The following post is not a journalistic piece, does not fulfill the objectivity criteria defined by my profession nor is it in line with what I would usually write on my blog. But taking the circumstances and the person involved I felt compelled to do so.
Sign the petition here and join the Twitter campaign (more at the botttom of this entry)
If you usually follow BBC news you may have noticed something different lately. Top journalist Malcolm Brabant hasn’t been on that often. And that’s because he has been unwell after taking a Stamaril vaccine from pharmaceutical Sanofi Pasteur.
Malcolm’s witty reporting is a prime example of top professionalism and great talent. He is what I call an old-time journalist. And this is good. Old-timers do journalism because they believe in it. They seek no fortune or glory. For them journalism is a way of life. It were the old-timers who got me to decide to become a journalist when I was merely 13 years old. Here was a lousy paid job with the greatest perk of all: a sense of mission.
Like any good old-timers Malcolm has had his share of adventure. He got the Greek minister of finance to say the Germans should be grateful for all the gold the Nazis had taken from Greece during WWII and which has never been returned. He has also broken an expensive table at the Greek Prime Minister’s office when he fell on it while preparing for an interview. Unfortunately for us, the camera wasn’t rolling at the time.
Malcolm has been named the King of Stringers by Roomyverse blog. And they’re right. Not only is Brabant one of the best journalists I have ever had the honour to work with (and learn from), he is also the man who has always fought against injustice towards BBC freelancers. A sort of an union man with no official post, if you like.
And alongside his journalism responsibilities, Malcolm has been working with UNICEF as well.
It is no wonder then that is has saddened us to see how the man who has been reporting on injustice across the world is now its victim.
On 15 April this year, Malcolm took a Stamaril jab in Athens against yellow fever. He was getting ready to travel to Pakistan once more Ivory Coast for UNICEF. But things didn’t go as planned.
Within 24hours he was admitted to hospital with high fever. He was also suffering from psychotic effects. He was in a limbo between life and death. We hoped things would get better when he wittily posted on Facebook of how happy he was he could watch the royal wedding from his hospital room.
But Malcolm has been in and out of hospital ever since suffering from high fever or psychotic events. Doctors suspect the Stamaril vaccine he took in April was contaminated.
But both producer Sanofi Pasteur and Greek distributor Vianex have told his family there was nothing wrong with that batch of Stamaril.
Yet, Malcolm’s family says his blood was tested by his psychiatrist upon Vianex’s request and without their consent.
Because of his condition Malcolm has been unable to work as much as expected and hasn’t been his normal self.
In Malcolm’s contract with UNICEF there is a clause on compensation in case of illness or death before or during the assignment. But so far there hasn’t been any signs from UNICEF that a compensation will in fact be paid. The organisation’s legal team seems to be questioning the link between the vaccine and Malcolm’s condition.
While it is now impossible to establish whether the Stamaril vaccine Malcolm took was in fact contaminated, doctors have found no other evidence of what could have caused this illness but the jab.
I sent an email to the media relations of Sanofi Pasteur asking for their position on the matter but I haven’t received any reply from them.
Silence can sometimes be the obvious answer, but it should never be the response when there is a human life in question. After all, the purpose of pharmaceuticals should be to heal us and make us better.
On November 14 Sanofi Pasteur MSD UK Communications Manager Paul Hardiman said his company has been following Malcolm’s case and that it has conducted an investigation which found no evidence linking Malcolm’s experienced condition and the vaccine.
According to Mr Hardiman, the company tracked back the batch of Malcolm’s vaccine and says it passed the quality checks performed by Sanofi Pasteur in Lyon and external parties. He also adds that the investigation showed no evidence of any contamination between the moment the batch left the factory in France and the moment it was administered to Malcolm.
While Mr Hardiman can’t give any information on the conditions under which this specific batch was transported into Greece, he says that it is normal procedure in the UK to monitor the temperature of the vaccines during shipping.
On top of their investigation Mr Hardiman says they have also analyzed information on Malcolm’s health history and current condition. He couldn’t say where that information had come from.
When asked whether he thought it was strange that Malcolm was in and out of hospital since he had been administered their vaccine, Mr Hardiman repeated their findings showed no relation between the two occurrences.
Sanofi Pasteur also released an official statement. Read it here.
********NEW: Sanofi Pasteur admits adverse advents!********
Since publishing its press-release the pharmaceutical has sent an email to Malcolm’s family maintaining their stance on the good quality of the vaccine but acknowledging the existence of other adverse cases connected to the same batch. The email says: “We have analysed all reports of adverse advents following vaccination with other doses from the same batch (more than 120.000 doses distributed in several countries, including Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom). These investigations did not reveal any quality issues.”
The question now is, if there was nothing wrong with the vaccine what could have caused unrelated people to suffer from adverse advents after having been administered Stamaril?
*******
If you would like to help Malcolm, please spread the word! Write about it, share this blog entry and join the Twitter campaign. Tweet:
@sanofipasteur what will you do to help #BBC journalist #MalcolmBrabant who is still suffering from his #Stamaril vaccination?
16 comments
Clifford Miller says:
Dec 4, 2011
Sanofi Pasteur …. said … it has …. found no evidence linking Malcolm’s experienced condition and the vaccine.
As a journalist what do you think of that. Here is some evidence of the link – like for example 1) healthy man gets vaccines 2) healthy man very sick within hours 3) no other explanation for this.
That is evidence of a causal association. So how come Sanofi Pasteur can claim it is not evidence implicating the vaccine? Don’t they know what the word “evidence” means?
John Fryer says:
Nov 19, 2011
Yellow fever only occurs in Africa and South America so why the obligation to take a vaccine with known adverse events as experienced by Malcom Brabant for a trip to Asia?
The denial of responsibility by the drug company (Sanofi Merck) is typical of an industry that has paid out billions for its errors over the past five years.
You need a decade of energy, science and patience to prove what everyone already knows:
A life threatening event 24 hours after a vaccine is not a coincidence but to the drug company yet another tragedy written off the vaccine records.
More than a million infants have died after the DTP vaccines without any acceptance of the harm and many mothers have actually been put in prison for life for harm from this organomercury nerve destroying compound not needed in the vaccine.
Other reasons for this event? None known to me.
Reason for harm from the vaccine? Many thousands of fit men innoculated and permanently ill or dead today from just a few thousand FORCEFULLY innoculed with yellow fever vaccine in both USA and UK.
The evidence base is ENORMOUS for harm from vaccines.
Conversely many safe vaccines are absolutely necessary for our health.
The yellow fever vaccine even at best is a known potential killer to certain sub-sets of humans.
Dr Vahakn Atamyan says:
Nov 17, 2011
How old is the Journalist?
If he is over 60 the risk of being vaccinated against Yellow Fever might be the cause of his problems, as over 60 the patient should be told that they might suffer serious side effects even death. So if he was not warned the mistake is with the health service provider, if he was informed about the possible side effects and he chose to have the vaccine so that he will be ok with entering countries with yellow fever then he has undertaken a serious risk.
Dr. V. Atamyan
Cyprus
World Service » Blog Archive » Why Brabant of the BBC has been off the air more than on says:
Nov 17, 2011
[...] 24 hours he was admitted to hospital with a fever and suffering from psychotic effects. And, as Cintia Taylor reports, „he was in a limbo between life and death.” He has been in and out of hospital ever [...]
Why Brabant of the BBC has been off the air more than on | Birmingham Link says:
Nov 16, 2011
[...] 24 hours he was admitted to hospital with a fever and suffering from psychotic effects. And, as Cintia Taylor reports, “he was in a limbo between life and death.” He has been in and out of hospital ever [...]
Peter English says:
Nov 16, 2011
Vaccines are biological products, and therefore relatively high risk. As a result, the levels of quality control introduced by manufacturers, who don’t wan’t to be associated with contaminated products, and external regulators who want to ensure vaccine safety, is extremely high.
The UK guidance on Yellow Fever vaccine is at http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_100197.pdf. , and it emphasises the need to balance the risk from the vaccine with the risk associated with travel.
It is not reasonable to blame the manufacturers for producing “contaminated vaccine” at this stage – other explanations of the patient’s illness are far more likely to be correct.
Why Brabant of the BBC has been off the air more than on | WorldNews2GO says:
Nov 16, 2011
[...] 24 hours he was admitted to hospital with a fever and suffering from psychotic effects. And, as Cintia Taylor reports, “he was in a limbo between life and death.” He has been in and out of hospital ever [...]
Mashnews.com.au » Why Brabant of the BBC has been off the air more than on says:
Nov 16, 2011
[...] 24 hours he was admitted to hospital with a fever and suffering from psychotic effects. And, as Cintia Taylor reports, “he was in a limbo between life and death.” He has been in and out of hospital ever [...]
Marie Dupont says:
Nov 15, 2011
It’s strange that your way to pay tribute to this “old-time journalist” is to write something which does not comply with the basic rules of journalism and to decide to “not fulfill the objectivity criteria defined by my profession”.
Why is Malcolm not writing? If he believes that this yellow fever vaccination is the source of an illness, why isn’t he describing himself this illness and what is leading him to believe that his health was damaged by this vaccine? He can write on facebook but can’t denounce the consequences of this vaccine?
He is a very talented journalist we all like and admire and he can’t report on himself and his experience. That’s astonishing and a pity; his point of view would be interesting. Where is he now and in what condition ? Can’t he express himself?
Marie
admin says:
Nov 15, 2011
Dear Marie,
Unfortunately Malcolm is in hospital and cannot write this story himself. The person posting on his Facebook page is his wife, not Malcolm himself. She does it so that his FB friends can be aware of his condition and developments.
Anita Sandall says:
Nov 15, 2011
I really laugh when I hear the standard line in every single news item/feature from pharma – every single time a human being in ill – ‘there was nothing wrong with the x (x being ‘vaccine’, ‘drug’, ‘medication’…)
The pharmaceutical industry runs the world and that is just on the figures that we are given/made public.
The medical professional has now – in my personal experience – become its dispensing arm…occasionally I write home when I meet a doctor who doesn’t throw drugs at one or one’s family..
The only thing that astonishes me is people who do not know this is common knowledge
Poor man; I hope this gets spread far and wide and the drugs company gets hounded until it owns up to what was in this vacciene, this time round…
AS
Susan Dalgety says:
Nov 15, 2011
Known side effects of Stamaril: Very rarely, disorders of the nervous system (neurotropic disease), which may have a fatal outcome. The risk is higher in people over 60 years of age. Symptoms usually appear within one month of vaccination and include high fever with headache that may progress to include one or more of confusion, lethargy, convulsions, inflammation of the brain or nerves, loss of movement or feeling in part or all of the body.
Surely UNICEF should sort this out – compensation is the least they can offer for someone who was willing to take all sorts of personal risks on behalf of the organisation and its aims.
Marla Joel RN, USA says:
Nov 15, 2011
Just an awful and frightening story.
theresa says:
Nov 14, 2011
I worked with Malcolm many years ago at Anglia Television in Norwich, He is a fine journalist, interesting and funny. I love watching his reports on the BBC reporting – It’s so sad that he is suffering after this vaccination which should have protected him. I wish him and his family well and pray that he recovers from this horrendous reaction. Theresa English
Dr Nooria Rahmanie says:
Nov 14, 2011
I am a medical doctor and have known Malcom Brabant and his wife Trine for many years. About 14 years ago I delivered their son Lucas. We have been friends ever since and been in constant contact. I have known Malcom to be healthy, vibrant and very energetic, and shocked to hear about his sudden illness after the vaccination and am saddened that his debilitating condition continues. I am very disappointed that the pharmaceutical company did not investigate the situation or take responsibilities.
Margaret O'Connor says:
Nov 13, 2011
I really hope they get to the bottom of what has made Malcolm Brabant ill. Why the need for secrecy when conducting test?
Hopefully with the Twitter campaign Sanofi Pasteur will not drag their feet.