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ABCNEWS.com Two years ago, Ronnie Allen was your typical all-American, 4-year-old boy — vibrant, healthy, happy and strong. But before he could start preschool in suburban St. Louis, he was required to have a vaccination against hepatitis B. He got his shot the day before Halloween. And he nearly didn’t make it to Christmas. He was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening form of arthritis. He’s had chemotherapy 10 times and is in constant pain. Ronnie’s parents, and his doctor, blame the hepatitis shot. “We just thought it was like all the immunization shots,” says his mother, Janet Allen. “We were doing it to protect our child.” Some scientists believe that in certain people the vaccine can be worse than the disease it prevents. Yet it’s the law in most states that children can’t attend school without first having the three-dose vaccination which prevents hepatitis B. Who’s At Risk? Hepatitis B kills 4,000 to 5,000 people a year. Like AIDS, it’s spread through blood or body fluids — sex with an infected partner, needle-sharing among infected drug users and passed by infected mothers to their children. Infected people may be symptom-free for years as the virus slowly assaults the liver. And liver failure is fatal.
“The only way that we know to prevent it is to have widespread vaccination,” says Dr. Harold Margolis, director of infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, a cellular biologist at Baylor College of Medicine, believes that in certain people, a genetic component sets off an explosive chain of events after they receive the vaccine. “The only thing that happened is they took this vaccine,” she says, “and within a month most of these people have had completely debilitating lifestyle changes.” Package inserts alert doctors that serious adverse experiences have been reported after vaccination, including multiple sclerosis, arthritis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome and lupus. But manufacturers don’t believe there is a link between the vaccine and these illnesses. Baby Deaths Attributed to SIDS The CDC also doesn’t believe there’s a link. Since 1991, the agency has endorsed mandatory vaccination of newborns, even though the risk of hepatitis B infection is small in children. “How is a baby possibly going to get hepatitis B? It’s ridiculous to give this vaccine to a child,” says Michael Belkin, whose daughter Lyla died last September. “I wish we’d known that before receiving the vaccine. No one told us.” Lyla Belkin’s death was also attributed to SIDS, a broad category often used when a healthy baby dies. She had received her first hepatitis B shot at 6 days old, and a second one a month later. On Sept. 16, 1998, Lorna Belkin nursed Lyla at 5:30 a.m. Not long after, she found her daughter pale and cold. “She died early in the morning,” Mrs. Belkin says, “about 16 hours after the vaccination.” Millions Vaccinated Safely Since the CDC’s policy took effect in 1991, 274 such newborn deaths following vaccination have been reported to the federal government. And 20/20 has learned that most of these newborn deaths were listed as SIDS. An additional 2,600 infants have had serious medical problems. An analysis of federal vaccine statistics, however, shows that these numbers are barely measurable when compared to the millions of babies vaccinated so far. That’s evidence, say vaccine proponents, that there is no link between the vaccine and health problems. Dr. Robert Sharrar of vaccine manufacturer Merck estimates that perhaps 20 million children and adults have been vaccinated safely. “I don’t truly believe that those illnesses were caused by the vaccine,” he says, adding that “there’s no doubt in my mind that people are much better off taking the vaccine than they are being exposed to the natural disease process.” But critics say the vaccination decision should be left to parents. “I don’t think the government has a role to come in and mandate for children that are clearly not at risk that they need to receive the hepatitis B vaccine,” says Sue Blevins, director of the Institute for Health Freedom, a nonprofit patient’s rights group. As for Ronnie Allen, it’s still touch and go. His arthritis stabilized enough to permit him to start kindergarten in September, but as long as he lives, he’ll need medication. And his parents don’t know if his deterioration has stopped for good. His dad, Ron Allen, has this advice for other parents considering shots for their kids: “If they don’t think it’s necessary, let them make the choice and say no.”
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S U M M A R Y Schools in 36 states require kids to get shots for hepatitis B, but some believe the vaccination isn't always safe.
W E B L I N K S
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This story originally aired on 20/20 on Jan. 22. 
