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FDA Recommends US Allow Use of Rotavirus Vaccines While Safety Being Studied
From Jennifer Corbett-Dooren of the Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100507-716126.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlinesWASHINGTON

(Dow Jones)–A Food and Drug Administration panel said Friday fragments of pig viruses found in vaccines used to protect infants against rotavirus didn’t appear to cause health risks.

While the panel didn’t take a vote on the products, several members of the agency’s vaccine panel said the vaccines — Merck & Co.’s (MRK) Rotateq and GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s (GSK, GSK.LN) Rotarix — should remain on the U.S. market while additional studies are conducted about the impact of pig viruses.

In the meantime, the panel said parents who are considering whether to vaccinate their infants need to be informed about the findings.

FDA panels are made up of non-FDA medical experts and are called upon to make nonbinding recommendations to the agency.

Karen Midthun, acting director of FDA’s Center for Biologics and Research, said the agency would be “very expeditious” in making recommendations about whether either vaccine should be used. n March, the FDA recommended that doctors stop using Glaxo’s vaccine after a team of researchers from the University of California in San Francisco found DNA of a porcine circovirus known as PCV1 in the vaccine. Those tests didn’t find the same pig virus in Merck’s Rotateq.

However, on Thursday the FDA said more sensitive tests subsequently conducted on Rotateq found a “low level” of the same PCV1 virus, as well as a related porcine circovirus known as PCV2. Both viruses are common in pigs — and neither is known to cause illness in humans — but PCV2 may cause illness in pigs.

The FDA said it wouldn’t decide whether it would recommend that use of Merck’s Rotateq be suspended or whether it would lift its suspension recommendation involving Glaxo’s Rotarix in advance of the meeting. The panel meeting had originally scheduled to discuss Rotarix but also included Rotateq in light of similar findings about pig virus fragments discovered in the product.

“PCV is not infectious in humans,” said Harry Greenberg, a panel member and medical professor at Stanford University. “The benefits far outweigh the risks.”

Both the Glaxo and Merck vaccines are designed to protect infants from a gastrointestinal illness caused by rotavirus and have been given to millions of babies. While rotavirus is rarely fatal in the U.S., it contributed to about 70,000 infant hospitalizations annually before Merck’s vaccine was approved in 2006 and Glaxo’s in 2008.

Umesh Parashar, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the most recent agency data looking at the impact of the vaccines in the U.S. show “almost…a complete wipeout of rotavirus activity.” Parashar deemed rotavirus “a major killer” of children in parts of the world that can’t adequately treat dehydration from severe diarrhea.

One theory about how pig virus fragments got into the vaccine offered by both the FDA and the companies is that PCV fragments might be in trypsin, an enzyme derived from pigs that is used in the manufacturing process of the vaccine. The enzyme is used to grow viruses used in the vaccines.

Barbara Howe, a GlaxoSmithKline vice president in the company’s vaccine division said, “all available data support PCV1 in Rotarix is a manufacturing quality issue, not a safety issue.” She said the company is working on ways to remove PCV from the vaccine but that developing a new manufacturing process “is complex and will take time.”

Frontline’s “The Vaccine War” Misses Half the Story
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenny-mccarthy/ifrontlineis-the-vaccine_b_555785.html
Jenny McCarthy.Author, model and autism activist
Posted: April 28, 2010 03:21 PM

When the producers of PBS’s Frontline approached me to be interviewed for their new documentary “The Vaccine War,” I accepted with a simple condition: doctors and scientists on our side of the vaccine-autism debate needed to have a voice, too.

Prior to agreeing to the interview, Frontline sent us this email:

“Frontline will carry out a detailed and even-handed investigation including voices from all sides of the controversy including parents, activists, physicians, scientists, lawyers, politicians and vaccine manufacturers.”

I’ve learned to be wary of media who try to simplify the vaccine-autism debate into a “Parents vs. the Science” spin, so I went further and agreed to do the interview only if Dr. Jay Gordon, a well-known pediatrician here in Los Angeles, sat beside me. (Dr. Jay also sat for his own two hour interview.)

For those who’ve watched the show, you know that the Frontline producers broke their promise and presented our entire community’s position through my interview and just two other parents — Barbara Loe Fisher and J.B. Handley.

Where are the doctors and scientists who support our community and support the idea that vaccines may be a trigger for autism? In Frontline’s world, they don’t exist.

Imagine how much more credible the countless stories of children regressing into autism after vaccine appointments would be if a doctor were saying the same thing.

Luckily for all of us parents, Dr. Gordon has not stayed silent since the show aired. In a piece for HuffPost earlier this week, he wrote:

“Vaccines are neither all good — as this biased, miserable PBS treacle would have you believe…You had a point to prove and removed material from your show which made the narrative balanced. ‘Distraught, confused moms against important, well-spoken, calm doctors’ was your narrative with a deep sure voice to, literally, narrate the entire artifice.”
Also missing from Frontline were interviews from any of the dozens of scientists who have published studies in medical journals supporting the position of all the parents.

And, where was Autism Speaks, the largest autism organization in the world, and a group that hasn’t been a huge supporter of our community?

Maybe Frontline had seen a recent letter written by Dr. Geraldine Dawson, the chief science officer of Autism Speaks, where she wrote:

“Recent studies point to a key role of the immune system in the biology of ASD [autism], raising questions about the effects of the significant immune challenges associated with vaccinations, particularly when delivered in combination and early in life…We believe that the question of whether immunization is associated with an increased risk for ASD is of extremely high priority.”
Frontline’s trip to Denmark to interview a scientist was meant to convince parents that vaccines have been studied all over the world and so they must be safe.

What Frontline didn’t mention was that the Danish scientist interviewed works for a vaccine maker, that the paper discussed showed Denmark’s rate of autism at 1 in 2,500 (versus the U.S. rate of 1 in 100) or that Denmark’s vaccine schedule for kids is 12 shots versus 36 here in the U.S.

And, parents hear nothing about the Danish scientist’s colleague and co-author Poul Thorsen, who recently stole $2 million from the CDC and is reportedly on the run from authorities.

When Dr. Wakefield is profiled, there’s no recent interview with him to tell his story, just old media clips and one side’s take. What about Dr. Wakefield’s recent work finally comparing vaccinated monkeys with unvaccinated monkeys?

Frontline’s piece also lacked any sense of proportion. Yes, a wave of twelve children with measles in San Diego is a troubling thing. But, there are more than 20,000 children in San Diego with autism! 20,000 vs. 12? When you really look at the numbers, you realize how huge our autism problem really is.

I believe our bloated vaccine schedule has created a scenario where there is now too much of a good thing. All drugs have side-effects, particularly if many are given at one time. Why should vaccines be any different?

The Frontline viewer heard nothing about the more than 1,000 reported deaths from vaccination or the nearly $2 billion paid by the US government to vaccine injury victims.

If the risk of vaccinating is really a 1 in 100 chance of a child getting autism, what will happen to the vaccine program?

Cooler heads need to get involved with this problem, rather than multi-millionaire vaccine inventors. Dr. Bob Sears, another doctor interviewed by Frontline but cut out of the actual show, offered a possible solution:

“In my mind, the only way we’d really put this issue to rest is to do a very large scientific study that looks at hundreds of thousands of children who are vaccinated versus hundreds of thousands of children that are not vaccinated, and we compare the rates of autism in those two groups.”
I was encouraged at the end of the show when the health officials complained about the power and existence of the Internet, as if immediate information were somehow a threat to the vaccine program.

Parents, when people are blaming a problem on the availability of information — like China trying to keep their population in the dark — you know there’s a bigger problem, and another side to the story — a side that Frontline knowingly chose not to share.

Help children with autism by voting for Generation Rescue!

Frontline’s Producer Feeds the “Hungry Lie”
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/05/frontlines-producer-feeds-the-hungry-lie.html

By J.B. Handley

The “hungry lie” on autism is both maddeningly simple and simply maddening and goes something like this: “It’s been asked and answered, vaccines don’t cause autism.”

As I’ve written about repeatedly, this is a huge lie, a critical lie, and a very “hungry” lie, because it constantly needs to be fed. Thanks to Frontline’s recent show, “the Vaccine War,” many more people will be confronted with this lie and have to sort through the rhetoric to figure out what is actually true.

Jon Palferman, who produced Frontline’s “The Vaccine War,” is different from many of the other feeders of the hungry lie in one important way: he spent nearly 2 hours sitting in my office debating and learning more about this very topic. I am certain that he fully and completely understands that only a single vaccine on the US vaccine schedule has actually been studied for its relationship to autism. I’m also certain he realizes many public health officials make bold and untrue statements all the time to reassure the public that “vaccines” have been studied and rendered “safe.”

To me, this makes Mr. Palferman’s recent public comment all the more unconscionable. On Frontline’s website, as a response to Dr. Jay Gordon’s searing critique of Frontline’s decision to not air any of Dr. Gordon’s taped interview, Mr. Palferman issued the following statement:

“Many thanks for your feedback on the program. FRONTLINE went to considerable lengths to include a wide range of viewpoints, even in the face of very strong scientific evidence against the hypothesized autism link to MMR and thimerosal. Despite the consistent negative epidemiology and the definitive verdict of the federal vaccine court, we included views from people who wanted more and different studies. The program also gave a great deal of time to the arguments of vaccine hesitant parents who think the CDC schedule is bloated. The companion FRONTLINE website contains full interviews with different stakeholders, including Dr Robert Sears, who promotes an alternative spread out vaccine schedule. The website also hosts a robust public conversation where a full range of viewpoints are being aired and engaged.”

Let me repeat for you the part of Mr. Palferman’s statement that shows he did spend 2 hours with me, but wanted to defend his position anyway:

“the hypothesized autism link to MMR and thimerosal”

You see, Mr. Palferman fully gets that no one has shown “vaccines don’t cause autism,” because I personally hammered home the point to him until he finally got it. So, he’s smart enough not to fully repeat the simple hungry lie that “vaccines” have been studied and at least tells the truth that ONLY thimerosal and the MMR have been looked at.

But, Mr. Palferman is still feeding the hungry lie through his statement, because he’s implying that somehow the meager amount of science on 2 of 36 shots our kids are given somehow implies that the position of our community is resting on shaky ground. And, he’s well aware that mainstream voices will support his statement, because they are all heavily invested in the same hungry lie. It’s a simple way for him to get out of the middle of the firing line.

* *

The hungry lie is so obvious to me, I struggle sometimes to see why it’s constantly repeated without anyone getting called out for saying it. Am I not communicating this clearly enough? Is there a better way to explain it?

In Jenny McCarthy’s recent HuffPo editorial criticizing Frontline, there is a trail of comments that approaches the hungry lie in a different way that makes the point with even more detail–perhaps reviewing it will highlight the issue.

SingaporeAutismDad writes:

Here’s first 12 months of vaccines for American children:
Birth: Hep B
2 months: Hep B, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV
4 months: Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV
6 months: Hep B, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV, Flu
12 months: MMR, Hib, PCV, Varicella, Hep A, Hep B

For all you scientists out there, how many of these shots have been studied for relationship to autism? One. So, here’s the schedule in first 12 months of shots kids get that HAVE NOT been studied. Are you still a scientist?

Birth: Hep B
2 months: Hep B, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV
4 months: Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV
6 months: Hep B, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV, IPV, Flu
12 months: Hib, PCV, Varicella, Hep A, Hep B

I thought this was great. As you can see, MMR was pulled from the second list, leaving 24 vaccines by 12 months of age that have NOT been looked at for their relationship to autism. How does an honest scientist argue with this point?

Well, the appropriately named “Mikerattlesnake” gave it his best shot:

“yes, the ONE that anti-vaxers were clammoring for to be tested ad nauseum, by the way. When a link failed to emerge, when none of the data pointed to a link beyond a simple correlation, when the proponents of the link were shown to be frauds, etc, etc, etc, it probably lost a bit of priority. Money should be spent on studies that show some promise. This link shows no promise.”

This “link” shows no promise? We have tens of thousands of case reports of declines after vaccine appointments, absolutely no science that remotely reflects the experience of our kids, but the link shows no promise? So far, that’s about the only argument I’ve heard that tries to defend studying only one of the first 25 vaccines our kids get. Most just try to avoid the question, because it’s so indefensible.

SinaporeAutismDad then asks a more clear-headed commentor named Schwartzz the following:

“Schwartzz: You make a lot of sense. Perhaps comment on why so few shots have been studied? Why do they give 20 shots in the first year of life, only study one, and say “case closed”? Is this American science, or Big Pharma science? I don’t understand it.”

Schwartzz responds:

“It’s quite simple: Because they don’t need to study them. Why would any corporation spend money on something that in the best case maintains the status quo and in the worst case costs them a fortune?

What you have is purely a product of the system that is setup to regulate medicine. It isn’t a conspiracy at all. It is the natural outcome of a flawed system.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

Doctor Accuses PBS Frontline of Selling Out on Vaccine Concern
http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20100430006316/en

Are vaccines harming us? — The truth that doctors and the pharmaceutical industry don’t want you to know. Acclaimed physician challenges news media about vaccinations and toxicity.

April 30, 2010 05:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–What price journalistic integrity? That may well be the question that PBS needs to answer after this week’s airing of its top rated show Frontline. Entitled “Vaccine Wars,” the episode offered a decidedly one-sided viewpoint on the issue of vaccine safety. Dr. Rashid Buttar, a renowned physician who has received worldwide attention for his innovative and groundbreaking work in ridding the human body of toxicities that cause illness and disease, gave the program’s producers access to his clinic, his patients, and himself.

“because it showcased the opinions of a group of”
.As Buttar recollects, “Frontline’s film crew spent over seven hours in my offices, extensively interviewed three of my patients, and then spent almost three hours interviewing me one-on-one.” Not one single second of this was shown on-air. Instead, Frontline recycled dated video footage previously released on the internet. Frontline violated Buttar’s trust and wasted his valuable time; producing a slanted report designed to intimidate and scare the public.

While disappointed at their lack of ethics, Dr. Buttar is not really surprised. He and his colleagues continue to crusade against a medical profession that hides behind antiquated theories and ineffective, costly treatments; and media outlets such as Frontline who further the agenda of the lucrative vaccine industry.

Buttar also questions what role lobbying by the U.S. Department of Heath & Human Services played in Frontline’s decision to air such a skewed report. In a recent Readers’ Digest interview, HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, admitted to meeting with media in an effort to undermine vaccine detractors saying, “We have reached out to media outlets to try to get them to not give the views of these people equal weight in their reporting to what science has shown and continues to show about the safety of vaccines.”

Concerns about vaccines are legitimate and growing. Once proclaimed as one of greatest achievements of modern medicine, vaccines, their frequency and the combinations, have become the subject of increasing unrest within the medical and scientific community since 1989. Parents questioning the need and the prudence of their child receiving so many shots, and the administration of previously singularly administrated vaccines combined into “super shots” (such as the MMR Triple Shot) are often met with scorn, derision, and admonishment from doctors.

The fact is that vaccines do contain dangerous toxic substances. One of the most dangerous of these is mercury, which is present as a preservative in most vaccines, including the flu shot. While many believe mercury was removed from vaccines in 2002, Thimerosal — or ethyl mercury — is still used in the manufacturing process of almost all vaccines, but that fact is no longer disclosed on the vaccine labels.

Dr. Buttar is not alone in his Frontline experience; fellow vaccine critics Dr. Jay Gordon and Dr. Robert Sears were also interviewed extensively but then edited out of the piece. “The show made a mockery of journalism,” says Buttar, “because it showcased the opinions of a group of “experts,” some of whom benefit financially from vaccine developments, while at the same time it minimized the real concerns in question as nothing more than unsubstantiated hysteria.” Why didn’t they show a single physician who agreed with the parents who were against vaccinations?

Frontline purposely pitted pro-vaccine doctors, painted as tireless advocates for children, against anti-vaccine parents who were portrayed as selfish, irrational and paranoid individuals lacking medical knowledge and common sense. The end result was a biased piece of tabloid journalism that only serves to further confuse, frighten and divide those who question vaccines from those who blindly follow medical rhetoric; creating needless controversy rather than an intelligent forum for discussion.

Dr. Buttar remains steadfast in the challenge he made during his unaired interview with Frontline. ”Tell the NIH, CDC, FDA or any vaccine manufacturer that I publicly challenge them to select any 20 cases of autism, send them all to an independent university and have that university’s independent pediatric neurologists evaluate all 20 children. Let those neurologists identify the 10 most severe cases and I will take them on as patients and treat them using my methods. Let the other 10 cases be treated with whatever conventional “standard of care” treatment they see fit. But it all must be filmed and followed so that the world can determine the truth for itself,” says Buttar. ”After having treated over a thousand patients in my own clinic, and having tens of thousands of children treated using our methodologies all over the world, I already know what the results will be. The problem is – so do they!”

This is definately a must read….

DNA of Pig Viruses Found in Merck Vaccine
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704370704575228430256018328.html?mod=WSJ_business_IndustryNews_DHC

BY JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN
WASHINGTON—The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that fragments of two types of pig viruses were found in Merck & Co.’s Rotateq vaccine, but the agency didn’t immediately say whether the vaccine should be avoided.

An FDA vaccine-advisory panel had already scheduled a meeting for Friday to discuss GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s Rotarix vaccine. Both the Glaxo and Merck vaccines are designed to protect infants from a gastrointestinal illness caused by rotavirus and have been given to millions of babies. While rotavirus is rarely fatal in the U.S., it contributed to about 70,000 infant hospitalizations annually before Merck’s vaccine was approved in …

To Continue reading, click the link above….

Vaccine may trigger early start of infant epilepsy
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6436FW20100504?rpc=60
Tue, May 4 2010
By Tan Ee Lyn

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Childhood vaccines may trigger early onset of a severe form of infant epilepsy, but researchers say the disorder is ultimately caused by defective genes and lifesaving vaccines should not be withheld from these children.

The researchers said they feared the study published in the Lancet medical journal would scare parents away from getting their children vaccinated but stressed the babies in the study would likely have developed seizures within months regardless of the vaccine.

The disorder, called Dravet syndrome, generally begins with seizures around six months of age. These children have poor language and motor skills and difficulty relating to others.

Up to 80 percent of them have mutations in the SCN1A gene.

Anne McIntosh of the University of Melbourne’s Epilepsy Research Center and colleagues examined the medical records of 40 Dravet syndrome patients with the genetic mutation who had been vaccinated against whooping cough, or pertussis.

They said 30 percent of these children developed their first seizures within two days of receiving the vaccine but symptoms of their disorder were no worse than the other children who had their first seizures later on.

“In about 30 percent of people, it appears that (first seizures) came on rather quickly after the vaccination. But the overall message is that the outcome to the patients did not differ regardless of whether the onset of the disorder was shortly after the vaccination, or later on,” said McIntosh.

“These kids already had that genetic abnormality, (so) regardless of the relationship with the vaccine, they would have actually had that disorder happen to them anyway,” she added.

“Essentially, there is no proof that people should not be vaccinated … from concerns about it causing the onset of that disease,” she said in a telephone interview.

SENSITIVE ISSUE

Reports linking childhood vaccines to any sort of disorder are always sensitive because they can result in parents refusing to get their children vaccinated. This has caused a resurgence of dangerous diseases, including mumps, measles and whooping cough, in Britain, the United States and elsewhere.

In 1998 British doctor Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet, suggesting the combined measles, mumps and rubella or MMR vaccine might be linked to autism and bowel disease.

The assertion has been widely discredited for years, the Lancet has withdrawn the paper and Britain’s General Medical Council has ruled Wakefield acted dishonestly and irresponsibly.

But the damage has been done — the number of MMR vaccinations in the United States and Europe plunged, prompting a resurgence of both measles and mumps.

This Australian study by McIntosh and colleagues follows an earlier investigation into whether the pertussis vaccine, which is routinely given to children together with diphtheria and typhoid vaccines (DTP), may have led to cases of encephalopathy.

The earlier investigation, led by Samuel Berkovic of the Epilepsy Research Center at the University of Melbourne, found that 12 of 14 patients with so-called vaccine encephalopathy were actually suffering from Dravet syndrome. Eleven of these 12 children were also found to have the SCN1A gene variant.

In an accompanying commentary, Max Wiznitzer from the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, said McIntosh’s study was “consistent with the conclusion that outcome is determined by the underlying disorder and not by proximity to vaccine administration.”

Wiznitzer, who was not involved in the study, said “effective and accurate information and communication” could help maintain public confidence in vaccines.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Krittivas Mukherjee)

What to Do About All These Non-Vaccinating Families
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-bob-sears/vaccine-health-what-to-do_b_563334.html
Dr. Bob Sears
Posted: May 5, 2010 10:12 AM

Today’s USA Today story on the increasing trend of vaccine refusal shared some interesting information, but fell short of actually providing useful or workable answers. The article cites a new CDC study that showed in 2003 only 22 percent of parents refused or delayed a vaccine for their child, whereas in 2008 this number soared to 39 percent.

For many years I believe the CDC has been trying to hide the fact that more and more parents are refusing or delaying vaccines. Why? Because if compliant parents hear that their neighbors or friends are questioning vaccines, they might start to think, “Hmm … maybe I should begin to question vaccines as well. I think I’ll start doing some research and educating myself about vaccines instead of just taking my doctor’s word for it.”

And this story tries to sugar-coat the issue as well, stating that “parents in 2008 had more opportunities to delay shots than they had five years earlier” because three new vaccines have been introduced. I don’t by it. This implies that some children aren’t receiving all their vaccines because some vaccines are new. I would look at it differently: More and more parents are beginning to question the vaccine schedule — not just the new vaccines, but the manner in which so many are being given at a time. This trend has nothing to do with the new shots. Compliant parents wouldn’t even question new shots anyway. And they wouldn’t even be aware that their baby is getting a new shot because they wouldn’t even ask. Again, the CDC doesn’t want those parents who are being good little patients and getting all their shots, no questions asked, to start wondering why more and other parents are refusing.

Then the story turns to the measles epidemic that has “ravaged” the country. While measles can occasionally be severe and cause a fatality, the fact is that measles has remained the same in our country over the last decade — about 100 to 150 cases each year, with NO increase and NO fatalities! If the CDC is going to convince parents to stop questioning vaccines, they’ll need to come up with some better arguments than that.

Hey, I know! How about some new and expanded safety research! The only way non-compliant parents are going to stop worrying about vaccines is if we can give them the type of safety research they want: large-scale, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, long-term research. So, 20 years from now we’ll have that research. But what do we do in the meantime?

Here’s what the AAP says to do in their official policy (found on page eight of the Red Book, sitting in every single pediatrician’s office in the country):

• Treat these parents with respect
• Listen to their concerns
• Clearly discuss the importance of vaccines and the risks of the diseases
• If the parents remain non-compliant, the doctor can serve these patient’s needs by (and I quote) “developing a schedule of immunizations that does not require multiple injections at a single visit.”
• “Continued refusal after adequate discussion (I continue to quote) SHOULD BE RESPECTED.”

The number of physicians who actually follow the AAP’s advice is dismally small. I’ve been creating a growing list of Vaccine Friendly Doctor’s on my website who WILL listen and respect these patient’s wishes and who will provide an alternative vaccine schedule for patients who want to vaccinate differently. But it’s slow going. I just don’t understand why the AAP would even bother making such a policy if they won’t try to get their members to follow it.

Dr. Offit and many other physicians like him who believe we should NOT provide alternative schedules are actually MAKING THE PROBLEM WORSE. By kicking these patients out of their office and refusing to vaccinate these patients in a manner they will comply with, these doctors are leaving such babies unvaccinated. On the other hand, sometimes these doctors DO manage to talk (bully) their patients into starting their little two-month-old babies on the regular schedule. Most of these parents end up leaving such a doctor and going somewhere else.

In my humble (but outspoken) opinion, the ONLY way to increase vaccination rates in our country at this time is to provide alternative approaches that worried parents will feel more comfortable with. The PR campaign that the AAP and CDC are launching probably won’t do a thing. That’s because the campaign doesn’t include new safety research. It isn’t saying, “Hey, look America — we’ve proven vaccines, and the schedule by which we give them, are perfectly safe!” Instead, it’s saying “The diseases can be bad (which they can), so everybody get in line!” I just don’t think that’s going to work. That’s using scare tactics, not education. By adopting the AAP policy of providing alternative schedules, more and more doctors can serve their patients and keep the vaccine-preventable diseases at bay.

Dr. Bob Sears
www.TheVaccineBook.com