"I have never seen a SIDS death in a healthy breastfed baby, unvaccinated, who has slept on anything from here to Timbuctoo. Over the 19 years in IAS, we have never seen one."--Hilary Butler
''In order to avoid admitting that the sudden stoppage of breathing by a baby within hours to weeks of these vaccines was due to the vaccines, the vaccine defender merely created a new disease and gave it the incredible name of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which is like naming it the "Baby Mysteriously Die of Anything but a Vaccine Injury Syndrome" (BMDAVIS).
Vaccine Safety Manual by Neil Z. Miller. Preface"Scientific evidence shows that babies can have severe adverse reactions to vaccinations at critical intervals following their shots, and that vaccination is the more likely cause of cot death and shaken baby syndrome."-- Viera Scheibner, PhD
"Crib death was so infrequent in the pre-vaccination era that it was not even mentioned in the statistics, but it started to climb in the 1950s with the spread of mass vaccination." - Harris Coulter
''When my friend was doing her rotation in her hospital's ER, they had three SIDS cases come in. ALL of them had been vaccinated the day before. She was expressly forbidden to suggest that the vaccines may have played a role in the infants' deaths, or suggest the parents ask for an autopsy.''
''In that same year of 1982 matters came to a crisis when William C.
Torch,, M.D., Director of Child
Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Nevada School of Medicine, at the 34th
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, presented a study linking the DPT
shot with SIDS. Torch concluded: "These data show that DPT vaccination may be a
generally unrecognized major cause of sudden infant and early childhood death, and that
the risks of immunization may outweigh its potential benefits. A need for reevaluation and
possible modification of current vaccination procedures is indicated by this study."
Torch's report provoked an uproar in the American Academy of Pediatrics. At a hastily
arranged press conference he was soundly chastised for using "anecdotal data,"
meaning (will you believe it?) that he actually interviewed the families concerned! This
mistake was not made again. Gerald M. Fenichel, MD, chairman of the Department of
Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in 1983 published an article on
vaccinations entitled "the danger of case reports," and the pro-vaccination
literature produced in profusion in later years and decades has generally steered away
from and around any such thing as a "case report." These researchers will
examine with minute precision hospital card files, medicare cover sheets, even
physicians' records, but God preserve us from contact with the children
themselves or their families!'' SIDS and Seizures by Harris L.
Coulter, PhD
''Although the post-neonatal SIDS rate dropped by an average annual rate of 8.6% from 1992 through 2001 following the AAP’s seemingly successful ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign, the post-neonatal mortality rate from ‘suffocation in bed’ (ICD-9 code E913.0) increased during this same period at an average annual rate of 11.2. Sudden, unexplained infant deaths that were classified as SIDS prior to the ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign, were now being classified as deaths due to suffocation in bed!...“If death-certifier preference has shifted such that previously classified SIDS deaths are now classified as ‘suffocation,’ the inclusion of these suffocation deaths and unknown or unspecified deaths with SIDS deaths then accounts for about 90 percent of the decline in the SIDS rate observed between 1999 and 2001 and results in a non-significant decline in SIDS.”[10] [2015] CDC Lists 131 Ways for an Infant to Die: Vaccines and Sudden Death (SIDS)
"There was an interesting study done in Australia. They had four groups – breastfed and vaccinated, breast-fed and unvaccinated, bottle fed and vaccinated and bottle fed and unvaccinated… They looked at respiratory illness… The lowest instance of respiratory illness was in breastfed and unvaccinated. What was interesting was what was the second lowest; bottle fed and unvaccinated. That was shocking. This said that breast feeding wasn’t as important as not vaccinating your child." ~
Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, Homefront Medical Director, ChicagoOne hundred and seven (107) of the 786 claims were DTP-related death claims. The Special Masters of the U.S. Court of Claims, who heard the cases, awarded compensation in 73 (68%) of the 107 cases - after deciding that the deaths were vaccination-related. In fifty (68.5%) of the 73 compensated claims, the originally-stated diagnosis was SIDS. ----F. Edward Yazbak
[2008] Rapid Responses to Does cot death still exist?“When you impair the brain blood flow by vaccination you can impair the respiration control center which can result in death. We call it SIDS.” – Dr. Andrew Moulden MD, PhD
The coroner said it would be two weeks before a cause of death could be
determined. The coroner and police treated me like I had committed a
crime, taking pictures of her old bottles and formula. They questioned
me over and over. It was not the kind of situation a mother should be in
when her child has just died.
About two months later, we received a telephone call from a Dr.
Thomas Gill, of the Marion County Coroner's Office. He told us the cause
of death was the Hepatitis B virus - which she could only have gotten
form the vaccine. He told me that he would get the death certificate out
to me very soon.
Sixteen weeks later, we received the death certificate in the
mail and the cause of death was "natural causes" otherwise known as
"SIDS" (Sudden Infant Death Sudden). I was shocked to say the least. I
called the Coroner's Office and spoke to Dr. Manders, the Coroner of
Marion County and was told that Dr. Gill had been asked to resign.
Dr. Manders stated that he had signed the death certificate.
I asked how he could sign the death certificate if he did not perform
the autopsy. He told me that he had done so since Dr. Gill was no longer
there. We have not been able to determine how he came to the cause of
death since he did not perform the autopsy and that Dr. Gill told us
something very very different. He told me that if I had questions, to
call a Dr. Pless, a pathologist at Indiana University. I did call and
made an appointment to speak to Dr. Pless. He was a man with out
compassion. The most cold-hearted I have ever met. He told me to stop
trying to place the blame of my child's death on someone and go on with
my life. He also stated that if the vaccine did kill my daughter that it
was saving more live than it was taking.
Testimony Of Tonya and Gerald Nelson
A more blatant example of this reclassification ploy is the label of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). As Neil Miller's book demonstrates, 70 percent of SIDS cases have been shown to follow pertussis vaccination within three weeks A number of the new vaccines are also associated with sudden infant death. In order to avoid admitting that the sudden stoppage of breathing by a baby within hours to weeks of these vaccines was due to the vaccines, the vaccine defender merely created a new disease and gave it the incredible name of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which is like naming it the "Baby Mysteriously Die of Anything but a Vaccine Injury Syndrome" (BMDAVIS).
Vaccine Safety Manual by Neil Z. Miller. PrefaceAnother scenario would be a baby who receives a hepatitis B vaccine at birth and then gets his or her DTaP vaccine within months of birth. Two weeks later, mom finds the baby dead in its crib. The doctor blames it on SIDS and never reports it to the CDC as a vaccine reaction. In this case the triple antigen exposure (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) triggers the baby's already primed microglia— this time in the brainstem, where the respiratory control neurons reside. When the baby is placed on its stomach, it cannot muster enough force to fill its lungs. Any fumes from the mattress only aggravate the problem. For the pediatrician, it is easier and safer to blame it on a mysterious disorder called SIDS, than to admit it was a sequential vaccine reaction.
Vaccine Safety Manual by Neil Z. Miller. Preface[Dec 2007] Shot in the dark Heartbroken woman wonders if vaccines killed her infant son Federal health officials are reviewing whether routine immunizations contributed to the deaths of as many as three North Idaho babies this fall, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. The agency has requested autopsy reports and medical records for at least two children and could seek them for a third Kootenai County infant, all of whom died in September and October, apparently within days of receiving recommended vaccines. There's no clear link between the vaccines and the deaths, which were classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.
"The computer records from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, obtained by Gannett News Service using the Freedom of Information Act as part of a four-month study of federal immunization policy, reveal: Of 253 infant death cases awarded more than $61 million by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in the 1990s under the compensation program, 224, or 86 percent, were attributed to vaccination with DTP, the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) shot. In these cases, mortality was originally attributed to SIDS in 90, or 40 percent, of them. Of 771 total claims filed by parents from 1990 through mid-1998, 660, or 86 percent, contained assertions that DTP was the cause of death. And 43 percent were classified by medical authorities at time of death as SIDS cases."--NVIC http://www.909shot.com/gnssids.htm
"One research worker in the laboratory had been immunizing
animals against diseases like tetanus and Diptheria. His experience showed
that after being immunized, some of the animals died suddenly within 24 hours.
These deaths had been attributed to anaphylaxis. Authorities the world
over had decided that this was so (it is a severe allergic reaction). I
suggested that vitamin C deficiency was the cause. The animals involved
did not make their own. Like primates they required it in their diet.
To discover the truth only required a simple experiment.....
The result was definite, unquestionable and final.
Half of a group of animals were supplemented with vitamin C before being
immunised. None died. The un-supplemented half continued to die at
rates equal to those found in previous experiments.
The importance of this discovery can hardly be stressed.
In Australia and all over the world, infants were being immunised. Those
whose vitamin C status was low were at risk. here, at last, was
experimental evidence that supported my claims that stepping up immunisation
campaigns among Aboriginal infants increased the death rate."
Every Second Child by
Dr Archie Kalokerinos, M.D.
(p.139-140)
I set about trying to discover exactly what apparent data in relation to
my children had been used in these papers.
Initially I tried ‘locally’ to obtain records in relation to my
children; I then discovered that records in relation to my children
‘could not be found’.
These included GP, Health Visitor, Clinic, Midwifery and Birth,
Vaccination, Hospital admission, Outpatient and Ambulance records.
With regard to Post Mortem records, all that was available was a brief 2
page Official Coroners Record for each child, which gave scant details
and a cause of death as SIDS for both children. I knew that there had to
be a Post Mortem File in relation to each child which obviously
contained specific details of my children’s Post Mortems i.e. tests
carried out, date and time of PM, samples taken etc.
It later was confirmed that my children’s Post Mortem Files ‘could also
not be found’.
There were 40+ SIDS deaths in my city area (including my own children)
these 40+ deaths occurred within a total of 2 years. For a population of
approx 250.000 this appeared to be a high incidence. In fact this is
documented by a GP as being ‘a significant blip’.
I discovered that all 40+ SIDS victims Post Mortem Files apparently also
‘could not be found’. It was clear that Post Mortem samples and organs
were retained from many of these SIDS victims (including my own). Though
why this happened, what was being tested for and the results of these
tests apparently ‘were not available’ or ‘could not be found’.
Given the ‘research’ being carried out in my area by SIDS researchers I
find it impossible to believe records in relation to 40+ children
apparently have simply ‘disappeared’.
...............My own child died within 36 hours of having his vaccines. My first child
died approx 2 weeks after vaccines. I know of one other family (in my
own city) whose child died within 24 hours of having vaccines. The
parents were convinced that their child died as a result of the vaccines
and actually told the pathologist when he gave the cause of death as
SIDS that they thought there had been a ‘cover up’.
I have recently had released to me vaccination records for my children,
(records that have taken over 5+ years to get released, records whose
very existence was denied 5+ years ago) these say that I gave permission
for my child to have his vaccines 2 weeks after he died! Why would I
give permission for a dead child to have vaccines? There are other
worrying discrepancies.
I find it interesting that the majority of deaths within my own area
occurred on or around the time of vaccines being due. I understand that
one ‘batch’ of these vaccines would have been enough to vaccinate the
children of my own city. Was this a ‘hot’ lot? [Aug 2007 Blog] Cot Deaths
and Vaccines - Child Protection turned on its head by Lisa Blakemore-Brown
"For about one generation several theories of interpretation of SIDS causes have been suggested. My research and conclusions point out, that STRESS may be the key word: receiving formula instead of breastmilk, sleeping alone, breathing tobacco laden air and vaccinations (especially pertussis alone or combined with diphtheria and tetanus in the DPT vaccine) are the main culprits. If a tendency to allergies is given (due to inadequate feeding, which causes the intestial wall to let pass too many allergens, and provoques a pathologic flora) or if the baby has been premature, immature, or in multiple births, all these factors of stress weigh heavier. We parents, mothers especially, can do our share to reduce these multiple stress to almost zero! As long as VACCINATIONS are not included in official SIDS research, there will be no progress and as many as 50-70% of cases will never be explained."---Colette Leick-Welter, Ph.D. (N. H.)
"Sudden-infant-death-syndrome (SIDS) has been reported following administration of vaccines containing diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine. The significance of these reports is not clear. It should be borne in mind that the three primary immunizing doses of these vaccines are usually administered to infants between the age of 2 and 6 months and that approximately 85% of SIDS cases occur in the period from 1 through 6 months of age with the peak incidence at age 2 to 4 months."--Connaught (DPT)
"My suspicion, which is shared by others in my profession, is that the nearly 10,000 SIDS deaths that occur in the United States each year are related to one or more of the vaccines that are routinely given children. The pertussis vaccine is the most likely villain, but it could also be one or more of the others."--Dr Mendelsohn, M.D.
"Furthermore, much depends on how statistics are gathered. Until recently most autopsies on infants were carried out in a haphazard fashion. Often, no autopsies were performed. Now, in most parts of the western world, strict criteria are applied and autopsies performed by specialist teams. Many cases that previously would be considered as qualifying for the diagnosis of SIDS are now excluded. This artificially reduces the incidence compared to pre-autopsy and specialised consideration times. To accurately follow recent trends one needs to look at the overall infant mortality rate. This is the bottom line and cannot be easily manipulated."--Dr Kalokerinos MD (Medical Pioneer of the 20th century p178)
"Assurances from New Zealand health officials that infant immunisation does not cause cot death have been thrown into doubt amid revelations that pathologists don’t test for vaccine complications during autopsies. For years the Ministry of Health has rubbished claims that a rise in cot deaths shortly after vaccinations is linked to the immunisations, saying "there is no evidence" to suggest a link. But when concerned parents asked pathologists whether they tested for vaccine complications during infant autopsies, they were told "no". That could mean that some children whose deaths were put down to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), were in fact killed by immunisation reactions." http://www.investigatemagazine.tv/jab.htm
"In those infants who died under one month of age, most of the deaths are classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). However, in the past this syndrome has never struck infants so young, and SIDS is officially defined as beginning only after one month of age. With 6,000 children dying of SIDS every year, we have no idea how many of these deaths are actually caused by hepatitis B vaccination"--Incao's Hepatitis B Vaccination Testimony
"The role of vaccines, particularly the whole-cell pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine can be understood when it is realised that this vaccine contains a variable and uncontrollable amount of endotoxin that is injected and absorbed, unaltered, into the blood. It does not even go first to the liver where attempts to detoxify it could be made. If an infant happens to be particularly sensitive to endotoxin when the vaccine is injected, brain damage or death can result....It should be now apparent that any infant with gastrointestinal problems - abnormal organisms, intestinal parasites, loose bowel motions resulting from the use of antibiotics, and malabsorption of food (including lactose intolerance) - is liable, when further stressed, to produce endotoxin and this can end in a SIDS....If the Vitamin C status of an infant is borderline, the administration of a vaccine, particularly (but not only) pertussis vaccine, can result in endotoxaemia. This results in a severe reaction to the vaccine, a tremendous increase in the need for Vitamin C, and the precipitation of some of the signs and/or symptoms of acute scurvy. The onset of this may be so rapid that the classical signs of scurvy may be absent. Sudden death, sudden unconsciousness, sudden shock or sudden spontaneous bruising and haemorrhage (including brain and retinal haemorrhages) may occur. Haemorrhage and bruising in such cases can be wrongly attributed to the ‘battered baby syndrome’."---Dr Kalokerinos MD (Medical Pioneer of the 20th century p186
"A ‘cold’, a viral infection, or anything that disturbs immune responses can result in subtle changes in the gram negative bacterial flora of the the gut, stimulating them to produce endotoxin. This is absorbed into the blood stream, not adequately detoxified, and results in inflammatory responses in the mucous membrane linings of the middle ear............ that endotoxin is the initial cause of the inflammatory response in acute otitis media............ Dr Robert Reisinger in America had first alerted me to this group of substances and their relationship to SIDS......The reason why proper breast-feeding provides a known and large amount of protection against otitis media becomes obvious. Breast-feeding tends to prevent the overgrowth of abnormal forms of intestinal organisms that tend, under certain conditions, to produce endotoxin........Finally, there are two substances that are known to be effective as rapid detoxifiers of endotoxin - Vitamin C and erythromycin -they are both in ‘Archie’s triple injection’. The relationship between SIDS, sudden unexplained shock, sudden unexplained unconsciousness, and otitis media is worthy of consideration. If endotoxin is the ‘cause’ of otitis and also the ‘cause’ of SIDS, sudden unexplained unconsciousness and unexplained shock — as I now know (at least there is a association), then otitis media should be found in a significant number of SIDS cases. That this is so is clearly demonstrated in a number of reported studies. "---Dr Kalokerinos MD (p311 Medical Pioneer)
Sarah Frances Corzine----Medical officials ruled it as SIDS but my husband, our family, our friends and our church family believe otherwise http://home.fuse.net/natalie/ http://www.ties.org/sarah/
After making vaccines compulsory the USA dropped from 3rd in the table of infant mortality to 24th. Due no doubt to their high incidence of cot-death (8,000). The Japanese (pop 120 million) after delaying the DPT vaccine until the second year, in 1975 & 76, immediately jumped from 17th place to the country with the lowest infant mortality in the world. In 1988 they lowered the minimum age again and the infant mortality immediately increased again."The evidence for indicting immunizations for SIDS is circumstantial, but compelling. However, the keepers of the keys to medical-research funds are not interested in researching this very important lead to the cause of an ongoing, and possibly preventable, tragedy. Anything that implies that immunizations are not the greatest medical advance in the history of public health is ignored or ridiculed. Can you imagine the economic and political import of discovering that immunizations are killing thousands of babies?"--Dr Douglass M.D.
"Montgomery County, Ohio has no SIDS incidences (at least not documented on paper). That is because the current coroner refuses to list SIDS as a cause of death. Instead, that infant's cause of death is listed as "UNKNOWN"."--Usenet post
"The NY Medical Examiner ruled her death Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).".-----Michael Belkin's Written Testimony to Congress May 18, 1999 Michael Belkin testimony to Congress
"Only after realising that routine immunizations were dangerous did I acheive a substantial drop in infant death rates........If anybody cares to publicly debate the association of immunisation and cot death we will produce enough evidence to convince the most sceptical......It is a fact that we know of not one single child, who has followed the regimen suggested by us to have become a SIDS victim (1987)."--Archie Kalokerinos M.D.
"Delay of DPT immunization until 2 years of age in Japan has resulted in a dramatic decline in adverse side effects. In the period of 1970-1974, when DPT vaccination was begun at 3 to 5 months of age, the Japanese national compensation system paid out claims for 57 permanent severe damage vaccine cases, and 37 deaths. During the ensuing six year period 1975-1980, when DPT injections were delayed to 24 months of age, severe reactions from the vaccine were reduced to a total of eight with three deaths. This represents an 85 to 90 percent reduction in severe cases of damage and death. (Ref21)."---Raymond Obomsawin, M.D.
"Within 8 days of their DPT inoculation, 11 infants died in Tennessee. Nine of the 11 had received DPT vaccine from Wyeth Laboratories lot 64201. Four of the 11 were dead in 24 hours. All the deaths, which coroners classified as crib deaths (technically, sudden infant death syndrome), occurred between August 1978 and March 1979."---Fresnobee 1984
"The cot deaths increase occurred THREE MONTHS after the introduction of the nationwide blanket administration of the first Hepatitis B vaccine immediately after birth.
"--Hilary Butler "Vaccines are my pet peeve in life. The only "SIDS" case I have had in my practise (20 yrs, 800 births) was a little boy named Sam. His Mom had him in hospital with no meds and no intervention. She was someone I judged to be "too conservative" for me to mention the risks of vaccines. Her baby had thrush at six weeks, so she took him to the doctor and he received an antifungal treatment for the thrush, then she drove to the public health clinic and he was given oral Polio and DPT shot. He never woke up for his 3:00 am feed . . . . . I'll never forget getting the news he was dead. I told his Mom about my judgement of her and my cowardice to tell her about vaccine risks, and she slammed her fist into the kitchen wall. I promised her I would do everything I could to stop this health holocaust and to never let another client vaccinate without information about the risks."---Jan Tritten, editor Midwifery Today Magazine http://www.midwiferytoday.com/magazine/ http://www.compleatmother.com/passion.htm"Sometimes it ends in sudden death. Within a few hours or a day of the shot the baby is found dead in its cradle. These deaths are classified in our medical statistics as "crib death" or "sudden infant death of unknown origin." There are about 9000 cases of SIDS in the United States every year, of which probably 6000 are vaccine-related."--Harris Coulter. http://whale.to/vaccines/coulter5.html
"About two months later, we received a telephone call from a Dr. Thomas Gill, of the Marion County Coroner's Office. He told us the cause of death was the Hepatitis B virus - which she could only have gotten form the vaccine. He told me that he would get the death certificate out to me very soon. Sixteen weeks later, we received the death certificate in the mail and the cause of death was "natural causes" otherwise known as "SIDS" (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). "--Tonya & Gerald Nelson
"Our conclusion is that if vaccination were to be suspended, the cot death rate would be halved!"--Dr Viera Scheibner Cot deaths linked to vaccination by Viera Scheibner, ph.D.
"When immunizations were given commencing at 3 months old, the peak of cot deaths was from 3-4 months. We are now told that the peak is 2-3 months, and this has happened since the immunizations commenced at 2 months. I feel there is some connection between cot deaths and immunization".---Sister Joyce Lubke
This correspondence recalls your earlier reports about the conviction of
Sally Clark for murder in trials for
the sudden deaths of her two infants, and about her own death after the
conviction had been annulled. I am writing about this because on 18th August
1999 I was approached by solicitors in Manchester who were defending Mrs Clark
against the charge of having murdered her two infant sons, Christopher in 1996
and Harry in 1998. They asked me to read and advise them on reports on these
deaths by paediatricians, pathologists and other experts beginning with the
autopsies performed by Dr Williams, the Coroner’s pathologist at Macclesfield,
Cheshire.
I found, as Dr Williams did, that
the two deaths were different and that for this and other reasons, the reports
sent to me were confusing, contradictory and inconclusive. None of them offered
a conclusion fulfilling the requirement that a verdict of unnatural death had to
be beyond reasonable doubt, so I wrote back to the defending solicitors to say
that a charge of murder was unjustified. The same opinion was given by one of
the experts, Professor John Emery, a leading authority in the UK on Sudden
Unexplained Infant Deaths (SUID). Christopher had been cremated but Professor
Emery had conducted a second autopsy on Harry in the presence of another expert
witness. He was unable, under the circumstances, to give a definite opinion
about the cause of death but he did exclude, as I did, unnatural death due to
murder. We agreed that the deaths were different and noted that Harry had
received an injection of triple vaccine about 4 hours before his death which
could have occurred after admission to hospital. I had already asked the
solicitors for more details, and was awaiting a reply from them to enable me to
write a fuller report.
I was therefore astonished to read
some months later in The Times that Sally Clark had been tried at Chester Crown
Court and found guilty of murdering her two infant sons. I wrote immediately (on
24th April, 2000) to the solicitors questioning this verdict. They did not reply
but I learned that neither Professor Emery’s report nor mine had been quoted in
Court, and that conviction by the jury had apparently been based on the Judge’s
acceptance of the opinion of Sir Roy Meadow that the chance of the second death
(of Harry) being natural in the circumstances was one in 73 million. I regarded
this as an absurd and unproven statistic, and was surprised also that the
Defence had failed to refer to Emery’s report and mine which were favourable to
their client.
The solicitors in Manchester did
not reply to a second letter but I then received a call from a new solicitor (JB)
who wanted to consult me about the verdict, and his instruction by Sally, her
husband and father to appeal against it. They were consulting me because Dr W H
(Bill) Inman, former Principal Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health and
Chief Medical adviser to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines had
recommended that they should do so because of my experience with vaccines. We
arranged a meeting at my home and he came there with Sally’s father (FL) and
more evidence. We discussed the case and the reasons for appeal for several
hours, and arranged a further meeting, at Sally’s father’s residence in
Salisbury where he had been Superintendent of Police until his retirement, A
long sequence of telephone calls, correspondence and a further meeting followed,
and led to the Appeal, which was rejected by three Judges who sidelined the one
in 73 million statistic. Additional evidence was available from a professor of
paediatric neurology and a professor of epidemiology, both from centres of
excellence respectively in USA and UK. Their opinion was that the injection of
pertussis vaccine given along with other vaccines was more likely than not to
have been the cause of Harry’s death, and that Christopher’s death was
different.
All of this and much more clinical
and forensic detail about the two deaths is available in the transcripts,
correspondence and especially in the book Stolen Innocence by John Batt, all of
which contain additional reasons for questioning the conviction. For instance,
it was revealed that the medics who transported Harry alive to the hospital in
Macclesfield and the three doctors – a casualty officer, a registrar and a
consultant paediatrician - who examined and tried unsuccessfully to revive him
were not called to give evidence. There is no proof anywhere that the vaccines
used (DTP/Hib/Polio) cause death but the pertussis component was the whole cell
preparation are known to be associated with apnoea, shock, encephalopathy, and
very occasionally with deaths, which led Sir Graham Wilson, former and first
Director of the PHLS, to say in his book on Hazards of Immunization that
life-spoiling and threatening reacticns, especially after pertussis vaccine and
in the context of incomplete or non -protection were too frequent to justify
mass vaccination. These features, widely-recognized internationally, led some
countries in the 1960’s and others later to omit pertussis from childhood
programmes and to replacement of the whole-cell vaccine with an acellular
replacement. In the UK, this did not happen until 2006. It should be noted also
that the three main manufacturers of pertussis vaccine in the UK and 10/13 in
the USA withdrew their products between 1978 and 1986. These facts are important
because vaccination is compulsory in most States of the USA and some in the EC.
This removes the safeguard of parental option, respect for contraindications and
medical discretion.
This information was understandably
lacking in Clare Dyer’s short article. Sally Clark was acquitted after five
years in prison only because bacteriological reports about a questionable
staphylococcal infection had been with-held by Dr Williams and others from the
previous hearings. The success of Dr Williams’s appeal ensures that expert
witnesses can overlook or with-hold essential evidence without fear of the
penalty that can be imposed legally on criminal defendants, of whom Sally is
just one. [2008]
Rapid Responses to Does cot death still exist?