Andrew Wakefield - MMR

[taper]

Antijen - you have a history of linking to disreputable and quack websites in support of your views on vaccines (remember VacWatch?). But praying the Express in aid of your argument is something else! No-one is arguing that vaccines are risk free. But the balance of risks with Hep B vaccines is strongly in favour of the vaccine; for the protection of these workers and the public.

It is necessary on a public forum to counter scare stories on the impact of vaccines, so here goes on Hep B. This issues was raised in the House of Commons and the then Minister responsible said the following:

"Hepatitis B vaccine is widely considered to be safe. There are known side effects, but the majority are mild, transient and uncommon. With common medical conditions, it is inevitable that some people develop symptoms after they receive a vaccine. It is completely understandable how conditions occurring shortly after vaccination can be attributed to vaccination, but the onset of symptoms after vaccination does not necessarily mean that the vaccine was responsible. Those claims have been extensively evaluated, and there is currently no good scientific evidence that hepatitis B vaccines cause long-term illnesses such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome. That position is supported by the World Health Organisation and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

It is also important to reiterate that the report of a suspected adverse reaction to the hepatitis B vaccine through the yellow card scheme and its consequent inclusion in the list does not necessarily mean that a reaction was caused by the vaccine. MS was included as a possible side effect in product information, with the proviso that no causal link had been established, long before the studies found that there was no link. The only potentially serious adverse reaction attributable to the hepatitis B vaccine is anaphylaxis. Such severe allergic reactions, which can result in death, are believed to occur about once in 1.1 million doses. It may also be helpful to point out that the US vaccine injury system listed that serious adverse reaction as an adverse event to hepatitis B in its vaccine injury table."

Curmudgeon - you may well be right, although cost is presumably a factor in current practice.

[antijen]

Taper, How typical for you to refer to one website I put up without checking, in fact I was going to mention it when I first posted on this thread, but thought no, lets see who will use it against me, regardless of explaining before. I am sure the workers who feel they have been damaged, do not feel they are being protected.