Hot Topics - Diseases and vaccines - Hepatitis B/hepatitis B vaccine

March 1-7, 2004

February 23-29, 2004

none selected this week

February 16-22, 2004

Comment:  For a different perspective on what it means to be a heptatitis B carrier, go to Scandals: The CDC and “The New Math”, where 1 + 1  does not equal 2.  And for more on the problem with  "unsafe injection practices" go to Scandals: "But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last." - Thomas Moore (Scandals - update and "flashback").
 

►February 12, 2004 - Child's Ear Piercing - Take Precaution - Doctors Warn Parents To Take Precautions When Getting Their Child’s Ears Pierced At An Early Age - www.healthnewsdigest.com - "The joys of having a new baby are endless. When a baby girl is born, many parents opt to dress her in pretty clothes and pretty jewelry. But piercing a baby’s ears at too young an age can be dangerous. 'Most parents are unaware of the potential health risks of piercing their child’s ears before the first immunizations,” says Ken Gottesman, attending pediatrician at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. “I see more and more babies at younger ages who come in with pierced ears, their parents unaware that they could potentially develop bacterial infections, tetanus or even hepatitis B.'”

February 9-15, 2004

►February 13, 2004 - Why parents should immunize their babies against the hepatitis B virus - letter - Houston Chronicle - "Second, even children from uninfected parents are at risk of becoming infected...In fact, most children who become infected with hepatitis B are born to mothers who are not infected with hepatitis B...Approximately one-third of hepatitis B infections among children and adolescents occur among those with no known risk of infection, and many carriers of the virus show no apparent symptoms...There simply is no way to know which children eventually will be exposed to hepatitis B. That's why medical experts recommend that all children be vaccinated to protect against developing a hepatitis B infection and its consequences...If a parent thinks about what a baby has to gain and what he or she may lose, there's really no argument."

Comment:  There is really no argument if you ignore the adverse reactions to hepatitis B vaccine, that is.  If you don't ignore them, however, giving ALL babies a potentially harmful vaccine, when hardly ANY babies get hepatitis B, is a highly questionable policy.  (By the way, 1/3 of a small number is an even smaller number still.) For more on the problem with estimates of hepatitis B incidence and universal infant hepatitis B vaccination policy go to Scandals: For No Good Reason: The Utterly Misguided Universal Infant Hepatitis B Vaccination Policy and Scandals: The CDC and “The New Math”, where 1 + 1  does not equal 2.

►February 10, 2004 - Denver Hepatitis Vaccine May Be Faulty - AP via Newsday - "Hepatitis vaccines given to about 4,300 babies born at a Denver hospital may have frozen while in storage, rendering the shots ineffective against the liver disease, officials said...Although there is no evidence the vaccine was ineffective, "we just can't assume they're all OK," Sarah Ellis, a spokeswoman for University Hospital, said Monday. She recommended infants who received the shots for hepatitis B be revaccinated."