MMR: Many More Risks

Since the use of vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella, there’s been a change in the age at which those diseases are contracted. They now occur during the late teens and young adulthood, ages when risks from these diseases are higher. Now, Merck Frosst’s M-M-R® II, a combination live virus vaccine used against measles, mumps and rubella, is injected into people this age whenever an outbreak of one of these diseases evolves into what health authorities consider an epidemic. As well, in a repeat rendition of the pertussis vaccine fiasco, the addition of another booster is being considered.

Before the vaccination era, measles usually occurred at 5-9 yrs. It was very rare in infants younger than 1 year old and persons older than 15 yrs. It was highly infectious, appearing most often in winter and early spring. Measles had an incubation period of 9-21 days; the rash appeared 14 days after exposure to the virus. The marker for measles infection, small white spots named Koplik’s spots, appeared on the inside of the cheeks about 2 days before and remained 1-2 days after appearance of the rash. Measles rash began at the head and spread to the extremities. Initially, it would turn white when pressure was applied but, after a few days, became confluent, brownish and no longer blanched with pressure. It could itch considerably and often the patient was extremely sensitive to light. The infection was usually over in 10 days and conferred lifelong immunity thereafter. In wealthy nations like Canada, the risk of developing serious complications from measles was low. Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, fifteenth edition, uses measles as an example of the meaning of the word, endemic, defining that adjective as “A disease that occurs in a particular population, but has low mortality.”

In her 1999 book, Immunization: History, Ethics, Law and Health, Catherine Diodati discusses another set of symptoms that have shown up in those who contract measles at an age that was not normal during the pre-vaccine era or in those who are immunosuppressed. She writes:

“The following signs have been noted with atypical presentations of measles: the absence of Koplik spots, abnormal measles rash, persistent high fevers necessitating hospitalization, hypoxia (lack of oxygen at the cellular level affecting heart and respiratory functions and causing mental confusion), and giant-cell pneumonia.” She continues, quoting from a study published in ‘The Lancet’ of Jan 5, 1985: “It is believed that the normal measles rash is ‘caused by a cell-mediated immune reaction which damages cells infected with measles virus.’ The absence, or diminished presentation, of the rash ‘may imply that intracellular virus escapes neutralization…[perhaps] giv[ing] rise to the development of disease subsequently.’”

The well known symptom of mumps, also called parotitis, is painful swelling of one or both parotid glands, the salivary glands located on the jaw beneath the ear. However, unlike measles, mumps was a mild disease. Approximately 30% of all cases showed no symptoms and could not be detected by blood tests. Before mumps vaccinations, the usual age at which mumps occurred was 5-15 yrs. Boys contracted it more often than girls. Complications were rare and sterility in post- pubescent males – a possible risk used to help convince parents of the need for the vaccine – was extremely rare.

Rubella, also called German measles, was the mildest of the three infections and often went undetected. Prior to rubella vaccination it occurred mainly in spring in 6-10 yr olds. Its one claim to infamy was that it might cause congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in unborn babies whose mothers were exposed to the virus during pregnancy. Especially during the first trimester, CRS could be associated with serious birth defects: mental retardation, deafness, blindness, autism, heart problems and retarded growth in the womb. According to MD and homeopath, Dr Richard Moscowitz, “Rubella should be suspected in the event of a mild fever; punctuate [dotted] rash; and swollen or tender lymph nodes behind the ears and neck, and around the base of the skull – an area seldom affected in other ailments.” It’s been calculated that, pre-vaccine, approximately 80% of the population was immune to rubella by 20 years of age.

A major study conducted by A W Hedrich and published in 1933 examined measles epidemiology between 1900 and 1931 in Baltimore, Maryland. It concluded that when 68% of the population under 15 yrs old was immune to measles, epidemics didn’t happen. This critical level of natural immunity was called “herd immunity”, a term later to be appropriated by those promoting vaccines.

In his book, Health and Nutrition Secrets that Can Save Your Life, Russell Blaylock, MD writes, “The measles virus is notorious for depressing the immune system.” The late paediatrician, Robert Mendelsohn, quoted the World Health Organization (WHO) in his book, How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. The WHO stated, “the chances are about 15 times greater that measles will be contracted by those vaccinated against them than by those who are not.”

A live virus measles vaccine, ie one not combined with mumps and rubella vaccines was licensed in Canada in 1963 but, as late as the end of 1972, less than one quarter of the child population had received it. Catherine Diodati notes an interesting gap in the reporting of measles cases in Canada between 1959 and 1968, “important years immediately preceding and following vaccine licensure.” She acknowledges an overall decline in measles cases from the 1970s onward but advises, “While one might assume that the vaccine caused the reduction in incidence rates, current research indicates that this assumption may be false. Measles cases now appear predominantly amongst the fully vaccinated.”

Midwife, Aviva Jill Romm, author of Vaccination: a Thoughtful Parent’s Guide, tells us that, prior to mass immunization using measles vaccines, measles “was very rare in infants, who almost universally acquired passive immunity from their mothers. By 1993, more than 25 percent of all measles cases were in babies less than a year old. CDC officials attribute this to the fact that those women who were vaccinated for measles as girls in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s could not confer passive immunity on their offspring, as only the naturally occurring disease stimulates an adequate antibody level for doing so.” Predictably, as has happened with pertussis, “it is very likely that in a population where there is no longer any passive immunity and revaccination is occurring during young adulthood, the disease will once again shift epidemiologically and find a new host in the adult and elderly populations.”

Since mumps is such a mild disease its vaccine needs to be super- effective for its health benefits to outweigh its health risks. Continuing outbreaks of mumps in highly vaccinated populations provide evidence that this vaccine is not super-effective.

Vaccinating babies for rubella is even more questionable than vaccinating for mumps or measles. Catherine Diodati tells us, “In 1980 Dr Cherry, a member of the [US] Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, explained that ‘essentially we have controlled the disease in persons 14 years of age or younger but have given it a free hand in those 15 or older’.” Dr Cherry was referring to the shift in rubella cases from young children to older adolescents and adults which had occurred during a mere decade since the vaccine had been introduced. By 1981, and following a switch to vaccinating only adolescent girls and susceptible women from 1972 to1982, CRS cases in the US were declining.

But whether or not the decline can be attributed to the vaccine is unclear, since, by that time, fertility was decreasing and more abortions were being performed on women who’d been exposed to rubella.
In her astute analysis, ‘Rubella in Babies & Pregnant Women’, veteran vaccine researcher, Hilary Butler, tells us that all viruses, not just rubella virus, can cause birth defects. She says the reason for this is that the process of viral infection consumes Vitamin A. Butler contends that, since 80% of pregnant women who contract rubella during the first trimester of their pregnancies do not bear deformed babies, something else must be the main cause of CRS. That cause is malnourishment in the mother, specifically, Vitamin A deficiency.

While the efficacy of MMR vaccine is dubious, the risks are not. Even the rare death is possible. A report from Springfield, Missouri told of the death of 1 yr old Madyson Wilson on May 12, 2006, just 6 days after she’d received MMR vaccine. The report was accompanied by a photo of a beautiful blue-eyed, red-lipped, smiling child who looked the epitome of good health. Madyson’s parents received $250 thousand as “compensation” from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Merck Frosst’s most recent M-M-R® II monograph was published in July, 2008. At that time, it stated: “Death from various, and in some cases unknown, causes has been reported rarely following vaccination with measles, mumps and rubella vaccines; however, a causal relationship has not been established in healthy individuals.”

The injury most commonly discussed as being associated with MMR vaccine is autism. Neither this disease nor any of its relatives – Asperger’s syndrome, PDD-NOS (pervasive development disorder not otherwise specific), Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder – are listed in the monograph. Retired neurosurgeon, Russell Blaylock, writes:

“Dr Andrew Wakefield has demonstrated by careful testing that autistic children suffering from unrelenting stomach problems frequently have live measles viruses growing within the cells lining their intestine. When observed through an endoscope, the intestinal lining looks like a tube filled with cobbled outgrowths that are beefy red from inflammation. These cobbled overgrowths are lymphoid patches in the wall of the intestine, infected with measles virus. When Dr Wakefield tested these viruses, he found that they genetically matched the virus from the vaccine. The measles virus, both from vaccines and the naturally occurring virus, can also penetrate other organs, including the brain.”

Dr Blaylock also mentions two cases of parkinsonism developing in young children shortly after they’d received MMR vaccine. One of them was a 5yr old whose case was so severe he required continued drug treatment. Parkinsonism is cause by damage to nerves in the brain and has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.

The 2008 monograph for M-M-R® II vaccine lists the following ingredients: attenuated (weakened) measles and mumps viruses which have been propagated in chick embryo cell culture; attenuated rubella virus propagated in aborted human lung culture; sorbitol; sodium phosphate; sucrose; sodium chloride; hydrolized gelatin; recombinant human albumin; serum from a foetal calf; and neomycin. Note that the vaccine has been reformulated to contain genetically engineered “human albumin” rather than natural human serum albumin.

The monograph lists many contraindications, warnings and precautions. These include the need for hypersensitive individuals to avoid the vaccine if they might react to any of its components. Pregnant women must avoid the vaccine and fertile females must use contraception for three months following vaccination with M-M-R® II. “Excretion of small amounts of the live attenuated rubella virus from the nose or throat has occurred in the majority of individuals 7 to 28 days after vaccination.” But, “transmission, while accepted as a theoretical possibility, is not regarded as a significant risk. However, transmission of the rubella vaccine virus to infants via breast milk has been documented.”

The monograph does list many possible reactions starting with a common one, “burning and/or stinging” at the injection site. It adds “occasional” rash and fever (does this sound like measles? or rubella?) and continues with “rare” reactions including “parotitis” (commonly known as mumps), blood problems, arthritis, seizures, Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalitis, eye and ear disorders, etc.

References:

Unvaccinated Children by Richard Moscowitz, MD.

Health and Nutrition Secrets that Can Save Your Life by Russell Blaylock, MD; 2006; ISBN-10: 0-929173-48-1 and ISBN-13: 978-0-929173-48-1.

Immunization: History, Ethics, Law and Health by Catherine J M Diodati, MA; 2nd edition; Sept, 1999; ISBN 0-9685080-0-6.

Vaccination: a Thoughtful Parent’s Guide by Aviva Jill Romm; 2001; ISBN 0-89281-931-6.

‘Rubella in Babies & Pregnant Women’ by Hilary Butler (This article appeared in VRANewsletter; Winter, 2004.)

‘Settlement in death of 1-year old Springfield girl from MMR vaccine’; KSPR News; Oct 10, 2008.

Product Monograph; M-M-R® II; Merck Frosst Canada Ltd; July 4, 2008.