Judge "not satisfied" that whooping cough vaccine causes permanent brain damage.

KIE: A report is given of the British High Court ruling which, unless overturned on appeal, will stop all future payments under the government's no fault scheme for compensation for permanent brain damage caused by the pertussis vaccine. The Lord Justice indicated that although he had believed that the vaccine could cause permanent brain damage when he had embarked on the case, he was more impressed by the "quality of evidence and reasoning" of the ten experts called by the vaccine manufacturer than by the mechanism of injury proposed by the nine experts called by the plaintiff. He also concluded that examination of the data compiled by the National Childhood Encephalopathy Study failed to show that brain damage was caused by the vaccine rather than by an underlying condition.^ieng

Whooping cough and whooping cough vaccine: the risks and benefits debate.

PIP: There has been extensive debate in Great Britain regarding the risks and benefits of routine infant immunization against whooping cough. As a result of highly publicized cases of brain damage alleged to have been caused by the vaccine, immunization acceptance rates have dropped dramatically and epidemics of the disease have recurred. On the basis of a review of the current state of knowledge on whooping cough, the vaccine, and vaccine safety, the authors conclude that the dangers of the disease outweigh any known hazards of the vaccine. Although whooping cough is less important a cause of death and disability at present, it remains a potentially lethal disease that should be controlled. The safety of the vaccine is an especially critical question, however, since it is being advocated for use on a mass scale in previously healthy children. The results of studies such as the National Childhood Encephalopathy Study suggest DPT vaccination is associated with a greater frequency of acute neurological illnesses than would be expected by chance. On the other hand, most cases of such complications were not time-associated with DPT vaccination and may have resulted from the less purified vaccines used in the past. The most critical element in decision making is the readiness of parents and doctors to accept the fact that active preventive measures such as pertussis immunization sometimes carry unavoidable risks that have to be weighed against the risk of nonintervention.^ieng