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Is your
child suffering from DPT injury or DPT vaccine injury?
The DPT
vaccine is designed to immunize against diphtheria,
pertussis, and tetanus. Other vaccines are designed to
save lives by preventing disease like polio, measles, and
other serious conditions. But what happens when these
vaccines cause diminished qualify-of-life side effects or
worse – death – from vaccine injury?
What
happens when a DPT vaccine causes DPT vaccine injury? DPT vaccines have been implicated in the death or permanent
neurological or brain damage of some children. Thimerosal,
which is used as a preservative in some DPT vaccines,
contains mercury and has been suspected of contributing to
the dramatic increase of autism. There have been reports
of healthy infants who had been progressing normally to
suddenly developing severe problems including autism and
brain damage after receiving a DPT vaccine.
Immunizations usually begin when the child is still an
infant and follows a recommended schedule. Ordinarily, a
parent would weigh the potential benefits of a medication
against the potential risk of using it and make an
informed decision whether or not to give the medication to
their child. However, parents are required by law to have
their children immunized before they can attend schools in
the United States.
Are
DPT vaccines necessary?
There
is no question that DPT vaccines have reduced or in some
cases even eliminated the risk of certain diseases.
However, there is a preponderance of evidence
demonstrating that DPT vaccines are not without injury
either.
What
is the risk with DPT vaccine injury?
Like
all medications -- DPT vaccines can have side effects.
Sometimes side effects are only temporary or extremely
rare. Other vaccines have a greater risk of more serious,
long-term DPT vaccine injury.
The
FDA's Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (VAERS)
receives about 11,000 reports of serious adverse reactions
to vaccination annually, one percent (112+) of which are
deaths from DPT vaccine injury reactions. However, the FDA
estimates that only about 10 percent of adverse DPT
vaccine reactions are reported. Under-reporting of
adverse DPT vaccine reactions by the National Vaccine
Information Center discovered that in New York only one
out of 40 doctors or about 2.5 percent of the doctors
surveyed confirmed that they report a DPT vaccine death or
DPT vaccine injury following vaccination. This means that
97.5 percent of DPT vaccine-related deaths and injuries go
unreported there. These startling findings suggest that
DPT vaccine deaths may be well over 1,000 per year and DPT
vaccine injury may be much higher.
The
fact is that no one knows the actual amount of risk
involved when a DPT vaccine is administered. Most children
will show no reaction at all. But for the children and
adults who are adversely and seriously affected, the risk
of brain damage, autism, and death is 100%.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have
recommended that children be immunized with a new DPT
vaccine, but many vaccination programs still use DPT
because it is less expensive.
To add insult to injury, a purified DPT vaccine is
available that's virtually reaction-free, and has been
produced and used in other countries for over 15 years,
using technology the U.S. abandoned in the 1970s. This
reaction-free DPT vaccine costs $9 more per injection.
While most parents would happily pay the additional
money to ensure their children's safety from DPT vaccine
injury, drug companies have lobbied to delay the use
of the purified DPT vaccine for as long as possible
probably because it will cut into their inflated 50
percent vaccination profit margins.
Shouldn't the manufacturers of DPT vaccines be required to
produce safe DPT vaccines?
Do you have a DPT vaccines injury case?
An attorney at Monheit Law can help you decide.
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