Tag: vaccine injury

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Payouts Prove that Vaccines are Dangerous

Have you heard this argument?

Misinformation about the NVICP, like from this Focus for Health article, likely helps confuse and scare many parents.
Misinformation about the NVICP, like from this Focus for Health article, likely helps confuse and scare many parents.

Apparently, some folks think that because we have a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program that compensates those who have serious problems after a vaccine, even deaths, then it must mean that vaccines are dangerous.

Do the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Payouts Prove that Vaccines are Dangerous?

To most other people, that argument doesn’t hold water.

Why?

Because we know that:

  • the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions
  • of over 3.1 billion doses of vaccines that were distributed in the United States between 2006 and 2016, there were 3,749 compensated claims through the NVICP
  • almost 80% of all compensated awards by the NVICP come as a “result of a negotiated settlement between the parties in which HHS has not concluded, based upon review of the evidence, that the alleged vaccine(s) caused the alleged injury.”
  • the NVICP settlements are funded by an excise tax on vaccines
  • the NVICP cases are published by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, so all information is disclosed to the public and no safety concerns are hidden

So what does the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) really prove?

It proves that true vaccine injuries are very rare – about 1 in a million rare.

It proves that while vaccines are not 100% safe, they are very safe.

Certainly safer than the complications of a vaccine-preventable disease.

And it proves that anti-vaccine arguments are very easy to refute…

More on the NVICP and Vaccine Safety

Do Vaccines Cause Acute Flaccid Myelitis?

Breaking News – At least six cases of AFM have been reported in Minnesota children since September 20.

Since 2014, we have seen several outbreaks of acute flaccid paralysis (the sudden onset of weakness in one or more arms or legs) across the United States.

Why?

We don’t know, except we do know that these folks don’t have polio, even though folks continue to get confused because the kids are described as having a “polio-like” disease. Every case undergoes extensive testing, including testing for polio and other viral infections.

Do Vaccines Cause Acute Flaccid Myelitis?

Tragically, like some other conditions of unknown cause, some people have grasped onto the idea that AFP could be caused by vaccines.

“Of 14 patients with available information, 12 had previously received polio vaccine; one child and one adult were unvaccinated because of personal belief exemptions.”

Acute Flaccid Paralysis with Anterior Myelitis — California, June 2012–June 2014

It shouldn’t be surprising that there is absolutely no evidence that this is any type of vaccine injury.

Of nearly 350 cases of the acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), or the subtype of AFP that we have been seeing since 2014, we know that:

  • most cases occur in children
  • they have a magnetic resonance image (MRI) showing spinal cord lesion largely restricted to gray matter and spanning one or more vertebral segments
  • AFM can be caused by viruses, environmental toxins, and genetic disorders, although no common etiology has been found in recent cases
  • cases are occurring sporadically – after 120 cases in 34 states in 2014, there were only 24 cases in 17 states in 2015, but then 149 cases in 39 states in 2016 and 33 cases in 16 states in 2017. And there have been about 38 cases in 16 states in 2018.
  • most cases occur in the late summer and early fall
  • most had symptoms of a preceding viral illness, including respiratory symptoms or diarrhea
  • some were unvaccinated
  • the ages of affected children has ranged from 5 months to 20 years
  • some, but not all, were positive for enterovirus D68
  • in Colorado this year, 9 of 14 cases were linked to EV-A71 infections
  • although there was a national outbreak of EV-D68 in 2014 that coincided with the first AFM cases, we didn’t see this kind of outbreak in the following years

So what’s causing these kids, with a median age of about 7 years, to develop acute flaccid myelitis?

We don’t know, but there is certainly no reason to think that it could be a vaccine, as some anti-vaccine folks suggest.

For one thing, several of the kids were completely unvaccinated!

And then, if it was a vaccine, why the seasonal pattern?

Would a vaccine injury have such a seasonal pattern - even skipping a year?
Would a vaccine injury have such a seasonal pattern – even skipping a year?

And why don’t cases occur in all states and at the same rates each year?

Also, why the big range in ages? After all, what vaccines do a 5 month old and a 20 year old have in common?

Acute flaccid myelitis is not caused by vaccines. Hopefully we will soon find out what really is causing it and can figure out how to prevent it.

Want to prevent a type of acute flaccid paralysis right now?

Get vaccinated!

While AFM is a type of non-polio AFP, we have long had a vaccine that can prevent polio, which also causes acute flaccid paralysis.

More on Vaccines and Acute Flaccid Paralysis

Updated October 9, 2018

VigiAccess Numbers in Context

Most people are familiar with VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

They sometimes forget that it is only the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for the United States.

Other countries have their own vaccine safety systems.

VigiAccess Numbers in Context

One of the biggest is VigiBase, the World Health Organization’s  global database for suspected adverse drug reactions, maintained by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre in Sweden.

“Information on suspected ADR should not be interpreted as meaning that the medicinal product in question, or the active substance(s), generally causes the observed effect or is unsafe to use.”

Not surprisingly, folks misuse VigiBase numbers, just like they misuse VAERS reports.

JB Handley needs help understanding VigiAccess reports.
JB Handley needs help understanding VigiAccess reports.

To look at the VigiBase reports, you can use VigiAccess.

“VigiAccess has a search interface that allows visitors to retrieve summary statistics on suspected adverse reactions to medicines and vaccines.”

Uppsala Monitoring Centre

While VigiBase “is at the heart of UMC’s signal detection and scientific research,” you aren’t going to learn much from VigiAccess.

“Geographically, only continent-level statistics are shown, due to issues relating to patient confidentiality and data protection in individual countries.”

Uppsala Monitoring Centre

The biggest problem?

You don’t know how many vaccines were given to all of those people.

For example, while it might sound like there have been a lot of adverse drug reaction reports for the DTaP vaccine, with 179,447 reports in VigiAccess, since those are worldwide reports since 1968, it is likely among many billions of doses of vaccines being given.

Most importantly though, as with VAERS, “The reports in VigiBase result from suspicions of a relationship between a drug and a reaction. No causal relation has been confirmed.”

So how do you put the numbers from VigiBase and VigiAccess in context?

If you consider that reports and safety signals from VigiBase, VigiMatch, VigiRank, and other tools used by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre continue to find that vaccines are safe, then to put the DTaP numbers in context, they help us know that vaccines are being well monitored for safety.

And since we know that these diseases haven’t disappeared, any further context, if you need it, would be that since vaccines are safe and necessary, then you should get yourself and your family vaccinated and protected.

More on VigiBase and VigiAccess

 

Personal Stories About Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

Parents these days seem to get bombarded with vaccine injury stories and videos on Facebook.

Is that because vaccines cause so many bad reactions?

Of course not.

It’s because some folks think that everything that happens to their kids is a vaccine injury.

Personal Stories About Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

If you are going to watch those videos and listen to their stories, getting scared in the process, be sure to also listen to the stories of parents who’s kids have suffered through actually getting a vaccine-preventable disease.

While it’s great that these diseases are much less common because most people vaccinate and protect their kids, one side effect of that progress is that we don’t have many reminders of just how terrible these diseases are anymore.Have you ever seen a baby with congenital rubella syndrome?

Or a child with tetanus or diphtheria?

Have you ever even seen photos of these diseases?

Will you read these stories of parents who have lost a child to a vaccine-preventable disease.

“Kimberly Coffey was buried three days before her high school graduation in the prom dress she didn’t get to wear. She didn’t have the opportunity to be vaccinated against Meningitis B.”

Kim’s Meningitis Story

In Kimberly‘s case, the Men B vaccine wasn’t yet available, but in many other cases, parents have shared their stories of unvaccinated children who suffered with a disease that was vaccine preventable at the time.

“From 2010 to 2016, young children continued to be at the greatest risk for influenza-associated pediatric deaths. Children without preexisting medical conditions accounted for half of all deaths. Vaccination coverage was low among influenza-associated pediatric deaths.”

Shang et al. on Influenza-Associated Pediatric Deaths in the United States, 2010–2016

Tragically, there are also many flu stories.

But the flu isn’t the only vaccine-preventable disease that still harms children.

This family didn't have a choice about their son getting sick - he was too young to be vaccinated when he was exposed to an unvaccinated child with measles.
This family didn’t have a choice about their son getting sick – he was too young to be vaccinated when he was exposed to an unvaccinated child with measles

There are other diseases. Other stories.

Read these stories.

Listen to these parents.

Are the stories supposed to scare you into vaccinating your kids?

Of course not. Just like you shouldn’t let the myths and propaganda from the anti-vaccinate movement scare you away from vaccinating and protecting your kids.

Instead of being motivated by fear, you should make your decision because you understand that the many benefits of vaccines are far greater than their small risks.

What to Know About Vaccine-Preventable Disease Stories

Reading stories of vaccine-preventable diseases are a good reminder that these diseases are not so mild as some folks suggest, and they are instead life-threatening diseases that are best avoided by getting fully vaccinated.

More Vaccine-Preventable Disease Stories

“Pro-Safe Vaccine” Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

As a pediatrician who has always fully vaccinated and protected his own kids, I didn’t totally understand what it meant when my first parents told me that they were pro-safe vaccine.

If they were interested in safe vaccines, I thought, why not get their kids vaccinated and protected? After all, vaccines are safe! Their baby was due to get several very safe vaccines at her upcoming two-month checkup.

At a screening for Vaxxed, Paul Thomas, MD, joked that kids with autism were brain damaged. And everyone laughed.
At a screening for Vaxxed, Paul Thomas, MD, joked that kids with autism were brain damaged! And everyone laughed.

I eventually got an answer.

“You don’t have to dig far to know that vaccines have caused tremendous harm. Have they had benefits? Absolutely. Which is why I remain somewhat on the neutral side in saying that I am not anti-vaccine,” said Dr. Paul Thomas. “I’m pro-safe vaccines. I’ve progressed along to the point where I now don’t believe there is such a thing.”

Folks who say that they are pro-safe vaccines typically:

And they want new, safer vaccines that can’t possibly cause any kind of side effects.

Of course, these new, safer vaccines must be toxin-free, without any preservatives, stabilizers, and especially, no chemicals of any kind. They should also be free of gluten, antifreeze, thimerosal, vaginal spermicides, and heavy metals. Essentially, they would just be antigens, without other ingredients, because these folks don’t understand how vaccines are really made.

“Pro-Safe Vaccine” Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

Are you starting to see the problem with folks who say that they are pro-safe vaccines now?

“I’m not for starting an epidemic of another disease. We just want there to be some type of conversation, once. Sit down with our side, with our doctors and scientists, to take a look at what we’re talking about. We’re not an anti-vaccine movement. We’re pro-safe-vaccine schedule. Until we have that conversation, people are going to think it’s an anti- and pro- side.”

Jenny McCarthy

Who were these doctors and scientists that she had on her side?

“In our community we say, “Yeah.” We firmly believe the cause of the epidemic of autism is due to a vaccine injury and/or other environmental exposures — pesticides also. But what on this earth we all kind of share the most is vaccines.”

Jenny McCarthy

Right. So she is not anti-vaccine, but she thinks that vaccines injure people and have caused and epidemic of autism?

And that’s where her pro-safe vaccine schedule comes in…

And we’re saying: “Delay them. Delay them till age 2. Skip some that you might not need.”

Jenny McCarthy

Like all of the other alternative vaccine schedules out there, Jenny McCarthy’s pro-safe vaccine schedule had no evidence that it was safe or effective.

And that gets to the root of the issue. We don’t know what causes autism, so it must be vaccines.

“To our community, Andrew Wakefield is Nelson Mandela and Jesus Christ rolled up into one.”

J. B. Handley

But what about the folks who have moved beyond listening to Jenny McCarthy and being concerned about autism?

They have the same goals and are still scaring parents with the same old messages that have been used by the anti-vaccine movement for hundreds of years.

And they just don’t believe the overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe and necessary.

What Does It Mean to Be Pro-Safe Vaccine?

So what does it mean to say that you are pro-safe vaccine?

Essentially, it means that you are anti-vaccine, but don’t want to say that you are anti-vaccine.

More on the Pro-Safe Vaccine Movement

 

Can Parents Still Sue Vaccine Manufacturers?

Have you heard the myth that vaccine manufacturers have no liability and that you can no longer sue them

Of course, it isn’t true.

After all, isn’t there a class action lawsuit against Merck about the mumps vaccine?

Can Parents Still Sue Vaccine Manufacturers?

The Wisconsin Coalition for Informed Vaccination is pushing myths about the liability of vaccine manufacturers.
The Wisconsin Coalition for Informed Vaccination is pushing myths about the liability of vaccine manufacturers.

Vaccines are safe, but they are not without some risks, so what happens if a child does suffer a vaccine injury? Hopefully, even if it is a rare life-threatening condition, they can get treated and improve, avoiding that particular vaccine in the future.

They can also file a petition with the Vaccine Court and if the reaction is determined to be caused by a vaccine, they can be compensated.

So parents don’t usually sue vaccine manufacturers directly – they go through Vaccine Court.

But that isn’t there only option…

Parents can still sue vaccine manufacturers:

  • if the claim is not related to vaccine injury
  • in state court for vaccine injury, as long as the claim is not of design defect, and as long as they have already gone through Vaccine Court

So it certainly isn’t true that “under no circumstance may you sue a vaccine manufacturer.”

What’s the benefit of going through Vaccine Court, “a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions?”

For one thing, the majority of compensated claims in Vaccine Court are settled claims, in which “cannot be characterized as a decision by HHS or by the Court that the vaccine caused an injury.”

etitioners would not get to use the Althen standard if the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and NVICP were rescinded.
Petitioners would not get to use the Althen standard if the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and NVICP were rescinded.

It is likely that at least some of those claims wouldn’t win if they weren’t in Vaccine Court, where:

  • causation is presumed (you automatically win) if you are claiming a table injury
  • the rules for evidence are relaxed and expert testimony does not necessarily have to meet the  strict requirements of the Daubert standard
  • petitioners must meet a fairly lenient standard to win, the regular standard of proof for a civil trial (more likely than not), but only have to provide a plausible theory for vaccine injury. Instead of providing scientific evidence or proving causation, they simply have to provide a theory that “is ‘logical’ and legally probable, not medically or scientifically certain.”
  • you don’t have to show that the vaccine was defective to make your case

Another benefit of Vaccine Court? All lawyer fees are paid, whether you win or lose, and lawyers do not get part of the award if you win. In traditional court, lawyers might get up to thirty-three percent of your award.

What to Know About Vaccine Manufacturer Liability and Vaccine Court

Although they must usually go through Vaccine Court first, folks can still sue vaccine manufacturers in some cases.

More on Vaccine Manufacturer Liability and Vaccine Court

Dear Anti-Vaxxers,

As someone who has always understood that vaccines are safe and necessary, who vaccinates his children, I’m asking you to hear me out.

Dear anti-vaxxers. Vaccinate your kids.

I don’t think that you are either stupid, uneducated, crazy, or that questioning vaccine safety is always associated with  believing in conspiracy theories.

I understand and appreciate that you do care about your children, that you care about their health, and that you want what’s best for your family.

I actually do get that. I really do.

But I know that while you believe that you have done years of research and investigation to help you decide that the potential benefits of vaccines don’t outweigh their risks, going out of your way to find information to support your decision and ignoring all of the rest that says you are wrong, isn’t really doing research.

Whether you have never set foot on a college campus, you have a PhD in immunology, or you are a toxicologist, I know that you are still vulnerable to the same cognitive biases, heuristics, and logical fallacies as everyone else, and those can keep you from coming to a truly informed decision.

And I know that you are mostly motivated by fear, anger, and mistaken ideas of vaccine injury, vaccine induced disease, and unexplained illness and sudden deaths.

We all care about our children and families. The difference between us is that you still believe that there are two sides to the vaccination debate.

There isn’t.

Vaccines are safe, necessary, and they work well to protect our kids from life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases.

No, vaccines are not 100% safe and they don’t work 100% of the time, but neither are they responsible for all of the things you see in vaccine scare stories or all of the so-called vaccine induced diseases we hear about.

“What if doctors never actually learn about vaccines, their ingredients, or adverse events, in medical school? What if the medical textbooks are written with an enormous amount of funding from the pharmaceutical industry? What if the CDC owns patents on vaccines? What if the pharmaceutical industry is corrupt and funds studies which conveniently stop monitoring test subjects before adverse effects begin to manifest? What if vaccines contain toxic substances at levels which can cause chronic illness when children are repeatedly injected with them? What if we are trading temporary illness for the development of autoimmune and neurological disease later in life? What if the threat and danger of these “preventable” diseases has been inflated to push more vaccines? What if these vaccines are not even truly effective as we have been led to believe and we will always need more booster shots to try to make up for that fact? What if there is evidence for all of the above, you just haven’t seen it yet?”

Ashley Everly Cates

Listen.

If you don’t want to vaccinate your kids, then don’t.

But don’t be influenced by folks who say they have done their research and don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but use a book by Neil Z Miller as a reference and push every major anti-vaccine conspiracy theory.

And don’t expect that your vaccine choice will be consequence free, including that your child will be at increased risk to get a vaccine-preventable disease, you will be putting others at risk to get a vaccine-preventable disease if your intentionally unvaccinated child gets sick, and you may be kept out of daycare or school if you live in a state that doesn’t allow non-medical exemptions.

I hope that you will keep an open mind and genuinely take time to look into this for yourself, beyond the myths and claims of anti-vaccine heroes who ignore or are unaware of the massive amount of evidence that contradict their claims.

Please take caution and know that I don’t do this to be popular. I don’t do this to make friends, get likes on my Facebook page, or sell vitamins and supplements in an online store.

Truly. The only reason I speak out is to protect my children and your children from unnecessary harm.

After all, is it really so hard to believe that the great majority of pediatricians, infectious disease specialists, immunologists, toxicologists, and public health experts in the world and throughout history are right about vaccines?

More for Anti-Vaxxers