Pharma Wants No Liability for Vaccine Injuries

[Sheri Nakken]

this is HUGE part of what is going on.........the scare tactics and hype
over so-called Avian flu
Sheri
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1347
FreeMarketNews.com

PHARMAS SEEK FLU VACC. SUIT SHIELD

Friday, October 14, 2005

In Europe, Asia, South and North America governments clamor for bird flu
vaccines - and they may have them so long as the pharmaceutical companies
are indemnified against lawsuits. The U.S. Senate has already approved an
amendment by Senator Tom Harkin [D-IA], adding $3.9 billion to a military
appropriation for preparations for the expected outbreak. That money is
earmarked for stockpiling medications to combat the virus, if it does occur,
and also, reportedly for "immunity from lawsuits if a vaccination causes
harm," according to an article in the Washington insider publication, The
Hill.

The additional money is not something that either the administration nor
Capitol Hill wants to bring to the attention of consumers, perhaps for fear
of casting doubt on the efficacy of the vaccines that are to be developed.
Yet it does, again, raise questions about vaccines in general that have
become increasingly strident in the wake of the controversy regarding the
mercury-containing vaccine preservative Thimerosol which is held by some to
trigger developmental conditions such as autism. Thimerosol, ironically, has
been removed from most vaccines but is still generally found in those for
the flu.

As the Internet has again made non-mainstream reporting feasible, those
health care practitioners working outside of the pharmaceutical/medical
model along with concerned parents and other consumer watchdog groups have
begun to question not only the safety of vaccines with thimerosol,but the
efficacy of vaccines in general. There is a case to be made, for instance -
one that apparently includes strong epidemiological evidence - that the
vaccinations developed for some original diseases such as smallpox and polio
were seen as efficacious not because they worked but because these diseases
were actually fading fast as a result of the industrial revolution, better
nutrition and better hygiene. According to this theory, vaccines have been
given credit for alleviating or even eradicating diseases that would not
have persisted in any case.

What is certainly true is that vaccines were far more controversial at the
turn of the last century than they are today; in fact, critics increasingly
hold that there has been a fairly disciplined campaign over the years to
remove negative information from the historical literature and from popular
reference books such as Encyclopedias as well. The controversy may yet
continue to build given that vaccine manufacturers already have to struggle
with various uncomfortable points including a recent CDC study that
confirmed the 2004 flu vaccine only had a beneficial effect on between 5-15%
of those who received it.

Meanwhile, those who cite the Spanish Flu epidemic as a reason to distribute
bird flu vaccine may be leaving out a point cited by at least some
historical annals of that pandemic currently available on the 'Net - that
Spanish Flu was the result, at least partially, of an Allied vaccine program
and a subsequent inoculation campaign by vaccine manufacturers to use up
stock at the end of the war. These aggressive measures combined with the
wretched health and hygiene of the First World War and the dissemination
into civilian society of tends of thousands of infected men helped create
the pandemic which killed millions. Also down the memory hole is apparently
a popular saying of the time that vaccinations killed up to seven times more
soldiers than pandemic itself.

Today, there is no specific human-mutated bird flu virus that calls for a
vaccine and thus, in fact, one cannot exist. Yet as a result of the
possibility that a bird flu vaccine might at some point be needed, the U.S.
government, according to the New Scientist, has managed to recreate the
Spanish Influenza virus and has actually tested it in a "heavily
quarantined" laboratory in Atlanta. The structure of the virus has also been
widely disseminated in scientific publications.

If a bird flu vaccine were necessary it would be distributed in the form of
dead vaccine, and yet accidents happen. In April, more than 4,000 vials of a
strain of vaccine almost as deadly as the Spanish Influenza were sent out to
testing facilities around the world - a move that left officials red faced
and the labs scrambling to destroy the samples immediately.

Finally, there is always the possibility that the deadlier forms of flu
vaccine, once created can be used for purposes other than research.
Terrorists, for instance, might be able to obtain samples and unleash a
virulent infection upon the world. Even more unimaginable yet still within
the realm of possibility, say some neo-vaccine prohibitionists, is that a
struggling Western or third world government might choose to release vaccine
in order to create a disastrous public health situation that would distract
attention and might even give those in power the possibility of gaining
further power as chaos mounted through some sort of militarization of
society. While this probably could not happen in the most advanced Western
cultures, many agree, with their well-established traditions of civilian
rule, there are certainly potentialities in various regions for this sort of
scenario to play out.

In general, governments may be partial to vaccines - whether they work or
not - because they are possibly the mightiest metaphor available for all
that big government's proponents want to believe is "good" in government.
They are truly massive programs and, at almost every turn, there is an
opportunity for governments to remind their citizens that such
"immunization" would not be possible without big government organization and
generous cash contributions. Yet, despite the urge to exhibit such ponderous
giveaways, there is probably no reason for governments to thrown hundreds of
millions at pharmaceutical companies for the production of a bird flu
vaccine. Again, there are questions as to the general efficacy of flu
vaccines; also such a vaccine cannot be produced until there is a human form
of bird flu; even if it were then produced, it probably wouldn't be
effective for another six months to a year, by which time the pandemic
probably would already have run its course.

Unfortunately, in both the United States and France, human bird-flu vaccine
is already being produced. Only this month, the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services awarded Sanofi a $97 million contract to develop a new
type of flu vaccine. Those concerned with the development and spread of
these vaccines - well in advance of anything that they might be effective
against - have vowed to generate a significant mass movement of call-ins to
the U.S. municipal, state and federal government asking that further work on
bird-flu vaccines be halted. These individuals, including individuals
prominent in alternative health care point out that proper hygiene, large
doses of vitamin C and the application of "essential oils" are well known
inhibitors of flu-type sicknesses. Vaccines, however, are known to suppress
immune systems - a dangerous effect during the beginnings of a pandemic.

Because of the continued controversy over the bird flu vaccine and vaccines
in general, there is perhaps more industry concern than had been expected in
official circles, anyway, about potential liability acting as "a deterrent
for wider participation." This too is acting as a retardant of new flu
vaccinations. - ST
--------------------------------------------------------
Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath
Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK
530-740-0561
vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm
Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm
Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm

******
"Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down.
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy
knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information
and religions destroy spirituality" ....Michael Ellner