Bombshell from Belgium: Infanrix hexa vaccine, confidential GSK document reveals safety concerns

[SaneVax: Initiative Citoyenne, a Belgian watchdog group, has uncovered documentation from GlaxoSmithKline intended for health officials’ eyes only. Read their press release below to get an idea of what type of information is being withheld from the public. How frequent are deceptions of this nature perpetrated in the name of public health?] 

Initiative Citoyenne Press Release:

Safety of the Infanrix Hexa Vaccine: Confidential Document from GSK to the Authorities

We seem to have acquired a 1,271-page confidential GSK document, ordinarily reserved for the authorities.  Topic: the pharmacovigilance of the Infanrix Hexa (6-in-1) paediatric vaccine. (1)

The Infanrix Hexa vaccine is a “free” inoculation administered to almost all the infants in Belgium, mainly through the ONE (Office de la Naissance et de l’Enfance = Office for Childbirth and Childhood) but also through paediatricians and general practitioners.  It is intended to protect newborns and infants from six different illnesses: Diphtheria, Tetanus, Whooping Cough, Polio, Haemophilius Influenza B (HIB) and Hepatitis B.

The document in question details the adverse effects of this vaccine, reported back to the manufacturer from various European countries between the 23^rd of October 2009 and the 22^nd of October 2011.  We can understand why it is confidential: no less than 825 different types of complication and adverse effect are mentioned.

It is important, first of all, to point out that the list covers a very broad range of adverse effects potentially involving each and every system and organ in the body: the blood, the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, the immune system, the lungs, the skin but also the sensory organs (sight, hearing…), the musculoskeletal system, the joints, the urinary system, the digestive system and the endocrine system.

During this specific period of time, GSK received 1,742 reports of adverse effects, of which 503 were serious effects not listed and 56 were serious adverse effects listed.  The events registered included 36 deaths (over the two-years period), most of which occurred within three days after the child received the Infanrix Hexa vaccine.

According to GSK, the adverse effect notification rate was 14.6 per 100,000 doses distributed but don’t forget that the number of doses actually used/administered is always lower than the number of doses distributed.  It is also important to point out that, according to an article in the November 2011 issue of the well-known and official publication Revue française du Practicien (a French magazine for the medical profession), only 1 to 10% of serious vaccine adverse effects are actually reported and logged (2).  The extent of the problem is therefore grossly under-estimated.

The document also mentions no fewer than 37 other deaths of children recorded since the vaccine was launched in 2000, amounting to a minimum total of 73 infant deaths.

We do not of course suggest that all these adverse effects are 100% and without doubt caused by this vaccine.  It is however simply not credible to claim that none of these serious adverse effects or deaths were caused by the vaccine, given the fact that in most cases the victims were very young infants, newborns having only just taken their first breath and in perfectly good health prior to receiving the vaccine, and that in each case, there is also a relatively condemning time factor.