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Unprotected People Reports: Hepatitis B |
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Physician Underscores the Importance of Hepatitis B Vaccine |
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| Click here for a fully-formatted PDF version
of this report |
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| Reprinted below is the testimony of Dr. Keith Van
Zandt, which was presented before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform at the
August 3, 1999, Congressional hearing on vaccine safety. Dr. Van Zandt, a member of the organization PKIDs (Parents
of Kids with Infectious Diseases), represented his family and all of the families at PKIDs whose children have been
affected by vaccine-preventable diseases. |
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My name is Keith Van Zandt, and I appreciate the opportunity to address this committee regarding hepatitis B
vaccines. I have degrees from Princeton and Wake Forest Universities, and completed residency training in family
medicine here in Washington, D.C., at Andrews Air Force Base. Today, however, I am here as a dad. I have five
children, two of whom my wife Dede and I adopted from Romania. Our youngest, Adrianna, was nearly four years old
when we adopted her from the orphanage, and was found to have chronic active hepatitis B when we performed blood
work prior to bringing her home. She had contracted this from her mother, who died when Annie was nine months old,
from the effects of her liver disease as well as tuberculosis. We have been very fortunate to have had some
excellent medical care for Annie, but her first year with us was an endless procession of liver biopsies, blood
draws, and over 150 painful interferon injections I gave to my new daughter at home. We know first hand the pain and
family disruption this completely preventable disease can bring.
As a family doctor, I see patients every day whose lives have been significantly improved by the immunizations we
now have available. My forebears in family medicine struggled in the pre-vaccination era with the ravages of
horrible diseases that are now of only historical interest. Preventive immunizations have so changed our world that I
am afraid that we no longer remember how horrible some of these diseases were. I am certainly aware of the potential
for adverse reactions to these vaccines, but we must maintain the perspective that these reactions are extremely
rare. My partners and I in Winston-Salem care for over 40,000 patients, and I can honestly say that in over 20
years of practice we have never seen a serious adverse reaction to any vaccine. I believe that the vast majority
of family physicians around the country can say the same. Certainly, I do not wish to minimize the suffering and
losses of families who have experienced these problems, but we must remember that immunizations remain the most
powerful and cost effective means of preventing disease in the modern era.
Personally, it still sickens me to know that the disease my daughter has was completely preventable if hepatitis B
vaccine had been available to Annie and her mother. I know first hand the gut-wrenching feeling of being told that
your child has a chronic disease that could shorten their life. I know first hand the worry parents feel when their
hepatitis B child falls on the playground, and you don't know if her bleeding knee will infect her playmates or
teachers. I know first hand the concern for my other children's health, and the thankfulness I feel that they
have had the availability of successful vaccines. I know first hand the pain a parent feels for their child as they
undergo painful shots and procedures for their chronic disease.
I am not the world's leading expert on hepatitis B or the hepatitis B vaccine, but I am an expert on delivering the
best medical care I can to my patients in Winston-Salem, NC. I am also not the world's leading expert on parenting
children with chronic diseases, but I am the world's best expert on parenting my five children. I know professionally
that immunizations in general have hugely improved the lives of those patients who have entrusted their medical
care to me. I know personally that had the hepatitis B vaccine been available to my daughter, her life and mine
would have been drastically different. I am also thankful that my other children have been spared Annie's suffering
by being successfully vaccinated.
Thank you very much for your time.
Keith Van Zandt, MD
PKIDS
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| 6/30/00 • REPORT #32 |
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| Disclaimer: The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) publishes
Unprotected People Reports for the purpose of making them available
for our readers' review. We have not verified the content of this
report. |
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