Sent to the ST
Editor on 10 Aug 2009. As I expected of our mainstream media, it
didnt get published.
Safety of Swine
Flu vaccine remains unclear
I refer to the article “Pandemic
flu vaccines are safe, says WHO” (7 August).
It is disturbing that mass
vaccinations are being discussed when the public does not have
adequate information about the swine flu
vaccine.
In the Recommendations on pandemic
(H1N1) 2009 vaccines (13 July), the WHO reports that the pandemic
vaccines “have not yet been extensively
evaluated for their safety in certain population groups [and thus],
it is very important to implement post-marketing surveillance of
the highest possible quality”.
For instance, a substance called
squalene designed to intensify vaccine effects to be used in swine
flu vaccines, provoked “chronic, immune-mediated
joint-specific inflammation” in mice according to a 2000 study
published in the American Journal of
Pathology.
During the first Gulf War,
squalene was an unapproved ingredient in an anthrax vaccine that
has since been linked to the Gulf War Syndrome suffered by many
veterans.
In 1976, in response to a supposed
Swine Flu pandemic, the US Government began mass vaccinations which
resulted in a spike in a neurological disorder known as
Guillain-Barré syndrome. Not only did it cause severe
paralysis in thousands of people, but in some cases,
death.
In fact, there is little
correlation between disease decline and vaccination given that the
decline in infectious disease has more to do with improvements in
hygiene and diet practices than to do with mass
vaccinations.
On another note, it is astonishing
why the WHO has tasked Baxter International with the task of
producing a Swine Flu vaccine when it ‘accidentally’ shipped 72
kilograms of bird flu vaccine contaminated with the live wild type
H5N1 bird flu virus between Dec 2008 and Feb 2009 to 16 different
laboratories in 4 European countries. It is unsettling that such
negligence has gone unaccountable.
One should also wonder whether
there may be a conflict of interest given that the WHO has refused
to release the minutes of a July 7 meeting between WHO officials
and executives from Baxter, Novartis and
Sanofi.
In the face of these facts and
more, I urge the Ministry of Health to carefully examine the
consequences of using the swine flu vaccines, in fact any vaccines,
and to be transparent about all possible information regarding its
manufacturing process, safety and effects on humans in keeping with
the Nuremburg Code.