Our vaccine-damaged son is proof we must do more to improve safety
SIMON STEVENS, the head of NHS England, said he was concerned by stalling vaccination uptake and the dangers that ‘fake messages’ posed to children. I would like to know how he determines that the messages are fake. I am the mother of a son who is severely brain-damaged by vaccines given when he was 13 months old. Robert had the MMR and Hib/ meningitis vaccines and ten days later was hospitalised with a seizure. His life changed from that point. He went from a healthy, happy little boy into a child who suffered seizures, repeated infections, lost his speech and communication, developed a leftsided weakness and autistic traits. It took until he was 19 for his case to be properly investigated by the Government’s vaccine damage tribunal service. It was accepted by the tribunal that he had suffered epileptic encephalopathy caused by the measles part of the MMR. Now aged 27, he is still mentally like a 13-month-old infant. He has uncontrolled epilepsy, can’t talk or walk and needs round-the-clock care. It was because of Robert’s experience and meeting other parents in hospitals who complained that their children’s lives had changed following MMR vaccinations that I founded the support group JABS (Justice, Awareness & Basic Support). Many parents have shared their children’s vaccine experiences online to try to help others to make safer choices. Since 1994, we have had meetings with ministers at the Departments of Health and Work & Pensions in the interests of obtaining justice and recognition for the damaged children. Equally important, we hope to improve the safety of the vaccination programme to safeguard children in the future. Many of the parents in our group say their children, who were previously healthy, have reacted with symptoms known to the manufacturers in the recognised incubation periods and have developed long-term problems also reported in the vaccine makers’ patient information sheets, regardless of the age when given. We have called for clinical investigation of the children; for all suspected serious reactions to be reported and routinely followed up; for the everexpanding vaccination schedule to be safety tested in its entirety; for parents to be allowed to make an informed consent; and for a proper compensation programme to help families whose children have paid the price for the community. And for our efforts we get labelled as ‘anti-vaxxers’. How ironic — if we had been anti-vaxxers, our children would not have been damaged by vaccines. Mrs JACKIE FLETCHER,
Warrington, Cheshire.