Smallpox and AIDS

By the 1980's, a link between contracting AIDS after receiving the smallpox vaccination became apparent: “Primary smallpox immunization of persons with subclinical HIV disease poses a risk of vaccine-induced disease and multiple immunizations may accelerate the progress of HIV disease.”
 

According to researchers, this raises “concern about the ultimate safety of vaccinia-based vaccine in developing countries where HIV infection is increasing.” [Redfield, R., et al. “Disseminated vaccinia in a military recruit with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease.” New England Journal of Medicine (March 12, 1987):673]

In 1987, shortly after the results of this study were released, the London Times published an incredible report that claimed “the AIDS epidemic may have been triggered by the mass vaccination campaign.” The campaign in question was conducted by the World Health Organization during the 1960s and 1970s, mainly in Africa.

The Times exposé was written in response to a tip from an advisor to the World Health Organization who was assigned by WHO to investigate the suspicion that its ambitious vaccination program in Africa had caused the AIDS epidemic.

The WHO advisor did his study, concluded that the smallpox vaccine was a trigger for AIDS, and filed his report with WHO. When the report was buried, he contacted the Times.

The regions that received the most vaccinations coincided with the areas of the greatest outbreaks of AIDS, including Zaire, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawai, Ruanda, and Burundi. Brazil had the highest AIDS rates in South Africa, and they were the only country including in the smallpox vaccination campaign on the entire continent.

According to the WHO advisor, “I thought it was just a coincidence until we studied the latest findings about the reactions which can be caused by vaccinia. Now I believe the smallpox vaccination theory is the explanation of AIDS.”

Dr. Robert Gallo, a pioneering AIDS/HIV researcher, when confronted with this disturbing scenario, did little to alleviate anyone's fears: “I have been saying for some years that the use of live vaccines such as that used for smallpox can activate a dormant infection such as HIV.”

Recent research has also shown that unsterile injections may have done a great deal in contributing to the HIV epidemic in Africa: “We conclude that increased unsterile injecting in Africa during the period 1950-1970 provided the agent for SIV human infections to emerge as epidemic HIV in the modern era.”

Did an attempt to control one disease, smallpox, transform another disease, AIDS, “from a minor endemic illness of the Third World into the current pandemic?”