Balm of Gilead

By James Ong

In late October 2009, the Ministry of Health (MoH) announced that it had adopted the recommendation of the Expert Committee on Immunisation and included pneumococcal vaccination as the tenth vaccine in the National Childhood Immunisation Programme.  Parents can draw on their Medisave, Baby Bonus or Child Development Account to pay for the three shots of vaccines, which will cost them slightly over $500 in total.  As the announcement is silent on whether parents have the right to opt out of the vaccine, I was rather concerned that children are now to be given a total of 16 shots by the time they are two.  Vaccines have been implicated in the dramatic rise in autism and neurological and learning disorders seen in children around the world.  Further, vaccines have been known to cause severe adverse reactions, even death and permanent disability.  By the way, it should be borne in mind that the money in parents’ Medisave, Baby Bonus and Child Development Accounts are their money.  So, it is as if the MoH wants you to vaccinate your children but you have to pay for them!  This is the same scenario with the Hepatits B vaccine, which costs roughly the same amount.  I did some investigations on the incidence and severity of invasive pneumococcal disease (PD) in Singapore and the risks versus benefits of the current PCV-7 vaccine (the number 7 indicates that is meant to deal with only 7 strains of bacteria that causes invasive PD), which carries the trade name Prevnar.  What I found shocked me and you will find out why by reading the letter below.

I therefore wrote an appeal letter to the Minster for Health, Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, asking him to make the vaccine entirely voluntary.  Reproduced below is the letter in its entirety:

Dear Minister Khaw,

It is regrettable that the Ministry of Health has made pneumococcal vaccination compulsory for all children under the age of 5. This makes a total of 15 vaccine shots by the time a child is two.

Based on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) own studies, the incidence of hospitalization for invasive pneumococcal infection is below 0.04 percent for children below five. For children aged 5-14, it is 0.0124 percent. Since 2000, there have been only seven deaths (less than one a year).

The only large-scale clinical trial on the Prevnar pneumococcus vaccine, involving some 17,000 children, resulted in at least 12 deaths. Side effects included seizures, irritability, high fevers, vomiting, swelling and anaphylactic shock.

Since the vaccine’s introduction in the US, there have been more than 28,000 adverse events reported, more than 12,000 of which were serious, including 558 deaths, 555 life-threatening situations and 238 permanent disabilities (as of November 11, 2009). Evidently, the prevention is more deadly than the disease!

Recently, 3 babies died in Holland within two weeks of receiving the Prevnar vaccine, causing the Dutch health authorities to ban the particular batch of vaccines used.

Moreover, Prevnar covers only seven types of bacteria. With vaccination, more people are now affected by about 80 other types of bacteria that cause pneumonia. There will be greater problems ahead.

Vaccines are being made compulsory by heath authorities because antibiotics are no longer effective, as the overuse of antibiotics (in medicine and farming) has led to bacteria developing antibiotic resistance. Conventional medicine is fast running out of options, yet doctors and the MOH do not explore safer, natural alternatives: breastfeeding, good diet, exercise, sunshine, fresh air, sleep, hygiene and sanitation (in homes and childcare centers), dietary supplements, herbs and aromatic essential oils.

According to the WHO and UNICEF, the best solution to infectious diseases is an adequate diet (for infants, that includes breastfeeding) with good sanitation and hygiene. In many third world countries, Vitamin A, zinc and iron supplements have achieved excellent results in combating infection.

I need to reiterate that all of the above assertions and statements are based on either reliable media reports or the scientific literature.

We need greater transparency. How were the members of the Expert Committee on Immunization selected? Have they any financial ties (present or previous) to pharmaceutical companies that manufacture vaccines, e.g. research grants, Board positions, etc? What are the studies they relied on? Have they considered why other industrialized countries have not made the vaccine compulsory? Will the ministry be setting up an independent agency to monitor adverse effects of the vaccine?

Children are gifts from the Divine, not the offspring of the State. Compulsory vaccinations deny parents their Divinely-given and fundamental human right to choose what is best for their children. This, I feel, is morally irresponsible, especially when the recommendations are based on shadowy science and the vaccine subjects their children to a measurable level of risk of serious injury or even death. The vaccine is freely available to the public and they can use their Baby Bonus or Medisave to pay for it. Why not just keep it that way?

Finally, I need to point out too that there is no universal consensus among scientists on the value of vaccinations in the prevention of infectious diseases. There is however overwhelming consensus that proper nutrition, clean drinking water, food safety, hygiene and sanitation have done more to prevent the spread of such diseases than vaccines. And for this, we have to thank our civil engineers, food safety and environmental health officers.

I therefore urge the Minister to call for a comprehensive review of the decision to make the pneumococcal vaccine compulsory.

Best regards,

I waited for a week and did not receive any reply from the Minister.  So I followed up with a second letter, as a chaser.  Please see the next post for the contents of the second letter.