Doctors Slam Parents for Vaccine Choices & FDA Licenses New Combo Vaccine

Posted: 6/26/2012

by Barbara Loe Fisher

On June 13, 2012, a study conducted by government health employees working at the Oregon Health Authority and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was published in Pediatrics, a medical journal owned by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).[1]

Government Tracking Systems Identify Oregon Parents

Using electronic vaccine records tracking systems, public health doctors concluded that about 10 percent of parents living in Portland, Oregon are making independent decisions about how many vaccines their babies should get and when they should get them. Those parents are rejecting the CDC’s aggressive vaccination schedule[2] promoted by the AAP that directs pediatricians to give two to six month old babies between seven to nine vaccines on the same day –no exceptions.

Doctors Demonize Parents Making Informed Vaccine Decisions

Public health doctors are slapping the label of “shot limiters” on parents giving their babies fewer vaccines. It has become fashionable in medical journals and media circles[3] to demonize these parents, who engage in critical thinking about vaccination and follow their conscience instead of saluting smartly and doing what doctors tell them to do – no questions asked.

Can an attack on the legal right for Oregon parents to exercise religious exemption to vaccination be far behind?[4]


FDA Licenses New Combo Vaccine For Babies

Ironically, on June 14, the FDA awarded GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a license to sell MenHibrix, a new vaccine that combines two meningitis vaccines into one shot.[5][6] The FDA had rejected the license in 2010 and 2011 because, reportedly, the British drug company giant was having trouble proving the vaccine actually worked.[7]

FDA Advisory Committee Cut Out of Licensing Process

This time, FDA staff did not bother to ask for an opinion from the agency’s own vaccine advisory committee before giving GSK the green light to market MenHibrix in the U.S. for babies as young as six weeks old. In a letter, FDA official Marion Gruber, PhD, told the company that “We did not refer your application to an additional VRBPAC [review] because our review of information submitted in your BLA, including the clinical study design and trial results, did not raise particular concerns or controversial issues which would have benefited from an advisory committee discussion.”[8]

Really? Sounds like some FDA officials didn’t want Advisory Committee members to ask the drug company lots of questions about this new vaccine, just like CDC and AAP officials don’t want parents to ask lots of questions about ANY vaccine.

Nine or Ten Vaccines On One Day: Where’s the Science?

MenHibrix has not yet been studied in combination with every one of the other vaccines already given to babies simultaneously.[9] But that is not likely to stop pediatricians from assuming safety and throwing MenHibrix into the mix - for a grand total of nine or ten vaccines given to tiny babies on the same day.[10]

Even premature babies weighing less than four and a half pounds are subjected to the mindless one-size-fits all “no exceptions” vaccine schedule.[11][12] Where is the solid scientific evidence that it is safe or effective to give eight or nine vaccines to an eight or nine pound newborn?

Where is the solid evidence that babies, who get more than two-dozen doses of vaccines by age six months, are healthier as they grow up than those, who get fewer vaccines or fewer vaccines on one day? No large, prospective studies have been done comparing the long-term health outcomes of children, who are vaccinated according to the CDC schedule, with those, who are not.[13]

It is no wonder that smart parents – like the ones in Oregon - are challenging the wisdom of the bloated and expensive vaccine schedule and are telling doctors and legislators: “Show Us the Science, and Give Us the Choice.”[14]

CDC Officials Might Vote in October: What Will They Do?

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has not yet voted on what to tell pediatricians to do with MenHibrix. That vote is rumored to be taking place in October.[15]

Will government health officials do the right thing and make this an optional vaccine? Or will they give another big pharmaceutical corporation a guaranteed, liability free market by adding four doses of an expensive new vaccine to the child vaccine schedule so parents can be forced to buy it and give it to their newborns – no questions asked and no choices allowed?

Parents are watching. Stay tuned.



References

[1] Robison SG, Groom H, Young C. Frequency of Alternative Immunization Schedule Use in a Metropolitan Area. Pediatrics. Published online June 18, 2012. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/06/13/peds.2011-3154.abstract

[3] Seaman AM. More Oregon Kids on “Alternative” Vaccine Schedules. Reuters/Chicago Tribune. June 18, 2012.

[4] Anderson J. Religious Exemptions Tilt Immunization’s Balance. Portland Tribune. Feb. 16, 2012.

[5] Food and Drug Administration. FDA Approves New Combination Vaccine That Protects Children Against Two Bacterial Diseases. Press Release: June 14, 2012.

[7] Reuters. US Approves Glaxo Meningitis Vaccine for Children. FoxNews.com. June 15, 2012.

[8] Gruber M. June 14 (2012) Approval Letter – MenHibrix. FDA Office of Vaccines, Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. June 14, 2012.

[9] Ibid.

[10] See Reference #2.

[13] Fisher BL. Need for A Study Comparing Health Outcomes of Children, Who Have and Have Not Been Vaccinated According to the Federally Recommended Schedule. Referenced, written statement based on oral presentation to the Institute of Medicine Committee on Assessment of Studies of Health Outcomes Related to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule. Feb. 9, 2012 Meeting at Pew Charitable Trust, Washington, D.C.

[15] McBride R. GSK Grabs FDA Nod for Combo Meningitis Vaccine. Fierce Biotech. June 15, 2012.



Americans Fight for Vaccine Choices

Posted: 5/14/2012

Philosophical Exemption To Vaccination Saved in Vermont!

by Barbara Loe Fisher

“I never thought this would turn into the mess it turned into.” – State Senator Kevin Mullin (R-Rutland), co-sponsor of a failed bill to eliminate philosophical exemption to vaccination in Vermont.

In the first five months of 2012, NVIC staff and volunteers have helped citizens in Vermont and California take a stand in the historic state-based fight against Big Pharma, medical trade associations and government health lobbyists pressuring legislators to eliminate the legal right to exercise personal belief exemptions to vaccination in America. Personal belief exemptions include those for sincerely held religious, conscientious and philosophical beliefs.

The proliferation of new vaccines that have been added in the past 25 years to the government mandated child vaccination schedule, coupled with growing awareness that many highly vaccinated children are chronically ill, is powering the new citizen activism. Educated mothers and fathers have joined with enlightened health care professionals and are publicly defending the human right to exercise informed consent to medical risk-taking, which includes the legal right of parents of minor children to weigh the benefits and risks of vaccines and make voluntary vaccination decisions.

Educating One Legislator At A Time

Ground zero this year has been Vermont (S199) and California (AB2109). NVIC Director of State Advocacy, Dawn Richardson said, “We are educating one legislator at a time. Many are telling us that they have never taken a critical look at vaccine mandates and are surprised at what they are learning. They see smart, articulate parents taking a rational and principled stand for the freedom to make voluntary decisions about vaccinating their children and it is changing their views. They realize that a lot of the information being given to them by lobbyists, who are trying to take away personal belief exemptions, is just plain wrong.”

U.S. – More Vaccinations for Children Than Other Countries

U.S. government health officials tell doctors to give children more vaccinations more often than in any other country in the world – 69 doses of 16 vaccines from day of birth to age 18. 12 The majority of these vaccinations are legally required in every state for children to get a public education. 3

The world’s third largest country with a population of over 300 million people, America has one of the highest child population vaccination rates. Nationwide by age three, 95 percent of all children are vaccinated with three or more doses of pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus vaccines and more than 90 percent are vaccinated with three or more doses of polio, HIB, pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccines plus one or more doses of measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) vaccines.[4] The majority have also received multiple doses of rotavirus and hepatitis A vaccines.

Today Everybody Knows Somebody

Today, everybody knows somebody who was healthy, got vaccinated and was never healthy again. Among America’s highly vaccinated child population, today 1 child 6 is learning disabled; 5 1 in 9 is asthmatic; 6 1 in 88 develops autism 7 and 1 in 450 becomes diabetic. 8 Children are paying a high price for being forced to submit to one-size-fits-all vaccine mandates as many American parents are placed in the untenable position of choosing between protecting the health of their children and educating their children.

One-size-fits-all state vaccine mandates do not take into account large gaps in the vaccine safety science and individual increased susceptibility for vaccine harm, which was acknowledged by the Institute of Medicine in their 2011 report Vaccine Adverse Effects: Evidence and Causality.9 State vaccine mandates do not take into account the fact that pediatricians are refusing to provide medical care to children unless they have received every dose of vaccine that the government and the AAP recommends, even when children have suffered previous vaccine reaction symptoms because very few vaccine reaction symptoms or health disorders now qualify for a medical exemption to vaccination. 10

Children Endangered by Elimination of Personal Belief Exemptions

The elimination of vaccine exemptions for personal religious and conscientious beliefs has very real consequences for those at increased biological susceptibility for suffering reactions, injuries and deaths from vaccines sold by profit-seeking pharmaceutical corporations that Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have shielded from civil liability.11

As more pediatricians, who are also shielded from civil liability, refuse to acknowledge vaccine reactions or write medical exemptions to vaccination, the non-medical exemptions are the only option for many parents trying to protect their vaccine vulnerable children from further harm.

NVIC Educating Vaccine Freedom Fighters in the States

Citizen advocates, who believe in the human right to informed consent to vaccine risk-taking, are facing a wealthy, well-organized and politically powerful lobby of Pharma-funded medical trade associations, like the American Academy of Pediatrics12 13 that have joined with state public health officials to persuade state legislators to shut off all legal avenues for parents to make voluntary vaccine choices for their children. 14

NVIC’s Director of Advocacy, Dawn Richardson, who successfully led a seven-year effort to obtain conscientious belief exemption to vaccination in Texas in 2003, manages the online NVIC Advocacy Portal she designed in 2010. Assisted by Cindy Loveland, longtime Colorado vaccine choice advocate, she is educating users of the Advocacy Portal about how to become effective vaccine choice freedom fighters in the states. NVIC Vermont state Advocacy Director, Jennifer Stella, said “We would never have been able to navigate through the legislative process without NVIC and, specifically, without Dawn’s coaching and coordination.”

Vermonters Save Philosophical Exemption

The state of Vermont is rated the Number One “healthiest” state 15 in the nation. In 2010 in Vermont, the CDC measured a very high 96 percent pertussis vaccination rate, 16 as well as a 93 measles vaccination rate, 17 among children aged 19 to 35 months.

Even so, at the beginning of January, parents living in the “healthiest” state were shocked to find out that a bill (S199) was being pushed by the state’s Health Commissioner to strip the philosophical belief exemption to vaccination from state public health laws. 18 In 2010-2011, only 360 children in Vermont schools were exempted from vaccinations because their parents filed a philosophical belief exemption to vaccination.

Within a month, outraged Vermonters organized the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice 19 and the Coalition’s co-founder, Jennifer Stella, volunteered to be NVIC’s Vermont state director.

Powerful Doctors Push Eliminating Personal Belief Exemption

S199 was introduced in the state Senate by Kevin Mullin, who is VT chair of the Pharma-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),20 and was introduced in the state House by Representative George Till, M.D., at the request of Harry Chen, M.D., Vermont’s Health Commissioner. Dr. Chen, who was a Vermont state representative and former chair of the Vermont House Health Care Committee for four years, has publicly downplayed vaccine risks. 21

S199 was supported by the VT Dept. of Health and state government supported institutions, such as the University of Vermont, as well as medical trade associations that receive money from pharmaceutical corporations selling vaccines in the U.S., including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), March of Dimes, Every Child by Two and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Other organizations endorsing elimination of the philosophical exemption included the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, Fletcher Allen, Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, Voices for VT Children, Vermont Pharmacists Association, Rutland Medical Center, and Vermont Medical Society.

Bill Rammed Through in the Senate

Senator Mullin introduced S199 in early January with strong backing from Pharma and medical trade association lobbyists. The bill was quickly rammed through the Senate without a public hearing and passed overwhelmingly with a nearly unanimous 25-4 vote.

“The Senate vote came after lobbyists gave senators misinformation that parents were making decisions about vaccination based on bad information they were finding on the internet,” said Jennifer Stella. “The lobbyists claimed that the unvaccinated were to blame for disease outbreaks and that exemption rates were rising and vaccination rates were low in Vermont when none of that was true.”

Parents Speak Out and Demonstrate Against Bill

Nicole Matten speaks at a March 15, 2012 demonstration in the Vermont state Capitol  protesting legislation (S.199) removing the philosophical exemption to vaccination.By the end of February, the parents of seven year old Kaylynne Matten, who died in Vermont after a routine flu shot in December 2011, began speaking out about the need to keep the philosophical exemption intact. Watch an NVIC video referenced commentary that includes an interview with Kaylynne’s parents.

By March 15, the newly formed Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice held a public demonstration in Montpelier, the state Capitol. 22 The Vermont Coalition founders created a website and Facebook page and secured 1500 signatures on a petition opposing the bill. They worked closely with NVIC to develop strategy and keep parents informed on a daily basis with nightly conference calls, email and web and Facebook updates and through Action Alerts posted on the NVIC Advocacy Portal.

Dawn Richardson commented that parents in Washington state learned a lot last year from the fast track passing of legislation (SB5005) that forces parents to pay to get the signature of a medical doctor in order to obtain a philosophical belief exemption to vaccination. “NVIC Washington state volunteer, Karl Kanthak, fought against the passage of SB5005 last year and he brought his experience to the table in counseling parents in Vermont,” she said. “He emphasized how important it was to quickly educate legislators with the “facts,” including the fact that vaccination rates for core vaccines like pertussis and measles continue to be high in Vermont and were not falling like the Vermont Health Commissioner Chen claimed.”

Parents Pack House Hearing Room

After Vermont parents protested that the VT Senate had held no public hearings on the bill, in March the House Health Care Committee held a hearing with invited testimony and an evening public hearing. During invited testimony, Dawn Richardson presented orally via telephone on behalf of NVIC’s Vermont supporters in opposition to the bill. Also testifying in opposition were the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice (Jennifer Stella); Vermont Chiropractic Association (Dr. Julia McDaniels, Dr. Erik Hemmit); Center for Personal Rights (Mary Holland, JD) and Alan Philips, JD.

At an evening meeting on March 21, Vermont families and health professionals opposing the bill packed the House hearing room and, at public comment time, each had a chance to face off with a few medical doctors, who attended to endorse the bill. 23

Bill Amended to Include Parental Admission of Risk

An amended version of S. 199 that retained the philosophical exemption was voted out of the House Health Care Committee and overwhelmingly approved by the full House in a vote on April 13 after bill sponsors Dr. Till and Paul Poirer tried to block the amendment. 24 While the amended version kept the philosophical exemption intact, it required parents to review vaccine benefit information and sign a statement every year acknowledging that taking the exemption will pose a risk to the health of their child and society.

In the media, Jennifer Stella argued that the bill’s sponsors were exaggerating the “decline” in vaccination in the state by counting kids “unvaccinated” if they have missed just one dose of state mandated vaccines and she questioned vaccine effectiveness, pointing to reported cases of disease in fully vaccinated children.25

VT Coalition & NVIC Oppose Conference Committee Compromise

On April 30, a specially appointed House and Senate Conference Committee created and voted on a compromise to S199 that would retain the philosophical exemption unless the statewide vaccination rate drops below 90 percent for pertussis and MMR vaccine and then the Health Commissioner would suspend the philosophical exemption for those vaccines.26 27

The Vermont Coalition for Vaccination Choice and NVIC opposed the compromise that included an arbitrary 90 percent vaccination rate cap for certain vaccines that could be used in the future to eliminate the right to obtain a philosophical belief exemption. Jennifer Stella commented “It basically says that only 10 percent of Vermonters get to use that right.”

Through NVIC Advocacy Portal Action Alerts and information posted on the NVIC Facebook and Vermont Coalition Facebook pages, the public was kept informed day to day about what was happening in the Vermont state Capitol. Vermont parents and health professionals called, emailed and traveled to Montpelier to educate legislators and their staffs one-on-one with factual, referenced information about vaccination issues.

A Delayed Vote and Language Inserted Targeting Teachers

A vote had been scheduled in the House on May 2 on the S199 compromise but it was postponed.

On May 3, behind the scenes modifications to the bill were made that removed the 90 percent vaccination rate cap and kept the philosophical exemption intact. However, the language, which forces parents to sign a statement that they agree that taking the exemption endangers their child and society, remained in the bill. In addition, a “feasibility study” was added by bill supporters to pave the way for teachers and all school personnel to be required to show proof they are up-to-date on all government recommended vaccines in order to stay employed.

Philosophical Exemption Saved, Bill on Governor’s Desk

There were no public hearings on the amended bill and it passed the House on May 3 with a nearly unanimous 133-6 vote. On May 5, the Senate followed suit with a 20-5 vote.
The bill is now on Governor Peter Shumlin’s desk for signature. Governor Shumlin was on record in April as supporting retaining the philosophical exemption, which was in direct conflict with the lobbying efforts by state Health Commissioner Chen to remove it.

A front-page article in the VT Burlington Free Press noted that this attempt to eliminate the philosophical exemption to vaccination from Vermont public health laws failed. Tom McLeod, a key member of the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice, was quoted as saying, “The most dangerous place in the woods is between a mother bear and her cubs.” 28

NVIC Advocacy Portal Played Key Role

Vermont’s experience demonstrates how effective the free online NVIC Advocacy Portal can be in offering citizens in every state the opportunity to plug into a network of experienced and motivated, vaccine choice advocates. You can join with like-minded citizens in your state today and educate your state legislators about the importance of protecting informed consent and parental rights.

If you are not a registered user of NVIC’s Advocacy Portal please sign up today. When legislation starts moving in your state that will take away your right to make voluntary vaccine choices, you will receive an Action Alert and be put in instant touch with your legislators via your smart phone or computer.

Remember to thank your legislators for listening to your concerns and voting to protect vaccine exemptions with a thank you email or phone call. In Vermont, please send copies of any correspondence you send or receive from your legislator to VTDirector@NVICAdvocacy.org.

California Anti-Choice Legislation Needs to be Stopped

In late February, a California pediatrician legislator, Assemblyman Richard Pan, M.D., introduced a bill to impose restrictions on the personal belief exemption to vaccination. The bill has moved quickly through the Democrat-controlled California legislature.

California law allows a personal belief exemption to vaccination, which includes both religious and conscientious or philosophical beliefs. The bill will force parents, who are filing a personal belief exemption with the state so their children can attend school, to pay a medical doctor or other designated medical practitioner (D.O., medical assistant, nurse practitioner or N.D. under the supervision of an M.D.) for an appointment to have the personal belief exemption form signed. Without a medical provider signature, the personal belief exemption form will not be valid and the child will be barred from attending school.

The bill was amended by the House on April 23 and passed by the House with a 44-19 vote on May 10. It is headed for the VT Senate.

With many pediatricians refusing to treat children, whose parents decline to give their children every AAP and government recommended vaccine on schedule, a majority of families wanting to file a personal belief exemption to vaccination for religious or conscientiously held beliefs, may effectively be denied that right.

Watch an NVIC public service message about this bill.

Watch a public hearing on this bill, which included testimony opposing the bill from Dawn Winkler, NVIC California Advocacy Co-Director and pediatrician Bob Sears, M.D..

If you are in California, you can join the fight against AB2109 at http://NVICAdvocacy.org. When you register, you will automatically be placed on your California state email list to receive critical action alerts to fight this bill. Bill status information and steps you can take to fight AB2109 in the Senate are posted on the California state page on the NVIC Advocacy Portal.

SC Bill to Promote HPV (Gardasil) Vaccine

On April 18 South Carolina’s Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs passed H 4497 - “The Cervical Cancer Prevention Act” and is being fast tracked. The bill, if passed, would require beginning with the 2012-2013 school year the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to offer the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Vaccine to all female students enrolling in the 7th grade.


References

1 Centers for Disease Control. 2012 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules.
2 Miller NZ, Goldman GS. Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?Human and Experimental Toxicology: Published online May 4, 2011.
5 Boyle CA, Boulet S et al. Trends in the Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in US Children 1997-2000. Pediatrics. Published online May 23, 2011.
9 Stratton K, Ford A, Rusch E, Clayton EW, editors. Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality. Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines. Institute of Medicine: National Academies Press. 2011. Pages 70-78
10 NVIC. Vaccine Freedom Wall. Public reports of threats, coercion and sanctions for making informed choices about use of one or more vaccines.
11 Fisher, BL. The Health Liberty Revolution & Forced Vaccination. NVIC Vaccine E-News. Aug. 23, 2012.
12 Attkisson S. How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders? CBS News. July 25, 2008.
13 Orange County Register. CORRECTION re: August 4, 2008 article “Dr. Paul Offit Responds.” April 18, 2011.
14 Fisher BL. Vermont Parents Fight to Save Philosophical Exemption. NVIC Vaccine E-News. Feb. 21, 2012.
15 Harding A. Vermont, New Hampshire Top List of Healthiest States. CNN Health. Dec. 6, 011.
16 CDC. See Reference # 1.
17 CDC. See Reference #2.
18 The Vermont Legislative Bill Tracking System. 2011/2012 Legislative Session. S. 199 Bill Text and Status.
19 Panebaker A. Parents Hold Fast to Exemptions for Vaccines. Vermont Digger.org. Feb. 28, 2012.
20 Kentish E. Kentish: ALEC’s Ugly Duckling (OpEd). VTDigger.org. April 19, 2012.
22 ABC 22 (Burlington, VT). Parents Rally Against Vaccine Bills. March 15, 2012.
24 Gram D. VT House Debates Childhood Immunization Law. Boston Globe. April 12, 2012.
26 Panebaker A. Conference Committee Agrees on Vaccine Compromise. VTDigger.org. April 30, 2012.
27 Hallenbeck T. VT Buzz: Vaccinations Prove Vexing to the End to VT Lawmakers. Burlington Free Press. April 30, 2012.
28 Hallenbeck T. Legislature Votes to Preserve Vaccination Exemption. Burlington Free Press (front page). May 4, 2012.

The Vaccine Injured: Where Has Compassion Gone?

Posted 12/08/2011

By Barbara Loe Fisher

During this season of remembrance and thanksgiving, I am grateful for the blessings that I have had in my life, including the hard times, when I learned that faith and hope can overcome fear and doubt. Adversity can make us stronger but it is also an opportunity to feel and offer compassion to others to ease their suffering.

In great numbers,[1] Americans reach out to help victims of hurricanes,[2] floods, earthquakes,[3] poverty,[4] violence[5] and disease.[6] Journalists often profile individuals, who are suffering from adversity: the earthquake survivors in Haiti;[7] the victims of hate crimes;[8] children living in poverty dying from starvation and neglect.[9] These stories of human suffering are reminders of why we should listen to our conscience[10] and act in compassionate ways to lessen the suffering of others.

The ability to have compassion for others is an antidote to cruelty, inequality, injustice, and tyranny.

Valuing Individual Life, Freedom & Compassion

America was founded by men and women immigrants, who had personally suffered oppression and adversity, and knew how important it is to treat individuals with respect and compassion. There is a ringing endorsement in the U.S. Declaration of Independence for the individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,[11] and in the Constitution for the right to freedom of speech and personal religious beliefs.[12] Perhaps it is that fundamental appreciation for the value of the individual, which is part of our history and culture, that has taught us to value conscience and compassion.

Vaccine Injured Not Treated with Compassion

So it is sad to see what happens in America today when babies, children and adults react to vaccines and become permanently injured or even die.[13] [14] [15] [16] When healthy people suffer complications from infectious diseases, they are treated with compassion.[17] [18] [19] [20] But when healthy people suffer complications from vaccination, often they are not treated with compassion.[21] [22] Many times, vaccine victims [23] [24] [25] are victimized all over again by those, who deny the reality of what happened [26] [27] [28] or use a utilitarian [29] [30] [31] rationale to dismiss them as acceptable losses in the War on Infectious Disease.[32] [33] [34] [35]

Media Failing to Protect Vaccine Injured & Safety Advocates

In the past decade, this persecution of a growing minority of vaccine-injured citizens has been facilitated by the fourth estate,[36] the free press, which has historically served as a check and balance on inequality and injustice in America.[37] The vital function of a free press, ensured in the U.S. Constitution, is failing to do what it could do to protect the health and lives of the vaccine injured[38] [39] or defend freedom of speech for citizens calling for inclusion of vaccine safety and informed consent protections[40] in public health policies and laws,[41] [42] [43] while the chronic disease and disability epidemic destroys the health and economic stability of our nation[44] [45] [46] [47] [48] and the public health community has no answers, so the band plays on.

Institute of Medicine Acknowledges Vaccine Safety Science Gaps

The Institute of Medicine issued an historic report this year that acknowledged there is not enough quality vaccine science in the medical literature to determine whether or not many of the vaccines routinely given to children and adults cause more than 100 different types of brain and immune system dysfunction.[49]

These are serious inflammatory brain and immune system disorders, which are part of the exploding chronic disease epidemic in America, and range from heart and blood disorders to strokes, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, GBS, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, diabetes and encephalitis that can lead to seizures, learning disabilities and autism.

Institute of Medicine Acknowledges Individual Biological Susceptibility

In that historic report, the Institute of Medicine also acknowledged there are pre-existing biological susceptibilities that can make some individuals more vulnerable than others for suffering harm from vaccination, such as genetic variations; age or developmental stage at the time of vaccination; coinciding illness or other environmental exposures.[50]

If one-size-fits-all vaccine policies and mandates are putting an unknown number of biologically susceptible individuals at risk for injury and death, why do so few doctors care or want to do something about it?

Doctors Denying Medical Care to Families

It is disturbing to watch doctors, who we have always believed to be the most compassionate among us, coldly turn away families questioning the government policy of giving children 69 doses of 16 vaccines.[51] [52] Families wanting to choose or delay vaccines, are being denied medical care even if children have experienced previous vaccine reactions or have become chronically ill and disabled after vaccination and could be made sicker if more vaccines are given.[53]
How unethical.

Doctors Tell Employees: Get Vaccinated or Be Fired

It is shocking that health care professionals are being threatened by doctors running hospitals and medical facilities that, if they do not obey orders to get an annual flu shot, they will be fired [54] [55] [56] - even if they are pregnant; have had previous vaccine reactions or have medical conditions that could be made a lot worse if they get more vaccines.[57]
How heartless.

Doctors Strip Parents of Legal Right to Make Vaccine Decisions for Minor Children

It is hard to accept that doctors we have trusted are pressuring our elected state legislators to pass laws stripping us of the legal right to make medical risk decisions for our children so minor children can be given vaccines without a parent’s knowledge or consent.[58] [59]
How dangerous.

Pharma Funded Doctor Associations Attack Vaccine Safety Advocates

It is frightening to know that medical trade associations and doctors taking money from drug companies[60] [61] [62] [63] are mounting disinformation campaigns to demonize vaccine safety advocates[64] and censor public access to information about health and vaccination so the American people cannot make fully informed vaccine decisions.[65]
How ignorant.

Mainstream Media Facilitates Public Attacks on Advocates

And it is tragic to witness the mainstream media facilitating the public attack on vaccine victims and those calling for a move away from one-size-fits all vaccine mandates[66] [67] that punish individuals, who are biologically vulnerable to vaccine reactions in part because of the genes they inherited.[68] [69]
How cruel.

Vaccine Makers & Doctors Giving Vaccines Shielded from Liability

In 1986, Congress passed a law acknowledging that vaccines can and do cause brain and immune system damage and that more should be done to protect individuals from vaccine injury and death.[70] In that law, Congress shielded drug companies selling vaccines and doctors giving vaccines from civil lawsuits when someone is seriously injured or dies after being vaccinated.
So why are doctors, who are shielded from liability, so unwilling to treat vaccine injured children and their families with compassion or understand the need for people to have the freedom to protect themselves and their loved ones from vaccine injury?

Loss of Compassion Leads to Exploitation

When you enter the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., you see an inscription that says “The first to perish were the children…. From these a new dawn might have risen.”[71]

The loss of compassion and, then, freedom in any society always begins with people looking the other way when those in power justify exploiting a vulnerable minority for what they say is the benefit of the majority.

NVIC: Three Decades of Defending Informed Consent Rights

It has been 30 years since the parent co-founders of our non-profit charity, the National Vaccine Information Center, launched the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America. We were parents of children, for whom the risks of vaccination had been 100 percent, and we took on the mission of preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the human right to informed consent to medical risk-taking.

That is still our mission.

During this holiday season, please consider sending a donation – no matter how big or small - to the National Vaccine Information Center so we can continue to fight for the freedom for Americans to use every government vaccine, a few vaccines or choose other preventive health care options for staying well. You can make a tax-deductible donation online at NVIC.org.

You can also visit NVIC’s Vaccine Freedom Wall on our website and read the true stories told by Americans, whose parental and informed consent rights are being violated in schools, doctors’ offices, hospitals and state legislatures across our nation.

You can sign up to be a user of NVIC’s free online Advocacy Portal and learn how to stand up in your state for the legal right to make informed, voluntary vaccine choices.

And if you or a loved one has suffered a vaccine reaction, injury or death, please consider going to our website to share your story on NVIC’s Memorial for Vaccine Victims and make a report to the federal vaccine adverse event reporting system.

Compassionate Doctors Will Count & Minimize Vaccine Casualties

During this season of remembrance and thanksgiving, I pray that doctors developing, selling, giving and promoting the use of vaccines will stop to consider the way they are treating the vaccine injured and their families. I pray that they find it in their hearts to replace their fear, anger, doubt and prejudice with compassion and take positive steps to accurately count and minimize the numbers of vaccine casualties rather than dismissing them as a “coincidence” or unimportant.

Thank You for Your Encouragement and Support

Thank you to all who have financially supported the National Vaccine Information Center this year and throughout the past three decades. You have made it possible for us to continue this life-affirming work. We also are grateful for your cards and letters of encouragement as they help strengthen our faith and hope in the future.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and may your New Year be filled with many opportunities to celebrate life and offer compassion to those facing adversity.

Watch a video profile of a family with three generations of vaccine reactions struggling to protect their healthy children from becoming vaccine injured.

Watch a video profile of a Professor of Nursing, who suffered a reaction to a flu shot and was left paralyzed.


REFERENCES
[1] The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. U.S. Charitable Giving Shows Modest Uptick in 2010 Following Two Years of Declines: Donations of 290.89 billion. June 20, 2011.
[2] Godlasky A. How to Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina. USA Today. Sept. 2, 2005.
[3] Sydell, L. Donations to Haiti Pour In Via Text Message. NPR. Jan. 14, 2010.
[4] Post T. Setting a Goal to End Poverty and Hunger in the United States. Bread for the World Institute. February 2009.
[5] National Network to End Domestic Violence.
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[23] Conrick T. Parents Find It Hard to Ignore Evidence of Vaccine Injury. Janesville Gazette (WI). Dec. 5, 2011.
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[50] Ibid. Page 70.
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[52] Four Seasons Pediatrics Vaccine Policy. Four Seasons Pediatrics, Clifton, NY.
[53] NVIC. Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall. Harassment reports.
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[55] Fisher BL. Forcing Flu Shots on Health Care Workers: Who Is Next? NVIC Vaccine E-Newsletter. Sept. 29, 2010.
[56] Fox Phoenix. HealthCare Group: Get a Flu Shot or Get Fired. Fox-TV. Aug. 31, 2011.
[57] NVIC. Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall. Harassment reports.
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[61] Orange County Register. CORRECTION re: August 4, 2008 article “Dr. Paul Offit Responds.” April 18, 2011.
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[64] Fisher BL. Advocacy Panel Statement to National Vaccine Advisory Committee at Vaccine Safety Working Group Stakeholder Meeting. June 13, 2011.
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[66] Fisher BL. Using Fear & Prejudice to Attack Vaccine Exemptions. NVIC Vaccine Newsletter. Aug. 4, 2010.
[67] Fisher BL. Amy Wallace & Yellow Journalism. NVIC Vaccine Newsletter. Sept. 9, 2010.
[68] See Reference #45.
[69] Poland GA. Adversomics: The Emerging Field of Vaccine Adverse Event Immunogenetics. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2009; May 28(5): 431-432.
[70] NVIC. National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.
[71] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Children’s Tile Wall.

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