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Commentary on the world of vaccines

Randall Neustaedter OMD

The vaccination camps are becoming more polarized, the vaccine enthusiasts promoting more and more vaccines, and the anti-vaccinationists becoming more adamantly opposed. Vaccine opponents are becoming more vocal and more numerous. This is probably inevitable given the present situation with vaccines.

Vaccine proponents have become more entrenched in their pro-vaccine stance. The pressure to vaccinate is becoming more intense. Parents are being forced into vaccination. The American Academy of Pediatrics is encouraging pediatricians to refuse care to families that choose not to vaccinate, and many parents are having difficulty finding a sympathetic pediatrician. Babies are being vaccinated against their parents' wishes. For example, a newborn was recently vaccinated for hepatitis B by court order against the parents' protests because the baby's mother had a false positive blood test for hepatitis.

The number of vaccines given to children is increasing. The sheer number of shots is making parents uneasy. And many more vaccines are planned for the public. Parents are questioning the advisability of shots to prevent diseases that present little threat to their children (chickenpox and hepatitis) and diseases they have never encountered. They are questioning the entire practice of vaccination because the rationale now seems faulty. Vaccine enthusiasts on the other hand are developing more advanced techniques for vaccine production at an astounding rate. Researchers are excited about the possibility of super-vaccines, alternate routes of administration through genetically altered foods and nasal mists.

Adverse reactions have become more common and more dramatic with the increased number of vaccinations. This has led to more research into vaccine side effects, and the media has taken notice. Even magazines under direct control of drug interests have mentioned the possible link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Congressman Dan Burton has single-handedly raised a hue and cry from the hill, calling drug companies and government advisory committees to task for their questionable ethics, conflicts of interest, and outright suppression of data about adverse vaccine reactions. Parents have taken notice, and they are frightened. The exponential increase in childhood autism has made parents extremely skeptical about government reassurances regarding vaccine safety, especially because no other possible cause has been proposed. Parents in autism awareness groups are pointing a big accusatory finger. Health advisors with large audiences have taken an extremely vocal anti-vaccine position (Dr. Joseph Mercola (www.mercola.com) and Gary Null (the Gary Null radio talk shows). Even the medical thriller author Michael Palmer has entered the fray with his own angry response to vaccine reactions and drug company conspiracy (Fatal).

Vaccines are getting other bad press. Two vaccines, for tick-carried Lyme disease and for viral diarrhea in children (Rotavirus), were withdrawn from the marketplace and all production was stopped because of associated deaths, disease, and lawsuits. The French government and French courts attributed the onset of multiple sclerosis (MS) to the hepatitis B vaccine and suspended vaccination. The forced withdrawal of vaccines is a very visible black eye for drug companies.

When smallpox vaccination was made mandatory in the nineteenth century, anti-vaccination leagues held public demonstrations in the streets. Today's anti-vaccination movement dominates the Internet instead. Websites, support groups, and bulletin boards abound. The conflict between drug companies with a vigorous vaccine agenda and parent groups voraciously protecting their children is coming to a head. Watch as the conflict unwinds. Vaccine companies and advisory committees are now targeting teenagers with vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases, next in line are adults with vaccines against cancer. Bioterrorism vaccines, emerging diseases vaccines, and individualized vaccines for genetic markers are all on the horizon.

The grassroots anti-vaccination forces are just saying no. Others who take a cautionary tone about too many vaccines or improved vaccine safety may be left in the dust while the two belligerent groups lock horns and do battle.