The Truth About Vaccines & Other Drugs in Africa

There seems to be a perception in the Western world that African children are dying due to lack of vaccines, but is that actually true? Not exactly.

In many cases, the relentless push for vaccines (usually by outside interests) as a magic fix for disease, has come at the expense of other interventions.

According to UNICEF statistics, Rwanda has 95% – 98% vaccination coverage for diptheria-tetanus-pertussis…yet 37% of children are stunted due to malnutrition. Only 62% have access to proper sanitation [1]

Botswana has 95% children vaccinated with three doses of diptheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine…but just over half receive Vitamin A supplementation (lauded in the early 1990’s as THE most effective health intervention of all), and only 20% of infants are exclusively breastfed [2].

Malawi is ranked 9th poorest country in the world, with more than half its people living below the poverty line, 9.6 million Malawians (more than half the population) don’t have access to a decent toilet, 5.6 million people (1 in 3) don’t have access to clean water, and 42% of children are stunted [3], yet more than 80% of children are up-to-date with vaccinations…[4].

The Malawi vaccination schedule now includes vaccines for measles, polio, cervical cancer, rotavirus, pneumococcal disease, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus Influenza type B (Hib) [5].

According to UNICEF, almost 90 percent of child deaths from diarrhoeal diseases are directly linked to contaminated water, lack of sanitation, or inadequate hygiene [6], but money that may have been spent on sanitation and procurement of clean water, is spent on rotavirus vaccines instead.

Also, recall that the diptheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine used in poor African countries is likely the old whole-cell thimerosal-containing vaccine, due to being cheaper than the new acellular vaccine [7].

African countries are increasingly rolling out HPV vaccination campaigns for school-girls. While it’s true that the majority of cervical cancer cases are in developing countries, one can’t help but wonder if HPV vaccination is a wise use of resources, given the more pressing needs in many sub-saharan countries.

In 2011, Merck donated 2 million doses of Gardasil vaccine to Rwanda, and 95% of the nation’s 11-year-old girls were vaccinated. The freebies ran out after three years, at which time Merck offered the vaccine to the Rwandan government at ‘discount prices’. Such donations can have the effect of locking governments into programmes which they later have to fund themselves, at the expense of more pressing issues, and may be more about ‘priming the market’, than charity on the part of the drug company [8-9].

Between 2013 – 2016, 26, 766 young girls in Malawi were given quadrivalent HPV vaccination as part of a pilot project, supported by GAVI – and 2051 girls who participated were under the age of 9 [10].

Vaccination coverage in Tanzania in 2014 for school and out of school girls was estimated at 93 per cent and 92.6 per cent, respectively. The chief Health Minister boasted that, despite “heartbreaking stories of the ill effects of vaccines” online, Tanzania had not even registered one single adverse reaction from the vaccine [11]. Is there an incentive for African governments – hopeful of foreign investment from pharmaceutical companies to downplay risks and reactions, in order to keep up the flow of income?

In December 2012, 500 children in Chad received a new experimental meningitis vaccine, and 38 children were later hospitalized, with 7 of the children flown to Tunisia for specialized treatment. The Chadian government declared their “state of health is not worrying”, but other sources in Chad claimed the children were paralysed [12-13].

In 2008, the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations reported (among others) the case of clinical trials in Uganda between 1997 – 2003, where thousands of women suffered adverse reactions to the drug Nevirapine, and some died – and all of it went unreported, while testing continued [14].  

Supplemental Immunization Activities

In addition to routine childhood vaccines, WHO and other agencies also conduct ‘supplemental immunization activities’, which are mass vaccination campaigns that aim to administer extra doses of vaccines. According to the WHO, there have been “thousands of these supplementary vaccination campaigns” with oral polio vaccine since the 1980’s, with children vaccinated regardless of prior vaccine history. The extra doses were not recorded on the child’s health cards [15].

Extra doses of measles vaccines are also given. A quick look at the Measles and Rubella Initiative Calendar for 2019 shows they plan on supplementally vaccinating more than 100 million people in sub-Saharan Africa this year – in addition to routine vaccinations [16].

Experimental Vaccines

In addition to routine vaccinations and supplementary vaccination, poor African countries are increasingly used to test experimental vaccines because it’s quicker and cheaper and less stringent regulations than western countries “Development cycles can be reduced thanks to the faster recruitment of subjects from a larger pool of patients. The costs of recruiting patients and paying investigators are lower too” [17]

This poses some real ethical problems. I have never been to Africa but I have lived in a developing country, and witnessed first-hand the reverence given to those who are in positions of power, or overseas-trained. People are too embarrassed or intimidated to ask questions of their doctor or report side-effects, as it would seem disrespectful and ‘out of line’ with the societal and cultural hierarchy.

Other developing regions face similar issues. M. Nabeel Ghayur, a pharmacologist who worked in drug development in Pakistan says: “People actually have blind trust in their doctor in South Asia. They have no idea what drug development is, they have no idea what clinical trials are.

He said there was little red tape in those countries, and that people would rarely ask about drug side effects and legal issues” [18].

Starting next month (March, 2019), 750,000 babies in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi will be given a new experimental malaria vaccine. The vaccine Mosquirix will be given to children in four doses- at six, seven, nine and 24 months through an injection on the upper arm [19].

 The Star newspaper in Kenya reported: “Mosquirix, also called RTS,S, was first conceived in the 1980s and has undergone all clinical trials, returning less than optimal results.

The vaccine – made by GSK – is only effective in 30 to 50 per cent of patients, says the WHO.

Its effectiveness diminishes over time and it disappears fastest in children who are most exposed to malarial mosquito bites. However, because no defence against malaria is perfect, the vaccine is being considered in addition to the existing defences” [20].

GlaxoSmithKline and its backers, including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had already spent $565 million on developing the drug, which brought back disappointing results in early testing, and did not meet the expected criteria for a malaria vaccine set out by a WHO-led consortium”, which requires a “protective efficacy of more than 50% against severe disease and death, and last longer than one year.” [21]

In 2017, the Global Task Force on Cholera Control launched a very ambitious set of goals, including 90% reduction in cholera deaths by 2030. Naturally, vaccines feature prominently, namely the oral cholera vaccine. A year later, the ‘largest vaccination drive in history’ took place, with over 2 million people vaccinated for cholera in Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan and Nigeria [22].  

As of January 2019, more than 66,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been vaccinated with Merck’s V920, an experimental Ebola vaccine [23].

A Chinese-made genetically-engineered Ebola vaccine was given to 500 adults in Sierra Leone in 2015, as part of a Phase II trial. The Chinese FDA then approved the vaccine, without any Phase III trials [24].

In 2018, some 20,000 Malawian children were enrolled to receive an experimental typhoid conjugate vaccine [25].

Supplemental Drugs

In addition to routine vaccines, supplemental vaccines and experimental vaccines…many African children (and pregnant women) are also given supplemental drugs – malaria (sulfa) drugs, three times during the first year of life (starting from 10 weeks old), or several times per year during childhood – even if they have no infection [26]. During pregnancy, mothers are given the drugs at least three times during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters – again, even if they have no infection [27].

This is called “intermittent preventive therapy”, and it was promoted aggressively by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to the tune of at least $28 million dollars, with the establishment of the ‘IPTi Consortium’ [28].

in 2008, a technical advisory group at the World Health Organization (who coincidentally has received more than $2.4 billion in donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, since 2000 [29], including a $1.2 million grant in 2006, with the express purpose of ensuring “that the IPTi consortium outcomes are collated, assessed by international experts, and result in a WHO policy recommendation” [30])  failed to recommend the program, due to concerns over safety and efficacy.

The protests from the Gates Foundation and their scientists were so loud and insistent, it prompted WHO malaria chief to write a memorandum (which was later leaked to newspapers) to WHO director, Margaret Chan, saying: “although it was less and less straightforward that the health agency should recommend IPTi, the agency’s objections were met with intense and aggressive opposition from Gates-backed scientists and the foundation…” [31]

Not to be deterred, the Gates Foundation then donated funds to have the Institute of Medicine conduct another review, chaired by a doctor whose work has received at least $50 million in funding from the Gates Foundation [32].

Predictably enough, the IOM review concluded that “an intervention with results of this magnitude is worthy of further investment as part of a public health strategy to decrease morbidity from malaria infections in infants“, although they noted that “time and resources did not allow independent audits of trial conduct, data management, or analysis” [33].

The WHO malaria chief who protested the excessive influence of the Gates Foundation, was later replaced…by a member of the Gates-founded IPTi Consortium (and now Vice-President of Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company [34]) and WHO then proceeded to recommend these sulphonamide drugs to infants ( given at the same time as routine vaccines for diptheria-tetanus-pertussis and measles), children and pregnant mothers, despite evidence of increasing drug-resistance in sub-Saharan Africa…

Prior to the IPTp and IPTi programs, pregnant women in malaria-endemic areas of Africa were given weekly doses of chloroquine, until drug resistance and compliance issues made it unfeasible to continue [35].

Other chemical exposures

The use of DDT to control mosquitos in malaria-endemic areas was endorsed by the World Health Organization in 2006, and its use has been increasing ever since. The chemical is sprayed inside homes and buildings – according to a report by the United Nations Environment Program, at least 3952 tonnes of DDT were sprayed in Africa and Asia in 2007 [36].

Agricultural spraying of DDT is common in Africa, especially in West Africa, where mosquitos have developed resistance to it [37].

The vast wealth of precious metals and natural resources in Africa have been both a blessing and curse to its people. Gold and other mining in Africa have produced countless mountains of toxic wastes that pollute the air, soil and water, most notably with uranium, arsenic and lead [38].

Another form of pollution experienced in poorer parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, is indoor air pollution from cooking over open fires, using wood, charcoal, kerosene or animal dung. The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 3.8 million people die prematurely every year, due to health conditions caused by indoor air pollution, the majority due to pneumonia [39].

References:

[1] UNICEF, Statistics: Rwanda https://data.unicef.org/country/rwa/. Accessed February, 2019

[2] UNICEF Statistics: Botswana, https://data.unicef.org/country/bwa/. Accessed February, 2019.

[3] WaterAid, Facts and Statistics: Malawi, https://www.wateraid.org/mw/facts-and-statistics. Accessed February, 2019.

[4] WHO, WHO and UNICEF Estimates of Vaccine Coverage, 2017 Revision, https://www.who.int/immunization/monitoring_surveillance/data/mwi.pdf, Accessed February, 2019.

[5] GAVI The Vaccine Alliance, Iceland pledges US $1 Million to Immunise Children in Malawi, https://www.gavi.org/library/news/statements/2019/iceland-pledges-usd1-million-to-immunise-children-in-malawi/, Accessed February, 2019.

[6] UNICEF, Press Release, Children Dying Daily Because of Unsafe Water Supplies and Poor Sanitation and Hygiene, New York: UNICEF, 2013.

[7] WHO, Biologicals: Pertussis, https://www.who.int/biologicals/vaccines/pertussis/en/. Accessed February, 2019.

[8] The Guardian, Drug donations are great, but should Big pharma be setting the agenda? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/29/drug-company-donations-bigpharma. Accessed September, 2017.

[9] Editorial, Financing HPV vaccination in developing countries, The Lancet, 2011, 377(9777):1544.

[10] Msyamboza KP, et al, Implementation of a human papillomavirus vaccination demonstration project in Malawi: successes and challenges, BMC Public Health series, 2017, 17:599.

[11] AllAfrica, Tanzania: Cancer Vaccination Program Registers Success, https://allafrica.com/stories/201602152199.html, Accessed February, 2019.

[12] MedicalExpress, 38 children hospitalised after meningitis shot in Chad, https://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-children-hospitalised-meningitis-shot-chad.html#jCp. Accessed February, 2019][

[13] England C, Minimum of 40 children paralyzed after new meningitis vaccine, VacTruth, https://vactruth.com/2013/01/06/paralyzed-after-meningitis-vaccine/. Accessed February 2019

[14] Kelly S, Testing drugs on the developing world, The Atlantic, 27th February 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/testing-drugs-on-the-developing-world/273329/. Accessed February, 2019.]

[15] Helleringer S et al, Supplementary polio immunization activities and prior use of routine immunization services in non-polio-endemic sub-Saharan Africa, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2012, https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/90/7/11-092494/en/. Accessed February, 2019.

[16] Measles and Rubella Initiative, SIA Schedule, https://measlesrubellainitiative.org/resources/sia-schedule/. Accessed February, 2019.

[17] Edwards M, R & D in Emerging Markets: A new approach for a new era, McKinsey & Company, 2010, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our-insights/r-and-38d-in-emerging-markets-a-new-approach-for-a-new-era. Accessed February, 2019.

[18] Joelving F Many drugs for US kids tested in poor countries, Reuters, 23rd August 2010, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-drug-tests-idUSTRE67M1VO20100823. Accessed February, 2019.

[19] Kulkani P, Malaria Vaccine trials in Africa: Dark saga of outsourced clinical trials continues, Newsclick, March 2018, https://www.newsclick.in/malaria-vaccine-trials-africa-dark-saga-outsourced-clinical-trials-continues, Accessed February 2019.

[20] Muchangi J, Kenyan children to get first malaria vaccine in the world next month, The Star,14th February, 2019, https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019/02/14/kenyan-children-to-get-first-malaria-vaccine-in-the-world-next-month_c1894869. Accessed February, 2019.

[21] Kulkani P, Malaria vaccine trials in Africa: Dark saga of outsourced clinical trials continues, Newsclick, 17th March 2018, https://www.newsclick.in/malaria-vaccine-trials-africa-dark-saga-outsourced-clinical-trials-continues. Accessed February, 2019.

[22] UNICEF, Global Task Force on Cholera Control marks a year of progress toward ending cholera worldwide, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/global-task-force-cholera-control-marks-year-progress-toward-ending-cholera. Accessed February, 2019.

[23] Ward Hackett D, Ebola vaccinations expanding in Central Africa, https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/v920-ebola-vaccine-now-deployed-drc-uganda-and-south-sudan. Accessed February, 2019.

[24] Liu A, China approves domestic Ebola vaccine developed from recent outbreak, FiercePharma, https://www.fiercepharma.com/vaccines/china-approves-self-developed-ebola-vaccine-from-2014-outbreak-virus-type. Accessed February, 2019.

[25] Gordon M, Trial kicks off in Malawi: First child vaccinated with typhoid conjugated vaccine in Africa, http://www.coalitionagainsttyphoid.org/trial-kicks-off-in-malawi-first-child-vaccinated-with-typhoid-conjugate-vaccine-in-africa/. Accessed February, 2019.

[26] WHO, Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Infants, https://www.who.int/malaria/areas/preventive_therapies/infants/en/?fbclid=IwAR1yumPwTyZEqBUzCIlPatU8pafeR9qUbNBYTA-vf8_38iyhvAumqK7xTlE. Accessed February, 2019.

[27] WHO, Intermittent Preventive Treatment during Pregnancy, https://www.who.int/malaria/areas/preventive_therapies/pregnancy/en/. Accessed February, 2019.

[28] Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, New grants to accelerate malaria research and development, https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2003/09/Grants-for-Malaria-Research. Accessed February 2019.

[29] Huet N & Paun C, Meet the world’s most powerful doctor: Bill Gates, Politico, 4th May 2017, https://www.politico.eu/article/bill-gates-who-most-powerful-doctor/?fbclid=IwAR1t3JJlmxNRTqcZpgvo4dPAFtrZw5vknQJRd_4gDPaU06emIgnLGUtMl6s. Accessed February, 2019.

[30] Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, How We Work: Grant, WHO, https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2006/10/OPP37476. Accessed February, 2019.

[31] McNeil DG, Gates Foundation’s Influence Criticized, New York Times, 16th February 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/science/16malaria.html?fbclid=IwAR1otqtbJWZ8t4lO-XIVDRfQmasdDlTR5Iy6BkjoCh65fDhCECvTazjIkAI. Accessed February 2019.

[32] VCU School of Medicine, Myron Levin M’67: A pioneer of the modern discipline of vaccinology, https://wp.vcu.edu/somdiscoveries/2017/05/myron-levine-m67-a-pioneer-of-the-modern-discipline-of-vaccinology/. Accessed February, 2019.

[33] [IOM, Committee on the Perspectives on the Role of Intermittent Preventive Treatment for Malaria in Infants, 2008, available at: https://www.who.int/immunization/sage/10_IOM_report_on_IPTi.pdf. Accessed February 2019.

[34] UW Dept of Global Health, Robert Newman, https://globalhealth.washington.edu/faculty/robert-newman. Accessed February 2019.

[35] Heymann DL, Antenatal chloroquine chemoprophylaxis in Malawi: chloroquine resistance, compliance, protective efficacy and cost, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg,.1990;84(4):496-8.] [Kayentao K et al, Comparison of Intermittent Preventive Treatment with Chemoprophylaxis for the Prevention of Malaria during Pregnancy in Mali, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2005, 191(1):109–116.

 [36] Cone M, Should DDT be used to combat malaria? Scientific American, 4th May 2009, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ddt-use-to-combat-malaria/. Accessed February 2019.

[37] WorldWatch, Malaria, Mosquitos and DDT, http://www.worldwatch.org/node/517. Accessed February. 2019.

[38] AlJazeera, Toxic City: The cost of gold-mining in South Africa, https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2019/01/toxic-city-cost-gold-mining-south-africa-190123160346656.html?ref=hvper.com. Accessed February 2019.

[39] WHO, Household air pollution and health, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health. Accessed February, 2019.

5 Measles Facts Ignored by Mainstream Media

  1. Nobody knows how many people die globally from measles.

Global death statistics and statistics claiming to prove how many lives are saved by vaccinations are produced via computer modelling through the use of assumptions and mathematical algorithms. Two modelling systems are used: Lives Saved Tool (LiST) is used increasingly by donor organizations, and the WHO/IVB model used by the World Health Organization’s Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.

Both have their shortfalls:

For example, WHO modelling assumes that all unvaccinated children will have a measles infection by their 20th birthday [1], and a proportion of those cases (ascertained by expert panel) would die from measles.

The LiST tool assumes that the ‘herd’ is protected when vaccination coverage reaches 90%, even though we know that outbreaks still occur in areas with 99% vaccination rate [2].

As an example of how these different modelling systems, with their inbuilt assumptions, can affect the numbers, researchers estimated measles deaths for the year 2000 via the two modelling systems. One model estimated 671,521 deaths, while the other model estimated 224,084 deaths – less than half [1].

2. Measles is notoriously hard to diagnose.

Once upon a time, anybody with a fever and a generalized rash may have been diagnosed with measles. In 1998, only a mere 14% of measles diagnoses turned out to be correct in Australia [3] (Even today, 1 in 10 of all medical diagnoses are incorrect, according to the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine [4]).

Even with widespread use of laboratory screening to confirm or rule out measles, correct diagnoses are not guaranteed, for two reasons:

  • Diagnostic bias promoted by health authorities. For example, the CDC advice to health professionals is “To minimize the problem of false positive laboratory results, it is important to restrict case investigation and laboratory tests to patients most likely to have measles”. Those “most likely” to have measles, of course, are the unvaccinated and those who’ve recently travelled abroad. This, of course, serves to reinforce the current paradigm that vaccination ‘works’ and measles has been eliminated from the US, and the only reason outbreaks still occur is because of travellers and the unvaccinated [5].
  • Laboratory testing is not guaranteed to be correct. The specimen needs to be collected at just the right time, and stored under the right conditions. According to the World Health Organization, dengue fever, chikungunya and zika viruses can also present with fever and rash…and test positive for measles – due to “non-specific reactions or formation of immune complexes that can produce a false positive IgM result in measles or rubella IgM assays [6].”

3. Vitamin A saves lives…but apparently is not as profitable as vaccines.

It has been known for decades that supplementing with Vitamin A substantially reduces mortality rates from infectious diseases in developing countries. In the case of measles, Vitamin A supplementation can halve the mortality rate [7].

In the early 1990’s, control of Vitamin A deficiency in developing nations was declared a major international goal, and lauded as possibly the most cost effective of all health interventions [8-9]. This is because sufficient levels of Vitamin A not only benefit overall health and immunity, but also prevent blindness. Why is it then, that decades later, a country like Rwanda has a 98-99% vaccination rate, but only 3% rate of Vitamin A supplementation [10]?

In developing countries, Vitamin A may be administered intravenously in hospitalized measles cases, but oral Vitamin A supplementation is not promoted for home use (which would potentially avert the need for hospitalisation) [11].

4. How the measles virus was supposedly ‘isolated’

The measles component in today’s vaccine was developed in 1954, by scientist John Enders. In a paper published by The American Journal of Public Health, Enders described how he did it [12]:

First, his team obtained ‘throat washings and blood’ from an 11-yo boy with measles named David Edmonston. When he added it to a specimen of ‘post-natal cells’ (cervical cord? Infant foreskin?), these cells fell ill. He assumed this was caused by the measles virus.

He then added the mixture to a culture of HeLa cells – human cervical cancer cells that are so aggressive, and so prolific, they have managed to contaminate many cell lines all over the world. The fluid that ran out, he poured onto a second culture of cells, and then a third, and so on, until he could see under microscope ‘giant multinuclear cells’. He attributed this to measles virus, not to aggressive cervical cancer cells.

He then passaged the fluid through human kidney cells numerous times, followed by numerous passages through human amnion cells, each passage undoubtedly creating more stress and mutations for the cells. When he injected the resulting fluid into monkeys, some got a ‘mild illness’ that in ‘some aspects’ resembled measles. This was all the proof Enders needed, that he had isolated the viral culprit causing illness in kids.

Enders decided using monkeys was too expensive, so went with chicken embryos to save costs, and today’s vaccine is still prepared on chicken eggs [13].

5. Measles Used to Treat Cancer

In 1973, the British Medical Journal published a case study, describing remission of infantile Hodgkin’s disease after natural measles infection [14]. The 23-month-old child developed measles, before radiotherapy could be started, and the researchers noted, “much to our surprise, the large cervical mass vanished without further therapy”.

In fact, vaccine-strain measles is currently being investigated as a potential treatment for cancer, with early results deemed as “promising”, with open trials still being conducted [15]. Earlier research stated that attenuated live measles virus demonstrated “propensity to preferentially infect, propagate in, and destroy cancerous tissue” [16]. 

It was explained that the reason for using modified viruses was “concerns regarding the potential of wild-type-viruses to cause serious side effects, technical limitations in manufacturing viral lots of high purity for clinical use, as well as the overwhelming excitement and fervent support the, at the time, newly emerging chemotherapy approaches that slowed down research on alternative strategies [17]”.

(Note also that a laboratory-engineered virus strain can be patented, which makes it much more desirable for drug companies).

In 2014, CNN aired the story of a woman with incurable multiple myeloma, who had already endured every type of chemotherapy available for that kind of cancer, two stem cell transplants, yet relapsed time and time again [18].

Scientists from the Mayo Clinic injected the woman with a genetically-engineered measles virus. The woman than experienced a high fever of 105, and vomiting (but declared it was the ‘easiest treatment’ she’d done by far). She went into remission for nine months, and then a small growth had to be removed surgically.

But was it the ‘measles’ virus that affected the cancer, or was it the purgative and cleansing action of the fever and vomiting – self-correcting mechanisms of the human body that are now largely suppressed through modern medicine?

In 1890, a young surgeon at New York City’s Memorial Hospital became dismayed at the frequent failures of surgery to treat cancer. His name was William Coley. He began to dig through the records of the hospital, and was intrigued to find the case of an immigrant dockworker, who was admitted to the hospital with a malignant tumour on his neck. He was later discharged without any treatment…and without any further sign of tumour on his neck [19].

William Coley tracked the man down, and found him in good health. It turned out that while the man was in hospital awaiting surgery, he developed a severe case of erysipelas, a painful red inflammation on the skin, accompanied by high fevers. The sarcoma on his neck vanished.

Coley began to experiment on those with inoperable cancers, by injecting bacterial endotoxins to produce a high fever, with an estimated cure rate of 60% (far surpasses the success rate of today’s treatment for stage 4 cancers). Note that the treatment was only successful if fever and skin eruption could be induced.

His product, Coley’s Toxins, was used all over the United States and Europe, but in the post-war years, when science and medicine were enthralled by the promise of ‘cutting edge’ technology such as radiation and chemotherapy, ‘fever therapy’ fell out of favour, and in 1962, Coley’s Toxins were banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

Ironically, ‘immunotherapy’ to treat cancer is now regarded as the ‘hottest area of cancer research’ [20]. Perhaps, if we looked at why people’s immune system had become so dysregulated to start with…?

Other random findings:

While still on the subject of measles, it would appear the current MMR vaccine was approved without having been tested in clinical trials, but rather, based on studies of the individual components.

The vaccine insert for the current MMR II vaccine references numerous studies, but they are ALL for the individual components of the vaccine, not the MMR vaccine [21].

There is one (small) study mentioned that appears to have been based on the MMR II vaccine but…no references are provided.

Clinical trials are generally conducted in phases of ever-increasing numbers of participants. Phase 1 trials usually involve 20-100 healthy volunteers. Phase II usually involves 100-300 volunteers from the target market. And phase III usually involves 300-3000 volunteers from the target market. So, we’d expect to see more than just one study referenced for a new vaccine.

A visit to Merck’s website leaves us none the wiser. The same small study is promoted, but still, puzzlingly, no references are given for said study [22].


Since being approved, more and more adverse reactions have become apparent [23]:

Additionally, Merck stopped making the single vaccines in 2009, so if one wanted to be vaccinated for ‘measles’, they must have the triple-antigen vaccine [24].

References:

 [1] Chen WJ. Comparison of LiST measles mortality model and WHO/IVB measles model. BMC Public Health. 2011;11 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S33. Published 2011 Apr 13. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-S3-S33.

[2] Boulianne N, De Serres G, Duval B, Joly JR, Meyer F, Déry P, Alary M, Le Hénaff D, Thériault N. Département de santé communautaire, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université Laval. [Major measles epidemic in the region of Quebec despite a 99% vaccine coverage] [Article in French]. Can J Public health. 1991 May-Jun;82(3):189-90].

[3] Francombe H. Measles diagnosis unreliable, Australian Doctor, Feb 18, 2000.].

[4] Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine. Reducing Harm From Diagnostic Error, http://www.improvediagnosis.org/. Accessed October, 2017

[5] Centers for Disease Control and prevention, Manual for Surveillance of Vaccine-preventable Diseases: Measles, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt07-measles.html. Accessed February, 2019.

[6] WHO, Manual for the Laboratory-based Surveillance of Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome, https://www.who.int/immunization/monitoring_surveillance/burden/laboratory/manual_section4.2/en/. Accessed February, 2019.

[7] SOMMER A. Vitamin A prophylaxis, Archives of Disease in Childhood 1997;77:191-194.

[8] World Bank. World development report 1993: investing in health. Washington DC: World Bank/New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

[9] National strategies for overcoming micronutrient malnutrition. 45th World Health Assembly (agenda item 21), 1992. World Health Organisation, Geneva.

[10] UNICEF, Statistics: Rwanda, https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/rwanda_statistics.html#114. Accessed September, 2017.

[11] Mayo Clinic, Measles: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/measles/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20374862. Accessed February, 2019.

[12] Enders J et al, Measles Virus: A Summary of Experiments Concerned with Isolation, Properties and Behavior, Am J Pub Health, 1957, 47(3):275-282.

[13] CDC, Prevention of Measles, Rubella, Congenital Rubella Syndrome, and Mumps, 2013 Summary Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), MMRW, 2013, 62(4), pp 8.

[14] Mota C. Infantile Hodgkins’ disease: remission after measles. BMJ, 1973; 2(5863): 421.

[15] Aref S, Bailey K, Fielding A. Measles to the Rescue: A Review Of Oncolytic Measles Virus. Viruses, 2016; 8(10):294.

[16] Msaouel P, Dispenzieri A, Galanis E. Clinical testing of engineered oncolytic measles virus strains in the treatment of cancer: An overview. Curr Opin Mol Ther, 2009, 11(1): 43-53.

[17] ibid

[18] CNN, Measles virus used to put woman’s cancer into remission, https://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/15/health/measles-cancer-remission/index.html. Accessed February, 2019.

[19] Engelking C, Germ of an Idea: Coley’s Cancer-Killing Toxins, Discover Magazine, http://discovermagazine.com/2016/april/11-germ-of-an-idea. Accessed February, 2019

[20] Ibid

[21] FDA, MMR II vaccine, https://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/UCM123789.pdf. Accessed February 2, 2019.

[22] MerckVaccines.com, Seroconversion Rates, https://www.merckvaccines.com/products/mmr/seroconversion-rates. Accessed February, 2019.

[23] FDA, Measles, Mumps and Rubella Virus Vaccine, Live, https://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm094050.htm. Acessed February 2, 2019.

[24] CDC, Q&A’s About Monovalent MMR vaccines, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/clinical-resources/mmr-faq-12-17-08.html. Accessed February 2, 2019.