Hepatitis B is a blood-borne disease, usually transmitted through blood,
shared needles and multiple sex partners. Most people are not at risk because
the disease is not contagious and only mildly infectious. In 2000, the
incidence of Hepatitis B virus in the United States was 2.1 cases per 100,000
with less than 2% of those cases occurring in children. Of these cases, 90
percent develop antibodies after a flu-like illness, then recover with
immunity for life.1 The United States had one of the lowest rates
of hepatitis B infection in the world before the hepatitis B vaccine was
introduced.2
Although young children are in the lowest risk category for contracting
hepatitis, they are given three doses of hepatitis B vaccine by the age of 18
months, and then a fourth booster shot around 11-12 years of age. Birthing
hospitals routinely inject all newborns with their first hepatitis B
vaccination before they leave the hospital. The only way a newborn is at risk
for hepatitis is if it is born to a mother with an active hepatitis B
infection.3
The liver in a newborn baby does not begin to function until after the
first 48 to 72 hours of life. The enzymes in mother's milk assist the liver in
beginning to function. Receiving a hepatitis B vaccine within the first few
hours of life does nothing to protect the newborn. Rather, the opposite is
true, since the vaccine may compromise proper development of the immune
system.4
The hepatitis B vaccine, Recombivax HB, manufactured by Merck and Co., is
a recombinant DNA vaccine. It is produced by cloning the hepatitis virus, and
then, adding the cloned virus to a yeast-based culture. This culture, as with
all vaccine cultures, contains a variety of foreign proteins originating from
other viruses and bacteria. In 1971, scientists in Geneva discovered that when
viral proteins are injected directly into the bloodstream, they combine with
human genetic material, causing DNA to mutate.5
Recombivax HB also contains the neurotoxin aluminum sulfate along with
thimerosal, a mercury derivative which the U.S. government has mandated for
removal from vaccines because of its ability to cause brain damage.6
By late 1998, there were 439 deaths in the United States attributed to the
hepatitis B vaccine.7 Between 1991 and 1999, 25,000 adverse
reactions to the hepatitis B vaccine were reported to the Vaccine Adverse
Event Reporting System (VAERS).8 Since it has been shown that less
than 10 percent of doctors report adverse reactions and many vaccine reactions
are now diagnosed as SIDS or Shaken Baby Syndrome,9 there is no
accurate accounting of just how many children and adults are suffering an
adverse reaction to this vaccine.
By 1999, at least 100 medical reports confirmed at least 45 side effects
associated with the hepatitis B vaccine, many related to chronic crippling
disabilities and permanent neurological damage. Adverse reactions include:
polyneuropathy, Guillain-Barre (paralytic nerve damage), visual disturbances
and blindness, vertigo, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), serum sickness,
colitis, autism, herpes zoster, myesthenia gravis and rheumatoid arthritis.10
Since 1987, there have been at least 38 reports in international medical
literature showing that the hepatitis B vaccine causes chronic autoimmune and
neurological disease in both children and adults.11 Because it is
genetically engineered, Recombivax HB can confuse the body's immune system
into attacking itself resulting in an auto-immune response such as multiple
sclerosis (MS).12 In 1997, while publicly defending hepatitis B
vaccine, the CDC produced an internal memo suggesting a "possible association
between the vaccine and multiple sclerosis."13
In 1998, 15,000 people filed a class action lawsuit against the French
government because the officially mandated hepatitis B vaccine caused
thousands to develop MS-like symptoms. That year, France ended compulsory
hepatitis B vaccinations.14
In 1998, data linking the vaccine to auto-immune diseases, including lupus
and rheumatoid arthritis, was released at the 62nd annual meeting of the
American College of Rheumatology.15 That same year, a study by Dr.
John Classen, an immunologist at Classen Immunotherapies, published a paper
linking hepatitis B vaccine with the development of insulin dependent diabetes
in certain children. 16 Diabetes is considered an auto-immune
disease.
Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, a Baylor College of Medicine professor and vaccine
researcher for over twenty-five years, has a brother and two colleagues who
have suffered disabling injuries from the hepatitis B vaccine. She told a
congressional committee in 1999: "I have now been contacted personally by
hundreds or more individuals with severe health problems and life long
disabilities resulting in major medical costs following the administration of
this (hepatitis B) vaccine."17 Dr. Dunbar confirms that it can take
weeks or months for autoimmune disorders to develop following vaccination.
18
After many newborns died or suffered seizures, brain swelling and
permanent brain damage following their hepatitis B injections, the dangers of
the vaccine were brought to public attention by a documentary on ABC's 20/20.19
Finally in July, 1999, the CDC reversed its ill-advised mandate on giving the
hepatitis B vaccine to newborns.20. Nevertheless, despite a decade
of problems, and virtually no clinical control studies proving safety or
efficacy, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices once again
recommends in its 2002 immunization schedule that newborns be injected with
the hepatitis B vaccine.
In 1999, Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the American Association
of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) made the following statements about the
hepatitis B vaccine:
"An independent review of the VAERS data; publications by governmental,
pro-vaccine, and anti-vaccine groups; and a sample of the medical literature
leads to the following conclusions: For most children, the risk of a serious
vaccine reaction may be 100 times greater than the risk of hepatitis
B....VAERS contains 25,000 reports related to hepatitis B vaccine, about
one-third of which were serious enough to lead to an emergency room visit,
hospitalization, or death."21
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has called for
an immediate moratorium on mandatory hepatitis B vaccine for all children
pending further research on the dangerous side effects. 22
For more information, or to obtain a $30 membership packet that documents the
facts in this flyer, contact:
1. "Shots in the Dark," American Spectator Magazine, May 1999 with statistics
from the National Centers for Disease Control.
2. "Critics say Required Hepatitis B Vaccine Not safe for Everyone,"
ABC.NEWS.com; and "Hepatitis B Vaccine Reaction Reports Outnumber Reported
Disease Cases in Children According to Vaccine Safety Group," National Vaccine
Information Center, 1999.
3. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
4. Master Research Chronology, The Psycho-Social Chemical, Biological and
Electromagnetic Manipulation of the Human Consciousness, Revised and Expanded
Version 2.0, by Valdamar Valerian 1994/1995/1996 Leading Edge Research Group,
P.O. Box 7530, Yelm, Washington 98598
5. "Vaccines and Production of Negative Genetic Changes In Humans," Leading
Edge Research Group, 1996-1998. See
www.trufax.org/vaccine/vacgen.html.
6. On July 7, 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy
of Pediatrics made a joint announcement calling on vaccine manufacturers to
eliminate mercury in childhood vaccines
7. Data released in January 1999 by the National Vaccine information Center
from figures collated by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
9. "Shaken Baby Syndrome Diagnosis on Shaky Ground," Viera, Sheibner, Journal
of Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 20, No.
2; 2001 August. Available at
http://www.vaclib.org/shaken.htm
11. "Hepatitis B, The Untold Story": a 16-page Report sent to 55,000
pediatricians by the National Vaccine Information Center in 1999.
12. "Ounce of Prevention, Pound of Misery?" Insight Magazine, March 22, 1999,
In this article, Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, professor of cell biology at Baylor College
of Medicine and an award-winning vaccine research scientist has stated that
because the hepatitis B vaccine derives from a surface protein of virus
molecules, the similarities between the antigen and proteins in human nerves and
tissues may trick the autoimmune systems of the genetically susceptible into
attacking themselves. Dunbar says it may take months or years for the
auto-immune response to become obvious.
13. "Shots in the Dark," American Spectator Magazine, May 1999.
14. "Hep B Vaccine Linked Directly to Autoimmune Rheumatoid Diseases," From
Doctor's Guide to Medical and Other News,
www.pslgroup.com/mednews.htm.
15. Ibid.
16. "Vaccines Proven to be Largest Cause of Insulin Dependent Diabetes In
Children" PR Newswire, September 11, 2000. This article says Classen presented
data to the International Public Conference on Vaccination showing that vaccines
cause at least 80% of diabetes in children who have received multiple vaccines
starting after the first 2 months of life. His research showed that there was a
60 percent increase in Type I diabetes following a massive campaign in New
Zealand to vaccinate babies with Hepatitis B vaccine. Dr. Classen's research was
mentioned by Jane Orient, M.D. president of the Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy,
and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of
Representatives, June 14, 1999. For more information, contact Classen
Immunotherapies, at classen@vaccines.net
or 410-377-8526.
17. Testimony of Dr. Bonnie Dunbar before the Texas Department of Health,
March 12, 1999.
18. "Hepatitis B Vaccine Reaction Reports Outnumber reported Disease Cases in
Children According to Vaccine Safety Group," report released by the National
Vaccine Information Center, January 27, 1999.
19. 20/20, January 27,1999. Additional information and also testimony was
then gleaned at a hearing on hepatitis B vaccine damage conducted by the House
Subcommittee of Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resource's, May 18,
1999.
20. "Fed Policy Reversed on Hep B Vaccine," Gannett News Service, July 11,
1999. On July 9, 1999, the US Public Health Service and the American Academy of
Pediatrics announced cancellation of their previous recommendation to inject
newborns with the hepatitis B vaccine.
21. Statement by Jane Orient, M.D., president of the Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy,
and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of
Representatives, June 14, 1999.
http://www.aapsonline.org/testimony/hepbcom.htm