Sunday Express
July 23 2006
Paralysed children's legal fight over MMR
By Lucy Johnston
Health Editor
Two families whose children became paralysed after combined measles, mumps and
rubella jabs have launched legal actions against the drug companies.
Shane Lambert and Fadi Khawaja both developed transverse myelitis - an incurable
disease of the spine - after being given the injection.
Shane, now 11, received the MMR jab at 13 months old, and is now doubly
incontinent and wheelchair bound.
His mother Sandra, 39, from Mansfield, Notts, has been granted legal aid to sue
drug manufacturers Merck.
Fadi, now 22, was given the vaccine when he was 10. The next day he complained
of aches and pains in his body. He became increasingly unwell and after several
days the pain in his legs became so intense that he could not sleep.
His mother Houda, 44, was last week granted legal aid to sue GlaxoSmithKline.
Mrs Khawaja, of Motspur Park, Surrey, said: "He got weaker and weaker until he
couldn't even climb the stairs."
At first Fadi's GP dismissed his symptoms as an infection and prescribed
antibiotics. But the drugs had no effect and Fadi's condition worsened.
He can now only walk small distances using crutches and suffers a range of
debilitating health problems. "Fadi was perfectly healthy and running around
until he had the vaccine," his mother said.
"There is plenty of evidence that the jab and his condition are linked and we
want justice for him."
The two cases are being launched alongside 35 other claims for a range of
medical disabilities associated with the vaccine including brain damage,
epilepsy and deafness.
Parents are seeking legal aid after funding was withdrawn for a group action.
They follow the case of a boy in America who was awarded £32.2 million after
losing the use of his limbs following the triple vaccine. Mario Arturo
Rodriguez, from Washington, developed transverse myelitis after he had the jab
at one year old. Now seven, he was given the money from the American
government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to pay for a lifetime
of round-the-clock-care.
Dr Marcel Kinsbourne, a world leading child brain specialist who was an expert
witness in Mario's case, said "MMR is three live viruses and we know live
viruses can trigger tranverse myelitis."
James Merow, the senior judge in Mario's case, echoed these views when he
concluded: "There is a wealth of persuasive support....for the proposition that
the MMR vaccine can cause transverse myelitis.."
But the Department of Health said there is "no established link" between the MMR
vaccine and transverse myelitis,
Shane's mother Sandra Lambert said: "The MMR jab was the only thing that
happened that could have caused his paralysis.
"I'm cross that the Government don't accept this can happen as the American
health authorities do."
Jackie Fletcher of Jabs, a support group for parents who believe their children
have been damaged by vaccines, said: "This mantra of all vaccines are safe and
all adverse events are a coincidence cannot be sustained by the Department of
Health without the consequences of parents shunning vaccines."
Merck would not comment, and no one was available to speak for
GlaxoSmithKline.
Sunday Express Opinion
July 23 2006
Clear up the MMR mystery
The decision to allow legal aid for two families in their fight for compensation
against the makers of the MMR vaccine will be a worry to millions of mums.
The families in court have children they say were crippled by side-effects from
the controversial triple vaccine jab and are citing a recent American case where
a similar victim was awarded £32 million.
What is going on here? In Britain the Department of Health steadfastly maintains
that the MMR vaccination is safe. It is backed by medical authorities. But many
mothers believe their children have contracted autism from the jab. Others have
been refused the option of taking the vaccine in separate stages. Now, because
of missed jabs, measles and mumps are on the rise.
Tony and Cherie Blair should have set an example and told us whether their son
Leo had the MMR jab. Then we'd all know just how safe they thought it was.
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY – YOU MAGAZINE 23rd July 2006 – Page 63
HEALTH NOTES
Sarah Stacey
Latest twists in the MMR debate
The MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination has been controversial for
more than a decade. My experience goes back to the mid-1990s, when I interviewed
a government scientist who admitted there were risks of encephalopathy
(degenerative brain disease) but didn’t think it was in the public interest to
publicise them. Then, in 1998, following research by Dr Andrew Wakefield and his
team at the Royal Free Hospital, London, a link was suggested between MMR and
children who, after being vaccinated, developed autism and bowel disease, known
as autistic enterocolitis. (The other doctors later retracted this
interpretation of the research findings.)
In 2002, a group of scientists in Dublin found fragments of the vaccine-strain
measles virus in the guts of a group of children with this syndrome. Now, early
reports from researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in
North Carolina, who are examining 275 children with regressive autism, show that
of the 82 tested so far, 70 have tested positive for the measles virus in the
guts. Two more groups, in America and Switzerland, will report soon.
None of the scientists has claimed there is proof positive that MMR causes
autistic enterocolitis, but they say there is cause for concern and more
research is vital. A Department of Health spokesperson, however, told me: ‘MMR
is the safest and most effective way of protecting children.’
A review of 31 articles by the independent Cochrane Library does not agree,
concluding that: ‘The design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine
studies, both pre- and post-marketing, are largely inadequate.’
London GP and writer Dr Richard Halvorsen has spent seven years investigating
this topic in depth. He says: ‘The evidence suggests to me that the MMR vaccine
triggers autism and bowel disease in a small minority of susceptible children.’
The children most likely to be at risk include those with pre-existing bowel
problems (such as diarrhoea), who have had repeated infections and recurrent
courses of antibiotics. ‘It seems possible that giving the live measles virus
with two other live viruses is too much for the compromised immune systems of
these susceptible children, so it gets left in the bowel and this may be the
cause of the ongoing problems,’ says Dr Halvorsen.
He advocates single vaccinations (‘which the NHS should provide’), starting with
measles, ideally at 15 months for maximum effectiveness. ‘This probably reduces
the risks dramatically,’ he says, ‘and is as, or more, effective than the
combined MMR.’ He recommends a gap of six to 12 months before another
vaccination, to enable the child’s body to get rid of the virus.
Since no vaccination is 100 per cent effective, the government recommends two
MMR vaccinations at one and four years; but Dr Halvorsen prefers children to
have a blood test to see if the first measles vaccination has taken effect.
Mumps and rubella pose a lesser risk to children (and one-third of girls given
two MMRs are likely to lose immunity to rubella by their early 20s anyway), so
he suggests parents consider whether they want infants to be vaccinated against
these, or to have a blood test in their teens.
For more information, visit Dr Halvorsen’s website,
www.holbornmedicolservices.com.
For data on vaccine-damaged children and single-jab clinics, visit
www.jabs.org.uk
E-mail Sarah at
s.stacey@you.co.uk
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