In 1998, a vaccine was released for infants against rotavirus, a contagious virus that causes diarrhea. Albeit unpleasant, this infectious disease is manageable at home with extra fluids. However, soon after the introduction of the vaccine, it was reported that some infants developed intussusception, a type of bowel obstruction particular to infants where the bowel telescopes in on itself, commonly occurring at the intersection of the small and large intestine. While infants may be quite ill, prompt intervention is curative in all but a few cases.
The risk for development of this bowel obstruction following vaccination was 20-30 times higher than what would be expected in a normal population and occurred within two weeks of the administration of the vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as local agencies, quickly intervened and halted the usage of this vaccine. Two emergency investigations were instituted showing that the vaccine increased the risk for intussusception by one to two cases among 10,000 infants who received the vaccine.
In response, the manufacturer voluntarily withdrew the rotavirus vaccine from usage in 1999.
The CDC claimed that the decision to remove the rotavirus vaccine was due to the fact that intussusception is a serious condition and that the complications from a rotavirus infection in the US can be prevented by oral rehydration. The CDC states:
“…when a vaccine is discovered to have a serious side effect, a recommendation to continue using the vaccine will be reconsidered and the vaccine may be withdrawn, in spite of the beneficial effect of the vaccine to prevent disease.”
Twenty three years later…
It seems that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, caution has been thrown to the wind. So much about 2020 and the pandemic related to SARS- CoV-2 is unprecedented. In addition to an unprecedented disease and its global response, COVID-19 has also initiated an unprecedented accelerated process of vaccine research, production, testing, and public distribution.
The sense of urgency around combatting this virus led to the creation, in March 2020, of Operation Warp Speed (OWS), then-President Donald Trump’s program to bring a vaccine against COVID-19 to market as quickly as possible, skipping several steps in the normal evaluation process. In response, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborated with the biotechnology company Moderna in bringing an altogether new type of vaccine against infectious disease to market, one utilizing a technology based on messenger RNA (mRNA). Another mRNA vaccine was also developed in parallel by Pfizer in conjunction with a small biotech company in Europe called BioNTech.
Both of these vaccines have been approved for emergency use by the FDA in record time, with little regard for the fact that this technology is experimental and unproven.
Now there is an aggressive campaign to get these vaccines into the arms of as many US citizens as possible, also in record time. This is true not only in the US, but also increasingly on a global scale. Essentially, the entire world’s population are serving as guinea pigs in a massive experimental study, and there is clear potential for a great deal of harm.
The global mass vaccination rollout on the world’s adults has now extended its hand into the arms of children. Initially, 16 year olds were encouraged and in some instances, ‘mandated’ to receive the experimental therapy.
The age limit has now been decreased to 12 year olds, and imminently 5 year olds and younger are being targeted as the next ‘at risk’ populations. Children have almost zero risk of dying from COVID-19, and it is almost certain therefore that the risk/benefit ratio of these vaccines is too great to warrant their use on children.