Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (9 page)
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Authors: Paul A. Offit M.D.
BOOK: Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All
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Toward the beginning of
Vaccine Roulette
, Thompson stood facing the camera with a book in her hand: the
Physicians’ Desk Reference
, or
PDR
. Published once a year, the
PDR
contains a compendium of package inserts for medicines and vaccines. “The
Physicians’ Desk Reference
, prepared by manufacturers, says the ‘P’ part of the DPT vaccine is a possible link to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,” said Thompson, briefly showing a highlighted section of the book. Thompson should have kept the book on the screen longer, allowing the viewer to read what was actually written. “The occurrence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) following receipt of DTP vaccine has been reported,” it read. “The significance of these reports is unclear. It should be kept in mind that the three preliminary immunizing doses of DTP are usually administered to infants between the ages of 2 and 6 months, and that about 85 percent of SIDS cases occur in the period 1 to 6 months of age.” In other words, the association is likely to be coincidental. Indeed, a study published in 1982 showed that pertussis vaccine didn’t cause SIDS. Despite this evidence Thompson ended her program by saying, “It is difficult to come up with a definitive answer as to how many children are being severely damaged or are dying from the DPT vaccine.”
Vaccine Roulette
, Thompson stood facing the camera with a book in her hand: the
Physicians’ Desk Reference
, or
PDR
. Published once a year, the
PDR
contains a compendium of package inserts for medicines and vaccines. “The
Physicians’ Desk Reference
, prepared by manufacturers, says the ‘P’ part of the DPT vaccine is a possible link to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,” said Thompson, briefly showing a highlighted section of the book. Thompson should have kept the book on the screen longer, allowing the viewer to read what was actually written. “The occurrence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) following receipt of DTP vaccine has been reported,” it read. “The significance of these reports is unclear. It should be kept in mind that the three preliminary immunizing doses of DTP are usually administered to infants between the ages of 2 and 6 months, and that about 85 percent of SIDS cases occur in the period 1 to 6 months of age.” In other words, the association is likely to be coincidental. Indeed, a study published in 1982 showed that pertussis vaccine didn’t cause SIDS. Despite this evidence Thompson ended her program by saying, “It is difficult to come up with a definitive answer as to how many children are being severely damaged or are dying from the DPT vaccine.”
When Lea Thompson introduced the story of Scott Grant, she implied that infantile spasms, a type of seizure, were caused by DTP. Infantile spasms have a unique pattern of brain wave activity on EEG, so they’re easy to diagnose. Because they’re easily diagnosed, they’re easily studied. Five years before
Vaccine Roulette
, a study from Denmark clearly showed that DTP didn’t cause infantile spasms. This study was well known, having been included in review articles and book chapters for several years. Subsequent studies confirmed the Denmark study. Unfortunately, by including Scott Grant’s story, Thompson left her viewers with the false impression that his epilepsy was caused by DTP.
Vaccine Roulette
, a study from Denmark clearly showed that DTP didn’t cause infantile spasms. This study was well known, having been included in review articles and book chapters for several years. Subsequent studies confirmed the Denmark study. Unfortunately, by including Scott Grant’s story, Thompson left her viewers with the false impression that his epilepsy was caused by DTP.
Thompson also understated the severity of pertussis infection. While showing many children with alleged brain damage following vaccination, she showed only one child with whooping cough. And she said that the massive pertussis epidemic in England in the late 1970s—during which thousands of children were hospitalized and hundreds died—wasn’t as bad as doctors had claimed. Gordon Stewart referred to it as the “so-called epidemic.” This created the impression that if Americans stopped giving pertussis vaccine, nothing bad would happen. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics criticized Thompson for failing to point out the devastating effects of whooping cough, she argued that she couldn’t find any evidence that it was a problem in the United States. “In fact, whooping cough disease in this country is almost gone,” she said. In 1982, when
Vaccine Roulette
aired, three thousand children were hospitalized with whooping cough and ten died from the disease.
Vaccine Roulette
aired, three thousand children were hospitalized with whooping cough and ten died from the disease.
Robert Mendelsohn, a self-described medical heretic, was prominently featured in
DPT: Vaccine Roulette
. (Courtesy of WRC-TV/NBC News.)
DPT: Vaccine Roulette
. (Courtesy of WRC-TV/NBC News.)
Perhaps most disturbing, Thompson misrepresented published information. “The 1977
Red Book
lists high fever, collapse, shock-like collapse, inconsolable crying, convulsions, and brain damage as reactions to the DPT vaccine,” she said. “Those complications are associated with varying degrees of retardation.” However, nowhere in the
Pediatric Red Book
of 1977 is pertussis vaccine listed as a cause of brain damage or retardation. William Foege, who had worked on the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox and was head of the CDC, said of
Vaccine Roulette
, “If journalistic malpractice was a recognized entity, I think this program would qualify.”
Red Book
lists high fever, collapse, shock-like collapse, inconsolable crying, convulsions, and brain damage as reactions to the DPT vaccine,” she said. “Those complications are associated with varying degrees of retardation.” However, nowhere in the
Pediatric Red Book
of 1977 is pertussis vaccine listed as a cause of brain damage or retardation. William Foege, who had worked on the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox and was head of the CDC, said of
Vaccine Roulette
, “If journalistic malpractice was a recognized entity, I think this program would qualify.”
Thompson chose several experts to support her contention that pertussis vaccine was dangerous. Her choices were unfortunate.
Early in her program, Thompson introduced Dr. Robert Mendelsohn: “author, lecturer and former head of pediatric departments at the University of Illinois Medical School and the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.” In fact, Robert Mendelsohn had never been the head of pediatric departments at the University of Illinois Medical School or the Michael Reese Hospital.
Mendelsohn had made a career of setting himself against the medical establishment, including writing three books:
Confessions of a Medical Heretic
,
Male Practice: How Doctors Manipulate Women
, and
How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor
. During the program, Mendelsohn said of the pertussis vaccine, “It’s probably the poorest and most dangerous vaccine that we now have,” “the statistics of this country are wrong,” and “the dangers are far greater than any doctors have been willing to admit.” But it wasn’t that Mendelsohn thought that children shouldn’t get pertussis vaccine; he believed they shouldn’t get any vaccines. And it wasn’t only vaccines that he thought were useless; he also opposed water fluoridation, coronary bypass surgery, licensing of nutritionists, and mammography screening for breast cancer.
Confessions of a Medical Heretic
,
Male Practice: How Doctors Manipulate Women
, and
How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor
. During the program, Mendelsohn said of the pertussis vaccine, “It’s probably the poorest and most dangerous vaccine that we now have,” “the statistics of this country are wrong,” and “the dangers are far greater than any doctors have been willing to admit.” But it wasn’t that Mendelsohn thought that children shouldn’t get pertussis vaccine; he believed they shouldn’t get any vaccines. And it wasn’t only vaccines that he thought were useless; he also opposed water fluoridation, coronary bypass surgery, licensing of nutritionists, and mammography screening for breast cancer.
Mendelsohn had enormous disdain for his profession. In 1979, for example, he wrote, “Doctors turn out to be dishonest, corrupt, unethical, sick, poorly educated, and downright stupid more often than the rest of society. When I meet a doctor, I generally figure I’m meeting a person who is narrow-minded, prejudiced, and fairly incapable of reasoning and deliberation. Few of the doctors I meet prove my prediction wrong.” Regarding surgeons, he said in 1983, “There is never enough blood in the hospital temples of Modern Medicine to satisfy the surgeon’s desire as he seduces his victims—primarily women—virgin and otherwise—to mount the holy altar so he can carry out his ritual mutilations. The wild blood-lust, starting with animal vivisection and proceeding to human mutilation, stamps Modern Medicine as the most primitive weapon this world has ever seen.”
Mendelsohn, whose distrust of modern medicine made him a perfect spokesman for Thompson’s program, loved
Vaccine Roulette
, saying it was “the greatest thing since apple pie. For the first time the American people got the truth about pertussis vaccine.”
Vaccine Roulette
, saying it was “the greatest thing since apple pie. For the first time the American people got the truth about pertussis vaccine.”
Thompson also interviewed a microbiologist named Bobby Young, asking him to comment on an apparent government conspiracy to hide the truth. “I was employed at the Bureau of Biologics [part of the Food and Drug Administration] for several years,” said Young, “and it is my opinion that they very much do not wish to know adverse reactions.”
“Why?” asked Thompson.
“Well, this will complicate their lives considerably,” replied Young.
Then Thompson asked Young about Larry Baraff’s study. “The UCLA study found more reactions than had ever been seen before,” she said. “The study estimates that one of every thirteen children had persistent or high-pitched crying after the shot.”
Young replied, “This may be indicative of brain damage in the recipient child.”
There were a few problems with this exchange. First: Thompson implied that Young had worked on the pertussis vaccine while at the FDA, but he hadn’t. Second: Bobby Young had no specific expertise in neurology or pediatrics and had never taken care of a patient, so he was ill-equipped to comment on the relationship between crying and brain damage. It’s not only that crying—high-pitched or otherwise—doesn’t cause permanent harm; even seizures, whether associated with fever or not, do not of themselves cause brain damage. Had Bobby Young been a clinician, he likely would have known that. Finally, and most disturbing, Young appeared to be answering questions about Larry Baraff’s study—impossible, given that Young was interviewed and had died before the study was published. This raised questions about whether Thompson had juxtaposed questions and answers. Thompson denied the allegation. “I am not going to risk my reputation by moving someone’s words around,” she said. “That speaks to my journalistic integrity.”
But Young’s interview wasn’t the only one that raised questions. Ed Mortimer, a former chairman of the AAP’s committee on infectious diseases, said that during his interview Thompson asked the same question “repeatedly in slightly different ways, apparently to develop or obtain an answer that fit with the general tone of the program.” Mortimer felt that “cutting and splicing remarks taken out of context gave a very different meaning from what I intended or what I believe.”
Gordon Stewart was another of Thompson’s experts with questionable credentials.
At the beginning of
Vaccine Roulette
, Thompson introduced Stewart as a member of the United Kingdom’s Committee on the Safety of Medicines. But Stewart had never been a member of that group. Stewart said, “I believe that the risk of damage from the vaccine is now greater than the risk of damage from the disease.” What Thompson didn’t say was that five years earlier, in 1977, Stewart had published an article claiming not only that the pertussis vaccine was unsafe but that it didn’t work. Like Mendelsohn, Stewart believed the decline in pertussis in the United Kingdom had nothing to do with the vaccine; it was simply a matter of improved sanitation. Given abundant evidence that the incidence of pertussis is inversely related to vaccine use, Stewart’s proclamations were at best ill-informed and at worst dangerous. Indeed, in 1977, after British health officials called for a pertussis immunization campaign, Gordon Stewart cried foul. “I accuse the committee [on the safety of medicines] of deceit,” he proclaimed. “There are no grounds for saying a major epidemic is on the way and I don’t agree with the way their figures have been collected.” During the next two years, more than a hundred thousand children were hospitalized and six hundred killed by pertussis.
Vaccine Roulette
, Thompson introduced Stewart as a member of the United Kingdom’s Committee on the Safety of Medicines. But Stewart had never been a member of that group. Stewart said, “I believe that the risk of damage from the vaccine is now greater than the risk of damage from the disease.” What Thompson didn’t say was that five years earlier, in 1977, Stewart had published an article claiming not only that the pertussis vaccine was unsafe but that it didn’t work. Like Mendelsohn, Stewart believed the decline in pertussis in the United Kingdom had nothing to do with the vaccine; it was simply a matter of improved sanitation. Given abundant evidence that the incidence of pertussis is inversely related to vaccine use, Stewart’s proclamations were at best ill-informed and at worst dangerous. Indeed, in 1977, after British health officials called for a pertussis immunization campaign, Gordon Stewart cried foul. “I accuse the committee [on the safety of medicines] of deceit,” he proclaimed. “There are no grounds for saying a major epidemic is on the way and I don’t agree with the way their figures have been collected.” During the next two years, more than a hundred thousand children were hospitalized and six hundred killed by pertussis.
Soon after
Vaccine Roulette
, Gordon Stewart retired. But he didn’t retire from educating the press and the public about infectious diseases. In 1981, one year before Thompson’s program, an unusual organism then called
Pneumocystis carinii
killed five homosexual men in Los Angeles; all of these men had severe immunological deficiencies. The CDC eventually called it Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. At first, no one knew what caused the disease. But by 1983, a group of French researchers headed by Luc Montagnier had found the culprit: a virus later named human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). (Montagnier won a Nobel Prize for his discovery.)
Vaccine Roulette
, Gordon Stewart retired. But he didn’t retire from educating the press and the public about infectious diseases. In 1981, one year before Thompson’s program, an unusual organism then called
Pneumocystis carinii
killed five homosexual men in Los Angeles; all of these men had severe immunological deficiencies. The CDC eventually called it Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. At first, no one knew what caused the disease. But by 1983, a group of French researchers headed by Luc Montagnier had found the culprit: a virus later named human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). (Montagnier won a Nobel Prize for his discovery.)
Stewart didn’t buy it. He took on a medical profession that he believed had been duped into believing that HIV caused AIDS with the same ferocity as those who claimed the pertussis vaccine worked. Stewart believed AIDS was caused by the gay lifestyle, not HIV. In 1995, more than ten years after the discovery and confirmation of HIV as the cause of AIDS, Stewart wrote, “AIDS and AIDS-related complexes develop, with and without HIV, because [foreign proteins] in spermatozoa enter the rectum and bloodstream ... and elicit antibodies which are toxic to [white blood cells].” Stewart didn’t believe HIV caused immune deficiency; he believed sperm in the rectum did it. He also believed yeast infections in homosexual men did the same thing. Stewart blamed the victim, not the virus, writing: “Every time an avowedly homosexual or bisexual rock or film star dies of the disease he is elevated to martyr and hero. Yet it is an unpalatable and unpopular fact, seldom articulated, that those who die of AIDS, like the smokers who die of lung cancer and heart disease, facilitated their own death.” Stewart concluded, “We should take the sentimentality out of AIDS and recognize that the disease is, with few exceptional cases, directly caused by the behavior of the victim. If we do that, it would be better for all concerned.”
In 1995, Stewart also argued against giving azidothymidine, an anti-viral medication, to pregnant women with AIDS. His plea came at a time when AZT had already been shown to prevent transmission of HIV from pregnant women to their unborn babies. His unconscionable rants against AIDS victims, his ill-founded notions about the cause of the disease, and his strident campaign against a valuable drug made Gordon Stewart a target of ridicule.
These were the men Lea Thompson chose to educate the American public about pertussis vaccine.
During
Vaccine Roulette
, Lea Thompson interviewed a personal-injury lawyer named Allen McDowell. McDowell claimed that he had uncovered a conspiracy among doctors to hide the truth about pertussis vaccine. “[In] some institutions that I’ve seen in this state [Illinois],” said McDowell, “certain administrators ... have indicated that they have children there as a result of the DPT. Brain-damaged children.” And he believed that it wasn’t only doctors who covered up the fact that the damage had been caused by the vaccine; vaccine makers were in on it, too. Thompson said that attorneys had accused “the vaccine manufacturers of destroying vaccine records before they [could] be subpoenaed for a DPT lawsuit.” Then Thompson served the home run pitch—the kind of question personal-injury lawyers can only dream about. “Do you think that some children have been damaged by the DPT shot and their parents don’t even know it?” she asked, arguing that the few patients she had described were only the tip of an iceberg—an iceberg of children whose parents could ask Allen McDowell to represent them. “Absolutely,” enthused McDowell. “I don’t think the parents would be aware of [the alleged vaccine harm] and normally the pediatrician, or whoever, the GP, wouldn’t tell them.” Later, Thompson concluded, “What about the children who have already been damaged—who’s helping them? Unless they sue—and many families don’t have the money or don’t want to do that—nobody is helping them to pay the enormous costs that a brain-damaged child brings upon the family.” “A child like [Scottie] deserves to stay out of an institution,” said Marge Grant, seemingly in response to McDowell. “And, unless there’s compensation, you simply cannot do it.” If personal-injury lawyers had wanted to make an infomercial on alleged harm caused by pertussis vaccine, they couldn’t have done much better than
Vaccine Roulette
.
Vaccine Roulette
, Lea Thompson interviewed a personal-injury lawyer named Allen McDowell. McDowell claimed that he had uncovered a conspiracy among doctors to hide the truth about pertussis vaccine. “[In] some institutions that I’ve seen in this state [Illinois],” said McDowell, “certain administrators ... have indicated that they have children there as a result of the DPT. Brain-damaged children.” And he believed that it wasn’t only doctors who covered up the fact that the damage had been caused by the vaccine; vaccine makers were in on it, too. Thompson said that attorneys had accused “the vaccine manufacturers of destroying vaccine records before they [could] be subpoenaed for a DPT lawsuit.” Then Thompson served the home run pitch—the kind of question personal-injury lawyers can only dream about. “Do you think that some children have been damaged by the DPT shot and their parents don’t even know it?” she asked, arguing that the few patients she had described were only the tip of an iceberg—an iceberg of children whose parents could ask Allen McDowell to represent them. “Absolutely,” enthused McDowell. “I don’t think the parents would be aware of [the alleged vaccine harm] and normally the pediatrician, or whoever, the GP, wouldn’t tell them.” Later, Thompson concluded, “What about the children who have already been damaged—who’s helping them? Unless they sue—and many families don’t have the money or don’t want to do that—nobody is helping them to pay the enormous costs that a brain-damaged child brings upon the family.” “A child like [Scottie] deserves to stay out of an institution,” said Marge Grant, seemingly in response to McDowell. “And, unless there’s compensation, you simply cannot do it.” If personal-injury lawyers had wanted to make an infomercial on alleged harm caused by pertussis vaccine, they couldn’t have done much better than
Vaccine Roulette
.
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