FAIL: 26% Contract Measles Despite 2 or More Measles-Containing Vaccines, New Chinese Study Finds

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A new study sheds light on just how dismally incorrect is the much parroted statement "measles vaccines are highly effective." 

As we reported on previously in our article, “Why is China Having Measles Outbreaks When 99% Are Vaccinated?”, China has one of the most vaccination compliant populations in the world. In fact, measles vaccine is mandatory. So why have they had over 700 measles outbreaks from 2009 and 2012 alone? The obvious answer is the measles vaccines are simply not as effective as advertised, and are becoming even less so over time. 

An important new study published in the highly respected journal Vaccine titled, “Assessing measles vaccine failure in Tianjin, China,” brings back into the foreground the underreported paradox of measles outbreaks in some of the most highly vaccinated populations in the world:

“Despite increasing global measles vaccination coverage, progress toward measles elimination has slowed in recent years. In China, children receive a measles-containing vaccine (MCV) at 8 months, 18– 24 months, and some urban areas offer a third dose at age 4–6 years. However, substantial measles cases in Tianjin, China, occur among individuals who have received multiple MCV doses.”

In fact, the study reveals that vaccination coverage is as high as 97% for the 1st and 2nd dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV). The clear failure of the measles vaccine to generate herd immunity has caused major concern among public health officials in China. The study, therefore, sought to better characterize the nature of vaccine failure by exploring both the vaccination history of childhood measles cases and the differences in time-to-measles diagnosis based on vaccination history in Tianjin.

The data was drawn from individuals 8 months-19 years of age, between 2009-2013, drawn from the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention (CISDCP), a web-based communicable disease surveillance system. 

The study found 25% of the measles cases they analyzed for the study “received 1 dose prior to contracting the disease.”  They also found that while two doses or more significantly delayed onset of measles, the onset was similar for those who received only one dose or no doses of the vaccine, prompting them to conclude that “that one vaccine is insufficient, and perhaps that the dose administered at 8 months of age, one of the earliest suggested dose times in the world for MCV, may have a reduced immune response, producing the similar time-to-measles diagnosis curves.”

The researchers hypothesized that, 

“This study reveals that within a small subset of measles cases in Tianjin who have recorded vaccination history, there is a high burden of measles among those who have been vaccinated. As such, a vaccine effectiveness (VE) study may be warranted to explore potential reasons for these breakthrough cases.” 

They go on to reference research indicating that measles vaccine effectiveness may be as low as 23.1% for one dose. They also reference a long-term study of measles antibodies in children who have been vaccinated early (at 9 months) during an outbreak in The Netherlands which found that “children vaccinated at 9 months had significantly lower concentrations of measles antibodies compared to a control group at 4 years of age,” indicating that vaccinating at an early age is not producing measles immunity as commonly believed. 

The study concluded with the following dismal prospects for the much heralded high effectiveness of the measles vaccination programs: 

“This analysis of measles cases in Tianjin found that among children with a recorded vaccine history, a substantial number of those who contracted measles had received at least one MCV dose. Although time-to-diagnosis following vaccination increases with receipt of each successive dose of measles vaccine, the fact that 8.5% of cases in the surveillance dataset and 26% in the case series contracted measles despite 2 or more doses of MCV is surprising. This also has implications for the VE of the measles vaccine series in Tianjin. Future research is needed to identify whether this is due to primary or secondary vaccine failure, and whether cold chain management, low vaccine efficacy, scheduled dose timing, or host factors such as co-morbidities and waning immunity might be responsible. This analysis motivates further research to discern the cause of these breakthrough cases in both outbreak and isolated case settings."

Clearly, a 26% failure rate in those receiving 2 or more measles-containing vaccines is not only surprising, but demonstrates how the present-day myth that receipt of the measles vaccinae (including multiple "boosters") equates to bona fide immunity (or any vaccine, for that matter) is no longer tenable, as judged by the evidence itself, especially given a long recorded history of measles outbreaks in highly vaccinated populations. Here are just a few examples reported in the medical literature:

  • 1985, Texas, USA: According to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1987, "An outbreak of measles occurred among adolescents in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the spring of 1985, even though vaccination requirements for school attendance had been thoroughly enforced." They concluded: "We conclude that outbreaks of measles can occur in secondary schools, even when more than 99 percent of the students have been vaccinated and more than 95 percent are immune."1

  • 1985, Montana, USA: According to an article published in the American Journal of Epidemiology titled, "A persistent outbreak of measles despite appropriate prevention and control measures," an outbreak of 137 cases of measles occurred in Montana. School records indicated that 98.7% of students were appropriately vaccinated, leading the researchers to conclude: "This outbreak suggests that measles transmission may persist in some settings despite appropriate implementation of the current measles elimination strategy."2

  • 1988, Colorado, USA: According to an article published in the American Journal of Public Health in 1991, "early 1988 an outbreak of 84 measles cases occurred at a college in Colorado in which over 98 percent of students had documentation of adequate measles immunity ... due to an immunization requirement in effect since 1986. They concluded: "...measles outbreaks can occur among highly vaccinated college populations."3

  • 1989, Quebec, Canada: According to an article published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health in 1991, a 1989 measles outbreak was "largely attributed to an incomplete vaccination coverage," but following an extensive review the researchers concluded "Incomplete vaccination coverage is not a valid explanation for the Quebec City measles outbreak.4

  • 1991-1992, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: According to an article published in the journal Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, in a measles outbreak from March 1991 to April 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, 76.4% of those suspected to be infected had received measles vaccine before their first birthday.5

  • 1992, Cape Town, South Africa: According to an article published in the South African Medical Journal in 1994, "[In] August 1992 an outbreak occurred, with cases reported at many schools in children presumably immunised." Immunization coverage for measles was found to be 91%, and vaccine efficacy found to be only 79%, leading them to conclude that primary and secondary vaccine failure was a possible explanation for the outbreak.6

These six outbreaks are by no means exhaustive of the biomedical literature, but illustrate just how misled the general public is about the effectiveness of measles vaccines, and the CDC's vaccination agenda in general.  Take, for example, the CDC's description of the MMR vaccine's effectiveness: 

No amount of historical ignorance will erase the fact that vaccination does not equal immunization; antigenicity does not equal immunogenicity.

For more information on measles consult the following articles: 

References

1T L Gustafson, A W Lievens, P A Brunell, R G Moellenberg, C M Buttery, L M Sehulster. Measles outbreak in a fully immunized secondary-school population. N Engl J Med. 1987 Mar 26 ;316(13):771-4. PMID: 3821823

2R M Davis, E D Whitman, W A Orenstein, S R Preblud, L E Markowitz, A R Hinman. A persistent outbreak of measles despite appropriate prevention and control measures. Am J Epidemiol. 1987 Sep ;126(3):438-49. PMID: 3618578

3B S Hersh, L E Markowitz, R E Hoffman, D R Hoff, M J Doran, J C Fleishman, S R Preblud, W A Orenstein. A measles outbreak at a college with a prematriculation immunization requirement. Am J Public Health. 1991 Mar ;81(3):360-4. PMID: 1994745

4N Boulianne, G De Serres, B Duval, J R Joly, F Meyer, P Déry, M Alary, D Le Hénaff, N Thériault.[Major measles epidemic in the region of Quebec despite a 99% vaccine coverage]. Can J Public Health. 1991 May-Jun;82(3):189-90. PMID: 1884314

5S A de Oliveira, W N Soares, M O Dalston, M T de Almeida, A J Costa. Clinical and epidemiological findings during a measles outbreak occurring in a population with a high vaccination coverage. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 1995 Oct-Dec;28(4):339-43. PMID: 8668833

 

6N Coetzee, G D Hussey, G Visser, P Barron, A Keen. The 1992 measles epidemic in Cape Town--a changing epidemiological pattern. S Afr Med J. 1994 Mar ;84(3):145-9. PMID: 7740350

 

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