"The Israel Defense Forces will provide the ethics bureau of the Israeli Medical Association with all the details of secret experimental anthrax vaccine trials it carried out on over 800 soldiers since 1999. A committee will be established to probe whether the trials adhered to World Medical Association ethical requirements relating to human clinical trials as set out in the Helsinki Declaration....Years after the receiving the experimental Israeli vaccine, soldiers continued to suffer unexplained skin tumors, severe lung infections, serious migraine headaches, bronchitis and even epilepsy symptoms.....One of the soldiers who took part in the experiment told Uvda "They said that one group would receive the American vaccine, and the other group would receive the experimental Israel vaccine. "They specifically explained to us that the vaccine is not dangerous and that we were not being injected with the actual virus, not even the dead virus. Instead, they said they would inject us with the altered DNA of the virus. They said it was very advanced," added the soldier." - Yuval Azulai, Israel Haaretz
"The federal government is undertaking the most ambitious set of studies ever mounted under a controversial arrangement that allows researchers to conduct some kinds of medical experiments without first getting patients' permission.......We will never know the best way to treat people unless we do this research. And the only way we can do this research, since the person is unconscious, is without consent," said Myron L. Weisfeldt of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who is overseeing the project. "Even if there are family members present, they know their loved one is dying. The ambulance is there. The sirens are going off. You can't possibly imagine gaining a meaningful informed consent from someone under those circumstances." ............."This just seems like lazy investigators not wanting to try to get informed consent in situations where it is difficult to get it, so they say it is impossible," said George J. Annas, a Boston University bioethicist. "I don't think we should use people like this." Annas was particularly disturbed that children as young as 15 might be included in the research. "Suppose a 15-year-old child is in the back of a car that is in a terrible accident," Annas said. "The EMTs arrive and say: 'We are doing an experiment with two techniques. We think they are about equal. Is it okay if we flip a coin to see how we treat your son? Or would you rather we just give him the treatment we think is best?' Unless you think all parents would have the EMTs flip a coin, consent here is necessary." - Rob Stein, Washington Post , May 27, 2007
"The [Nigerian] government alleges that Pfizer researchers selected 200 children and infants from crowds at a makeshift epidemic camp in Kano and gave about half of the group an untested antibiotic called Trovan. Researchers gave the other children what the lawsuit describes as a dangerously low dose of a comparison drug made by Hoffman-LaRoche. Nigerian officials say Pfizer's actions resulted in the deaths of an unspecified number of children and left others deaf, paralyzed, blind or brain- damaged.......Parents were banned from the ward where the drug trial occurred, the suit says, and the company left no medical records in Nigeria. Pfizer and its doctors "agreed to do an illegal act," the criminal charges state, and behaved "in a manner so rash and negligent as to endanger human life." - Joe Stephens, The Washington Post , May 30, 2007
"The former head of China's top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death today after pleading guilty to corruption and accepting bribes.....the government said that while serving the agency he took bribes worth about $800,000 in exchange for approving drug production licenses. Worried that many of those drugs may be substandard, China is now reviewing over 170,000 production licenses issued by his agency over the past decade." - David Barboza, The New York Times ,May 29, 2007
"The number of drug marketing presentatioins delivered by doctors across the United States rose nearly threefold between 1998 and 2006, according to Verispan, a company that tracks drug marketing efforts. In some cases, consulting doctors are so well recognized that they offer drug makers far more than the chance to influence their own prescriptions. For drug makers, among the most prized consultants are those who write guidelines instructing their peers about how to use drugs......Drug companies are like lions," Dr. Grimm said of his sponsored talks. "For lions, it's their nature to kill zebras and eat them. For drug companies, it's their nature to make money. They're not really trying to improve anybody's health except if it makes them money.......A 2002 survey found that more than 80 percent of the doctors on panels that write clinical practice guidelines have financial ties to drug makers. "It is critical that the experts who write clinical guidelines be prohibited from having any conflicts of interest," said Dr. Marcia Angell, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. "Since they have no data themselves but are just making judgments based on their expertise, they absolutely must be impartial or it undermines the whole enterprise." - Gardiner Harris and Janet Roberts, New York Times , May 21, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
We have trusted medical doctors, government health officials and medical researchers to protect us individually and collectively from harm. We are conditioned from childhood to view educated health care professionals inside and outside of government as acting selflessly in our best interest because they are supposed to be dedicated to protecting and preserving human life.
In the past quarter century, medical doctors employed by government and the pharmaceutical industry have used ideology and the public trust to persuade citizens, without giving them informed consent, to take licensed or experimental drugs and vaccines. In some cases, they have wielded their power and influence to force children and adults to use vaccines and drugs they know have the potential to kill and injure. And when harm is caused, these same doctors and government officials either deny responsibility for the harm done or justify it in service to the "greater good."
There is a disturbing pattern of compromised ethical standards among too many medical doctors and government health officials, who are being lured into financial relationships with drug companies making and selling pharmaceutical products. The public trust, once freely given to them, is in crisis. That crisis of confidence has been fostered by the bad behavior of those who have lost their moral compass and exploited human beings in search of financial gain and career advancement.
The crippled Israeli soldiers subjected to anthrax vaccine experiments without their informed consent; the innocent Nigerian children injured and killed in antibiotic experiments without their parents' informed consent; the unsuspecting Chinese citizens hurt by toxic drugs and food without their informed consent; and the critically injured children and adults, who will be experimented on by Johns Hopkins researchers without their informed consent, are all casualties of an ethically compromised medical profession with unchecked power that needs to be curbed.
Trust but verify is the wisest course to take when following medical advice of any kind. The human right to informed consent to all medical interventions and use of pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, in non-emergency and emergency circumstances should be codified into law in the United States and all nations.
Bioethicist George Annas is one of the few remaining American biotethicists, who continues to defend without compromise the informed consent ethic and speaks out against incremental erosions of it by medical researchers seeking to conduct medical experiments on individuals without their permission. There is no moral justification for medical experimentation or forced use of pharmaceutical products by human beings without their informed consent or the voluntary consent of their parents.
At our peril, we allow doctors and government health officials today to violate the Nuremberg Code, which was issued by the judges of the Nuremberg Tribunal after The Doctor's Trial following World War II and served as the guiding ethical principle of informed consent protections governing medical interventions carrying a risk of injury or death. The first principle of the Nuremberg Code is:
"The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision."
The moral and economic leverage available to people of all countries to keep medical doctors and government health officials honest, is to legally secure the freedom to exercise informed consent to medical risk taking. Bioethicist Hans Jonas reminds us:
"Let us not forget that progress is an optional goal, not an unconditional commitment, and that its tempo in particular, compulsive as it may be, has nothing sacred about it. Let us also remember that a slower progress in the conquest of disease would not threaten society, grievous as it is to those who have to deplore that their particular disease be not yet conquered, but that society would indeed be threatened by the erosion of those moral values whose loss, possibly caused by too ruthless a pursuit of scientific progress, would make its most dazzling triumphs not worth having."
Merck's HPV Vaccine: Paralysis and Deaths
" The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Any state or local government now beset by Merck's lobbying campaigns to mandate this HPV vaccine for young girls ought to take a look at these adverse health reports. It looks as if an unproven vaccine with dangerous side effects is being pushed as a miracle drug." Judicial Watch filed its request on May 9, 2007, and received the adverse event reports from the FDA on May 15, 2007. Judicial Watch has posted the adverse event reports on their Internet site at: http://www.JudicialWatch.org." - Judicial Watch, May 23 statement
"Student Natasha D'Souza said she collapsed and was left paralysed for six hours after being injected. "I couldn't move at all. There were girls dropping like flies, basically," she said. Ms D'Souza said she had been vaccinated in the past but her reaction to Gardasil was different. Fellow student Brooke Levy, who was taken to hospital, said she thought she might pass out or vomit after she was vaccinated. But authorities believed their reactions were likely to be related to having an injection not the vaccine itself." - Danialle Cronin, Canberra Times, Australia
"Her legs are paralyzed, her arms are affected. She is very weak in her arms," said Tondra Vees a family friend. "She has to use a walker. Even with that, she can't get to the bathroom. She can't stand up at all." Vees said the girl has been determined by her doctor to have Guillain-Barre syndrome, an acute, autoimmune condition that can lead to paralysis. The girl.....received her first booster shot of the cervical cancer prevention vaccine Gardasil on May 2....Vees cites a report on the National Vaccine Information Center Web site, nvic.org, in which NVIC president Barbara Loe Fisher states, "There are twice as many children collapsing and four times as many children experiencing tingling, numbness and loss of sensation after getting a Gardasil vaccination compared to those getting a TDAP (tetanus-diphtheria- acellular pertussis) vaccination. There have been reports of facial paralysis and Guillain-Barre syndrome..." - Jo Rafferty, May 17 Nevada Appeal
"Assembly Bill 16 would require pupils to receive shots recommended by the federal government's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices -- a list that happens to include Gardasil -- after approval by the state health officer. Rick Rollens, a longtime Capitol staffer and lobbyist, pleaded with the Assembly Education Committee to hold up AB 16, saying his son "suffers from vaccine-induced regressive autism" and citing increasing evidence that childhood vaccines play a role in autism. He characterized AB 16 as "an outrageous and arrogant attempt" to shift vaccination mandates from the Legislature to a "non-accountable bureaucrat" and a remote federal committee. Nevertheless, the bill sailed through the Assembly's education and health committees...." - Dan Walters, May 17 Sacramento Bee
"In an editorial published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, the UCSF doctors suggest that there are still too many questions about both the efficacy and the long-term safety of the vaccine, called Gardasil, to warrant making it mandatory for all girls -- as has been suggested in several states, including California. "At this stage, vaccination can still be considered experimental," said Dr. Karen McCune, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCSF, who co-authored the editorial. "To be discussing mandatory vaccination when the main clinical trials are still ongoing seems extremely premature. We're feeling like the enthusiasm is driving policy rather than data." - Erin Allday, May 10 San Francisco Chronicle
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
In June 2006, NVIC issued its first press release providing evidence that Merck's GARDASIL vaccine had not been thoroughly tested for safety and efficacy in young girls. In February, NVIC released two detailed reports analyzing vaccine reaction reports filed with the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), which documented that many girls were suffering atypical collapse with seizure activity and subsequent brain dysfunction, including three cases of facial paralysis and five cases of Guillain Barre syndrome (http://www.nvic.org/Diseases/HPV/HPVHOME.htm). NVIC has led the opposition to HPV vaccine mandates based on product safety concerns that there is inadequate scientific proof the vaccine is safe and effective for 11 year old girls, who are being targeted by the CDC and Merck for mass use.
And it just keeps getting worse and worse. Now three deaths have been reported, along with more reports of paralysis in girls who have gotten the poorly tested HPV vaccine. As usual, the vaccine maker and public health officials are in denial mode, using the unscientific "coincidence" argument in an attempt to cover- up HPV vaccine-related death and neuroimmune dysfunction. And, still, politicians in California, New York and other states press forward to get GARDASIL mandated even as politicians in many other states are wisely backing off from adding it to state vaccine mandates for school entry.
For those who have watched industry and government cover-up harm caused by DPT, DTaP, MMR, HIB, hepatitis B, chicken pox, pneumococcal, influenza, anthrax and other vaccines during the past quarter century, the HPV vaccine risk cover-up is just another deja vu experience. Same story, different vaccine.
When will it end? When will industry and government health officials, along with pediatricians and nurses injecting children with reactive vaccines, like GARDASIL, stop deluding themselves into believing the public is going to blindly trust and buy the "coincidence" argument forever?
For more information about GARDASIL and HPV infection, go to www.nvic.org. If you or a loved one has experienced a reaction to GARDASIL vaccine or any other vaccine, you can post your story (and a photo) on the International Memorial for Vaccine Victims at www.vaccinememorial.org.
"Student Natasha D'Souza said she collapsed and was left paralysed for six hours after being injected. "I couldn't move at all. There were girls dropping like flies, basically," she said. Ms D'Souza said she had been vaccinated in the past but her reaction to Gardasil was different. Fellow student Brooke Levy, who was taken to hospital, said she thought she might pass out or vomit after she was vaccinated. But authorities believed their reactions were likely to be related to having an injection not the vaccine itself." - Danialle Cronin, Canberra Times, Australia
"Her legs are paralyzed, her arms are affected. She is very weak in her arms," said Tondra Vees a family friend. "She has to use a walker. Even with that, she can't get to the bathroom. She can't stand up at all." Vees said the girl has been determined by her doctor to have Guillain-Barre syndrome, an acute, autoimmune condition that can lead to paralysis. The girl.....received her first booster shot of the cervical cancer prevention vaccine Gardasil on May 2....Vees cites a report on the National Vaccine Information Center Web site, nvic.org, in which NVIC president Barbara Loe Fisher states, "There are twice as many children collapsing and four times as many children experiencing tingling, numbness and loss of sensation after getting a Gardasil vaccination compared to those getting a TDAP (tetanus-diphtheria- acellular pertussis) vaccination. There have been reports of facial paralysis and Guillain-Barre syndrome..." - Jo Rafferty, May 17 Nevada Appeal
"Assembly Bill 16 would require pupils to receive shots recommended by the federal government's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices -- a list that happens to include Gardasil -- after approval by the state health officer. Rick Rollens, a longtime Capitol staffer and lobbyist, pleaded with the Assembly Education Committee to hold up AB 16, saying his son "suffers from vaccine-induced regressive autism" and citing increasing evidence that childhood vaccines play a role in autism. He characterized AB 16 as "an outrageous and arrogant attempt" to shift vaccination mandates from the Legislature to a "non-accountable bureaucrat" and a remote federal committee. Nevertheless, the bill sailed through the Assembly's education and health committees...." - Dan Walters, May 17 Sacramento Bee
"In an editorial published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, the UCSF doctors suggest that there are still too many questions about both the efficacy and the long-term safety of the vaccine, called Gardasil, to warrant making it mandatory for all girls -- as has been suggested in several states, including California. "At this stage, vaccination can still be considered experimental," said Dr. Karen McCune, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCSF, who co-authored the editorial. "To be discussing mandatory vaccination when the main clinical trials are still ongoing seems extremely premature. We're feeling like the enthusiasm is driving policy rather than data." - Erin Allday, May 10 San Francisco Chronicle
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
In June 2006, NVIC issued its first press release providing evidence that Merck's GARDASIL vaccine had not been thoroughly tested for safety and efficacy in young girls. In February, NVIC released two detailed reports analyzing vaccine reaction reports filed with the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), which documented that many girls were suffering atypical collapse with seizure activity and subsequent brain dysfunction, including three cases of facial paralysis and five cases of Guillain Barre syndrome (http://www.nvic.org/Diseases/HPV/HPVHOME.htm). NVIC has led the opposition to HPV vaccine mandates based on product safety concerns that there is inadequate scientific proof the vaccine is safe and effective for 11 year old girls, who are being targeted by the CDC and Merck for mass use.
And it just keeps getting worse and worse. Now three deaths have been reported, along with more reports of paralysis in girls who have gotten the poorly tested HPV vaccine. As usual, the vaccine maker and public health officials are in denial mode, using the unscientific "coincidence" argument in an attempt to cover- up HPV vaccine-related death and neuroimmune dysfunction. And, still, politicians in California, New York and other states press forward to get GARDASIL mandated even as politicians in many other states are wisely backing off from adding it to state vaccine mandates for school entry.
For those who have watched industry and government cover-up harm caused by DPT, DTaP, MMR, HIB, hepatitis B, chicken pox, pneumococcal, influenza, anthrax and other vaccines during the past quarter century, the HPV vaccine risk cover-up is just another deja vu experience. Same story, different vaccine.
When will it end? When will industry and government health officials, along with pediatricians and nurses injecting children with reactive vaccines, like GARDASIL, stop deluding themselves into believing the public is going to blindly trust and buy the "coincidence" argument forever?
For more information about GARDASIL and HPV infection, go to www.nvic.org. If you or a loved one has experienced a reaction to GARDASIL vaccine or any other vaccine, you can post your story (and a photo) on the International Memorial for Vaccine Victims at www.vaccinememorial.org.
Did DPT/HIB/OPV Kill Sally Clark's Child?
"Harry was eight weeks old, the regulation age for the first of three injections against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP) and Hib (a bacterial infection that can cause meningitis). He was also given an oral polio vaccine. His biological age was five weeks, as he had been born three weeks premature. Because of the previous sudden death of his brother, Christopher, his breathing was being monitored. He was uncharacteristically dozy from the time of his jabs to the time he died. Not many people know these facts, because at Sally's trial the defense did not mention immunization as a possible cause of death. Two prosecution witnesses, including the pediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow, assured the jury it could be discounted. Their statements went unchallenged, and the issue did not form any part of the appeal hearings. Professor Meadow, a former member of a Department of Health sub-committee on adverse reactions to vaccines, told the jury that he could not think of any natural explanation for Harry's or Christopher's deaths. Yet the DTP vaccine they both received can unquestionably cause alarming and occasionally life- threatening reactions in susceptible babies. The pertussis (whooping cough) component, made from whole cells of the microbe, has been especially implicated as a cause of permanent brain damage and death." - Neville Hodgkinson, The Spectator Magazine, UK, May 19, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Unfortunately, pediatricians around the world have stubbornly refused to acknowledge the ability of vaccines to cause brain damage and death and their collective denial is endangering the lives of countless children. The tragic story of Sally Clark and her infant son, Harry, who died after receiving DPT, HIB and OPV on one day in 1998, illustrates just how dangerous it can be to blindly trust what medical doctors say when it comes to vaccination.
DPT vaccine is among the crudest and most reactive vaccines humans have ever used on a mass basis. DPT vaccine contains pertussis toxin (PT), which is one of the most lethal toxins in nature. It is thought to be the main component of B. pertussis bacteria responsible for both stimulating the production of protective antibodies after natural infection or vaccination, as well as for causing brain inflammation during pertussis infection or after injection of pertussis-containing vaccines. Because PT can cross the blood brain barrier when conditions are right, encephalitis has always been the most dreaded complication of both whooping cough and pertussis vaccination.
The authors of the British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study noted in 1993 and IOM confirmed in 1994, that DPT vaccine-induced brain inflammation is associated with a broad range of long term brain dysfunction that affects the physical, social, behavioral and educational outcomes for children. Signs of brain inflammation within seven days of DPT or DTaP vaccination include a high fever, irritability, high pitched screaming, prolonged crying, drowsiness, vomiting, seizures, collapse and unresponsiveness, followed by immediate frank regression or progressive changes in mental, emotional and physical health. Death, or a diagnosis of mental retardation, seizure disorders, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, autism and other chronic neurological and health problems often follows.
Since the 1950's, scientists have injected the lethal pertussis toxin into lab animals whenever they want to deliberately induce histamine, serotonin and endotoxin sensitivity or experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. PT induces lymphocytosis, leukocytosis, stimulates insulin secretion and sensitizes histamine, which is involved in an inflammatory response and CNS and allergic reactions. The newer DTaP vaccine still contains pertussis toxin with the ability to induce brain inflammation which could lead to brain dysfunction or other kinds of chronic inflammatory disease in vulnerable children.
The role of genetic factors in vaccine injury are highlighted in the work of pediatrician Mary Megson, M.D., who identified a g-alpha protein defect in some children which makes them vulnerable to pertussis toxin-containing vaccines. Lawrence Steinman also identified genetic susceptibility to pertussis vaccine induced encephalopathy involving genes of the major histocompatibility complex correlating to genetic regulation of antibody response to bovine serum albumin (a cow's milk protein).
The first reports of brain inflammation and chronic brain damage, including death, after pertussis vaccination were published in 1933 by Madsen and in 1947 by Brody, followed by numerous reports during the next 40 years. Finally, after nearly 50 years of evidence in the medical literature, the 1981 National Childhood Encephalopathy Study (NCES) confirmed that the DPT vaccine was causing brain inflammation and permanent brain damage in previously healthy children.
In the 1985 book, DPT: A Shot in the Dark, which I co-authored with Harris Coulter,Ph.D., we examined the history of pertussis and the pertussis vaccine within the larger context of the medical, scientific, legal, social, and political issues involving mass vaccination policies. The book, which was the first major critique of the mandatory vaccination system, includes more than 100 case histories of DPT vaccine associated brain inflammation and immune system dysfunction. Several of the cases describe children who developed autistic behaviors after DPT vaccination, making it the first published report of an association between autism and vaccination.
Children diagnosed with autism today have much in common with the children described in A Shot in the Dark (now published by Putnam and available on amazon.com), who reacted neurologically to DPT vaccine in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of the DPT vaccine injury cases in the book revealed children with a personal and/or family history of allergy, particularly milk allergy. Some had been vaccinated while they were sick with a coinciding viral or bacterial infection. Others were on antibiotics or recently completed antibiotic therapy before vaccination. In addition to neurological damage following DPT vaccination, many were also left with chronic gastrointestinal dysfunction and new allergies, as well as autoimmune disorders such as asthma. A personal or family history of inflammatory autoimmune disorders appeared to outweigh a history of neurological disorders in terms of being a high risk factor for reacting to DPT, although a history of convulsions in the family was also a high risk factor.
In 1996, a child with mental retardation and autistic behaviors, which developed after DPT vaccination, was awarded compensation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act despite vigorous protests by federal health officials that there was no proof DPT vaccine caused the autism. The child had been healthy with above average intelligence before he reacted within four hours of his DPT shot at 19 months of age with a convulsion followed by days of fever and screaming. The U.S. Court of Claims made the award, agreeing with the plaintiff's lawyer that autistic behaviors can be the result of brain injury from any cause, including the DPT vaccine.
Fourteen years of lobbying by parents finally resulted in the licensing of a second-generation DTaP vaccine for American babies in 1996. Introduced in Japan in 1981, this purified vaccine reduced the amount of endotoxin and the bioactivity of pertussis toxin through chemical inactivation with formaldehyde and/or gluteraldehyde (both formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde remain residually in the vaccine). Because the DTaP vaccine still contains pertussis toxin, (10 - 25 mcg per dose) with varying amounts of bioactivity, it is still capable of inducing brain inflammation. A company producing a genetically engineered DTaP vaccine in the early 1990's, Chiron, explained why chemically inactivated PT will always be a problem: "Genetic detoxification ensures that no active form of the pertussis toxin is present, while chemically detoxified pertussis toxins may revert to toxicity."
In addition to brain inflammation, acellular pertussis vaccine can cause extensive swelling at the site of the injection. Some vaccine researchers think this swelling may be due to a hypersensitivity reaction or be related to DTaP vaccine-induced Th-2 type cytokines, Th2 skewing of the immune response and a subsequent delay in Th1 development in some children.
Although brain inflammation is thought to occur less frequently with DTaP than with DPT, because DTaP vaccine is associated with the same kind of brain inflammation and other central nervous system complications as the whole cell DPT vaccine, the same contraindications and precautions that were in force with DPT vaccine are also applicable to DTaP vaccine.
How many more vaccine deaths and brain injuries will occur and how many more parents' lives will be ruined because pediatricians refuse to acknowledge that vaccines can cause brain inflammation, permanent injury and death? Every licensed vaccine on the market has the inherent ability to injure or kill, depending upon the vaccine or combination of vaccines given simultaneously, as well as individual genetic and biological high risk factors, including a personal or family history of autoimmunity or neurological disorders, prematurity, coinciding viral or bacterial infection at the time of vaccination, co- exposure to other environmental toxins and other factors.
The DPT vaccine-induced death of Sally Clark's infant son, for which she was unjustly prosecuted and cruelly imprisoned with the enthusiastic assistance of pediatricians determined to hide the risks of vaccination, has apparently now led to Sally Clark's untimely death several months ago. Sally's friends say she died of a broken heart. The viciousness with which she was persecuted by doctors, who knew they could have defended her but were too afraid to admit vaccines could have played a role in her baby's death, speaks volumes about the moral decay among those who care more about propping up one-size-fits-all vaccine policies than defending truth and justice.
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Unfortunately, pediatricians around the world have stubbornly refused to acknowledge the ability of vaccines to cause brain damage and death and their collective denial is endangering the lives of countless children. The tragic story of Sally Clark and her infant son, Harry, who died after receiving DPT, HIB and OPV on one day in 1998, illustrates just how dangerous it can be to blindly trust what medical doctors say when it comes to vaccination.
DPT vaccine is among the crudest and most reactive vaccines humans have ever used on a mass basis. DPT vaccine contains pertussis toxin (PT), which is one of the most lethal toxins in nature. It is thought to be the main component of B. pertussis bacteria responsible for both stimulating the production of protective antibodies after natural infection or vaccination, as well as for causing brain inflammation during pertussis infection or after injection of pertussis-containing vaccines. Because PT can cross the blood brain barrier when conditions are right, encephalitis has always been the most dreaded complication of both whooping cough and pertussis vaccination.
The authors of the British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study noted in 1993 and IOM confirmed in 1994, that DPT vaccine-induced brain inflammation is associated with a broad range of long term brain dysfunction that affects the physical, social, behavioral and educational outcomes for children. Signs of brain inflammation within seven days of DPT or DTaP vaccination include a high fever, irritability, high pitched screaming, prolonged crying, drowsiness, vomiting, seizures, collapse and unresponsiveness, followed by immediate frank regression or progressive changes in mental, emotional and physical health. Death, or a diagnosis of mental retardation, seizure disorders, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, autism and other chronic neurological and health problems often follows.
Since the 1950's, scientists have injected the lethal pertussis toxin into lab animals whenever they want to deliberately induce histamine, serotonin and endotoxin sensitivity or experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. PT induces lymphocytosis, leukocytosis, stimulates insulin secretion and sensitizes histamine, which is involved in an inflammatory response and CNS and allergic reactions. The newer DTaP vaccine still contains pertussis toxin with the ability to induce brain inflammation which could lead to brain dysfunction or other kinds of chronic inflammatory disease in vulnerable children.
The role of genetic factors in vaccine injury are highlighted in the work of pediatrician Mary Megson, M.D., who identified a g-alpha protein defect in some children which makes them vulnerable to pertussis toxin-containing vaccines. Lawrence Steinman also identified genetic susceptibility to pertussis vaccine induced encephalopathy involving genes of the major histocompatibility complex correlating to genetic regulation of antibody response to bovine serum albumin (a cow's milk protein).
The first reports of brain inflammation and chronic brain damage, including death, after pertussis vaccination were published in 1933 by Madsen and in 1947 by Brody, followed by numerous reports during the next 40 years. Finally, after nearly 50 years of evidence in the medical literature, the 1981 National Childhood Encephalopathy Study (NCES) confirmed that the DPT vaccine was causing brain inflammation and permanent brain damage in previously healthy children.
In the 1985 book, DPT: A Shot in the Dark, which I co-authored with Harris Coulter,Ph.D., we examined the history of pertussis and the pertussis vaccine within the larger context of the medical, scientific, legal, social, and political issues involving mass vaccination policies. The book, which was the first major critique of the mandatory vaccination system, includes more than 100 case histories of DPT vaccine associated brain inflammation and immune system dysfunction. Several of the cases describe children who developed autistic behaviors after DPT vaccination, making it the first published report of an association between autism and vaccination.
Children diagnosed with autism today have much in common with the children described in A Shot in the Dark (now published by Putnam and available on amazon.com), who reacted neurologically to DPT vaccine in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of the DPT vaccine injury cases in the book revealed children with a personal and/or family history of allergy, particularly milk allergy. Some had been vaccinated while they were sick with a coinciding viral or bacterial infection. Others were on antibiotics or recently completed antibiotic therapy before vaccination. In addition to neurological damage following DPT vaccination, many were also left with chronic gastrointestinal dysfunction and new allergies, as well as autoimmune disorders such as asthma. A personal or family history of inflammatory autoimmune disorders appeared to outweigh a history of neurological disorders in terms of being a high risk factor for reacting to DPT, although a history of convulsions in the family was also a high risk factor.
In 1996, a child with mental retardation and autistic behaviors, which developed after DPT vaccination, was awarded compensation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act despite vigorous protests by federal health officials that there was no proof DPT vaccine caused the autism. The child had been healthy with above average intelligence before he reacted within four hours of his DPT shot at 19 months of age with a convulsion followed by days of fever and screaming. The U.S. Court of Claims made the award, agreeing with the plaintiff's lawyer that autistic behaviors can be the result of brain injury from any cause, including the DPT vaccine.
Fourteen years of lobbying by parents finally resulted in the licensing of a second-generation DTaP vaccine for American babies in 1996. Introduced in Japan in 1981, this purified vaccine reduced the amount of endotoxin and the bioactivity of pertussis toxin through chemical inactivation with formaldehyde and/or gluteraldehyde (both formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde remain residually in the vaccine). Because the DTaP vaccine still contains pertussis toxin, (10 - 25 mcg per dose) with varying amounts of bioactivity, it is still capable of inducing brain inflammation. A company producing a genetically engineered DTaP vaccine in the early 1990's, Chiron, explained why chemically inactivated PT will always be a problem: "Genetic detoxification ensures that no active form of the pertussis toxin is present, while chemically detoxified pertussis toxins may revert to toxicity."
In addition to brain inflammation, acellular pertussis vaccine can cause extensive swelling at the site of the injection. Some vaccine researchers think this swelling may be due to a hypersensitivity reaction or be related to DTaP vaccine-induced Th-2 type cytokines, Th2 skewing of the immune response and a subsequent delay in Th1 development in some children.
Although brain inflammation is thought to occur less frequently with DTaP than with DPT, because DTaP vaccine is associated with the same kind of brain inflammation and other central nervous system complications as the whole cell DPT vaccine, the same contraindications and precautions that were in force with DPT vaccine are also applicable to DTaP vaccine.
How many more vaccine deaths and brain injuries will occur and how many more parents' lives will be ruined because pediatricians refuse to acknowledge that vaccines can cause brain inflammation, permanent injury and death? Every licensed vaccine on the market has the inherent ability to injure or kill, depending upon the vaccine or combination of vaccines given simultaneously, as well as individual genetic and biological high risk factors, including a personal or family history of autoimmunity or neurological disorders, prematurity, coinciding viral or bacterial infection at the time of vaccination, co- exposure to other environmental toxins and other factors.
The DPT vaccine-induced death of Sally Clark's infant son, for which she was unjustly prosecuted and cruelly imprisoned with the enthusiastic assistance of pediatricians determined to hide the risks of vaccination, has apparently now led to Sally Clark's untimely death several months ago. Sally's friends say she died of a broken heart. The viciousness with which she was persecuted by doctors, who knew they could have defended her but were too afraid to admit vaccines could have played a role in her baby's death, speaks volumes about the moral decay among those who care more about propping up one-size-fits-all vaccine policies than defending truth and justice.
TX Gov Rants About Failed HPV Vaccine Mandate
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"I have never seen so much misinformation spread about a vital public health issue: whether it is the effectiveness of the vaccine, the impact of the order on parents' decision-making authority, or the impact this will have on the behavior of young women....I have wrestled for a few days with whether to veto this bill, or let it become law without my signature. But the fact of the matter is, it will become law no matter what because the voice of the Legislature is clear. And rather than allowing this issue to be held captive one more day by legislative politics and the inevitable posturing that will ensue during a veto override debate, I have decided to let it become law without my signature...." - Texas Governor Rick Perry
"A veto almost certainly would have been overridden by Texas legislators, who have questioned the vaccine's safety, efficacy and cost and complained that the governor's mandate would intrude on families' lives. Lawmakers also were outraged that he didn't consult with them before issuing the order.....Republican Rep. Dennis Bonnen bristled at the governor's criticism of his bill. "We should not and are now not going to offer the 165,000 11-year-olds in Texas up to be the study group for Merck to find out what the implications of this vaccine would be for these girls," he said." - Liz Austin Peterson, Associated Press, May 9, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who crowned himself King back in February when he issued an Executive Order mandating HPV vaccine for all 11 year old girls, had a public tantrum yesterday at a press conference in which he castigated the Texas legislature for having the audacity to override his abuse of executive power. While he ranted and called the legislators who dared to defy him names, he again failed to mention that his former chief of staff is now a lobbyist for Merck, the only drug company with an HPV vaccine (GARDASIL) on the market. Adopting Merck's favorite public relations strategy to deflect attention from the legitimate product safety issues, Perry once again tried to make it all about parents being upset about kids having sex too soon rather than parents being upset about their 11 year old daughters being forced to use a vaccine that was only tested for a few years in a few hundred 11 year old girls prior to licensure.
The National Vaccine Information Center, as well as the federal vaccine adverse events reporting system (VAERS), continues to receive reports that young girls are experiencing serious reactions to GARDASIL. Young girls are collapsing into unconsciousness and injuring themselves, having seizures and suffering facial paralysis, Guillain Barre syndrome, speech and vision problems and other severe health deterioriation that leaves unable to function normally after being injected with GARDASIL. Yesterday, the Governor of Texas engaged in the worst kind of political posturing to make excuses for trying to force girls entering adolescence to use an experimental vaccine to prevent an infection that cannot be transmitted in the school setting for a cancer that has declined by more than 74 percent in the US since the 1950's and, today, causes fewer than one percent of all cancers diagnosed in the US and fewer than one percent of all cancer deaths in the US.
Appropriately, the elected representatives of the Texas legislature have spoken, not just to slap the hands of a Governor who abused his executive power, but they have spoken on behalf of the majority of Texas citizens who elected them. The only way the American people can exercise their will in a democracy is to make their concerns known to the men and women, who they elect to represent them in state legislatures and in Congress, and ask them to act.
The people of Texas have spoken on the subject of HPV vaccine mandates through their elected representatives in the state legislature. The people of California would do well to think twice before they give up their power to speak through their elected representatives about future vaccine mandates and hand it over to unelected public health officials in the executive branch.
"I have never seen so much misinformation spread about a vital public health issue: whether it is the effectiveness of the vaccine, the impact of the order on parents' decision-making authority, or the impact this will have on the behavior of young women....I have wrestled for a few days with whether to veto this bill, or let it become law without my signature. But the fact of the matter is, it will become law no matter what because the voice of the Legislature is clear. And rather than allowing this issue to be held captive one more day by legislative politics and the inevitable posturing that will ensue during a veto override debate, I have decided to let it become law without my signature...." - Texas Governor Rick Perry
"A veto almost certainly would have been overridden by Texas legislators, who have questioned the vaccine's safety, efficacy and cost and complained that the governor's mandate would intrude on families' lives. Lawmakers also were outraged that he didn't consult with them before issuing the order.....Republican Rep. Dennis Bonnen bristled at the governor's criticism of his bill. "We should not and are now not going to offer the 165,000 11-year-olds in Texas up to be the study group for Merck to find out what the implications of this vaccine would be for these girls," he said." - Liz Austin Peterson, Associated Press, May 9, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who crowned himself King back in February when he issued an Executive Order mandating HPV vaccine for all 11 year old girls, had a public tantrum yesterday at a press conference in which he castigated the Texas legislature for having the audacity to override his abuse of executive power. While he ranted and called the legislators who dared to defy him names, he again failed to mention that his former chief of staff is now a lobbyist for Merck, the only drug company with an HPV vaccine (GARDASIL) on the market. Adopting Merck's favorite public relations strategy to deflect attention from the legitimate product safety issues, Perry once again tried to make it all about parents being upset about kids having sex too soon rather than parents being upset about their 11 year old daughters being forced to use a vaccine that was only tested for a few years in a few hundred 11 year old girls prior to licensure.
The National Vaccine Information Center, as well as the federal vaccine adverse events reporting system (VAERS), continues to receive reports that young girls are experiencing serious reactions to GARDASIL. Young girls are collapsing into unconsciousness and injuring themselves, having seizures and suffering facial paralysis, Guillain Barre syndrome, speech and vision problems and other severe health deterioriation that leaves unable to function normally after being injected with GARDASIL. Yesterday, the Governor of Texas engaged in the worst kind of political posturing to make excuses for trying to force girls entering adolescence to use an experimental vaccine to prevent an infection that cannot be transmitted in the school setting for a cancer that has declined by more than 74 percent in the US since the 1950's and, today, causes fewer than one percent of all cancers diagnosed in the US and fewer than one percent of all cancer deaths in the US.
Appropriately, the elected representatives of the Texas legislature have spoken, not just to slap the hands of a Governor who abused his executive power, but they have spoken on behalf of the majority of Texas citizens who elected them. The only way the American people can exercise their will in a democracy is to make their concerns known to the men and women, who they elect to represent them in state legislatures and in Congress, and ask them to act.
The people of Texas have spoken on the subject of HPV vaccine mandates through their elected representatives in the state legislature. The people of California would do well to think twice before they give up their power to speak through their elected representatives about future vaccine mandates and hand it over to unelected public health officials in the executive branch.
Autism Skyrockets in California
"In 1971,California included autism as a qualifying condition to it's developmental services system. During the 16 year period from 1971 through 1987, California had a total caseload of roughly 2700 persons with autism. Rick Rollens said "During the past nine months alone, from July 2006 to April 2007, California added roughly 2700 new autism cases. What used to take 16 years in caseload growth now takes 9 months!" Twenty years ago in 1987 there were 2700 persons with autism in the California system. Today, there are nearly 34,000 and 92% of the children were born after 1980, with 84% under the age of 21 and 78% under the age of 18. "We are still waiting for the missing 14,000+ adults with autism that should be in our system if there has not been a real increase in autism to show up now that we know what autism looks like," added Rick. " Still no sign of them. "
"Just before his third birthday, Eric was diagnosed with autism. He is now 9 and his younger brother Jack is 7. Jack was not vaccinated and shows no signs of autism. Today, 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. Most agree that the disorder is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. For the Estepps, they believe the genetic cause for Eric was a family history of weakened immune systems, and the environmental was the vaccinations. Doctor Kurt Woeller, who treats autistic children thinks pediatricians should look at each child, and their family history, before recommending how many vaccines they receive. "What I know personally, as a physician, is the stories parents tell me, over and over again. How their kids regressed into autism sometimes a day after getting a series of shots. I believe that we are looking at an overuse and indiscriminate use of vaccines." - XETV-Fox 6, San Diego , May 1, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Another report from Rick Rollens in California confirming what parents of children under five already know: America's autism epidemic is not slowing down because America's children are being overvaccinated. The autism epidemic is not just about mercury or aluminum or formaldehyde or phenoxyethanol or gluteraldehyde or sodium borate or any other single component of vaccines. Vaccine induced brain inflammation and chronic neuroimmune dysfunction is a complex, multi-factoral interaction between genetic and other host biological high risk factors and one or more live virus and killed bacterial vaccines given simultaneously and repeatedly in the critical first few hours, days, weeks and months of life.
All of the biological mechanisms and high risk factors have yet to be identified. But we know that during the past 25 years, as the numbers of doses of vaccines public health officials insist on giving children have more than doubled, we have fundamentally changed the way that humans experience their environment in the critical developmental period when the brain and immune system develop most rapidly.
Doctors in leadership positions in the CDC and AAP had better get their collective heads out of the sand and take a good look at the chronic disease and disability epidemic that is thriving because of their utilitarian approach to mass vaccination policies. They had better get off the idea that there is a difference between individual and public health. There is no difference. Because when you believe it is morally acceptable to harm one in the community, you eventually end up justifying harm to many in the community.
Look at what has been done in the name of the greater good.
California Reports Another Record Autism Increase
Rick Rollens, co-founder of the M.I.N.D. Institute at UC- Davis, reports that California is continuing to experience record numbers of cases of children being diagnosed with the most serious form of autism.
According to information released last week by California's Department of Developmental Services (DDS), during the 91 day period that was the first quarter of 2007 (Q 1), 886 new children with a professional diagnosis of full syndrome DSM IV autism, which does NOT include PDD, NOS, Asperger's Syndrome or any other autism spectrum disorder, were added to California's developmental services system.
There were a total of 1570 total new intakes during the first quarter of 2007, which included children with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, epilepsy, and a myriad of rare genetic conditions such as Fragile X, and Down's Syndrome. Of the 1570 total new intakes, 886 or 56% were full syndrome autism cases.
The 886 new intakes during that 91 day period represents the second highest number of new intakes for a quarter reporting period in the 38 year history of California's developmental services system. On average, California is currently adding 10 new children a day, seven days a week with full syndrome autism to it's system.
In 1971,California included autism as a qualifying condition to it's developmental services system. During the 16 year period from 1971 through 1987, California had a total caseload of roughly 2700 persons with autism.
Rick said "During the past nine months alone, from July 2006 to April 2007, California added roughly 2700 new autism cases. What used to take 16 years in caseload growth now takes 9 months!"
Twenty years ago in 1987 there were 2700 persons with autism in the California system. Today, there are nearly 34,000 and 92% of the children were born after 1980, with 84% under the age of 21 and 78% under the age of 18.
"We are still waiting for the missing 14,000+ adults with autism that should be in our system if there has not been a real increase in autism to show up now that we know what autism looks like," added Rick. " Still no sign of them. The fact is, they do not exist. In California's system today. Less then 2 out of 10 persons with autism are 22 years of age or older, the remaining 8 1/2 out of 10 are between the ages of 3 and 21."
"Just before his third birthday, Eric was diagnosed with autism. He is now 9 and his younger brother Jack is 7. Jack was not vaccinated and shows no signs of autism. Today, 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. Most agree that the disorder is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. For the Estepps, they believe the genetic cause for Eric was a family history of weakened immune systems, and the environmental was the vaccinations. Doctor Kurt Woeller, who treats autistic children thinks pediatricians should look at each child, and their family history, before recommending how many vaccines they receive. "What I know personally, as a physician, is the stories parents tell me, over and over again. How their kids regressed into autism sometimes a day after getting a series of shots. I believe that we are looking at an overuse and indiscriminate use of vaccines." - XETV-Fox 6, San Diego , May 1, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Another report from Rick Rollens in California confirming what parents of children under five already know: America's autism epidemic is not slowing down because America's children are being overvaccinated. The autism epidemic is not just about mercury or aluminum or formaldehyde or phenoxyethanol or gluteraldehyde or sodium borate or any other single component of vaccines. Vaccine induced brain inflammation and chronic neuroimmune dysfunction is a complex, multi-factoral interaction between genetic and other host biological high risk factors and one or more live virus and killed bacterial vaccines given simultaneously and repeatedly in the critical first few hours, days, weeks and months of life.
All of the biological mechanisms and high risk factors have yet to be identified. But we know that during the past 25 years, as the numbers of doses of vaccines public health officials insist on giving children have more than doubled, we have fundamentally changed the way that humans experience their environment in the critical developmental period when the brain and immune system develop most rapidly.
Doctors in leadership positions in the CDC and AAP had better get their collective heads out of the sand and take a good look at the chronic disease and disability epidemic that is thriving because of their utilitarian approach to mass vaccination policies. They had better get off the idea that there is a difference between individual and public health. There is no difference. Because when you believe it is morally acceptable to harm one in the community, you eventually end up justifying harm to many in the community.
Look at what has been done in the name of the greater good.
California Reports Another Record Autism Increase
Rick Rollens, co-founder of the M.I.N.D. Institute at UC- Davis, reports that California is continuing to experience record numbers of cases of children being diagnosed with the most serious form of autism.
According to information released last week by California's Department of Developmental Services (DDS), during the 91 day period that was the first quarter of 2007 (Q 1), 886 new children with a professional diagnosis of full syndrome DSM IV autism, which does NOT include PDD, NOS, Asperger's Syndrome or any other autism spectrum disorder, were added to California's developmental services system.
There were a total of 1570 total new intakes during the first quarter of 2007, which included children with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, epilepsy, and a myriad of rare genetic conditions such as Fragile X, and Down's Syndrome. Of the 1570 total new intakes, 886 or 56% were full syndrome autism cases.
The 886 new intakes during that 91 day period represents the second highest number of new intakes for a quarter reporting period in the 38 year history of California's developmental services system. On average, California is currently adding 10 new children a day, seven days a week with full syndrome autism to it's system.
In 1971,California included autism as a qualifying condition to it's developmental services system. During the 16 year period from 1971 through 1987, California had a total caseload of roughly 2700 persons with autism.
Rick said "During the past nine months alone, from July 2006 to April 2007, California added roughly 2700 new autism cases. What used to take 16 years in caseload growth now takes 9 months!"
Twenty years ago in 1987 there were 2700 persons with autism in the California system. Today, there are nearly 34,000 and 92% of the children were born after 1980, with 84% under the age of 21 and 78% under the age of 18.
"We are still waiting for the missing 14,000+ adults with autism that should be in our system if there has not been a real increase in autism to show up now that we know what autism looks like," added Rick. " Still no sign of them. The fact is, they do not exist. In California's system today. Less then 2 out of 10 persons with autism are 22 years of age or older, the remaining 8 1/2 out of 10 are between the ages of 3 and 21."
Pharmaceuticals, Brain Dysfunction and Violence
"Details continue to emerge about the lonely life of [Virginia Tech] killer Seung-Hui Cho, who had a history of mental illness. Among Cho's effects, officials found prescription medications related to the treatment of psychological problems.....There are dozens of other examples of violence at schools and the presence of antidepressants, but the carnage hardly is limited to our campuses. Countless families have been destroyed around the world through homicides and suicides committed by adults on antidepressants.....The list (which can be found at www.drugawareness.org) encompasses hundreds and hundreds of cases.....Most antidepressant drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro and Effexor, are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which alter brain chemistry in an attempt to manage depression......A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, and that antidepressant use has nearly tripled in the past decade...." - Ty Phillips, Modesto Bee, April 29, 2007
"Despite efforts to curb drug companies' avid courting of doctors, the industry is working harder than ever to influence what medicines they prescribe, sending out sales representatives with greater frequency and plying physicians with gifts, meals and consulting fees, according to several new papers. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found that 94 percent of doctors have some type of relationship with the drug industry -- most commonly accepting free food or drug samples, which about 80 percent of physicians did.....28 percent said they had been paid for consulting, giving lectures or signing up patients for clinical trials......"We now know that virtually every doctor in the United States has some form of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry," said Eric G. Campbell, lead researcher of the New England Journal of Medicine study and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "They are common. A quarter receive honoraria or some form of payment for their services, and that was much higher than we expected." - Christopher Lee, Washington Post, April 29, 2007
"The researchers found dysfunction in common brain regions in reviews of brain imaging data from 41 murderers, from a study group suffering from aggressive impulsive personality disorder, and from a group diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. They also reviewed data from two individuals who suffered early damage to the two regions of the brain in question. Those individuals, injured early in life, both showed histories of verbal and physical abusiveness and intermittent, explosive bursts of anger. The research paper also described a large group of subjects who have a genetic deficit that causes a disruption in the brain's serotonin levels. The serotonin system employs many of the brain regions described earlier and a disruption of the system has been linked to increased aggression. Davidson's analysis showed that these emotion-controlling brain regions showed less activity in the individuals who carried this genetic abnormality. Davidson stresses that the research points to both genetics and poor environmental history as potential contributors to impulsive violence, and together they present a "double whammy" that put people at much greater risk. "These parts of the brain are particularly responsive to experiential shaping," Davidson says." - Science Daily, August 15, 2000
"A retrospective study of brain investigations of 372 male patients in a maximum- security mental hospital patients is described......In the most violent group, 20% had focal temporal electrical abnormalities on EEG (slowing and/or sharp waves) and 41% had structural abnormalities localised to temporal lobe on CT....These results suggest that high violence rating scores are associated with temporal lobe abnormalities on CT and abnormal temporal electrical discharges on EEG." - MT Wong et al, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, August 1994
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
A significant portion of the US population is now using multiple prescription drugs and vaccines from infancy through adulthood, even though there has never been an evaluation of multiple drug and vaccine use in humans to determine the effect on long term physical and mental health. If Americans have become drug and vaccine junkies, then medical doctors who promote and prescribe biological and chemical products made and sold by the pharmaceutical industry have become their suppliers. Although drugs and vaccine(s) prescribed (or mandated) by doctors can sometimes cause profound negative changes in brain and immune function, there is little effort made by the pharmaceutical industry and doctors profiting from mass drug and vaccine use to evaluate potential negative effects or take steps to minimize them.
Vaccine induced brain inflammation, which has been the hallmark of severe reactions since the first vaccine - smallpox vaccine - was used on a mass basis can be mild or severe and damage the developing brain of a child, permanently altering behavior, personality, intelligence, emotional stability, and physical ability. Drug induced chemical changes in the brain can also negatively affect important aspects of normal brain function. Instead of spending more research dollars to create new drugs and vaccines, the pharmaceutical industry should first find out why drug and vaccine complications occur and who is at high risk for suffering them.
An epidemic of chronic physical illness and disability, along with an epidemic of depression and violent behavior, in American children and young adults has developed during the past quarter century. Although economic and social factors influence health and behavior, the possibility that environmental insults are causing significant damage to brain and immune function in a growing minority of children is very real. Too much prescription drug and vaccine use cannot be discounted as one of those environmental insults, which could result in greater or lesser damage, depending upon genetic and other biological variables.
If a substantial minority of violent inmates in prisons and mental institutions are brain damaged, we ignore at our peril the potential role that prescription drug and vaccine-induced brain dysfunction plays in the epidemic of chronic illness and violent behavior plaguing America. We owe it to future generations to find out just how big that role may be before more drugs and vaccines are prescribed and the epidemic gets worse.
"Despite efforts to curb drug companies' avid courting of doctors, the industry is working harder than ever to influence what medicines they prescribe, sending out sales representatives with greater frequency and plying physicians with gifts, meals and consulting fees, according to several new papers. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found that 94 percent of doctors have some type of relationship with the drug industry -- most commonly accepting free food or drug samples, which about 80 percent of physicians did.....28 percent said they had been paid for consulting, giving lectures or signing up patients for clinical trials......"We now know that virtually every doctor in the United States has some form of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry," said Eric G. Campbell, lead researcher of the New England Journal of Medicine study and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "They are common. A quarter receive honoraria or some form of payment for their services, and that was much higher than we expected." - Christopher Lee, Washington Post, April 29, 2007
"The researchers found dysfunction in common brain regions in reviews of brain imaging data from 41 murderers, from a study group suffering from aggressive impulsive personality disorder, and from a group diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. They also reviewed data from two individuals who suffered early damage to the two regions of the brain in question. Those individuals, injured early in life, both showed histories of verbal and physical abusiveness and intermittent, explosive bursts of anger. The research paper also described a large group of subjects who have a genetic deficit that causes a disruption in the brain's serotonin levels. The serotonin system employs many of the brain regions described earlier and a disruption of the system has been linked to increased aggression. Davidson's analysis showed that these emotion-controlling brain regions showed less activity in the individuals who carried this genetic abnormality. Davidson stresses that the research points to both genetics and poor environmental history as potential contributors to impulsive violence, and together they present a "double whammy" that put people at much greater risk. "These parts of the brain are particularly responsive to experiential shaping," Davidson says." - Science Daily, August 15, 2000
"A retrospective study of brain investigations of 372 male patients in a maximum- security mental hospital patients is described......In the most violent group, 20% had focal temporal electrical abnormalities on EEG (slowing and/or sharp waves) and 41% had structural abnormalities localised to temporal lobe on CT....These results suggest that high violence rating scores are associated with temporal lobe abnormalities on CT and abnormal temporal electrical discharges on EEG." - MT Wong et al, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, August 1994
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
A significant portion of the US population is now using multiple prescription drugs and vaccines from infancy through adulthood, even though there has never been an evaluation of multiple drug and vaccine use in humans to determine the effect on long term physical and mental health. If Americans have become drug and vaccine junkies, then medical doctors who promote and prescribe biological and chemical products made and sold by the pharmaceutical industry have become their suppliers. Although drugs and vaccine(s) prescribed (or mandated) by doctors can sometimes cause profound negative changes in brain and immune function, there is little effort made by the pharmaceutical industry and doctors profiting from mass drug and vaccine use to evaluate potential negative effects or take steps to minimize them.
Vaccine induced brain inflammation, which has been the hallmark of severe reactions since the first vaccine - smallpox vaccine - was used on a mass basis can be mild or severe and damage the developing brain of a child, permanently altering behavior, personality, intelligence, emotional stability, and physical ability. Drug induced chemical changes in the brain can also negatively affect important aspects of normal brain function. Instead of spending more research dollars to create new drugs and vaccines, the pharmaceutical industry should first find out why drug and vaccine complications occur and who is at high risk for suffering them.
An epidemic of chronic physical illness and disability, along with an epidemic of depression and violent behavior, in American children and young adults has developed during the past quarter century. Although economic and social factors influence health and behavior, the possibility that environmental insults are causing significant damage to brain and immune function in a growing minority of children is very real. Too much prescription drug and vaccine use cannot be discounted as one of those environmental insults, which could result in greater or lesser damage, depending upon genetic and other biological variables.
If a substantial minority of violent inmates in prisons and mental institutions are brain damaged, we ignore at our peril the potential role that prescription drug and vaccine-induced brain dysfunction plays in the epidemic of chronic illness and violent behavior plaguing America. We owe it to future generations to find out just how big that role may be before more drugs and vaccines are prescribed and the epidemic gets worse.
Caring About Individual Life: A Tribute
"The day Jackson had his 18 month vaccinations he stopped breathing in daycare.... Jackson is severely disabled. He can't stand, walk, talk, sit, hold his head up, roll over, or maintain is grasp...he has chronic GI pain and vomiting as well as diarrhea....." - Report ID 128, International Memorial for Vaccine Victims (www.NVIC.org)
"16 month shots (MMR, HIB, DTaP) given 1 day after antibiotics round. 8 days after his shots, high fever began.... Jake developed red blotchy rash all over....he had severe swelling all over his body.... PDD/NOS acquired autism around 18-22 months, loss of language, eye contact, and social skills...." - Report ID 137, International Memorial for Vaccine Victims (www.NVIC.org)
"The day after receiving the influenza vaccine, my mother ended up in the ER of the hospital with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. She was in respiratory distress....received a feeding tube.... my mother developed pneumonia and died suddenly..." - Report ID 135, International Memorial for Vaccine Victims (www.NVIC.org)
" I am more worried about this [anthrax] vaccine than I am worried about bullets." Stationed overseas in a combat unit, this soldier told CBS News he refused the mandatory series of 6 shots after military buddies who got them died." - Thalia Assuras, CBS Evening News
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
When I awakened on Monday morning, like the rest of America, I was unprepared for the sights and sounds that would fill the day with unspeakable horror. It was a day that came without warning, as tragedy often does, approaching quietly and striking when you least expect it.
I did not expect the phone call that would prompt me to simultaneously turn on my television and pick up my cell phone. Within seconds I was frantically trying to reach my youngest son, Ryan, who is a graduate student at Virginia Tech, on his cell phone. It rang and rang. Then, there was that familiar voice.
I was lucky. He answered.
Ryan and I spoke three times that day, separated by 200 miles, both of us unable to turn away from the television news, trying to make sense of what was happening. After the first call, I called again and then again, as the numbers of the dead and wounded rose higher. I just wanted to hear his voice and confirm what I already knew: he was not among those whose young lives were snuffed out and he would not live his life grievously wounded, potentially unable to do what he could do before that day. Each time I spoke with him and searched for words to ease the pain of what he was experiencing but knowing that there were no words to accomplish that, I was acutely aware there were mothers and fathers of students at Virginia Tech who would never hear their sons or daughters' voices again, or whose children were crippled by serious injuries.
Ryan, a 2005 Virginia Tech graduate in history and political science, will be receiving a master's degree in public administration from Virginia Tech in a few weeks in preparation for a career in local, state or federal government. An honor student and devoted Hokie sports fan, who truly loves the place he has called home for the past six years, he was scheduled to defend his master's thesis today and I was going to drive down to hear him do that before I made a presentation on participatory democracy to his graduate department tomorrow. I was looking forward to being back on that beautiful campus and meeting his fellow students and professors to talk about how increasing citizen participation in government could create an environment in the 21st Century that bridges the divide between those governing and those being governed.
But what was supposed to be a celebration for students of the Class of 2007, whether they were receiving bachelors, master's or doctorate degrees, has now been shattered. Instead of joyfully concluding the final chapter of their youth, a time when life is so full of promise and all things are still possible, they have been forced to face random violence and death in a most cruel way.
Like everyone, I have been grieving for each of those human beings, whose young lives were taken or forever changed on Monday. The demonstration of kindness and support by the Virginia Tech community for each other and the dignity and grace with which they have handled this tragedy is a tribute to the values they embrace and teach. The coming together of the whole community to acknowledge the value of each individual who is part of the community and to mourn their loss, has renewed my faith in the basic goodness of humanity and renewed my belief in the need to celebrate and protect individual human life.
For the past several years, the National Vaccine Information Center has been working to create a virtual Memorial honoring those individuals who have been injured or died following vaccination. Last year, we received a special donation from Maryella Loman, D.C. to complete the International Memorial for Vaccine Victims, which lives on NVIC's website at www.NVIC.org. Until now, there hasn't been a formal announcement that the Memorial exists.
The International Memorial for Vaccine Victims offers families around the world a place for posting stories and photos of what happened to their loved ones after vaccination so that others can become educated about the signs, symptoms and health outcomes of vaccine reactions in order to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths. It is a publicly searchable database by name, state or country, vaccine, and primary vaccine reaction. By honoring those who are vaccine casualties, we hope to create greater public awareness of the need to value and care about the individual lives of every member of our community, because the hurt suffered by one of us hurts all of us.
Below are several vaccine reaction reports, which have already been posted to the International Memorial for Vaccine Victims, as well as a link to a news report by CBS Evening News regarding anthrax vaccine casualties.
Mothers and fathers, who have lost a son or daughter or watched their child be seriously injured for any reason, are grieving in a special way with the mothers and fathers of Virginia Tech, who are just beginning the long journey of mourning, acceptance, healing and reconciliation. The co-founders and supporters of the National Vaccine Information Center extend our deepest sympathy to the Virginia Tech families, whose children died or were injured this week, as we grieve for them and with them.
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Jackson is happy and engaging despite severe disabilities caused by a vaccination reaction
Report ID: 128
Name: Jackson
Birth Date: 5/31/2003
Death Date:
Birth State: IL
Birth Country: USA
Vaccination Age: 18 Months
Suspected Vaccine: Dtap (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus - acellular)
Primary Reaction: encephalopathy
Secondary Reaction: cerebral palsy
Other Reaction: epilepsy
Reaction Description: The day after Jackson had his 18 month vaccinations he stopped breathing in daycare. Daycare providers were not able to resuscitate. He was intubated by EMS and remained on a ventilator for 3 weeks during which time they performed every imaginable test including CT scans, MRIs, Lumbar Punctures, a skeletal survey, full metabolic work up, VEEG that lasted for almost a week, and a craniotomy/brain biopsy. They could not find a cause for his illness, but told us repeatedly that it could not be a vaccine reaction. He remained in the hospital for 3 months. He basically had no movement and no emotion during this time and made no sounds except moaning in pain.
Current Health Problems: Jackson is severely disabled. He can't stand, walk, talk, sit, hold his head up, roll over, or maintain a grasp. He has ongoing GI issues that prevent him from doing the things other similarly disabled kids enjoy. He has chronic GI pain and vomiting as well as diarrhea. He is 100% tube fed. He has seizures every day. He requires total care and will for the rest of his life
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Jake met all milestones very early, including language milestones, these were all stolen by Autism caused by his 16 month shots (MMR/HIB/DTaP)
Report ID: 137
Name: Jake S.
Birth Date: 8/28/2003
Death Date:
Birth State: TN
Birth Country: USA
Vaccination Age: 16 Months
Suspected Vaccine: MMR (measles, mumps, rubella combined)
Primary Reaction: rash
Secondary Reaction: fever
Other Reaction: autism spectrum
Reaction Description: 16 month shots (MMR/HIB/DTaP) given 1 day after antibiotics round. 8 days after shots, high fever began. Dr. gave antibiotics, said he had ear inf., next day fever higher and Dr. gave stronger antibiotics. The next day Jake developed red blochy rash all over. Dr. took him off penicillin antibiotics and gave Zithromax with a steroid. The next a.m. Jake was UNRECOGNIZABLE, he was rushed to ER in ambulance. He had SEVERE swelling all over his body, especially his face, arms, and legs. He kept a fever that entire time, from approx. 7-8 days after the shots, until around 14 days after shot. They said at the time that it was the Penicillin that he was reacting to. We have since had him tested by an allergist, and he is not allergic to any Penicillin at all! He is not allergic to anything!
Current Health Problems: Autism PDD/NOS Acquired Autism....onset around 18-22 months, loss of language, eye contact, and social skills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A kind, generous, loving mother and grandmother, I miss you so much...
Report ID: 135
Name: Graciela Benesch
Birth Date: 8/17/1927
Death Date: 1/23/2007
Birth State: NA
Birth Country: Mexico
Vaccination Age: 79
Suspected Vaccine: Influenza (inactivated, injected)
Primary Reaction: paralysis
Secondary Reaction: fever
Other Reaction: weakness
Reaction Description: Three days after receiving the influenza vaccine, my mother ended up in the ER of the hospital with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. She was in respiratory distress with stridor and had to be intubated the next day. Then, a tracheostomy was performed to ensure an airway. Tests were done to rule out stroke or tumors and we were left with a virus as a cause. I discussed the possibility of the influenza vaccine being responsible and two doctors agreed it was possible. She was unable to eat enough after that and received a feeding tube. Then, 2.5 months after this all started, my mother developed pneumonia and died suddenly. She was in a rehab nursing center and they believe it was cardiopulmonary arrest.
Current Health Problems: She had many health problems and I believe that she should NOT have received the vaccine with so many illness going on. Rheumatoid arthritis (long term), rheumatoid lung disease, severe obstructive sleep apnea that caused atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure (mild) and lead to many medications to control and prevent clots. Also, hiatal hernia and GERD.
CBS News Video, April 14, 2007: "Anthrax Vaccine: The Killer?"
The vaccination against anthrax is mandatory for its U.S. troops deployed overseas. One soldier refused the vaccination and said he is more afraid of it than bullets. Thalia Assuras reports.
Click here to watch CBS News Video:
Watch the video on YouTube:
CBS Evening News, Saturday and Sunday editions
ADDRESS:
CBS Evening News, Saturday Edition or CBS Evening News, Sunday Edition
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
TRANSCRIPTS: 1-800-777-TEXT
E-MAIL: weekend@cbsnews.com
PHONE: (212) 975-3247
"16 month shots (MMR, HIB, DTaP) given 1 day after antibiotics round. 8 days after his shots, high fever began.... Jake developed red blotchy rash all over....he had severe swelling all over his body.... PDD/NOS acquired autism around 18-22 months, loss of language, eye contact, and social skills...." - Report ID 137, International Memorial for Vaccine Victims (www.NVIC.org)
"The day after receiving the influenza vaccine, my mother ended up in the ER of the hospital with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. She was in respiratory distress....received a feeding tube.... my mother developed pneumonia and died suddenly..." - Report ID 135, International Memorial for Vaccine Victims (www.NVIC.org)
" I am more worried about this [anthrax] vaccine than I am worried about bullets." Stationed overseas in a combat unit, this soldier told CBS News he refused the mandatory series of 6 shots after military buddies who got them died." - Thalia Assuras, CBS Evening News
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
When I awakened on Monday morning, like the rest of America, I was unprepared for the sights and sounds that would fill the day with unspeakable horror. It was a day that came without warning, as tragedy often does, approaching quietly and striking when you least expect it.
I did not expect the phone call that would prompt me to simultaneously turn on my television and pick up my cell phone. Within seconds I was frantically trying to reach my youngest son, Ryan, who is a graduate student at Virginia Tech, on his cell phone. It rang and rang. Then, there was that familiar voice.
I was lucky. He answered.
Ryan and I spoke three times that day, separated by 200 miles, both of us unable to turn away from the television news, trying to make sense of what was happening. After the first call, I called again and then again, as the numbers of the dead and wounded rose higher. I just wanted to hear his voice and confirm what I already knew: he was not among those whose young lives were snuffed out and he would not live his life grievously wounded, potentially unable to do what he could do before that day. Each time I spoke with him and searched for words to ease the pain of what he was experiencing but knowing that there were no words to accomplish that, I was acutely aware there were mothers and fathers of students at Virginia Tech who would never hear their sons or daughters' voices again, or whose children were crippled by serious injuries.
Ryan, a 2005 Virginia Tech graduate in history and political science, will be receiving a master's degree in public administration from Virginia Tech in a few weeks in preparation for a career in local, state or federal government. An honor student and devoted Hokie sports fan, who truly loves the place he has called home for the past six years, he was scheduled to defend his master's thesis today and I was going to drive down to hear him do that before I made a presentation on participatory democracy to his graduate department tomorrow. I was looking forward to being back on that beautiful campus and meeting his fellow students and professors to talk about how increasing citizen participation in government could create an environment in the 21st Century that bridges the divide between those governing and those being governed.
But what was supposed to be a celebration for students of the Class of 2007, whether they were receiving bachelors, master's or doctorate degrees, has now been shattered. Instead of joyfully concluding the final chapter of their youth, a time when life is so full of promise and all things are still possible, they have been forced to face random violence and death in a most cruel way.
Like everyone, I have been grieving for each of those human beings, whose young lives were taken or forever changed on Monday. The demonstration of kindness and support by the Virginia Tech community for each other and the dignity and grace with which they have handled this tragedy is a tribute to the values they embrace and teach. The coming together of the whole community to acknowledge the value of each individual who is part of the community and to mourn their loss, has renewed my faith in the basic goodness of humanity and renewed my belief in the need to celebrate and protect individual human life.
For the past several years, the National Vaccine Information Center has been working to create a virtual Memorial honoring those individuals who have been injured or died following vaccination. Last year, we received a special donation from Maryella Loman, D.C. to complete the International Memorial for Vaccine Victims, which lives on NVIC's website at www.NVIC.org. Until now, there hasn't been a formal announcement that the Memorial exists.
The International Memorial for Vaccine Victims offers families around the world a place for posting stories and photos of what happened to their loved ones after vaccination so that others can become educated about the signs, symptoms and health outcomes of vaccine reactions in order to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths. It is a publicly searchable database by name, state or country, vaccine, and primary vaccine reaction. By honoring those who are vaccine casualties, we hope to create greater public awareness of the need to value and care about the individual lives of every member of our community, because the hurt suffered by one of us hurts all of us.
Below are several vaccine reaction reports, which have already been posted to the International Memorial for Vaccine Victims, as well as a link to a news report by CBS Evening News regarding anthrax vaccine casualties.
Mothers and fathers, who have lost a son or daughter or watched their child be seriously injured for any reason, are grieving in a special way with the mothers and fathers of Virginia Tech, who are just beginning the long journey of mourning, acceptance, healing and reconciliation. The co-founders and supporters of the National Vaccine Information Center extend our deepest sympathy to the Virginia Tech families, whose children died or were injured this week, as we grieve for them and with them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jackson is happy and engaging despite severe disabilities caused by a vaccination reaction
Report ID: 128
Name: Jackson
Birth Date: 5/31/2003
Death Date:
Birth State: IL
Birth Country: USA
Vaccination Age: 18 Months
Suspected Vaccine: Dtap (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus - acellular)
Primary Reaction: encephalopathy
Secondary Reaction: cerebral palsy
Other Reaction: epilepsy
Reaction Description: The day after Jackson had his 18 month vaccinations he stopped breathing in daycare. Daycare providers were not able to resuscitate. He was intubated by EMS and remained on a ventilator for 3 weeks during which time they performed every imaginable test including CT scans, MRIs, Lumbar Punctures, a skeletal survey, full metabolic work up, VEEG that lasted for almost a week, and a craniotomy/brain biopsy. They could not find a cause for his illness, but told us repeatedly that it could not be a vaccine reaction. He remained in the hospital for 3 months. He basically had no movement and no emotion during this time and made no sounds except moaning in pain.
Current Health Problems: Jackson is severely disabled. He can't stand, walk, talk, sit, hold his head up, roll over, or maintain a grasp. He has ongoing GI issues that prevent him from doing the things other similarly disabled kids enjoy. He has chronic GI pain and vomiting as well as diarrhea. He is 100% tube fed. He has seizures every day. He requires total care and will for the rest of his life
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jake met all milestones very early, including language milestones, these were all stolen by Autism caused by his 16 month shots (MMR/HIB/DTaP)
Report ID: 137
Name: Jake S.
Birth Date: 8/28/2003
Death Date:
Birth State: TN
Birth Country: USA
Vaccination Age: 16 Months
Suspected Vaccine: MMR (measles, mumps, rubella combined)
Primary Reaction: rash
Secondary Reaction: fever
Other Reaction: autism spectrum
Reaction Description: 16 month shots (MMR/HIB/DTaP) given 1 day after antibiotics round. 8 days after shots, high fever began. Dr. gave antibiotics, said he had ear inf., next day fever higher and Dr. gave stronger antibiotics. The next day Jake developed red blochy rash all over. Dr. took him off penicillin antibiotics and gave Zithromax with a steroid. The next a.m. Jake was UNRECOGNIZABLE, he was rushed to ER in ambulance. He had SEVERE swelling all over his body, especially his face, arms, and legs. He kept a fever that entire time, from approx. 7-8 days after the shots, until around 14 days after shot. They said at the time that it was the Penicillin that he was reacting to. We have since had him tested by an allergist, and he is not allergic to any Penicillin at all! He is not allergic to anything!
Current Health Problems: Autism PDD/NOS Acquired Autism....onset around 18-22 months, loss of language, eye contact, and social skills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A kind, generous, loving mother and grandmother, I miss you so much...
Report ID: 135
Name: Graciela Benesch
Birth Date: 8/17/1927
Death Date: 1/23/2007
Birth State: NA
Birth Country: Mexico
Vaccination Age: 79
Suspected Vaccine: Influenza (inactivated, injected)
Primary Reaction: paralysis
Secondary Reaction: fever
Other Reaction: weakness
Reaction Description: Three days after receiving the influenza vaccine, my mother ended up in the ER of the hospital with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. She was in respiratory distress with stridor and had to be intubated the next day. Then, a tracheostomy was performed to ensure an airway. Tests were done to rule out stroke or tumors and we were left with a virus as a cause. I discussed the possibility of the influenza vaccine being responsible and two doctors agreed it was possible. She was unable to eat enough after that and received a feeding tube. Then, 2.5 months after this all started, my mother developed pneumonia and died suddenly. She was in a rehab nursing center and they believe it was cardiopulmonary arrest.
Current Health Problems: She had many health problems and I believe that she should NOT have received the vaccine with so many illness going on. Rheumatoid arthritis (long term), rheumatoid lung disease, severe obstructive sleep apnea that caused atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure (mild) and lead to many medications to control and prevent clots. Also, hiatal hernia and GERD.
CBS News Video, April 14, 2007: "Anthrax Vaccine: The Killer?"
The vaccination against anthrax is mandatory for its U.S. troops deployed overseas. One soldier refused the vaccination and said he is more afraid of it than bullets. Thalia Assuras reports.
Click here to watch CBS News Video:
Watch the video on YouTube:
CBS Evening News, Saturday and Sunday editions
ADDRESS:
CBS Evening News, Saturday Edition or CBS Evening News, Sunday Edition
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
TRANSCRIPTS: 1-800-777-TEXT
E-MAIL: weekend@cbsnews.com
PHONE: (212) 975-3247
April 13 NYC Talk on HPV Vaccine Decisions
HPV Infection and HPV Vaccine: Making an Informed Decision
Why:
Public health officials have told American parents to give their 11-year-old daughters the human papilloma virus, or HPV, vaccine. And drug company lobbyists are trying to persuade state legislators to mandate the vaccine for sixth grade girls. Now, some are talking about the need to vaccinate boys too. But how much does the American public really know about HPV infection, cervical cancer and the newly licensed HPV vaccine, GARDASIL, or the HPV vaccine soon to be licensed, CERVARIX?
When and where:
Come hear the story behind the story on Friday, April 13 at 6:00 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Manhattan. Admission is free.
Who:
Barbara Loe Fisher, is co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the informed consent ethic. She is the co-author of the 1985 book DPT: A Shot in the Dark and has been the leader of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement for the past quarter century. She has served on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum and the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
Vicky Debold, Ph.D., RN is health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center. She served as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan; an associate professor and director of the Health Systems Management Program at the University of Detroit, Mercy; and health policy analyst for the U.S. Congress at the Physician Payment Review Commission, the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition and the Michigan State Commission on Patient Safety.
Sponsor:
The evening is sponsored by the Center for Medical Consumers.
*******************************************************
"In making the case for its vaccine, Merck has said Gardasil prevents genital warts and other dangerous HPV strains. The firm is also studying Gardasil's use in boys. GlaxoSmithKline counters that Cervarix is more powerful and may prevent up to 80 percent of cancers, thanks to the company's proprietary adjuvant, AS04, a key booster ingredient. It also is funding an unusual head-to-head comparison to try to prove Cervarix is more potent than Gardasil. And then there is the price. At $360 for a three-shot course, Gardasil is the most expensive vaccine ever marketed, part of an industry effort to push up profit margins in the notoriously risky business. GlaxoSmithKline declined to disclose what it would charge for Cervarix, if approved as expected sometime between October and January." - Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer , March 30, 2007
“ Several studies are underway to better understand the [HPV] virus in males and whether the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil, also will work for them. As researchers already know and as the new data confirm, HPV is not just a women’s issue..... We know they transmit it to women, but what is the rate of transmission?” says Anna Giuliano, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Fla., who is leading three government- financed studies on HPV infection in men. She is also a paid speaker for Merck, the maker of Gardasil.....“We’re seeing a really high prevalence in men, and we see little change in prevalence across the age span,” says Giuliano, who found the 60 percent prevalence rate in one of her studies..... HPV infection isn’t inconsequential in men. Certain strains of the virus are known to cause genital warts in men as well as women. And those infections are estimated to be the cause of about half of all anal, penile, vulvar and vaginal cancers and about 20 percent of the cause of all oral cancers, says Dr. Dean Blumberg, an associate professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of California, Davis. Blumberg is a member of Merck’s speakers bureau but is not paid directly by Merck for his services." - Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2007
"The state is attempting to micromanage children's healthcare with legislative proposals requiring young girls to receive a vaccine to fight cervical cancer unless their parents or guardians opt out in writing. The state should leave the matter up to parents and their children's doctors and concentrate on diseases and illnesses that are communicable in the school setting, not those from a virus that is sexually transmitted. Cervical cancer is a deadly disease, killing about half of those who contract it worldwide. In the United States, 1-in-3 victims die. There are about 15,000 cervical cancer cases in the United States each year. If Gardasil can greatly reduce that number - and it appears to have that potential - that's wonderful. But the [Illinois] Legislature should not inject itself into this decision." - Editorial Board, Pantagraph, Bloomberg, IL
Why:
Public health officials have told American parents to give their 11-year-old daughters the human papilloma virus, or HPV, vaccine. And drug company lobbyists are trying to persuade state legislators to mandate the vaccine for sixth grade girls. Now, some are talking about the need to vaccinate boys too. But how much does the American public really know about HPV infection, cervical cancer and the newly licensed HPV vaccine, GARDASIL, or the HPV vaccine soon to be licensed, CERVARIX?
When and where:
Come hear the story behind the story on Friday, April 13 at 6:00 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Manhattan. Admission is free.
Who:
Barbara Loe Fisher, is co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the informed consent ethic. She is the co-author of the 1985 book DPT: A Shot in the Dark and has been the leader of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement for the past quarter century. She has served on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum and the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
Vicky Debold, Ph.D., RN is health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center. She served as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan; an associate professor and director of the Health Systems Management Program at the University of Detroit, Mercy; and health policy analyst for the U.S. Congress at the Physician Payment Review Commission, the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition and the Michigan State Commission on Patient Safety.
Sponsor:
The evening is sponsored by the Center for Medical Consumers.
*******************************************************
"In making the case for its vaccine, Merck has said Gardasil prevents genital warts and other dangerous HPV strains. The firm is also studying Gardasil's use in boys. GlaxoSmithKline counters that Cervarix is more powerful and may prevent up to 80 percent of cancers, thanks to the company's proprietary adjuvant, AS04, a key booster ingredient. It also is funding an unusual head-to-head comparison to try to prove Cervarix is more potent than Gardasil. And then there is the price. At $360 for a three-shot course, Gardasil is the most expensive vaccine ever marketed, part of an industry effort to push up profit margins in the notoriously risky business. GlaxoSmithKline declined to disclose what it would charge for Cervarix, if approved as expected sometime between October and January." - Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer , March 30, 2007
“ Several studies are underway to better understand the [HPV] virus in males and whether the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil, also will work for them. As researchers already know and as the new data confirm, HPV is not just a women’s issue..... We know they transmit it to women, but what is the rate of transmission?” says Anna Giuliano, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Fla., who is leading three government- financed studies on HPV infection in men. She is also a paid speaker for Merck, the maker of Gardasil.....“We’re seeing a really high prevalence in men, and we see little change in prevalence across the age span,” says Giuliano, who found the 60 percent prevalence rate in one of her studies..... HPV infection isn’t inconsequential in men. Certain strains of the virus are known to cause genital warts in men as well as women. And those infections are estimated to be the cause of about half of all anal, penile, vulvar and vaginal cancers and about 20 percent of the cause of all oral cancers, says Dr. Dean Blumberg, an associate professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of California, Davis. Blumberg is a member of Merck’s speakers bureau but is not paid directly by Merck for his services." - Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2007
"The state is attempting to micromanage children's healthcare with legislative proposals requiring young girls to receive a vaccine to fight cervical cancer unless their parents or guardians opt out in writing. The state should leave the matter up to parents and their children's doctors and concentrate on diseases and illnesses that are communicable in the school setting, not those from a virus that is sexually transmitted. Cervical cancer is a deadly disease, killing about half of those who contract it worldwide. In the United States, 1-in-3 victims die. There are about 15,000 cervical cancer cases in the United States each year. If Gardasil can greatly reduce that number - and it appears to have that potential - that's wonderful. But the [Illinois] Legislature should not inject itself into this decision." - Editorial Board, Pantagraph, Bloomberg, IL
"A Shot in the Arm" on CBS Sunday Morning
"We have one of the most highly vaccinated child populations in the world and yet we have children who are increasingly chronically ill and disabled," Founder of the National Vaccine Information Center Barbara Loe Fisher said at the rally. "One in 150 children in America is autistic, one in six is learning- disabled." Fisher, author of "A Shot in the Dark," is one of many Americans who think there's a connection even though the medical establishment says no. "What we have to do is not discount the reports of parents that they are taking healthy, bright children in to their pediatricians to be vaccinated, with now, by age 6, 48 doses of 14 vaccines that the government recommends, and many of them are taking home children that then they watch regress," Fisher said. Fisher says her son, Christian, suffered brain damage within hours of getting his fourth DPT — diphtheria, pertussus and tetanus — vaccination. Thanks in large part to her pressure, the manufacturer of the DPT vaccine made it safer and Congress was forced to pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act which included money for compensation — proof to Fisher that parents should be wary. "The idea that some can be sacrificed in service to the rest is very dangerous," Fisher said." - CBS Sunday Morning News, April 1, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
This past Sunday, April 1, on CBS Sunday Morning News veteran CBS correspondent Martha Teichner produced a 10 minute segment entitled "A Shot in the Arm," which featured interviews with a vaccine researcher from University of Tennessee, a World Health Organization official, the author of a new book that contains attacks on modern day vaccine safety critics, a mother and father of an MMR vaccine injured autistic boy seeking vaccine injury compensation, and me. Martha Teichner, who has won four Emmy Awards and other journalism awards during her distinguished 30 year career at CBS, and her producer, Jason Sacca, took great care to examine all sides of the vaccine benefit and risk controversy and place it in an historic context. Although some may feel that there was too little time devoted to extolling the benefits of vaccines, others were left wanting more to be said about the risks of vaccines.
Shortly after the segment aired at 9 a.m. EST, the CBS message boards began to receive comments from parents expressing strong opinions. One viewer wrote " The truth is autism is a genetic defect and parents cannot accept that they themselves are the cause of their child's autism...so much easier to blame everyone else...when you decide to create a child your defective genes are to blame and no one else."
Another viewer complained "We are disappointed that CBS implicitly legitimized the claims that vaccines are associated with autism. Although there are some known, proven risks to vaccines, autism is not among these risks. Several recent studies have shown that children who receive vaccines are at no higher risk for developing autism than those that do not."
But then there were viewers who saw it another way. One parent wrote " We have two kids in our extended family (one on my side and one on husband's side) that became severely autistic within days after their vaccinations. Both were healthy up to the day of vaccination. Both are boys. Should I be weighing out pro's and con's of having my child vaccinated? Should I be bullied by the doctors ? Should I play Russian Roulettte with my child's life? I think not! I don't need science, literature, statistics, an article, medical journal, the government, a doctor or anyone else to tell me what I can see with my own two eyes ! As a medical professional myself, I think every parent should spend a day with an autistic child (God knows they are not hard to find these days) before they consider a vaccination for their own child."
And another parent wrote " It is all very well for some in an ivory tower living on a grant from drug pharma to blather on and on, but real Americans have to deal with a Merck vaccine that deafens children. How does that intellectual advise explaining to a 7 year-old why he is suddenly totally and irreversibly deaf as a result of state required, Merck-pushed MMR vaccine? How does one communicate practically within several weeks from regular voice to absolutely nothing?
The segment was even viewed differently by those who were interviewed for the story. I thanked Martha Teichner and her producer for treating everyone featured on the segment with respect and producing an intelligent and thoughtful analysis of a multi-faceted debate. However, the author whose book attacking vaccine critics was featured prominently in the segment was unhappy with the fact they "presented the claims of the parents of the autistic boy and of Barbara Loe Fisher without giving anyone a chance to rebut them." On his blog he states that he wrote a letter to CBS complaining that "neither I nor any of the doctors or scientists were given a chance to refute the autism theory. You say that the "medical establishment" doesn't believe it, but that's a distortion. It is the SCIENCE that doesn't support the theory. I realize you probably didn't have time to do the research to understand this yourselves, but you should have allowed a scientist, or me, to say it."
Those, whose mission in life is to act as a kind of vaccine thought patrol, cannot stand it when a journalist honestly examines the benefits and risks of vaccines and does not tell the reader or viewer what to think and what to do. These bully boys prefer to have vaccine casualties kept in a dark closet away from the eyes of the public, where they don't make people confront difficult scientific, political, economic and moral issues.
CBS Sunday Morning News will be taking comments on this story for the next 48 hours. For those who would like to go on the record about what you think, go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/sunday/main2635032.shtml and post your comments.
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
This past Sunday, April 1, on CBS Sunday Morning News veteran CBS correspondent Martha Teichner produced a 10 minute segment entitled "A Shot in the Arm," which featured interviews with a vaccine researcher from University of Tennessee, a World Health Organization official, the author of a new book that contains attacks on modern day vaccine safety critics, a mother and father of an MMR vaccine injured autistic boy seeking vaccine injury compensation, and me. Martha Teichner, who has won four Emmy Awards and other journalism awards during her distinguished 30 year career at CBS, and her producer, Jason Sacca, took great care to examine all sides of the vaccine benefit and risk controversy and place it in an historic context. Although some may feel that there was too little time devoted to extolling the benefits of vaccines, others were left wanting more to be said about the risks of vaccines.
Shortly after the segment aired at 9 a.m. EST, the CBS message boards began to receive comments from parents expressing strong opinions. One viewer wrote " The truth is autism is a genetic defect and parents cannot accept that they themselves are the cause of their child's autism...so much easier to blame everyone else...when you decide to create a child your defective genes are to blame and no one else."
Another viewer complained "We are disappointed that CBS implicitly legitimized the claims that vaccines are associated with autism. Although there are some known, proven risks to vaccines, autism is not among these risks. Several recent studies have shown that children who receive vaccines are at no higher risk for developing autism than those that do not."
But then there were viewers who saw it another way. One parent wrote " We have two kids in our extended family (one on my side and one on husband's side) that became severely autistic within days after their vaccinations. Both were healthy up to the day of vaccination. Both are boys. Should I be weighing out pro's and con's of having my child vaccinated? Should I be bullied by the doctors ? Should I play Russian Roulettte with my child's life? I think not! I don't need science, literature, statistics, an article, medical journal, the government, a doctor or anyone else to tell me what I can see with my own two eyes ! As a medical professional myself, I think every parent should spend a day with an autistic child (God knows they are not hard to find these days) before they consider a vaccination for their own child."
And another parent wrote " It is all very well for some in an ivory tower living on a grant from drug pharma to blather on and on, but real Americans have to deal with a Merck vaccine that deafens children. How does that intellectual advise explaining to a 7 year-old why he is suddenly totally and irreversibly deaf as a result of state required, Merck-pushed MMR vaccine? How does one communicate practically within several weeks from regular voice to absolutely nothing?
The segment was even viewed differently by those who were interviewed for the story. I thanked Martha Teichner and her producer for treating everyone featured on the segment with respect and producing an intelligent and thoughtful analysis of a multi-faceted debate. However, the author whose book attacking vaccine critics was featured prominently in the segment was unhappy with the fact they "presented the claims of the parents of the autistic boy and of Barbara Loe Fisher without giving anyone a chance to rebut them." On his blog he states that he wrote a letter to CBS complaining that "neither I nor any of the doctors or scientists were given a chance to refute the autism theory. You say that the "medical establishment" doesn't believe it, but that's a distortion. It is the SCIENCE that doesn't support the theory. I realize you probably didn't have time to do the research to understand this yourselves, but you should have allowed a scientist, or me, to say it."
Those, whose mission in life is to act as a kind of vaccine thought patrol, cannot stand it when a journalist honestly examines the benefits and risks of vaccines and does not tell the reader or viewer what to think and what to do. These bully boys prefer to have vaccine casualties kept in a dark closet away from the eyes of the public, where they don't make people confront difficult scientific, political, economic and moral issues.
CBS Sunday Morning News will be taking comments on this story for the next 48 hours. For those who would like to go on the record about what you think, go to http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/sunday/main2635032.shtml and post your comments.
Vaccinia Hurts Chicago Toddler; Vaccines Injure Soldiers
"A 2-year-old boy is being treated in Chicago for a rare and life-threatening infection that he contracted from his father, a U.S. Army soldier recently vaccinated against smallpox. The Indiana boy is in critical condition with eczema vaccinatum, an unusual side effect of the smallpox vaccine that can affect people who receive the shot or their close contacts. Doctors also said the boy appears to have passed the infection to his mother, who has a much milder case of the virus in the smallpox vaccine, which is also called vaccinia.........The boy's rash had spread to cover 80 percent of his body, said Dr.Madelyn Kahana, chief of pediatric intensive care medicine at the U. of C. He was going into sepsis, a devastating, systemwide infection rarely seen with viral cases. "In the later stages of [eczema vaccinatum], it can look like smallpox," said Damon of the CDC. The boy needed a ventilator to help his breathing because of the powerful pain medication he needed for the lesions. The boy received the primary treatment for eczema vaccinatum, a drug called vaccinia immune globulin, or VIG. The drug came from a stockpile the CDC keeps in case widespread vaccination ever becomes necessary. He also got an antiviral drug called cidofovir and the experimental drug ST-246, which has been shown to protect laboratory animals from exposure to smallpox. The drug recently entered preliminary human trials but had never been used in a sick patient. U. of C. officials said the boy has shown signs of improvement since hitting a low point last weekend. Kahana said the boy probably will lose 20 percent of his outer skin layer, but she hopes he will recover without the need for skin grafts." - Jeremy Manier, Chicago Tribune, Smallpox shot infects soldier's toddler son
Boy critically ill; mom also stricken. March 17, 2007
"Gloria Kelly, spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces health services group, said Monday that the Department of National Defence is not considering the same. "At this point in time, we are not requiring our people to have anthrax vaccinations nor are we considering it," Kelly said from Ottawa. Both the Canadian and U.S. militaries ceased mandatory anthrax immunizations after questions arose about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. The U.S. army continued to offer a voluntary vaccination but only about half of U.S. soldiers signed on. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since declared the anthrax vaccine safe and effective, opening the door to the mandatory program south of the border." - Dene Moore, Canadian Press , March 5, 2007, No anthrax vaccine for Afghanistan troops, despite U.S. decision
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Within weeks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was an announcement by CDC officials that old stockpiles of smallpox vaccine would be diluted to make enough doses to vaccinate millions of Americans in case terrorists used weaponized smallpox to attack the U.S. population. Public health and Department of Defense officials did not explain (1) how the terrorists could have stolen the smallpox virus from one of the two maximum security laboratories in the U.S.or Russia; (2) why terrorists would have the technical expertise and special lab facilities to culture and maintain the viability of the virus; (3) how they could transport the virus in liquid or powder form without destroying its effectiveness; or (4) how they acquired the sophisticated and expensive technology to deliver weaponized smallpox to large numbers of people.
What public health and DOD officials did know post 9-11 is that (1) the old live vaccinia virus vaccine for smallpox was never tested for safety in controlled clinical trials before it was used on a mass basis (2) 1 in 4,000 vacinees suffer severe reactions; (3) those recently vaccinated become infected with vaccinia virus and can transmit the vaccine virus to close contacts, leading to injury and death for some;(4) the most deadly side effects of smallpox vaccination are progressive vaccinia (disintegration of the flesh, internal organs and bones causing death within 6 months); encephalitis/encephalomyelitis (brain inflammation within 25 days after vaccination causing permanent brain damage); eczema vaccinatum (high fever, swollen lymph nodes, inflammation and skin lesions, especially in persons with a history of eczema) or generalized vaccinia (smallpox-like total body rash).
The DOD continues to push the highly reactive smallpox vaccine, as well as the highly reactive anthrax vaccine, on U.S. soldiers without their informed consent while failing to provided any evidence to the American public that weaponized smallpox or anthrax is possessed by any terrorist group with the expertise and means to successfully unleash those weaponized organisms on anyone. Tens of thousands of soldiers have suffered smallpox and anthrax vaccine reactions and tens of hundreds have suffered permanent brain and immune system dysfunction or have died.
The tragic consequences of one-size-fits-all forced vaccination policies in both military and civilian life is that nobody is held accountable when casualties occur. The human casualties are written off as expendable in the name of the greater good, even when the greater good is nowhere to be found.
Boy critically ill; mom also stricken. March 17, 2007
"Gloria Kelly, spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces health services group, said Monday that the Department of National Defence is not considering the same. "At this point in time, we are not requiring our people to have anthrax vaccinations nor are we considering it," Kelly said from Ottawa. Both the Canadian and U.S. militaries ceased mandatory anthrax immunizations after questions arose about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. The U.S. army continued to offer a voluntary vaccination but only about half of U.S. soldiers signed on. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since declared the anthrax vaccine safe and effective, opening the door to the mandatory program south of the border." - Dene Moore, Canadian Press , March 5, 2007, No anthrax vaccine for Afghanistan troops, despite U.S. decision
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Within weeks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was an announcement by CDC officials that old stockpiles of smallpox vaccine would be diluted to make enough doses to vaccinate millions of Americans in case terrorists used weaponized smallpox to attack the U.S. population. Public health and Department of Defense officials did not explain (1) how the terrorists could have stolen the smallpox virus from one of the two maximum security laboratories in the U.S.or Russia; (2) why terrorists would have the technical expertise and special lab facilities to culture and maintain the viability of the virus; (3) how they could transport the virus in liquid or powder form without destroying its effectiveness; or (4) how they acquired the sophisticated and expensive technology to deliver weaponized smallpox to large numbers of people.
What public health and DOD officials did know post 9-11 is that (1) the old live vaccinia virus vaccine for smallpox was never tested for safety in controlled clinical trials before it was used on a mass basis (2) 1 in 4,000 vacinees suffer severe reactions; (3) those recently vaccinated become infected with vaccinia virus and can transmit the vaccine virus to close contacts, leading to injury and death for some;(4) the most deadly side effects of smallpox vaccination are progressive vaccinia (disintegration of the flesh, internal organs and bones causing death within 6 months); encephalitis/encephalomyelitis (brain inflammation within 25 days after vaccination causing permanent brain damage); eczema vaccinatum (high fever, swollen lymph nodes, inflammation and skin lesions, especially in persons with a history of eczema) or generalized vaccinia (smallpox-like total body rash).
The DOD continues to push the highly reactive smallpox vaccine, as well as the highly reactive anthrax vaccine, on U.S. soldiers without their informed consent while failing to provided any evidence to the American public that weaponized smallpox or anthrax is possessed by any terrorist group with the expertise and means to successfully unleash those weaponized organisms on anyone. Tens of thousands of soldiers have suffered smallpox and anthrax vaccine reactions and tens of hundreds have suffered permanent brain and immune system dysfunction or have died.
The tragic consequences of one-size-fits-all forced vaccination policies in both military and civilian life is that nobody is held accountable when casualties occur. The human casualties are written off as expendable in the name of the greater good, even when the greater good is nowhere to be found.
VA Gov Amends HPV Law: Parents To Decide
"Last month, the [Virginia] House and Senate passed bills to require all girls entering the sixth grade to get the vaccine for the human papillomavirus, or HPV. Del. Phillip Hamilton's bill requires parents wishing to exempt their children from the vaccine to fill out a form from the State Board of Health Regulations for the Immunization of School Children. Kaine's amendment would eliminate the need for parents or guardians to submit written requests for their children to opt out of the vaccine, called Gardasil. "While I believe that this vaccine shows great promise for preventing cancer, I believe that the decision to administer this vaccine should be made by parents," Kaine said in a statement. "My amendments further clarify the provision that a girl's parent or guardian has complete discretion to decide whether their child should be vaccinated." - Kristen Gelineau, AP, Daily Press, March 26, 2007, Kaine proposes HPV vaccine amendment; restaurant smoking ban
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Congratulations to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for having the wisdom and vision to amend the nation's first HPV vaccine mandate to an "opt-in" and not an "opt-out" requirement for girls entering the sixth grade. Virginia parents will now have, in the Governor's words, "complete discretion" in choosing whether or not their 11 year old daughters will get three doses of HPV vaccine. Parents will not have to sign a written statement declining the vaccine for records kept by state government health officials.
Governor Kaine and Virginia legislators have come under intense pressure by Merck lobbyists seeking to persuade Virginia and many other states to mandate that girls entering sixth grade get three doses of GARDASIL, a vaccine fast tracked at the FDA and quickly recommended in 2006 by the CDC for girls entering puberty. However, there has been a nationwide parent backlash to the aggressive advertising and lobbying campaign by Merck to require use of GARDASIL for young school girls.
Parent-led organizations, such as NVIC, have opposed vaccine mandates citing lack of vaccine safety and efficacy data for girls under age 16 and questioning the rationale for mandated use of a vaccine for an infection that cannot be transmitted in the public setting for a cancer that has dropped 74 percent in the past four decades because routine pap screening has become standard health care for women in America. Other parent-led organizations oppose the government requiring pre-adolescent girls to use a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease before they are sexually active because it potentially interferes with parental influence in the teaching of moral values.
Governor Kaine did the right thing: after weighing the benefits and risks of signing the HPV vaccine mandate, he amended it to reflect the will of the people. He gave back to parents and pediatricians the decision of whether or not an 11 year old girl living in Virginia should get three doses of HPV vaccine. And he wisely rejected the idea that the names of those who decline HPV vaccine for their daughters should be put on an "opt-out" list kept by state health officials.
Governors in every state would do well to take note of the vision that Governor Kaine has demonstrated and follow his lead. Education, not coercion, is the best way to encourage citizens to take responsibility for the health care choices they make for themselves and their children. Cost and access barriers to vaccine use can be lowered through legislation without using legislation to force vaccine use upon citizens against their will.
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
Congratulations to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for having the wisdom and vision to amend the nation's first HPV vaccine mandate to an "opt-in" and not an "opt-out" requirement for girls entering the sixth grade. Virginia parents will now have, in the Governor's words, "complete discretion" in choosing whether or not their 11 year old daughters will get three doses of HPV vaccine. Parents will not have to sign a written statement declining the vaccine for records kept by state government health officials.
Governor Kaine and Virginia legislators have come under intense pressure by Merck lobbyists seeking to persuade Virginia and many other states to mandate that girls entering sixth grade get three doses of GARDASIL, a vaccine fast tracked at the FDA and quickly recommended in 2006 by the CDC for girls entering puberty. However, there has been a nationwide parent backlash to the aggressive advertising and lobbying campaign by Merck to require use of GARDASIL for young school girls.
Parent-led organizations, such as NVIC, have opposed vaccine mandates citing lack of vaccine safety and efficacy data for girls under age 16 and questioning the rationale for mandated use of a vaccine for an infection that cannot be transmitted in the public setting for a cancer that has dropped 74 percent in the past four decades because routine pap screening has become standard health care for women in America. Other parent-led organizations oppose the government requiring pre-adolescent girls to use a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease before they are sexually active because it potentially interferes with parental influence in the teaching of moral values.
Governor Kaine did the right thing: after weighing the benefits and risks of signing the HPV vaccine mandate, he amended it to reflect the will of the people. He gave back to parents and pediatricians the decision of whether or not an 11 year old girl living in Virginia should get three doses of HPV vaccine. And he wisely rejected the idea that the names of those who decline HPV vaccine for their daughters should be put on an "opt-out" list kept by state health officials.
Governors in every state would do well to take note of the vision that Governor Kaine has demonstrated and follow his lead. Education, not coercion, is the best way to encourage citizens to take responsibility for the health care choices they make for themselves and their children. Cost and access barriers to vaccine use can be lowered through legislation without using legislation to force vaccine use upon citizens against their will.
Chickenpox Vaccine Protection Fails; Booster Needed
"In the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers confirm what doctors have already known — that the vaccine has sharply reduced the number of cases in children but that its protection does not last long. With fewer natural cases of the disease, the study says, unvaccinated children or those whose first dose of the vaccine fails to work are getting chickenpox later in life, when the risk of complications is higher. “If you’re unvaccinated and you get it later in life, there’s a 20-times greater risk of dying compared to a child, and a 10- to 15-times greater chance of getting hospitalized,” said Dr. Jane Seward of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, who worked on the study....The United States has been vaccinating against chickenpox since 1995. But tests have shown that the vaccine is not very effective in 15 percent to 20 percent of children who receive only one dose. A second dose would provide extra protection, but it is not clear how much.." - Reuters, New York Times , March 15, 2007, Chickenpox Vaccine Loses Effectiveness in Study
"Children between the ages of 8 and 12 years who had been vaccinated at least 5 years previously were significantly more likely to have moderate or severe disease than were those who had been vaccinated less than 5 years previously. The annual rate of breakthrough varicella significantly increased with the time since vaccination, from 1.6 cases per 1000 person-years within 1 year after vaccination to 9.0 per 1000 person-years at 5 years and 58.2 per 1000 person-years at 9 years." - Sandra Chavez, M.D. et al., New England Journal of Medicine
Loss of Vaccine-Induced Immunity to Varicella over Time, March 15, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
In March 1995, when Merck's chickenpox vaccine, VARIVAX, was licensed, the National Vaccine Information Center issued a public statement and I appeared on NBC's "Today Show" questioning why the CDC and AAP were calling for mass use of the live varicella zoster vaccine by all healthy children. Originally developed for leukemic children for whom chicken pox could be deadly, it had taken Merck decades to get VARIVAX licensed for healthy children because it had such a high failure rate: efficacy was known to be 80 percent or less.
In 1995, NVIC went on record as opposing chicken pox vaccine mandates for the following reasons: (1) the childhood disease is highly communicable but mild for the vast majority of young children; (2) disease-induced immunity is qualitatively superior and lasts longer than vaccine induced, temporary immunity so mass vaccination sets up the need for booster shots; (3) mass vaccination will change the epidemiology of the disease and drive it into atypical older age groups where it is far more likely to cause permanent injury or death; (4) shingles cases may increase as chicken pox cases decrease.
On March 14, 2007, CDC officials published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine and confirmed the warning that NVIC issued exactly twelve years earlier: Merck's VARIVAX vaccine has a high failure rate and mass vaccination of American children has driven the disease into atypical older age groups where it can be far more dangerous. Already the CDC has said children between 4 and 6 years need a booster dose and a third booster may well be planned for teenagers..
And what about the chicken pox vaccine's safety? In September 2000, the FDA reported that in the first three years of the vaccine's use, 1 in 33,000 doses was followed by shock, convulsions, encephalitis, thrombocytopenia or death. About 82 percent of the adverse event reports to VAERS occurred in individuals who only received the chicken pox vaccine and led to the addition of 17 adverse events to the Merck product label, including secondary bacterial infections (cellulitis); secondary transmission (infection of close contacts); transverse myelitis; Guillain Barre syndrome and herpes zoster (shingles). On Sept. 13, 2000, NVIC issued a press release and stated "This vaccine should not be mandated. There are too many questions about the true adverse event and efficacy profile of this relatively new live virus vaccine and it is up to the manufacturer marketing the vaccine and the federal agencies regulating the vaccine to conduct further follow-up."
Since 2000, NVIC and VAERS have received continuing reports of brain inflammation, convulsions, vaccine strain chicken pox, shingles, regression into autism and other serious health problems following receipt of VARIVAX alone or in combination with MMR, DTaP, influenza, pneumococcal and other vaccines.
In the past few years, Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., founder and editor of Medical Veritas, published research in Vaccine and the International Journal of Toxicology documenting an increase in shingles (herpes zoster) in the U.S. after the states mandated use of chickenpox vaccine following the CDC's 1995 "universal use" recommendation. Goldman's research revealed that shingles, a painful nerve inflammation and rash that develops into pus-filled blisters that break open and form scabs and can cause three times as many deaths and five times the number of hospitalizations as chicken pox, is suppressed naturally in a population when older children and adults have their chickenpox-induced immunity asymptomatically "boosted" by coming into contact with younger children infected with chicken pox. Dr. Goldman's findings, summarized in his article "The Case Against Universal Varicella Vaccination" (International Journal of Toxicology, 25:313-317, 2006) corroborate those of other independent researchers questioning the cost-benefit rationale for mandatory vaccination of all children with chickenpox vaccine.
Goldman and others have pointed out that, even if chickenpox was nearly eradicated by mass vaccination, the higher number of shingles cases could continue in the US for up to 50 years with any chickenpox deaths prevented by vaccination offset by deaths from increasing shingles disease. Goldman published a cost-benefit analysis of the mass varicella zoster vaccination program in Vaccine which demonstrated that the 50-year shingles epidemic will cost an excess $4.1 billion in health care costs to the U.S. According to Goldman, "The principal reason that chicken pox vaccines in Japan maintained high levels of immunity 20 years following vaccination was that only 1 in 5 Japanese children were voluntarily vaccinated. Those vaccinated received immunologic boosting from contact with children with natural chickenpox. But the mandatory vaccination program in the U.S. will nearly eradicate this natural boosting mechanism and leave our population vulnerable to shingles."
On May 26, 2006, the FDA approved Merck's shingles vaccine, ZOSTAVAX, for adults 60 years and older who have had chickenpox at some point in their lives. In October, 2006 the ACIP provisionally recommended it for all adults over 60 regardless of whether they did or did not have chickenpox. ZOSTAVAX is based on Merck's VARIVAX but is considered to be 14 times more potent. Cost for a single dose of ZOSTAVAX costs $150 or more.
The CDC recommendation that all American children get booster doses of chickenpox vaccine and all adults over 60 years old get a dose of shingles vaccine will generate billions of dollars for Merck, the sole supplier of chickenpox and shingles vaccine in the U.S.
Note: Gary Goldman has written several books about his experience as a varicella zoster vaccine researcher for the CDC and what happened when he attempted to inform the public about the vaccine's risks.
Click here for more information on Amazon.com
"Children between the ages of 8 and 12 years who had been vaccinated at least 5 years previously were significantly more likely to have moderate or severe disease than were those who had been vaccinated less than 5 years previously. The annual rate of breakthrough varicella significantly increased with the time since vaccination, from 1.6 cases per 1000 person-years within 1 year after vaccination to 9.0 per 1000 person-years at 5 years and 58.2 per 1000 person-years at 9 years." - Sandra Chavez, M.D. et al., New England Journal of Medicine
Loss of Vaccine-Induced Immunity to Varicella over Time, March 15, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
In March 1995, when Merck's chickenpox vaccine, VARIVAX, was licensed, the National Vaccine Information Center issued a public statement and I appeared on NBC's "Today Show" questioning why the CDC and AAP were calling for mass use of the live varicella zoster vaccine by all healthy children. Originally developed for leukemic children for whom chicken pox could be deadly, it had taken Merck decades to get VARIVAX licensed for healthy children because it had such a high failure rate: efficacy was known to be 80 percent or less.
In 1995, NVIC went on record as opposing chicken pox vaccine mandates for the following reasons: (1) the childhood disease is highly communicable but mild for the vast majority of young children; (2) disease-induced immunity is qualitatively superior and lasts longer than vaccine induced, temporary immunity so mass vaccination sets up the need for booster shots; (3) mass vaccination will change the epidemiology of the disease and drive it into atypical older age groups where it is far more likely to cause permanent injury or death; (4) shingles cases may increase as chicken pox cases decrease.
On March 14, 2007, CDC officials published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine and confirmed the warning that NVIC issued exactly twelve years earlier: Merck's VARIVAX vaccine has a high failure rate and mass vaccination of American children has driven the disease into atypical older age groups where it can be far more dangerous. Already the CDC has said children between 4 and 6 years need a booster dose and a third booster may well be planned for teenagers..
And what about the chicken pox vaccine's safety? In September 2000, the FDA reported that in the first three years of the vaccine's use, 1 in 33,000 doses was followed by shock, convulsions, encephalitis, thrombocytopenia or death. About 82 percent of the adverse event reports to VAERS occurred in individuals who only received the chicken pox vaccine and led to the addition of 17 adverse events to the Merck product label, including secondary bacterial infections (cellulitis); secondary transmission (infection of close contacts); transverse myelitis; Guillain Barre syndrome and herpes zoster (shingles). On Sept. 13, 2000, NVIC issued a press release and stated "This vaccine should not be mandated. There are too many questions about the true adverse event and efficacy profile of this relatively new live virus vaccine and it is up to the manufacturer marketing the vaccine and the federal agencies regulating the vaccine to conduct further follow-up."
Since 2000, NVIC and VAERS have received continuing reports of brain inflammation, convulsions, vaccine strain chicken pox, shingles, regression into autism and other serious health problems following receipt of VARIVAX alone or in combination with MMR, DTaP, influenza, pneumococcal and other vaccines.
In the past few years, Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., founder and editor of Medical Veritas, published research in Vaccine and the International Journal of Toxicology documenting an increase in shingles (herpes zoster) in the U.S. after the states mandated use of chickenpox vaccine following the CDC's 1995 "universal use" recommendation. Goldman's research revealed that shingles, a painful nerve inflammation and rash that develops into pus-filled blisters that break open and form scabs and can cause three times as many deaths and five times the number of hospitalizations as chicken pox, is suppressed naturally in a population when older children and adults have their chickenpox-induced immunity asymptomatically "boosted" by coming into contact with younger children infected with chicken pox. Dr. Goldman's findings, summarized in his article "The Case Against Universal Varicella Vaccination" (International Journal of Toxicology, 25:313-317, 2006) corroborate those of other independent researchers questioning the cost-benefit rationale for mandatory vaccination of all children with chickenpox vaccine.
Goldman and others have pointed out that, even if chickenpox was nearly eradicated by mass vaccination, the higher number of shingles cases could continue in the US for up to 50 years with any chickenpox deaths prevented by vaccination offset by deaths from increasing shingles disease. Goldman published a cost-benefit analysis of the mass varicella zoster vaccination program in Vaccine which demonstrated that the 50-year shingles epidemic will cost an excess $4.1 billion in health care costs to the U.S. According to Goldman, "The principal reason that chicken pox vaccines in Japan maintained high levels of immunity 20 years following vaccination was that only 1 in 5 Japanese children were voluntarily vaccinated. Those vaccinated received immunologic boosting from contact with children with natural chickenpox. But the mandatory vaccination program in the U.S. will nearly eradicate this natural boosting mechanism and leave our population vulnerable to shingles."
On May 26, 2006, the FDA approved Merck's shingles vaccine, ZOSTAVAX, for adults 60 years and older who have had chickenpox at some point in their lives. In October, 2006 the ACIP provisionally recommended it for all adults over 60 regardless of whether they did or did not have chickenpox. ZOSTAVAX is based on Merck's VARIVAX but is considered to be 14 times more potent. Cost for a single dose of ZOSTAVAX costs $150 or more.
The CDC recommendation that all American children get booster doses of chickenpox vaccine and all adults over 60 years old get a dose of shingles vaccine will generate billions of dollars for Merck, the sole supplier of chickenpox and shingles vaccine in the U.S.
Note: Gary Goldman has written several books about his experience as a varicella zoster vaccine researcher for the CDC and what happened when he attempted to inform the public about the vaccine's risks.
Click here for more information on Amazon.com
Vaccine Maker, Lawmakers Reject HPV Vaccine Mandates
"Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment," said Diane M. Harper, who is a scientist, physician, professor and the director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire. "It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11- to 12-year-old girls. There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue.....So far more than 40 cases of Guillian-Barre syndrome - a dangerous immune disorder that causes tingling, numbness and even paralysis of the muscles have been reported in girls who have received the HPV vaccine in combination with the meningitis vaccine. Scientists already know that sometimes a vaccine can trigger the syndrome in a subject. "With the HPV vaccine, it is a small number but higher than is expected, and we don't know if it's the combination of the two, or the meningitis alone," Harper said." - Cindy Bevington, Fort Wayne Daily News (Indiana), March 14, 2007, Researcher Blasts HPV Marketing
"A State Senate panel has rejected a watered-down proposal, designed to encourage cervical cancer vaccinations for young girls. Lawmakers refused to approve a version that would only require doctors to tell parents about the shots. The original bill would have required sixth-grade girls to get the vaccination unless their parents signed a refusal form. Sponsor and Democratic Senator Suzanne Williams of Aurora scaled it back hoping to gain more support. But even the weaker version fell short. The Senate Appropriations Committee deadlocked on a 5- to-5 vote, so the bill will NOT move on to the full Senate." - Associated Press, KKTV-11 News (Colorado)HPV Vaccination Bill Fails
"A Georgia member of Congress yesterday introduced legislation to prohibit federal money from being used by states to make vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV) mandatory for school- age children. "Mandating the HPV vaccination is both unprecedented and unacceptable," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, a Republican, who is an obstetrician and gynecologist. "Whether or not girls get vaccinated against HPV is a decision for parents and physicians, not state governments." The Washington Times, March 16, 2007, Proposal Blocks Funding for HPV Vaccine
"Although no data exist on administration of quadrivalent HPV vaccine with vaccines other than hepatitis B vaccine, quadrivalent HPV vaccine is not a live vaccine and has no components that adversely impact safety or efficacy of other vaccinations. Quadrivalent HPV vaccine can be administered at the same visit as other age appropriate vaccines, such as the Tdap and quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate (MCV4) vaccines. Administering all indicated vaccines together at a single visit increases the likelihood that adolescents and young adults will receive each of the vaccines on schedule." - Lauri Markowitz, M.D. et al, ACIP, Morbidity & Mortality Report March 12, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
The American people are speaking out about HPV vaccine mandates. In every public poll that is taken by the print or broadcast media, a majority of responders vote "NO" when asked if they want HPV vaccine mandates for sixth grade girls. Some state legislators have responded to the will of the people, like in Colorado, and have voted "No" to proposed mandates. A visionary physician member of the U.S. Congress, Georgia's Rep. Phil Gingrey, has introduced legislation to prohibit federal money from being used by states to mandate HPV vaccine. But other legislators, such as those in Virginia, have already quickly voted "yes" to HPV vaccine mandates. They apparently chose to listen to Merck rather than listening to the people who voted them into office.
While the people are saying "NO MANDATES" and the politicians are voting for or against mandates, NVIC continues to monitor GARDASIL adverse event reports being filed in VAERS, as well as counsel women and parents of daughters who suffered sudden collapse with seizure activity; pain, tingling, and numbness in hands; speech and vision loss and other serious health problems after being injected with GARDASIL.
Now, an HPV vaccine researcher has spoken out publicly in opposition to mandates, citing among other concerns the fact that there have been 40 cases of GBS reported after GARDASIL was given simultaneously with meningococcal vaccine. At the same time, the CDC published its official HPV vaccine recommendation in the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, instructing doctors to give GARDASIL in combination with other vaccines, including meningococcal vaccine, even though they admit "no data exist on administration of quadrivalent HPV vaccine with vaccines other than hepatitis B vaccine...."
CDC officials associated with these recommendations are exhibiting an appalling lack of concern for individual and public health by cavalierly recommending that GARDASIL be given to every 11 year old girl in America, when they know that Merck only studied the vaccine in a few hundred 11 year old girls. This callous disregard for human life is compounded by telling doctors to give GARDASIL to little girls in combination with other vaccines when "no data exist" to support the safety of that policy.
Tragically, most doctors blindly trust the scientific validity of CDC vaccine recommendations. Many doctors refuse to report serious health problems suffered by children after vaccination because CDC officials have taught them to believe that vaccine associated health problems are a "coincidence" and have nothing to do with the vaccine(s) recently given to a child. Fewer than 10 percent of all doctors obey the safety provisions in the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which includes mandatory reporting of vaccine adverse events because there are no sanctions for failing to report.
Just this week, a mother told NVIC that her daughter's doctor refused to report to VAERS that her daughter suffered a sudden collapse with seizure activity and other neurological signs within 30 minutes of being injected with GARDASIL. How many more doctors are refusing to report because they are in collective denial about vaccine risks?
The lesson that America is learning from the GARDASIL fiasco is that those who operate America's mass vaccination program arrogantly wield their considerable power by negligently putting policy before science and money before lives. There is about $4 billion dollars riding on the successful mandating of HPV vaccine for every girl in America, but trillions more riding on the precedent it will set.
The rollout of HPV vaccine today, marked by a callous indifference for minimizing vaccine injuries, is paving the way for the rollout of HIV vaccine tomorrow. One day soon the CDC and vaccine manufacturers will be telling the public that a little bit of the virus associated with AIDS injected into our children won't hurt them at all, especially if it is given with many other vaccines at the same time. They will try to politicize the ensuing debate by making it all about sex and poor kids not having access in order to try to divert attention from the lack of scientific proof the vaccine is safe and effective in children. The HIV vaccine ads will blanket the airwaves and editorials will call for pre-teens to line up and roll up their sleeves. Every state legislator in the country will be pressured to vote for school mandates.
And nobody will have a clue about just how dangerous that future HIV vaccine is for either individual or public health.
No forced vaccination. Not in America.
"A State Senate panel has rejected a watered-down proposal, designed to encourage cervical cancer vaccinations for young girls. Lawmakers refused to approve a version that would only require doctors to tell parents about the shots. The original bill would have required sixth-grade girls to get the vaccination unless their parents signed a refusal form. Sponsor and Democratic Senator Suzanne Williams of Aurora scaled it back hoping to gain more support. But even the weaker version fell short. The Senate Appropriations Committee deadlocked on a 5- to-5 vote, so the bill will NOT move on to the full Senate." - Associated Press, KKTV-11 News (Colorado)HPV Vaccination Bill Fails
"A Georgia member of Congress yesterday introduced legislation to prohibit federal money from being used by states to make vaccines against the human papillomavirus (HPV) mandatory for school- age children. "Mandating the HPV vaccination is both unprecedented and unacceptable," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, a Republican, who is an obstetrician and gynecologist. "Whether or not girls get vaccinated against HPV is a decision for parents and physicians, not state governments." The Washington Times, March 16, 2007, Proposal Blocks Funding for HPV Vaccine
"Although no data exist on administration of quadrivalent HPV vaccine with vaccines other than hepatitis B vaccine, quadrivalent HPV vaccine is not a live vaccine and has no components that adversely impact safety or efficacy of other vaccinations. Quadrivalent HPV vaccine can be administered at the same visit as other age appropriate vaccines, such as the Tdap and quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate (MCV4) vaccines. Administering all indicated vaccines together at a single visit increases the likelihood that adolescents and young adults will receive each of the vaccines on schedule." - Lauri Markowitz, M.D. et al, ACIP, Morbidity & Mortality Report March 12, 2007
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
The American people are speaking out about HPV vaccine mandates. In every public poll that is taken by the print or broadcast media, a majority of responders vote "NO" when asked if they want HPV vaccine mandates for sixth grade girls. Some state legislators have responded to the will of the people, like in Colorado, and have voted "No" to proposed mandates. A visionary physician member of the U.S. Congress, Georgia's Rep. Phil Gingrey, has introduced legislation to prohibit federal money from being used by states to mandate HPV vaccine. But other legislators, such as those in Virginia, have already quickly voted "yes" to HPV vaccine mandates. They apparently chose to listen to Merck rather than listening to the people who voted them into office.
While the people are saying "NO MANDATES" and the politicians are voting for or against mandates, NVIC continues to monitor GARDASIL adverse event reports being filed in VAERS, as well as counsel women and parents of daughters who suffered sudden collapse with seizure activity; pain, tingling, and numbness in hands; speech and vision loss and other serious health problems after being injected with GARDASIL.
Now, an HPV vaccine researcher has spoken out publicly in opposition to mandates, citing among other concerns the fact that there have been 40 cases of GBS reported after GARDASIL was given simultaneously with meningococcal vaccine. At the same time, the CDC published its official HPV vaccine recommendation in the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, instructing doctors to give GARDASIL in combination with other vaccines, including meningococcal vaccine, even though they admit "no data exist on administration of quadrivalent HPV vaccine with vaccines other than hepatitis B vaccine...."
CDC officials associated with these recommendations are exhibiting an appalling lack of concern for individual and public health by cavalierly recommending that GARDASIL be given to every 11 year old girl in America, when they know that Merck only studied the vaccine in a few hundred 11 year old girls. This callous disregard for human life is compounded by telling doctors to give GARDASIL to little girls in combination with other vaccines when "no data exist" to support the safety of that policy.
Tragically, most doctors blindly trust the scientific validity of CDC vaccine recommendations. Many doctors refuse to report serious health problems suffered by children after vaccination because CDC officials have taught them to believe that vaccine associated health problems are a "coincidence" and have nothing to do with the vaccine(s) recently given to a child. Fewer than 10 percent of all doctors obey the safety provisions in the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which includes mandatory reporting of vaccine adverse events because there are no sanctions for failing to report.
Just this week, a mother told NVIC that her daughter's doctor refused to report to VAERS that her daughter suffered a sudden collapse with seizure activity and other neurological signs within 30 minutes of being injected with GARDASIL. How many more doctors are refusing to report because they are in collective denial about vaccine risks?
The lesson that America is learning from the GARDASIL fiasco is that those who operate America's mass vaccination program arrogantly wield their considerable power by negligently putting policy before science and money before lives. There is about $4 billion dollars riding on the successful mandating of HPV vaccine for every girl in America, but trillions more riding on the precedent it will set.
The rollout of HPV vaccine today, marked by a callous indifference for minimizing vaccine injuries, is paving the way for the rollout of HIV vaccine tomorrow. One day soon the CDC and vaccine manufacturers will be telling the public that a little bit of the virus associated with AIDS injected into our children won't hurt them at all, especially if it is given with many other vaccines at the same time. They will try to politicize the ensuing debate by making it all about sex and poor kids not having access in order to try to divert attention from the lack of scientific proof the vaccine is safe and effective in children. The HIV vaccine ads will blanket the airwaves and editorials will call for pre-teens to line up and roll up their sleeves. Every state legislator in the country will be pressured to vote for school mandates.
And nobody will have a clue about just how dangerous that future HIV vaccine is for either individual or public health.
No forced vaccination. Not in America.
HPV Mandate Debate Continues
Since we don't consider our children alley cats or any danger to public health, we reserve the right to make decisions about each and every invasive medical procedure including all vaccines. Kentucky politicians must think we are too inept to be granted that right as parents. Now that Kentucky legislators are allowed to behave like Stalin in promoting corporate agendas for non-contagious diseases, the ball is rolling downhill for intrusion into all realms of personal choice. Since Kentucky schools are no longer an option for my children to return to, I intend to move out of state with them." - Doreen Carlson, Central Kentucky News-Journal , March 12, 2007, Vaccine Has Forced Me Out of State
"We are not against vaccine availability, just vaccine mandates," says Fisher. While she concedes that every state but two has some kind of opt-out clause for parents who object to the vaccine for health, religious, moral or ethical reasons, she says parents who refuse immunization are harassed. "Your name goes on a state list. You get harassing calls from the CDC for your views on vaccines. Some families get thrown off health insurance plans, thrown out of their pediatricians' offices, thrown out of public schools — or parents are put in a room and grilled by officials about the depth of their religious convictions on this." - Karen Houppert, The Nation, also CBS News.com, March 11, 2007, The Fight Against Mandating An HPV Vaccine Has Made Strange Bedfellows Of Many Groups
"With such widespread HPV infection, a vaccination plan might seem like a reasonable idea. The issue takes on a special significance in our home because we have a 13-year-old daughter. But while we did conclude that the vaccine is right for our daughter, I think the decision to vaccinate a child with this particular vaccine should be made by the patient, her parents and their doctor. Not the state." - Benjamin Brewer, M.D., Wall Street Journal , March 8, 2007, Why Mandatory Vaccine May Not Be the Answer
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
The intense public debate about whether the state should force parents to inject their adolescent daughters with a poorly tested and potentially unsafe vaccine to prevent an infection that cannot be transmitted in the public setting rages on while legislators in 36 states either fast track, amend, table, withdraw or rescind HPV vaccine mandates.
In Texas, the House of Representatives today voted 119 to 21 to prohibit an HPV vaccine mandate in Texas, effectively rescinding Rick Perry's Feb. 2 Executive Order mandating the vaccine for girls entering sixth grade (for more information on what is happening in Texas, go to www.vaccineinfo.net ) In Virginia and New Mexico, legislators have recently sent HPV vaccine mandates to their Governor's desks for signing. (To find out what your state is doing, go to www.nvic.org, click on "HPV Infection and Gardasil" on the homepage and then click on "Check Proposed HPV Vaccine Mandates in Your State")
The majority of Americans do not want state governments forcing their 11 year old daughters to get three doses of HPV vaccine in order to attend sixth grade. Most Americans support the availability of the HPV vaccine with no cost or access barriers to those parents who want their daughters to get the vaccine but they do not support HPV vaccine mandates.
America's mandatory vaccination system is in critical need of reform. The National Vaccine Information Center has been working for 25 years to institute safety and informed consent protections in America's vaccination system. It is time for federal and state public health officials, the pharmaceutical industry and physician organizations to listen to the people. A system that will not bend will break.
"We are not against vaccine availability, just vaccine mandates," says Fisher. While she concedes that every state but two has some kind of opt-out clause for parents who object to the vaccine for health, religious, moral or ethical reasons, she says parents who refuse immunization are harassed. "Your name goes on a state list. You get harassing calls from the CDC for your views on vaccines. Some families get thrown off health insurance plans, thrown out of their pediatricians' offices, thrown out of public schools — or parents are put in a room and grilled by officials about the depth of their religious convictions on this." - Karen Houppert, The Nation, also CBS News.com, March 11, 2007, The Fight Against Mandating An HPV Vaccine Has Made Strange Bedfellows Of Many Groups
"With such widespread HPV infection, a vaccination plan might seem like a reasonable idea. The issue takes on a special significance in our home because we have a 13-year-old daughter. But while we did conclude that the vaccine is right for our daughter, I think the decision to vaccinate a child with this particular vaccine should be made by the patient, her parents and their doctor. Not the state." - Benjamin Brewer, M.D., Wall Street Journal , March 8, 2007, Why Mandatory Vaccine May Not Be the Answer
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
The intense public debate about whether the state should force parents to inject their adolescent daughters with a poorly tested and potentially unsafe vaccine to prevent an infection that cannot be transmitted in the public setting rages on while legislators in 36 states either fast track, amend, table, withdraw or rescind HPV vaccine mandates.
In Texas, the House of Representatives today voted 119 to 21 to prohibit an HPV vaccine mandate in Texas, effectively rescinding Rick Perry's Feb. 2 Executive Order mandating the vaccine for girls entering sixth grade (for more information on what is happening in Texas, go to www.vaccineinfo.net ) In Virginia and New Mexico, legislators have recently sent HPV vaccine mandates to their Governor's desks for signing. (To find out what your state is doing, go to www.nvic.org, click on "HPV Infection and Gardasil" on the homepage and then click on "Check Proposed HPV Vaccine Mandates in Your State")
The majority of Americans do not want state governments forcing their 11 year old daughters to get three doses of HPV vaccine in order to attend sixth grade. Most Americans support the availability of the HPV vaccine with no cost or access barriers to those parents who want their daughters to get the vaccine but they do not support HPV vaccine mandates.
America's mandatory vaccination system is in critical need of reform. The National Vaccine Information Center has been working for 25 years to institute safety and informed consent protections in America's vaccination system. It is time for federal and state public health officials, the pharmaceutical industry and physician organizations to listen to the people. A system that will not bend will break.
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