Report: U.K. facing $100M compensation payout relating to GSK’s swine flu vaccine Read more: Report: U.K. facing $100M compensation payout relating to GSK’s swine flu vaccine

The United Kingdom has lagged behind some of its European neighbors in compensating people who developed narcolepsy after receiving GlaxoSmithKline’s ($GSK) swine flu vaccine. While Finland agreed to pay out in 2011, the U.K. was still knocking back claimants in 2012. Now, though, the U.K. government is reportedly readying to pay 60 people $1.7 million each.

News of the compensation comes 6 months after U.K. welfare minister Iain Duncan Smith wrote that “on the balance of probability, vaccination has contributed to … disablement.” The acceptance of the likelihood of a link between GSK’s Pandemrix and narcolepsy opened the door to claimants, but statutory compensation in the U.K. is capped at $200,000. A lawyer representing some of the 100 people has pushed for more, though, and according to The Sunday Times has succeeded. A payout of at least $1.7 million each is expected.

“There has never been a case like this before. The victims of this vaccine have an incurable and lifelong condition and will require extensive medication,” Peter Todd, a lawyer who represented many of the claimants, told The Sunday Times. The majority of the cases involve children, but 6 healthcare workers are also seeking compensation. When swine flu was at its height in 2009, the U.K. National Health Service encouraged all frontline health workers to get vaccinated. By January 2010 one-third had received the shot.

Brain-Damaged UK Victims of Swine Flu Vaccine to Get £60 Million Compensation

Patients who suffered brain damage as a result of taking a swine flu vaccine are to receive multi-million-pound payouts from the UK government.

The government is expected to receive a bill of approximately £60 million, with each of the 60 victims expected to receive about £1 million each.

Peter Todd, a lawyer who represented many of the claimants, told the Sunday Times: “There has never been a case like this before. The victims of this vaccine have an incurable and lifelong condition and will require extensive medication.”

Following the swine flu outbreak of 2009, about 60 million people, most of them children, received the vaccine.

It was subsequently revealed that the vaccine, Pandemrix, can cause narcolepsy and cataplexy in about one in 16,000 people, and many more are expected to come forward with the symptoms.

Across Europe, more than 800 children are so far known to have been made ill by the vaccine.

Narcolepsy affects a person’s sleeping cycle, leaving them unable to sleep for more than 90 minutes at a time, and causing them to fall unconscious during the day. The condition damages mental function and memory, and can lead to hallucinations and mental illness.

Cataplexy causes a person to lose consciousness when they are experiencing heightened emotion, including when they are laughing.

The Pandemrix vaccine was manufactured by pharmaceuticals giant Glaxo Smith Kline, which refused to supply governments unless it was indemnified against any claim for damage caused. The company will pay the bill, and claim the money back from the government.

“There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Pandemrix increased the occurrence of narcolepsy onset in children in some countries – and probably in most countries,” Emmanuelle Mignot, a specialist in sleep disorder at Stanford University in the United States told Reuters.

Mignot has been paid by GSK to research the effects of the drug.

Among those affected are NHS medical staff, many of whom are now unable to do their jobs because of the symptoms brought on by the vaccine. They will be suing the government for millions in lost earnings.

However, the vast majority of patients affected – around 80% – are children.

Among them is Josh Hadfield, 8, from Somerset, who is on anti-narcolepsy drugs costing £15,000 a year to help him stay awake during the school day.

“If you make him laugh, he collapses. His memory is shot. There is no cure. He says he wishes he hadn’t been born. I feel incredibly guilty about letting him have the vaccine,” said his mother Caroline Hadfield, 43.

Despite a 2011 warning from the European Medicines Agency against using the vaccine on those under 20 and a study indicating a 13-fold heightened risk of narcolepsy in vaccinated children, GSK has refused to acknowledge a link.

“Further research is needed to confirm what role the vaccine may have played in the development of narcolepsy in those affected,” the company said in a statement.

Source: International Business Times, 2nd March 2014 – http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/brain-damaged-uk-victims-swine-flu-vaccine-get-60-million-compensation-1438572

Parents sue Macedonian Govt over vaccinations

Why are vaccinations mandatory to enroll your child in school?

Why a mother of three children cannot receive Governmental benefits for her third child if her first and second are not vaccinated?

These are questions that will have to be answered by the Constitutional Court.

Parents lead by Stamen Filipov filed a lawsuit against the Macedonian Government and Health Ministry whether the current vaccinations laws were constitutional.

Macedonian parents for several years now have debated whether the Government should have the right to tell parents whether they should vaccinate their children considering recent news of vaccines of questionable quality which have resulted in thousands of children developing autism and other disorders.

Macedonia has already registered dozens of cases where parents refuse to vaccinate their children.

Despite this, the Macedonian health ministry claims all of their vaccines were safe. However, last year we witnessed the opening of Macedonia’s Autism Foundation!

Should parents refuse to vaccinate their children, they are looking at a 300 to 650 euros fine. Thus the lawsuit.

Macedonia doesn’t follow specific European trends. In Europe, in 15 countries vaccinations are not mandatory, while in France and Germany only one vaccine is mandatory.

In Macedonia 18 vaccinations and revaccinations are mandatory. Some of the vaccines (ex: diphteria, measles, rubella etc) must be taken several times, in multiple doses. Complete list is available here.

Source: Macedonian International News Agency, 12th March 2014. http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/24856/1/

U.S. Congressman Compares Corruption in CDC’s Vaccine Safety Studies to SEC’s Handling of Bernie Madoff Scandal

In an April 8 interview on AutismOne’s A Conversation of Hope radio show, Congressman Bill Posey’s strong resolve and demands for transparency were evident as he discussed the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s handling of vaccine safety studies which affect  “our most precious resource in our nation – our children.” The 30-minute interview, conducted by vaccine industry watchdog, PhD biochemist Brian Hooker, delves into what Posey called “the incestuous relationship between the public health community and the vaccine makers and public officials.”

Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140415/MN03902

The Florida legislator, known as “Mr. Accountabililty,” did not mince words when criticizing current and past CDC officials including indicted fraudster Dr. Poul Thorsen; CDC director turned Merck Vaccine President Dr. Julie Gerberding; and the agency’s current spokesperson regarding autism and vaccines, Dr. Coleen Boyle.

On Thorsen, Posey said “If you read through the emails and learned about the meetings and the financial arrangement this crook had with the CDC, it will make you absolutely sick to your stomach. This was no casual researcher way down the line. This is the CDC’s key man in Denmark.  He was closely tied to the CDC’s top vaccine safety researchers… as long as Thorsen was cooking the books to produce the results they wanted, they didn’t care whether the studies were valid or how much money was being siphoned off the top…It’s like the Security and Exchange Commission and Bernie Madoff. But it’s worse because we’re talking about someone who basically stole money that was supposed to be used to improve the health and safety of our most vulnerable in our society – our young babies.”

Dr. Hooker remarked that Thorsen had collaborated with the CDC on 36 papers, not just one paper as claimed by Dr. Boyle, and that the agency refused to investigate studies exonerating vaccines’ role in causing autism following his indictment on wire fraud and money laundering. Posey described Boyle as “intentionally evasive,” in his questioning of her at a Congressional hearing.  “I asked her a very direct question. ‘Have you done a study comparing autism rates in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children?…’  She started telling us about everything she’s done …After she wasted three minutes, I cut her off and I demanded that she answer the question. And then, only then, did she admit that the federal government has never done that very simple, fundamental, basic study.”

About Boyle’s denial of a true increase in autism, Posey said, “I know we have an autism epidemic. You know it. She knows it.  She knows we know it. But for some reason they refuse to acknowledge it publicly.”  Regarding Boyle’s assertion that the increase is due to better diagnosing, Posey said, “I don’t think anybody that’s intellectually honest with this issue can begin to fathom that lame excuse that she uses.” He also described an orchestrated campaign on behalf of the CDC and vaccine industry: “people who do all the blogging and shredding anyone who dares question the unaccountable bureaucrats.” He spoke of “their little media network [that will] twist the truth to disparage, to malign, to vilify, to denigrate anybody who wants any kind of accountability….”

Posey then discussed his co-sponsorship with Rep. Carolyn Maloney of the Vaccine Safety Study Act. He said the proposed legislation would compel the government to conduct a retrospective vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study of health outcomes. He felt it could be done with “accountability and direct oversight of the government”

In his closing remarks, Posey said, “The CDC can’t be trusted regarding investigating vaccine safety. Huge conflict of interest.  I think the CDC should be investigated.”

Barry Segal, founder of Focus Autism, which sponsors Dr. Hooker’s investigative research, called the interview “a game changer.”

Representative Bill Posey is serving his third term in Florida’s 8^th Congressional District. He serves on the Committee for Science, Space and Technology. He was instrumental in the release of CDC documents regarding a link between vaccines and autism. These papers are now being analyzed by several researchers, including Dr. Brian Hooker.

Brian Hooker, PhD, PE, has 15 years experience in the field of bioengineering and is an associate professor at Simpson University where he specializes in biology and chemistry. His over 50 science and engineering papers have been published in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Hooker has a son, aged 16, who developed normally but then regressed into autism after receiving Thimerosal (mercury-containing) vaccines.

The Focus Autism Foundation is dedicated to providing information that exposes the cause or causes of the autism epidemic and the rise of chronic illnesses – focusing specifically on the role of vaccinations. A Shot of Truth is an educational website sponsored by Focus Autism.  AutismOne is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides education and supports advocacy efforts for children and families touched by an autism diagnosis.

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

Hospital Ordered to Pay Higher Compensation after They Killed Newborn with Vaccines

The Tiruvallur district consumer disputes redressal forum, where the father of the child first filed the complaint, had earlier ordered a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh.

A couple who lost their 42-day-old child, nearly 10 years ago, due to wrong administration of vaccination at a private hospital has been awarded Rs. 3 lakh compensation by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC).

The Tiruvallur district forum, where the father of the child first filed the complaint, had earlier ordered a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh.

1. Dhanasekaran of Manali New Town said his wife delivered a boy at Dr. Durga Nursing Home, Avadi, on January 26, 2003, and underwent sterilisation operation a day later. The baby died, on March 10, after it was administered immunisation vaccines at the same hospital.

SCDRC said it was inclined to raise the compensation to Rs. 3 lakh taking into consideration the inability of the complainant’s wife to have children in the future.
Source: The Hindu, 5th April 2014 – http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/clinic-asked-to-pay-more-damages-to-couple/article5872975.ece

Court orders Rs 3 lakh for parents of child who died after vaccination

Meant to immunize an infant from fatal diseases, vaccines took away the life of a 42-day-old boy. Eleven years after the tragedy, the state consumer commission held an hospital and the doctor guilty of negligence, and awarded a compensation of 3 lakh to the child’s parents.
K Dhanasekaran of Manali had admitted his wife in Dr Durga Nursing Home, Avadi, where she delivered a boy on January 26, 2003. The next day, she underwent a sterilisation operation and was discharged on January 30. As part of post-natal care, she took the infant to the hospital for vaccination. However, after the boy was administered Diptheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) and Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV), he died.
The same year, Dhanasekaran moved District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum claiming the hospital had used expired medicines. The hospital doctor denied the claim and said the vaccine had been given after “observing necessary formalities.” The boy died “unexpectedly due to sudden development,” it said.
In 2011, the forum said the hospital was not equipped with a storage system to preserve the medicines and did not have the necessary gadgets. It also did not have an ambulance. In its verdict, the forum fined the hospital 1 lakh.
Against the order, both Dhanasekaran and the hospital approached the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. While the hospital sought to quash the order, Dhanasekaran asked for enhancing the compensation.
The court said the hospital should have “arrangements to get immediate and emergency services from other capable and speciality institutions” in case of an emergency. It also said Dr A Vijaya Varma, who was managing the affairs of the hospital, too was liable for paying compensation.
Source: Times of India, 5th April 2014 – http://m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/Court-orders-Rs-3-lakh-for-parents-of-child-who-died-after-vaccination/articleshow/33255146.cms
This is another report of the death above.

Settlement for Saba Button, severely disabled after flu vaccine

The family of a West Australian child left severely disabled after receiving a flu jab has reached a settlement with the vaccine’s manufacturer and the State Government.

Saba Button suffered brain and organ damage after getting the Fluvax shot when she was 11 months old in 2010.

Her parents launched legal action in the Federal Court against the vaccine’s manufacturer, CSL Limited.

CSL cross-claimed against the State of WA and the Health Minister.
All parties have reached a confidential settlement which has today been accepted by Federal Court Justice Michael Barker.

Saba’s father, Mick Button, said it had been a long battle for compensation.

“Today is a bittersweet feeling for us,” he said.

“It’s a relief to have the legal case behind us.

“We now have the ability to be able to supply Saba with the care, the therapy, the equipment, all the things that she needs to give her the best quality of life.”

Her mother Kirsten Button said she was relieved the legal action had been finalised.

“It doesn’t matter how much you have because you can’t buy your health but it is a good outcome, and the fact that it’s settled, we’re quite a strong family and we have moved forward but I think having that hanging over your head as such can be stressful so now we can move forward knowing that it’s all over.”

Mr Button said the funds would help Saba continue ongoing therapy and explore new options both in Australia and overseas.

“This doesn’t just stop now, once all the cameras are gone, it’s back to business and we’ve got a lot to do with Saba,” he said.

Problems with flu vaccine sparked national ban

In his judgement, Justice Barker said Saba had suffered hypoxic brain injury and consequential, severe disabilities.

“Her life expectancy has been significantly shortened,” he said.

“Her disabilities are profound and permanent.

“She will require constant care for the remainder of her life.”

The settlement is described as “a substantial figure, plus a contribution towards legal costs” and is believed to be worth millions of dollars.

Health Minister Kim Hames said he was pleased the matter had been resolved and wished the Button family well.

Hundreds of children suffered adverse reactions after they were given the flu shot in 2010 with many of them taken to hospital.

It led to an Australia-wide suspension of the vaccination for children under five.

Authorities were criticised for not acting quickly enough to advise GPs of the problems or identifying that there was an issue.

An independent report, compiled by a former chief medical officer, criticised both Commonwealth and state health authorities for the way they dealt with the incident.

Fluvax has since been banned for children under the age of five.
Source: ABC News, 8th June 2014 – http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-06/settlement-for-saba-button-severely-disabled-by-flu-vaccine/5505632

Novartis exec ‘orchestrated swine-flu fraud’

Prosecutors in Siena in charge of a suspected fraud case at Swiss multinational Novartis believe that its vaccine division swindled the Italian health ministry out of 2.7 million euros in 2012 by inflating the price of a component of its H1N1 swine flu vaccine. The health ministry ordered the suspension of vaccine supplies in 2010 after the swine flu emergency abated. A vaccination campaign to immunize up to 40% of Italy’s 60 million people began in November 2009 after Italy reported six deaths related to swine flu over the previous months. The CEO of Novartis’s vaccine division, Francesco Gulli, is under investigation and two Italian plants of the Swiss multinational were searched Friday. Prosecutors have also accused the multinational’s division Novartis Vaccines Diagnostics of failing to adopt precautions to prevent the suspected fraud. The probe is connected to another investigation in Siena over a suspected tax fraud at the company. Friday’s was not the first Italian probe to hit the Swiss pharmaceutical giant. Ealier this month finance police searched the offices of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa), the authority responsible for drug regulation in the country, as part of a criminal probe into Swiss pharmaceutical companies Roche and Novartis for alleged market manipulation and fraud. The companies are suspected of collusion to hamper use of a cheap eye drug in favour of a more expensive one. The alleged cartel promoting Novartis’s Lucentis over Roche’s Avastin is believed to have cost Italy’s national health service over 45 million euros in 2012 alone, while future costs could potentially reach 600 million euros a year. When news of the probe emerged in March Italian consumer association Codacons said it would ask the country’s audit court to verify whether Aifa had acted negligently in the affair. On March 5 Italy’s Antitrust authority fined Novartis and Roche a total of over 180 million euros for alleged collusion to manipulate the market in Italy. “The two companies made an illegal agreement to hamper the spread of the use of a very cheap pharmaceutical, (Roche’s) Avastin, in the treatment of the most widespread eye pathology among the elderly and other serious eye diseases, to favour a much more expensive product, (Novartis’s) Lucentis, artificially differentiating the two products,” read an Antitrust statement. It added that this had cost the Italian national health service over 45 million euros in 2012 alone and that the additional costs in the future could potentially reach 600 million euros a year. Novartis, which was fined 92 million euros, and Roche, which was handed a 90.5-million-euro penalty, have both said the accusations are groundless and will appeal to the administrative courts.
Source: Gazzetta Del Sud, 20th June 2014 – http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/97312/Novartis-exec–orchestrated-swine-flu-fraud-.html

Nurse Sues Hospital after They Force her to Take Shot she’s Allergic to

A nurse is suing a South Charleston hospital claiming she was forced to get a flu shot or risk losing her job, even though she says she is severely allergic to the vaccine.

Susan Dean says in a lawsuit filed last week in Kanawha County Circuit Court that she is now disabled because Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Hospital, her employer of more than 30 years, required her to prove she is allergic to the flu vaccine — when staff there should have known.

Dean’s lawsuit asks that in addition to her being awarded damages, medical professionals be required to undergo training to deal with employees’ allergic to the vaccine. Paige Johnson, spokeswoman for Thomas, said Tuesday the hospital’s policy is one used by most medical facilities and was set by The Joint Commission, an independent national organization that certifies thousands of health care organizations.

According to the lawsuit, Dean had an immediate allergic reaction after being administered the flu shot by a Thomas nurse 15 years ago. The nurse witnessed the reaction, the suit alleges, in which Dean experienced shortness of breath, which was exacerbated by her asthma.

Dean was out of work for a month after that episode and prescribed various medications to recover, the complaint written by attorney Lonnie Simmons states.

Because of her reaction around 1999, Dean wasn’t asked to take the flu vaccine again until 2012, according to the complaint. Dean provided a letter from Dr. Leo B. Gibson stating she shouldn’t have the vaccine because of severe allergies and the matter was resolved.

Last September, the hospital implemented a new policy about vaccines, according to the lawsuit, and a nurse came to Dean to tell her “she had bad news for her.”

The new policy meant hospital officials would no longer take an employee’s word for it that they are allergic to the vaccine.

According to the policy, “All healthcare workers including contract staff, students, volunteers and chaplains at the Thomas Health System are mandated to receive yearly influenza vaccinations.”

Exemptions would be granted only if an employee had a statement from a doctor saying the employee was allergic to eggs, to be verified through allergy testing at the employee’s expense; a previous episode of Gullian-Barre, a rare disorder where the body’s immune system attacks its nervous system, or upon recommendation from an OB/GYN for a pregnant employee.

Johnson said the policy also allows exemptions for religious reasons. The policy is still in effect at the hospital, Johnson said. She wouldn’t comment about the pending litigation, but said the hospital carefully considers exemption cases.

“We have an entire team of infection control nurses and they are very aware of individual situations and we make provisions for those,” Johnson said.

If an employee refused to have the vaccination and wasn’t found to be exempt based on the hospital’s criteria, they would first be suspended without pay for 30 days and be allowed during that time to become compliant. If the employee remained noncompliant they would be fired at the end of the suspension period.

Dean’s lawsuit says that she is not allergic to eggs and that she told nurses at the hospital that the doctor who treated her 15 years prior had told her if she had another flu vaccine “it may kill her.”

During that conversation, according to the lawsuit, the nurse handed Dean the new policy.

Because she had so many years invested in her job, Dean went forward with allergy testing on Oct. 7, 2013. Medical personnel in the allergist’s office were advised of her history with the vaccine, according to the complaint.

Shortly after the test was administered, Dean’s arm became swollen and red. She was itching, her throat became scratchy, she began sneezing and suffered significant shortness of breath and tightness in her chest and produced yellow sputum.

She was hospitalized for two days after undergoing the allergy test and diagnosed as suffering from acute exacerbation of asthma and reaction to flu vaccine and treated with intravenous steroids and other medications, according to the complaint.

Her symptoms worsened and she was hospitalized on and off again until February, when she was able to return to work.

By April, though, her symptoms flared up again and she was hospitalized for a week, the lawsuit states. Since then, her doctor has ordered her not to go back to work and she continues to, the lawsuit states, a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine.

Dean says she has also been told to avoid crowds because her lungs aren’t strong enough to handle infection, flu or cold.
Source: The Charlston Gazette, 19th August 2014 – http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140819/GZ01/140819148/1101

Priest died after suffering reaction to yellow fever vaccine – inquest hears

Gerard Cusack (71) died on 18 March 2013 as a result of an adverse reaction to the yellow fever vaccine.  At the inquest at Dublin Coroner’s Court, Dr. Yap stated that he cautioned Mr Cusack that the chance of a life threatening reaction to the vaccine was one in 100,000.

Full story:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/priest-died-after-suffering-reaction-to-yellow-fever-vaccine-inquest-hears-30520497.html

Merck Whistleblower Suit A Boon to Vaccine Foes Even As It Stresses Importance of Vaccines

Anyone who falls on either side of the debate about vaccines’ alleged potential to cause harm is sure to have heard the big news this week — the unsealing of a whistleblower suit against Merck, filed back in 2010 by two former employees accusing the drugmaker of overstating the effectiveness of its mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine.

The scientists claim Merck defrauded the U.S. government by causing it to purchase an estimated four million doses of mislabeled and misbranded MMR vaccine per year for at least a decade, and helped ignite two recent mumps outbreaks that the allegedly ineffective vaccine was intended to prevent in the first place.

“As the single largest purchaser of childhood vaccines (accounting for more than 50 percent of all vaccine purchasers), the United States is by far the largest financial victim of Merck’s fraud. But the ultimate victims here are the millions of children who every year are being injected with a mumps vaccine that is not providing them with an adequate level of protection against mumps. And while this is a disease the CDC targeted to eradicate by now, the failure in Merck’s vaccine has allowed this disease to linger with significant outbreaks continuing to occur,” the suit alleges.

It refers to a 2006 mumps outbreak in the Midwest, in which 6,500 cases were reported among a highly vaccinated population, and another in 2009, in which 5,000 cases were confirmed. By comparison, the annual average of mumps cases in the U.S. in the two decades preceding the 2006 outbreak was 265; before the introduction of the single-shot Mumpsvax vaccine in 1967, there were approximately 200,000 cases of the disease, according to the 55-page document.

If the accusations are true — thus far Merck has denied wrongdoing — the case would lend credence to the perception held by many that pharmaceutical companies are more interested in pursuing profits and preserving their market share than in protecting consumers’ health.

Specifically, the suit claims Merck manipulated the results of clinical trials beginning in the late 1990s so as to be able to report that the combined mumps vaccine, known as MMR-II (a revised version of the 1971 MMR shot containing a different strain of the rubella virus), is 95 percent effective, in an effort to maintain its exclusive license to manufacture it. This percentage is the benchmark used by the FDA to grant Merck approval to sell its original mumps vaccine in 1967. It is believed by vaccine authorities to guarantee herd immunity for people who have skipped on the shots.

However, instead of reformulating the vaccine whose declining efficacy Merck itself has acknowledged, the company reportedly launched a complicated scheme to adjust its testing technique so that it would yield the desired potency results. The virologists say they witnessed firsthand the fraud and were asked to directly participate in the dishonest testing, which was dubbed “Protocol 007″ and is outlined in great detail in the complaint.

While the Justice Department has refused to rule on the case after conducting its own two-year investigation, the allegations are crucial for a couple of reasons.

Without doubt, if true, they offer an extremely damaging view into the inner process of a company accused of misleading both regulators and consumers about a vital medical product. This is exactly the kind of profit-centered, patient-careless attitude many consumer advocates, vaccine opponents, and non-believers of all stripes ascribe to Big Pharma.

But the suit also serves to remind that vaccines are essential to preventing disease and that any drop in their efficacy is likely to result in disease resurgence and endanger the public’s health.

Unfortunately, what should be a clear distinction between scientific truth and a single alleged case of scientific misconduct is all too readily muddied by anti-vaccination advocates who conflate the two in order to advance their particular kind of dogma.

The opening salvo against immunizations triggered by Merck’s alleged dishonesty comes courtesy of the International Medical Council on Vaccination, an association of medical professionals that lobbies against vaccines.

Source: Forbes, 27/2012

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gerganakoleva/2012/06/27/merck-whistleblower-suit-a-boon-to-anti-vaccination-advocates-though-it-stresses-importance-of-vaccines/

Class Says Merck Lied About Mumps Vaccine

Merck has known for a decade that its mumps vaccine is “far less effective” than it tells the government, and it falsified test results and sold millions of doses of “questionable efficacy,” flooding and monopolizing the market, a primary caregiver claims in a federal antitrust class action.
Alabama-based Chatom Primary Care sued Merck on Monday, the week after the unsealing of a False Claims Act complaint two relators filed in 2010.
Those relators, Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, were Merck virologists who claim in their unsealed complaint that they “witnessed firsthand the improper testing and data falsification in which Merck engaged to artificially inflate the vaccine’s efficacy findings.”
Krahling and Wlochowski claimed Merck’s scheme caused the United States to pay “hundreds of millions of dollars for a vaccine that does not provide adequate immunization.”
“As the largest single purchaser of childhood vaccines (accounting for more than 50 percent of all vaccine purchases), the United States is by far the largest financial victim of Merck’s fraud,” according to the 2010 False Claims Act complaint. “But the ultimate victims here are the millions of children who every year are being injected with a mumps vaccine that is not providing them with an adequate level of protection. And while this is a disease that, according to the Centers for Disease Control (‘CDC’), was supposed to be eradicated by now, the failure in Merck’s vaccine has allowed this disease to linger, with significant outbreaks continuing to occur.”
The United States told a federal judge in April that it did not want to intervenein the False Claims case, but reserved the right to do so later.
Chatom says in its antitrust complaint that Merck falsely claims its mumps vaccine is 95 percent effective.
That claim “deterred and excluded competing manufacturers,” who would enter the risky and expensive vaccine market only if they believed they could craft a better product, Chatom says in its complaint.
Merck is the only manufacturer licensed by the FDA to sell the mumps vaccine in United States, and if it could not show that the vaccine was 95 percent effective, it risked losing its lucrative monopoly, according to the complaint.
That’s why Merck found it critically important to keep claiming such a high efficacy rate, the complaint states.
And, Chatom claims, that’s why Merck went to great lengths, including “manipulating its test procedures and falsifying the test results,” to prop up the bogus figure, though it knew that the attenuated virus from which it created the vaccine had been altered over the years during the manufacturing process, and that the quality of the vaccine had degraded as a result.
Starting in the late 1990s, Merck set out on its sham testing program with the objective of “report[ing] efficacy of 95 percent or higher regardless of the vaccine’s true efficacy,” the complaint states.
Chatom says Merck initially called its testing program Protocol 007.
Under Protocol 007, Merck did not test the vaccine’s ability to protect children against a “wild-type” mumps virus, which is “the type of real-life virus against which vaccines are generally tested,” the complaint states.
Instead, Chatom says, Merck tested children’s blood using its own attenuated strain of the virus.
“This was the same mumps strain with which the children were vaccinated,” the complaint states.
That “subverted” the purpose of the testing regime, “which was to measure the vaccine’s ability to provide protection against a disease-causing mumps virus that a child would actually face in real life. The end result of this deviation … was that Merck’s test overstated the vaccine’s effectiveness,” Chatom claims.
Merck also added animal antibodies to blood samples to achieve more favorable test results, though it knew that the human immune system would never produce such antibodies, and that the antibodies created a laboratory testing scenario that “did not in any way correspond to, correlate with, or represent real life … virus neutralization in vaccinated people,” according to the complaint.
Chatom claims that the falsification of test results occurred “with the knowledge, authority and approval of Merck’s senior management.”
And as Merck’s vaccine is the only game in town, the vaccine’s “significantly degraded” quality means “there has remained a significant risk of a resurgence of mumps outbreaks,” Chatom says in its complaint.
It claims that the degraded quality of the Merck vaccine played a role in a 2006 mumps outbreak in the Midwest, and in another outbreak in 2009.
Those outbreaks caused the Centers for Disease Control to push back its target date for eradicating the disease from 2010 to no earlier than 2020, the complaint states.
“But no amount of extra time or dosages will be enough to eliminate the disease when the vaccine does not work as represented in the labeling,” the complaint states. “It will merely allow Merck to continue to misrepresent the vaccine’s efficacy and thereby maintain its exclusive hold on the relevant market with an inadequate vaccine.”
Merck spokesman Ron Rogers told Courthouse News in a statement that the False Claims lawsuit “is completely without merit,” and that Chatom’s lawsuit is merely derivative of that case.
“Merck has presented information that demonstrated to the United States Department of Justice that these allegations are factually false, and after the Department conducted its own two-year investigation, it decided not to pursue this lawsuit,” Rogers said.
In addition, he said, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “previously examined the issues raised in the lawsuit, and they were resolved to the agency’s satisfaction.”
Chatom seeks to represent the class of all those who bought Merck’s mumps vaccine from Jan. 1, 1999 to today.
It seeks damages for monopolization under the Sherman Act, violation of state consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment and breach of warranty.
Chatom is represented by Richard Golomb of Golomb & Honik, in Philadelphia

Source: Courthouse News, 27 June 2012

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47851.htm

Lawsuits Allege Merck Lied About MMR Efficacy, Motions To Dismiss Denied

http://www.inquisitr.com/1459159/lawsuits-allege-merck-lied-about-mmr-efficacy-motions-to-dismiss-denied/

Lehigh County woman paralyzed after flu shot wins $11.6 million for treatment

Kenyan firm sues government, says vaccine test results were ignored

A Kenyan medical-research firm has brought suit against the government, claiming that the government refused to pay for testing that showed contamination of vaccines being distributed by the country’s health ministry.

Agriq Quest Ltd. is asking for 13.8 million shillings ($136,000), in payment for testing of the controversial tetanus and polio vaccines. The firm says that after it found problems with the vaccines, the health ministry failed even to collect the results of the tests.

The vaccines became controversial because of reports that they contained chemicals intended to sterilize recipients. The government denied those reports, and agreed to testing of the vaccines, to be conducted jointly by the health ministry and the Catholic bishops’ conference. A substantial number of the test samples did show the presence of the sterilizing drug.

Agriq Quest charges in its lawsuit that the government had refused to pay for tests that did not support the claim that the vaccines were safe.
Source: Catholic World News, 16 June 2016.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=28602

State faces suit over ‘unsafe vaccines’ test

A Nairobi company has threatened to sue the government for failing to pay Sh13.8 million for tests on the controversial tetanus and polio vaccines.

In a demand letter by Gitobu Imanyara Advocates, the company, Agriq Quest Ltd, claims that the government declined to pay for the laboratory tests because it wanted the results altered to show that the vaccines were fit to be administered to women and children.

According to the letter, the samples of the vaccines tested were found to have been contaminated.

The letter also says that even after paying Sh5.7 million, the Ministry of Health failed to pick up final results of the tetanus vaccine analysis it had jointly asked for with the Catholic Church.

“Owing to the shocking findings of contamination of the vaccines, our client was orally advised to alter the results to indicate that they were safe to be administered,” reads the letter dated May 16, but which was obtained by the Nation on Thursday.

In 2014, there was a heated debate over the two vaccines between the ministry and the Catholic Church, which claimed that the vaccines were laced with a hormone said to cause infertility in women.

According to the Catholic Health Commission, the polio vaccine was laced with a hormone that, if injected in children, would affect their growth and reproduction abilities, while the tetanus jab had HCG, a hormone that they claimed could cause infertility in women.

The controversy culminated in the formation of a joint committee of experts from the government and the church which was co-chaired by Prof Fredrick Were from the ministry and Dr Stephen Karanja, representing the church.

According to the letter, the joint committee hired Agriq Quest Ltd to test the vaccines and on December 10, 2015, the laboratory proceeded to test the tetanus vaccine. According to the letter, the final report showing results of the analysis was to be presented to the Catholic Health Commission without any representation from the ministry because “the Ministry of Health was not keen on receiving the laboratory report”.

In April 2015, the letter indicates, the then Director of Medical Services, Dr Nicholas Muraguri, submitted 56 samples of the polio vaccine to be used in the national campaign scheduled for April and May but which was pushed forward to August of the same year after the church raised concerns about the safety of the vaccine.

“Our client responded by sending a budget quotation to the office of the DMS on the same day. Our client thereafter received a verbal communication by way of a telephone call from the office of the DMS asking that they should proceed with the analysis and release the results soonest.”

FULLY SETTLED

However, efforts to reach Dr Muraguri — who is now the Principal Secretary for Health — were futile as he did not respond to texts or calls by the time of going to press on Thursday.

The Nation could also not reach a representative of the Catholic Church.

The letter says: “Owing to our client’s refusal to comply with the oral directive that they indicate that the vaccines were safe, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board authored a letter informing that they were only entitled to charge a maximum of Sh600,000 for the work, yet the fact is that the previous invoice of Sh5.7 million had been fully settled.”
Source: Daily Nation, 27 May 2016.

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/State-faces-suit-over-unsafe-vaccines-test/-/1056/3220774/-/14b27xk/-/index.html

VAN UK’s Comment: This is not a new activity on the part of governments. HCG vaccines have been researched by the Population Council since the 1960’s and in the mid 90’s in the Philippines, a court case found that HCG tainted vaccines were being given to women and an injunction was granted to halt the campaign.
Tetanus vaccines in third world countries are often administered multiple times in short succession and only offered to girls and women of childbearing age, not to males who can equally get tetanus.  Standard indication for tetanus vaccine would be once every 10 years if one wanted one and it is thought that the multiple succession of vaccines is needed to achieve a sterilizing effect.

Parents Sue State of California Over Forced Vaccinations

Six parents and four not-for-profit organizations joined together to file the lawsuit against the State of California and its applicable departments and authorities. The plaintiffs seek relief based on “a child’s right to an education” as “long recognized” by the California Supreme Court, according to court documents.

The four organizations joining in the lawsuit are: Nevada-based Education for All, D.C.-based Weston A. Price Foundation, Nevada-based Citizens for Health, and Georgia-based Alliance for Natural Health.

Waves of efforts to stop vaccine mandate SB 277 failed to stop the legislators bent on its passage. The bill that became law and went into effect on July 1 of this year eliminated California parents’ choice in whether to vaccinate their children unless they have the means to homeschool or enroll a child in non-classroom-based independent study. Gone are the personal belief waivers that allowed parents to opt a child out of even one dose of a required vaccine and still attend public or private school.
Source: Brieitbart.com, 7 July 2016.

Court Papers – Parents Sue State of California over Forced Vaccinations

Judge Denies Effort to Halt California’s Mandatory Vaccination Law

A federal judge Friday delivered a major blow to California families looking to start the school year without having to vaccinate their children as mandated by the state’s controversial new vaccine law.

A judge in San Diego denied a request by 17 families and two foundations seeking a preliminary injunction to stop enforcement of Senate Bill 277, which requires all children entering school or child-care facilities to be vaccinated. A challenge to the law is still working its way through the courts.

The ruling means that unvaccinated children who don’t have a medical exemption will have to be home-schooled.

In an 18-page ruling today, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw concluded that the plaintiffs failed to show they are entitled to the “extraordinary remedy” of a preliminary injunction.

Last month, the plaintiffs filed a motion alleging SB 277 violates their rights to free exercise, equal protection, due process and education.

The law — which went into effect July 1 — eliminated religious and personal beliefs as reasons for parents to opt out of getting their children vaccinated.

In enacting the law, state legislators said the intent was to provide a means for the eventual achievement of total immunization of appropriate age groups against childhood diseases such as diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps and other diseases.
The law requires all children to be vaccinated before attending public or private schools or day care facilities unless doctors give medical reasons for not doing it.
Source: La Jolla Patch, 27th August 2016.

http://patch.com/california/lajolla/judge-denies-effort-halt-mandatory-vaccination-law

What Next?
It is likely that the lawyers in this case will appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and request the same injunction there so that SB277 is put on hold during the time when the case is being heard.
The main lawsuit will continue in federal court which has a number of different aspects to it (religious rights, constitutional right to education, IEP right to education, Medical exemption pilot program, among others).
VAN UK’S Comments:
If all parents who disagree with forced medicine without consent – whether they vaccinate or don’t vaccinate – simply took their children out of the school system and refused to be part of it for as long as the schools collude with drug companies. After the masses just refuse to go to school, educational establishments and the government would soon get sick of it.  The public are the customers that doctors, teachers and government are supposed to SERVE so they should simply fire them by not engaging in their services while they are taking personal freedoms away.

Parents whose children got narcolepsy after swine flu jab sue Dutch state

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/09/parents-whose-children-got-narcolepsy-after-swine-flu-jab-sue-dutch-state/

Medical Student Takes Medical School to Court for Teaching her to LIE to Patients about Vaccines and Threaten them to Comply

Calmly and professionally (i.e. using in-door voices) as part of her educational understanding, Plaintiff NICHOLE ROLFE inquired how the students of Group E could effectuate this procedure since the same is contraindicated according to the immunization drug inserts, wherein if a child is sick enough to be a patient within the hospital, the child is not well enough to receive a vaccination according to the vaccination standard protocol.

38. Moreover, the issue of immunizations and vaccinations was then and is today controversial with varying public opinions on the efficacy, safety, and propriety, particularly with babies and small children.
39. Osoff stated and indicated to the students of Group E that they were to do whatever possible to convince visitors to the pediatrics department at Sparrow Hospital to consent to immunizations and vaccinations, even over the objections of the patient (which could also include the patient’s visitors).
40. Osoff stated and instructed that the students of Group E should tell patients and their partners that failure to have immunization/vaccination for pertussis could result in the patient to have to pay for their entire stay at the hospital, that the state would deny payment coverage, and that those on Medicare (traditionally underprivileged members of the community) would be personally liable to pay for all damages suffered by those in the hospital.

41.In other words, Osoff was instructing

students to wrongfully threaten and panic patients into receiving an immunization to override a patient’s informed consent.

42. Obtaining uninformed or false consent for a medical procedure under false pretenses is assault and battery under both criminal and civil law.
43. Obtaining uninformed or false consent for a medical procedure under false pretenses is a violation of the American Nursing Association Code of Ethics for nurses.
    Source: Nichole Rolfe Court Complaint.

http://healthimpactnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/Nichole-Rolfe-2015-04-06-Full-Complaint-.pdf

Experienced vaccine attorney Leah Durant Obtains $253,000.00 Settlement for Case of Guillain-Barre Resulting from Flu Shot

Every year, millions of Americans ward off sickness and disease by receiving the flu vaccine. In rare cases, however, some individuals can experience adverse reactions or injury that results from vaccination. In cases where individuals experience injury or harm that results from a flu vaccine, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), offers claimants the ability to obtain monetary compensation for damages, such as pain and suffering, lost wages, out-of-pocket expenses, and the cost of future medical care. One illness that may result following the flu vaccination is Guillain-Barre Syndrome or GBS. While the exact causes of Guillain-Barre Syndrome remain unknown, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and most medical experts have noted a link between GBS and the annual flu vaccination. Many individuals have successfully obtained compensation for GBS by filing for damages under the federal government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. “Because of pending changes poised to soon take place within the Vaccine Program,” says vaccine attorney Leah Durant, “obtaining compensation for claims of flu-GBS will likely become much easier for individuals who received the flu shot and became sick within 5 to 42 days of vaccination. The client in this case recovered the statutory maximum award for pain and suffering of $250,000.00, plus out of pocket expenses. This is an excellent example of how people who experience Guillain-Bare Syndrome following a flu vaccine can be compensated quickly for their injuries.”
Source: PR Newswire, 10 October 2016.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/experienced-vaccine-attorney-leah-durant-obtains-25300000-settlement-for-case-of-guillain-barre-resulting-from-flu-shot-300342005.html

Parents Sue Over Vaccine Deaths

SIX parents whose babies died after they were vaccinated have approached the Legal Assistance Centre for help to sue the health ministry.

The Namibian understands that 21 babies countrywide have died since 2006 after receiving the vaccines which are normally administered to children at six weeks and 12 weeks in what has been termed sudden infant death syndrome.
Five of these cases recorded in July this year in Windhoek alone were caused by complications arising from the ongoing measles/rubella vaccination exercise.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services has not responded to detailed questions sent to the public relations office a week ago.
Similarly, attempts were also made to get hold of minister Bernard Haufiku and permanent secretary Andreas Mwoombola.
Dr Tueumuna said during the major measles outbreak treated at the Oshakati State Hospital from October 1986 through January 1987, out of the 554 children aged three-and-a-half years admitted to the hospital, 83 died from complications of measles, mainly pneumonia.
“None of the 83 deceased children had received measles vaccines beforehand. Of the survivors, six became permanently blind. In addition, virtually all the 554 children who were ill enough to require hospital admission had some degree of malnutrition.
Some of my patients who died from measles were as old as 10 to 12 years,” Tueumuna stated.
She compared Namibian children to those she attended to in London, whom she said were well-nourished; lived in good houses; had access to supportive treatment, and plenty of nutritious food.
Project lawyer for the Social Justice Project at the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) Sharen Zenda confirmed that some parents approached their office for assistance.
Zenda could, however, not divulge any further details.
One of the doctors, Yury Vasin, who did post-mortem examinations on some of the children in Windhoek, told The Namibian that the rate at which babies are dying from six and 12-week vaccination-related deaths is unacceptably high.
Dr Vasin of the Windhoek Central Hospital’s forensic mortuary services did a post-mortem examination on six-month-old Paulus Jonas, son of Denny Mwanyekange, one of the parents who approached the LAC for help.
Jonas died in his father’s arms within four hours of receiving a vaccination in January last year.
Dr Vasin claimed that the babies had identical symptoms before they died soon after being vaccinated.
Although Dr Vasin could not give figures, he said it was a cause for concern for him, and he wrote a letter to the health ministry in 2008 when the trend started picking up.
He requested The Namibian to ask for test results of an investigation conducted by the health ministry, together with the World Health Organisation, into the concerned children’s vaccines.
The Namibian understands that after Dr Vasin’s post-mortem results were given to the parents, they confronted the health ministry, and were told that the doctor was not qualified to make such a diagnosis.
Dr Vasin, however, denies this.
“I have long experience in this field. The babies had identical symptoms before they all died soon after being vaccinated. We got concerned that this was more than a coincidence, and the numbers were increasing,” he stressed.
He also said he was not approached for any input by the ministry on consultations with the concerned parents.
The parents claim that they are not happy with the way the health ministry handled their cases, while the feedback was termed unsatisfactory.
Angelina Lazarus (23) took her son for the second vaccination on 9 April this year. When she returned home in the afternoon, the baby refused to be breastfed, and could not stop crying.
After crying for a long time, she said, the baby eventually drank and went off to sleep.
At around 16h30, I realised that he was not breathing. His tongue had turned black, and he was bleeding from the nose,” she said, adding that they are still trying to cope with the loss.
Her brother, Robert Iithete, who approached the LAC over the issue, said watching his sister suffer in the absence of answers – the police refuse to return the health passport card and the post-mortem results – is killing him slowly.
Mwanyekange, whose son Paulus Jonas was vaccinated at the Okuryangava Clinic in Windhoek, said the boy also refused to be breastfed after the vaccination, and cried hysterically.
The distraught father said he took the boy from the mother to help quiet him down. Mwanyekange also said he thought that everything was fine when the boy stopped crying.
“The mother was in the house preparing food. I was sitting with him outside under a tree. When she took him from me, I just heard her screaming. I saw blood coming out of the baby’s nose and mouth,” he stated.
Paulus Jonas’ post-mortem certificate shows that the infant’s death was vaccine-related.
His parents told The Namibian at their home in Okahandja Park, Katutura, that they are finding it difficult to get over the death of their son because of the vague answers they got from the ministry.
“That is why we decided to go to the LAC. We want to know what caused the death of our son. Although the doctor who did the post-mortem said it was vaccine-related, the health ministry told us the doctor was not qualified.”
“Why are they hiring unqualified people to determine the cause of death? Then maybe their nurses are also not qualified to administer vaccines. I will sue them to pay for my child,” he stressed.
Mwanyekange said he has been finding it difficult to concentrate because of the ‘bloody’ image the child left in his mind.
“The way he was bleeding was as if it was a cow. I was tempted to commit suicide. I also could not concentrate at work, so they had to let me go,” he said.
Victoria Kangala, whose three-month-old baby died after receiving a vaccination at the same clinic, said her baby was not sick.
Kangala said although the death certificate says her son died from aspiration pneumonia, she knows that it’s the vaccination that killed him.
“His leg was weak. He was crying. He refused to be breastfed, and his eyes were swollen,” Kangala said, adding that she had to take her son to the hospital two days later after he had cried continuously.
Despite this, she said the boy’s left side became swollen.
“His weight and temperature did not change. I dream of him. It is not easy,” she said.
Linus Festus told The Namibian that he lost his daughter Natasha Soetmelk in December 2014.
A post-mortem report also shows that Natasha died from a vaccination related death.
He said when the child returned after receiving the vaccine at 15h00, her temperature started rising and she was crying uncontrollably.
“Her mother and I went to get something from the shop and we returned and went to bed. At around five the following morning, Bernice (Soetmelk) started screaming.
When I woke up I saw blood coming out of Natasha’s eyes and mouth and she had stopped breathing,” Festus said.
He said Bernice, who is the baby’s mother, cries to this day about the incident and is struggling to get over the death.
“We have approached LAC for help. The health ministry told us the doctor who conducted the post-mortem was not qualified. We want clear answers. Why should this post-mortem be the incorrect one when so many are conducted by the same doctor?” Festus questioned.
Dr Vasin told The Namibian he has done about 8 000 to 9 000 autopsies.
He has been in his position for 15 years and said most cases are coming from Khomas, Omaheke, //Kharas, Hardap and Otjozondjupa.
Dr Vasin said the trend was picked up at Oshakati in 2007/8 when numerous cases were recorded and it was becoming alarming because it did not happen before.
“I kept a list which allowed me to see the trend which showed six weeks’ vaccination, and whether it was a death on the same day or the day after. One of the clinical features was severe crying. Not much was happening from the ministry. Letters were written and again the trend picked up end of 2014, beginning of 2015, when three cases were recorded and two were from our department and [in] one case the post-mortem was not done,” he said.
Dr Vasin said vaccine requires proper assessments of individuals given it as any medical procedure has side effects whether small, mild, severe or adverse, including death.
Source: The Nambian, 2016-08-05.

http://www.namibian.com.na/154064/archive-read/Parents-sue-over-vaccine-deaths

Medical negligence led to baby’s death after MMR Vaccine, court finds

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20161108/local/medical-negligence-led-to-babys-death-court-finds.630434

Chinese official’s wife jailed in new vaccine scandal

he wife of a Chinese official has been jailed for taking bribes from vaccine manufacturers, a court said Thursday, in a case with echoes of a major scandal that rocked China earlier this year.

The sixty-year-old woman, surnamed Guo, received a three-year sentence for soliciting 1.5 million yuan (A$290,000) in bribes from five Chinese vaccine companies, according to a ruling from the Number One Beijing Intermediate People’s Court.

She is the wife of a former employee of the Chinese Food and Drug Administration, who the court documents said was complicit in the scheme.

Guo was taken into custody in April 2015 and charged with accepting bribes in relation to four biotech firms’ efforts to obtain government permits for a variety of vaccines, including those for SARS and avian flu.

A fifth firm also paid her bribes.

The sentence follows the March revelation of a massive vaccine scandal that enraged the Chinese public.

The case involved the improper storage, transport and sale of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of vaccines — many of them expired.

No one was believed to have been harmed, but the story still provoked outrage in a country where families, who were long limited to one child by government policy, fiercely protect their offspring.

Public fury erupted in March after a report revealed that information about the case had been suppressed by authorities who had arrested two key suspects nearly a year earlier.

From 2010, the pair, a mother and daughter from Shandong province in eastern China, sold 25 different kinds of expired or improperly stored vaccines worth more than 570 million yuan ($88 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported at the time.

They included shots for polio, rabies, hepatitis B and flu for both children and adults, Caijing magazine said, citing drug safety officials.

Source: SBS, 15 December 2016.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/12/15/chinese-officials-wife-jailed-new-vaccine-scandal