Japan Halts Vaccine Use After Deaths Of 4 Children

TOKYO — Japan has temporarily stopped using vaccines from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis SA of France while it investigates the deaths of four children who were inoculated, the health ministry said Monday.

The decision to halt the vaccines against pneumonia, some types of meningitis and other infections was made Saturday. The government is hearing from experts at a meeting Tuesday, the health ministry said.

The four children, from under six months to 2 years old, died between March 2 and March 4. The deaths occurred the same day to three days after the vaccines were administered, the ministry said.

The vaccination began in Japan about a year to two years ago. The vaccines have been administered to 1 million to 1.5 million children, according to the ministry.

Pfizer in Japan said the company was cooperating with the investigation on the Prevenar vaccine. The U.S. has been using Prevenar for about 10 years, the company said.

Sanofi-Aventis in Japan said its ActHIB vaccine was approved in France in 1992, and a year later in the U.S.

Comments

[onionboy]

07:27 PM on 03/10/2011

Why haven't they updated the article? Didn't Japan look at the causes of death and medical histories? I thought they mad an announcement yesterday.

[vincealy]

08:04 AM on 03/09/2011

Interesting study on vaccines and mortality "The introduction of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine and child mortality in rural Guinea-Bissau: an observational study." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15082643......"BACKGROUND: and objective Previous studies from areas with high mortality in West Africa have not found diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine to be associated with the expected reduction in mortality, a few studies suggesting increased mortality........ CONCLUSIONS: In low-income countries with high mortality, DTP as the last vaccine received may be associated with slightly increased mortality. ......"

The belief system will disregard any evidence inconsistent with it's tenets.

[Dyson]

06:45 PM on 03/10/2011

Nice cherry-picking. Hundreds of articles showing vaccines reduce mortality, and you find one that shows a temporary and modest effect to non-specifically raise female mortality rates in Guinea Bissau.

The same author (Aaby) is renowned for his work demonstrating vaccines not only save lives directly, but through non-specific effects too.

Here's what a review in Arch. Dis. Childhood said about him:
"Dr Peter Aaby (pronounced Or-be) is a remarkable Danish anthropologist who has been working for more than 30 years in Guinea-Bissau, an impoverished ex-Portuguese colony in West Africa where approximately 15% of the children die before they are 5 years old. In early 1979, there was a severe measles epidemic with a case death rate of 25% among children less than 3 years old.42 Horrified by the deaths, Dr Aaby arranged for measles immunisation to be made available. He was surprised to see a substantial reduction in mortality among immunised children, even though there were few measles infections in the period following the epidemic.42 Subsequently, 10 cohort studies and two case–control studies from Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Haiti, Senegal and Zaire also suggested that measles vaccine may reduce mortality from diseases other than measles.25 The protective efficacy against death after measles immunisation ranged from 30% to 86%."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20716675

That makes 13 different studies showing a beneficial non-specific effect from measles vaccine alone.

What was that about belief systems disregarding evidence again?

[vincealy]

10:37 PM on 03/10/2011

Nice way to avoid the question which again was about a specific vaccine....

"CONCLUSION­S: In low-income countries with high mortality, DTP as the last vaccine received may be associated with slightly increased mortality."

As for the rest of your piece "He was surprised to see a substantia­l reduction in mortality among immunised children, even though there were few measles infections in the period following the epidemic.4­2 Subsequent­ly, 10 cohort studies.."

Her lets talk about science and cohort studies. For years based largely on cohort studies the claim was made that 30,000 or more flu deaths where prevented in the elderly . Based on the work of Jackson and others that mortality benefit has been shown to be a result of a "healthy user" effect.

" He was surprised to see a substantia­l reduction in mortality among immunised children, even though there were few measles infections in the period following the epidemic.4­2 Subsequent­ly, 10 cohort studies " and the healthy user effect . It is fairly easy to see that kids in these conditions who where vaccinated had made it to a Doctor and it is even easier to see that even limited access to medical care in these conditions could make a big difference in mortality rates or are we to believe that infections and other serious conditions where not treated when these kids got measles vaccine. Very Very suspect data you quote. But than again a belief system looks at evidence differently.

[farmilyman]

06:48 PM on 03/08/2011

There are immediate deaths from vaccines and there are later deaths from debilitating diseases that are not reported.

[haximu]

01:49 PM on 03/08/2011

Science is a religion. Much like a priest in a collar, you are expected to believe the men in the white lab coats. They would never lie or falsify their research. They are never wrong. ????

It does not take a scientist to know that injecting babies with toxic heavy metals and substances foreign to the human system is irresponsible and dangerous at best. The flu vaccine
contains insecticides and other agents which attack the immune and nervous system. Most vaccines still contain mercury and thimerosol, a deadly nerve agent used as a chemical weapon in world war II. (despite what the pharm co. tells you)

The symptoms for autism are identical to those of heavy metal poisoning. So to say that vaccines don't cause autism is a fallacy. What these children are experiencing is a form of heavy metal poisoning that is indistinguishable from autism. The source of the poisoning are the vaccines. PERIOD.

"Doctors" and "Scientists" have been barbarically experimenting on humans for the last hundred years. Lobotomies were standard medical practice until the seventies. African American and Native American women were unknowingly sterilized as an underground government campaign to reduce their population for "National Security". AIDS was deliberately given to Africans and Gay populations in NY and S.F.

Most people who claim vaccines are safe aren't even aware of what is in them. Before you drink the Kool Aid, and before you give it to your kids, I suggest you read the ingredients.

[Dyson]

06:40 PM on 03/08/2011

Again, a diatribe of innacurate and intentionally misleading antivaccine propaganda. Are you so afraid of the truth that you have to fabricate scary-sounding stories to frighten people about vaccines? I guess so.

Science is a method, not a religion. It is self correcting and always evolving in it's attempts to seek the truth. It is not infallible, but is far, far better than the alternatives.

So flu vaccines contain "insecticides"? Care to name a few?
"Most vaccines contain mercury and thimerosal"? (What, both of them!!??). Just name me 2 vaccines that contain more than miniscule trace quantities and I'll give a charity of your choice $100.
"Symptoms of autism are identical to heavy metal poisoning"? I think you need to look up mercury toxicity, or google Minimata if you will.
"AIDS deliberately given to Africans and gays"?? This claim needs no comment.

You are so obviously and plainly wrong on just about every "fact" you utter, that I am begining to think you may actually be a provaccine agent provocateur planted here by bigpharma to make the antivaccine crew look even sillier than they are in reality.

[Parkite]

04:35 PM on 03/10/2011

The H1N1 vaccine exceeded the allowable level or mercury in the state of Washington last year.

[haximu]

05:14 PM on 03/10/2011

You are sadly misinformed and mistaken. The flu vaccine contains many harmful ingredients that attack the nervous system, destroy the liver and are carcinogenic.
Google Flu vaccine ingredients and cross reference each one. Here are but a few:

SPAN 85 : Sorbitan Trioleate classified by the Pesticide Network of N.America as a PESTICIDE

ETHYLENE GLYCOL: also used in ANTIFREEZE
PHENOL: Disinfectant. Used by the NAZIS in WWII for rapid execution
FORMALDEHYDE: embalming fluid. Highly toxic.
ALUMINUM: Toxic
BETA PROPIOLACTONE: Carcinogenic.
THIMEROSOL: Derived from mercury.
The list goes on and on. LOOK IT UP

Read the book, or watch the Documentary The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS by Edward Hooper. A well researched and irrefutable study of the origin of AIDS which chronicles the outbreaks in Africa where a "polio" vaccine was forced upon the population who then suddenly contracted AIDS. It also deals with the sudden outbreaks in the gay populations in NY and San Francisco.

I did look up mercury toxicity, and metal poisoning. The symptoms for which, as I stated before are IDENTICAL to Autism. The one who needs to do research here my friend, is you.

Science is neither objective, or infallible. One should question EVERYTHING. If not, then well, you get what you deserve. Many atrocious and murderous things have been done in the name of Science, and many good things as well.

Priests can be a source of comfort and good, they can also rape your children.

[Josephius]

10:55 PM on 03/08/2011

"science is a religion". After reading that first sentence, it's hard to a accept that anything else that follows is worth reading. If you don't understand the key differences starting with this fundamental aspect, it would be no surprise you do not understand the particulars that follow.

Science requires empirical evidence acquired through practicing the scientific method. It's a process to generate verifiable, testator information.

Religion is based on faith. Your diatribe is an excellent example...you want to believe something, regardless of the facts or a sound contextual grasp. More faith than reality.

[haximu]

06:06 PM on 03/10/2011

Science is a religion, and you are one of the sheep in its flock.
Science does not require empirical evidence. It requires that other Scientists agree with the findings of the scientist(s) who is/are presenting the "evidence" in order to preserve the status quo.

Scientists who practice the scientific method and come up with findings which counter the orthodox paradigm are often discredited and marginalized, at best.

Hannenman used the scientific method, and the medical philosophy of Hippocrates (which very few doctors do now) to establish and prove Homeopathy. A highly effective, gentle, and useful form of (vibrational) Medicine that is still not accepted by doctors in this country.

Why? not because it isn't "scientific" but because it goes against the established medical orthodoxy. It is widely used in Europe, and is often the first form of treatment for patients with various illnesses.

Here the problem is clear: One Scientist does not want to believe another, because the other presents one with evidence which crumbles their understanding (faith) of things.

The one here with no "sound contextual grasp" is you. You have no understanding of metaphor, or how one concept can bleed into another. What I am introducing into play here is the reality of human nature and its ability to contaminate all things, of which science is not immune.

If you are unable to see the Religious nature of Science, then you are precisely the followers of which I speak. You are drunk in your belief.

[subdolphin]

10:04 AM on 03/08/2011

Send those vaccines to the US where nobody dares question the wisdom or science of it, lest they suffer the wrath of the media or Hollywood.

[vincealy]

09:28 AM on 03/08/2011

Japan medical authorities appear concerned about the kids .Here...?

[Hank Williams]

02:01 AM on 03/08/2011

The Japanese Ministry has done something very professional and that will save lives. America and CNN has been bought out by big Pharma. CNN didn't even run the story while every other decent news organization did. Oh yeah just a coincidence or SIDS. What a joke Mr. Profitt is. The same coincidence that took place in the Netherlands that was white washed. Japan responsibly removed the MMR vaccines in 1994 due to encephalitis. Japan has a much better more responsible vaccine schedule than the United States. If only the U.S. could emulate Japan where they say safety first then children in america would all be better off. Everyone knows the pharma lies are a joke. Simpsonwood, Mercury and Aluminum in Vaccines, H1N1 Hype, the one sided smearing of Dr. Wakefield, Australia withdrawing flu vaccines, and now the deaths of four japanese children. No matter how many shills they hire the truth will always come out.

[vincealy]

09:36 AM on 03/08/2011

The article does note that "The vaccination began in Japan about a year to two years ago" perhaps they have not developed the 'random event' explanation yet. Imagine health officials actually looking into events .

[Dyson]

06:18 PM on 03/08/2011

I have seldom seen such a concentration of innacurate antivaccine propaganda and misinformation compressed into such a short paragraph.

Perhaps I can enlighten you on your idea that the Japanese are "more responsible" regarding their withdrawl of MMR vaccine in 1994 because of encephalitis.

They did indeed do this, but it was a catastrophic error of judgement. The problem they were concerned about was that of vaccine strain mumps viral meningitis (NOT encephalitis) from the MMR used at the time. This complication (which is entirely benign and which was never shown to cause a single death) occurred in one per 11,000 vaccinations.
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/014067369391069X

As a result of withdrawing MMR, measles became endemic in Japan once again, and it was devastated by multiple outbreaks of measles (and mumps and rubella too) in the succeeding years. In 2000, measles infected 200,000 children, causing at least 88 deaths in that year alone.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673604167159/fulltext

"Responsible"?
Hardly. And you wish the US to emulate Japan?
If that happens you'd do well to invest in the small coffin manufacturing industry, because we will need them.

[Dyson]

06:55 PM on 03/07/2011

There could possibly be a problem with contamination of one of the batches of vaccine.
If there is a report of deaths shortly after administration, it is quite proper to stop or recall the vaccine and investigate the reasons behind the scare. That is correct and appropriate health governance and vaccine stewardship.

A consequence may be that antivaccine campaigners will misuse it as antivax propaganda, but that is a risk that has to be run.

We saw the same with Gardasil in India last year. 6 young women died after vaccination, and the antivax community went ape. However, the causes of the deaths were quite coincidental - drowning, malaria, snakebite and so on. That hasn't stopped the antivaxers dragging out the story at every opportunity. But if any vaccine is suspected, it has to be witheld until it is investigated.

[Murphdogg]

06:20 PM on 03/07/2011

This is just what the tinfoil hat crowd needs. The Japanese health ministry should be ashamed.

[Independent1969]

06:45 PM on 03/07/2011

So you'd rather they keep injecting with something that's harming them?

[Murphdogg]

11:33 AM on 03/08/2011

There is no reported link. There is no reason to believe this had anything at all to do with the vacines.

[shthar]

10:05 PM on 03/07/2011

Yeah! There was a story just last month about how these vaccines were safe. And vaccine companies never make mesteaks.

[healthanalyst]

05:30 PM on 03/07/2011

Four out of a million is not statistically significant. The diseases are the real problem and have a higher death rate. Would be interesting to see what happens on this story.

[Independent1969]

06:45 PM on 03/07/2011

Do you have kids?

[healthanalyst]

08:33 PM on 03/07/2011

Yup. That does not change the facts this could be a totally random event. Life is not fair.

[subdolphin]

08:03 PM on 03/08/2011

Maybe if you look at it in corporate terms, 4 in 1,000,000 is not 6 Sigma.

[healthanalyst]

08:18 PM on 03/08/2011

Six sigma is a joke. Ask any statistician. Just another business fad. It'll pass.

[StephenS]

05:26 PM on 03/07/2011

In a similar happening last year in the Netherlands, health officials concluded that Prevnar (misspelled above) didn't cause the deaths that occurred soon after the vaccination of 3 infants. I hope that's the case here, because pneumonia, meningitis, diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus are all worth vaccinating against.

[spytheweb]

01:14 PM on 03/08/2011

Vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Is There a Link?

http://www.thinktwice.com/sids.htm

[Dyson]

06:24 PM on 03/08/2011

Fully immunized infants actually have a LOWER incidence of SIDS than unimmunized or partially immunized kids.
Go figure.

Reliable information on SIDS and vaccination can be obtained from many valid sources, rather than an antivaccine website.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/sids_faq.html

[Last Gasp]

03:19 PM on 03/07/2011

This would NEVER happen in America. We truly are uncivilized barbarians.

[healthanalyst]

01:50 AM on 03/08/2011

Actually there is a Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, if you have any problems with a vaccine, have your doctor report it. Analysis is only as good as its data. Its run by CDC.

There is also a site to report food poisoning, I believe it was 'eat safe', not as good for analysis but if there are reports after eating at Dagwood's Favorite Chili Shop, they might find the cigarette butts dropped into the chili is the problem. Ideally local health depts would be looking at this system, but most locals are stretched thin dealing with all the ordinary work they do, mainly for under or non insured. But most people just urp and get over it so problems aren't found, this was a way to try to at least solve those problems.

[Pyrum]

05:04 PM on 03/10/2011

Most doctors in America refuse to report anything to VAERS.