I have extensive info on polio in my book. Polio started in the late 19th century at the time scientsts were experimenting with "serum therapy' Prior and during WWI the New York times was hotly debating whether polio or flu were more lethal.

Eva

http://www.mercola.com/2002/jul/10/smallpox_outbreak.htm Will Three Unlicensed Smallpox Vaccines Be Used to Immunize 500,000 Americans?

An estimated 500,000 first responders, lab and hospital workers will receive smallpox vaccine, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced yesterday. This is an interesting announcement, because to my knowledge there exist no FDA-licensed smallpox vaccines. There are three vaccine candidates whose safety and efficacy are uncertain at this time.

The first vaccine made available was named Dryvax, which was pulled out of storage after approximately thirty years. Initial reports indicated that a 1:5 dilution yielded 70% efficacy. However, recent reports indicated that this diluted old vaccine was nearly 100% effective.

Which is it?

Furthermore, a 1999 report in Science noted that the rubber seals on the vials were deteriorating, and that 1/4 of the vials "were suspect." Are the suspect vials being diluted to make new vaccine also?

The second vaccine comes from the Aventis stockpile, allegedly "lost" for decades. Millions of doses of vaccine do not get lost. Vaccine lots are required to have a documented testing history, and both the manufacturer and FDA should have records on file of the dates the lots were released and their specifications at the time. For both these ancient vaccine stockpiles, there exists no approved method by which FDA can legally "relicense" them for current use based on test results generated today. There is no way long-expired product can be "regenerated" for licensure within current FDA regulations.

The third vaccine candidate is the Acambis (previously Oravax, using Baxter as subcontractor) smallpox vaccine. This is a new vaccine whose makeup, as well as its safety and efficacy profile, have not been publicly discussed. The FDA finalized a rule May 30, 2002 for accepting animal tests in lieu of human tests for efficacy of bioterrorism drugs and vaccines. This opens the door for the new vaccine to receive a full FDA license.

An article in this month's Emerging Infectious Diseases (CDC) by James LeDuc and Peter Jahrling et al indicates that the Acambis vaccine is in Phase I trials and licensure is not expected until sometime in 2003.

When will the public and medical professionals learn all the details needed to make an informed decision about using this new product? This information is not releasable by FDA until after licensure. One hopes that the vaccine will not be used until adequate safety testing has taken place: Phase I trials do not provide thorough information on drug and vaccine safety.

It thus appears that three unlicensed vaccines may soon be available for use in 500,000 Americans. Potentially severe consequences are anticipated in those with eczema, HIV infection, other forms of immune deficiency, and cancers (who are receiving radiation or chemotherapy). There may be other, unknown risk factors that predispose to serious vaccine complications.

The anticipated extent of spread of the varicella virus to contacts of the 500,000 has not been publicly discussed, nor have measures to minimize such spread, although taking such steps is a very important part of protecting the health of contacts. Recall that most of the 500,000 are involved in direct patient care: their contacts are the very people most at risk of varicella's spread.

Are the 500,000 expected to acquiesce to receiving an experimental vaccine(s)? Will they be asked to sign an informed consent, and will the consent ask them to give up any rights to compensation for injuries sustained as a result of vaccination? Will they be placed into clinical trials comparing the three vaccine candidates? Who will pay for deaths and injuries to these vaccine recipients that occur as a result of vaccination? Who will pay for deaths and injuries in their contacts?

Does it make good sense to perform this experiment with all our nation's first responders and a sizable chunk of our lab techs and physicians? Or does it make more sense to start vaccinations slowly and observe closely for problems, so they can be mitigated prior to vaccinating large numbers of critical personnel?

I am a primary care physician with a hospital practice, and I may be one of the designated half million. I daresay that if offered the vaccine, I will not be a "taker". How many of the 500,000 intend to comply with this DHHS directive?

http://wire.ap.org/?FRONTID=SCIENCE

By LAURA MECKLER
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP)
Federal health officials are quietly making plans for quarantining Americans who might be exposed to a highly contagious smallpox patient, addressing sensitive questions of how to hold people, possibly against their will, in case of a bioterror attack.

The planning, still in draft form, addresses complex logistical and policy questions, including where people would be kept while waiting for officials to confirm a smallpox case and, if necessary, administer vaccinations.

``It's not pretty to think through these type of doomsday scenarios, but it's important to start to put yourself there and imagine things unfolding if you want to anticipate how to react,'' said Dr. Marty Cetron, a quarantine expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Within the next few weeks, the plan will be circulated among top federal officials and others involved in the preparation, said Cetron, who co-chairs a CDC working group on the issue.

The group began with this scenario: Officials get word that an international flight is headed for the United States with a smallpox-infected passenger aboard. The case would be fairly easy because the people would be in one place and health officials wouldn't have to track them down.

Still, if the passengers weren't held for treatment, CDC experts estimate that a plane filled with 500 people including one with smallpox could result in dozens - maybe hundreds - of sick people, including passengers on the plane who got sick and the people they would infect.

The vaccine is only effective within four days of someone being exposed to smallpox, so if people leave the scene it would be difficult to find them in time.

Under the plan, officials would stress that people would be better off staying in quarantine because that's where the vaccine and other medications would be available. That's a big change from past centuries, when people in quarantine were written off, Cetron said.

``All the goodies will be delivered inside the box,'' he said. ``It's a fundamental difference to spend as much, if not more attention, on monitoring and preserving the health on the people inside the box.''

Once planning is complete for this scenario, the CDC group plans to tackle more complicated situations, such as a smallpox patient in a sports stadium or an infected person wandering through an airport.

Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, but samples of the deadly virus still exist in both the United States and Russia. Bioterrorism experts consider the possibility of a smallpox attack one of the most frightening, albeit unlikely, threats because one infected patient could infect many others.

Routine immunizations against smallpox in the United States ended in 1972, meaning many Americans have no protection against the disease. Federal officials are now considering vaccinating as many as 500,000 health care workers and emergency personnel who would be first to see any smallpox case. But because the vaccine carries significant risks, including death, officials do not want to resume mass vaccinations - a point President Bush made Monday.

``I worry about calling for a national vaccination program and that it could cause a loss of life,'' Bush said at a White House news conference.

Rather, the plan is to vaccinate others only if they are exposed to the virus, or exposed to someone who is exposed. Another alternative - one endorsed Monday in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - would be mass vaccinating all Americans if a smallpox case emerged. The authors of that study predicted significantly fewer people would die using a mass vaccination strategy.

The airliner scenario is not entirely fictitious. In December, a flight from Taiwan bound for Newark, N.J., was delayed for about four hours in Seattle after an anonymous tipster told U.S. Customs Service agents that a passenger had smallpox. It turned out to be a hoax, but the situation provided a real-life example of how people on the plane reacted.

``People got really scared because they sat there on a plane for two hours without any idea what was going on,'' said Kristy Lillibridge, an epidemiologist who is part of the CDC working group.

The draft CDC plan calls for taking the airplane to a hangar or another facility where passengers can get off without going into the airport, she said. The suspicious passenger would be isolated from the others, but everyone would be kept in quarantine while officials did tests to determine if the passenger was in fact infected with smallpox.

Still unresolved: how long to keep people if a smallpox exposure is confirmed. Options include one to two days, or long enough to give the shots; seven days, long enough to see if the vaccination worked; or 17 days, when no one would be contagious anymore.

``It is such a sensitive topic. Those kinds of decisions, to actually use a quarantine, will be made at very high levels,'' Cetron said.

Other elements of the plan, officials said, include:

• If possible, diverting the flight to one of eight international airports where the CDC has quarantine operations in place, or to another airport where the local public health authorities are prepared to handle the case.

• Creating clear messages and announcements to deliver to passengers, including those that would be read by the pilot while they are still on the plane.

• Providing beds, restrooms, food and access to medication for anyone in quarantine.

Subject: WARNING! VACCINES CONTAIN MADCOW BRAIN EATER
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;
$sessionid$4TIW2DYAAGFCPQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?Xml=
/news/2002/07/06/npolio06.xml
&sSheet=/news/2002/07/06/ixhome.html&_r%20
equestid=87005&_requestid=127489&_
requestid=209641&_requestid=313695
 
Drugs agency 'failed' on BSE in vaccine risk
By David Derbyshire, Medical Correspondent
(Filed: 06/07/2002)

The drugs safety watchdog was criticised yesterday for allowing polio vaccines made from banned cattle products to be given to hundreds of thousands of people.

Prof Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said the Medicines Control Agency should have taken extra care and acted more proactively to stop the potential contamination with BSE infected material in the late 1990s.

Although he stressed that there was no health risk, he accused drugs companies of giving inaccurate information about vaccines and called on the MCA to monitor the industry more carefully.

His report investigated a brand of oral polio vaccine recalled in October 2000 after fears that it could be contaminated with BSE.

The vaccine, one of two used in Britain, was made using British foetal calf serum dating from the mid 1980s.

Sir Liam said the health risk from the vaccine was "incalculably small" and that all vaccines since 2000 had been made with serum from BSE-free countries. That conclusion was backed up by a report from the Committee on Safety of Medicines, also published yesterday.

However, Sir Liam said: "Of more significance and concern is the fact that this problem was not identified by the MCA. The agency is very reliant on information supplied to it by pharmaceutical companies. A more proactive approach might have identified the problem with the oral polio vaccine."

When the MCA became aware of the problem, "there was not a sufficient awareness of the potential seriousness of the situation and of the importance of reviewing rapidly the need for precautionary action", he said.

In 1989, the MCA asked all pharmaceutical companies about their stocks of bovine material. Wellcome, the original manufacturer of the polio vaccine, told the MCA that its supply of British calf serum used for vaccines would have been used up by 1994.

Production of the vaccine changed hands during the late 1990s, passing to Evans Medical, which changed its name to Medeva before being sold to Celltech. In 2000 an audit revealed that British calf serum was still being used in the vaccine. By then, the product had been banned.

"It was apparent to many that the transfer of oral polio vaccine manufacture from Wellcome to Evans could be problematic," said Sir Liam. "The MCA might have been expected to know this and to have taken extra care."

The MCA should review its procedures for checking on the validity of information from drugs companies, he said.

If a company makes an important health product and is being taken over, information on the manufacturing process should be disclosed to the new buyers - even if there is no legal duty, he said.

Following the report, the Government admitted that it had given "incorrect or misleading" information to the House of Commons over whether vaccines complied with guidance.

Hazel Blears, the public health minister, said "inaccurate advice" from the MCA was to blame. Contrary to earlier advice, the guidelines had never ruled out the use of UK derived bovine material, she said. Statements that the MCA would not licence any product that did not comply with the guidelines were also wrong. In fact, the MCA could licence products that did not fully comply.

And despite earlier reassurances to the contrary, some highly processed fats from cattle were found in finished vaccines, although there was no health risk, she said.

Calf foetal serum is used as a culture medium in vaccine production. It is is "washed out" in the final stages and should not be present in the vaccine given to patients. Vaccines now use bovine material from Australia, New Zealand, the US or Canada.

SEE ALSO:

VERY IMPORTANT ARTICLES ON LETHAL AND DEBILITATING VACCINES
VACCINE AWARENESS http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/vaccine_awareness.html

Wholesale Vaccinations Potentially Dangerous http://www.americanfreepress.net/Alternative_Health /Wholesale_Vaccinations_Potenti/wholesale_vaccinations_potenti.html

Apocalypse cow: vaccines, mad cows and the new york times http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id930/pg1/

Protecting Yourself from Occult Biowarfare http://www.steamshovelpress.com/healingcodes.html

**COPYRIGHT NOTICE**
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

CCHC's 8-Point Summary of CDC Smallpox/Quarantine Proposal

Index of smallpox articles on VacLib.org site.