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The following was provided
by Dawn Richardson
from PROVE.
Hepatitis A viral infection is acquired
primarily by the fecal-oral route by either person-to-person
contact or ingestion of contaminated food or water. Proper
sanitation and hand washing are widely recognized
as the most effective
and least expensive means of prevention of hepatitis A virus.
Hepatitis A vaccine proponents claim that
giving the vaccine to children will break the cycle and prevent
them from getting the infection as adults, but the most recent
package insert for Smith Kline Beecham's Hepatitis A Vaccine,
Inactivated Havrix claims no guarantees:
"At present, the duration of protection
afforded by Havrix has not been established. Therefore
it is unknown if the protection provided to immunized children
will last until adulthood."
However, "while 67% of cases occur
in children, over 70% of the deaths occur in those over the
age of 49." Even with those risks for adults, complications
are rare and infection from hepatitis A is generally followed
by complete recovery.
There are
only around 100 deaths per year in the entire United States
from hepatitis A virus amongst
all modes of transmission in all age groups. Hepatitis A infection
is asymptomatic in 70% of young children and natural immunity
acquired is often lifelong.
The concentrations of hepatitis A antibodies
produced after vaccination are 10
to 100 times lower than those produced after natural
infection.
The diagnostic assays to measure lower
levels of antibody had not been reviewed by the FDA by the
time Hepatitis A vaccination policies were adopted by the
CDC in October 1999. The absolute lower limit of antibodies
required to prevent HAV has not even been defined. The manufacturer's
package insert admits that the duration of protection from
the vaccine is unknown.
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices (ACIP) recommendations on the prevention of hepatitis
A through immunization focus "primarily on vaccinating
persons in groups shown to be at high risk for infection (e.g.,
travelers to countries with high or intermediate disease endemicity,
men who have sex with men, injecting-drug users, persons with
clotting-factor disorders), persons with chronic liver disease
because they are at increased risk for acute liver failure
from hepatitis A, and children living in communities with
high rates of disease."
(See MMWR, October 01, 1999 / 48(RR12);1-37:
Prevention of Hepatitis A Through Active or Passive Immunization:
Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices (ACIP).
It is irresponsible
of the CDC and TDH to recommend adding this vaccine the schedule
because there have been NO long
term studies on the cumulative effect on the child's developing
immune system of combining this
vaccine with all the required vaccines together, the biological
mechanism for why some children react to this vaccine is not
understood, and there are no genetic or other lab screening
tests available to determine which children will react to
this vaccine.
The disease incidence is highly disproportionate
amongst different ethnic groups, and this one-size fits all
policy makes all children take the risk of the vaccine when
the risk of contracting the disease is much lower amongst
some ethnic groups than others.
According to the vaccine manufacturers'
own product inserts, the hepatitis A vaccine has NOT been
"evaluated or tested for its carcinogenic potential,
mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility"
or "reproductive capacity".
More than 1,200 head of Texas cattle are
under quarantine because a small amount of ruminant meat and
bone meal was accidentally mixed into 22 tons of feed, in
violation of an FDA rule. The rule was implemented in 1997
as a precautionary measure to prevent mad cow disease (bovine
spongiform encephalopathy or BSE).
The hepatitis A vaccine is manufactured
using in human diploid (fetal or embryonic) cells . The vaccine
contains residual fetal DNA and protein. This proposed directive
to a mandate ignore and disrespect the moral conflicts many
families may have with the production of these vaccines and
use in their children. The current religious exemption will
not service these families.
14%
of adults receiving this
vaccine reported experiencing a headache after vaccination.
Other adverse events following vaccination
indicated by the manufacturer are:
induration, redness, swelling,
fatigue, fever (>37.5°C), malaise, anorexia, nausea,
hematoma, pruritus, rash, urticaria, pharyngitis, other upper
respiratory tract infections, adominal pain, diarrhea, dysgeusia,
vomiting, arthralgia, elevation of creatine phosphokinase,
myalgia, lymphadenopathy, hypertonic episode, insomnia, photophobia,
vertigo, anaphylaxis/anaphylactoid reactions, somnolence,
syncope, jaundice, hepatitis, erythema multiforme, hyperhydrosis,
angioedema, dyspnea, convulsions, encephalopathy, dizziness,
neuropathy, myelitis, paresthesia, Guillain-Barre syndrome,
multiple sclerosis, and congenital abnormality.
Vaccination is a medical procedure that
carries the risk of injury and death and there have been hospitalizations,
serious permanent injuries and death occurring in individuals
after receiving the Hepatitis A vaccine reported to the FDA's
Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.
The current restrictive vaccine exemptions
do not service parents with any of the above concerns.
Dawn
Richardson
President and Co-founder, PROVE
PROVE
provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies
and practices that affect the children and adults of Texas.
Our mission is to prevent vaccine injury and death and to
promote and protect the right of every person to make informed
independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their
family.
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