Late 1930’s
American researchers reported that some children reacted with fevers, convulsions and collapse. But, most Doctor’s discounted those reports convinced that reactions were insignificant compared to the protection that vaccine gave them against whooping cough.

1940
Pertussis is put into general use in the United States.

1941
Louis Sauer developed his own pertussis vaccine and urged that pertussis vaccines begin no earlier than 7 months of age.

1942
Louis A. Lurie MD and Soy Levy MD reported at an AMA that whooping cough, which had long been recognized as a cause of brain damage, may also through a less dramatic but equally serious injury to the brain, causing a wide variety of behavior disturbances. There appears to be a definite relationship between the neurological sequence of the whooping cough and the behavior disorders and personality changes shown …in later life.

1943
Alum or alum-based substances were added to the vaccine.

1945
First autistic child reported in Japan.

1946
Kendrick and Pittman hit upon the idea of challenging or exposing vaccinated mice to whooping cough by injecting the challenging doses of pertussis bacteria directly into their brains. The vaccine’s ability to protect against whooping cough (potency or efficacy) was judged by how many mice survived and how many died after being infected with the disease.

Were & Garrow described the deaths of identical twins who died within 24 hours of their 2nd shot.

Douglas Buchanan MD, a professor of neurology at the University Of Chicago School Of Medicine, called attention to a neurological disorder which he believed was often misdiagnosed. He wrote, "a type of major convulsions in young infants which is frequently not recognized as such is one in which there is a sudden forward dropping of the head with adduction and flexion of the arms. These attacks are extremely brief and tend to occur in bursts. They are really “lightening major convulsions”. They are more common in children less than 2 years old. They are notoriously difficult completely to control and are most often found in association with severe degrees of cerebral agencies and mental retardation.”

Late 1940’s
Government, Health Officials and Physicians were aggressively promoting pertussis vaccination throughout America as the incidence of whooping cough was highly declining.

1948
A correlation between diet and polio is discovered.

The Prevention Vaccine Law of 1948 was enacted making it a legal requirement for children to be inoculated in Japan. It was adopted by the order of the American Occupational Army. Vaccinations were to begin at 3 months.

Randolph K. Byers & Fredick C. Moll of Harvard Medical School published an article describing children who had suffered brain damage after receiving the pertussis vaccine. Their findings shocked the medical community and provide clear substantiation that the vaccine caused serious neurological complications in children.

Louis Sauer made an observation after Toomey presented his report in 1949 (Beyer and Moll study) pointing out that neurological damage caused by vaccine resembles the damage caused by whooping cough.

1949
The Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) of the Public Health Service established a national potency test and modified it in 1953 to establish maximum & minimum policy limits.

1950’s
Europe received the pertussis vaccine.

Pertussis is in full swing in the United States

The National Institute of Health was well aware that the Salk vaccine was ineffective and deadly. Salk was quoted as saying, “when you inoculate your child, you don’t sleep well for 2 to 3 weeks.”

1953
S. Kong MD, of the pediatric clinic of the University of Zurich, compiled a list of 82 cases.

Polio death rate in the United States and England decreased by 47-55%. Stats declined in Europe as well.

1954
Miller and Straton described the case of a baby girl who reacted to her 3rd DPT shot. “Seven days after her 3rd injection on a combined diphtheria-pertussis vaccine, this previously healthy baby developed a severe attack of screaming followed by drowsiness. During the subsequent 2 days the child remained alternately drowsy and restless, though she was able to take her food. At the end of this period the parents noticed that she was not moving her right arm and leg. Examination revealed a right hemiplegia involving face, arm and leg. Two years later, right hemiparesis persists. There is difficulty in using the right hand, but the child can walk. General development and intelligence appears to be unimpaired.

1954 – 1965
The manufactured vaccine is subject to the toxicity test developed and refined by Pittman and others at the DBS. This test is supposed to measure the vaccines safety, meaning how likely is it to cause severe reactions in children? This was plagued with problems. When Pittman tried to redefine it in the late 1950’s, some mice seemed to gain weight over a period of time. If the mice do not die and continue to gain a specific amount of weight, vaccine manufacturers and the FDA consider the vaccine safe for children.

1955
Neils Loos of the Department of Neurology, University of Illinois School of Medicine showed that the EEG of infants sometimes was altered by the DPT shot. He concluded that, “mild, but possibly significant, cerebral reactions occur in addition to the reported very severe neurological changes.” In spite of these warnings, Doctor’s continued to insist that the small damage caused by the pertussis vaccine was offset by the lack of serious reactions in the hundreds of thousands of infants who were regularly vaccinated. But upon what evidence did they base this assumption?

Dr. Jonas Salk, American Physician & Microbiologist developed a “killed virus” against Polio.

Albert Sabin also an American Physician and Microbiologist developed a “live-viral” (oral) vaccine against polio. Natural polio virus produces no symptoms at all in 90% of the people exposed to it, even under epidemic conditions.

1957
William Landau and Frank Kleffner discover the 1st case of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome.

Parke-Davis decided to combine the new Salk polio vaccine with the existing DPT vaccine, Triogen. The new product called Quadrigen, was licensed by the Government in July of 1959. When it was withdrawn from circulation from the market 9 years later, more than 8 million doses had been injected into nearly 3 million babies.

Late 50’s
Pertussis is promoted on a large scale in England.

1960
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that Quadrigen was not passing the states potency tests. The company’s response was to abruptly increase the number of pertusis bacteria per unit of the vaccine. This was an almost incomprehensible step, since it meant changing the composition of the vaccine after the license had already been issued.

1961
J.M.H. Hooper, a senior medical officer in Northern England, found that some parents were refusing to bring their children into local health clinics for further DPT shots. He investigated and found the reason to be occasional violent reactions to a previous shot. No one paid attention to this.

1963
A team of Scientist’s headed by John F. Enders created a measles vaccine. Mass inoculation would soon follow.

1964
The Cude vs. Arkansas case reinforced the 1904 United States Supreme Court decision that States have the right to enforce mandatory vaccination laws.

1965
Margaret Pitman, the US leading pertussis vaccine expert states, Bordetella pertussis is unique among infectious bacteria in its marked ability to modify biological responses. Therefore, there has been special concern that pertussis vaccine is as free as possible from reactive factors and yet provides adequate protection against whooping cough.

The United States Congress passed the Immunization Assistance Act setting up categorical grant program to States and large Metropolitan areas to establish immunization programs.

Mid 1960’s
Many States had laws requiring DPT and Polio vaccinations, most of them ensuring compliance by making the vaccination requirement mandatory for entry into elementary school.

1967
Strom wrote that his earlier article on averse reactions had aroused, “considerable attention and also criticism,” but insisted that the convulsions , shock and abnormal irritability observed after the triple vaccination cannot always be regarded as common place general symptoms but rather reflect an objectively demonstrable cameral reaction. The vaccination reactions may be regarded chiefly as manifestations of a toxic effect, an individual predisposition being of some significance.

1968
Quadrigen was withdrawn from the market due to the fact it was highly reactive in small children.

1969
Dr. Charlotte Hannik found a history of allergies in 20 of the 35 children who reacted with persistent screaming, shock/collapse, or convulsions to the DPT-Pertussis vaccinations.

1972
Ribcoff Senate hearings – the DBS was transferred from the Public Health Service (PHS) to the Food and Drug Administration where it became the Bureau of Biologics (B)B) headed by Harry Meyer.  USA ends the practice of routine smallpox vaccine.

1974
Estimated in Britain were 80 cases of severe neurological complications annually; 1/3 of these children died, and 1/3 were left with residual brain damage. They admitted to being, “not entirely convinced that the community benefits from whooping cough and vaccination outweighs the damage it may be doing.”

1975
Japan pulls the Pertussis off the market following publicity about two Pertussis related vaccine deaths. Japan comes back later that year and introduces another vaccine, one that is less toxic. This time inoculation will not begin until the age of two.

World Health Organization (WHO) sponsored an International meeting on Pertussis vaccine experts. They recommended that “children from families with a history of neurological disorders should not be vaccinated.”

Vaccine lot #1182 was sent to the FDA for routine testing prior to release. The FDA found that lot #1182 was three times more potent than the regulations allowed and refused to allow the State of Michigan to distribute it outside the State. Rather than immediately destroy the infective lot, which represented about 400,000 doses, Michigan health officials decided to see just how reactive it was by testing it on several hundred children in Ingham County. To date, court records show that at least three children injected with vaccine from lot #1182 suffered reactions which left them with seizures, paralysis and brain damage. The parents sued the Michigan Department of Public Health, describing the Department’s use of the vaccine as “potentially lethal misconduct and showing callous disregard for human life.”

The flu vaccine is made available; more than 500 people were paralyzed with Guillian Bare Syndrome.

Dr. Jonas Salk testified that the live-virus vaccine (used almost exclusively in the United States since the 1960’s was the “principal cause, if not sole cause of all reported cases of polio in the United States.”

Charles Manclark, FDA Pertussis specialist states, “Pertussis vaccine is one of the more troublesome products to produce and assay. As an example of this, Pertussis vaccine has one of the highest failure rates of all products submitted to the Bureau of Biologitics for testing and release. Approximately 15 to 20 percent of all lots which pass the manufacturer’s tests fail to pass the Bureau’s test.”

1976
West Germany ends its mass pertussis immunization program.

1997
Gordon T. Stewart MD, of the Department of Community Medicine, University of Glasgow in Scotland, published a study analyzing 160 cases of adverse reactions and neurotoxicity following DPT vaccinations. He reported that in 65 children, reactions were “followed by convulsions, hyperkinesias (hyperactivity) and severe mental defect.” He concluded, “It seems likely that most adverse reactions are unreported and that may be overlooked.”

Austria and Southern German introduced a new oral vaccine by Behring Laboratories in Vienna. This is given to new borns while they are still in the hospital. It is inserted into their nasal passages. To date there have been no reported side effects.

1978
Griffith studied severe reactions occurring after 15 million doses of the pertussis vaccine were administered to children in England. He stated that one child “was admitted to the hospital with prexia signs and symptoms of meningeal irritation, transferred after three days with provisional diagnosis of encephalomyelitis , but died 30 days after vaccination; necropsy showed no specific changes. Recorded cause of death was encephalopath due to injection of the triple vaccine.”

1979
Rubella vaccine was introduced.

The Swedish Government withdrew support from the pertussis vaccine because authorities were beginning to doubt it’s effectiveness in controlling whooping cough and were worried about a large number of serious reactions. The vaccine had been changed and the toxicity had been altered. Thereafter, the incidence of whooping cough rose almost to revaccination levels.

The United States Food and Drug Administration funded a study representing the 1st large scale attempt in the United States government to evaluate reactions to the DPT shot. The study conducted at the University of California in Los Angeles, was co-authored by Cody Baraff, Cherry Marcy and FDA pertussis vaccine researcher, Charles Manclark Ph.D. and published in Pediatrics in 1981.

California Physicians, Jack Jacok and Frank Manning wrote in the American Journal of the Diseases of children about the case of a child who experienced a “building fontanel associated with increases intra cranial pressure as measured by the lumbar puncture,” within 24 hours of the DPT shot. This 7 month old girl who was the daughter of an Pediatrician, began running a high fever after her third DPT shot and nine hours later, her parents noticed the soft spot on her head was bulging and pulsating. He became irritable and also had redness and swelling on the site injection. She was admitted to the hospital and although the tests came back negative, the bulging did not stop until after 40 hours after the shot. The Doctor’s concluded, “The clinical symptom logy in this patient, consisting of fever and irritability are symptoms frequently associated with DPT immunization. The bulging fontanel was accidentally noted by the child’s parents who recognized its importance. It is therefore, conceivable that this complication may be missed unless specifically looked for.”

Barkin and Pichichero in Colorado reported a very high proportion of unusual symptoms. In their study, only seven percent of the parents reported no reactions. Twenty seven percent reported mild reactions and fifty nine percent reported moderate reactions while seven percent reported severe reactions.

1980
West German Physician Wolfgang Ehrengut suggested in one of his studies that Doctor’s have a negative bias against vaccine reactions, and UN willingness to believe, because “what must be not true, therefore, cannot be.” It must be true, for whatever will they do if it is not?

1981
“Acelluer Pertussis -  DTaP,” (Japanese pertussis) is a new vaccine in introduced in Japan. They claim it is less toxic and more effective.

D.L. Miller MD, and others published and analysis of the 1st one thousand cases of neurological illness reported to the health officials conducting the NCES. Thirty five of these cases had received the pertussis vaccine within seven days of becoming ill. The author’s concluded, “A significant association was shown between serious neurological illness and pertussis vaccine.”

The British National Childhood Encephalopath Study (NCES), found a statistical correlation between the DPT shot and neurological illness occurring within seven days of the shot.

1982
FDA Symposium, a Japanese scientist pointed out that the toxic substances produced by the “B pertussis,” may not be responsible for the neurological complications of whooping cough, as well as those of the vaccine which contains the ’B’ pertussis.”

The television broadcast in the United States: “DPT; Vaccine Roulette,” the microbiologists Bobby Young said, “If a child is not frankly rendered a vegetable,  …how many infants that are receiving this are in some way damaged by the vaccine, and how can you proved they haven’t been, or they have been? All of them have been vaccinated.” Young was critized by physicians in positions of leadership in the American medical establishment and the FDA for making these statements. “The number of well children who have suffered mental or physical disturbance as a result of vaccination may have to be counted not in the hundreds, as in the United States or in thousands all over the world. This is a heavy price to pay for a disease that seldom nowadays threatens the life or health of our children.” Shortly after that broadcast aired, a group of parents band together and form Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT)/ Their goal is to gather vaccine information about the pertussis, get information out to parents and find ways to lesson pertussis vaccine damage.

1983
Larry Baraff MD, who was the principal author of the UCLA-FDA study published in the USA in 1979 and August of 1980 said fifty three percent of children who received a DPT immunization, six died within twenty four hours and eleven more died seven days of the DPT shot.

Senator Paul Hawkins (R-FL) introduced the National Child Vaccine Injury Act (S-2117) in November.

Lawrence Steinman MD, Stanford University and London Hospital published a study in Nature suggesting that some children with allergies may be genetically predisposed to reacting to the pertussis vaccine. The susceptibility to the “B” pertussis immunization in humans may be controlled by genes. The possibility that adverse reactions to routine immunization may be under genetic seems novel. There is clearly a connection between allergies, especially milk allergies and the tendency to react severely to pertussis vaccines. The vaccine interacts with the mechanisms in the body that are involved in allergy and hypersensitivity.

1984
Merck Sharp and Dohme announced the creation of a chicken pox vaccine that it hopes to make available to the American public in several years. However, concern about the possibility that the vaccine might have side effects including Rye Syndrome, an occasional complication of chicken pox disease and influenza, as well as delayed effects that do not appear for years, has been expressed by several observers.

1985
The HIB (Hemophilus influenza B) is taken off the market due to safety and efficacy reasons.


1986
The passage of the National Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. All physicians administrating vaccines are now required by law to inform parents about the possible dangers from an adverse reaction before giving the DPT shot. In addition, in order to recognize a babies symptoms, the mother can always ask a Doctor to provide a copy of the manufacturer’s product information sheet included in every package of the vaccine as well as verbally explain in grater detail the symptoms of the severe reactions, such as convulsions, collapse, high fever and the steps one should be taken if these symptoms are observed.

Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS) was set up for Doctor’s to report adverse reactions to vaccines.

Monitoring System for Adverse Events Following Immunizations (MASEF) was set up for public health clinic Doctor’s to report adverse reactions.