Reactions to vaccination - are they really rare?

We are often told that vaccine reactions are incredibly rare - with only 1 in a million suffering any ill effects after their shots. I thought that I might share with you all the letter and two phone calls I received today regarding vaccine reactions. Perhaps the only thing 'rare' about reactions is having them either admitted to or reported by the medical community?

Dear Meryl,

Many years ago, my daughter contracted measles following her MMR vaccination. This was followed by meningitis / encephalitis, causing certain brain scarring.

Later in life, she had a baby and when the baby's immunisation was due, I became concerned and contacted the Infectious Diseases Department at the Royal Children's Hospital where I was told that this was an "at risk" baby because of her mother's complications and would require special attention. But the local doctor here assured my daughter she would be fine.

It was then I heard of the AVN and phoned to tell them of my concerns. They were very helpful and suggested that I take note of all batch numbers, lot numbers and expiry dates of everything injected into this baby.

We purchased Infanrix (the purer form of the vaccine) and the baby was vaccinated in hospital.

Within weeks, the baby suffered many convulsions, spent time in hospital and became vaccine damaged.

It took 18 months to have her registered with the health department as suffering adverse events following immunisation - and this would never have been accomplished without being able to present them with all the information that Meryl and the AVN suggested that I obtain.

It's been an ongoing and continuing battle with speech therapy, learning disability, paediatricians etc, but she is 12 years old now and really trying hard to learn.

Two more children born later have not been vaccinated and are perfectly well and healthy.

Thank you to you Meryl and the AVN for your continuing support. May others benefit from your knowledge and courage.

JH

Shortly after opening the mail this morning to find this letter, I received a phone call from a woman who has had a serious reaction to the seasonal flu vaccine. This woman who is in her 50s and has been incredibly fit, playing basketball 3 times a week as well as other sports and working full time. She got the seasonal flu vaccine in mid-April of this year at work.

She began to experience strange symptoms and a week after getting the shot, whilst at a friend's christening, her sister and sister-in-law both asked why it was she was squinting. She answered that she didn't know - she just felt that she couldn't keep her eyes open properly. She was also continually blinking.

Within days, she was unable to drive her car at night because her eyes were so sensitive to light, she was blinded behind the wheel when another car approached.

Stranger still, being on the computer at work affected her ability to speak. If she would look at the monitor, her jaw began to spasm and she was unable to speak. The same thing happened when she watched TV and when she had to speak to people. If she kept her eyes closed, she was able to speak properly, but as soon as she opened her eyes, the spasming and problems talking would start (she had her eyes closed whilst speaking with me).

Her work had to let her go and right now, they are fighting to keep her off of workers' compensation.

She called the company that had administered the vaccine and went through all her symptoms with them. After spending a long time with them on the phone, she asked the person on the other end what the next step was. Oh, they said, there is no next step. She asked who they would be reporting the reaction to and they said that they would not be reporting it at all. They also told her that 99% of people who get the flu shot are not affected by it. What about the 1% who are though, she asked? There was no answer.

At this point in the conversation, I mentioned that she was constantly clearing her throat and asked if she was aware of that.

Yes, she said - that started after the shot too. She always feels as though she has a lump in her throat and her sister actually looked down her throat and says she saw a lump there.

I asked if she had been given any medication after her reaction and she said that she had seen her GP when her symptoms first started and that the doctor did no tests but diagnosed her with a sinus infection and put her on antibiotics and a nasal spray that cost her $72! She said that this did her no good.

She began to have headaches constantly starting a couple of weeks after the shot and she had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance. They told her that there was nothing wrong with her and that she should see a psychologist.

The headaches didn't stop though so about 2 weeks ago, she was booked into hospital for an MRI. By this time, she was having a really hard time getting around - even on public transport. With great difficulty, she took a bus to the hospital and had the MRI. She took the bus home and as soon as she got off and was crossing the road to her house, she got a call from the hospital telling her to come back in because they wanted to the MRI again - only with dye this time!

A few days ago, she made an appointment to speak with her GP about the results of the MRI. The doctor could not make heads or tales of the radiologist's report so while this woman was in the office, the doctor called to speak with the MRI operator who told her that there was a lesion at the base of this woman's brain. The doctor asked what the next step was and the MRI operator said - nothing - that lesion appeared on the MRI that had no dye but on the next MRI, nothing was found at that location but an artefact. Neither the doctor nor this woman really understood what that meant.

This woman has an appointment to see a neurologist next month and we will be following up with her to see how she goes. We are also reporting her reaction to the government.

A couple of hours later, I received a phone call from another woman who has a 5-year old child with cerebral palsy.

This woman told me that her daughter had been walking and talking perfectly until she got her MMR vaccine at about 18 months of age. Within a few days, she started to limp and stopped talking. Slowly, she lost most of her muscle control.

She was put through a battery of tests and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

I told this woman that it was very rare for a child to develop cerebral palsy after birth since it was usually congenital and she said that she was aware of that. The doctor told her though that her daughter had the brain damage from birth and it just appeared after the vaccine was administered! One really has to wonder how they get away with telling these lies?

This little girl is now on botulin toxin to help her control her involuntary movements and the mother has 3 other children who she is being pressured into vaccinating though she does not want to.

I reassured her that vaccinations are not compulsory for any reason for children in Australia and that the decision to vaccinate is absolutely hers alone.

At this point, she told me that the reason why she was calling is because she wanted to get her daughter's medical records but when she told the doctor that she would not be giving this little girl any more vaccines, the doctor refused to provide the records to her and said that the records were owned by the doctor - not the mother - so she was not entitled to them.

This woman is now looking for an ACNEM doctor who will treat her with more respect to help her take care of her family. She is also filling in an adverse reaction report form which we will report to the government.

Oh, one more thing. She said that the conscientious objection forms she filled in for her children have been lost by the ACIR so she needs to go back and get them done again. This happens all the time. So often that it is hard to imagine it is accidental.

I advised her to get the forms and to send the original AFTER making and keeping a copy. Then, when they get lost next time, she won't need to make another appointment with the doctor and instead, she can just photocopy the form she has and send it off again. I suggest that anyone who is filling in a conscientious or medical exemption form for their children do the same.