There are several different hepatitis viruses that can cause liver infections and damage. Hepatitis B is one of these.
Hepatitis B, which can be found in the body fluids of infected people, spreads through:
Symptoms can show between 1 to 12 weeks after infection and they include:
Most people recover from the acute infection but may carry the hepatitis B virus long after recovering from symptoms. Some people develop chronic hepatitis, which can lead to liver failure and cancer.
Hepatits B is generally caused by either unprotected sexual contact or contact with infected blood. It is not caused by casual contact nor have there been any reported instances of transmission via saliva, sharing of toothbrushes or other similar contact.
The first dose of Hepatitis B vaccination is administered to infants at birth to within 72 hours of birth. It is apparent that the vast majority of infants born in Australia today would have absolutely no risky behaviours which would leave them susceptible to Hepatitis B infections.
In 1999, the US Congress held a series of hearings on the advisability of raising the age of Hepatitis B vaccination or doing away with it altogether. At these hearings, many respected and well-known medical professionals testified as to the lack of effectiveness and dangers of this vaccine. Amongst them was Dr Jane Orient, Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). She stated that:
An independent review of the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System – the national database maintained in the US to track and study vaccine reactions) data; publications by governmental, pro-vaccine, and anti-vaccine groups; and a sample of the medical literature leads to the following conclusions:
For most children, the risk of a serious vaccine reaction may be 100 times greater than the risk of hepatitis B.
Overall, the incidence of hepatitis B in the U.S. is currently about 4 per 100,000. The risk for most young children is far less; hepatitis B is heavily concentrated in groups at high risk due to occupation, sexual promiscuity, or drug abuse.
VAERS contains 25,000 reports related to hepatitis B vaccine, about one-third of which were serious enough to lead to an emergency room visit, hospitalization, or death. It is often assumed that only 10% of reactions are reported. (This committee has heard testimony about persons being actively discouraged from reporting, even if they are aware of the reporting system.) Thus, if there have been some 80,000 serious adverse reactions associated with 20 million doses of vaccine, the risk is about 4 in 1000.
(This calculation depends on many assumptions. Moreover, many of the patients experiencing temporally associated adverse reactions had simultaneously received more than one vaccine. Nevertheless, a better estimate has not been put forth.)
It should be noted that a less than 1 in 1,000,000 purely hypothetical risk may be used to justify costly federal regulations on highly useful products that are used voluntarily.
In nearly 20% of VAERS reports, the first of eight listed side effects suggests central nervous system involvement.
Examining the first listed effects shows about 4,600 involving such symptoms as prolonged screaming, agitation, apnea, ataxia, visual disturbances, convulsions, tremors, twitches, an abnormal cry, hypotonia, hypertonia, abnormal sensations, stupor, somnolence, neck rigidity, paralysis, confusion, and oculogyric crisis. The last is a striking feature of post-encephalitic Parkinson’s disease, or it may occur as a dystonic reaction to certain drugs such as phenothiazines.
The CDC admits that the results of ongoing studies on a potential association of hepatitis B vaccine and demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis are not yet available. A French court ordered compensation to two individuals whose MS was causally related to the administration of a Hep B vaccine. Further studies in France have also indicated that both MS and SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosis) can both be linked with this vaccine.
“My involvement in the field of vaccine toxicity began in 1979 when I discovered that central nervous system demyelination (Multiple Sclerosis) had been caused, in some individuals, by the swine flu vaccine. My involvement was heightened when I found the same thing occurred after hepatitis B vaccination. These findings have been confirmed by many others and have been extended to include other untoward reaction to hepatitis B vaccine. Reactions include other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, optic neuritis, postvaccinal encephalomyelitis and possibly juvenile diabetes.” Dr Burton Waisbren, author of The hepatitis B vaccination program in the United States– lessons for the future
There may be large genetic differences in susceptibility to vaccine adverse effects.
The committee has been told that serious reported adverse effects seem restricted to Caucasians. Yet the oft-cited long-term safety study was conducted in Alaskan natives, and many studies involved Asians. In adults, 77% of the reactions involve women, who are generally more susceptible to autoimmune diseases. This deserves serious study, not off-hand dismissal (“nurses always over-report”). Universal immunisation could lead to disproportionate injury to susceptible populations, who might also be the least affected by the disease one is trying to prevent.
Striking increases in chronic illnesses have occurred in temporal association with an increase in vaccination rates.
Asthma and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, causes of lifelong morbidity and frequent premature death, have nearly doubled in incidence since the introduction of many new, mandatory vaccines. There is no explanation for this increase. The temporal association, although not probative, is suggestive and demands intense investigation. Instead of following up on earlier, foreign studies suggesting a greater-than-chance association, the CDC, through vaccine mandates, is obliterating the control group (unvaccinated children).
Dr. Classen testified concerning his opinion that hepatitis B vaccine could precipitate diabetes mellitus. Of note, VAERS contains more than 4,000 reports of abdominal symptoms that could have been due to pancreatitis, which was probably not specifically sought and thus missed if present.
Even more alarming is the huge increase in reports of autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, with devastating, life-long impacts. Much of this could be due to overdiagnosis (now rewarded by numerous government subsidies). The change in behavior that many parents observe related to vaccines could be coincidental, or it might reflect a desperate need to explain a disastrous occurrence. Nonetheless, the implications are so grave that immediate investigation is needed. Measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, and the whole panoply of childhood diseases are a far less serious threat than having a large fraction (say 10%) of a generation afflicted with learning disability and/or uncontrollable aggressive behavior because of an impassioned crusade for universal vaccination.
There are plausible mechanisms such as molecular mimicry whereby vaccines could have such effects. Basic research, as well as epidemiologic studies (starting with a long-term follow-up of reactions reported to VAERS), is urgent.
Hepatitis B vaccine as a cause of sudden infant death (SIDS) has not been ruled out.
The mere observation that the incidence of SIDS has decreased while hepatitis B immunisation rates have increased proves nothing whatsoever. In other contexts, the Back to Sleep campaign is credited with a dramatic fall in SIDS; the fall might have been much greater without hepatitis B immunisations. The presence of findings such as brain edema in healthy infants who die very soon after receiving hepatitis B vaccine is profoundly disturbing, especially in view of the frequency of neurologic symptoms in the VAERS.
Does SIDS occur on the day after hepatitis B vaccine with a greater-than-expected frequency? Does it occur at a younger-than-expected age? Are the autopsy findings different in babies who just received the vaccine? The fact that vaccine just happens to be given during the time period that babies are most likely to die of SIDS complicates the analysis. Also, there are a number of other confounding variables (sleep position, socioeconomic status, and possibly smoking behavior).
The data in VAERS are probably too incomplete to answer the questions. A very detailed statistical analysis and an aggressive attempt to obtain more complete information are urgently needed. Glib reassurance, based on the secular trends shown to this Committee, is dangerous.
Vaccines used in Australia:
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