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On 5 November 2009, the Dutch government announced that three babies died within two weeks - between one and 11 days - of receiving the vaccine.
This is the Prevnar pneumonia conjugate vaccine or PCV, commonly called PCV vaccine, made by drug giant Pfizer.
The response of the Dutch government is hard to comprehand and to accept. Initial press reports sait it banned ONE BATCH of the vaccine but later reports clarified that Pfizer "quarantined" the batch, which contained about 110,000 doses.
One would expect that when something as serious as this happens, the health authorities concerned would, at the very least, suspend its vaccination programme pending the results of further investigations. But no. The vaccination programme continued with other batches of the same PCV vaccine.
Equally hard to accept is this statement from spokeswoman for the Dutch health institute RIVM: “On average about 5 to 10 deaths are reported annually after babies get vaccines. We now have three cases in a short period; that is unusual, and the reason for suspending the batch.”
How can five to 10 deaths - of innocent babies - following vaccination each year be considered "usual"?
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Deaths in Argentina In 2008, a vaccine trial in Argentina by GlaxoSmithKline resulted in 12 unexplained infant deaths, plus another two deaths in neighbouring Panama. The trial was suspended in June on the recommendation of an independent board monitoring participants' safety but was later given the okay to continue. However, GlaxoSmithKiline subsequently stopped enlisting new participants, saying it had collected enough data. The pneunomia vaccine being tested in Argentina, and apparently 40 other countries, was Synflorix, which is designed to fight pneumonia, ear infections and several other pneumococcal diseases. Synflorix is similar to the PCV vaccine Prevnar, which is already being successfully marketed by Wyeth, which is part of Pfizer. The difference is that while Prevnar was designed to work against seven types of bacteria, Synflorix works against 10 types. Meanwhile, Wyeth is developing a new version of Prevnar that works against 13 types of bacteria. |
Data from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) - which include "coincidental" events as well as those truly caused by vaccines - reveal a total of 28,317 adverse reactions to the Prevnar since the PCV vaccine was approved in 2000. These adverse reactions included:
The vaccine concerned is the PCV-7, which was designed to protect against seven of the most common types of bacteria associated with pneumonia in the United States.
In total, about 90 types of bacteria - as well as viruses, fungi, parasites and "unknown factors" - are said to cause pneumonia. Pneumonia associated with bacteria are the most common and the seven types is currently linked to about 86 percent of US pneumonia cases.
One of the side effects of pneumonia vaccination, however, is that more people - children and adults - now get infected by rarer forms of pneumonia.
One study found that the percentage of middle ear infections caused by strains of bacteria not coverd by the Prevnar vaccine doubled, from 16 percent in 1999, the year before the Prevnar vaccine was approved, to 37 percent in 2001, the year after Prevnar vaccine was approved.
The Prevnar vaccine has also been blamed for a slight increase in middle ear infections due to two other bacteria not linked to pneumonia.
There is a race to develop new pneumonia vaccines with wider coverage. Synflorix, by GlaxoSmithKline, is designed to cover 10 types of bacteria, which currently account for about 88 percent of pneumonia cases. Pfizer (through its subsidiary Wyeth) is meanwhile testing a new PCV vaccine called PCV-13, which covers 13 types of bacteria.
Death in India
In November 2008, a trail in India for this experimental PCV-13 vaccine was stopped after a baby in Bagalore died following vaccination. The Drugs Controller General of India suspended the trial because the infant that died had a pre-existing cardiac disorder and Indian drug rules prohibit testing on human subjects with such conditions without prior approval.
Drug manufacturer Wyeth pointed out that the baby who died was in the placebo arm of the study.
BUT... unlike normal drug trials, the placebo in this case was not a "dummy medicine" made from sugar. The standard practice in vaccine trials is to use another vaccine as a "placebo". In this case, the placebo was the older version of the Prevnar vaccine, PCV-7.
It means that when drug companies declare a vaccine to be "safe", it is only safe compared to another vaccine - not safe in absolute terms. Essential oils, too, can effectively keep pneumonia at bay. Simply spraying certain essential oils will cause the pneumonia bacteria cells to fall apart! Useful essential oils for this include - oregano, thyme and rosewood oils and, to a lesser extent, cinnamon oil and clove oil.
Click here to read more about the "safety" - and dnagers - of the Prevnar PCV vaccine.