Despite concerns that the hepatitis B vaccine may trigger some cases of multiple sclerosis (MS), 2 new studies fail to find any link between the vaccine and the autoimmune disease.
Several people developed MS shortly after receiving the hepatitis vaccine in the 1990s, raising concerns that the vaccine may have caused the disease. Since MS is an autoimmune disease, where the immune system attacks healthy tissue by mistake, some experts suspected that the hepatitis B might trigger an autoimmune response in some way.
Based on a few European studies that detected a statistically insignificant increase in MS cases among people immunized against hepatitis B, France temporarily stopped its school-based hepatitis B vaccination program.
Merck Research Laboratories provided some of the funding for the study.
The results of a second study published in the same issue was designed to help allay the concerns of people with MS who fear that vaccinations may lead to flare-ups of their symptoms.
Some of the funding for the study was provided by Aventis Pasteur and Aventis Pasteur-Merck Sharp and Dohme.
The New England Journal of Medicine February 1, 2001;344:319-332, 372-373
Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after; so that when men come to be undeceived it is too late: the jest is over and the tale has had its effect.
-- Jonathan Swift
Is this just a coincidence? Two studies from the same issue of NEJM. Both studies claim no correlation between Hep B vaccination and Multiple Sclerosis. One was funded by Pasteur Merieux Connaught and the other funded by Merck. Both of these firms are huge multinational drug companies.
Does anyone think that there could have been the slightest bit of conflict of interest involved here?
The standard argument that traditional medicine offers is best summarized by the accompanying NEJM editorial:
"The causes of some diseases remain unknown. When a substantial proportion of a population receives a vaccine, it is inevitable that some disease-related events will occur after its administration. If the cause of the disease is unknown, it is understandable that recipients of the vaccine and even some physicians may assume that sequence is consequence. It is easy for them to focus on the temporal association and conclude that the vaccination caused the disease or its increased activity."
The editorial then goes on to ask the following questions:
"At what point do the publics' questions regarding vaccines gain sufficient standing to require the scientific community to undertake investigations?"
My response: At the point that it becomes very clear that people's lives are being adversely affected.
"Resources, in terms of both dollars and expertise, are not unlimited, and setting priorities is difficult. Which of the public's questions ought to be investigated?
My response: Hmmm. Amazing how resources are not limited when there is economic profit to be realized. Just look what happened to children's drug research in the last few months. As soon as the drug companies smelled some extra profit by patent extensions they poured millions of dollars into research.
Let's get real. Why would a drug company fund a study that is designed to show that there is a problem with their product which if proven will seriously damage their profits.
But folks, research is being done. There are volunteer lay groups like M.I.N.D. Institute of California in California that are funneling millions of dollars into vaccine safety research. ALL donated funds by the public to show that the vaccines are causing damage.
What do these individuals have to gain? The satisfaction that they know they made a difference in preventing brain injury and damage in hundreds of thousands of unborn children from future generations.
The good news is that a recent survey showed that 25 percent of parents believed that their child's immune system could actually be weakened by too many immunizations. Nearly the same proportion of parents thought that their children were already getting more vaccines than was good for them.
ONE FOURTH of the parents are waking up. They are starting to see the reality that these vaccines are huge problems and one needs to be extremely cautious when considering using them.
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