The Center Will Not Hold As Parents & Docs Question Vaccine Policy

by Barbara Loe Fisher

It was only a matter of time. For 26 years parents of vaccine injured children and a few brave doctors have challenged the one-size-fits-all approach to mandated use of multiple vaccines in the absence of sound scientific evidence that policy is safe for all children. Now, when 1 in 6 child in America is learning disabled and 1 in 150 develops autism, more rank and file pediatricians are speaking out about the need to provide pediatric care for unvaccinated children and respect parental choices to use fewer vaccines.

Last week in a CBS-TV interview, HPV vaccine researcher Dr. Diane Harper supported more scientific research as well as the ethical principle of informed consent to vaccination when asked whether HPV vaccine should be mandated. She said "We don't know yet what's going to happen when millions of doses of the vaccine have been given and to put in process a place that says you must have this vaccine, it means you must be part of a big public experiment....... There isn't enough information to have a mandate that you can't go to school until you have this vaccine. It does not make any sense."

This week in another CBS-TV interview, former NIH Director Bernadine Healy, M.D., stood up and spoke out about the need to scientifically investigate the causal association between vaccines and autism, especially the potential for certain individuals to be genetically susceptible to being harmed by vaccines. She said "I think that the public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational.... there may be this susceptible group. The fact that there is concern, that you don't want to know that susceptible group is a real disappointment to me. If you know that susceptible group, you can save those children. If you turn your back on the notion that there is a susceptible group.....what can I say?"

At the same time that enlightened pediatricians, researchers, and former health officials are calling for a re-examination of scientifically questionable vaccine policies that have failed to identify and screen out high risk children and respect parental rights to make informed, voluntary vaccine choices, some British health authorities and politicians are calling for MMR vaccine mandates for British children. The leading proponent for mandates in Britain said "The MMR vaccination rate is at 85% and the target figure is 95%, so it's about catching children who may have moved or lost contact with their health visitor but also saying to parents your child has a right to live free from vaccine preventable diseases." The head of Britain's Medical Association called the proposal "morally and ethically dubious" and added "A Stalinist approach like this would be likely to backfire on an unprecedented scale and increase opposition to vaccinations."

After 26 years, U.S. health officials are also wrestling with how to prove to parents and doctors that current vaccine policies have adequately addressed evidence that more and more children are regressing after vaccination and suffering brain and immune dysfunction. A transcript of the April 11, 2008 National Vaccine Advisory Committee workshop at which parents and doctors expressed their concerns about vaccine safety is now available at http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/transcript_apr08.html

In the meantime, 19 parent organizations are endorsing a call for Presidential candidates to pledge to issue two executive orders within 100 days of taking office which would (1) remove mercury from all vaccines by Jan 1. 2010 and (2) require a moratorium on the addition of new vaccines to the recommended list for children until the current vaccine schedule can be proven safe. Supporting organizations include A- CHAMP, Autism One, Autism Research Institute, Autism United, Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology, Environment of Harm Yahoo Group, Generation Rescue, HEAL Foundation, Moms Against Mercury, National Autism Association, National Vaccine Information Center, No Mercury, Safeminds, Schafer Autism Report, Spectrum Magazine, TACA -- Talk About Curing Autism, Treating Autism (UK), Unlocking Autism, and World Mercury Project.

On Wednesday, June 4, 2008 a "Green Our Vaccines" rally will be held in Washington, D.C. questioning the safety of vaccine components and the government's current vaccine schedule.


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" There is a growing controversy over the number of vaccines that children receive and when they receive them. According to the National Vaccine Information Center, in the 1970s, children received 23 doses of vaccine by the time they were 6 years old. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends more than twice as many. For some doctors and parents, that number is disturbing......Hamilton thought that she found a doctor who would respect her decision, but the office told her to put it in writing. Then, according to Hamilton, the office told her, "Whenever you come back in two months, you're going to have to vaccinate. And if you don't vaccinate, don't come back." Hamilton found a pediatrician who will care for their son after checking with about 25 doctors. "He agrees with me in my thinking, in saying that it's perfectly fine in what I'm doing, not making me feel horrible for doing it," she said. Dr. Anuradha Agrawal is a pediatrician in Dallas. She said that she is willing to delay vaccines and spread others out, and does have a small number of patients who have opted not to innoculate their kids. "I cannot say you get this shot now otherwise I cannot see you any further," she said. Dr. Seshagiri Rao believes kids are given too many vaccines. He and a growing number of pediatricians say that Hepatitis B does not need to be given at birth if the mother does not have Hepatitis B......Pediatricians like Dr. Deborah Bains believe that MMR, a triple vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella, puts unnecessary stress on a child's immune system. She explained, "We saw before our eyes this reaction to the vaccination. That was the last time I gave the MMR as a single vaccine." "Being a mom, I believe there are too many," Dr. Agrawal said of the vaccinations. "Being a pediatrician, I believe there are too many, and I don't know what can be done about it. And as the research evolves, as the science evolves, I think there will be more and more." Dr. Rao takes the debate even one more step further, saying, "I think it would be a good idea to revamp the whole vaccination program." - CBS11-TV (Dallas), Stephanie Lucero Reporting (May 9, 2008) http://cbs11tv.com/health/Children.Vaccine.Schedule.2.720610.html

"William Mead was a Pottery Barn baby model and met all the typical milestones. Then, also at age 2, after a set of vaccinations, William became very ill and he, too, changed forever. At first, both sets of parents suspected hearing problems. "The reason we had him tested for a hearing deficit was 'cause he wouldn't respond to us," Mead said. "He no longer used any of his language." "We had him tested for deafness, it was that bad," King said. "I mean, you could slam a book on the floor and he wouldn't turn around to see what the sound was. It was like he was in this bubble of somewhere else, like he'd left the planet or something.....Dr. Bernadine Healy is the former head of the National Institutes of Health, and the most well-known medical voice yet to break with her colleagues on the vaccine-autism question. In an exclusive interview with CBS News, Healy said the question is still open......."But public health officials have been saying they know, they've been implying to the public there's enough evidence and they know it's not causal," Attkisson said. "I think you can't say that," Healy said. "You can't say that." Healy goes on to say public health officials have intentionally avoided researching whether subsets of children are "susceptible" to vaccine side effects - afraid the answer will scare the public......There is a completely expressed concern that they don't want to pursue a hypothesis because that hypothesis could be damaging to the public health community at large by scaring people. "First of all," Healy said, "I think the public's smarter than that. The public values vaccines. But more importantly, I don't think you should ever turn your back on any scientific hypothesis because you're afraid of what it might show." - CBS-TV News, Sharyl Attkisson Reporting (May 12, 2008)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/12/cbsnews_investigates/main4086809.shtml

"Children who have not received all their vaccinations should not be allowed to start school, a Labour MP has suggested. Speaking in the left-wing Fabian Society magazine, Mary Creagh said the move would increase the uptake of the controversial MMR vaccine. In the same article, public health expert Sir Sandy Macara suggests linking child benefits to vaccinations.....Ms Creagh said primary schools should be compelled to demand proof that children had been given the full range of routine jabs - including MMR - before they could register. The MP for Wakefield, who is also in charge of drawing up the Labour party's public health manifesto for the next election, said the sanction had been used in the US." - BBC-UK (May 11, 2008)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7392510.stm