Underground Knowledge — A discussion group discussion

Excerpt from Vaccine Science Revisited: Are Childhood Immunizations As Safe As Claimed?:

H. influenzae type b vaccine – No, it’s not the flu

“Is it not meningitis?” –Author Louisa May Alcott’s last words after she had fallen ill and become invalid.


During the influenza outbreak in 1892, which occurred before the discovery of influenza virus, a group of sick individuals were diagnosed with the flu. It was later realized these patients didn’t have the flu at all, but something else entirely: a bacterial infection. But, because of the timing and association with the influenza outbreak, scientists called the germ Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

Hib causes numerous complications and is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis. It also causes neurological damages and pneumonia. Once a person is infected with Hib it can become a very serious illness. What makes the Hib strain so virulent is its slimy, protective polysaccharide capsule called PRP.

A surveillance study done in Salvador, Brazil, examined how effective the Hib vaccine was. The vaccine was put into use in August 1999, and a year later, Hib meningitis cases had gone from 2.62 cases per 100,000 individuals to 0.81 cases per 100,000 individuals.

There was only one problem. H. influenzae type a (Hia) meningitis had the opportunity to grow where it otherwise wouldn’t have, and it went from 0.02 cases per 100,000 individuals to 0.16 cases per 100,000 individuals. This may not seem like many cases, but if you look at the increase (in cases), they were now eight times higher.

The increase in non-hib cases sparked interest in other researchers. Authors of a 2011 paper analyzed samples that had been sent to the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) in the period between 1990 and 2008. Before the vaccine was introduced in August 1999, Hib accounted for 98% of all H. influenzae meningitis cases. After the vaccine was introduced, it had dropped to 59%, meaning, yes, the vaccine was working, but instead other H. influenzae strains had begun to take its place.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health considered the data from its national laboratory to show “that Hib meningitis has been effectively controlled in Brazil using a 3-dose schedule in the first year of life without a booster.”

Because the Hib vaccine uses the bacterial sugar coat (PRP) rather than the actual germ, it is unable to cause disease. So, just like the Hepatitis B vaccine, it needs to be attached to a carrier protein in order to aggravate the immune system. Each vaccine manufacturer differs in the way they have decided to go about this process.

Another surveillance study, covering the period 1983 through 2011 and this time performed in Alaska, focused on the indigenous population of this US state. The researchers focused on this group because the indigenous people appeared to have the highest Hib disease rate in the world.

The vaccine was first introduced to Alaska’s native population in 1991. Unfortunately, the same thing happened there as occurred in China. While the vaccine successfully reduced the number of Hib cases, Haemophilus influenzae type a (Hia) rose. Prior to 2002, the Alaskan indigenous population had not had a single diagnosed case of Hia, but between 2002 and 2011 there were 32 diagnoses of Hia.

The authors of that study state:

“Since the introduction of the Hib conjugate vaccine, Hia infection has become a major invasive bacterial disease in Alaska Native children.”
A deviation from Hib strain has also been observed in Ontario, Canada. They are seeing Haemophilus influenzae type f (Hif) and non-typable strains. A non-typable strain is a strain that has not been identified as a specific type, such as type a or b or f. In adults, this seems to have become a more serious disease and often presents itself in the form of sepsis. Sepsis is when bacteria infect your blood. In order to defend itself your body starts an inflammatory process, which may lead to the shutdown of organs.

Similar results were observed in Utah. After an epidemiological study spanning a decade, from 1998-2008, it was noticed that while the Hib disease decreased in children, the adult population was experiencing an increase in and a more serious H. influenzae disease. As with the Canada study, “H. influenzae disease was attributable to an increase in nontypable and Hif strains.”


The body reacts

Allergic reactions have been seen as a result of the Hib vaccine. In the book the Peanut Allergy Epidemic the author mentions how the Hib bacterium has proteins so similar to the peanut molecular structure that it causes our body to make antibodies against peanuts. This has the potential to become peanut allergy in the vaccinated individual.

Another disease that has been tied to the Hib vaccine is Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM). A study published in 2002 was done in Finland to see if this association was valid. Researchers used the data from a clinical trial, which included 116,000 children born between October 1st and August 31st, who each received four doses of the Hib vaccine. The control group consisted of 128,500 children who were born two years before the vaccine was released, and therefore did not receive it. The researchers conclude that “[e]xposure to HiB immunization is associated with an increased risk of IDDM.”

These results were supported in a Swedish study where it was found the HiB vaccine increased the risk of diabetes by affecting the “beta cell-related immune response” through stimulating the GADA and 1A-2A production. (GADA are autoantibodies that attack a certain enzyme in the beta cells that produce insulin. 1A-2A are also autoantibodies that attack a specific enzyme in the beta cells).

According to the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance (NCIRS), the association between HiB and diabetes is flawed.

In fact, they state:

“The highly respected international Cochrane Collaboration reviewed all the available studies and did not find an increased risk of diabetes associated with vaccination.”

They were not the only ones to come to this conclusion:

“Expert groups such as the National Institutes of Health in the USA have met and reviewed the evidence and conclude that there is no link between vaccines and diabetes.”

Mind you, the Cochrane Collaboration, which we generally highly respect, did not find any correlation between aluminum and the DTP vaccine either and they shut down their entire vaccine research program. Despite this, we acknowledge that NCIRS is a highly respected organization in the scientific community, known for its research reviews and believed to be independent of financial or other pecuniary interests.

As with other vaccines, the safety studies performed for the Hib vaccine only observed their subjects for three or four days. So, upon reviewing these studies it would be difficult to come to any other conclusions when contradictory or conflicting data is simply unavailable.

When it comes to autoimmune or neurological diseases, three to four days is often not long enough to determine whether a correlation between a substance and a vaccine is occurring.

We feel there’s grounds for suspicion that many of the children with allergies today may have them as a result of receiving vaccinations.


References for Chapter 36: H. influenzae type b vaccine – No, it’s not the flu
Riberio, G.S., Reis, J.N., Cordeiro, S,M., Lima, J.B., Gouveia, E.L., Petersen, M., …Ko, A.l. (2003). Prevention of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) Meningitis and Emergence of Serotype Replacement with Type a Strains after Introduction of Hib Immunization in Brazil. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 187(1), 109-116 ·
National Reference Laboratory. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from https://nrl.ae/en/contents/view/about...
Zanella, R.C., Bokermann, S., Andrade, A.L., Flannery, B., and Brandileone, M.C. (2011). Changes in serotype distribution of Haemophilus influenzae meningitis isolates identified through laboratory-based surveillance following routine childhood vaccination against H. influenzae type b in Brazil. Vaccine, 29(48), 8937-8942.
Bruce, M.G., Zulz, T., DeByle, C., Singleton, R., Hurlburt, D., Bruden, D., ...Wenger, J.D. (2013). Haemophilus influenzae Serotype a Invasive Disease, Alaska, USA, 1983–2011. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 19(6), 932-937.
Adams, H.J., Richardson, S.E., Jamieson, F.B., Rawte, P., Low, D.E., and Fisman, D.N. (2010). Changing epidemiology of invasive Haemophilus influenzae in Ontario, Canada: evidence for herd effects and strain replacement due to Hib vaccination. Vaccine, 28(24), 4073-4078.
Rubach, M. P., Bender, J. M., Mottice, S., Hanson, K., Weng, H. Y., Korgenski, K., Daly, J. A., … Pavia, A. T. (2011). Increasing incidence of invasive Haemophilus influenzae disease in adults, Utah, USA. Emerging infectious diseases, 17(9), 1645-1650.
Frasier, H.A. (2011). The peanut allergy epidemic: what’s causing it and how to stop it. [p. 7.]. New York, NY: Skyhorse Pub.
Classen, J.B. and Classen, D.C. (2002). Clustering of cases of insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM) occurring three years after hemophilus influenza B (HiB) immunization support causal relationship between immunization and IDDM. Autoimmunity, 35(4), 247-253
Wahlberg, J., Fredriksson, J., Vaarala, O., Ludvigsson, J., and Abis Study Group. (2003). Vaccinations may induce diabetes-related autoantibodies in one-year-old children. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1005, 404-408.
National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance. (2009, December). Diabetes and vaccines. [Fact Sheet]. Retrieved from http://www.ncirs.org.au/sites/default...
Ibid.