By Alex O’Connell, Correspondent
CHAPEL HILL – A joint program by the Orange County Health Department and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to encourage adolescent immunizations has come under criticism by some parents.
Called the Adolescents Get Immunized campaign, children from grades five through 12 are encouraged to be inoculated against meningococcal disease; human papillomavirus (HPV); and tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (or Tdap). Of these, Tdap vaccination is mandatory for children entering the sixth grade, while the other two are recommended.
Besides education and walk-in vaccination clinics, the campaign includes a contest, which is the source of some parents’ concern.
Students who show proof of vaccination between April 1 and May 31 to their school nurse by June 1 are eligible for a drawing to win an iPod or laptop. Three winners, from the fifth grade, middle school and high school levels, will be drawn.
The prizes are sponsored by Paul and Cora Harrison, a Chapel Hill couple whose daughter died of meningococcal disease and now advocate greater awareness of the disease.
Some parents say the contest encourages a procedure they consider unsafe.
“The school system, or state, is endorsing an unnecessary medical procedure that carries the risk of serious injury or death, and they are not informing the contest participants of that risk,” said Alan Phillips, a parent of a 17-year-old in a Chapel Hill high school.
Phillips said he understands the school district’s good intentions but takes issue with the lack of full disclosure on the possible problems and side effects caused by vaccinations.
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I sent an e-mail message to Dr. Pedersen. Here is most of it:
Dear Dr. Pedersen,
I refer to the vaccination contest which you are promoting. I am aware that Attorney Alan Phillips has contacted you regarding judicial aspects.
I assume that you are aware that all three vaccines are extremely controversial regarding safety issues. Many serious adverse effects have occurred with these three vaccines and they may, and most certainly in the case of the HPV vaccine, occur up to some years after administration.
For interest, the fact that the HPV vaccine is promoted as one which may prevent cancer is also controversial. The normal phenomenon of replacement is well known in virology – where virus strains which are removed are replaced by other strains. It is not known whether the new strains will be more carcinogenic than the ones which are removed. This information is as yet unknown to the manufacturers and health authorities. In other words, it is not known whether the vaccine will actually increase the risk of cancer.
Polysorbate 80/Tween 80, with its property of making the blood-brain barrier more porous, is included in certain injections in connection with drug targeting, in order to facilitate the passage of chemotherapeutic or psychiatric medicines through the barrier and into the brain tissue.
The HPV vaccine Gardasil contains polysorbate 80 which renders the blood-brain barrier more porous so that toxic substances such as aluminium pass easier through the barrier and lodge in the brain tissue. This property is naturally highly undesirable.
You do no doubt agree that vaccination should be based on informed consent. In order to be informed, each student should personally receive a copy of the original package insert for each of the vaccines and they should be given reasonable time to investigate. All original package inserts may be found in internet.
Information in the inserts is formulated by the manufacturers. In addition, students should be advised to investigate further, for example in http://www.nvic.org
I respectfully request that also you personally carefully study the three package inserts and investigate for example in http://www.nvic.org, so that you are well aware of, and can stand by your recommendations.
An extremely relevant issue is that of co-administration, that is the administration of several different vaccines within a short period of time. It is imperative that there is satisfactory safety data regarding the co-administration of these three vaccines. The combination of these three vaccines when co-administered may result in extremely serious and irreversible adverse effects, irrespective of whether single administration is deemed safe.
For your information, there is no data whatsoever which guarantees safety regarding co-administration for the three vaccines.
This implies that in the case of vaccine injury there will be minimal possibility to prove that the injury is caused by a specific vaccine. The result will no doubt be that there will be no compensation paid for the injury.
Students should be informed in writing about this fact, which in effect implies that there will be no possibility for compensation in the case of vaccine injury.
Apart from possible and serious judicial aspects, in all due respect may I add that you are in fact imposing upon yourself a moral and ethical burden in promoting this competition.
I have faith in assuming that you are aware that the safety of the three vaccines issued singly is extremely controversial.
I also have faith in assuming that you are unaware that the safety of the three vaccines in the case of co-administration cannot and will not be guaranteed.
I take the liberty of requesting therefore that you seriously consider immediate termination of the contest.