grifters / misinformation

The Truth About TTAV Episode Five

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Did you just find this series? Start from the beginning.

Episode Five: “Considering the HPV and Hepatitis B Vaccines, SIDS & Shaken Baby Syndrome”

The Cast

The Claims

HPV Vaccines Are Terrible

  • HPV vaccines contain aluminum, which the film claims is dangerous. But it isn’t.
  • The speakers say it’s not appropriate to mandate this vaccine; of course, but right now, it is only required for school entry in D.C., RI, and VA. The way this claim is made shows the tendency of anti-vaccine leaders to conflate recommendations, requirements, and mandates.
  • The film suggests it should instead be recommended for people with a family history of this cancer, but HPV is a virus, not a genetic trait. HPV causes almost all cervical cancer, 95% of anal cancers, and 70% of oropharyngeal cancers. Family history has little to no bearing on these cancers.
  • The film also claims that HPV vaccines only target the strains that cause the most cases of HPV and creates a vacuum for other strains to take their place. However, the vaccines targets the most oncogenic (cancer-causing) strains of HPV
    • They use an analogy of U.S. troops taking out Isis or the Taliban – other group will take their place. But pretend these other groups aren’t the Taliban or ISIS but a group of mean 2nd graders who throw marshmallows at people. That’s a more apt analogy at this time. 
  • The film argues the HPV vaccine was fast-tracked. In fact, the research into a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer was a 70-year quest. Because of the length of research into the cancer, the researchers were able to communicate early on with the FDA for expedited approval, but did not skip any steps in or skimp on the process. As of 2017, 270 million doses of the vaccines have been given with no serious side effects detected.
  • The film disparages trials of this vaccine, that used aluminum as the placebo. Using a placebo with aluminum was important for this vaccine so that participants in the study would not be able to detect that they had not received the vaccines if they had received a placebo. (The aluminum in the vaccine causes some stinging, whereas a shot of simple saline would not). Fortunately, we know that aluminum used in vaccines is safe.
  • The film also claims HPV vaccine adverse reaction reports make up 25% of all vaccine adverse event reports: 42,532, including 250 confirmed deaths. A closer look at these statistics shows that none of the deaths were confirmed to be caused by the vaccine, and many of them were demonstrably not connected at all to the vaccine. Furthermore, VAERS is an open-reporting system, which means anyone with internet access can report an adverse vaccine reaction without proof or evidence. (The nature doesn’t mean VAERS is without value.)
  • The film also claims that HPV-free viral DNA found in post-mortem analysis of New Zealand girl, despite CDC claims that there is no free-viral DNA in the vaccine; concluded that HPV vaccine most likely killed her. If that sentence makes no sense to you, then rest assured that the claim also makes no sense. The pathologist making this claims uses poor pathological practices.
  • Joel Gomez provided as another example of death caused by HPV vaccine, but the medical examiner determined that his death was caused by myocarditis. 
  • Mario Lamo Jiménez makes claims that Columbian girls harmed by HPV vaccine. Studies of the incidents show that the vaccine was not related to what happened to these girls. 
  • The film compares the science around HPV vaccines to “tobacco science” and draw an analogy of people being told cigarettes were healthy. The difference between the science done to support vaccines and the science done to sell tobacco is that vaccine science has held up to many decades of scrutiny and attempts to replicate various findings. 

Hep B Vaccine Is Terrible

  • The film claims that the number of people who voluntarily signed up for the original study was too small to extrapolate a conclusion. The original clinical trial included 664 infants total. Since then, many millions of doses of this vaccine given have shown it to be extremely safe.
  • The film discusses the push in 2001 to switch population vaccinated to newborns.The original recommendation to vaccinate at-risk adults and then adolescents was able to eliminate most of the Hepatitis B in the country, but many infants were still contracting the virus despite targeting the perceived vectors of the disease. Chronic Hep B infection is more likely to happen the younger a person is when exposed to the virus, and such chronic infection causes about 780,000 deaths per year.
  • The film expresses concern that the Hep B vaccine contains aluminum, which is still safe.
    • It claims that babies are injected with 10 times the known safe dose of aluminum.This claim is conflates the amount of aluminum an infant can receive intravenously. The vaccine is not injected into a person’s blood stream (like an IV), but into their muscle and can be easily eliminated by anyone with functional kidneys.
  • They argue that contract Hep B from sex/drug use and the only way baby can get Hep B is from mother during birth. In fact, the virus can survive outside a body for a few weeks and can be transmitted many ways, including through birth, human bites, and touching bodily fluids from an infected person. 
  • Dr. Paul Thomas cites personal experience of not running into any mothers with Hep B. Of course, Dr. Thomas is a pediatrician, not an obstetrician, so he would not test these mothers. If he were the person testing these mothers, he would know that testing anomalies can occur with Hep B testing during pregnancy.

National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act, passed in 1986

  • It claims that the pharmaceutical industry is protected from liability. VICA established a special court that allows those with certain claims of harm from vaccines a lower standard of proof in order to receive compensation. In other words, it is easier to get a settlement from this Vaccine Court than it would be to sue for liability in civil court.
  • It also claims that right after passage of the act, the vaccine program saw a dramatic increase from 10 to 69 vaccines in the pipeline. Here’s an actual timeline of the development of vaccines, which began in 1000 AD. 

SIDS and SBS are Vaccine Injury

  • The film asserts that SIDS deaths are misdiagnosed vaccine deaths. SIDS is diagnosed after an autopsy, clinical history review, and scene investigation yield no explanation of death. A child who died because of a vaccine would have indicators in an autopsy that showed a vaccine was in play, such as anaphylaxis.
  • The film also argues that Shaken Baby Syndrome is a cover-up for vaccine injuries.
    • Yes, this is one of the most despicable anti-vaccine claims.
    • The diagnosis of SBS requires many tests, and blood tests for metabolic disorders that can mimic SBS is often some of the testing done. Vaccines do not cause metabolic disorders.

Up next, Episode Six: A Closer Look at the CDC, Chicken Pox and Rotavirus Vaccines & Retroviruses