High stakes for low risk
Q: My daughter’s pediatrician told me about the vaccines she should get before she starts school. One of the ones he listed was a hepatitis B vaccine. I thought hepatitis B was a disease like HIV, only transmitted through body fluids. I can’t imagine that my daughter is really at high risk for it. Am I wrong? Should I let her have the vaccine for it?
Dr. Wright: You’re not wrong: The hepatitis B vaccine was designed specifically for “high-risk” groups, like drug users, prostitutes, and others. When these groups wouldn’t cooperate with the hepatitis B vaccination program, los Federales decided that, suddenly, children “need” to be vaccinated, even though their risk of hepatitis B is small. But what makes this shift in focus more outrageous is that giving children the hepatitis B vaccination triples their risk of developing multiple sclerosis.
When researchers analyzed hepatitis B vaccination statistics from 163 individuals with multiple sclerosis and 1,604 “controls,” they found a correlation between getting the hepatitis B vaccine and developing multiple sclerosis. Specifically, the results indicated that the risk of developing multiple sclerosis was three times higher in the group that was vaccinated against hepatitis B than in the group that wasn’t vaccinated. By contrast, individuals given tetanus and influenza vaccinations had no significant extra risk of developing multiple sclerosis.
Of course, even though it was a Harvard study, it wasn’t covered in any of the typical media outlets. It just isn’t politically correct to challenge the current religion of vaccinating children against every hiccup and hangnail — regardless of whether it’s safe or even necessary at all.
Source:
“Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine and risk of multiple sclerosis: a prospective study.” Neurology 2004 Sep 14;63(5):838-42
