Book Review: Vaccines; Truth, lies and controversy

Dr Peter C Gotzsche, cofounder of the Cochrane Collaboration, has written a book titled Vaccines; Truth, lies and controversy.

My response;
Everything must be seen in the light of ethics. We have pointed out many ethical issues surrounding vaccinations. Many have taken personal risks and written articles, submitted petitions, and even spoken on visual media. Unfortunately not one of those concerns have been met.

The BCG did not stop, nor the Hib, the public sector units continue to be neglected, there is still no objective vaccination policy, the OPV was still introduced, the NTAGI remains a rubber stamp, the IAP continues to get away with its crimes, the Pentavalent ignores the child deaths, the HPV court case remains in limbo, the Rotavirus vaccine continues to cause intussusception, conflict of interest has been institutionalized, and 13 million autistic children in India (as per 2011 census) are yet to know what causes that devastating condition.

I have pointed out in many forums that the vaccination issue defies logic. The only successful vaccine is supposed to be the small pox vaccine. It eradicated small pox right? But using what virus? That vital question is still begging for answers. If there was no bullet what killed the scourge?

Vaccination is not just an ethical question. It is not about the product or what it supposedly does or does not. It is about a huge psychological construct that is forced upon us using a theory scientifically proven wrong in 1942 and manipulated statistics that plays a cat and mouse game with both the public and the practitioners. Those who catch up to that game are Wakefielded.

There is a wonderful book written by a PhD Scholar on that "Construct". It is named The Idealogical Constructs of Vaccination. A brilliant take on the matter it is a thesis that enabled the author, Mateja Cernic, get her PhD degree. The lady who has written it has identified every possible thread of that Construct and with accepted scientific studies and philosophical assertions deconstructed the whole narrative. Earlier Catherine Diodati had done the same with the book Immunization: History Ethics Law and Health. The illusion of vaccination and it's supposed successes has been shattered by Dr Suzanne Humphries in her epic Dissolving Illusions.

There are many other narratives that have dealt with very professionally and with scientific rigor every possible issue technical and legal surrounding vaccination. As a result we have a public who have realized that depending upon the medical profession to deliver them from this devil is the ultimate illusion.

Maybe we should have a book dealing very frankly with exactly why the profession behaves in that manner. Must statistics be the basis of a medical profession? Dr B M Hegde, Dr Manu Kothari, Dr Peter Gotzsche himself for that matter, have exposed that too. Medicine has reached a stage, one of them had written to me, where statistics is the only tool to save face. The rest have fallen by the way. That is sad considering the intelligence of the giants who exist in this field.

The problem according to me is;
- We do not acknowledge the beneficial nature of childhood illnesses because it is not a part of medical education. For that matter neither is vaccine adverse effects which is a red herring.
- We are yet to adopt the huge research findings in the fields of the microbiome and mycobiome. This has cost us dearly as we have failed to realize we are fighting the ground warriors of health!
- We are ignoring the alternatives. This will prove to be costly for the profession itself as today the state of health of doctors is perhaps worse than that of the general public. I think the coronavirus epidemic is bringing this to sharp focus.
- We are still stopping short of the complete picture. Something is holding us back.
- For backing up our statements and assertions we are forced to fall back on the studies and research of that very industry that Marcia Angel, Richard Smith, Richard Horton, Ioannodis, and Peter himself have brutally exposed
- The foundations of medicine need to be questioned and that is the bridge no one is willing to cross. No one except one or two who are dismissed as crackpots. My first mentor Dr Herman Fudenberg was one such tortured soul who carried his pain to his grave. Someday I will be forced to break my pledge and share the last mail I had received from him.
- Our progress has depended on the fact that we have grossly violated informed consent. Is not that the greatest ethical violation? Is not that the reason why the school based measles vaccination campaign had to stop on its tracks? We witnessed how the government admitted in court that if the parents get a hint about the risks involved they would not vaccinate. What a profound statement.

If the risks are not fully investigated, benefits exaggerated, and alternatives ignored we cannot say that the benefits exceed the risk. It becomes an unethical statement in itself.

If we sincerely wish to know the truth we have to go the whole hog. We are dealing with pregnant women and children. We cannot treat them using 18th century ideas. Medical science has today entered uncharted waters thanks to path breaking researchers and many doctors who have faced health challenges themselves or in their loved ones. That science has no takers and pharma is picking and choosing based on what suits their agenda. The same reductionist approach continues and the toil of sincere souls will never see fruition.

We must see things holistically. We must focus on long term outcomes. We must focus on long term intergenerational health. We must step back and observe how sick both people and society have become at physical, mental and spiritual levels. Yes medicine is responsible for that great fall. Maybe the books by Ivan Illich should become our Bible. The disease based quick fix reductionist approach has to be replaced with the health based holistic approach. That is what medicine ought to be about. That is what the public expects from the profession. That is what sincere souls within the profession seek. That was the goal of Sir William Osler. That was why Dr Christian Samuel Hahnemann broke away and thousands followed.

The time has come to correct historical wrongs.