VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM! (Just maybe a coma)

VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM. I agree with this statement. So too, do nearly all scientists. I would venture to say that it is one of few uniting phrases among the medical community, maybe just behind “first, do no harm”. While I agree with this statement, I often wonder whether our community’s repetition of this mantra (on Facebook, in the classroom, in doctor’s offices, often accompanied by a frustrated tone and rolled eyes) is serving to ostracize, rather than educate, the notorious “anti-vaxxers” of the world. I wonder this especially because I know a family who actually did experience a medical emergency (likely) from a vaccine, and who waited in frustration while physicians at top hospitals denied the possibility… until one proved it to be true.

In 1976, the annual flu vaccine was designed to protect against H1N1, or the “swine flu”, and had a strong correlation with subsequent development of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in those who received the vaccine (Nachamkin et al., 2008). GBS is an autoimmune incident during which the body develops anti-ganglioside antibodies and attacks motor neurons of the peripheral nervous system, leading to paralysis (Nachamkin et al., 2008). A 2008 study hypothesized that the flu vaccines from that year contained contaminants such as campylobacter jejuni, a virus known to set off the anti-ganglioside antibodies characteristic of GBS (Nachamkin et al., 2008). However, the study found no campylobacter jejuni in the 1976 vaccines. Even more interesting, it found that the 1991-1992 and 2004-2005 vaccines caused the same anti-ganglioside development in mice as the 1976 flu vaccine, even though the reported GBS incidence in relation to the flu vaccine had dropped to 1 in 10,000,000 (Nachamkin et al., 2008). Coincidentally (or maybe not…), the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was developed in 1980, and serves to compensate individuals who experience adverse reactions to vaccines before the incidents escalate to a legal development (“National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program | Official web site of the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration,” n.d.). As far as I can tell, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is not required, even when it believes the complaint to be valid, to report cases to the CDC.

My best friend’s mom worked at our local health center and received the 2010-2011 flu vaccine at work. Later that day, she developed tingling in her fingers and a severe headache. By the end of the night, she had progressed from the Emergency Room to the ICU, where she regressed into a coma. Even though her symptoms had come soon after a flu vaccine and begun with tingling fingers (indicative of PNS involvement), her condition had become one primarily of a dysfunctional central nervous system, so physicians wrote off her family’s concerns regarding a link between the vaccine and her comatose state.

Six weeks later, the family still had no answers. Finally, a new physician was added to her case, and became convinced that the mechanism was autoimmune upon hearing about the initial tingling in her fingers. He started her on plasmapheresis with the aim of clearing her system of any antibodies, and my friend’s mom became mildly responsive three days later.

2010 was the year following the H1N1 pandemic flu of the 2009-2010 season, and included H1N1 flu strains in the vaccine. My friend’s family was compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, and after many months of rehabilitation, my friend’s mom regained nearly 100% functionality. However, the case was never reported to the CDC. I believe this to be a violation to the ethic of justice, as other patients may have had similar undiagnosed reactions across the nation. Furthermore, the physicians violated beneficence by refusing, in their own hubris, to explore a connection between the vaccine and the reaction.

This case may truly be 1 in 1,000,000. Furthermore, even if the link between the flu vaccine and my friend’s mom’s ordeal were irrevocably proved, everyone should still get the flu vaccine in order to protect the vulnerable members of society from the far more dubious and prevalent virus itself. However, I do believe that this story illustrates how a rational, educated family could become disenfranchised with the medical system, and vaccines in particular.  As future healthcare providers, I believe it is our duty to diffuse the divisive nature of these hot-topic issues by maintaining a listening ear, open mind, and dogged dedication to the pursuit of scientific evidence, rather than slogans, in the face of adverse public opinions.

Nachamkin, I., Shadomy, S. V., Moran, A. P., Cox, N., Fitzgerald, C., Ung, H., … Chen, R. T. (2008). Anti-Ganglioside Antibody Induction by Swine (A/NJ/1976/H1N1) and Other Influenza Vaccines: Insights into Vaccine-Associated Guillain-Barré Syndrome. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 198(2), 226–233. https://doi.org/10.1086/589624

National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program | Official web site of the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2018, from https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/index.html