Samoan children are more likely to be harmed or killed by medical interventions that include any one or any combination of the following medical interventions:

1) Vaccinating a measles infected child with any live virus vaccine, including the live virus measles vaccine. If these children are being vaccinated with Merck's MMR II vaccine, their risk of harm and death is, in my professional opinion, dramatically increased. In addition to the live attenuated vaccine strain of measles, the MMR II vaccine delivers two additional live vaccine strain viruses (mumps and rubella). In my opinion, administering the MMR II vaccine or any other live virus vaccine to a child infected with measles (or ANY other infectious disease) is medically contraindicated and negligent. The last thing these children need is to have their already struggling and suppressed immune system challenged with additional live viruses.

2) Antibiotic treatment without clear and precise evidence of a serious bacterial infection is medically negligent. Furthermore, there is no indication for the use of an antibiotic in viral disease.

3) Treatment with glutathione depleting drugs such as Panadol, or any other acetaminophen containing medication, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This is especially true of nutritionally deficient children. Glutathione is the master antioxidant in the body. It is critical to decreasing inflammatory and toxic damage that occurs during infection and inflammation. The independent clinical research in the United States indicts the use of acetaminophen Glutathione is commonly deficient in individuals with poor nutritional status. Which, as I understand it, is exactly the situation among many of the measles infected children in Samoa. Glutathione is an important antioxidant. It helps scavenge free radicals, deal with oxidative stress, and the pro-oxidant state of individuals suffering from infectious disease. Acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol, Panadol, and many other over the counter (OTC) drugs, rapidly and deeply depletes glutathione levels in the liver (where it is made and stored). This depletion exacerbates the damage of the infectious disease.

Therefore, individuals fighting off viral or bacterial infectious disease must be extremely careful not to deplete glutathione levels or they are likely to experience MORE oxidative, free-radical, and inflammatory damage, including liver and kidney damage.

Acetaminophen is known to cause liver damage and failure. The therapeutic window for acetaminophen is very small and very close to the toxic threshold. It is typically best that drugs containing acetaminophen be avoided entirely during most infectious situations. If for some reason treatment with acetaminophen is considered unavoidable, it is important to supplement the body with glutathione (25-100 mg by IV or subcutaneous injection) and N-acetyl-cysteine (by mouth).

It is critical that these children be evaluated and the viral strain causing their infection be genotyped. The virus is mutating to avoid vaccine suppression. At least one of the wild-type strains identified in recent outbreaks is NOT mitigated by any current vaccine. I repeat, neither Merck's MMR II vaccine or any other known measles vaccine is capable of preventing the new measles strains causing worldwide outbreaks. Therefore, blindly vaccinating Samoan children with measles vaccines may not only be completely ineffective, but it may also subject these children to the serious risk of harm and death with absolutely no possible benefit. I will follow up this letter with more information and medical references relating to this issue.

Also, it is possible that many of the measles cases in Samoa are caused by the vaccine strain of measles. This was the case in the Disneyland outbreak in the United States in 2015, in which 38% of the measles cases genotyped (DNA determination) to the vaccine strain of the measles.

We must not fail to recognize that the measles virus vaccine is a LIVE VIRUS vaccine. The MMR II vaccine is capable and culpable in causing infection in vaccine recipients, especially those with weakened immune systems from nutritional deficiencies. In my opinion, vaccinating immunosuppressed individuals with live virus vaccines is negligent and medically contraindicated.

I am reviewing the literature for the most evidenced based protocols to support your work. In my opinion, your approach is reasonable, medically justifiable, and almost certainly far better and more likely to help these children than that, as I understand it and outlined above, being delivered by the medical system in your country. If Samoan physicians are vaccinating nutritionally deficient children with live virus vaccines, while simultaneously delivering antibiotics, and glutathione depleting acetaminophen, they are likely the reason Samoan children are dying, not the measles virus. More to follow.

You may call me at any time. God be with you and the children of Samoa,

Jim Meehan, MD