Measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo

"DR Congo measles: Nearly 5,000 dead in major outbreak", the headline screamed from the BBC website today. "Experts warn there are not enough available vaccines in the country" was the caption under a generic photo of a syringe extracting vaccine from a vial. It's interesting to follow the statistics. On August 17th 2019, www.france24.com reported that "Measles has killed 2758 people in the DR Congo since January". On September 19th, Newsweek reported a figure of 2,074 dead. Clearly, no one has any clear idea as to what the exact figure is so why not round up to the nearest 5,000?

As the BBC article informs us: The Congolese government and the WHO launched an emergency vaccination programme in September that aimed to inoculate more than 800,000 children. Good old WHO, selflessly helping out the African masses and helping to divert attention and government funds away from the real problems of poor sanitation, overcrowding, deficient diet, crumbling infrastructure etc. There's no doubt that measles is killing people, especially children, just as it did in 19th century Britain. The problems back then were exactly the same as in the DR Congo now and, once they were addressed, the death rate from measles plummeted towards zero.

I found another article, on the WHO website, from April of 2011 with the title: DR Congo introduces new vaccine against one of its leading causes of child death. The article continues:

Kinshasa, 4 April 2011 -- In an effort to drastically improve the chances of children reaching their fifth birthday, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today stepped up its immunisation programme by including vaccines to combat pneumonia. Initially the expanded programme will be in two of the 11 provinces. Pneumonia is one of the biggest killers of children worldwide and is responsible for a quarter of all child deaths under five in DRC. 

DRC First Lady Olive Lembe Kabila and Minister of Health Victor Makwenge Kaput joined parents and health workers in Kinshasa to witness the first child being immunised as part of the official introduction of pneumococcal vaccine into the national routine immunisation programme. 

On the same day in Paris, GAVI founding partner Bill Gates launched a European-wide awareness campaign to highlight the extraordinary life-saving opportunity that vaccines represent for donor countries.

Good old bastard Bill, selflessly promoting "the extraordinary life-saving opportunity that vaccines represent for donor countries" while being coy about the bonanza reaped by pharmaceutical countries. In healthy children, pneumonia is not a killer and it is not even recommended a childhood vaccine in Western countries to my knowledge. The children in the DR Congo are not healthy and vaccinations will compromise their already weakened immune systems even more. There will be no statistics to show how many children were adversely affected by vaccinations because no statistics are being gathered.

GAVI of course is just one of many nefarious fronts for Big Pharma, pretending to work for the welfare of the world's poorest inhabitants. Here is part of its stated mission:

Gavi is an international organisation that was created in 2000 to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Gavi is the Vaccine Alliance, which brings together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to vaccines for children, wherever they live.

For "new" read "experimental" and for "underused" read "discontinued in the West". Of course, "DRC First Lady Olive Lembe Kabila and Minister of Health Victor Makwenge Kaput" back in 2011 would have been only too happy to oversee the first pneumococcal vaccination in the country. The occasion makes for a good news story. As children line up to get their shots, it very much looks the Government is doing something positive to fight the frightful death rate amongst young children in the country. 

On the other hand, improving access to clean water, improving sanitation, relieving overcrowding and so on are less newsworthy and nobody benefits but the people. In fact, it diverts much needed money away from the vaccination programs that are touted as the best way to fight infant mortality. 

Anyway, this is the BBC and clearly the main purpose of the article is to remind the BBC readership yet again that measles is a killer and vaccination is the only sure way to combat it. Just to drive home the point, there is a link to video at the end of the article titled "My daughter's life was destroyed by measles". 

This is simply:

"Whole bacterial" Pneumonia Vaccine Approaches Human Trials

Keep 'em scared!

One could post everyday about news articles relating to the vaccine madness that has overtaken the planet. This recent article that appeared in NEW ATLAS is a case in point. The article quotes a Professor Paton as saying:

The pneumococcus is the biggest bacterial killer on the planet. It's the most common cause of pneumonia, which is responsible for about 20 per cent of deaths from all causes in children under five years in developing countries. Globally, the pneumococcus accounts for about two million deaths a year. 

In developed countries, the death rate from pneumonia for children under five years in much lower. For example, in New South Wales:

There were 1,010 deaths from influenza and pneumonia in 2016 (9.2 deaths per 100,000 population) and just under 92% of these were in persons aged 65 years and over (65.3 deaths per 100,000 population in that age group). Death rates from influenza or pneumonia are very low in all other age groups. Source

One could argue that the lower death is due to widespread vaccinations but the article points out that the current vaccines are not all that effective. To quote the Professor again:

Professor James Paton, a director at GPN Vaccines and Director of the University of Adelaide's Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, says that the current pneumococcal vaccine works by targeting the complex carbohydrates that coat the outside of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, which is the main cause of pneumonia. He points out that this vaccine, which costs more than US$100 a shot, only covers 13 types of these complex carbohydrates, when there are 98 structurally distinct types.

A new pneumonia vaccine that is claimed to be effective against all strains of
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a step closer to human clinical trials
(Credit: lightsource/Depositphotos)

The reasons for the high death rate from pneumonia in developing countries are the same ones that made measles such a deadly killer in the middle of the 19th century in Britain and other countries. It is crowded living conditions, poor hygiene and sanitation, and nutritional deficiencies that undermine the health of babies and infants in these countries, making them susceptible to infection. Address these issues and the death rates plummet. But where's the money in that?

Professor Paton is working on a new vaccine:

The new vaccine developed by GPN Vaccines in partnership with The University of Adelaide works by removing the complex carbohydrates that form an outer coating of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, exposing the surface proteins that are common to all serotypes of the bacteria. The immune system of individuals that have previously been exposed to those surface proteins or vaccinated can mount a defense against the infection. 

The vaccine is a proprietary engineered strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae that has been cultured and inactivated by being exposed to gamma rays – hence its name, Gamma-PN. The company has previously conducted pre-clinical studies where intranasal vaccination with Gamma-PN protected animals against lethal pneumococcal sepsis caused by a number of different Streptococcus pneumoniae strains.

If it's effective, it's going to be expensive and it's not going to be given out free to developing countries. These countries will need to purchase it out of their health care budgets, leaving that much less money to spend on infrastructure projects to improve sanitation and crowded living conditions. The politicians in these countries are easily persuaded by the pharmaceutical industry to make such purchases. Both parties profit but the living conditions of the poor remain unchanged and this is the real cause of the mortality. If the children of the poor do receive a jab of this new vaccine, their already weakened immune systems will cause them to fall prey to some other pathogen.

Pneumonia: More Fear Mongering

Here is the header from an article that appeared in today's Jakarta Post:

Pneumonia to kill nearly 11 million children by 2030, study warns

The article was taken from NEWS DESK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Paris, France on Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 at 03:04 am. The article goes on to say that:

Pneumonia will kill nearly 11 million children under five by 2030, experts warned Monday on a global day aimed at raising awareness of the biggest infectious killer of infants worldwide. 

While in the developed world the severe lung infection mainly affects the elderly, in developing nations it is children who bear the brunt, with hundreds of thousands dying each year from the easily preventable disease.

It continues:

A new analysis conducted by Johns Hopkins University and the aid group Save the Children using forecasts based on current trends showed more than 10,800,000 under-fives would succumb to the disease by the end of the next decade.  

Furthermore, a handful of countries are set to carry the highest burdens, with 1.7 million children set to die in Nigeria and India, 700,000 in Pakistan and 635,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Yet there is some good news.  

The study, published on World Pneumonia Day, found that scaling up existing vaccination coverage, coupled with cheap antibiotics and ensuring good nutrition for children could save a total of 4.1 million lives. 

Of course, the article is intended to grab attention. Save the Children CEO Kevin Watkins, whose group operates health programs in some of the countries worst hit by the disease, called for prices of major existing pneumonia vaccines to be lowered "dramatically". It's unlikely that pharmaceutical companies will be lowering their prices. Instead the hope is that governments in developing countries will subsidise the cost from their health care budgets. Much needed funds are thus diverted from where they could be truly useful such as improving sanitation and nutrition.

In the nineteenth century, measles epidemics killed a great many children in England and other developed countries because families lived in vermin-infested, overcrowded and unventilated dwellings with primitive sanitation. Additionally, children ate poorly and sometimes not at all. When housing conditions and diet were improved, measles ceased to be a significant factor in childhood mortality.

It is the same of course with pneumonia which as the article admits "mainly affects the elderly in developed countries". In these countries, pneumonia does not take a significant toll of children because they are generally well-fed and adequately housed. It's a transparent ploy on the part of NGOs like Save the Children to attract funds but what organisations lie behind these NGOs. Well, the usual villains of course. One of this NGO's global partners is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), laughingly described on the NGO's website as "a science-led global healthcare company on a mission to help people do more, feel better and live longer".

Ah no, GSK is, according to Wikipedia:

a British pharmaceutical company headquartered in Brentford, London. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, GSK was the world's sixth largest pharmaceutical company as of 2015, after Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Hoffmann-La Roche and Sanofi.

Of course, nobody is going to donate money to a pharmaceutical company and so GSK and other Big Pharma companies hide behind NGOs like Save the Children and push a very straight forward agenda: marketing their products. Save the Children and its current CEO have been mired in controversy lately. In July, as reported in this article in The Guardian: "(British) MPs question Kevin Watkins on failing to investigate claims of sexual misconduct by senior charity staff". Specifically:

Pauline Latham MP questioned Watkin’s decision to use £114,000 in charity funds on lawyers “to try and stop reports [of inappropriate behaviour] coming out”, adding that such money was likely to have been taken from funds raised by volunteers in the UK. 

Clearly, when donating money to NGOs like Save the Children, one needs to seriously consider how the money is being spent. However, if one were casually reading the article under discussion in the Jakarta Post or elsewhere, the simple takeaway would be that the pneumonia vaccine can save the lives of millions of children. If only it were that simple.

Vaccines damage the immune systems of children throughout the world but in developing countries, children's immunity is further compromised by overcrowded living conditions, poor sanitation and inadequate diet. These children do not need vaccines and yet limited health care funds are being diverted to this end.

Pneumococcal Vaccine

The heading of this article in today's 9NEWS.com.au caught my attention: Death no incentive for lung infection vax. The entire article is reproduced below:

Potential death is not enough to make three quarters of Australian adults vaccinate against pneumococcal pneumonia, a survey reveals. The research shows efforts to raise public awareness of the seriousness of the infection are failing, says Associate Professor Lucy Morgan of the Lung Foundation Australia. 

"Even among high-risk groups, such as those aged over 65, there are no overwhelmingly high motivators for vaccination," she said. Pneumococcal pneumonia is a severe lung infection responsible for a large proportion of pneumonia cases aged 65 and above. An online survey of 1241 adults for the foundation found 75 per cent of adults cannot be motivated to protect against the infection, despite being informed of its seriousness and potentially fatal complications. Of those, 73 per cent are considered high risk of contracting the infection because of their age or a pre-existing condition. 

Infectious diseases paediatrician and immunisation expert Professor Robert Booy says there is a 93 per cent vaccine rate among Australian children. "However, among equally vulnerable senior, we're failing to achieve even 50 per cent pneumococcal vaccine uptake, which could offer up to five more years of high-quality life," he said. "Given grandchildren may pass pneumonia onto their grandparents, and vice-versa, protecting against pneumococcal infection would enrich their lives." 

The Lung Foundation Australia is releasing its research on Tuesday to mark Know Pneumonia Day.

According to this government website, immunisation against pneumococcal disease is achieved using single-disease vaccines. For babies, the first dose of pneumococcal vaccine is recommended at two months of age, with subsequent doses at four and six months of age. While the babies who receive the vaccine have no choice in the matter, adults do and the article laments that 75 per cent of adults cannot be motivated to protect against the infection. The article implies that they're dicing with death and the oldies in particular are just throwing away five more years of high-quality life and maybe passing the damn disease on to their grandchildren. The Lung Foundation Australia is releasing these shocking statistics to mark Know Pneumonia Day. So what is Lung Foundation Australia all about?

Well it turns out that it has offices very near where I grew up. It's official address is Level 2, 11 Finchley Street, Milton QLD 4064. Its website states that:

We ensure lung health is a priority for all in Australia by:

• Promoting the importance of lung health
• Promoting early diagnosis of lung disease
• Supporting those with lung disease, their families and carers
• Promoting equitable access to evidence-based care
• Funding quality research

We rely on donations, membership, bequests, grants, business and industry support.

So who keeps Lung Foundation Australia afloat? Who are the big sponsors? It doesn't take long to find out:

 

Hmmm, well Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's leading research-driven pharmaceutical companies with 130 years of experience and Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Get the picture? BIG PHARMA finances this foundation and it is BIG PHARMA that manufactures the pneumococcal vaccine. Perhaps there's a conflict of interest here but that's not an issue likely to be raised on 9NEWS.com.au. It's sounds quite reasonable at first sight: Lung Foundation Australia, whose sole non-profit interest is to keep you breathing, urges all right-thinking adults to line up for their pneumococcal vaccinations. It's in the best interests of themselves, their grandchildren and, just coincidentally, BIG PHARMA.

The drug companies must dream of a day where vaccinations like this are simply mandatory for everybody. 93% of Australian babies are already covered and you can bet that elderly people in nursing homes have little say in the matter as well. It's those damn 75% of adults who are proving a problem. Well, a sensational article with the heading Death no incentive for lung infection vax can't do any harm. It may panic some of them into having the jab. So how effective is this vaccine? Are there any side-effects? This article, admittedly from 2011, shows that we ought to be cautious:

UK Scraps Pneumonia Vaccines Because They 'Don't Work' 

When deciding whether or not to vaccinate, it's important to consider the risks versus the benefits. Case in point, new advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in the UK has determined that routine vaccination of people over 65 with the pneumococcal vaccine should be discontinued. The Committee stated: 

"JCVI has concluded that the protection the vaccine provides is poor and is not long-lasting in older people. In addition, the programme has had no discernable impact on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in older people. The committee has advised, therefore, that there is little benefit to continuing the programme and that it should be stopped." 

Millions of people over 65 have already received the pneumonia vaccine, which was often offered alongside the flu vaccine in the UK -- and the Department of Health was reportedly still promoting it as recently as January. 

For a vaccine that has provided "poor" protection against illness, the stakes have been high. Mail Online reported official figures from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency that stated the vaccine, sold under brand names Pneumovax and Pneumovax II, has been linked to 30 deaths and more than 3,300 reported side effects. LINK

A supposedly more effective pneumococcal vaccine was introduced by Pfizer in 2014 but there is clearly cause for concern. So for the elderly, as with the young, the list of suggested vaccines keeps rising: pneumococcal, flu, shingles, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis are suggested by the Australian Government. At the moment, such vaccinations are optional but it won't be long before certain penalties will apply to seniors who don't submit to them, in the same way that child support payments are now being withheld from parents who don't fully vaccinate their children.