Fresno Bee DPT report 1984
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[This was the last real media investigation into a childhood vaccine.  1984, a fitting date.  And in a provincial paper.  Nothing has slipped past the censors since.]

Vaccine’s a lifesaver---and a hazard
Damage lawsuits settled for millions
Doctor didn't start out to be medical gadfly
First US research was in '78, halted early
Vaccine hurts 1 child in 15,000, or 100,000, or 300,000, or.....
Recalls of unsafe vaccine are rare
Orange juice cans have more accurate lables.
Tennessee cluster stirs inquiries
Are doctors told enough?

"Dr. Kevin Geraghty, Bay Area Physicians for the Study of Pertussis Vaccines:   "The UCLA study showed one in 600 kids have shock like episodes. That is not controversial......I’m convinced in my heart of hearts that 100 American infants a year are dying and another 250 are brain-damaged from DPT. I would be prepared to clinically defend that to scientists." Geraghty believes as many as one in 15,000 children suffer brain damage and as many as one in 35,000 die following DPT vaccination."---Fresno Bee, DPT report 1984.

In a report that has been produced in lawsuits against the manufacturers Deitch reported to eight other Wyeth doctors that Baraff was studying reactions to DPT vaccine and that "far from the expected incidence of one in 15,000 immunizations, there have been five out of 1,500 or an incidence of one in 300 of generalized seizures" Deitch said all the reactions had occurred in infants less than 6 months old.

"It’s ludicrous," Geraghty said. "Why should I be able to read the label on an orange juice can and find out what’s in it, and yet not have information on the exact amount of the two chief toxins I’m injecting into babies?

    Also during the UCLA study, two deaths occurred following DPT vaccinations The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office recorded both as apparent crib deaths.
    The deaths were disclosed in the researchers’ final report to the FDA in March 1980, but they were not included in published articles. The UCLA researchers’ articles appeared in the journal Pediatrics in late 1981 and in January 1984.
    Manclark who was on the UCLA team and now directs the FDA’s pertussis branch, said the deaths were not reported because "they were outside the study." They occurred at 88 and 90 hours after the DPT shot, but the study was limited to reactions within 48 hours. First US research was in '78, halted early

Geraghty KC.  DTP immunization and SIDS.J Pediatr. 1984 Jul;105(1):169-71. No abstract available.PMID: 6610735 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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