Rob Stein at the Post discusses a "hint" that swine flu vaccine may have caused increased cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome, Bell's Pallsy and thrombocytopenia.
The US CDC, unlike its counterpart in Australia, manages the news on vaccine adverse events closely, especially for swine flu. Remember that CDC hosted a meeting for invited journalists and bloggers to teach them not to report small numbers of adverse events at the start of the swine flu vaccination program. Attendees were not permitted to report on the meeting. I blogged on this some months back.
We would therefore not be hearing about this hint unless the evidence was quite strong. Furthermore, all 3 diagnoses are known to be side effects of other vaccines. GBS has been caused by flu vaccines. CDC identified increased cases of Bell's Palsy reported following influenza vaccination in 2004. Thrombocytopenia cases are increased after measles vaccine, according to FDA, and increased after MMR vaccines.
This increases the odds these diseases may be side effects of swine flu vaccine. Because of enhanced swine flu vaccine adverse event surveillance in multiple countries, it will be difficult for one or two countries to cover up their findings.
I've read you're blog many times. When I saw this article in the Post today, full of soft non-denial denials, I thought I would bring it to your attention. I was happy to find that you were already on the case. Thanks so much for your continued attention to this complex public health concern.
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