Posted on November 24, 2019 by admin

Physicians for Informed Consent Educates Parents About the Risk of Seizures and Epilepsy from the MMR Vaccine

Educational resources for parents and healthcare providers unveiled in recognition of National Epilepsy Awareness Month in November

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. (PRWEB) NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Infant Having EEG — Every two hours another child suffers a seizure from the MMR Vaccine.

Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC), an educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics, recognizes National Epilepsy Awareness Month (NEAM), November 2019, by providing information to parents about the prevalence of seizures and subsequent epilepsy resulting from the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Seizures from the MMR vaccine occur in about 1 in 640 children within two weeks of receiving the first dose of the MMR vaccine. This amounts to approximately 5,700 cases of MMR-vaccine seizures annually in the U.S., and a significant portion of MMR-vaccine seizures cause permanent harm, as 5% of febrile seizures result in epilepsy. Consequently, about 300 MMR-vaccine seizures (5% of 5,700) lead to epilepsy annually.

More information on these findings, including details on the supporting studies as well as educational resources, can be found at physiciansforinformedconsent.org/mmr-seizures.

“There is a five-fold higher risk of seizures from the MMR vaccine than from measles infection, and thus far, the MMR vaccine has not been proven to be safer than measles,” said Dr. Shira Miller, PIC president and founder. “It is imperative that parents and healthcare providers know the data, as a significant portion of febrile seizure cases result in epilepsy, a debilitating and life-threatening chronic condition. Families must objectively weigh the risks of measles vs. the risks of the MMR vaccine, to make informed, evidence-based vaccination decisions.”

National Epilepsy Awareness Month, organized by the Epilepsy Foundation, is intended to build awareness, educate about seizure first aid, and encourage others to take action.

About Physicians for Informed Consent
Physicians for Informed Consent is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics. PIC delivers data on infectious diseases and vaccines, and unites doctors, scientists, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and families who support voluntary vaccination. In addition, the PIC Coalition for Informed Consent consists of nearly 200 U.S. and international organizations. To learn more or to become a member, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org.

Source: https://www.prweb.com/releases/physicians_for_informed_consent_educates_parents_about_the_risk_of_seizures_and_epilepsy_from_the_mmr_vaccine/prweb16713213.htm

Posted on October 27, 2019 by admin

Physicians for Informed Consent Letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Developing the 2020 National Vaccine Plan

Tammy R. Beckham, Director
Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

October 24, 2019

RE: Request for Information (RFI) From Non-Federal Stakeholders: Developing the 2020 National Vaccine Plan

Dear Dr. Beckham,

We believe the top priority for the 2020 National Vaccine Plan should be to clearly quantify the risk of infectious diseases versus the risk of their respective vaccines, in order to enhance informed decision-making by consumers and health care providers. The reason this priority is important to us is because we have found critical calculation errors in government memorandums about infectious disease risk in the United States, including the Supplementary Information provided in the “Request for Information (RFI) From Non-Federal Stakeholders: Developing the 2020 National Vaccine Plan.”¹

For example, a calculation error which occurred in the House Committee on Energy & Commerce Memorandum² for the hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S” is that “One or two deaths occur among every 1,000 children who acquire measles.” The second paragraph in the Memorandum contains evidence of the error. It explains that prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, “there were an estimated 3 to 4 million people infected with measles in the United States, and as many as 500 related deaths each year,” which is correct. However, this computes to a number of deaths which, at most, is one in 6,000 (3,000,000 divided by 500). More precisely, between 1959 and 1962, about 400 measles deaths occurred annually among about 4,000,000 measles cases, which results in a one in 10,000 (0.01%) chance of a child dying from measles, not one in 500 or one in 1,000. By comparison, over 23,000 infant deaths occur every year in the U.S. and thus the chance of a child dying in his or her first year of life is currently one in 170 (0.6%)¹² – this is 60 times the risk of a child dying from measles in 1962, a time period when almost every child had measles by age 15.⁴

The reason this calculation error unfortunately commonly occurs is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes case-fatality rates based on the number of reported cases only. And, since it is estimated that nearly 90% of measles cases are benign and therefore not reported to the CDC, the widely publicized measles case-fatality rate is a 10-fold miscalculation.⁴ Such an error has grave public health consequences.

Information available on total measles pre-vaccine cases (both reported and unreported to the CDC) in comparison with today’s leading causes of death in children under age 10,⁴ and the risks of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,⁵ are enclosed. Please carefully review these documents, as well as Dr. Alexander Langmuir’s 1962 article “The Importance of Measles as a Public Health Problem” where he explained, “…in the United States measles is a disease whose importance is not to be measured by total days disability or number of deaths.”⁶ This latter contradicts the estimated $20,000 cost per measles case quoted in the “Request for Information (RFI) From Non-Federal Stakeholders: Developing the 2020 National Vaccine Plan.”¹ Dr. Langmuir became director of the epidemiology branch of the Communicable Disease Center in 1949 and held the position for over 20 years, during a time when about 4,000,000 cases of measles occurred each year.

Another error in the Memorandum is in the prevention and response section where it is suggested that no treatments are available for measles. In rare situations, such as vitamin A deficiency or a compromised immune system, measles can be severe and even deadly, if left untreated. In those situations, high-dose vitamin A, immune globulin, and ribavirin are indicated and available.^4,7-9 Therefore, the vaccination of others is not necessary in order to protect immunocompromised persons from severe measles, or other infections,¹⁰ and coercing such action would be highly unethical and unscientific.

Finally, the Memorandum states that “CDC has determined that receiving the MMR vaccine is safer than getting any of the viruses,” however this has not been scientifically demonstrated and rational doubt will continue to be raised about the MMR vaccine until a safety study with the statistical power to detect permanent injury from the vaccine in 1 in 10,000 vaccinated subjects is produced.⁵ Additionally, in 2017, we reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that every year an estimated 5,700 U.S. children (approximately 1 in 640) suffer febrile seizures from the first dose of the MMR vaccine – which is five times more than the number of febrile seizures expected from measles.¹¹ This amounts to 57,000 febrile seizures over the past 10 years due to the MMR vaccine alone. As 5% of children with a history of febrile seizures progress to epilepsy, a debilitating and life-threatening chronic condition, the estimated number of children whose epilepsy is due to the MMR vaccine in the past 10 years is 2,850.

Infant mortality rate (IMR) is a recognized major indicator of the health of a population, not the number of measles cases nor the number of vaccination exemptions.¹² For example, West Virginia and Mississippi, which only allow state public health officers to approve medical exemptions to vaccination have about double the IMR of California. And Massachusetts and Washington have a lower IMR than California, even while allowing non-medical exemptions.¹³ This means that laws limiting vaccination exemptions are unlikely to improve public health – and may worsen it.

We urge you to thoroughly discuss the errors and facts we have highlighted with your epidemiologists and statisticians, so that the 2020 National Vaccine Plan does not contain misinformation or threaten public health.

We are here to assist you.

Sincerely,

Shira Miller, M.D.
President
Physicians for Informed Consent

References

Download PDF

Posted on August 23, 2019 by ITadmin

Physicians for Informed Consent: CDC Data Shows Immunity from the MMR Vaccine Wanes Over Time

Nearly 50% of Vaccinated U.S. Schoolchildren Can Become Infected With and Spread Measles

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. (PRWEB) AUGUST 23, 2019

Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC), an educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics, has announced the release of an important educational document on waning immunity and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Designed to help doctors and the public evaluate the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine, the document answers a common question parents ask when carefully considering the MMR vaccine for their children: “For how long will the MMR vaccine protect my child?”

In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a study on waning immunity after two doses of the MMR vaccine.[1] The results, published in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, show that even after being previously vaccinated twice for measles, about 35% of vaccinated 7-year-olds and 60% of vaccinated 15-year-olds are susceptible to subclinical infection with measles virus. And by age 24–26, a projected 33% of vaccinated adults are susceptible to clinical infection. Consequently, nearly 50% of schoolchildren and more than 60% of adults fully vaccinated with the MMR vaccine can still be infected with measles virus and spread it to others, even with mild or no symptoms of their own.[1-4]

The CDC conducted another study in 2016, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, which concludes that a third dose (booster shot) of the MMR vaccine is short-lived, lasting only one year. The authors state: “MMR3 [a third dose of MMR] is unlikely to solve the problem of waning immunity in the United States… We did not find compelling data to support a routine third dose of MMR vaccine.”[5]

Nearly 50% of Vaccinated U.S. Schoolchildren Can Become Infected With and Spread Measles

In 1963, before the measles vaccine was introduced in the U.S., almost everyone had measles by age 15, which provided lifelong immunity. And measles was a generally benign infection, with 99.99% of people experiencing a full recovery.[6] “Waning MMR vaccine immunity is an important factor for physicians and parents to consider when evaluating the risks of measles infection vs. the risks and limitations of the MMR vaccine,” said Dr. Shira Miller, PIC founder and president. “Subsequently, legislation which mandates MMR vaccination or restricts exemptions to MMR vaccination will not eliminate measles outbreaks.”

“Subsequently, legislation which mandates MMR vaccination or restricts exemptions to MMR vaccination will not eliminate measles outbreaks.”

To read the document, “Waning Immunity and the MMR Vaccine: Nearly 50 Percent of Vaccinated Schoolchildren Can Become Infected with Measles,” please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org/mmr-waning-immunity.

About Physicians for Informed Consent
Physicians for Informed Consent is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics. PIC delivers data on infectious diseases and vaccines, and unites doctors, scientists, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and families who support voluntary vaccination. In addition, the PIC Coalition for Informed Consent consists of nearly 200 U.S. and international organizations. To learn more or to become a member, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org.

1.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17339511
2.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230231
3.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2815970
4.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29921344
5.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26597262
6.    https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles/dis/

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/physicians_for_informed_consent_cdc_data_shows_immunity_from_the_mmr_vaccine_wanes_over_time/prweb16519216.htm

Posted on August 8, 2019 by ITadmin

Physicians for Informed Consent and Peter Gøtzsche Debate Risk of Dying from the MMR Vaccine vs. Measles in BMJ

Physicians and scientists refute the claim that rational doubt of the MMR vaccine is “absurd.”

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. (PRWEB) AUGUST 07, 2019

Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC), an educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics, recently responded in the BMJ to Professor Peter Gøtzsche’s statement on May 24, 2019, “Rational doubt cannot be raised about the measles vaccine.” Gøtzsche’s response was to PIC’s assertion that “it has not been proven that the MMR vaccine results in less death or permanent disability than what is expected from measles.”

To read the full comments, please visit bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5104/rapid-responses.

Gøtzsche went on to write that “the reason that so few people die or get seriously injured from measles is that most of the population is vaccinated.” However, it is a documented fact that before the vaccine was introduced in the United States, measles was only fatal in 1 in 10,000 cases. Consequently, to prove the vaccine causes less permanent injury than measles, vaccine safety studies must have the statistical power to detect permanent injury in as little as 1 in 10,000 vaccinated children. Dr. Shira Miller, PIC’s founder and president, states, “Rational doubt will continue to be raised about the measles-containing vaccine MMR until a safety study with the statistical power to detect permanent injury from the vaccine in 1 in 10,000 vaccinated subjects is produced.”

Rational doubt will continue to be raised about the measles-containing vaccine MMR until a safety study with the statistical power to detect permanent injury from the vaccine in 1 in 10,000 vaccinated subjects is produced.

Doctors, scientists, and statisticians at Physicians for Informed Consent produce PIC’s educational materials, including the Measles Disease Information Statement (DIS) and the Measles Vaccine Risk Statement (VRS), from data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics. The Measles DIS and VRS are resources that are currently utilized in doctors’ offices nationwide to help parents make educated and evidence-based vaccination decisions. To access these resources or learn more about measles and the MMR vaccine, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles.

About Physicians for Informed Consent
Physicians for Informed Consent is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics. PIC delivers data on infectious diseases and vaccines, and unites doctors, scientists, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and families that support voluntary vaccination. In addition, the PIC Coalition for Informed Consent consists of more than 150 U.S. and international organizations. For more information, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org.

Source: https://www.prweb.com/releases/physicians_for_informed_consent_and_peter_gotzsche_debate_risk_of_dying_from_the_mmr_vaccine_vs_measles_in_bmj/prweb16489867.htm

Posted on May 20, 2019 by ITadmin

Soon, It May Become Illegal for California MDs to Protect Children in Their Practice from Vaccine Injuries or Deaths

Physicians for Informed Consent Doctors and Scientists Alert California Legislators

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. (PRWEB) MARCH 29, 2019

Although medical doctors and vaccine manufacturers have been protected from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths since the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, soon California doctors may no longer be able to protect their patients from vaccine injuries or deaths.

In 2015, California removed the personal belief exemption to vaccination for both private and public school attendance, and the responsibility of recommending a medical exemption to at-risk children then fell on their physicians. Now, SB 276 seeks to prevent medical doctors from using their expertise and knowledge to protect at-risk children in their practice from vaccine injuries and deaths.

“If SB 276 becomes law, children at risk of severe vaccine injuries will be at the mercy of public health officials with whom they have no patient-doctor relationship, and past, current, and future medical exemptions will only be approved if a child’s medical circumstances are found on a short government checklist,” explained PIC Founder and President Dr. Shira Miller.

Physicians for Informed Consent has sent an open letter to California legislators opposing SB 276, citing that it is unscientific and unethical. “The chance of dying from measles in the United States is 1 in 10,000, based on data from the pre-vaccine era—when about 4 million U.S. children got measles every year,” said Dr. Miller. “1 in 10,000 is about the same chance as being struck by lightning once in your lifetime. The problem is that the risk of dying or being permanently disabled by the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has not been proven to be less than 1 in 10,000. This makes mandating the MMR vaccine unscientific and unethical.”

“We all want healthy children,” Dr. Miller continued, “and one of the best ways to accomplish that is by educating parents and doctors, not by using bad science and medical bullying, which are the antithesis of the ethical principle of informed consent—upon which modern medicine hinges.”

“We all want healthy children,” Dr. Miller continued, “and one of the best ways to accomplish that is by educating parents and doctors, not by using bad science and medical bullying, which are the antithesis of the ethical principle of informed consent—upon which modern medicine hinges.”

Physicians for Informed Consent is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization representing hundreds of doctors, as well as scientists and attorneys, whose mission is to safeguard informed consent in vaccination. In addition, its Coalition for Informed Consent consists of over 150 member organizations which represent millions of Americans.

Click here to view this press release on PRweb.
Click here to view more PIC news.

Posted on April 18, 2019 by ITadmin

A Review of Hviid et al.’s 2019 MMR-Autism Study

Q: Why didn’t Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC) use Hviid et al.’s MMR-autism study published in 2019 in the Measles Vaccine Risk Statement (VRS)?

A: Hviid et al.’s 2019 study is weaker than the study analyzed in the Measles VRS for the following reasons:

1) Hviid et al.’s study has a smaller proportion of unvaccinated children.

The study discussed in the PIC Measles VRS included 96,648 unvaccinated subjects out of 537,303 total subjects, about 1 in 5.5 subjects. Hviid et al.’s study includes 657,461 subjects, but only 31,619 were unvaccinated, about 1 in 20.8 subjects. Hviid et al.’s study is 4 times weaker in its representation of the unvaccinated population.

2) The statistical power of Hviid et al.’s study is still not enough to prove that MMR causes less permanent harm than measles.

Hviid et al. found an “adjusted autism hazard ratio of 0.93 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.02),” which means that they did not rule out the possibility that the vaccine increases the risk of autism by a factor of 0.02. The unvaccinated risk of autism found in the study was 525 out of 31,619. Multiplying this by a factor of 0.02 is about 1 in 3,000. That is 3 times greater than the 1 in 10,000 chance of dying from measles. As is usually the case in these kinds of studies, “no increased risk for autism after MMR vaccination” was found within the confines of the statistical power of the study. But that power is not enough to detect the incidence of autism occurring in an amount as small as the risk of fatal measles.

3) The final results of Hviid et al.’s study are biased based on the age of diagnosis.

The study states, “The mean age at first autism diagnosis was 7.22 years (SD, 2.86), and the mean age among autistic disorder cases was 6.17 years (SD, 2.65),” yet the results cited in No. 2 above include children only followed until 3 years of age. The study states, “Ending follow-up at 3 years of age yielded a slightly lower aHR (0.73 [CI, 0.53 to 1.00])” and “Ending follow-up at…10 years of age produced…0.97 [CI, 0.87 to 1.07].”

Therefore, the study did not rule out the possibility that the vaccine increases the risk of autism by a factor of 0.07 in children followed up for 10 years. Among unvaccinated children who were 10 years or older at the end of the study (i.e., those born between 1999 and 2004), the study found 418 autism cases out of 15,876. Multiplying this by a factor of 0.07 is about 1 in 540. That is 18.5 times greater than the 1 in 10,000 chance of dying from measles.

4) The small unvaccinated group in Hviid et al.’s study was at an unusually higher autism risk.

The study computed a “disease risk factor” to gauge which children were possibly predisposed to autism regardless of vaccination status. Among the vaccinated group, 61,296 of 625,842 (10%) subjects had high risk scores. By comparison, 4,465 of 31,619 (14%) unvaccinated subjects, 1.4 times more subjects than the vaccinated group, had high risk scores.

Figure 3 shows that if only children with very low autism risk scores are included in the study, the RR is 0.93 (CI, 0.74 to 1.16), and the study did not rule out the possibility that the vaccine increases the risk of autism by a factor of 0.16 in children at very low risk of autism. Among unvaccinated children at very low risk of autism, the study found 91 autism cases out of 7,590. Multiplying this by a factor of 0.16 is about 1 in 520. That is 19 times greater than the 1 in 10,000 chance of dying from measles.

5) The great majority of the unvaccinated group in Hviid et al.’s study started to vaccinate but then stopped.

Of the 31,619 subjects that were not vaccinated with MMR, 26,890 (85%) had been vaccinated with a different vaccine before and declined MMR after that. The study did not rule out the possibility that a significant portion of those children may not have been vaccinated with MMR because of a severe reaction to a previous vaccine or because of a health condition that discouraged them from being vaccinated. Figure 3 shows that if only children who had not been vaccinated with DTaP-IPV/Hib are included in the study, the RR is 1.09 (CI, 0.77 to 1.56), and the study did not rule out the possibility that the vaccine increases the risk of autism by a factor of 0.56 in children not vaccinated with DTaP-IPV/Hib. Among unvaccinated children not vaccinated with DTaP-IPV/Hib, the study found 64 autism cases out of 4,729. Multiplying this by a factor of 0.56 is about 1 in 130. That is 77 times greater than the 1 in 10,000 chance of dying from measles.

Conclusion: Although Hviid et al.’s study provides compelling evidence that MMR is not causing autism in 1 in 100 cases, it has provided no evidence that MMR is not causing autism in more than 1 in 10,000 cases (more than the case-fatality rate of measles). To the contrary, the study did not rule out the possibility of MMR causing autism in 1 in 3,000 children overall, in 1 in 540 children followed for a 10-year period, in 1 in 520 children at low risk of autism, and in 1 in 130 children who had a similar vaccination history.

Terms

aHR: Autism hazard ratio

CI: Confidence interval

DTaP-IPV/Hib: Diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis – inactivated poliovirus/Haemophilus influenzae type B

MMR: Measles, mumps and rubella

RR: Relative risk

SD: Standard deviation

To assess the risks of measles compared to the risks of the MMR vaccine, visit https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles.

Posted on March 1, 2019 by ITadmin

Physicians for Informed Consent: Critical Calculation Error in Background Information for Hearing on “Vaccines Save Lives: What is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?” on March 5, 2019

March 1, 2019

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
428 Senate Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

RE: Critical Calculation Error in Background Information for Hearing on “Vaccines Save Lives: What is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?” on March 5, 2019

Dear Committee Members,

As the background information on measles you will be utilizing has not been made publicly available, we need to make sure you know about the calculation error which occurred in the House Committee on Energy & Commerce Memorandum¹ for the hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S.” The Memorandum states that “One or two deaths occur among every 1,000 children who acquire measles.” This is a critical calculation error, which requires your urgent attention, so that you do not propagate that same mistake in your statements to the public.

The second paragraph in the Memorandum contains evidence of the error. It explains that prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, “there were an estimated 3 to 4 million people infected with measles in the United States, and as many as 500 related deaths each year,” which is correct. However, this computes to a number of deaths which, at most, is one in 6,000 (3,000,000 divided by 500). More precisely, between 1959 and 1962, about 400 measles deaths occurred among about 4,000,000 measles cases, which results in a one in 10,000 (0.01%) chance of a child dying from measles, not one in 500 or one in 1,000. By comparison, over 23,000 infant deaths occur every year in the U.S. and thus the chance of a child dying in his or her first year of life is currently one in 170 (0.6%)²—this is 60 times the risk of a child dying from measles in 1962, a time period when almost every child had measles by age 15.³

The reason this calculation error unfortunately commonly occurs is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes case-fatality rates based on the number of reported cases only. And, since it is estimated that nearly 90% of measles cases are benign and therefore not reported to the CDC, the widely publicized measles case-fatality rate is a 10-fold miscalculation. Such an error has grave public health consequences.

Information available on total measles pre-vaccine cases (both reported and unreported to the CDC) in comparison with today’s leading causes of death in children under age 10,³and the risks of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,⁴ are enclosed. Please carefully review these documents, as well as Dr. Alexander Langmuir’s 1962 article “The Importance of Measles as a Public Health Problem” where he explained, “…in the United States measles is a disease whose importance is not to be measured by total days disability or number of deaths.”⁵ Dr. Langmuir became director of the epidemiology branch of the Communicable Disease Center in 1949 and held the position for over 20 years.

Another error in the Memorandum is in the prevention and response section where it is suggested that no treatments are available for measles. In rare situations, such as vitamin A deficiency or a compromised immune system, measles can be severe and even deadly, if left untreated. In those situations, high-dose vitamin A and immunoglobulin (passive immunization) are indicated to treat or prevent measles upon exposure, respectively.³ In addition, there is evidence that the antiviral ribavirin is beneficial in the treatment of measles, and this requires further research.^6-8 Therefore, the vaccination of others is not necessary in order to protect immunocompromised persons from severe measles, or other infections,⁹ and coercing such action would be highly unethical and unscientific.

Finally, the Memorandum states that “CDC has determined that receiving the MMR vaccine is safer than getting any of the viruses,” however this has not been scientifically demonstrated. In 2017, we reported in The British Medical Journal (The BMJ) that every year an estimated 5,700 U.S. children (approximately 1 in 640) suffer febrile seizures from the first dose of the MMR vaccine—which is five times more than the number of febrile seizures expected from measles.¹⁰ This amounts to 57,000 febrile seizures over the past 10 years due to the MMR vaccine alone. As 5% of children with a history of febrile seizures progress to epilepsy, a debilitating and life-threatening chronic condition, the estimated number of children whose epilepsy is due to the MMR vaccine in the past 10 years is 2,850. In addition, we contend that the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), as a passive surveillance system, does not adequately capture vaccine side effects and that serious side effects, including permanent neurological harm and death from the MMR and other vaccines, may similarly be underreported.

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986 was created by Congress as a remedy to protect vaccine manufacturers from mounting vaccine injury lawsuits. Since then, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) it created has cumulatively awarded about $4 billion for severe vaccine injury cases or deaths—to only a small fraction of the VICP petitioners who apply within the three-year or two-year statute of limitations, respectively. Consequently, it is mostly families whose children have suffered vaccine injuries and the doctors who care for them who have a heightened awareness of the risks vaccines pose to some American children, in an environment that is effectively immune from the tort system, civil litigation, and publicity.

We realize the errors discussed above are technical, but we urge you to take the time to discuss them thoroughly with your epidemiologists and statisticians, so that you can stop the spread of misinformation. We also appreciate what pressure you must be under to protect public health, and hope you do whatever it takes to guarantee that the decisions you make are based on accurate information. The right to bodily integrity, and the health, of millions of Americans is at stake.

We are here to assist you.

Sincerely, Shira Miller, M.D.
Founder and President
Physicians for Informed Consent

Memorandum Re: Hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S., Feb. 22, 2019.
(https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/OI%20Briefing%20Memo_Hearing%20on%20Measles%20Outbreak_2019.02.27_final.pdf accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Mortality in the United States, 2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 293. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db293.htm accessed Feb. 28, 2019)
Physicians for Informed Consent. Measles – Disease Information Statement (DIS). Sept 2018.(https://www.physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles/dis accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Physicians for Informed Consent. Measles – Vaccine Risk Statement (VRS). Dec 2017.
(https://www.physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles/vrs accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Langmuir AD, Henderson DA, Serfling RE, Sherman IL. The importance of measles as a health problem. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1962 Feb;52(2) Suppl:1-4.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1522578/ accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Roy Moulik N, Kumar A, Jain A, and Jain P. Measles outbreak in a pediatric oncology unit and the role of ribavirin in prevention of complications and containment of the outbreak. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2013; 60: E122-E124.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23629813 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Pal G. Effects of ribavirin on measles. J. Indian Med Assoc. 2011.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22480102 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Uylangco CV, Beroy GJ, Santiago LT, Mercoleza VD, Mendoza SL. A double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of ribavirin in the treatment of acute measles. Clin Ther. 1981;3(5):389-96. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7008941 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Physicians for Informed Consent. Vaccines: What About Immunocompromised Schoolchildren? July 2018. (https://www.physiciansforinformedconsent.org/immunocompromised-schoolchildren accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Miller S. BMJ 359 (2017):j5104, Re: The unofficial vaccine educators: are CDC funded non-profits sufficiently independent?
(https://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5104/rr-13 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)

Enclosed: Measles Disease Information Statement, Measles Vaccine Risk Statement, Immunocompromised Schoolchildren Risk Group Information Statement, and “The importance of measles as a health problem” (PDF)

Posted on February 27, 2019 by ITadmin

Physicians for Informed Consent: Errors in Memorandum for the hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S.” on February 27, 2019

February 25, 2019

Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr.
Committee on Energy and Commerce

Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee Of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce

RE: Errors in Memorandum for the hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S.” on February 27, 2019

Dear Chairman Pallone and Subcommittee Members,

In the introductory background section of the Memorandum¹ for the hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S.,” it is written that “One or two deaths occur among every 1,000 children who acquire measles.” This is a critical calculation error, which requires your urgent attention and correction.

The second paragraph in the background section contains evidence of the error. It explains that prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, “there were an estimated 3 to 4 million people infected with measles in the United States, and as many as 500 related deaths each year,” which is correct. However, this translates to a number of deaths which, at most, is one in 6,000 (3,000,000 divided by 500). More precisely, between 1959 and 1962, about 400 measles deaths occurred out of about 4,000,000 measles cases, which calculates to one death among every 10,000 children (0.01%) who acquire measles, not one in 500 or one in 1,000 as written in the introduction.

The reason this mistake unfortunately commonly occurs is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes case-fatality rates based on the number of reported cases only. And, since it is estimated that nearly 90% of measles cases are benign and therefore not reported to the CDC, the widely publicized measles case-fatality rate is a 10-fold miscalculation. Such an error has grave public health consequences.

Information available on total measles pre-vaccine cases (both reported and unreported to the CDC) in comparison with today’s leading causes of death in children under age 10,²and the risks of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,³ are enclosed. Please carefully read these documents, as well as Dr. Alexander Langmuir’s 1962 article “The Importance of Measles as a Public Health Problem” where he explained, “…in the United States measles is a disease whose importance is not to be measured by total days disability or number of deaths.”⁴ Dr. Langmuir became director of the epidemiology branch of the Communicable Disease Center in 1949 and held the position for over 20 years.

Another error in the Memorandum is in the prevention and response section where it is suggested that no treatments are available for measles. In rare situations, such as vitamin A deficiency or a compromised immune system, measles can be severe and even deadly, if left untreated. In those situations, high-dose vitamin A and immunoglobulin (passive immunization) are indicated to treat or prevent measles upon exposure, respectively.² In addition, there is evidence that the antiviral ribavirin is beneficial in the treatment of measles, and this requires further research.^5-7 Therefore, the vaccination of others is not necessary in order to protect immunocompromised persons from severe measles, or other infections,⁸ and coercing such action would be highly unethical and unscientific.

Finally, the Memorandum states that “CDC has determined that receiving the MMR vaccine is safer than getting any of the viruses,” however this has not been scientifically demonstrated. In 2017, we reported in The British Medical Journal (The BMJ) that every year an estimated 5,700 U.S. children (approximately 1 in 640) suffer febrile seizures from the first dose of the MMR vaccine—which is five times more than the number of febrile seizures expected from measles.⁹ This amounts to 57,000 febrile seizures over the past 10 years due to the MMR vaccine alone. As 5% of children with a history of febrile seizures progress to epilepsy, a debilitating and life-threatening chronic condition, the estimated number of children whose epilepsy is due to the MMR vaccine in the past 10 years is 2,850. In addition, we contend that the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), as a passive surveillance system, does not adequately capture vaccine side effects and that serious side effects, including permanent neurological harm and death from the MMR and other vaccines, may similarly be underreported.

We realize the errors discussed above are technical, but we urge you to take the time to discuss them thoroughly with your epidemiologists and statisticians, as ultimately the Memorandum should be retracted. We also appreciate what pressure you must be under to protect public health, and hope you do whatever it takes to guarantee that the decisions you make are based on accurate information. The right to bodily integrity, and the health, of millions of Americans is at stake.

We are here to assist you.

Sincerely,

Shira Miller, M.D.
Founder and President
Physicians for Informed Consent

Memorandum Re: Hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S., Feb. 22, 2019.
(https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/OI%20Briefing%20Memo_Hearing%20on%20Measles%20Outbreak_2019.02.27_final.pdf accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Physicians for Informed Consent. Measles – Disease Information Statement (DIS). Sept 2018. (https://www.physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles/dis accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Physicians for Informed Consent. Measles – Vaccine Risk Statement (VRS). Dec 2017.
(https://www.physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles/vrs accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Langmuir AD, Henderson DA, Serfling RE, Sherman IL. The importance of measles as a health problem. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1962 Feb;52(2) Suppl:1-4.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1522578/ accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Roy Moulik N, Kumar A, Jain A, and Jain P. Measles outbreak in a pediatric oncology unit and the role of ribavirin in prevention of complications and containment of the outbreak. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2013; 60: E122-E124.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23629813 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Pal G. Effects of ribavirin on measles. J. Indian Med Assoc. 2011.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22480102 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Uylangco CV, Beroy GJ, Santiago LT, Mercoleza VD, Mendoza SL. A double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of ribavirin in the treatment of acute measles. Clin Ther. 1981;3(5):389-96.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7008941 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Physicians for Informed Consent. Vaccines: What About Immunocompromised Schoolchildren? July 2018. (https://www.physiciansforinformedconsent.org/immunocompromised-schoolchildren accessed Feb. 24, 2019)
Miller S. BMJ 359 (2017):j5104, Re: The unofficial vaccine educators: are CDC funded non-profits sufficiently independent?
(https://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5104/rr-13 accessed Feb. 24, 2019)