6,058 serious adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in connection with measles vaccine since 1990, with over half of those occurring in children 3 and under.
- As of March 1, 2012, there have been 898 claims filed in the U.S. federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) for injuries and deaths following MMR vaccination, including 56 deaths and 842 serious injuries,
- There have also been 288 deaths reported to VAERS in association with the MMR vaccine. However, the numbers of vaccine-related injuries and deaths reported to VAERS may not reflect the true number of serious health problems that occur develop after MMR vaccination.
- Common side effects from the MMR vaccine include low-grade fever, skin rash, itching, hives, swelling, reddening of skin, and weakness. Reported serious adverse reactions following MMR vaccination include seizures, brain inflammation and encephalopathy; thrombocytopenia; joint, muscle and nerve pain; gastrointestinal disorders; measles like rash; conjunctivitis and other serious health problems.
In Canada, there is no publicly accessible vaccine adverse effects reporting system which can be searched for injuries and deaths following MMR vaccine or any other vaccine. There is no vaccine injury compensation system in this country, with the exception of the province of Quebec.
A 2011 Canadian study sought to determine the adverse events occurring in all children vaccinated with recommended pediatric vaccines in Ontario between April 1st 2006 and March 31st 2009. The children were injected with MMR at 12 months along with meningococcal C vaccine, and MMR injected at 18 months along with a 5 in 1 booster shot of diphtheria, acellular pertussis, tetanus, polio and Hib.
Researchers found that 1 in 168 children who receive MMR vaccine had a “significantly elevated risks of primarily emergency room visits approximately one to two weeks following 12 and 18 month vaccination.” There was no stated follow-up plan to determine whether the children who suffered adverse reactions developed additional health problems in the months or years to come. The “five or fewer deaths” acknowledged in the study were technically omitted due to the researcher’s choice of a self-controlled case series (SCCS) design which, due to regulations, disallows the disclosure of less than 6 deaths for reasons of privacy.
Stats Canada records reveal that 1980 was the last year there were 6 measles related deaths in Canada. How many injuries and deaths following MMR vaccine have routinely been swept into statistical obscurity and hidden from public view since that time? There is a stark contrast between the level of concern mounted by health officials when measles breaks out, and their indifference to the plight of tens of thousands of North American families who have witnessed their children succumb to vaccine injuries, disabilities and death.
