Representative Tim Murphy, Oversight Subcommittee Chairman, will begin a hearing tomorrow on vaccine effectiveness in the midst of a particularly severe flu season. The hearing will also tackle the issue of measles in light of the recent outbreak.
Murphy will be joined at the hearing by representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, and National Institutes of Health.
“Too many children and young adults are not getting a safe vaccine that works to prevent measles while the broader population is being vaccinated with a dose this season that marginally protects against the flu,” Rep. Murphy said. “Federal agencies are facing a significant challenge in vaccine development and education that must be addressed in the interest of public health.”
According to the CDC, there have been at least 100 confirmed measles cases since December. Due to falling rates in vaccination, the disease has been making a comeback after being essentially eliminated 15 years ago.
The flu vaccine will also be discussed after this season’s vaccine has proven abnormally ineffective. The typical rate of effectiveness for the flu vaccine in a normal year is 50%-60%; for the 2014-2015 season, however, the effectiveness stands at only 23%.
The hearing may be viewed online with other information available here.
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6 Responses
I thought those who choose not to vaccinate their children were on the fringe and uninformed. I believed that until I started investigating the flu vaccine to which my employer decided I must submit or be fired. (I have never had a flu shot and have not had the flu in 30 years despite repeated exposure to patients with the flu). Let me share with you a small piece of what I discovered as I was looking into the flu vaccine (which lead me to researching the current US vaccine regimen for children)…
1) The CDC now recommends 36 vaccines for children before the age of 6 starting on the day they are born….in 1983 that number was 10. Twenty more vaccines are currently recommended before the age of 18.
2) “Herd immunity” is a concept that was developed in the early 1900’s and was based on naturally acquired immunity. The concept actually does not apply to vaccines because vaccine acquired “immunity” fades over time and some people’s immune systems do not respond adequately to vaccinations. The number of vaccinated people who are not immune is unknown.
3) The recent pertussis outbreak was the result of a failing vaccine NOT the unimmunized. 90% of those who contracted pertussis were fully immunized.
4) It became illegal in 1986 to sue vaccine makers if you or your child were injured by their product – remember in 1983 there were 10 vaccine mandated before the age of 6, Is it coincidental that the number is now 3 1/2 times that many?
5) The package insert for flu vaccine states that the vaccine has not been tested for safety in pregnant women and should not be given in pregnancy unless “clearly indicated”….and yet the CDC says it should be given to pregnant women. Pregnancy becomes the “clear indication”. How is that for circular logic?
6)The CDC claims that tens of thousands die yearly from the flu. They arrive at that number by extrapolating a percent of those who die from pneumonia and respiratory/circulatory collapse – whether those same patients had the flu before the pneumonia or r/c collapse is unknown. Flu deaths in children are now required to be reported – what is not part of those statistics is whether or not those who died were vaccinated. Two children and one adult have died this year from the same flu for which they were vaccinated.
6) More elderly die now from the flu than in the past despite soaring vaccination.
I was an RN working with neurologically damaged children before losing my job for refusing this year’s 23% effective flu vaccine. I have heard the same story many times from the parents of grossly damaged kids. Their kids were developing normally until they received multiple vaccines simultaneously. Within hours the children developed high pitched screaming and fevers with or without convulsions. From that time forth their children stopped talking, no longer wanted to be touched, developed severe allergies, etc. I was as guilty as the next of discounting these stories as coincidence until I found many many more IDENTICAL stories online. THE MMR may or may not “cause” autism but something is going on and the refusal to acknowledge any possibility that the immune system (intricately connected to the neurological system)may not be able to handle exposure to many pathogens simultaneously is frightening.
More studies must be done by someone other than those who profit from vaccines. We HAVE to stop denying that vaccines aren’t perfect and may be ultimately harmful.
Thank you Representative Tim Murphy for standing up to do what is right for the not only the children but all of America’s people.
There is a solution to this: Drug Companies need to separate and split the vaccines again. If children weighing 20 to 30 lbs. can get one shot without mercury that would be acceptable. More mothers would chose to vaccinate their children they love and want to protect them from these diseases. Also, now is the time for us to join and do what is best for our children. How can we look at the statistics and not be concerned or puzzled.
What is it….. to costly for the drug companies to separate the vaccines and do what is best?? Just how costly do you think AUTISM IS??????
If they made it before without the mercury there is no reason it can’t be done again!
Dear legislators in Pa:
Please consider having a thimerosol/mercury free flu vaccine covered under the Advanced Health Care Act. My son has autism and we paid $70 plus dollars for him to have a mercury free flu shot. If we opted for the mercury/thimerosol preserved shot it would have been free and covered.
If people must have this coverage and have given up their other coverage, please consider their needs and not just coverage that is not so balanced.
Thankfully someone in the Republican party believes in science. Credit to Congressman Murphy for being vocal on this issue.
Drug Companies need to offer split mmr vaccines again and more people would chose to vaccinate. But they don’t even offer that anymore.