DTaP Injured Son

Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

On May 31, 2003, Jackson Presley Diamond was born to Chaney and Lee Diamond, of Chicago. A healthy 9 pound boy at birth, his Mom nursed him for eight months and she said "he slept well, ate well, grew well, never cried too much." Jackson met all his developmental milestones during the first 18 months of his life, and he loved to dance, pretend to talk on the phone and have his parents read his favorite books to him. Jackson was an energetic, high functioning toddler right up until Dec. 8, 2004, the day he went to his pediatrician's office for a well- child check-up and got vaccinated.

Within 24 hours of his vaccinations, which included the DTaP shot, Jackson suffered a collapse/shock and stopped breathing. Brain inflammation and seizures followed. During his hospitalization, doctors denied the vaccinations he received were responsible. His mother said: "Every time we would see a new doctor, we would make sure they knew about the vaccinations Jackson had the day before. When we would ask each doctor if they thought it could be a reaction to the vaccinations, they would dismiss the idea very quickly without a second thought. 'Vaccination reactions don't happen this way' one of them told us. " A reaction would happen weeks after, not the day after."

Jackson's parents encountered a typical response by doctors who are not taught in medical school how to recognize a vaccine reaction. Unfortunately, because most medical doctors have been misled by the rhetoric of CDC and AAP officials denying the reality of vaccine induced brain and immune system injury, out of ignorance many doctors end up misleading parents whose children have suffered vaccine injury. Therefore, many parents do not know why their children regressed physically, mentally and emotionally after vaccination until they do their own research and become educated about the risks and complications of vaccines.

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 makes it clear that brain inflammation, which occurs within 72 hours of DTaP, DTP, DTP-Hib vaccination, is presumed to be caused by vaccination when no other cause can be found. Jackson's collapse/shock and brain inflammation, which ended in serious brain injury, fits the classic post-DPT and post-DTaP vaccine reaction profile. In the absence of another credible scientific explanation, Jackson is presumed to be vaccine damaged.

Although the acellular pertussis vaccine in the DTaP shot causes fewer cases of brain inflammation than the DPT shot, the pertussis toxin in the acellular pertussis portion of DTaP still has the capacity to cause brain injury just like Jackson suffered within 24 hours of vaccination. For more information about DPT and DTaP vaccine reactions, go to www.nvic.org

Lee Diamond, Jackson's father and the drummer for the Douglass Kings and Replica Republic has helped to organize a concert benefit in Chicago Dec. 29-30, 2006 for the Jackson Presley Diamond Fund, the National Vaccine Information Center, Physicians for a National Health Program, Children's Neurobiological Solutions Foundation and Easter Seals. For more information about Jackson's vaccine reaction as well as this special event, go to www.jacksonpresleydiamond.com