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)
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Influenza Deaths: The Hype vs. The Evidence

Posted: 10/3/2012


By Barbara Loe Fisher
It's that time of the year again when drug companies, doctors, government officials and media conduct a national advertising campaign to sell flu shots to every American.1, 2, 3 You can't pass by a pharmacy,4enter a supermarket,5 shop in a "big box" store6 or catch a plane7 without seeing the "flu shots for sale" signs trolling for customers.
The pharmaceutical industry is cutting out the M.D. middleman and going straight for the gold in places where we shop for toothpaste, clothes and food.8 Even on the evening news, flu shot commercials are becoming as frequent as political campaign ads.
Up until the year 2000, flu shots were not recommended for everyone. Back in the 1990's, doctors were telling seniors over age 65 and younger people with chronic illness to get vaccinated. 9

No Flu Shot? No Job or Daycare!

Now, doctors at the CDC tell every man, woman and child over six months old they need an annual flu shot10 and it is OK for health care workers to be fired if they don't get vaccinated every year.11, 12, 13, 14
In the states of Connecticut and New Jersey, mandates are already in place that force parents to give their six-month old babies a flu vaccine or be banned from daycare.15 This, as state health department officials join with medical trade association lobbyists in many states to severely restrict or eliminate medical, religious and conscientious belief vaccine exemptions for all children.16, 17
The vaccine liability shield that Congress gave doctors and drug companies in 198618 and the public-private business partnership between government and the pharmaceutical industry that Congress created after Sept. 11, 2001,19, 20 is paying big dividends for liability free drug companies and liability free doctors selling flu shots to more than 300 million Americans.
It doesn't matter if 80 percent of all flu-like illness is really caused by other viruses and bacteria and not influenza,21, 22 or that flu vaccine efficacy is estimated at 60 percent to 80 percent, depending upon age and what kind of vaccine is given.23

Selling Big Mortality Numbers to Sell Flu Vaccine

The selling of influenza vaccine has a lot to do with selling big morbidity and mortality numbers. So how bad were those numbers in the late 20th century to justify government taking a "no exceptions" cradle to the grave approach to flu shots for every American in the 21st century? Let's take a quick look at the hype versus the evidence.
The first experimental influenza vaccines were given to soldiers in World War II. It wasn't until the 1957-58 and 1968-69 influenza pandemics that the vaccine was marketed to civilians.24 Between 1970 and 2000, the trivalent influenza vaccine containing two strains of type A influenza and one strain of type B influenza was primarily recommended for the elderly. That is because respiratory infections, especially with pneumonia complications, have always been a leading cause of death for people at the end of their life span.25
There was only one deadly influenza pandemic in the last 100 years that killed the young and healthy in great numbers and that was the 1918 Spanish Flu. It turns out that bacterial pneumonia is what killed most people, young or old, in the 1918 pandemic. Today, antibiotics would have prevented most of those deaths.26
But just how bad is seasonal influenza today?

Is It 200,000 Influenza Hospitalizations or 37,000?

The CDC has been telling the public for nearly a decade that there are more than 200,000 estimated hospitalizations and 36,000 estimated deaths from influenza in the U.S. every year.27
But are those figures accurate? Well, it all depends upon use of the word "estimate." The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that, in 2004, there were about 37,000 Americans hospitalized for either influenza or another illness in addition to influenza, and patients over age 85 were twice as likely to die.28
Now, 37,000 influenza hospitalizations is five times less than the 200,000 hospitalization figure the CDC uses. That is because what CDC employees did to come up with their influenza hospitalization "estimate" was to count a lot of people hospitalized between 1979 and 2001 – not just with influenza but also with pneumonia, respiratory and circulatory illnesses – which they counted as probably associated with influenza.29, 30
And they got away with it.

Counting Influenza Deaths & A Whole Lot More

In 2003, CDC employees also used a convoluted statistical modeling scheme to "estimate" that 36,000 people die from influenza in the U.S. every year. Again, they counted not just influenza death cases but also threw in other respiratory, circulatory, cardiac and pulmonary deaths they thought might have been associated with influenza.31
And they got away with it.
In 2005, a young PhD candidate at MIT published an article in the British Medical Journal and asked the question: "Are U.S. Flu Death Figures More PR Than Science?"32 He analyzed the U.S. Vital Statistics Mortality Data, which has been carefully recorded for more than a century by the National Center for Health Statistics. I recently looked at that Vital Statistics data, too, and created a chart of influenza and pneumonia deaths recorded between 1940 and 2010.33

Recorded Influenza Deaths Dropping in 21st Century

Here is what I found: Since 1940, the highest number of influenza deaths recorded in a single year was 21,047 deaths in 1941. In fact, the mortality rate from influenza was NOT rising in the late 20th century – as the CDC employees have alleged – it was dropping.
There were only between 600 and 750 influenza deaths recorded annually between 1995 and 1997.34The most influenza deaths recorded in a single year since 1979 was about 2,900 deaths and that was in 2009, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic year! (see table here)

CDC Expanding the Flu Vaccine Market Between 2000-2010

But that didn't stop CDC policymakers, along with drug company and medical trade association lobbyists ever present at the policymaking table, from using inflated influenza hospitalization and mortality estimates to justify expanding the influenza vaccine market:
  • In 2000, CDC policymakers voted to expand flu shot recommendations to all healthy Americans over age 50.35 Out of a population of 300 million, there were 1,765 recorded influenza deaths that year.
  • In 2002, CDC voted to add all healthy babies from six to 23 months.36 There were 727 recorded influenza deaths that year.
  • In 2006, CDC voted to recommend flu shots for all healthy children up to five years old as well as all healthy pregnant women in any trimester.37 There were 849 recorded influenza deaths that year.
  • In 2007, CDC voted to add all healthy children up to eight years old.38 There were 411 recorded influenza deaths that year.
  • In 2008, CDC voted to recommend annual flu shots for all healthy children up to age 18 years.39There were 1,722 recorded influenza deaths that year.
  • In 2009, the Secretaries of Health and Homeland Security declared a national emergency because they said pandemic H1N1 swine flu was sweeping the country and tens of thousands of people could die. Liability free drug companies were told to rush an experimental swine flu vaccine to the market.40
  • In 2010, a year when there were 494 recorded influenza deaths, the CDC officials finally reached the ultimate goal of their long game: they told doctors to give annual flu shots to every American, healthy or not, from the year of birth to the year of death.41
And they got away with it.

CDC Does Not Require States to Report All Influenza Cases or Deaths

They got away with it because the CDC does not require states to "report individual seasonal flu cases or deaths of people older than 18 years of age."42 That's right – the CDC is not actually asking for the information they need to accurately assess influenza morbidity and mortality in the U.S. It would be funny if people weren't actually losing their jobs or being denied daycare or becoming paralyzed43, 44 by this "no exceptions" flu shot policy.

Global Flu Vaccine Market: U.S. Biggest Customer

Today, the global market for seasonal influenza vaccine is $3.6 billion and forecasters have recently reported that the U.S. is the single biggest and most profitable market in the world.45 They say the huge U.S. market is "driven by price increases" and high vaccine coverage rates generated by the 2009 influenza pandemic and the government's "universal" flu shot recommendation in 2010. They add that "campaigning by U.S. authorities" will continue to drive up flu shot sales.

CDC: We Don't Know How Many Influenza Deaths There Are

Meanwhile, doctors at the CDC now quietly admit on their website that the "CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year."46 Having gotten that cradle to the grave flu shot recommendation firmly in place, they are backing away from the 36,000 influenza death figure. CDC now says that "only 8.5 percent of all pneumonia and influenza deaths and only 2.1 percent of all respiratory and circulatory deaths" are influenza related.
You can almost hear those liability free drug companies and doctors laughing all the way to the bank.
Click here to watch the video

References
1 Bowsher K. Should You Get a Flu Vaccine? MoneyTalksNews Sept. 18, 2012
2 Smartspendingspot.com. Flu Shots – List of Locations and Special Offers, Deals, Promotions – 2012. September 2012
3 Price J. Flu Shot Season Starts with a Bang at Triangle. News Observer (NC). Sept. 18, 2012
4 CVSCaremark. CVS/pharmacy and Minute Clinic Give Consumers Five Reasons to Get a Flu Shot. Press Release Aug. 20, 2012
5 Peebles M. It’s Time for Flu Shots. KTUU-TV (AK). Sept. 2, 2012
6 Christensen D. Walmart Offering Low-Cost Flu Shot Clinics in Stores. Sun-Sentinel Sept. 22, 2011
7 Baskas H. Get Your Flu Shot at the Airport. Stuckattheairport.com. Nov. 11, 2010
8 Martin TW. Retailers Jockey to Market Swine Flu Shots. Wall Street Journal Dec. 29, 2009
9 CDC. Prevention and Control of Influenza – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP). MMWR May 15, 1992; 41(RR-9)
10 CDC. Influenza Vaccine Information by Age Group [and name of vaccine manufacturer] – United States 2012-13 Influenza Season. Aug. 23, 2012
11 Fisher BL. Forcing Flu Shots on Health Care Workers: Who Is Next? NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter. Sept. 29, 2010
12 Fisher BL, Wrangham TK. Public Comment of the NVIC on Draft Recommendations of the Health Care Personnel Influenza Vaccination Subgroup of the NVAC
13 Wrangham T. NVAC Says: Mandate Flu Shot for Health Care Workers. NVIC Vaccine E-News. Feb. 12, 2012
14 Mirza B. Is Requiring Flu Vaccination Worth the Risk? Society for Human Resource Management. Feb. 23, 2012
15 NVIC. Map of States and State Vaccine Requirements
16 Fisher BL. Turning Vaccine Exemptions Into Class Warfare. NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter. Sept. 14, 2012
17 Hawthorne H, M.D. Non-Medical Vaccine Opt-Outs on the Rise. ABC News. Sept. 19, 2012
18 Fisher BL. The Health Liberty Revolution and Forced Vaccination. NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter. Aug. 23, 2011
19 Biosecurity Commons. Project Bioshield. Mar. 29, 2012
20 Guyton J, Niyogi DG. White Paper: Meeting Public Health Needs Through Public-Private Partnerships. PWC’s PRTM Management Consulting
21 FDA. Feb. 20, 2003. Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting Transcript
22 El-Solh AA, Sikka P et al. Etiology of Severe Pneumonia in the Very Elderly. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001. 163(3): 645-651
23 Osterholm MT, Kelley NS et al. Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccine: a systematic review and meta analysis. The Lancet 2011; 12(1): 36-44
24 College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The History of Vaccines: Asian Influenza Pandemic (1957) and Vaccine for Hong Kong Influenza Pandemic (1968)
25 Rozzini R, Sabatini T, Trabucchi M. Is Pneumonia Still the Old Man’s Friend? Arch Intern Med 2003; 163(2): 1491-1492
26 National Institutes of Health. Bacterial Pneumonia Caused Most Deaths in 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Press Release: Aug. 19, 2008
27 Reinberg S. Flu Season Off to A Very Late Start: CDC. HealthDay/U.S. News. Feb. 23, 2012
28 AHRQ. Influenza Most Deadly for the Very Elderly. Press Release Nov. 7, 2006
29 CDC. Seasonal Influenza Associated Hospitalizations in the United States. June 24, 2011
30 Thompson WW, Shay DK et al. Influenza Associated Hospitalizations in the United States. JAMA 2004; 242(11): 1333-1340
31 Thompson WW, Shay DK et al. Mortality Associated with Influenza and Respiratory Synctial Virus in the United States. JAMA 2003; 289(2): 179-186
32 Thompson WW, Shay DK et al. Mortality Associated with Influenza and Respiratory Synctial Virus in the United States.JAMA 2003; 289(2): 179-186
33 Doshi P. Are U.S. Flu Death Figures More PR Than Science?BMJ 2005; 331 (7529): 1412
34 NVIC. Influenza & Pneumonia Reported Deaths in U.S. 1940-2010 (Chart)
35 National Center for Health Statistics. U.S. Vital Statistics Mortality Data 1979-1998 (Unpublished Worktables). National Vital Statistics System
36 CDC. Prevention and Control of Influenza – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 2000.MMWR April 14, 2000; 49(RR03)
37 Prevention and Control of Influenza – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 2002.MMWR April 12, 2002; 51(RR03); 1-3
38 CDC. Prevention and Control of Influenza – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 2006.MMWR July 26, 2006; 55(RR10)
39 CDC. Prevention and Control of Influenza – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 2007.MMWR July 13, 2007; 56(RR06)
40 CDC. Prevention and Control of Influenza – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 2008. MMWR Aug. 8, 2008; 57(RR07)
41 Fisher B. Politics, Profits & Pandemic Fear Mongering. NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter May 1, 2009
42 Prevention and Control of Influenza with Vaccines – Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP), 2010. MMWR Aug. 6, 2010
43 CDC. Estimating Seasonal Influenza-Associated Deaths in the United States: Questions and Answers. June 24, 2011
44 NVIC. Flu Vaccine Reaction Leaves Former Nurse a Quadriplegic. NVIC Vaccine E-News. Oct. 31, 2011
45 Schonberger LB, Bregman DJ et al. Guillain Barre Syndrome Following Vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization Program, United States, 1976-19
46 PR Newswire. Market Forecasts: Seasonal Influenza Vaccines. Reportlinker.com Newswire. Sept. 20, 2012
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Turning Vaccine Exemptions Into Class Warfare

Posted 9/14/2012

 by Barbara Loe Fisher
 
It is getting uglier and uglier out there, as angry, frustrated doctors inside and outside of government work overtime to foster fear and hatred of parents making conscious vaccine choices for their children. The latest political dirty trick is to brand parents, who send their children to private schools, as selfish and a threat to their communities because some private schools have higher vaccine exemption rates.
Take pediatrician and California Assemblyman, Dr. Richard Pan, for example. He is angry that many parents and health care professionals opposed AB2109, a bill he authored and pushed through the California legislature this year. [1] Dr. Pan misled his colleagues into believing that that forcing parents to pay for a doctor’s appointment to beg a hostile pediatrician [2] or medical worker to sign a personal belief exemption form is all about education.

Educated, Articulate Parents Defending Parental Rights

Medical trade associations that helped Dr. Pan lobby the state legislature included the California Medical Association, Health Officers Association of California, California Immunization Coalition and the American Academy of Pediatrics.[3] In public hearings this year, educated, articulate mothers and fathers stood up to these powerful medical groups and defended their parental and informed consent rights.

In a syndicated Associated Press article, Dr. Pan lashed out at families sending their children to private schools and accused them of becoming too educated about vaccination. Dr. Pan said: “In private schools, these are people who have money, who are upper middle class, and they are going on the internet and seeing information and misinformation.” [4]

Vaccine Information & Vaccine Exemptions Should Be Free

Dr. Pan is correct about parents “going on the internet” to learn, for example, how he refused in his bill to allow local pharmacists to sign a personal belief exemption form because he wanted to force all parents to first pay for a medical office visit. AB2109 clearly discriminates against parents, who cannot afford to pay a doctor to sign the form. [5]  Why doesn’t Dr. Pan post information he wants parents to have about vaccination on the Department of Health website so parents can become educated for free? [6]

Instead of admitting his bill is more about coercion than education, Dr. Pan attacked parents, who send their children to private schools. It looks like what doctors and medical trade groups really want to do is bully and punish parents, who hold sincere religious and conscientious beliefs about vaccination, no matter how much money they have or where their children attend school.

Doctors Engaging in Class Warfare

The same week that Dr. Pan publicly played the “class” card, he was joined by vaccinologists Dr. Saad Omer and Dr. Neal Halsey, who echoed Dr. Pan’s bigoted accusation in the same news article. Just like Dr. Pan, Drs. Omer and Halsey put the blame for higher personal belief vaccine exemption rates at private schools, such as the Waldorf Schools, on “wealthy” parents.

Dr. Omer has published a series of medical journal articles profiling parents taking non-medical vaccine exemptions and criticizing state laws that allow parents to take exemptions. [7] [8] [9] [10] According to the AP article, Dr. Omer said he “surmised that more private school parents are wealthy and have the time to spread five shots over a series of years and stay home should their child get an illness like chickenpox.”

Dr. Halsey, who I debated publicly in 1997 about informed consent to vaccination, [11] told the AP reporter that “parents who choose private schools are likely to be more skeptical of state requirements and recommendations.”  With that grossly inaccurate generalization, Dr. Halsey attempted to politically stereotype parents filing vaccine exemptions in order to explain why children attending private schools that respect parental rights and health care choices -,like Waldorf schools - have vaccine exemptions.

When doctors politicize vaccine exemptions in order to engage in class warfare, they are crossing a line that reveals more about who they are than the families they are trying to stereotype and marginalize. Dr. Pan, who has assumed the mantle of lawmaker, and Dr. Omer, who enjoys six federal vaccine research grants funded by the CDC or NIH, [12] and Dr. Halsey, who has funding from SmithKline Beecham and the Gates foundation,[13] likely are not struggling to pay the rent or pay for groceries.

Doctors Want Fewer Medical Exemptions, More Power

Drs. Omer and Halsey are now calling for doctors to deny even more children medical exemptions to vaccination because they are unhappy that states with stricter non-medical exemptions have a higher rate of medical exemptions! [14] [15] [16]

So let’s get this straight – what Drs. Pan, Omer, Halsey and medical trade groups really want is for state legislatures to grant doctors police powers to force parents to violate their conscience and deeply held religious beliefs in addition to doctors having the power to deny medical vaccine exemptions to children, many of whom are already vaccine injured.

That is a lot of power. That is power without accountability or liability.

Could it be that doctors with financial ties to medical trade associations, vaccine manufacturers and government health agencies are lobbying so hard to severely restrict or get rid of all vaccine exemptions because, every day, there are more and more Americans, who know somebody who was healthy, got vaccinated and was never healthy again?

 Informed Consent: A Human Right

The human right to informed consent to medical risk taking is a universal ethical principle that should be respected by doctors in every nation, especially in America, where we have a long history of respecting the right to self-determination.[17] Doctors refusing to protect children from vaccine injury and death because they do not want their authority questioned [18] should not be given the legal power to force anyone to violate their conscience or religious beliefs.

Parents, who have witnessed their children regress into chronic poor health or die after vaccination, belong to every class and every race, religion, philosophy and political party in America. Today, they are joining hands with parents of healthy children and fighting to protect medical and non-medical exemptions that it looks like doctors will try to gut or completely take away next year in states like Arizona, [19] Connecticut, [20] Maryland, [21] Oregon, [22] [23] Colorado, [24] New Jersey [25] and many more. [26]

Please sign up to be a user of NVIC’s free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org and volunteer to work in your state to defend the human right to make vaccine choices for yourself and your children.
It’s your health, your family, your choice.

[1] Richardson D. CA Bill Restricting Personal Belief Vaccine Exemption Heats Up. NVIC Vaccine E-News July 2, 2012.
[2] Wang S. More Doctors ‘Fire’ Vaccine Refusers. Wall Street Journal Feb. 16, 2012.
[3] California Immunization Coalition. Director’s Update: AB 2109 Moves on to Senate. May 30, 2012.
[4] Dreier H. Private School Vaccine Opt-Outs Rise. Associated Press/USA Today Sept. 9, 2012.
[5] Richardson D. NVIC Statement Opposing AB 2109. June 20, 2012.
[10] Omer SB, Salmon DA, Orenstein WA, deHart PM, Halsey N. Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization and the Risks of Vaccine Preventable Diseases. N Engl J Med 2009; 360(19): 1981-1988.
[12] Saad Omer, PhD, MPH, MBBS. Grants.
[13] Johns Hopkins Advanced Studies in Medicine. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference Satellite Symposium Oct. 17-22, 2011. Activity Faculty: Neal A. Halsey, M.D.
[14] Moyer CS. Medical Vaccine Exemptions for Children Not Always Justified. American Medical News Sept. 10, 2012.
[16] Salmon DA, Halsey NA. Keeping the M in Medical Exemptions: Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Children. J Infect Dis Aug. 29, 2012 (published online).
[18] NVIC. Vaccine Freedom Wall. Public reports of threats, coercion and sanctions for making informed choices about use of one or more vaccines
[19] Fehr-Snyder K. Immunization Exemption Rates on Rise Among Arizona Schoolchildren. The Republic Sept. 12, 2012.
[20] Cuda A. Vaccine Exemptions on Rise in State. Connecticut Post Sept. 3, 2012.
[21] Asaithambi R. Time to get tough on vaccine refusal. Baltimore Sun April 11, 2012.
[23] Anderson J. Religious Exemptions Tilt Immunization’s Balance. Portland Tribune. Feb. 16, 2012.
[24] Stobbe M. Colorado Second in Vaccine Refusals. Associated Press Nov. 28. 0211.
[26] IDSA. Increase of Religious Exemption to Immunization Requirements in New York State. IDSA Conference Poster Presentation Oct. 20, 212.
 
 
Click here to watch the video
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Find A Compassionate Doctor To Help You Prevent Vaccine Injuries

August 28, 2012
by Barbara Loe Fisher

Ever since the first vaccines – smallpox and rabies vaccines - one of the most serious complications of vaccination has been brain inflammation.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Brain inflammation can cause convulsions, also known as seizures.[8] Continuing seizures can permanently damage the brain over time. [9]

In fact, for the first 40 years that pertussis vaccine was given to children in the DPT shot, pediatricians were told: “Do not give more pertussis vaccine to children, who develop seizures within 72 hours of a DPT vaccination.”[10][11][12][13] Convulsions were an absolute contraindication to more DPT shots, especially if they occurred without a fever.

Protecting Children Vulnerable to Vaccine Reactions

But that changed after Congress passed a 1986 law shielding doctors and vaccine manufacturers from vaccine injury lawsuits.[14] Once pediatricians were protected from lawsuits,[15] public health officials and medical trade associations, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, said serious vaccine reactions - like seizures (1 child in 14,000),[16] high pitched screaming and collapse/shock (hypotonic hyporesponsive episodes) - weren’t all that important.[17][18][19]

So today, it is really up to parents to find a doctor they can trust, who will take the precautionary approach to giving more vaccines in the face of previous vaccine reactions, like seizures, especially if the child has symptoms of brain injury.

On NVIC’s Vaccine Freedom Wall at NVIC.org, mothers are posting descriptions of how they have been threatened and punished with dismissal from pediatric practices when they try to protect their children from vaccine reactions.

Here is one Mom’s story:

“After receiving her first vaccines, including DPT, my daughter began to have violent seizures, which continued but lessened over the next year. On many occasions, pediatricians have attempted to bully me into allowing more vaccinations for her. Telling them about her seizures, I refuse and tell each of them “unless you will personally guarantee, in writing, that there will be no adverse reactions so I can sue you if there are, then I won’t do it.” Not a single doctor has taken me up on my offer,” she said.

“My daughter is now diagnosed with autism. After we moved, we had to get another doctor and, after a year when I wouldn’t change my mind about more vaccines, he told me he wouldn’t be our doctor anymore. I went to another doctor, who wouldn’t even take us into his practice. We finally found someone who understands. She is an awesome pediatrician! So something good came of it in the end,”she said.

The Precautionary Approach: Children Are Not All the Same

There are enlightened pediatricians, who do take the precautionary approach to vaccination because they care about preventing vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. They want to be partners with parents in making personalized health care decisions for children because they know that children are not all the same[20] and that some children are not able to handle the process of vaccination. [21]

Please don’t be afraid to stand up for your human right to protect your child from harm. Especially if your child has already experienced a vaccine reaction, search until you find a compassionate pediatrician or family practice doctor, who will work with you to make the best health care decisions for your child.

It’s your health, your family, your choice.

CA Bill to Restrict Personal Belief Exemption Passes

On Aug. 27 an amended California bill (AB2109) to restrict a parent’s ability to obtain a personal belief exemption to vaccination for their child to attend school, passed the Assembly by a vote of 49 to 24. The bill will force parents filing a non-medical exemption to pay for an appointment with a medical doctor or state-designated medical worker and ask for a signature that permits the parent to obtain an exemption for religious, conscientious or philosophical beliefs.

School Nurses, Not Pharmacists Can Sign the Form

The bill was vigorously debated on the Senate floor on Aug. 24 after an amendment had been added to allow school nurses to sign the personal belief exemption form but denied pharmacists the right to sign the form due to opposition from the bill’s sponsor, pediatrician Richard Pan, M.D. (D-Sacramento). There are fewer than 2500 nurses working in California’s 10,000 schools but there are more than 300,000 pharmacists working in local drug stores.

Contact Governor Jerry Brown And Make Your Voice Heard

If Governor Jerry Brown signs AB2109 into law, it will take effect on Jan. 1, 2014. If you want to tell Governor Brown what you think about AB2109, sign up for NVIC’s Advocacy Portal and be put in touch with him with the touch of your I-phone screen or click of a computer mouse.

Watch the Aug. 24 Senate floor debate on AB2109 here. (scroll in to 4 hours, 20 minutes, 27 seconds)

Read the text of A2109 here.

REFERENCES:
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[1] CDC. Smallpox Vaccinations and Adverse Reactions: Guidance for Clinicians.Postvaccinal Central Nervous System Disease. MMWR Feb. 21, 2003; 52(RR04): 1-28.

[2] Fisher BL. Smallpox and Forced Vaccination: What Every American Needs to Know. NVIC 2002

.[3] Hemachudha T. Griffin DE et al. Myelin basic protein as an encephalitogen in encephalomyelitis and polyneuritis following rabies vaccination. N Engl J Med 1987; 316(7): 369-374.

[4] Miller DL, Ross EM et al.Pertussis Immunization and Serious Acute Neurological Illness in Children. BMJ 1981; 282: 1595-1599.

[5] Vaccine Safety Committee, Institute of Medicine. Adverse Events Association with Childhood Vaccines: Evidence Bearing on Causality. Neurologic Disorders. Washington, D.C. The National Academies Press 1994.

[6] Institute of Medicine. DPT Vaccine and Chronic Nervous System Dysfunction: A New Analysis. Washington, D.C.The National Academies Press 1994.

[7] Tunkel AR, Glaser CA et al. The Management of Encephalitis: Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis 2008; 47(3): 303-327.

[8] Vezzani A. Inflammation and Epilepsy. Epilepsy Curr 2005; 5(1): 1-6.

[9] National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Curing Epilepsy: The Promise of Research. National Institutes of Health Dec. 21, 2011.

[10] Berg JM. Neurological Complications of Pertussis Immunization. BMJ 1958; 2:24-27.

[11] Kulenkampff M, Schwartzman JS, Wilson J. Neurological complications of Pertussis Vaccination. Arch Dis Child1974; 46-49.

[12] CDC. Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP) Diptheria,Tetanus and Pertussis: Guidelines for Vaccine Prophylaxis and Other Protective Measures. Precautions and Contraindications. MMWRJuly 12, 1985; 34(27): 405-414; 419-426.

[13] Stetler HC, Orenstein WA. History of Convulsions and Use of Pertussis Vaccine. J Pediatr 1985; 107(2): 175-179.

[14] Evans G. National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act: Revision of the Vaccine Injury Table.Pediatrics 1995; 98(6): 1179-1181.

[15] Zimmerman B, Gold R, Lavi S. Adverse effects of immunization: Is prevention possible? Postgrad Med 1987 82(5): 225-229; 232.

[16] National Vaccine Program Office, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. Safety: Potential Side Effects (DTaP).Vaccines.gov. Aug. 20, 2012.


[19] CDC. Chart of Contraindications and Precautions to Commonly Used Vaccines. July 17, 2012.

[20] Stratton K, Ford A, Rusch E, Clayton EW, editors. Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality.(Evaluating Biological Mechanisms of Adverse Events: Increased Susceptibility). Institute of Medicine Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press 2011.

[21] Fisher BL. The Need for a Study Comparing Health Outcomes of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Children. Institute of Medicine Committee on the Assessment of Studies of Health Outcomes Related to the Recommended Childhood Vaccination Schedule. Feb. 9, 2012 Meeting.

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