Combining Multiple Childhood Vaccines Not Safe, According to Article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons​

TUCSON, Ariz., June 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Multiple childhood vaccines are often given at one visit, but contrary to the claims of public health officials there is evidence that this practice is unsafe, writes medical research journalist Neil Z. Miller in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (link here http://www.jpands.org/vol21no2/miller.pdf). 

Miller used data in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), jointly operated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which was established in 1990. This contains about 500,000 reports of adverse events that occurred in association with, but not necessarily caused by vaccines. Miller acknowledges that health authorities often suggest that VAERS may be unreliable, but points out that CDC considers VAERS an important vaccine safety assessment tool and regularly conducts its own studies using VAERS data.

“Although CDC recommends polio, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, rotavirus, Haemophilus influenzae type B, and pneumococcal vaccines for two-, four-, and six-month-old infants, this combination of eight vaccines administered during a single physician visit was never tested for safety in clinical trials,” Miller writes. “This is at odds with a CDC report which found that mixed exposures to chemical substances and other stress factors, including prescribed pharmaceuticals, may produce ‘increased or unexpected deleterious health effects.’”

Miller looked at the percentage of reported reactions that involved hospitalization or death as related to the number of vaccine doses the infant had received, and to the age of the infant.

“Our study showed that infants who receive several vaccines concurrently…are significantly more likely to be hospitalized or die when compared with infants who receive fewer vaccines simultaneously,” he writes. “It also showed that reported adverse effects were more likely to lead to hospitalization or death in younger infants.”

In infants receiving five or more vaccines concurrently, 5.4% of reported reactions were fatal, compared with 3.6% in those receiving four or fewer, the study shows.

“Parents and physicians should consider health options associated with a lower risk of hospitalization or death,” Miller concludes.

Miller also authored the book Miller’s Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers.

The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.