Under Attack, NVIC Helps Americans Stand Up & Speak Out

Posted: 11/20/2012

by Barbara Loe Fisher

In 2013, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) enters our fourth decade of preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the legal right to make voluntary vaccination decisions in America.[1]
 
Each year during the past 30, NVIC has become more successful in achieving our mission. With that success has come more fierce opposition by politically powerful medical trade associations and special interest groups allied with drug companies doing everything they can to censor truthful vaccine information and strip vaccine informed consent protections from public health laws.
 
NVIC Ranks High As Trusted Information Source
 
At a recent federal advisory committee meeting, we learned that public opinion surveys reveal that NVIC ranks as one of the most trusted sources of vaccine information among Americans, who choose to vaccinate, and also among those, who do not.[2] This means that our small charity and the well-referenced information on our website at NVIC.org is helping to inform the health decisions made by millions of Americans.
 
This is a huge accomplishment and it would not have been possible without 30 years of loyal support by tens of thousands of parents, grandparents, doctors, nurses and students coming from every single state and every walk of life, who offer donations to NVIC every year.
 
No Liability for Drug Companies & Doctors
 
A lot of people still don’t realize that Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have completely shielded drug companies and doctors in America from product liability and malpractice lawsuits when vaccines injure or kill someone.[3] [4] But pharmaceutical corporations and medical trade groups are not satisfied with total liability protection and no accountability. They also want the power to legally force 310 million Americans to buy and use every single vaccine that Big Pharma produces and public health doctors endorse  - no exceptions.
 
NVIC Attacked for Defending Informed Consent Rights
 
NVIC and our uncompromising defense of informed consent to medical risk taking, including vaccine risk taking, has stood in their way for 30 years. And that is one reason why we are witnessing vicious assaults on NVIC and courageous Americans in every state, who are trying to protect their right to know and freedom to choose how they and their children will stay well.
 
At this time last year, NVIC was the subject of a smear campaign led by American Academy of Pediatrics officials,[5] who put pressure on Delta Airlines in a failed attempt to remove an NVIC-sponsored flu prevention video[6] from inflight health programming. 
 
A month later, another online disinformation campaign about NVIC was launched by forced vaccination proponents to get a 15-second NVIC-sponsored digital ad taken down from Times Square.[7] It failed and our vaccine risk awareness message was broadcast throughout the holiday season and on New Year’s Eve.
 
Big Pharma & Doctor Groups Lobby to Eliminate Vaccine Exemptions
 
And this year, drug company and medical trade association lobbyists tried to persuade legislators in Vermont[8] and California[9] to remove philosophical and personal belief exemptionsto vaccination from public health laws. But we fought back in both states, using our free online NVIC Advocacy Portal to empower citizens to quickly organize and electronically stay connected to their legislators and up-to-date on breaking news.
 
Next year, NVIC will face more censorship and well-orchestrated, well-funded assaults on vaccine exemptions in multiple states. Our parental, civil and human rights in America are in grave jeopardy. All you have to do is read the heartbreaking descriptions posted on the Cry forVaccine Freedom Wall[10] at NVIC.org to understand how bad it is.  
 
Health Care Workers Being Fired
 
Children are being denied medical care if parents ask pediatricians questions about vaccines or object to a baby being injected with eight to ten different vaccines on one day. Health care workers are being threatened and fired if they don’t get an annual flu shot. This is what one nurse posted on the Vaccine Freedom Wall:
 
I have taken the flu shot in the past and had body aches for weeks afterward. I started educating myself on vaccines and haven't taken a flu shot in years. I am a nurse and love my job. I take every precaution in the interest of my patients, utilize hand washing, etc. I found out at a meeting yesterday that our organization's policy has changed and that I will have to take the flu shot or be terminated from employment. I am at a crossroads and am actually thinking about leaving a job that I love because I feel so strongly about my personal freedom.”
 
No Vaccinations? No Prescription Medications.
 
Americans needing public assistance are being coerced into getting many vaccines against their will or be cut off from prescription medications. This is what one American suffering financial hardship had to say:
 
During this past recession, I had to seek medical care from the county public health program. I had high blood pressure, probably due to stress. My last and final visit to that place was to refill the [blood pressure] prescription, which was denied until I allowed myself to be injected with three vaccines: tetanus, flu and pneumococcal. At first I refused but finally consented because I was afraid of what would happen if I suddenly stopped taking the medicine. I was sick for nine days after receiving those shots. Being forced to accept vaccines under duress as an adult is a horrible feeling, a sense of loss of freedom. Using coercion by withholding medication is just plain evil.”
 
No Vaccinations? No Medicare Benefits.
 
The elderly are being bullied, too. A couple on Medicare described their frightening experience:
 
My wife and I are in our mid-sixties and on Medicare. We saw our primary care physician today for a routine "well care" visit and were shocked to hear what our physician for over 26 years had to tell us! The doctor made it clear that he was referring to "new" [federal health care program] mandates that, if we did not voluntarily receive the pneumonia vaccine, we would be terminated from his practice! My wife and I have never felt so violated.”
 
Doctors Pushing More Vaccines on Vaccine Injured Children
 
Even parents of vaccine injured children are being pressured to give their children more vaccines because many liability-free doctors now feel comfortable taking a risky, one-size-fits-all approach to vaccination.  Mothers are fighting back and are warning others that doctors are behaving badly and that vaccine exemptions must be protected at all costs. One mother said:
 
My daughter is a proven vaccine injury of the pertussis vaccine. I urge people to please help to defend the personal belief exemption. My child almost died from vaccines and there are doctors, even most recently a neurologist whom we visited in California, who suggested that we continue the very vaccine that almost took her life. Our daughter suffered an encephalopathy, rare seizures, global developmental delays, speech delays. She is eight years old and crawls. She can't walk or ambulate alone. She has multiple chemical disorder and it causes her to have seizures. She is unable to attend public schools and we no longer have health insurance and no job, due to what this vaccine damage has taken from our family. If you think doctors are going to sign the [personal belief] exemption, you are wrong. They won't.”
 
This Mom knows first-hand that vaccine risks are greater for some than others and that, at our peril, do we give up our freedom to make personalized vaccine decisions for ourselves and our children.
 
Help NVIC Help Americans Stand Up & Speak Out
 
There is no time to waste. Now, more than ever, NVIC needs the financial resources to educate more Americans about vaccination and health and help citizens protect vaccine exemptions in the states.  
 
During this season of thanksgiving and remembrance, please visit NVIC.org and offer a donation – big or small - to help NVIC continue to defend parental, civil and human rights in America.  What you choose to do today WILL determine what happens to you, your children, your grandchildren and everyone you love tomorrow.
 
Thank you in advance for whatever gift you can give and best wishes from NVIC for a happy and blessed holiday season.

 
Click here to watch the video

References:

[2] Omer S. Chart: Trust in Sources of Vaccine Information. Presentation to National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC)

1 comment:

Maurice Hilleman said...

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Immunization Research