Vaccine Preventable Death – Landon Carter Dube

I must warn readers that the following video is very sad; you won’t be able to watch it to the end with dry eyes.

Age at death - <2 months

Cause of death – Whooping cough (pertussis)

Vaccination Status – Unknown; highly likely he was unvaccinated due to young age (first pertussis dose is administered at 2 months)

What happened – Landon Carter Dube was born on December 8th, 2009. He was three weeks early; weighed in at 6 lbs 6 ounces and was 18 ½ inches long. On January 15th he  went in for his 6 week check up (he was actually 5 weeks and 3 days old).  His parents had some concerns that Carter had been spitting up a little and seemed to be kind of cranky at night. The doctor suggested switching his formula and monitoring his crying in case it was colic. Tuesday, January 19th Carter was not himself, he was cranky and wasn’t happy unless he was being held.  When his mother took his temperature, he was running a low-grade fever (100.1). His parents decided to take him to his pediatrician for a quick visit. I will let his mother tell you what happened next:

We saw a NP that day; she was immediately concerned with Carter’s breathing rate and thought he maybe a little dehydrated. The next thing I knew we were in an ambulance headed to Levine’s Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, NC. We were admitted to the 8th floor, Progressive Care Unit for observation. Doctors came in and asked a lot of questions over and over again, everyone had to wear a mask and a gown because they were unsure what was wrong with Carter. The doctors threw around RSV, pneumonia, upper respiratory infection, and the lastly Purtussis (whooping cough).

Over the next two days, Carter had to be put on nasal oxygen, he was taken for chest x-rays, suctioning out of his nose and lungs, and they even beat his back to loosen up his lungs. Nothing worked and only seemed to make him mad. They even placed an IV in his arm (covering the finger he sucked on) to supplement his lack of mild intake.

Friday, January 22nd Carter started coughing and lost his breath and turned blue. I totally panicked; if my husband would not have been there I don’t know what would have happened. I just froze in my steps.

Saturday, January 23rd Carter was sent to the 6th floor PICU, for better care and observation.

Early Sunday, January 24th the decision was made to put Carter on a respiratory. He had become fussy and inconsolable, which caused him to struggle even more to breath. That was the last time we saw our Carterbug awake, but we didn’t know that at the time.

Around noon on Tuesday, the doctors starting through around the idea of putting Carter on an ECMO (heart and lung bypass machine), but it would be the last resort. The percentage we were given was 60/40 that he would leave the hospital with us. We discussed our options with the doctor and made arrangements for Zach to come and see Carter before the procedure was done. Zach for only being 10 handled it very well and was a real trooper through it all. Carter went into surgery later that evening and we sat around with our wonderful family and friends and waited. It took about 3 hours for the procedure and we were told Carter came through it ok.

I was not prepared for what I saw when I walked back to his room. My sweet baby boy with these huge tubes in the side of his neck and watching his blood go in and out of them. The ECMO machine itself was huge and required two people to run it at all times. Now Carter had four people in his room, two full time nurses and two ECMO techs. Carter had started swelling and wasn’t putting out enough urine for the fluid he was taking in. The doctors told us it was related to the stress on his body for being so sick. Now we had to worry about kidney failure and other issues related to the swelling.

Wednesday January 27th, was a good day. Carter held his own all day and there were no sudden changes. It was the first day we relaxed a little and talked about a long term plan. They didn’t sugar coat it, we were still looking at a month or more in the hospital before we would take him home. When we went to bed Wednesday night it was the first time I didn’t feel like I was carrying the world on my shoulders.

That feeling lasted about seven hours; we got a call from one of the specialists around 7:00. Carter had a rough night and they had to give him fluid boluses to keep his pressure up, we need to come to his room soon.

It was hard to stand back and look at my sweet baby boy all swollen to twice his size. They had him under a heat lamp to keep him warm and two huge medicine trees holding all of the meds that were working to keep him alive. An lets not forget the machine that was monitoring his heart and blood pressure that was constantly alarming us that something wasn’t right. It was like a bad dream and we just couldn’t wake up. We had asked the doctors to always be honest and to let us know when it got to the point that they were doing things too Carter and not for him.

At 5:06, Thursday January 29th, Carter received his angel wings. He went peacefully on his own terms to the arms of Jesus. I truly believe that we will see him one day and that his spirit is with us everyday.

By January 19th, little Carter was simply cranky and restless, 10 days later he was gone. Heartbreaking; absolutely heartbreaking. Please, vaccinate your kids; get your booster shots, ask anyone that will be in constant contact with your newborn to take the booster shot.

Sources

Carter’s Mom telling her story on Facebook

Carter’s Mom sharing this story on Shareyourstory.org

No link between vaccines and autism, appeals court rules

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT MSNBC

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a ruling that vaccines are not to blame for autism.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision last year by a special vaccine court, which concluded there’s little if any evidence to support claims of a vaccine-autism link.

Scientist years ago reached that conclusion, but more than 5,500 families sought compensation through the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Friday’s ruling came in the case of Michelle Cedillo of Yuma, Ariz., who is disabled with autism, inflammatory bowel disease and other disorders that her parents blame on a measles vaccine given at 15 months.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT MSNBC

CDC LAIV intranasal flu vaccine flyer

CDC Live Intranasal Influenza vaccine Flyer

Vaccine Safety & Efficacy-Flu vaccine

Today we will look at a study about the efficacy and safety of the flu vaccine in infants. The study was published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal in February 2010.

Safety and immunogenicity of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in infants: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study.

Englund JA, Walter E, Black S, Blatter M, Nyberg J, Ruben FL, Decker MD; GRC28 Study Team.

Study Summary- This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, conducted in 1375 healthy US infants 6 to 12 weeks of age. Subjects received 2 doses of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV, Fluzone, Sanofi Pasteur; N = 915) or placebo (N = 460) 1 month apart in combination with indicated concomitant vaccines. Solicited adverse events were collected for 7 days following vaccination, and unsolicited adverse events for 28 days. Antibodies to all 3 vaccine strains were measured following the second TIV/placebo dose.

Results – No significant differences were seen between TIV and placebo groups for any safety outcome. Fever > or =38 degrees C within 3 days of vaccination was seen in 11.2% versus 11.7% of TIV versus placebo recipients. Serious adverse events within 28 days were reported in 1.9% of TIV and 1.5% of placebo recipients. Antibody responses to childhood vaccines were similar in both groups. Increased influenza-specific antibody responses in TIV recipients compared with placebo recipients were seen against all 3 strains in TIV recipients, with better responses to influenza A strains noted. Reciprocal geometrical mean titer to H1N1, H3N2, and B were 33, 95, and 11 in TIV recipients versus 7, 9, and 5 for placebo recipients.

Conclusion – This study fulfills all the basic requirements for a well designed scientific study. The sample was large (1,375 participants); it was double-blind, randomized and placebo controlled. This study showed that the trivalent, inactivated flu vaccine was just as safe as the placebo and highly more efficient than placebo in inducing antibody response to all three strains of the virus. The authors concluded as such:

TIV administered to young infants beginning at 6 to 12 weeks of age is safe and immunogenic.

Vaccine Preventable Death – Collin Springborn

Age at death - 3 months

Cause of death – Whooping cough (pertussis)

Vaccination Status – Unknown. He could have received the 1st of the 5 DTaP doses required for full immunization (first dose is recommended at 2 months)

What happened – Collin contracted the virus a week before he died. During that week, Collin’s mother recalls took him to the hospital several times and doctors were unable to diagnose what was causing the cough. The coughing became progressively worse  to the point where Collin would turn blue and vomit.

Doctors did blood work but were unable to diagnosis the problem as whooping cough. Collin stopped breathing at 6 p.m. on a Friday, hours after returning home from a doctor’s appointment. He was placed in the pediatrics intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and died two days later.

Collin’s twin brother also got the disease. He was in and out of the hospital during a 4 month period, and luckily survived the disease that took his brother. Our hearts go out to the parents; I am very sorry for the pain you’ve had to endure.

Sources

The Times Herald

Penn & Teller intro to their vaccine episode

Penn & Teller did an excellent job at voicing the anti-anti-vaccine message in the season finale of the 8th season of their Bullsh!t show.  Here is their intro which makes an excellent point visually, that doesn’t come accross as strongly verbally.

Warning: NSFW due to use of profanities.

Vaccine Preventable Suffering – Jamie Schanbaum

Jamie’s Story

On November 13th 2008, Jamie Schanbaum was rushed to Seton Hospital thinking she was having an asthma attack. Two days later, Jamie and her family learned she had contracted meningococcal septicemia. This disease is similar to meningitis. Instead of infiltrating the brain and spinal cord, the bacteria infects the blood. Meningococcal septicemia has a higher fatality rate than typical meningitis. The state health department informed us that one in ten people is a carrier of this particular bacteria which resides in the nose or throat. You can have it and not be affected by it, but something as simple as a cold or a stomach virus can cause this bacteria to work its way into your blood system, which is what happened to Jamie. Jamie survived, though sadly she lost her legs and fingers. They had to be amputated as a direct result of her infection. Jamie’s plight inspired her to educate the public about Meningitis. Her goal is to prevent others from needlessly suffering from this vaccine preventable disease.

Since leaving the hospital, Jamie has shown tremendous strength and perseverence as she endeavors to promote awareness of this disease and its consequences. In the summer of 2009, Senate Bill 819, a.k.a. The Jamie Schanbaum Act, requiring meningitis vaccinations of college students, passed despite two previously unsuccessful attempts thanks to Jamie and her supporters.

Sources

The J.A.M.I.E Group

For an ABC news report on Jamie’s story, prior to the amputation, click here.

Measles mortality rate drops 90 percent in 10 years in Lebanon

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AT THE LEBANON DAILY STAR

BEIRUT: “Amazing progress” has been made in reducing measles mortality rates and increasing vaccination coverage in the country, the United Nations said in an open letter sent to the Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday.

According to the letter from the UN Foundation, addressed to the Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalife, Lebanon has seen over a 90 percent reduction in measles deaths since 2000, falling in line with the regional average.

Lebanon is now nearing a 93 percent immunization coverage rate and is on target to reach 95 percent nationally in the near future, ministry officials said. This is up from an estimated 55 percent vaccination rate in 1997. The rise has been driven largely by extensive media campaigns, national school drives and increased partnership between the public and private sector.

The government also now offers free vaccinations to all children, including non-Lebanese nationals, but with the high cost of the vaccine – it retails at around $100 on the open market – the private sector is encouraged to take on a large chunk of the burden especially in better-off areas.

“We’ve seen a huge jump in vaccinating rates the last ten years,” Randa Hamadeh, immunization and essential medications program manager at the Ministry of Public Health said. “We have worked closely with UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to ensure that we only use the highest quality of vaccine and by purchasing through them we are also able to obtain vaccines at the best possible price.

“We have worked with municipalities and the lowest levels of local government to make sure that the message gets through to everyone. Our approach at working on the sub-national level is helping us reach the areas most in need.”

While national coverage may be high, regional inequality remains prevalent and the government, in partnership with various UN agencies and the Lebanese Order of Physicians, is now striving to make sure that even the peripheries obtain at least a 90 percent immunization coverage rate.

“We urge Lebanon to fully recommit to measles elimination by 2010 and to a possible eradication goal by 2020,” the UN letter read.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=117267#ixzz0xZH9E6fS
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AT THE LEBANON DAILY STAR

Teen Vaccination Rates Increasing Across the US

Some great news come via a CDC press release. Teen vaccination rates have been steadily increasing across the US for 2009 the latest year they would have full data for. You can read the full press release at the CDC website. Here is a part of the press release:

The survey of more than 20,000 teens aged 13-17 found that in 2009 there were increases in the percentage of teens in this age group who had received vaccines routinely recommended for 11- and 12-year-olds. Specifically:

• For one dose of the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap), coverage went up about 15 points to about 56 percent;
• For one dose of meningococcal conjugate vaccine, coverage went up about 12 points to about 54 percent;
• For girls who received at least one dose of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, coverage increased 7 points to about 44 percent. However, for girls who received the recommended three doses of HPV vaccine, coverage was only about 27 percent (a 9 percent increase);
• For one dose of HPV vaccine, no differences were observed between racial/ethnic groups. However, coverage was higher among teens living in poverty compared with those living at or above the poverty level. For the recommended three doses of HPV vaccine, differences were observed between racial/ethnic groups, including significantly lower coverage for blacks and Hispanics compared to whites;
• There were no significant differences in coverage by racial/ethnic group or by poverty status for Tdap or meningococcal conjugate vaccine; and
• As in 2008, there was wide variation in adolescent vaccination coverage among state and local areas.

Vaccine Misconception of the day-Vaccines don’t work

A commonly used “argument” goes as follows:

So and so vaccinated their child, and he/she still got sick later. Clearly vaccines don’t work, so why vaccinate?

While it is always a good idea to question things, one must be careful not to fall for easily identifiable logical fallacies, as is the case here. Clearly here the unstated premise is a false dichotomy that goes like this : Either vaccines prevent infection, at all times, or they never prevent infection. However, this fallacious way of thinking is omitting the other option, that vaccines will prevent some/most infections depending on the efficacy rate, which varies from vaccine to vaccine.

Consider child car seats for a moment. Every responsible parent straps their child in the seat every time they drive.  Yet accidents happen all the time, and children get hurt, even though they were correctly strapped in their car seats. Does this mean that because car seats do not prevent pain/death in 100% of accidents, that we should stop using them? That would be preposterous and anyone who would advance that argument in the public sphere would be considered mentally ill or insane. Yet it is the exact same fallacious logic as in the vaccine example, however for some reason that I cannot fathom, many parents are persuaded by the vaccine version but not by the car seat version.

Yet there is more to this I think. The parents that are sympathetic to the above argument usually seem to also believe that the side effects of vaccinations are much larger than they are in reality. This combo of misconceptions is very dangerous as it leads many parents to space-out, which has been shown to have no benefit whatsoever, or even worse not vaccinate their children. That results in increased risk of contracting highly deadly diseases by their children, and an increased risk to the community as a whole due to reduced herd immunity.

However, according to the CDC, most routine childhood vaccines are 85%-95% effective. Which means that anywhere between 5%-15% of vaccinated children will still develop the disease they were vaccinated for, and given that we’ve got quite a lot of kids running around in this country of ours, the chances that an adult would have heard/seen the story about a vaccinated kid getting sick, are quite substantial, which in turn helps the bad argument spread.

While 5%-15%n failure rate may sound high, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t work to reduce that failure  rate as much as possible, consider this: in 2003 measles killed an estimated 400,000 children under 5 years of age worldwide. Also consider that the measles vaccine is 98% effective when used as recommended, that translates into potentially up to 392,000 lives saved, every single year. And that is only deaths avoided, it doesn’t take into account the pain and suffering vaccinated children that got a milder version of the disease, because of the partial protection the vaccine gave them, were spared.  Mention that the next time someone tells you they choose not to vaccinate because they knew of some kid who got sick even though he was vaccinated.