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IS MMR Really a Problem?
By Richard | March 5, 2007
There’s been much controversy over the MMR vaccine and its relation to or its culpability in the onset of autism. Many parents claim that that their children began exhibiting the symptoms of autism very soon after receiving MMR vaccinations but government authorities maintain that there is absolutely no evidence of a link.
I’m interested in what the parents out there think. Do you have children on the spectrum and suspect that it was caused by MMR? Have you avoided MMR due to the perceived risk?
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Vaccine officials knew about MMR risks | The Telegraph
By Mark Watts and Christopher Hope
Government officials were made aware of some problems with a version of the MMR vaccine in other countries but still introduced it in Britain in the late 1980s, newly released documents show.
The MMR vaccine with the Urabe strain of mumps was first used in Britain in October 1988. It was blamed for the deaths of several children after being withdrawn by the Department of Health in September 1992.
Previously confidential documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show how officials gradually learned of the dangers of the Urabe strain MMR which caused encephalitis-type conditions, including meningitis. Involving swelling of the brain or of the lining of the brain or spinal chord, they can lead to brain damage, deafness or even death.
The papers show that many months before the Urabe MMR vaccine was introduced in the UK, officials were made aware of problems in America, Sweden and Canada.
The first warning came when an unnamed official at a meeting of the Government’s Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation in May 1987 “expressed his reservations concerning reported adverse reactions to MMR in the USA”.
The second came in a letter from the Central Microbiological Laboratory in Sweden in September that year, where authorities reported “52 cases of febrile convulsions probably associated with MMR vaccination”.
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Then, a Government working party on the introduction of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, learned of “a report of cases of mumps encephalitis” in Canada at a meeting in Feb 1988.
The documents show that the statistical risk from Urabe MMR was considered to be low. The UK went ahead with its nationwide MMR programme in October 1988 in which 85 per cent of the triple-vaccinations contained Urabe.
The minutes of another meeting of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, in May 1990, show that there was “especial concern” about “reports from Japan of a high level of meningoencephalitis associated with the administration of MMR”.
The Government waited another two years before it decided to stop using Urabe MMR in 1992, after the manufacturers told officials that they would stop making it.
It was replaced with MMR II, which has a different mumps component. The minutes were obtained by the FOIA Centre, a specialist research company, on behalf of one of the parents of a child in a group bringing litigation at the High Court. The Government insists it acted swiftly as soon as it became aware of the dangers of Urabe MMR in September 1992.
Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, told one of the parents in a letter: “As soon as the Department of Health had clear evidence that there was a risk with Urabe-containing MMR and that there was no such associated risk with a different strain of mumps virus (the Jeryl Lynn strain) used in an alternative MMR vaccine, the department moved quickly to discontinue use.”
Prof Kent Woods, chief executive officer of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, confirmed that the UK authorities had been aware of “sporadic cases” in Canada. However, the risk of meningoencephalitis from Urabe MMR was lower than the risk of the same condition resulting from “wild-type mumps virus”, he said.
Urabe MMR was withdrawn “following reports of generally mild transient meningitis caused by the mumps vaccine virus in some children who recently received the Urabe mumps vaccine containing products”.
Norman Lamb, a Liberal Democrat MP, said he would be pressing the Department of Health to find out why the warnings were dismissed.
A Government spokesman said: “The UK investigated the evidence and acted promptly when this problem with Urabe strain of mumps vaccine was identified.
“On the basis of information obtained in studies, the UK was in a position to make an informed decision on whether to continue using the Urabe vaccine, as there was an alternative vaccine strain, called Jeryl Lynn, which did not appear to have the same risk.”
The spokesman added: “In 1992 the Committee on Safety of Medicine considered all of the evidence and concluded that the benefits of vaccinating with Urabe mumps strain vaccines still outweighed the risks.”
Topics: MMR |
March 5th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I am a firm believer that that mercury triggered my sons autism. He contracted Autism at age 15 months after two back to back flu shots. Seeing the progression and the effects of mercury poisoning is devasting. Havign a normal child to a child to seems like he is suffering froma severe head tram is horrible.
After the first flu shot (30 days) My sonbecame lethargic, would not sleep through the nights, did not like to be held, stopped eating favorite foods, became generally irritable, whinned and cried a lot and generally just was not himself.
Before receiving his 2nd flus shot 30 days later, I asked my physocian why he was acting the way he was and was told, “Kids just go through phases like that!” Within 30 days of receiving the second needle my son was silent. He no longer spoke, forget how to play with toys, no more eye contact, would not allow you to hold him, he no longer ate food and only wanted milk, stayed awake or woke severeal times during the night, cried and moaned or sat zombie like for hours, stimmed excessively… he literally was gone. It was my sons body but that was it. he was robbed of everything.
I do believe however, that it is vital to mentioned a few things.
1) I do believe that my son was predesposed to autism. Like cancer the genes are in everyones system we just don;t know what triggers it for some and not others. I fully believe that mercury triggered my sons autism.
2) My son has improved amazingly since he was 15 months, now being 3 1/2 years of age. He is on the GFCF diet and sees a DAN Doctor to help flush those toxins from his system, and to balance his little body out.
3) Autism happens for a variety of reasons… I firmly believe that environmental effects, genetics and still the unknown cause this disorder in our kids. Let us pray that science will make great break throughs to help these kids and adults in the future.
Cherie ~ Aidan’s Mom
March 5th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Thanks for the comments, Cherie. Many of us know your pain and live it daily. I’m glad your son is doing better. Is he in daycare or any sort of schooling yet?
Also - did he seem to show any affects from his MMR, or just the flu shots?
According to the CDC, MMR has never contained mercury:
(The “MMR vaccine does not and never did contain thimerosal. Varicella (chickenpox), inactivated polio (IPV), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have also never contained thimerosal.”)
March 5th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
My sons mercury poisoning came from flu shots and the mercury (therimosal) in his shots was supposed to be phased out during the 2004 year but was never done. Sad to think that if this preservative had been removed, then my son never would have been exposed to the cruel world of autism.
Actually, I am Canadian so mercury has been phased out of all vaccinations since I believe 2000. { so they say… I still always request a monograph of everything }
However, bulk shots given in school ALL contain therimosal as it is a perservative that keeps the shots shelf life longer… sad but true!
Whenever my son receives shots he spikes fevers, is swollen near the site of the injection, loses his appetite and generally is just off. I have opted to not do his second MMR as it is 90% unnecessary as our kids do develop the immunity needed from the first shot… a second is only given as a precaution, “A just in case”… again very sad that our kids get double the dose just because…
Yes, my son does attend a nursery school 3 mornings a week and does very well there. We did try the daycare and I found my son was so overwhlemed and the daycare had no training. They also were very unwilling to accomodate him.
Despite the battle of getting an autism diagnosis, there are so many hard mountiains that our kids and we parents have to climb…