Dear Readers:
On January 9th, the Washington Post published an article on
the urgency of getting the chickenpox vaccine in Maryland. Not only was the
article full of errors, it seems they could not bear reporting the truth by
publishing our response. So we will. Our letter to the editor
follows.
Original article published in the Post: A Shot of
Urgency in Maryland's Vaccine Debate, Jan. 9, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801254.html?sub=AR
Or if the link is not working,
click here
Letter to the Editor January 9, 2007
Chickenpox or Chicken-Little?
I am writing in response to Sandra Boodman’s article
published in the Post Jan 9, 2007, A Shot of Urgency In Md.'s Vaccine Debate.
She begins by quoting Greg Reed of the Maryland Center for Immunization: "We
tell parents every year that about 100 people die from chickenpox in the United
States.”
Let’s get the facts straight Mr. Reed. What the Centers for Disease Control
reports in the most recent MMWR figures is that from January 2003 through June
2004, there were 8 deaths related to chickenpox. Of those, 3 were immune
compromised with a pre-existing condition, 3 were otherwise healthy and the
remaining 2 may or may not have already been vaccinated.
That's
8 deaths in 18 months - not 100 per year!
Ms. Boodman further reports that Donna Mazyck, a school health services
specialist for the state recalled that some parents refused the chickenpox
vaccine because they were “misinformed that the vaccine contained aborted fetal
tissue.”
My dear Ms. Boodman, while a tiny needle obviously cannot contain actual tissue
from aborted children, nonetheless the vaccine is cultivated on fetal cell lines
taken from the lung tissue of electively aborted children. Merck, the sole
manufacturer of the only licensed chickenpox vaccine in the US, notes in its own
product insert that the varicella vaccine contains "components" of the cells as
well as "residual proteins and DNA" from the aborted fetuses.(Ref
2)
It
is both disingenuous and insulting to claim that this genuine moral concern of a
large percentage of both parents and physicians is unfounded. It seems the only
one who is misinformed is Ms. Mazyck and the Post.
Boodman goes on to
challenge the idea that,
"contrary to popular belief that
chickenpox is a mild illness", as though this was some sort of fairytale dreamed
up by reluctant parents, when in fact, in its own product literature
Merck describes varicella as “generally a benign, self-limiting disease.”
Mazyck and Reed are also quoted as saying the vaccine is both safe and highly
effective, but in reality, the vaccine has an average failure rate of 24% with
breakthrough occurrences of the disease reported as high as 38% among vaccinated
children. The National Institutes of Health reported the vaccine is effective
at reducing the symptoms, but not at actually preventing infection of the
disease.
(Ref 3)
Last year, massive increases in outbreaks of chickenpox among vaccinated
children prompted the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) to
recommend a booster for the vaccine due to waning immunity. And it is worth
noting that while Dr Debra Wexler cites the need of the vaccine in order to help
protect immune-compromised children who might contract the disease, Merck’s
package insert also cautions that, "Vaccine recipients should attempt to avoid,
whenever possible, close association with susceptible high-risk individuals for
up to six weeks." These “susceptible” people are listed as unvaccinated
pregnant women, infants and people with immune weaknesses.
So how many parents are keeping their newly vaccinated children at home for the
next 6 weeks so as not to infect others? After all, isn't that what Dr
Wexler advocates about "protecting your community"?
In the well-known children's story, Chicken-Little tells the world "The sky is
falling, the sky is falling!" So is the Post really reporting on Chickenpox
facts or Chicken-Little stories?
Using scare tactics and outright falsehoods does nothing to instill any
confidence in the public health systems, much less in the chickenpox vaccine.
Debra L. Vinnedge, Executive Director
Children of God for Life
http://www.cogforlife.org/
877 488-5433