Posted on 10/21/2001 10:33:10 PM PDT by bonesmccoy
Just wanted to leave you all some info on Vaccinia vaccination. Basically, last I heard the small pox immunization was not being produced in the USA. There was a report today that DOD has ordered supplies from UK. Frankly, I don't know how the UK could be producing the vaccine. The only known stockpiles of the virus (after World Health Organization/UN announced eradication of the virus from Earth) were in the US and USSR. If a UK company is making vaccine, what is in the vaccine?
The old vaccine was produced using techniques that would not be licensed or approved today. So, the stockpile doesn't meet current specs. Also, my info was that the stockpile is about 20 years old.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm not about to use 20-year-old vaccine in my practice without knowing that the vaccine was needed. I certainly would not use it in our children, unless I was convinced that a threat exists.
I do have the scar from the smallpox vaccine on my arm. My doctor gave it to me in the late 1970's. So, I feel a certain measure of comfort from that knowledge. However, it is important to note that the immunologic effect of the vaccine wanes (decreases) over the years.
Talking-heads on CNN et al have been stating that those who received the vaccine may not be immune. Well, I would like to point out to those @%^*!s that the original small pox vaccine was a LIVE VIRUS. That's why your skin ended up with welts, sores, and then scarred for life. The Japanese used the Oka Chicken Pox Vaccine for 20 years before the US gov't finally got it released to our nation. Have the Japanese seen any waning immunity from Oka Varicella Zoster Vaccine (the chickenpox vaccine)? NO! Yet, there are still idiot talking-heads who are PAID to show up on some news program and to spout incorrect info that the OkaVZV vaccine has concerns about waning immunity. ACCORDING TO WHOM?
The FDA can find an answer to the question of waning smallpox immunity real fast. THOMPSON NEEDS TO TELL CDC TO COMMISSION A FOLLOW-UP STUDY ON THE OLD SMALLPOX IMMUNIZATION. Have CDC draw serum samples on our generation of kids (who got the vaccine when we were young and are now consenting adults). Confirm when the patient received the vaccine and check the sample for any antibodies to smallpox. If you find IgG antibodies (assuming we know how to locate such antibodies, which I can not vouch for), then you will know if boosters are needed in previously immunized individuals.
Vaccinia Vaccine
Vaccinia (smallpox) vaccine, a licensed product, is a preparation of infectious vaccinia virus whose origin and manipulation is FDA approved. The vaccinia is grown in the skin of a vaccinated bovine calf (2). In 1982, the only active licensed producer of vaccinia vaccine in the United States, Wyeth Laboratories, discontinued production for general use, and, in 1983, distribution to the civilian population was discontinued. Smallpox vaccination has not been required for international travelers since January 1982, and International Certificates of Vaccination no longer include smallpox vaccination.
CDC provides vaccinia vaccine for laboratory workers directly involved with smallpox or closely related orthopox viruses (e.g., monkeypox and vaccinia). Due to clinical trials involving recombinant vaccinia virus vaccines, health-care workers (e.g., physicians and nurses) may now be exposed to vaccinia and recombinant vaccinia viruses and should be considered for vaccinia vaccination (6).
There is no evidence that smallpox vaccination has any therapeutic value in the treatment or prevention of recurrent herpes simplex infection, warts, oral thrush, or any other diseases (6). Requests for smallpox vaccine for these unapproved uses cannot be granted.
Looks who's talking! You're the "doctor" of misinformation who went over the top insisting that there was no reason to begin antibiotic treatment for inhalation anthrax until after the symptoms appear!
Did you get your MD from Iatrogenic U?
Thanks for joining us! Nice to have a front line MD on the forum. Too much BS scare and misinformation! My wife is the head RN in a large family practice in N. Ca.. I'm a retired "legal drug pusher".
From what I have read from your posts, if I lived in your community, you could be our doctor!
--Boris
More BS from the "doctor".
CJD is not a "virus", it is a prion.
And as to his assertion that formaldehyde will kill them, please read from "Inquiry Whitewash and Hogwash":
"This is not the first time contaminated surgerical equipment has been implicated in the spread of CJD. In 1977, two teenagers in Switzerland developed the incurable disease after having undergone surgery for brain tumors. The electrodes that apparently transmitted CJD had been cleaned, disinfected and sterilized using benzene, alcohol and formaldehyde."
Don't let the "doctor" rattle you. His hobby seems to be to go around as an amateur agent provocateur.
My point was merely that we should get the vaccine in place so that we have options, but that we should be weighing those options before we act precipitously. Mr. McCoy didn't like me questioning his opinion, I guess. For someone who admits he's a "young" doctor, he sure seems to value his own experience above those who have had more experience and are in a position to be getting more data than he has access to. I find that a troublesome attitude for a physician.
Your post makes no sense at all. It implies that there isn't any vaccine available unless "Noah" decides to hoard some.
So, what happens when a kid steps on a rusty nail? Mom takes him in for a tetanus shot -- which would logically be available off the shelf for just such incidents.
The prosecution rests.
See my post#137. I have exactly the same feeling that you have. My last four vacccinations had no reaction at all, but I'll still go for another when they become available.
I am very worried for the unvaccinated young people of today, which includes our son. If an outbreak occurs in my area, the only defense I can think of (prior to exposure) is complete isolation of the family, which would mean staying at home with no contact with anyone or anything, until the Health Department calls everyone in for mass vaccinations.
Thank you bonesmccoy for posting this thread. The information you provided is invaluable and appreciated.
Cite:
I don't have a smallpox vaccine scar. Was born in 1948, went to public school and my sister has one, so I know that I also had the vaccine. It is possible that the scar has completely faded, but since I scar easily and have many scars still visible from childhood - including one or two I got when I was just a toddler, I wonder if the smallpox scar would have completely faded. I also remember looking for my smallpox scar when I was in my early 20s because my roommate and I were comparing scars - I didn't have one.
A friend and I were talking about smallpox vaccines the other day, his is still visible as are all my other friends scars (I have asked them all). He suggested that the reason I don't have a scar is because I had a natural immunity and the vaccine "didn't take". Is that possible? And, if so, would I still have a natural immunity?
I can't imagine my sis being vaccinated and me not being vaccinated. My childhood doctor passed away 20 years ago so I can't contact him to find out.
There are also idiots with a track record of handing out deadly medical advice, and then attempting to rationalize it with usubstantiated claims of a license to practice medicine.
"Your disinformation tactic is counterproductive."
Can't hold a candle to the disinfo you've pumped up our collective clymers, "doctor", so don't go feeling like your crown is threatened.
He's arrogant, that's why he does what he does. The first day he showed up on FR, he puked out a mile of BS about how it was stupid and paranoid to begin antibiotic treatment of inhalation anthrax before the symptoms appeared. If he was a real doctor, he should have known -- as virtually everyone else knows -- that if you wait until symptoms appear, you have effectively sentenced yourself to death.
I haven't quite figured the guy out, but I do think it boils down to a question of either knowledge, or motives.
His first day on FR, he said that he was a doctor, and insisted that people should therefore listen to him when he said that it was folly to begin antibiotic treatment of inhalation anthrax prior to the appearance of symptoms.
If he's a doctor, then I have to wonder if his last name begins with "Kevork".
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