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Vaccine Experiment Hurts Russian Children -- see article below NVIC's
note..
Note From From National Vaccine Information Center:
A young boy on the beach was throwing the washed-up starfish back into the
ocean. A stranger passing by told him not to bother, because it would not
make any difference, there were thousands of beaches and millions of
starfish, and it would not be possible to save all of them. The boy reached
down, picked up a starfish, threw it back into the ocean and said, smiling
softly, “ I made a difference for that one!”
"According to the prosecutors, Glaxo paid the clinic in southwestern Russia
$50,000 to conduct the trials, which made some children ill.
“According to the contract, only healthy children can take part in this
experiment,” said a spokeswoman for the Volgograd region prosecutors, Lydia
Sergeyeva. “In this case all children were sent for trials, healthy or
unhealthy, and many of them had been diagnosed with diseases.
”They had no right to put children with health problems through these
clinical tests because ... it can lead to a deterioration in the child’s
condition, as happened with one girl for instance.“ Sergeyeva told Reuters
of a 2-1/2-year-old girl whose neurological illness progressed sharply after
she was vaccinated. The girl can hardly speak and shows other signs of
arrested development, she said. Glaxo said the tests were part of a wider
clinical trial programme involving 5,700 children across Europe, including
around 1,000 in Russia. The project is designed to evaluate the
effectiveness of different vaccines against varicella, or chickenpox, and
involves Glaxo vaccines that are already approved for use." - MosNews.com
Clinical Trials were part of a global Phase IV clinical trial programme for
three of GSK's paediatric vaccines - Varilrix for chickenpox, Priorix for
measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and Priorix Tetra, a combination of the
two. 5,700 toddlers across Europe were involved in the programme, 1,000 of
which came from Russia and roughly 100 from the Volgograd site - from
Russian media
Russian Prosecutors Launch Probe Into Vaccine Tests on Children
MosNews
March 05, 2007
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2007/03/04/toddlers.shtml
Russian prosecutors are investigating a local hospital on suspicions it
illegally tested vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc on toddlers, the
Reuters news agency reports.
Europe’s biggest drugmaker denied the claims and said there was no evidence
of adverse events or misconduct in the way the study had been carried out.
Glaxo vaccines were tested on more than 100 children between one and two
years of age at the hospital in Volgograd after Russian health authorities
approved the trials in 2005.
But prosecutors claim parents were not properly informed and they thought
these were routine vaccinations.
According to the prosecutors, Glaxo paid the clinic in southwestern Russia
$50,000 to conduct the trials, which made some children ill.
“According to the contract, only healthy children can take part in this
experiment,” said a spokeswoman for the Volgograd region prosecutors, Lydia
Sergeyeva.
“In this case all children were sent for trials, healthy or unhealthy, and
many of them had been diagnosed with diseases.
”They had no right to put children with health problems through these
clinical tests because ... it can lead to a deterioration in the child’s
condition, as happened with one girl for instance.“
Sergeyeva told Reuters of a 2-1/2-year-old girl whose neurological illness
progressed sharply after she was vaccinated. The girl can hardly speak and
shows other signs of arrested development, she said.
Glaxo said the tests were part of a wider clinical trial programme involving
5,700 children across Europe, including around 1,000 in Russia.
The project is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of different vaccines
against varicella, or chickenpox, and involves Glaxo vaccines that are
already approved for use.
A company spokeswoman said its own internal audit showed informed consent
had been given by all parents and doctors involved in the trial had reported
no signs of adverse effects.
”GlaxoSmithKline is extremely concerned about unsubstantiated and untrue
allegations circulating related to the clinical trial in Russia,“ she said.
The prosecutors allege the clinic had no right to conduct the tests as it
was not a state clinic.
When asked why the tests were nonetheless allowed in the Volgograd hospital,
Sergeyeva said it was a question for the authorities who granted the
permission.
A regional court ruled last month that the vaccinations should stop but
Sergeyeva said the hospital promised to appeal. If no appeal is made, all
future tests of the vaccines in the clinic will be banned as of next week.
*************************************************************
National Vaccine Information Center
email: news@nvic.org
voice: 703-938-dpt3
web: http://www.nvic.org
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is supported through membership donations.
NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not
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founder.
Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed consent
rights at
http://www.nvic.org
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