Measles vaccine: safety

Aside from the major safety uncertainties and known problems common to many vaccines [A], measles vaccines in particular are associated with two specific autoimmune conditions — transverse myelitis [B], immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) [C] — and with greatly increased lifetime incidence of asthma, atopy, and other allergic conditions and cardiovascular disease [D].

Vaccination use more broadly is strongly associated in international studies with increased lifetime incidence of many conditions [E]. The Australian Government may appear to be actively subverting its commitment to conducting a comparative study by attempting to remove entirely the nation’s minute population of fully unvaccinated children; but in fact it has unambiguously stated its aim in legislating to remove benefits and rebates from the parents of such children as being savings of $508.3 million over five years [F] as conscientious, educated parents sacrifice those forms of income in order to keep their children safe from disastrously underinvestigated [G] medical procedures.

Reference [A]

Independent studies on safety of vaccines in general demonstrate association between many vaccines and lupus, diabetes type 1, macrophagic myofasciitis, and , inflammatory neuropathies. Study results suggest that these broad associations are connected with ingredients (most notably aluminium) that appear in many vaccines.

Reference [B]

M. Agmon-Levin, S. Kivity, M. Szyper-Kravitz, and Y. Shoenfeld, “Transverse myelitis and vaccines: a multi-analysis”, Lupus 2009 Nov;18(13):1198–1204, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19880568>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0961203309345730>

References [C]

S. Owatanapanich, N. Wanlapakorn, R. Tangsiri, and Y. Poovorawan, “Measles-mumps-rubella vaccination induced thrombocytopenia: a case report and review of the literature”, South East Asian J Trop Med Public Health 2014 Sep;45(5):1053–1057, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25417506>

N.P. Klein, E. Lewis, B. Fireman, et al., “Safety of measles-containing vaccines in 1-year-old children”, Paediatrics 2015 Feb;135(2):e321–329, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25560438>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1822>

The U.S. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) recognises ITP as being a consequence of the measles component of MMR: U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, “Vaccine Injury Table”, <https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/vaccinetable.html>

References [D]

F.M. Burnet, “Measles as an index of immunological function”, The Lancet 1968;292(7568):610–13

Tove Rønne, “Measles virus infection without rash in childhood is related to disease in adult life”, The Lancet, 1985 Jan 5;325(8419):1–5, <https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(85)90961-4/abstract>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(85)90961-4>

S.E. Robertson, L.E. Markowitz, E.F. Dini, and W.A. Orenstein, “A million dollar measles outbreak: epidemiology, risk factors, and selective revaccination strategy”, Publ Health Reports 1992 Jan–Feb;197(1):24–31, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1403597>

N. Kondo, O. Fukutomi, T. Ozawa, et al., “Improvement of food-sensitive atopic dermatitis accompanied by reduced lymphocyte responses to food antigen following natural measles virus infection”, Clin Exp Allergy 1993; 23: 44–50, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8439821>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2222.1993.tb02483.x>

A.J. Hall and F.T. Cutts, “Lessons from measles vaccination in developing countries”, BMJ 1993 Nov 20;307:1294–1295, <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1679437>

M.A. Kacica, R.A. Venezia, J. Miller, P.A. Hughes, and M.L. Lepow, “Measles antibodies in women and infants in the vaccine era”, J Med Virol 1995 Feb;45(2):227–229, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7775944>

N.P. Thompson, S.M. Montgomery, R.E. Pounder, and A.J. Wakefield, “Is measles vaccination a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease?”, Lancet 1995 Apr 29;345(8957):1071–1074, <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7715338>

P. Aaby, “Assumptions and contradictions in measles and measles immunization research: Is measles good for something?”, Social Science and Medicine 1995;41(5):673–686, <www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277953695000389>

S.O Shaheen, D.J.P Barker, C.B Heyes, et al., “Measles and atopy in Guinea-Bissau”, The Lancet 1996 June 29;347(9018):1792–1796, <www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673696916177>

R. Brugha, M. Ramsay, T. Forsey, and D. Brown, “A study of maternally derived measles antibody in infants born to naturally infected and vaccinated women”, Epidemiol Infect 1996;117:519–524, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2271637>

B. Damien, S. Huiss, F. Schneider, and C.P. Muller, “Estimated susceptibility to asymptomatic secondary immune response against measles in late convalescent and vaccinated persons”, J Med Virol. 1998 Sep;56(1):85–90, <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9700638>

M.A. Fisher, S.A. Eklund, “Hepatitis B vaccine and liver problems in U.S. children less than 6 years old, 1993 and 1994”, Epidemiology 1999 May;10(3):337–339, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10230847>

J. Mossong, D.J. Nokes, W.J. Edmunds, et al., “Modeling the impact of subclinical measles transmission in vaccinated populations with waning immunity”, Am J Epidemiol. 1999 Dec 1;150(11):1238–49, <aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/150/11/1238.long>

C. Bodner, W.J. Anderson, T.S. Reid, and D.J. Godden, “Childhood exposure to infection and risk of adult onset wheeze and atopy”, Thorax 2000;55:383–387, <thorax.bmj.com/content/55/5/383.long>

M. Paunio, K. Hedman, I. Davidkin, et al., “Secondary measles vaccine failures identified by measurement of IgG avidity: high occurrence among teenagers vaccinated at a young age”, Epidemiol Infect. 2000 Apr;124(2):263–71, <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10813152>

U. Wahn, “What drives the allergic march?”, Allergy 2000:55:591–599, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10921457>

M.M. Braun, G.T. Mootrey, M.E. Salive, R.T. Chen, and S.S. Ellenberg, “Infant immunization with acellular pertussis vaccines in the United States: assessment of the first two years’ data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)”, Pediatrics 2000 Oct;106(4):E51, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11015546>

P. Aaby, F. Simondon, B. Samb, et al., “Low mortality after mild measles infection compared to uninfected children in rural West Africa”, Vaccine 2002 Nov 22;21(1–2):120–126, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12443670>

Dennis J. Cada, Terri L. Levien, and Danial E. Baker, “Formulary Drug Reviews — quadrivalent human papillomavirus (Types 6, 11, 16, 18) recombinant vaccine”, Hospital Pharmacy 12/2006;41(12):1185–1195, <https://archive.hospital-pharmacy.com/doi/abs/10.1310/hpj4112-1185>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1310/hpj4112-1185>

E. Leuridan, “Passive transmission and persistence of naturally acquired or vaccine-induced maternal antibodies against measles in newborns”, Vaccine 2007 Aug 21;25(34):6296–6304, <www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X07006974>, <dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2007.06.020>

H. Rosenlund, A. Bergström, J.S. Alm, et al., “Allergic disease and atopic sensitization in children in relation to measles vaccination and measles infection”, Pediatrics 2009 Mar;123(3):771–778, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19255001>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2008-0013>

J.M. Heffernan and M.J. Keeling, “Implications of vaccination and waning immunity”, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2009 Mar 4;276(1664):2071–2080, <https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1664/2071.long>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0057>

G.E. Ewing, “What is regressive autism and why does it occur? Is it the consequence of multi-systemic dysfunction affecting the elimination of heavy metals and the ability to regulate neural temperature?”, N Am J Med Sci. 2009 Jul;1(2):28–47, <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22666668>

E. Leuridan, N. Hens, V. Hutse, et al., “Early waning of maternal measles antibodies in era of measles elimination: longitudinal study”, BMJ 2010 May 18;340:c1626, <https://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c1626>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c1626>

V. Demicheli, A. Rivetti, M. Grazia Debalini, and C. Di Pietrantonj, “Vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella in children”, Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2012 Feb 15;2:CD004407, <dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004407.pub3>

E. Leuridan, M. Sabbe, and P. van Damme, “Measles outbreak in Europe: Susceptibility of infants too young to be immunized”, Vaccine 2012;13(41):5905–5913

Hayley A. Gans and Yvonne A. Maldonado, “Loss of passively acquired maternal antibodies in highly vaccinated populations: An emerging need to define the ontogeny of infant immune responses”, J Infect Dis 2013 Jul 1;208(1):1–3, <https://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/04/29/infdis.jit144.full>

Sandra Waaijenborg, Susan J. M. Hahné, Liesbeth Mollema, et al., “Waning of maternal antibodies against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella in communities with contrasting vaccination coverage”, J Infect Dis 2013;208(1):10–16, <https://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/208/1/10>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jit143>

J.B. Classen, “Review of vaccine induced immune overload and the resulting epidemics of type 1 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, emphasis on explaining the recent accelerations in the risk of prediabetes and other immune mediated diseases”, J Mol Genet Med 2014;S1:025, <dx.doi.org/10.4172/1747-0862.S1-025>

Y. Kubota, H. Iso, A. Tamakoshi, and the JACC Study Group, “Association of measles and mumps with cardiovascular disease: The Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) study, Atherosclerosis 2015 Jun 18;241(2):682–686, <www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c1626>, <www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26122188>, <dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.06.026>

References [E]

Studies setting out to compare the health of the vaccinated with that of the unvaccinated are rare and, for obvious reasons, attract little to no funding; and web sites displaying the results of such studies tend not to endure.

The following studies, however, strongly suggest what a properly organised independent international study would find if governments were to display a greater interest in long-term health and human longevity than in the survival of antiquated vaccination programmes.

(1)

A comparitive study found lower atopy and lower asthma in children living an anthroposophical lifestyle than in others.

Johan S Alm, Jackie Swartz, Gunnar Lilja, Annika Scheynius, and Göran Pershagen, “Atopy in Children of Families with an Anthroposophical Lifestyle”, The Lancet 1999 May 1;353(9163):1485–1488, <https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(98)09344-1/abstract>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(98)09344-1>, full text available at <https://www.whale.to/vaccine/rb5103.pdf>

(2)

A study by McKeever, Lewis, Smith, and Hubbard found that asthma 14 times as common in the fully vaccinated as in the fully unvaccinated, an outcome that the authors explain as being due to the vaccinated taking more visits to the physician:

T.M. McKeever, S.A. Lewis, C. Smith, and R. Hubbard, “Vaccination and allergic disease: a birth cohort study”, Am J Public Health 2004 Jun;94(6):985–989, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15249303>

(3)

A parental survey (an admittedly weak study) conducted in latter half of 2004 demonstrated health outcomes vastly different between the two groups:

<https://www.vaccination.inoz.com/Vacc%20vs%20unvacc%20results%20survey.pdf>

(4)

A study by Gallaghera and Goodman of children suffering developmental disabilities found statistically significant evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple series Hepatitis B vaccine before 2000, when vaccines were manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability than were “unvaccinated” boys. This study called “unvaccinated” any child who had not received the Hepatitis B vaccine.

Carolyn Gallaghera and Melody Goodman,”Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 1–9 years”, Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry 2008;90(5):997–1008, <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02772240701806501>, <https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02772240701806501>

(5)

In Germany, a continuing survey-based study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, the KiGGS study, compares a large population of fully vaccinated children with a limited population (94) of unvaccinated children aged up to 17, leaving the results concerning the unvaccinated with a wide margin of statistical uncertainty.

Roma Schmitz, Christina Poethko-Müller, Sabine Reiter, and Martin Schlaud, “Vaccination Status and Health in Children and Adolescents: Findings of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS)”, Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011;108(7):99–104, <https://www.aerzteblatt.de/pdf.asp?id=80869>

(6)

A continuing international survey-based study publishes the incidence of various states of ill health in unvaccinated children and compares the results with those of the German KiGGS study. The study population’s age distribution differs from that of the KiGGS study, limiting comparability; but the figures do provide some basis for comparison with an otherwise similar population of vaccinated children.

<https://www.vaccineinjury.info/survey/results-unvaccinated/results-illnesses.html>, <https://www.impfschaden.info/impfungen-allgemein/geimpfte/ungeimpfte/umfrage-zum-gesundheitszustand-ungeimpfter-kinder/umfrage-ergebnisse-krankheiten.html>

Reference [F]

Explanatory Memorandum, <https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5540>

Reference [G]

See Independent studies on vaccine safety in general.