The Medscape one-on-one dialogue with Dr. Paul Offit, the author of the book ‘Deadly Choices: How the Anti-vaccine Movement Threatens Us All’ brought my attention to the indiscriminate vaccination boosted by commerce and big money insulting Nature’s delicate immune system. Paul Offit is Co-inventor of the Rota Teq(R) vaccine, an immunologist and virologist becomes more emotional and critical of Dr. Wakefield at personal level who reported development of autism in children within a month of immunization with MMR vaccine (combination of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines) and Anti-vaccine groups (National Vaccine Information Centre, Safe Minds, Moms Against Mercury and Generation Rescue) stating that it is not proved in larger studies. Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of the authors of the book, ‘You: Having A Baby’ feels strongly against vaccines and believes that vaccines may be doing more harm than good, that children should not get as many as they do. Celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, Kelly support anti-vaccine movement, demanding researchable statistics for assessing vaccine risk and not ubiquitous hand outs dished out at Pediatrician’s office stating world wide statistics – like rotavirus killing 500000 children annually. Kelly writes that our children are plagued with chronic illness today and parents are going to be looking at all aspects of their child’s environment – including vaccine. Whether you like it or not, the more vaccines that are added to the already packed schedule, the more stats and proof parents will want their children really are facing life threatening risks, adds Kelly. One mother politely waits for a physical health officer to explain the idea of herd immunity and her decision not to have her own child vaccinated could cause others to fall sick. There are 16 diseases on the US childhood and adolescent vaccination roster, adds US Centre for Disease Control. Further Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it will commit US $10 billion over next 10 years for research and development and delivery of vaccines to the world’s poorest. The poor people require better nutrition than controversial vaccines and becoming guinea pigs in the developing countries with weak healthcare infrastructure. With the increase in number of immunizations in pipeline, the research and statistics should be more transparent and accountable to convince the increasing population with skepticism in the need for vaccines for each and every disease prevention. Dr. Kim Mulholland, Professor of Child Health and Vaccinology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, points out lack of research into the public health effect of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in developing countries to prevent pneumonia, says: ‘The vaccines are being rolled out without appropriate supportive research and with major doubts about their effectiveness in the field (www.thelancet.com, 10,150,2010). CDC is concerned that the new H1N1 flu virus could result in a particularly severe flu season this year. CDC hopes that people will start to go out and get vaccinated against seasonal influenza. It is unlikely to provide protection against novel H1N1 influenza. As soon as H1N1 vaccine is ready in the fall, the same is advised along-side seasonal flu vaccine to identified vulnerable groups (www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/acip.htm). Can we afford to administer so many vaccines similar to pain killers in each season and disturb the intricate defense (immunity) system? A rational analysis suggests the need for research in developing a therapeutic vaccine than prophylactic vaccine for disease control and management. This requires immediate attention by the industry and support by the funding agencies.
Living organisms are endowed with survival instinct and empowered to survive against odds and unhelpful environment. It is important not to disturb immunological balance or homeostasis. By our ignorance of Nature’s ways of survival, let us not give rise to new monsters in bacteria and viruses. The concept of immunity has intrigued mankind for thousands of years. Innate (non specific) immunity refers to the basic resistance to disease, the first line of defense against infection. Adaptive immunity may be natural or acquired. Natural immunity occurs through contact with a disease causing agent, when the contact was not deliberate, whereas acquired immunity develops through immunization involving production of antigen specific antibody and release of various cytokines by sensitized cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Some of the lymphokines are double edged weapons with regulatory function in immune responses to infection. There is a delicate balance between different immune components. The less we interfere with the subtle defense system the better we are.
Coming to the vaccine trials in the home front, there was a news item that 14000 tribal girls in the 10-14 age group in Khammam were administered controversial HPV vaccine which is claimed to prevent cervical cancer. Four died after they allegedly developed complications but reported as suicides. Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) announces that US, FDA has approved cervarix for the prevention of cervical pre-cancers and cervical cancer associated with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 for use in girls and young women (aged 10-15). Further states that cervarix does not protect against disease caused by all HPV types. Approximately 100 types of HPV have been identified to date and of these, approximately 15 virus types are known to cause cervical cancer. However, aggressive marketing and canvassing starts by drug firms for its mass use for prevention in spite of its limitations. While cervarix offers superior protection against cervical cancer, Gardasil provides protection against general warts too. The doctor faces the dilemma of advising prophylactic vaccine and that too with increasing number each day knowingly that it is not full proof against prevention. It is time to ponder over whether it is justified to disturb the immune balance and give rise to increase in health problems of allergy, asthma, immune tolerance, inflammation, susceptibility to infection and creation of more virulent and resistant viruses and bacteria.
June 03, 2011 Prof. B.C. Harinath
