Special needs children, who have autoimmune or brain dysfunction, are often the very children targeted by health officials for vaccination. Already suffering from seizures, learning disabilities, attention hyperactivity disorder, autism, asthma, diabetes, intestinal bowel disease and other chronic health problems, these children can be at high risk for vaccine reactions. It is especially important for parents of special needs children to be fully informed about the side effects associated with different vaccines.

The process of vaccination involves the atypical introduction of lab altered viruses or bacteria into the body to artificially stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies to resist infection from an invading organism. Because the immune system is artificially manipulated during vaccination, individuals with hypersensitive or depressed immune systems and those with immune mediated neurological dysfunction must be especially careful when considering vaccination. 

Live virus vaccines can be especially dangerous for those with immune system and brain dysfunction. For example, the very first vaccine ever created, the live virus smallpox vaccine, can be lethal for persons with immune deficiencies such as cancer, lupus, and HIV. Persons with eczema, atopic dermatitis, burns, impetigo, herpes and chicken pox are also at risk for harm from smallpox vaccine. 

The live virus MMR and Varicella Zoster (chicken pox) vaccines routinely given to children also have contraindications for persons with immune system problems, as well as brain disorders. 

MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine is contraindicated for a child who has "an immune system deficiency or is on drugs or therapy that suppresses the immune system" or has an allergy to eggs or neomycin. A history of thrombocytopenia (autoimmune blood disorder that destroys platelets and prevents the blood from clotting) can be a high risk factor for MMR vaccination and the vaccine manufacturer says "Due caution should be employed in administration of MMR to persons with a history of cerebral injury, individual or family histories of convulsions, or any other condition in which stress due to fever should be avoided."

In 1981, the British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study (NCES) concluded that there was a statistically significant association between measles vaccination and the onset of a serious neurological disorder within 14 days of receiving measles vaccine. In 1991, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that the rubella vaccine portion of the MMR shot can cause acute and chronic arthritis. The IOM also concluded in 1994 that the MMR vaccine can cause thrombocytopenia and vaccine strain measles infection that can end in death. 

In 1998, federal health officials with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program published an analysis of cases of children who got live measles vaccine or MMR vaccine and, within 15 days of vaccination, suffered neurologic signs that progressed to death or mental regression, chronic seizures, motor or sensory deficits and movement disorders. They concluded there was a cause and effect relationship between MMR vaccination and the children's subsequent brain damage.

The live virus varicella zoster (chicken pox) vaccine can transmit vaccine strain chicken pox virus to close contacts of the recently vaccinated and the vaccine manufacturer's insert warns: "vaccine recipients should avoid close association with susceptible high risk individuals (e.g., newborns, pregnant women, immunocompromised persons)."  A 1998 report published by the FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) found that 4 percent (1 in 33,000 doses) of chicken pox vaccine adverse events reported to the VAERS system were serious and included shock, convulsions, encephalitis, thrombocytopenia and death. The VAERS data led to the addition of 17 adverse events to the manufacturer's product label since the vaccine was licensed in 1995, including secondary bacterial infection (cellulitis), secondary transmission of vaccine strain chicken pox to close contacts of the recently vaccinated, transverse myelitis, Guillain Barre syndrome (GBS) and herpes zoster (shingles).

Parents of special needs children need to know that the new live nasal flu vaccine (FLUMIST) which is being released for use during the coming flu season has a number of contraindications for children. FLUMIST is the first live virus vaccine for the flu and it is also the first vaccine to be squirted up the nose. It should not be given to children under 5 years old or those with allergy to eggs, who are taking aspirin, who have a history of Guillain Barre syndrome (an autoimmune disorder), have an immune deficiency or have a chronic underlying medical condition, including asthma or reactive airway disease. The most common reactions to this newly licensed flu vaccine, which is being marketed to healthy individuals 5 to 49 years old, are the symptoms of the flu: runny nose/nasal congestion, cough, irritability, headache, decreased activity, sore throat, fever, muscle aches, chills, vomiting, tiredness/weakness and muscle aches.

Parents of special needs children with underlying neurological conditions should be particularly careful when evaluating whether or not their children should receive DTaP vaccine (diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis). Signs of brain inflammation within seven days of a previous dose of DTaP is a contraindication. Signs and symptoms of brain inflammation can include seizures, changes in levels of consciousness (such as deep, prolonged sleep), neurological signs (crossing of eyes, inability to suck or move limbs or respond to stimulation), and sudden changes in behavior (high pitched screaming, hyperactivity and inability to sleep alternating with periods of unresponsiveness).

Parents of special needs children, like all parents, should become fully informed about the side effects and high risk factors of any vaccine that will be given to their children so they can ask their health care provider questions and be comfortable with the vaccine choices they make. The National Vaccine Information Center has a website offering free information about diseases and vaccines and links to many other informational websites so parents can do their own research. For more information, go to www.nvic.org.

NVIC also offers a free Vaccine News email news service which highlights the most interesting news articles about vaccines, vaccine policies and laws that may affect you and your family. Sign up on the NVIC website and stay up to date about the new vaccines being developed and laws proposed to require their use so you can take action to protect your informed consent rights in your state

Barbara Loe Fisher is co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). She is the co-author of DPT: A Shot in the Dark (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1985; Warner 1986; Avery 1991); author of The Consumer's Guide to Childhood Vaccines (NVIC 1997) and editor of THE VACCINE REACTION.

During the early 1980's, she helped launch a grassroots movement to bring the issue of vaccine safety to public attention, including leading demonstrations at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and the White House in 1986. Her book, DPT: A Shot in the Dark, which she co-authored with Harris Coulter, Ph.D., was the first major, well documented critique of America's mass vaccination system calling for safety reforms and the right to informed consent to vaccination.

She served on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee for four years and was appointed to the Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum in 1995, where she has helped to coordinate five public workshops on vaccine safety issues. She has represented health care consumers at many scientific conferences, government meetings and legislative hearings and is a featured speaker at health care conferences in the U.S. and Canada. As NVIC's public spokesperson, she has contributed to numerous newspaper and magazine articles about vaccine safety and appears on national radio and television programs discussing vaccines and diseases and advocating informed consent to vaccination.

The mother of three children, her oldest son was left with multiple learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder after a severe reaction to his fourth DPT shot in 1980 when he was two and a half years old. The National Vaccine Information Center website is www.909shot.com and is a tremendous resource for parents and doctors alike.