A Shot in the Dark

260 Pages·2000·39.665 MB·English

by  Harris L. Coulter, Barbara Loe Fisher

Why P DPT
the in the
may
vaccination be
^
hazardous
to
your
child’s
health
/
COULTER
HARRIS
L.
BARBARA
LOE
FISHER
St
ii
BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY
Why P DPT
the in the
may
vaccination be
hazardous
to
your
child’s
health
COULTER
HARRIS
L.
& BARBARA LOE FISHER
n
GCCt P
i\i ISHINO INC
1 1 I I
Garden City Park, New York
The medical and health advice in this book is based on the training, personal experiences,
and research ofthe authors. Because each person and situation is unique, the editor and
publisher urge the reader to check with a qualified health professional before accepting
any advice where there is any question as to its appropriateness.
Because there is always some risk involved, the authors and publisher are not
responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use ofany of the
suggestions in this book. Feel free to consult a physician or other qualified health
professional. It is a sign of wisdom, not cowardice, to seek a second or third opinion.
Cover designers: Rudy Shur and Martin Hochburg
Cover photographer: John Harper
In-house editor: Bonnie Freid
Typesetters: Coghill Typesetting, Richmond, Virginia
1.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coulter, Harris L. (Harris Livermore), 1932-
A shot in the dark why the P in the DPT vaccination may be
:
hazardous to your child’s health / Harris L. Coulter, Barbara Loe
Fisher,
cm.
p.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-89529-463-X
—
Pertussis vaccines Health aspects. 2. Pertussis vaccines-
-Toxicology. I. Fisher, Barbara—Loe. II. Title.
—
[DNLM: 1. Pertussis Vaccine adverse effects popular works.
—
—
2. Whooping Cough in infancy and childhood popular works.
— & — WC
3. Whooping Cough prevention control popular works. 340
C855s]
QR189.5.P46C68 1991
618.92*20405—dc20
DNLM/DLC
for Library ofCongress 91-21991
CIP
©
Copyright by Harris L. Coulter and Barbara Loe Fisher
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner.
Printed in the United States of America
987654321
10
of
Tabic Contents
Introduction,
I
1. The History of Whooping Cough and the Pertussis Vaccine, 4
2. Adverse Reactions: An Afterthought? 22
Long-Term Damage, 64
3.
4. Do We Know the Extent of the Damage? 83
Whooping Cough Today, 94
5.
6. Contraindications, 110
7. Political Immunology, 136
Who
8. Is Responsible? 165
How
9. Mandatory Vaccination: Did It Happen? 196
10. The Search for a Safer Vaccine, 205
11. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, 213
Conclusion, 216
Bibliography, 221
Index, 241
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/shotindarkwhypinOOcoul
Julie Middlchurst-Schwartz w as three years old in March 1984 when she died in
status epilepticus. The daughter of Jeffrey Schwartz and Donna Middlehurst, she
went into her first grand mal convulsion within hours ofher third DPT shot. From
the day of that shot to the day of her death, she suffered with uncontrollable
convulsions. But Julie, like so manv vaccine-damaged children, never let the pain
she did not understand break her spirit or take awav her enthusiasm for life.
This book is for Julie, and for all the other children whose health has been
destroyed or whose lives have been taken from them, and for their parents, who
w alwavs love them.
ill

Acknowledgments
A Shot in the Dark w as born of a vision shared bv parents, physicians, scientists,
journalists, and others who recognized that public education about the pertussis
vaccine would help prevent unnecessary vaccine damage. It could not have been
written without the support of those who believed in the need to tell the pertussis
vaccine storv and who also believed in us. To each of them, especially our families
and friends, we ow e our deepest gratitude for time freclv given and encouragement
provided during the years we w rote this book.
We would like to also acknowledge the more than one hundred mothers and
fathers who selflessly shared their experiences with us so that fewer parents need
suffer the pain of w atching their once-healthy children die or become permanently
brain damaged after a routine DPT vaccination. We w ill alw ays be grateful to them
and the others w ho provided information to us during the research and writing
all
of this book.
The authors wish to thank the following for permission to quote from the sources listed:
©
From Every Second Childby Archie Kalokerinos, M.D., copyright 1981 by Keats Publishing,
Inc., New Canaan, CT, used with permission. Lines from “Ceremony After a Fire Raid” by Dylan
Thomas, Poems ofDylan Thomas copyright 1946 by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
,
reprinted by permission of New Directions. Material reproduced from Bulletin of World Health
—
Organization 59 (1): 9-15 (1981), C.R. Manclark. “Letter from Abroad Campaign of Terror,”
A. Dis. Child. 137, September 1983, pp. 922-23. Lines from “A Prayer for My Daughter” from
J.
The Poems by W. B. Yeats, edited by RichardJ. Finneran, copyright 924 by Macmillan Publishing
1
Co., Inc., renewed 1952 by Bertha Georgie Yeats. From “Division of Biologies Standards: The
Boat That Never Rocked” by N. Wade, Science, Vol. 1 75, pp. 1 225-30, 1 7 March 1972, copyright
©
1972 by the American Association for the Advancement ofScience. Quotations from Transcript
No. 2042: “DPT Danger,” MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. Letter from Howard H. Frankel, Ph.D.,
excerpted by permission of The New EnglandJournal ofMedicine 301:3 (July 19, 1979), p. 159.
Sentences from Pediatric Red Book 19th edition, 1982. From the International Symposium on
,
Combined Vaccines, 1967 (Marburg, FGR), Symp. Series immunobiol. Standard Vol. 7, pp.
,
21-28, George Dick, “Reactions to the Pertussis Component ofQuadriple and Triple Vaccines.”
From “Illness After Whooping Cough Vaccination” by M. H. Hopper, The Medical Officer
J. ,
October 20, 1961, pp. 241-44. From “Multiple Antigen Immunization of Infants against
Poliomyelitis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus” by Clarence D. Barrett et al., Pediatrics 30
©
(1962), pp. 720-36, copyright by the American Academy of Pediatrics. From “Diphtheria-
Tetanus Foxoids-Pertussis Vaccination and Sudden Infant Deaths in Tennessee” commentary on
Bernier, etc. by J. M. Garfunkel, p. 4 19, R. LI. Bernier, et al., p. 421, The Journal ofPediatrics
101: 419-421, 1982. From “Vaccine Reactions: The Challenge to Pediatricians” by Janice L.
Cockrell, M.D., Virginia Medical June 1982, pp. 380-81. From “Choruses from The Rock”’ in
,
Collected Poems 1909-1962 by T. S. Eliot, copyright 1936 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.;
©
copyright 1963, 1964 by T. S. Eliot, reprinted by permission of the publisher. From Silent
©
Spring by Rachel Carson, copyright 1962 by Rachel L. Carson, reprinted by permission of
Houghton Mifflin Company. From Whooping Cough: Reports from the Committee on Safety of
Medicines and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization 1981, reproduced with
,
permission of the Controller of Her Britannic Majesty’s Stationery Office.