NVIC Launches "Stand Up Be Counted Campaign" To Protect Voluntary Vaccination Decisions in America

Washington, D.C. - The oldest and largest consumer organization dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), announced today that it will launch a national public education campaign to protect the legal right to make informed, voluntary decisions about vaccination in America.

Citing the tripling of the numbers of doses of vaccines recommended by federal officials for children during the past quarter century, most of which have been mandated for school entry in many states, NVIC is urging citizens to "stand up and be counted" and help inform and empower citizens to insert informed consent protections in state vaccine laws.

Founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine injured children, for the past three decades NVIC has asked government and industry to individualize vaccine policies and conduct prospective studies comparing the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated children. The organization opposed recent attempts to mandate the newly licensed HPV vaccine for all sixth grade girls, as well as criticized the action of Maryland state officials who forced parents in November 2007 to vaccinate their children for chickenpox and hepatitis B or face stiff fines and prison time.

"Twenty-six years is long enough to wait for government officials and the multi-billion dollar vaccine industry to investigate the chronic disease and disability epidemic affecting millions of highly vaccinated American children," said NVIC co-founder and president, Barbara Loe Fisher. "Vaccines are pharmaceutical products sold for profit and federally protected from liability. One-size-fits-all vaccine mandates must be accompanied by strong informed consent protections, including broad exemptions for medical, religious and conscientious belief reasons. Forcing vaccination is a violation of human rights, especially when government guidelines to protect those genetically vulnerable for being harmed by vaccines are non-existent."

NVIC's Stand Up Be Counted Campaign emphasizes prevention of vaccine reactions through education, advocacy and charity. Adopting the slogan "Give a Dollar For Yourself and For Every Person You Love," NVIC's goal is to encourage public support through small $5 and $10 donations for the national vaccine education campaign.

For more information about the campaign go to www.StandUpBeCounted.org where a free ad can be downloaded for placement in community newspapers. NVIC's website at www.NVIC.org is the oldest and largest consumer-operated vaccine information website on the internet and includes an on-line Vaccine Reaction Registry.

NVIC's founders worked with Congress on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 to insert vaccine safety provisions into the law mandating that doctors (1) give parents written information about vaccine benefits and risks before vaccinating children; (2) keep permanent records of all vaccines given, including the manufacturer's name and lot number; (3) write down serious health problems following vaccination in medical records; and (4) report injuries, hospitalizations and deaths within 30 days of vaccination to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).

It is estimated that less than 10 percent of all serious health problems which develop following vaccination are ever reported to the government. NVIC supports the adoption of the federal safety provisions into state vaccine laws with legal sanctions if physicians do not obey the law, including failure to report adverse events that occur after vaccination.

NVIC is endorsing the June 4 "Green Our Vaccines" rally in Washington, D.C. and the call by organizations representing children with autism to remove toxins from vaccines and allow more flexibility in administration of the 48 doses of 14 vaccines pediatricians give to children before age six.