Hepatitis
FRANCE STOPS VACCINATING CHILDREN WITH HEPATITIS B
15,000 French citizens filed a lawsuit against the French government for understating the
risks and overstating the benefits associated with the hepatitis B vaccine. Hundreds of
people were reported to have suffered from auto immune and neurological disorders,
including multiple sclerosis, following hepatitis B vaccination. As a result, in October
1998, the French Minister of Health ended the mandatory hepatitis B vaccination program
for all school children.
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Mindless vaccination bureaucracy:
by Michael Belkin
My daughter Lyla Rose Belkin died on September 16, 1998 at the age of five weeks, shortly
after receiving a Hepatitis B vaccine booster shot. The following comments are intended to
be a heads up to parents and potential parents about the risks of the Hepatitis B vaccine
(HBV), and a firsthand report questioning the scientific legitimacy of the vaccine
industry, which provides $800 million of annual revenue to Merck -- the company which
makes the Hepatitis B vaccine distributed in the US.
Lyla Rose Belkin was a lively, alert five-week-old baby when I last held her in my arms.
Little did I imagine as she gazed intently into my eyes with all the innocence and wonder
of a newborn child that she would die that night. She was never ill before receiving the
Hepatitis B shot that afternoon. At her final feeding that night, she was agitated and
feisty -- and then fell asleep and didn’t wake up. The autopsy ruled out choking. A
swollen brain was the only abnormal finding. Most doctors I spoke to at the time said it
must have been Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a catch-all diagnosis for
unexplainable childhood mortality. The first instinctive reaction in such a situation is
for parents to blame themselves. For many weeks, my wife and I agonized over what we might
have missed or could have done differently. Meanwhile, the logical part of my brain kept
returning to the obvious medical event that preceded Lyla’s death -- and that
internal voice kept asking the question could the Hepatitis B vaccine that Lyla received
that afternoon have killed her? Most doctors I asked scoffed at that notion and said the
vaccine was perfectly safe. But I began to search around on the Internet and Medline and
discovered disturbing evidence of adverse reactions to this vaccine.
In the US, the Hepatitis B disease mainly infects intravenous drug users, homosexuals,
prostitutes and promiscuous heterosexuals. The disease is transmitted by blood, through
sex or dirty needles. How could a newborn baby possibly get Hepatitis B if the mother was
screened and tested negative, as my wife was? It is almost impossible. Unless a newborn
child is having unprotected sex or sharing needles with an infected junkie, it is
extremely unlikely to get the Hepatitis B disease. So then why are most US babies
inoculated at birth by their Hospital or Pediatrician with the Hepatitis B vaccine? That
is a question every parent should ask before getting this vaccination. I’ve
discovered the answer is -- an unrestrained health bureaucracy decided it couldn’t
get junkies, gays, prostitutes and promiscuous heterosexuals to take the Hepatitis B
vaccine -- so they mandated that all babies must be vaccinated at birth. Drug companies
such as Merck (reaching for new markets) were instrumental in pushing government
scientists to adopt an at-birth Hepatitis B vaccination policy, although the vaccine was
never tested in newborns and no vaccines had ever been mandated at birth before. It is
widely recognized that newborns have under-developed immune systems, which can be
overwhelmed or shocked.
My search for answers about a link between the Hepatitis B vaccine and my daughter’s
death led me to a Hepatitis B vaccine workshop on October 26th at the National Academy of
Sciences (NAS), Institute of Medicine entitled Vaccine Safety Forum -- Neonatal Deaths.
The NAS was concerned enough about reports of Hepatitis B vaccine-related infant deaths
and adverse reactions to hold a special workshop on the subject. Doctors and scientists
flew in from all over the US and Europe to attend. I sat in the back and soaked it all up.
It was a real eye-opener. There were basically four constituencies represented: 1) Serious
scientists observing or presenting research studies. 2) Center for Disease Control (CDC)
pseudo-statisticians and FDA officials. 3) Merck and other corporate drug officials and 4)
Parents of vaccine-related dead or severely injured children.
The presentations included a study of Animal Models of Newborn Response to Antigen
Presentation, which showed that newborn immune systems were undeveloped and strikingly
different than those of adults. The message I received was that immune response in a
newborn to shocks such as being injected with a vaccine was potentially unknown, since
newborn T-Cells have a radically different behavior then those of adults. Another
presentation was Strategies for Evaluating the Biologic Mechanisms of Hepatitis B Vaccine
Reactions, in which vaccine researcher Dr. Bonnie Dunbar of Baylor College related
numerous Hepatitis B-vaccine related cases of nervous system damage in adults, such as
Multiple Sclerosis, seizures and blindness. On the more positive side, the FDA presented a
seemingly reassuring study from its Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (VAERS),
which showed only 19 neonatal deaths reported since 1991 related to Hepatitis B
vaccination.
I found the VAERS study data to be completely deceptive. Since I was sitting in that room
and my daughter had died during their sample period and wasn’t counted -- I wondered
why. In fact, the New York City Coroner called VAERS to report my daughter’s
Hepatitis B Vaccine-related infant death and no one ever returned their call! What kind of
reporting system doesn’t return the calls of the NY City Medical Examiner -- and how
many other reports were ignored? This is supposed to be the emergency 911 number for
disasters such as bad lots of vaccine that could poison thousands of other babies. With
the personal knowledge that the VAERS data was completely flawed, I sat in that room and
listened in amazement as CDC officials and Dr. Sharrar of Merck (their head of vaccine
safety) made disparaging comments about any possible risk from Hepatitis B vaccination,
despite the evidence just presented by impartial scientists.
I studied statistics and econometrics at UC Berkeley and have developed innovative methods
of applying probability to financial and economic data in my consulting business with some
of the largest financial institutions in the world. That training and experience qualifies
me to criticize the statistical legitimacy of the VAERS study, on which Sharrar of Merck
and the CDC pseudo-scientists based their pro-vaccination stance. Their comments were
scathingly dismissive of any possible risk from the vaccine. But that VAERS study is not a
legitimate sample of a data set from which any conclusions about the larger population can
be made. VAERS doesn’t return coroner’s calls, leading to the suspicion that
deaths and adverse effects from vaccination are woefully under-reported. To conclude that
the Hepatitis B vaccine is safe because VAERS only reports 19 deaths is scientific fraud.
In fact, I obtained the raw data from the VAERS system and found 54 reported SIDS cases
after Hepatitis B vaccination in just the 18 months from January 1996 -- May 1997.
That’s almost 15 times as many deaths per year as their own flawed study reported.
There are 17,000 reports of adverse reactions to Hepatitis B vaccine in the 1996-97 raw
data. Clearly something is fishy about VAERS. VAERS was set up by the FDA and CDC and is
supposed to be monitored by vaccine manufacturers. If there are 17,000 reports and VAERS
doesn’t even return the NY Medical Examiner’s call, how many other deaths and
injuries go unreported? I came away from that NAS workshop with the distinct impression
that Merck and the CDC didn’t know and didn’t really want to know how many
babies are being killed or injured by Hepatitis B vaccination. This is a bureaucratic
vaccination program that is on auto-pilot flying into a mountain. The CDC bureaucrats have
a vested interest in the status quo. If there were 17,000 reports of a dangerous disease
in a 18 month period, the CDC would be all over the case. But when there are 17,000
reports of adverse reactions to a vaccine the CDC advocates for “public health”
-- the CDC dismisses it as a coincidence. Merck charges $50 a shot for the three-shot
series. Where do you think the allegiance of their vaccine safety official Dr. Sharrar
lies? He was by far the most arrogant character at the workshop. Merck has sales of
upwards of $800 million a year from vaccines.
Vaccination can be a lifesaver if an epidemic is raging, but in this case the risk of
vaccination outweighs the risk of infants getting the disease. Surely, the hepatitis B
vaccine doesn’t injure every child that gets it, but in some unknown number of cases,
it appears to be a death sentence and/or a nervous system toxin to innocent children who
are at no risk of getting the disease the vaccine is supposed to protect against. My
observations of Merck and CDC scientists at the Vaccine Safety Forum left me with the
distinct impression that they had absolutely no idea which babies might be killed or
injured by this vaccine. Furthermore, they used obviously flawed scientific data to
arrogantly steamroller any opposition to their power. Parents should be aware that the
Hepatitis B vaccine is not administered for the well-being of their child. Rather, it is
delivered by the long arm of some incompetent and mindless bureaucracy in the name of
stamping out a disease most babies can’t possibly get. The Drug Company/CDC/FDA
alliance has really pulled the wool over the medical profession’s eyes with the
Hepatitis B vaccine. The American Pediatric Society bought the alliance’s sales pitch
and now recommends that all infants get this vaccine at birth. So now the first thing most
babies get in life is a shock to their immune system from a vaccine against a non-existent
risk of contracting Hepatitis B. Clearly, the interests of newborn babies were not
represented on the original panel that created this vaccination policy in 1991. This
vaccine has no benefit whatsoever for newborns, in fact it wears off and they will need
booster shots later in life when they actually could get exposed to the disease.
This is simply a case of ravenous corporate greed and mindless bureaucracy teaming up to
overwhelm common sense. Merck in particular has gone way over the edge with this
vaccination program. Ignoring and suppressing reports of adverse reactions to their
profitable Hepatitis B vaccine verges on criminal conduct. A major media organization will
soon present an investigative report on the issues discussed here. Nothing will ever bring
my lovely daughter Lyla back, but other needless deaths and injuries can be prevented if
this senseless Hepatitis B newborn vaccination program is halted. Please contact Belkin
Limited in New York City if you are aware of other infant deaths that may be related to
the Hepatitis B vaccine.
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TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL BELKIN BEFORE THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES --
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION --February 17, 1999 -- Atlanta Georgia
My name is Michael Belkin. I am a father, businessman, former quantitative strategist at
Salomon Brothers and Director of the Hepatitis B Vaccine Project of the National Vaccine
Information Center (NVIC).
The NVIC has studied Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data obtained under
the Freedom of Information Act covering the last nine years on hepatitis B vaccine adverse
events -- and in 1996 there were more than three times as many reported serious adverse
reactions as reported cases of the disease in the 0 to 14 age group. Of the total 2,424
adverse event reports made between 1990 and October 1998 in children under age 14 who only
received hepatitis B vaccine, there were 1,209 serious events and 73 deaths. Thus, one
half of the reports for children under age 14 who received only hepatitis B vaccine were
for serious events that required an emergency room visit, hospitalization, or caused
life-threatening health problems or permanent disabilities.
As a UC Berkeley graduate and advisor to some of the largest financial institutions in the
world, I am qualified to analyze and make conclusions about statistics. Based on that
experience, I am astonished that the scientists on this Committee would disregard or cover
up data showing the number and severity of adverse reactions to this vaccine. Science is
observing and learning from what is observed. The assertions of the CDC that the many
reported adverse reactions to this vaccine do not exist or are a coincidence violates the
basic principle of science, which is rooted in the observation and analysis of data.
A benefit/risk analysis of the hepatitis B vaccine for the average infant in America, not
born to infected parents, must conclude that the VAERS data on adverse reactions shows the
real-world risk of a newborn infant dying or being injured by the hepatitis B vaccine is a
greater threat than the remote chance of contracting the primarily blood-transmitted
disease.
My 5-week old daughter, Lyla Rose died within 16 hours of her hepatitis B vaccination,
which she received because of the universal vaccination policy this Committee instituted
in 1991. At her death, Lyla had four of the eight highest-reported symptoms in the VAERS
hepatitis B vaccine adverse reaction data. The NY Medical Examiner observed brain swelling
at the autopsy but refused to record that or mention the hepatitis B vaccine Lyla received
in the autopsy report.
I hold each one of you who participated in the promulgation or perpetuation of that
mandated newborn vaccination policy personally responsible for my daughter’s death
and the deaths and injuries of all the other beautiful, healthy infants who are victims of
the hepatitis B vaccine. Your negligence is the proximate cause of my daughter’s
death and you have failed to exercise reasonable care.
At the NVIC, we are overwhelmed following up constant new reports of deaths, seizures and
auto immune reactions following hepatitis B vaccination. Because the CDC refuses to
acknowledge this large number of serious adverse reactions, hospitals and doctors who have
been misled about the risks continue to administer the vaccine and then deny any vaccine
connection when children die, get ill or have seizures within hours or days. CDC officials
tell parents they have never heard of hepatitis B vaccine reactions.
That is a lie. For this government to continue to insist that hepatitis B vaccine adverse
reaction reports do not exist is negligent, unethical -- and is a crime against the
children of America.
It is a sad day for the US when the nation’s children need protection from the
official medical authorities who are charged with protecting them from disease.
Thank you.