Why Did Japan Stop Using Their MMR Vaccine?
When Japan stopped using their MMR vaccine, they got a lot more than they bargained for, including even more meningitis and a vaccine gap that took more than twenty years to close.
While a lot of the misinformation put out by anti-vaccine influencers is totally made up, some of it has a kernel of truth.
You can see that demonstrated in a recent post by Peter McCullough.
Why Did Japan Stop Using Their MMR Vaccine?
A post about how Japan stopped using their MMR vaccine because it was causing some serious side effects, namely aseptic meningitis.
“The MMR vaccine became available for routine measles immunization as a result of a partial revision of the immunization guideline in December 1988, and vaccination was started in 1989 [3]. However, the onset of aseptic meningitis after MMR vaccination began to be reported one after another around the summer of 1989. The frequency of occurrence was higher than expected and became a problem.”
Changes in vaccination administration in Japan
Side effects that were caused by the Urabe-AM9 strain for mumps vaccine that they had chosen to use in their MMR vaccine. A strain that was not used in the MMR vaccine that most other countries used, which is why we didn’t have this same issue.
This led to a revision of their Immunization Act in 1994, with vaccines becoming recommended instead of mandatory.
And not surprisingly, this led to many problems that has taken decades for them to fix.
“For 20 years from the 1990s to around 2010, the number of types of vaccines used or publicly available vaccines (routine immunization) remained low in Japan compared with other countries. The judgment by the Tokyo High Court in 1992 and the discontinuation of the use of the MMR vaccine in 1993 are attributed for the creation of the so-called vaccine gap. The introduction of the Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine and IPV was delayed by more than 20 years compared with their introduction in other countries.”
Changes in vaccination administration in Japan
More importantly, something McCullough leaves out of his post, it led to a vaccine gap in Japan!
It took Japan more than 20 years, in some cases, to get their kids vaccinated and protected against many deadly vaccine preventable diseases that have been under relatively good control in the United States.
Diseases like epiglottis and Hib meningitis that were being brought under control in the United States and other countries.
And because many people didn’t take advantage of the vaccines that were available, they still have rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in Japan!
“Although the regular measles and rubella immunization has been changed to two-dose schedule, introducing live attenuated MR combined vaccine since April 2006, the first immunization (12–24 months after birth) and the second one (5–6 years, less than 1 year before elementary school entrance), there are still estimated 5–10 thousands measles cases and 50 measles death annually in Japan.”
Current problems of measles control in Japan and Western Pacific Region
Also, it wasn’t until 2015 that the endemic spread of measles was stopped in Japan, more than 15 years after we eliminated measles in the United States.
Believe it or not, it was as recently as 2006 that there were 50 measles deaths each year in Japan!
What else does McCullough leave out?
“The incidence of vaccine-related meningitis was similar among the recipients of MMR and monovalent Urabe Am9 mumps vaccines. Meningitis was generally mild and there were no sequelae from the illness.”
Aseptic meningitis as a complication of mumps vaccination
That instead of switching to a safer strain of mumps for their vaccine, they chose to let most people in Japan get mumps (few choose to get the available mumps vaccine)!
“As shown in Table 1, the total number of subjects identified as mumps cases in 2005–2017 was 68,112 (36,423 males [53.5%] and 31,689 females [46.5%]). Of these cases, 102 subjects (48 males and 54 females) developed mumps deafness. The incidence of mumps deafness per 10,000 mumps patients was 15.0 (1 in 668 patients).”
Incidence of Mumps Deafness in Japan, 2005–2017: Analysis of Japanese Insurance Claims Database
And all the complications of mumps, including deafness, orchitis, pancreatitis, encephalitis, and yes, meningitis.
“The incidence of aseptic meningitis was 13/1051 (1.24%) in patients with symptomatic natural mumps infection and was estimated to be 0.7–1.1% of overall infection in considering asymptomatic infection, and 10/21,465 (0.05%) in vaccine recipients. Although aseptic meningitis is a clear side effect of the mumps vaccine, the incidence is considerably lower than among those with symptomatic natural infection.”
A comparative study of the incidence of aseptic meningitis in symptomatic natural mumps patients and monovalent mumps vaccine recipients in Japan
So ironically, not using the MMR vaccine because of meningitis got them even more meningitis, plus many more deaths that would have been vaccine-preventable had they been more aggressive in adding vaccines to their immunization schedule.
And again, not surprisingly, it didn’t get them less autism.
Hat tip to Peter McCullough for reinforcing what we all know — vaccines are not associated with autism. And not using vaccines gets you more complications from vaccine preventable diseases and more deaths. Maybe he will rethink his Go Natural Childhood Immunization Schedule now.
References
Nakano T. Changes in vaccination administration in Japan. Vaccine. 2023 Apr 17;41(16):2723-2728. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.03.020. Epub 2023 Mar 16. PMID: 36933981.
Numazaki K. Current problems of measles control in Japan and Western Pacific Region. Vaccine. 2007 Apr 20;25(16):3101-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2007.01.105. Epub 2007 Feb 15. PMID: 17368662.
Yamamoto K, Senoo Y, Crump A, et al. Measles Outbreak Demonstrates Japan Lacks a Cohesive Disease Emergency Preparedness Strategy. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health. 2022;34(5):589-591. doi:10.1177/10105395211072491
Sugiura A, Yamada A. Aseptic meningitis as a complication of mumps vaccination. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1991 Mar;10(3):209-13. doi: 10.1097/00006454-199103000-00008. PMID: 2041668.
Takagi A, Ohfuji S, Nakano T, Kumihashi H, Kano M, Tanaka T. Incidence of Mumps Deafness in Japan, 2005-2017: Analysis of Japanese Insurance Claims Database. J Epidemiol. 2022 Jan 5;32(1):21-26. doi: 10.2188/jea.JE20200233. Epub 2021 Feb 18. PMID: 33100297; PMCID: PMC8666313.
Ohfuji S, Takagi A, Nakano T, Kumihashi H, Kano M, Tanaka T. Mumps-Related Disease Burden in Japan: Analysis of JMDC Health Insurance Reimbursement Data for 2005-2017. J Epidemiol. 2021 Aug 5;31(8):464-470. doi: 10.2188/jea.JE20200048. Epub 2021 Jan 13. PMID: 32684528; PMCID: PMC8275443.
Sasayama D, Kudo T, Kaneko W, Kuge R, Koizumi N, Nomiyama T, Washizuka S, Honda H. Brief Report: Cumulative Incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Before School Entry in a Thoroughly Screened Population. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021 Apr;51(4):1400-1405. doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04619-9. PMID: 32696286.
Nagai T, Okafuji T, Miyazaki C, Ito Y, Kamada M, Kumagai T, Yuri K, Sakiyama H, Miyata A, Ihara T, Ochiai H, Shimomura K, Suzuki E, Torigoe S, Igarashi M, Kase T, Okuno Y, Nakayama T. A comparative study of the incidence of aseptic meningitis in symptomatic natural mumps patients and monovalent mumps vaccine recipients in Japan. Vaccine. 2007 Mar 30;25(14):2742-7. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.11.068. Epub 2006 Jan 31. PMID: 16530894.
This isn’t some error of comprehension on McCullough’s part; he knows he is lying about MMR but he just doesn’t care. He wants children to sicken and die from diseases.
Utterly shameful.
“Maybe he will rethink …” and then come to the same conclusion! When do ppl like this ever admit they’re full of crap and only doing it for money and fame? It’s galling that folks fall for it. And so instead of changing the vaccine they changed the guidance, lol Japan was ahead of its time, America didn’t do that until 2020