To
Ms Anu Garg
Health Secretary
Orissa Secretariat
Bhubaneswar.
DT: 20.11.08
Sub: Inclusion of Hep-B Vaccine into the UIP in certain districts of Orissa.
Madam,
The Hep-B vaccine has been opposed by senior doctors of the country ever since its introduction into India. These doctors have pointed out that the vaccine is unnecessary in India as the prevalent type here is a different virus. They have also pointed out that Hep-B is a threat only to those having risky sexual habits as it is a sexually transmitted disease.
This vaccine was originally targeted at homosexuals and sex workers and their clients in the USA. However these groups showed no interest in the vaccine. Subsequently this vaccine was shifted to the population of developing countries without consulting the local doctors for the rate of prevalence of the disease.
It was even more shocking when this vaccine was included in the UIP and infants were targeted. Emboldened by this move the private practitioners too are recommending and giving this shot to all infants under their treatment. Since when have our infants become sexually promiscuous?
The vaccine has been in the news for having a liberal dose of the infamous vaccine decontaminant Thiomersal which contains ethylmercury, a heavy metal and a classified industrial toxin. This vaccine is also a recombinant vaccine meaning that it contains genetically modified viruses whose impact have never been medically studied.
To top it all, the latest issue of the "Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry" has published a research paper that this vaccine, when it was used on American children in its mercury containing avatar, caused developmental disability in them.
To quote from the study, "This study found statistically significant evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple series Hepatitis B vaccine, during the time period in which vaccines were manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability than were unvaccinated boys."
We therefore request you to kindly take up the issue with appropriate authorities so that the children of Orissa and their families will be spared the intense trauma that disability brings in its wake.
Kindly acknowledge receipt.
Yours faithfully,
Jagannath Chatterjee
Bhubaneswar
cc: Eminent doctors, scientists and citizen of Orissa.
Encl:
This study investigated the association between vaccination with the Hepatitis B
triple series vaccine prior to 2000 and developmental disability in children aged 1–
9 years (n=1824), proxied by parental report that their child receives
early intervention or special education services (EIS). National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2000 data were analyzed and adjusted for
survey design by Taylor Linearization using SAS version 9.1 software, with SAS
callable SUDAAN version 9.0.1. The odds of receiving EIS were approximately
nine times as great for vaccinated boys (n=46) as for unvaccinated boys (n=7),
after adjustment for confounders. This study found statistically significant
evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple
series Hepatitis B vaccine, during the time period in which vaccines were
manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability
than were unvaccinated boys.
