Death following vaccination - lack of reporting
The other day, I received the following email from one of our members.
Hi Meryl
Do you have any ideas where to start?
My friend’s baby died last week, the same day that it was vaccinated. The baby was only 6 weeks old and the parents were told it was healthy and normal, given vaccinations then died that night. They have told the parents it is SIDS. They are none the wiser and are grieving and I do not know where to start regarding getting information to them about vaccine related death.
ideas?
thank you
SIDS is defined as the sudden and unexplained death of a previously healthy child. One would expect that this would mean a child who hadn’t just received a vaccination, a panadol, antibiotics or any other treatment which is KNOWN to be associated with injury and death in an unknown number of people.
The fact that this child died the same day that it was vaccinated is not proof that the vaccine is responsible for the death. It is, however, reason for further investigations.
Claiming that this death was SIDS without reporting the fact that the child had died within a short space of time of receiving a vaccine (or any other medical treatment) is something that should not be occurring - especially after Australia’s experience with the flu vaccination in Western Australia.
Reports need to be made even if the practitioner doesn’t think that the event is related to the treatment. Here is what the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) says:
What to report?
(you do not need to be certain, just suspicious!)
ADRAC encourages the reporting of all suspected adverse reactions to medicines, including vaccines, OTC medicines, herbal, traditional or alternative remedies. ADRAC particularly requests reports of:
ALL suspected reactions to new drugs (see drugs of current interest)
ALL suspected drug interactions
Suspected reactions causing
Death
Admission to hospital or prolongation of hospitalisation
Increased investigations or treatment
Birth defects
It is possible that this child received a vaccine that came from an especially ‘hot lot’. It is possible that the fact that this went unreported might mean that more children would get vaccines from this lot and the connection may not be made soon enough, leading to more deaths and more serious reactions.
When the Western Australian government commissioned the Stokes Report, they did so because Australia’s reaction reporting schemes are disjointed and inadequate; they did so because doctors were not reporting reactions or, if they did report, they were not doing so in a timely manner.
It appears that the recommendations made by Mr Stokes are still not being followed.
To withhold reaction reports is to place individuals at risk. This should be considered a crime and penalised as such.
I hope that the family involved in this case will take matters into their own hands and report their child’s death either to the AVN via our website or to the TGA website and report it directly by going to this page and clicking on the menu link (left hand side) - Reporting Problems.
You may also FAX reaction reports to the TGA on 02 6232 8392 or by email to ADR.Reports@tga.gov.au.
For some more reading on this subject, you may want to check out the following links:
Position paper on the role of vaccines in SIDS by Hilary Butler
Sudden High-Pitched Scream in Infant
SIDS and Seizures by Dr Harris Coulter
And this page with citations on SIDS and Vaccination from the Whale site