by Barbara Loe Fisher
Sometimes, when you least expect it, you get news that makes you stop and think about someone you care about, who taught you something important. Recently I learned of the death of my co-author of the ground breaking book he and I wrote together and published in 1985: DPT: A Shot in the Dark.
Harris was only 77 years old when he died on October 28, 2009. He had struggled for 12 years with the debilitating effects of a brain hemorrhage he suffered at age 65 while he was in Paris. It was a paralyzing stroke that would end his remarkable career.
When I last spoke with Harris two months before his death, I had called him to check out a rumor that he had passed away. With characteristic wit and clarity, he laughed and quoted Mark Twain, saying “The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
Although the stroke had left him paralyzed, it did not rob him of his personality or ability to recall details from the past. And every single time we had spoken in the decade following his stroke, Harris wanted to talk about the journey of discovery we took together when we wrote what would become the first major, well documented book examining the scientific and clinical evidence that vaccination can and does cause brain inflammation, permanent brain damage and death for some. Among his many accomplishments, Harris considered our collaboration on that book - which was published exactly a quarter century ago - to be his greatest one.
I remember the first time I spoke with Harris. It was the fall of 1982. I had been researching the side effects of DPT vaccine and interviewing parents of vaccine injured children for eight months following the broadcast of the emmy award winning television documentary DPT: Vaccine Roulette earlier that year. Along with other parents in the Washington, D.C. area, whose children had been brain injured or died after DPT shots, I helped establish the non-profit educational organization known today as the National Vaccine Information Center.
Back then, I was a young mother in my early 30’s with a four year old DPT vaccine injured son and I was pregnant with my second child. Working as a freelance writer out of my home, I was gathering information for a book I wanted to write for parents about preventing DPT vaccine injury and death.
Back then, nobody had personal computers or cell phones, and the internet was just a dream. If you wanted to write a book, especially on a medical topic, you did your research the old fashioned way – by going to the Library of Medicine or corresponding with authors of studies. So, when Harris called me up looking for information for an article he was writing on vaccination, it didn’t take me long to realize that this was a really smart man who knew his way around a medical library.
But I didn’t know he was a visionary medical historian, who had chronicled the history of homeopathy and the epic philosophical battles waged during the history of medicine from ancient times to the present in what would become his formidable four volume series of books called “Divided Legacy.” When I talked with him on the telephone that day in 1982, I didn’t know that Harris had graduated from Yale in Russian studies; that he was fluent in Russian, Hungarian, French, German, Spanish and Latin and was a well known oral and written translater for the State Department and at the United Nations; or that he earned a masters degree in political science and a PhD in philosophy from Columbia University.
I just knew, after talking with him for about 30 minutes, that he was an independent thinker and fearless about critiquing bad science and flawed assumptions made by the medical profession. Fearless was something I already figured out was a pre-requisite for writing a book that would challenge long standing assumptions parents and doctors have had about the safety of mass vaccination policies.
So I asked him if he wanted to co-author a book with me. He said “yes” and arrived on my doorstep a few days later to outline our game plan. And from that day on, Harris Coulter and I embarked on a truth seeking journey about vaccine safety that would take us into a labyrinth, where the history of science, medicine, politics, economics, law, and ethics intersected.
During this unlikely collaboration between a mother and writer, who loves Shakespeare, and a father and medical historian, who loved nothing better than to expose the arrogance and ignorance of medical orthodoxy, he and I managed to write a book that would be the first to inform the public about the link between vaccination and brain inflammation that can lead to chronic illness, including learning disabilities; attention deficit and ADHD; medication resistant seizure disorders; autism, asthma, severe allergies, mental retardation and other manifestations of brain and immune dysfunction given convenient labels by the medical profession.
As I interviewed hundreds of parents of DPT vaccine injured children and Harris set up camp at the Library of Medicine, my mantra became “brain damage by any other name is still brain damage” and his mantra was “when in doubt, don’t leave it out,” of our historic challenge to industry, government and organized medicine for refusing to acknowledge vaccine risks and failing to improve the crude and toxic whole cell DPT vaccine.
When he and I came under attack by medical writers at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal after our book was first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1985, Harris told me “don’t listen to them, Barbara. They know we are right and that is why they are attacking us.”
At an NIH meeting in 1988, when an auditorium full of scientists and health officials informed American parents that they were not going to license the safer and more effective DTaP vaccine that Japan had been using since 1981 until after they conducted eight more years of studies, Harris called out from the back of the auditorium “I’ve got cases of DPT: A Shot in the Dark back here for anyone who wants a copy.” Within an hour, every last book had been sold.
Harris never let his critics get him down. In fact, he celebrated the negative attention. He took a stalwart “Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!” attitude that echoed the advice my Dad gave me when I was young, which was: “If everybody likes you, then you probably aren’t doing anything important.”
Harris Coulter was a very special man. He was a brilliant historian, a remarkable visionary, a brave seeker and defender of the truth. He left his mark on the history of medicine and he changed my life. When I think of Harris, I remember a quote from Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caeser: “A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only once.”
Thank you, Harris, for being a hero for me and many others, who will always remember and miss you.
To receive a copy of A Shot in the Dark, become a donor supporter of the National Vaccine Information Center.
Harris Coulter, PhD October 8, 1932 - October 28, 2009
Harris Livermore Coulter, PhD, born in Baltimore MD on October 8, 1932 died on October 28, 2009 in Washington, D.C. after a long illness following a stroke in 1997.
The co-author of DPT: A Shot in the Dark in 1985 and author of Vaccination, Social Violence and Criminality: A Medical Assault on the American Brain in 1990, Dr. Coulter attended Milton Academy and graduated Yale University with a BA degree in Russian Studies. He earned a masters degree in political science and a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University. He worked for the State Department and United Nations as an English/Russian interpreter and authored nine books on medical history.
He is survived by his sons, Andrew and Alex and by his daughters, Elizabeth and Marian.
Curriculum Vitae for Harris Coulter, PhD
June 1997 - Paris, France - Meetings with Dr. Jacques Benveniste on writing a history of his discovery of the "memory of water."
January 1997 - Lectured to homeopathic and other physicians specializing in alternative medicine in Berlin, Germany, Moscow, Russia and London, UK.
October 1996 - Lectured on cancer immunotherapy at the 51st Annual Conference of the World Homeopathic League (LIGA) in Capri, Italy and at the Third Dead Sea Conference on Potentiating Health and the Crisis of the Immune System in Zichron Yaacov, Israel. Guest Lecturer at the Convention of the Romanian Homoeopathic Society in Bucharest, Romania.
November 1995 - Lectured on medical and homeopathic history at Centre de Techniques Homeopathiques, Montreal, Canada (lectures published by the Centre under the title: Histoire de l'Homeopathie).
October 1995 - Lectured at 50th Congress of International Homeopathic Medical League (Oaxaca, Mexico) on dangers of childhood vaccinations.
September 1995 - Lectured at Conference on Genetic Causes of Violence (University of Maryland) on childhood vaccinations as a cause of violent behavior.
February 1995 - Spoke at 49th Congress of International Homeopathic Medical League (New Delhi, India), and to homeopathic physicians in Calcutta, India, on 'Vitalism and the Future of Medicine.'
December 1994 - Published: Divided Legacy. Volume IV. Twentieth Century Medicine: The Bacteriological Era.
April 1994 - Lectured at 150th Anniversary meeting of The American Institute of Homeopathy on: 'American Medicine, Where We've Been and Where We're Going.'
September-October 1993 - Ad Hoc Advisory Panel of the Office of Alternative Medicine. Worked with Office of Alternative Medicine supervising trial of shark cartilage in treatment of cancer.
May 1993 - Honorary member of the 'Syndicat Professionel des Homeopathes du Quebec'.
September 1992 - Pharmacological and Biological Treatments Panel Member on the NIH's Workshop on Alternative Medicine. The report published was Alternative Medicine: Expanding Medical Horizons, also known as the Chantilly Report.
September 1992 - Lectured at the Fifth International Conference on Neuro-Developmental Issues (Cherry Hill, New Jersey) on the post-encephalitic syndrome.
March 1992 - Lectured at Fourth European Conference on Neuro-Developmental Delay (Chester, England) on the post-encephalitic syndrome.
1990-96 - Advisory board of the Cancer Chronicles.
1990-91 - Board of Directors, International Foundation for Homeopathy.
1990 - Published The Controlled Clinical Trial: An Analysis
1990 – Published Vaccination, Social Violence, and Criminality: The Medical Assault on the American Brain.
May 1990 - Lectured at 45th Congress of International Homeopathic Medical League, Barcelona, Spain, on dangers of childhood vaccinations. Awarded the Centenary Gold Medal of the Academica Medico-Homeopatica de Barcelona.
1990-96 - Lectured in France, Norway, Brazil, and Russia on homeopathic, vaccination, and medical history issues.
1988 - Testified before House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor: on AIDS and Syphilis: the Hidden Link.
1987 - Published AIDS and Syphilis: the Hidden Link.
1985 - Published with Barbara Loe Fisher: DPT: A Shot in the Dark.
1985 - Awarded the Hahnemann Prize of the Belgian Faculty of Homeopathy.
1983-89 - Editorial board of the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
1987 - Lectured at 42nd Congress of the International Homeopathic Medical League, Arlington, Virginia: 'DPT Vaccine. The DPT Shot and Public Health.'
1983-96 - Honorary member of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
1981-82 - Vice President of the American Center for Homeopathy and editor of The American Homeopath; Secretary of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention. Organized homeopathic summer programs in Melbourne, Florida, and Scottsdale, Arizona.
1981 - Published Homeopathic Science and Modern Medicine.
1980 - Lectured to 35th Congress of the International Homeopathic Medical League, Acapulco, Mexico: 'Hahnemannian Homeopathy and Revisionism.'
1977 - Published: Divided Legacy. Volume II. The Origins of Modern Western Medicine: J. B. Van Helmont to Claude Bernard.
1975 - Published Divided Legacy. Volume I. The Patterns Emerge: Hippocrates to Paracelsus.
May-June 1974 - 39th Congress of the International Homoeopathic Medical League, Washington, D.C. George Vithoulkas and Harris L. Coulter honored as writers on homeopathy.
1973 - Published Divided Legacy. Volume III. The Conflict Between homeopathy and the American Medical Association, and Homeopathic Influences in Nineteenth-Century Allopathic Therapeutics.
1972 - Published: Homeopathic Medicine.
July 1969 - Awarded degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) by Columbia University, NY; dissertation title: Political and Social Aspects of Nineteenth-Century Medicine in the United States: The Formation of the American Medical Association and its Struggle with the Homeopathic and Eclectic Physicians.
1965-75 - Director of Publications, American Foundation for Homeopathy.
1961 - Awarded M.A. by Columbia University, NY (Political Science).
1954 - Awarded B.A. by Yale University, CT (Russian Area Studies).
Languages: German, French, Spanish, Latin, Russian, Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian.
Back to the Future: Parental Concerns About Vaccine Safety
by Barbara Loe Fisher
The results of a 2009 survey evaluating the vaccine safety concerns of American parents was recently published in the journal Pediatrics. 1 Out of the approximately 1500 parents, who took the survey, only 23 percent believe that vaccines cause autism in healthy children. But more than half were worried about serious adverse health effects of vaccination. The vast majority said they believe that getting vaccines is a good way to protect children from disease and follow their doctor’s recommendations. Still, more than 30 percent of those surveyed believe that parents should have the right to refuse vaccines that are required for school for any reason.
I am not surprised by these survey results because, since 1982, most parents contacting the National Vaccine Information Center tell us they want to trust what their doctors tell them about vaccination. Mothers and fathers depend upon their doctors to give them good advice; but when the health of their child or a child they know deteriorates after vaccination, 2 parents logically start to ask questions. And when they are belittled or even threatened for asking those questions, 3 4 the relationship between doctor and parent is never the same again.
Parents asking questions about vaccine safety is nothing new. Although in the past decade there has been a focus on whether a mercury preservative in vaccines, perhaps in combination with the MMR vaccine, can cause autism in some children, the public conversation about vaccine risks and flaws in vaccine science and policy began in the early 1980’s. 5 Back then, it was parents of DPT vaccine injured children calling for a less toxic whooping cough vaccine to replace an old one causing brain inflammation, brain damage and death.
We worked with Congress on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, 6 believing that this historic law would provide a safety net for children harmed by vaccines. We believed that the informing, recording and reporting requirements for doctors in that law would reduce the numbers of children, who died or became chronically ill and disabled after vaccination.
Little did we know that - even though $2 billion dollars has been paid to families with vaccine injured children under that law - only one out of three vaccine victims are ever financially compensated. 7 8 This, while drug companies making and selling vaccines have been almost completely protected from product liability. 9 10 Other pharmaceutical products, like Vioxx, 11 are not protected from liability and they are not mandated for school attendance like vaccines. Perhaps that is why there are far more black box warnings on drugs 12 13 than on vaccines. 14
A quarter century after the Vaccine Injury Act was passed, nothing has been done yet to conduct the kind of vaccine science that will give us answers about which children are at higher risk than others for dying or being brain injured by vaccination so their lives can be spared. 15 16 17 Whether industry or government will ever do that good vaccine science 18 is an outstanding question. But that does not mean that we, the people, cannot raise the money to do it. That is why the National Vaccine Information Center is creating an independent vaccine safety research program to study long term health outcomes of those who do and do not get vaccinated. 19
Public trust is fragile. When what the people are being told about vaccine safety does not match what they are experiencing in their own lives, doubt grows and trust fades.
The American public still has fresh memories of the aggressive lobbying campaign for mandatory HPV vaccination of all sixth grade girls. 20 And the 2009 H1N1 swine flu emergency declaration 21 that turned out to be the mildest influenza season in decades, 22 followed by the new federal recommendation that every American from birth has to get a flu shot every year, 23 is also fresh in our memory.
More and more Americans are becoming painfully aware that their medical bills, taxes and health insurance premiums are going up because, today, 1 in 6 highly vaccinated child in America is learning disabled; 1 in 9 has asthma; 1 in 100 develops autism; 1 in 450 becomes diabetic and 7 in 1,000 babies born alive are dying before their first birthday. 24 25 With 69 doses of 16 vaccines being given to children from birth through age 18 26 and hundreds of new vaccines being developed 27 to prevent infectious disease while trillions of dollars are being spent to treat chronic disease, 28 is it any wonder more parents are asking more questions about vaccine safety?
And is it any wonder that more Americans want the legal right to make vaccine choices as drug companies and public health officials encourage legislators to pass laws that electronically track medical records and attach penalties for those who fail to get every government recommended vaccine? 29
There is no more important task before those responsible for ensuring the public health than addressing parental concerns about vaccination with better science and not with better press releases and more mandates.
Please support the work of the National Vaccine Information Center 30 and other parent-led organizations, 30 31 32 33 who have been educating the public for many years about vaccination and health and defending your right to make informed, voluntary vaccine choices for yourself and your children.
1 Freed GL, Clark SJ et al. Parental Vaccine Safety Concerns in 2009. Pediatrics: April 4, 2010 (Vol 125, No. 4).
2 International Memorial for Vaccine Victims. National Vaccine Information Center.
3 Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall. National Vaccine Information Center.
4 Associated Press. Most parents back vaccines, though many believe autism link. Washington Post. March 1, 2010.
5 Coulter HL, Fisher BL. DPT: A Shot in the Dark. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1985.
6 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (PL 99-660).
7 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources & Services Administration. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Statistics Report.
8 Fisher BL. Vaccine Injury Compensation: A Failed Experiment in Tort Reform? Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. November 18, 2008.
9 Department of Health & Human Services. Coverage Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act for H1N1 Vaccination.
10 Mair JS, Mair M. Vaccine Liability in the Era of Bioterrorism. Medscape Today. October 28, 2003.
11 Food and Drug Administration. Vioxx (rofecoxib) Questions & Answers. September 30, 2004.
12 Black Box Warnings.
13 Food and Drug Administration. Medwatch. 2010 Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products.
14 Centers for Disease Control. Recalled Vaccines.
15 Fisher BL. Vaccine Safety Research Needs – Perspective from Parents. Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum. April 1, 1996.
16 Fisher BL. Vaccine Research Needs. Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee. January 11, 2001.
17 Fisher BL. Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. April 11, 2008.
18 National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Recommendations on the Centers for Disease Control Immunization Safety Office Draft 5-Year Scientific Agenda. June 2, 2009.
19 National Vaccine Information Center. NVIC Launches Research Fund to Study Health & Vaccination. October 12, 2009.
20 Gardner A. Drugmaker Assists in Pushing for Mandate for HPV Vaccination. Washington Post. February 11, 2007.
21 National Vaccine Information Center. H1N1 Swine Flu: What About You & Your Family?
22 McKay B. The Flu Season That Fizzled. Wall Street Journal. March 2, 2010.
23 Stobbe M. Panel Recommends Flu Shots for Nearly Every American. Associated Press. February 21, 2010.
24 Fisher BL. References for Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. April 11, 2008.
25 DeNoon DJ. Infant Mortality: US ranks 29th. WebMd. October 15, 2008.
26 Centers for Disease Control. 2010 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules.
27 US National Institutes of Health. Directory of Clinical Trials (Vaccines).
28 The Milken Institute. An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease. October 2007.
29 Fisher, BL. Electronic Medical Records Tracking Systems & Privacy. Letter to Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation, Department of Health & Human Services. February 15, 2000.
30 NVIC.org. Donation Page.
30 Vaccine Risk Awareness Network (Canada) founded by Edda West.
31 Australian Vaccine Network and Living Wisdom Magazine founded by Meryl Dorey.
32 Vaccination News founded by Sandy Gottstein.
33 The One Click Group (UK) founded by Jane Bryant.
The results of a 2009 survey evaluating the vaccine safety concerns of American parents was recently published in the journal Pediatrics. 1 Out of the approximately 1500 parents, who took the survey, only 23 percent believe that vaccines cause autism in healthy children. But more than half were worried about serious adverse health effects of vaccination. The vast majority said they believe that getting vaccines is a good way to protect children from disease and follow their doctor’s recommendations. Still, more than 30 percent of those surveyed believe that parents should have the right to refuse vaccines that are required for school for any reason.
I am not surprised by these survey results because, since 1982, most parents contacting the National Vaccine Information Center tell us they want to trust what their doctors tell them about vaccination. Mothers and fathers depend upon their doctors to give them good advice; but when the health of their child or a child they know deteriorates after vaccination, 2 parents logically start to ask questions. And when they are belittled or even threatened for asking those questions, 3 4 the relationship between doctor and parent is never the same again.
Parents asking questions about vaccine safety is nothing new. Although in the past decade there has been a focus on whether a mercury preservative in vaccines, perhaps in combination with the MMR vaccine, can cause autism in some children, the public conversation about vaccine risks and flaws in vaccine science and policy began in the early 1980’s. 5 Back then, it was parents of DPT vaccine injured children calling for a less toxic whooping cough vaccine to replace an old one causing brain inflammation, brain damage and death.
We worked with Congress on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, 6 believing that this historic law would provide a safety net for children harmed by vaccines. We believed that the informing, recording and reporting requirements for doctors in that law would reduce the numbers of children, who died or became chronically ill and disabled after vaccination.
Little did we know that - even though $2 billion dollars has been paid to families with vaccine injured children under that law - only one out of three vaccine victims are ever financially compensated. 7 8 This, while drug companies making and selling vaccines have been almost completely protected from product liability. 9 10 Other pharmaceutical products, like Vioxx, 11 are not protected from liability and they are not mandated for school attendance like vaccines. Perhaps that is why there are far more black box warnings on drugs 12 13 than on vaccines. 14
A quarter century after the Vaccine Injury Act was passed, nothing has been done yet to conduct the kind of vaccine science that will give us answers about which children are at higher risk than others for dying or being brain injured by vaccination so their lives can be spared. 15 16 17 Whether industry or government will ever do that good vaccine science 18 is an outstanding question. But that does not mean that we, the people, cannot raise the money to do it. That is why the National Vaccine Information Center is creating an independent vaccine safety research program to study long term health outcomes of those who do and do not get vaccinated. 19
Public trust is fragile. When what the people are being told about vaccine safety does not match what they are experiencing in their own lives, doubt grows and trust fades.
The American public still has fresh memories of the aggressive lobbying campaign for mandatory HPV vaccination of all sixth grade girls. 20 And the 2009 H1N1 swine flu emergency declaration 21 that turned out to be the mildest influenza season in decades, 22 followed by the new federal recommendation that every American from birth has to get a flu shot every year, 23 is also fresh in our memory.
More and more Americans are becoming painfully aware that their medical bills, taxes and health insurance premiums are going up because, today, 1 in 6 highly vaccinated child in America is learning disabled; 1 in 9 has asthma; 1 in 100 develops autism; 1 in 450 becomes diabetic and 7 in 1,000 babies born alive are dying before their first birthday. 24 25 With 69 doses of 16 vaccines being given to children from birth through age 18 26 and hundreds of new vaccines being developed 27 to prevent infectious disease while trillions of dollars are being spent to treat chronic disease, 28 is it any wonder more parents are asking more questions about vaccine safety?
And is it any wonder that more Americans want the legal right to make vaccine choices as drug companies and public health officials encourage legislators to pass laws that electronically track medical records and attach penalties for those who fail to get every government recommended vaccine? 29
There is no more important task before those responsible for ensuring the public health than addressing parental concerns about vaccination with better science and not with better press releases and more mandates.
Please support the work of the National Vaccine Information Center 30 and other parent-led organizations, 30 31 32 33 who have been educating the public for many years about vaccination and health and defending your right to make informed, voluntary vaccine choices for yourself and your children.
1 Freed GL, Clark SJ et al. Parental Vaccine Safety Concerns in 2009. Pediatrics: April 4, 2010 (Vol 125, No. 4).
2 International Memorial for Vaccine Victims. National Vaccine Information Center.
3 Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall. National Vaccine Information Center.
4 Associated Press. Most parents back vaccines, though many believe autism link. Washington Post. March 1, 2010.
5 Coulter HL, Fisher BL. DPT: A Shot in the Dark. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1985.
6 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (PL 99-660).
7 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources & Services Administration. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Statistics Report.
8 Fisher BL. Vaccine Injury Compensation: A Failed Experiment in Tort Reform? Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. November 18, 2008.
9 Department of Health & Human Services. Coverage Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act for H1N1 Vaccination.
10 Mair JS, Mair M. Vaccine Liability in the Era of Bioterrorism. Medscape Today. October 28, 2003.
11 Food and Drug Administration. Vioxx (rofecoxib) Questions & Answers. September 30, 2004.
12 Black Box Warnings.
13 Food and Drug Administration. Medwatch. 2010 Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products.
14 Centers for Disease Control. Recalled Vaccines.
15 Fisher BL. Vaccine Safety Research Needs – Perspective from Parents. Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum. April 1, 1996.
16 Fisher BL. Vaccine Research Needs. Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee. January 11, 2001.
17 Fisher BL. Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. April 11, 2008.
18 National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Recommendations on the Centers for Disease Control Immunization Safety Office Draft 5-Year Scientific Agenda. June 2, 2009.
19 National Vaccine Information Center. NVIC Launches Research Fund to Study Health & Vaccination. October 12, 2009.
20 Gardner A. Drugmaker Assists in Pushing for Mandate for HPV Vaccination. Washington Post. February 11, 2007.
21 National Vaccine Information Center. H1N1 Swine Flu: What About You & Your Family?
22 McKay B. The Flu Season That Fizzled. Wall Street Journal. March 2, 2010.
23 Stobbe M. Panel Recommends Flu Shots for Nearly Every American. Associated Press. February 21, 2010.
24 Fisher BL. References for Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. April 11, 2008.
25 DeNoon DJ. Infant Mortality: US ranks 29th. WebMd. October 15, 2008.
26 Centers for Disease Control. 2010 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules.
27 US National Institutes of Health. Directory of Clinical Trials (Vaccines).
28 The Milken Institute. An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease. October 2007.
29 Fisher, BL. Electronic Medical Records Tracking Systems & Privacy. Letter to Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation, Department of Health & Human Services. February 15, 2000.
30 NVIC.org. Donation Page.
30 Vaccine Risk Awareness Network (Canada) founded by Edda West.
31 Australian Vaccine Network and Living Wisdom Magazine founded by Meryl Dorey.
32 Vaccination News founded by Sandy Gottstein.
33 The One Click Group (UK) founded by Jane Bryant.
Vaccines: Doctor Judges & Juries Hanging Their Own
by Barbara Loe Fisher
I remember the day I met Dr. Andrew Wakefield. It was September 12, 1997 and he had just flown into Dulles Airport from London the night before to speak at the First International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center. The title of his talk was “Measles Virus & Measles Vaccine: Lessons to be Learned.”
It was five months before he and 12 other physician colleagues would publish a study in The Lancet 1 calling for more research into a possible association between inflammatory bowel disease, MMR vaccine and developmental delays in some children.
I met Dr. Wakefield that day in 1997 in the auditorium where our conference was to take place as he was trying to decide what to do with a slide that identified him as being employed by the Royal Free Hospital. You see, he had received a telephone threat from London in the middle of the night warning him that if he spoke at our conference, he might not have a job when he returned to Britain. He then described to me the intense pressure he had been under from senior health officials in Britain to withdraw from our conference.
This was five months before he and his colleagues published the first article in the medical literature suggesting there might be an association between vaccine induced chronic inflammation in the body and developmental delays in some children.
In September 1997, Andrew Wakefield was a young British gastroenterologist, a rising star in the world of experimental medicine. He had received awards and scholarships for original research into the pathogenesis and etiology of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease. He had a bright future ahead of him until he examined children suffering with both inflammatory bowel disease and developmental delays and decided to investigate the reports by parents that their once normal children regressed and began exhibiting symptoms of autism after getting an MMR shot.
So, as Andrew Wakefield and I were standing in the conference auditorium five months before The Lancet article was published, I told him that he did not have to speak at our conference. I told him it was not worth losing his job. I told him that I could look back and count the doctors lying on the road, who had lost their careers because they dared to conduct research into or speak about vaccine risks. I told him his own colleagues would hang him for challenging the status quo.
Despite the fact he had been threatened by senior doctors in positions of authority demanding that he withdraw from our conference, Andrew Wakefield refused my offer to stand down. He said that if he did not speak at our conference, he would always be afraid and he was not going to live in fear for the rest of his life.
And then we sat down and had a long talk about freedom of thought, conscience and scientific inquiry. We talked about fear and courage, about risking it all to do what is right. We talked about events leading up to World War II in Europe and how good people did nothing when they had the chance to act; how instead they turned away from the suffering of minorities targeted for destruction. We talked about government health policies that devalue individual life and write off some as acceptable losses in service to the rest. We talked about the suffering of vaccine injured children and their families.
And I knew then, that despite my warnings to Andrew Wakefield that he could lose everything if he tried to investigate or speak out about vaccine risks, this man was not going to stand down. He was going to risk it all.
It was a moment I will never forget because I knew the price he would pay for standing up to colleagues ordering him to salute smartly and remain silent.
Today, doctors in positions of authority in Britain, who have sought to intimidate Andrew Wakefield even before the February 1998 Lancet article was published, have declared through the General Medical Council that he and two other brave doctors, who refused to recant the conclusions of The Lancet article, are guilty of professional misconduct. 2 The General Medical Council does not operate a legal court of law; it is rather a medical court of opinion, where doctors can sanction other doctors and, in effect, hang their own.
I learned early on in my 28 years of work to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defend the informed consent ethic in medicine, that it does not matter whether you are a doctor investigating vaccine risks or a parent of a once healthy child, who regressed into chronic poor health after vaccination. If you question the quality of vaccine science or policy, you will be demonized, harassed, and sanctioned for being an unbeliever and questioning the wisdom of doctors and scientists in positions of authority.
The General Medical Council inquisition was never about the three doctors they put on the rack and found guilty on most counts. It was always about declaring vaccine science and policy innocent on all counts. And creating a horrible warning to any young doctor, who even thinks about investigating or talking about better defining vaccine risks, to think again, shut up and salute smartly.
Today, I join millions of parents of vaccine injured children around the world, and thank Drs. Andrew Wakefield, Simon Murch and John Walker-Smith for having the intellectual honesty, conscience and courage to stand up for truth and freedom in science. You are honored and loved by many for what you have done to try to help ease the suffering of the growing numbers of vaccine injured children and prevent more children from joining their ranks.
Like you, we will not stand down and we will not be silent. We will stand up and defend truth and freedom for as long as it takes to bring both back.
1 Wakefield AJ, Murch SH et al. The Lancet. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. February 28, 1998.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673697110960/abstract
2 Boseley S. The Guardian. From the Lancet to the GMC: how Dr. Andrew Wakefield fell from grace. January 28, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/28/andrew-wakefield-downfall
January 29, 2010 Statement by the National Vaccine Information Center on Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his research
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) supports the past, present and future scientific research into the reported association between inflammatory bowel disease, developmental delays and vaccination in young children conducted by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and other physician scientists. Dr. Wakefield’s work to define the pathogenesis and etiology of chronic inflammation in the body that can affect brain and immune function is commendable. His work has led to biomedical interventions for children, who have become chronically ill and disabled after vaccination, to ease their suffering.
Research to better define the association between vaccination and chronic inflammatory disorders that affect brain and immune function should be given a much higher priority by government, industry and academia. Understanding the biological mechanisms for vaccine induced chronic inflammation in children and adults can help identify those at high risk for suffering vaccine reactions, injury and death and lead to adoption of safer vaccine policies.
The National Vaccine Information Center presented Andrew Wakeifield with an Humanitarian Award at the Oct. 2-4, 2009 Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination for “his compassion, brave spirit and uncompromising commitment to improving the health of children and the biological integrity of future generations.”
Click here for a Statement from Thoughtful House Center for Children
Click here for Official Finding of Facts from UK General Medical Council
Click here for AOA Short Form FAQ About the Wakefield GMC Case
Click here for commentary by Mark Blaxill “From the Roman to the Wakefield Inquisition”
I remember the day I met Dr. Andrew Wakefield. It was September 12, 1997 and he had just flown into Dulles Airport from London the night before to speak at the First International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center. The title of his talk was “Measles Virus & Measles Vaccine: Lessons to be Learned.”
It was five months before he and 12 other physician colleagues would publish a study in The Lancet 1 calling for more research into a possible association between inflammatory bowel disease, MMR vaccine and developmental delays in some children.
I met Dr. Wakefield that day in 1997 in the auditorium where our conference was to take place as he was trying to decide what to do with a slide that identified him as being employed by the Royal Free Hospital. You see, he had received a telephone threat from London in the middle of the night warning him that if he spoke at our conference, he might not have a job when he returned to Britain. He then described to me the intense pressure he had been under from senior health officials in Britain to withdraw from our conference.
This was five months before he and his colleagues published the first article in the medical literature suggesting there might be an association between vaccine induced chronic inflammation in the body and developmental delays in some children.
In September 1997, Andrew Wakefield was a young British gastroenterologist, a rising star in the world of experimental medicine. He had received awards and scholarships for original research into the pathogenesis and etiology of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease. He had a bright future ahead of him until he examined children suffering with both inflammatory bowel disease and developmental delays and decided to investigate the reports by parents that their once normal children regressed and began exhibiting symptoms of autism after getting an MMR shot.
So, as Andrew Wakefield and I were standing in the conference auditorium five months before The Lancet article was published, I told him that he did not have to speak at our conference. I told him it was not worth losing his job. I told him that I could look back and count the doctors lying on the road, who had lost their careers because they dared to conduct research into or speak about vaccine risks. I told him his own colleagues would hang him for challenging the status quo.
Despite the fact he had been threatened by senior doctors in positions of authority demanding that he withdraw from our conference, Andrew Wakefield refused my offer to stand down. He said that if he did not speak at our conference, he would always be afraid and he was not going to live in fear for the rest of his life.
And then we sat down and had a long talk about freedom of thought, conscience and scientific inquiry. We talked about fear and courage, about risking it all to do what is right. We talked about events leading up to World War II in Europe and how good people did nothing when they had the chance to act; how instead they turned away from the suffering of minorities targeted for destruction. We talked about government health policies that devalue individual life and write off some as acceptable losses in service to the rest. We talked about the suffering of vaccine injured children and their families.
And I knew then, that despite my warnings to Andrew Wakefield that he could lose everything if he tried to investigate or speak out about vaccine risks, this man was not going to stand down. He was going to risk it all.
It was a moment I will never forget because I knew the price he would pay for standing up to colleagues ordering him to salute smartly and remain silent.
Today, doctors in positions of authority in Britain, who have sought to intimidate Andrew Wakefield even before the February 1998 Lancet article was published, have declared through the General Medical Council that he and two other brave doctors, who refused to recant the conclusions of The Lancet article, are guilty of professional misconduct. 2 The General Medical Council does not operate a legal court of law; it is rather a medical court of opinion, where doctors can sanction other doctors and, in effect, hang their own.
I learned early on in my 28 years of work to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defend the informed consent ethic in medicine, that it does not matter whether you are a doctor investigating vaccine risks or a parent of a once healthy child, who regressed into chronic poor health after vaccination. If you question the quality of vaccine science or policy, you will be demonized, harassed, and sanctioned for being an unbeliever and questioning the wisdom of doctors and scientists in positions of authority.
The General Medical Council inquisition was never about the three doctors they put on the rack and found guilty on most counts. It was always about declaring vaccine science and policy innocent on all counts. And creating a horrible warning to any young doctor, who even thinks about investigating or talking about better defining vaccine risks, to think again, shut up and salute smartly.
Today, I join millions of parents of vaccine injured children around the world, and thank Drs. Andrew Wakefield, Simon Murch and John Walker-Smith for having the intellectual honesty, conscience and courage to stand up for truth and freedom in science. You are honored and loved by many for what you have done to try to help ease the suffering of the growing numbers of vaccine injured children and prevent more children from joining their ranks.
Like you, we will not stand down and we will not be silent. We will stand up and defend truth and freedom for as long as it takes to bring both back.
1 Wakefield AJ, Murch SH et al. The Lancet. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. February 28, 1998.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673697110960/abstract
2 Boseley S. The Guardian. From the Lancet to the GMC: how Dr. Andrew Wakefield fell from grace. January 28, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/28/andrew-wakefield-downfall
January 29, 2010 Statement by the National Vaccine Information Center on Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his research
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) supports the past, present and future scientific research into the reported association between inflammatory bowel disease, developmental delays and vaccination in young children conducted by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and other physician scientists. Dr. Wakefield’s work to define the pathogenesis and etiology of chronic inflammation in the body that can affect brain and immune function is commendable. His work has led to biomedical interventions for children, who have become chronically ill and disabled after vaccination, to ease their suffering.
Research to better define the association between vaccination and chronic inflammatory disorders that affect brain and immune function should be given a much higher priority by government, industry and academia. Understanding the biological mechanisms for vaccine induced chronic inflammation in children and adults can help identify those at high risk for suffering vaccine reactions, injury and death and lead to adoption of safer vaccine policies.
The National Vaccine Information Center presented Andrew Wakeifield with an Humanitarian Award at the Oct. 2-4, 2009 Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination for “his compassion, brave spirit and uncompromising commitment to improving the health of children and the biological integrity of future generations.”
Click here for a Statement from Thoughtful House Center for Children
Click here for Official Finding of Facts from UK General Medical Council
Click here for AOA Short Form FAQ About the Wakefield GMC Case
Click here for commentary by Mark Blaxill “From the Roman to the Wakefield Inquisition”
2010 Needs a Fearless Conversation About Vaccination
By Barbara Loe Fisher
As the second decade of the 21st century begins, it is clear that the first one saw big changes in the way Americans think about health and vaccination. A good example is the fact that a majority of Americans “just said no” to getting an H1N1 influenza shot last year. 1 2 The truth is, most of us just didn’t buy the hype about swine flu. Perhaps it is because we are tired of constantly living in fear.
Fear was the unifying emotion that defined the first decade of the 21st century in America. 3 The Decade of Fear began on September 11, 2001, a day of indescribable loss that marked the ending of so much. Among the losses was the end of a civil and substantive conversation about vaccine safety that had taken shape during the previous two decades 4 but which - after September 11, 2001 - was hijacked by fear.
Within weeks of 9-11, there were frantic warnings by government officials that terrorists had weaponized smallpox and it was necessary to immediately dilute stockpiles of reactive 40-year old smallpox vaccine to make enough to give a smallpox shot to every man, woman and child. 5 6 7 Then the allegation that terrorists had hidden weapons of mass destruction to unleash deadly infectious diseases on all of us 8 - was used to justify forcing soldiers to get multiple doses of reactive experimental anthrax vaccine. 9 10
And within weeks of 9-11, a Congress driven by fear quickly passed The Patriot Act 11 followed by the Homeland Security Act. 12 Unprecedented authority was given to the Executive branch of our government, including creation of the third largest federal agency - the Department of Homeland Security. And then public health officials pushed for passage of new Model State Emergency Health Powers Acts to expand the police powers of state health officials whenever a public health emergency is declared. 13
For three years after 9-11, special interest lobbyists invoked bioterrorism and fear of infectious microorganisms to persuade Congress to pass Bioshield 14 15 16 and Pandemic Influenza legislation shielding vaccine manufacturers, doctors and public health officials from all liability when Americans are injured or killed by experimental vaccines or drugs used during a government declared public health emergencies - like the questionable pandemic influenza emergency declaration America is still operating under today even though there is no true emergency. 17
The attack on America by a rogue band of terrorists on September 11, 2001 created a Decade of Fear that made criticism of government policy, including vaccine policy, not just politically incorrect but a danger to national security and the public health. Fear and its travel companions - prejudice and intolerance - ruled the decade.
Those who criticized the quality and quantity of government regulated vaccine science or questioned the ethics of mandatory vaccination laws were marginalized by those in positions of authority, 18 who defended the status quo. The fear, prejudice and intolerance defining the first decade of the 21st century 19 was eventually turned on parents of vaccine injured children, 20 21 22 who were asking doctors and public health authorities how many vaccines their children were going to be forced to take 23 24 in the name of protecting national security and the public health. September 11, 2001 was a day of indescribable loss. And the losses America suffered that day have been magnified by the losses we have suffered since that day because some have used fear as a political tool to silence criticism of government policy.
Next month is the 25th anniversary of the publishing of the book DPT: A Shot in the Dark, which I co-authored with medical historian Harris Coulter. It was first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and was used by the Institute of Medicine as a reference for the 1991 report on Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines. It was the first major book documenting vaccine risks and flaws in vaccine science, regulation, policymaking, and law.
A Shot in the Dark is a book that is perhaps more relevant today, a quarter century after it was published in 1985 because, in the words of the Spanish philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Twenty-five years later, parents of vaccine injured children are still calling for meaningful reform of public health policies and vaccine laws to protect individual and public health. 25 It is time to leave the politics of fear of the last decade behind, and change the way the conversation about vaccine science, policy, ethics and law is conducted so that the real issues about health and vaccination can be addressed responsibly. The people expect and deserve no less from those in positions of authority in government, industry and medicine, who operate the public health system.
We, who are critical of one-size-fits all mandatory vaccination policies because those policies fail to acknowledge biodiversity and do not respect the informed consent ethic, welcome a new, more rational and substantive conversation about vaccination in 2010. As President Franklin Roosevelt said “The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.”
Hopefully, 2010 will be the beginning of a fearless and fierce search for the truth about health and vaccination that will enlighten us all.
1 CNN. November 18, 2009. Poll: Majority of Americans Don’t Want H1N1 Shot.
2 Harvard School of Public Health. December 22, 2009. Poll Finds Three Quarters of Parents Who Tried to Get H1N1 Vaccine for Their Children Have Gotten It.
3 Giraldi, P. The Huffington Post. November 25, 2007. The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act.
4 National Vaccine Information Center. May 3, 1999. New Genetic Study Points Way For Vaccine Research.
5 Pear, R. New York Times. March 20, 2002. A Nation Challenged: The Bioterrorism Threat; Frozen Smallpox Vaccine Is Still Potent.
6 Fisher, BL. National Vaccine Information Center. Winter 2002. Smallpox and Forced Vaccination: What Every American Needs to Know.
7 Scardaville, M. The Heritage Foundation. December 6, 2002. Public Health and National Security Planning: The Case for Voluntary Smallpox Vaccination.
8 Risen J, Miller J. New York Times. November 11, 2001. A Nation Challenged: Chemical Weapons; Al Qaeda Site Points to Tests of Chemicals.
9 PBS. December 4, 2001. The Anthrax Vaccine.
10 Rempfer, TL. The Journal of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. May 2009. The Anthrax Vaccine: A Dilemma for Homeland Security.
11 Congressional Research Service. April 15, 2002. The USA Patriot Act: A Legal Analysis.
12 PBS. May 15, 2003. The Homeland Security Act.
13 American Civil Liberties Union. January 1, 2002. Model State Emergency Health Powers Act.
14 McGlinchey D. Government Executive. January 23, 2004. HHS officials anxiously await passage of “Bioshield” bill.
15 Ismal MA. The Center for Public Integrity. April 1, 2007. Spending on Lobbying Thrives. Drug and health policies industries invest $182 million to influence legislation.
16 Fisher BL. National Vaccine Information Center. November 15, 2009. Letter to Col. Robert P. Kadlec, MD, Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness.
17 Department of Health and Human Services. April 26, 2009, July 24, 2009, October 1, 2009, December 30, 2009. Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists.
18 Hodge JG, Gostin LO. Center for Law and the Public’s Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. February 15, 2002. School Vaccination Requirements: Historical, Social & Legal Perspectives.
19 Social Research. December 22, 2004. The politics of fear after 9/11.
20 Fisher, BL. National Vaccine Information Center. March 25, 2008. Promoting Vaccination, Fear, Hate & Discrimination.
21 Cicolli A. Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine. September 2008. Mandatory Vaccination: The Role of Tort Law.
22 Thompson C. Washington Post. December 20, 2009. Worst Ideas of the Decade: Vaccine scares.
23 Deardorff, J. Chicago Tribune. November 7, 2007. New study: Americans may be overvaccinated.
24 Wallis C. Time Magazine. March 10, 2008. Case Study: Autism & Vaccines.
25 Fisher BL. April 11, 2008. Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public.
As the second decade of the 21st century begins, it is clear that the first one saw big changes in the way Americans think about health and vaccination. A good example is the fact that a majority of Americans “just said no” to getting an H1N1 influenza shot last year. 1 2 The truth is, most of us just didn’t buy the hype about swine flu. Perhaps it is because we are tired of constantly living in fear.
Fear was the unifying emotion that defined the first decade of the 21st century in America. 3 The Decade of Fear began on September 11, 2001, a day of indescribable loss that marked the ending of so much. Among the losses was the end of a civil and substantive conversation about vaccine safety that had taken shape during the previous two decades 4 but which - after September 11, 2001 - was hijacked by fear.
Within weeks of 9-11, there were frantic warnings by government officials that terrorists had weaponized smallpox and it was necessary to immediately dilute stockpiles of reactive 40-year old smallpox vaccine to make enough to give a smallpox shot to every man, woman and child. 5 6 7 Then the allegation that terrorists had hidden weapons of mass destruction to unleash deadly infectious diseases on all of us 8 - was used to justify forcing soldiers to get multiple doses of reactive experimental anthrax vaccine. 9 10
And within weeks of 9-11, a Congress driven by fear quickly passed The Patriot Act 11 followed by the Homeland Security Act. 12 Unprecedented authority was given to the Executive branch of our government, including creation of the third largest federal agency - the Department of Homeland Security. And then public health officials pushed for passage of new Model State Emergency Health Powers Acts to expand the police powers of state health officials whenever a public health emergency is declared. 13
For three years after 9-11, special interest lobbyists invoked bioterrorism and fear of infectious microorganisms to persuade Congress to pass Bioshield 14 15 16 and Pandemic Influenza legislation shielding vaccine manufacturers, doctors and public health officials from all liability when Americans are injured or killed by experimental vaccines or drugs used during a government declared public health emergencies - like the questionable pandemic influenza emergency declaration America is still operating under today even though there is no true emergency. 17
The attack on America by a rogue band of terrorists on September 11, 2001 created a Decade of Fear that made criticism of government policy, including vaccine policy, not just politically incorrect but a danger to national security and the public health. Fear and its travel companions - prejudice and intolerance - ruled the decade.
Those who criticized the quality and quantity of government regulated vaccine science or questioned the ethics of mandatory vaccination laws were marginalized by those in positions of authority, 18 who defended the status quo. The fear, prejudice and intolerance defining the first decade of the 21st century 19 was eventually turned on parents of vaccine injured children, 20 21 22 who were asking doctors and public health authorities how many vaccines their children were going to be forced to take 23 24 in the name of protecting national security and the public health. September 11, 2001 was a day of indescribable loss. And the losses America suffered that day have been magnified by the losses we have suffered since that day because some have used fear as a political tool to silence criticism of government policy.
Next month is the 25th anniversary of the publishing of the book DPT: A Shot in the Dark, which I co-authored with medical historian Harris Coulter. It was first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and was used by the Institute of Medicine as a reference for the 1991 report on Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines. It was the first major book documenting vaccine risks and flaws in vaccine science, regulation, policymaking, and law.
A Shot in the Dark is a book that is perhaps more relevant today, a quarter century after it was published in 1985 because, in the words of the Spanish philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Twenty-five years later, parents of vaccine injured children are still calling for meaningful reform of public health policies and vaccine laws to protect individual and public health. 25 It is time to leave the politics of fear of the last decade behind, and change the way the conversation about vaccine science, policy, ethics and law is conducted so that the real issues about health and vaccination can be addressed responsibly. The people expect and deserve no less from those in positions of authority in government, industry and medicine, who operate the public health system.
We, who are critical of one-size-fits all mandatory vaccination policies because those policies fail to acknowledge biodiversity and do not respect the informed consent ethic, welcome a new, more rational and substantive conversation about vaccination in 2010. As President Franklin Roosevelt said “The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.”
Hopefully, 2010 will be the beginning of a fearless and fierce search for the truth about health and vaccination that will enlighten us all.
1 CNN. November 18, 2009. Poll: Majority of Americans Don’t Want H1N1 Shot.
2 Harvard School of Public Health. December 22, 2009. Poll Finds Three Quarters of Parents Who Tried to Get H1N1 Vaccine for Their Children Have Gotten It.
3 Giraldi, P. The Huffington Post. November 25, 2007. The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act.
4 National Vaccine Information Center. May 3, 1999. New Genetic Study Points Way For Vaccine Research.
5 Pear, R. New York Times. March 20, 2002. A Nation Challenged: The Bioterrorism Threat; Frozen Smallpox Vaccine Is Still Potent.
6 Fisher, BL. National Vaccine Information Center. Winter 2002. Smallpox and Forced Vaccination: What Every American Needs to Know.
7 Scardaville, M. The Heritage Foundation. December 6, 2002. Public Health and National Security Planning: The Case for Voluntary Smallpox Vaccination.
8 Risen J, Miller J. New York Times. November 11, 2001. A Nation Challenged: Chemical Weapons; Al Qaeda Site Points to Tests of Chemicals.
9 PBS. December 4, 2001. The Anthrax Vaccine.
10 Rempfer, TL. The Journal of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. May 2009. The Anthrax Vaccine: A Dilemma for Homeland Security.
11 Congressional Research Service. April 15, 2002. The USA Patriot Act: A Legal Analysis.
12 PBS. May 15, 2003. The Homeland Security Act.
13 American Civil Liberties Union. January 1, 2002. Model State Emergency Health Powers Act.
14 McGlinchey D. Government Executive. January 23, 2004. HHS officials anxiously await passage of “Bioshield” bill.
15 Ismal MA. The Center for Public Integrity. April 1, 2007. Spending on Lobbying Thrives. Drug and health policies industries invest $182 million to influence legislation.
16 Fisher BL. National Vaccine Information Center. November 15, 2009. Letter to Col. Robert P. Kadlec, MD, Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness.
17 Department of Health and Human Services. April 26, 2009, July 24, 2009, October 1, 2009, December 30, 2009. Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists.
18 Hodge JG, Gostin LO. Center for Law and the Public’s Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. February 15, 2002. School Vaccination Requirements: Historical, Social & Legal Perspectives.
19 Social Research. December 22, 2004. The politics of fear after 9/11.
20 Fisher, BL. National Vaccine Information Center. March 25, 2008. Promoting Vaccination, Fear, Hate & Discrimination.
21 Cicolli A. Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine. September 2008. Mandatory Vaccination: The Role of Tort Law.
22 Thompson C. Washington Post. December 20, 2009. Worst Ideas of the Decade: Vaccine scares.
23 Deardorff, J. Chicago Tribune. November 7, 2007. New study: Americans may be overvaccinated.
24 Wallis C. Time Magazine. March 10, 2008. Case Study: Autism & Vaccines.
25 Fisher BL. April 11, 2008. Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public.
H1N1: Fact or Fiction?
By Barbara Loe Fisher
It’s been about six months since the Department of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security followed the World Health Organization and declared a very scary pandemic influenza public health emergency in the United States.
Last spring we suddenly found ourselves watching You Tube videos of people being quarantined in hotels and detained on airplanes by HazMat teams. When we went to the grocery stores, we encountered fellow Americans wearing face masks. And every time we turned on the television, there were news reports about schools closing so desks and lockers could be scrubbed down.
The Worst Is Yet To Come?
And we watched CDC press conferences 5 warning us that the worst was surely yet to come because the H1N1 swine flu virus first identified outside a pig farm in Mexico had the potential to mutate and kill tens of thousands more Americans 6 than the 36,000 that CDC officials tell us die every year from seasonal influenza.
It was enough to make us very, very afraid.
No Liability for Vaccine Makers
It was enough to make Congress give drug companies more than a billion dollars of our taxes to quickly create H1N1 swine flu vaccines and then throw in another couple of billion dollars for health officials to deliver and aggressively promote vaccination in Sesame Street ads and on the internet and radio and TV. And while they were at it, Congress shielded everyone who has anything to do with making, promoting and giving swine flu vaccines from all liability in civil court whenever somebody gets hurt or dies after getting vaccinated.
It was enough to make us very, very afraid.
Health Worker Mandates & School Vaccination Programs
It was scary enough to make legislators in Massachusetts and other states talk about passing stronger laws to suspend civil liberties and force people to be quarantined or vaccinated whenever a public health emergency was declared. 10 It was scary enough to prompt New York state health officials to mandate that health care workers get seasonal and H1N1 influenza shots or be fired.
And then there were calls by public health officials for children to line up and get vaccinated in schools 12 just like in the polio mass vaccination campaigns of the 1950’s and early 60’s.
Older Americans Have Antibodies to H1N1 Swine Flu
Throughout the summer, we were told that H1N1 swine flu was sweeping through the country 13 and millions of us had already been infected with the new virus and pregnant women and children were dying. 1Curiously, many Americans over 60 were told they didn’t need H1N1 vaccine because we were still protected by antibodies we got when we recovered from being infected with similar H1N1 flu strains in the past.
Drug Companies Want Adjuvants, No More Eggs
And then, the vaccine manufacturers, who had been pressing the FDA for decades to let them use reactive squalene adjuvants in vaccines, started complaining that they couldn’t grow the H1N1 virus fast enough. The threat of vaccine shortages suddenly loomed on the horizon.
The drug companies complained that they didn’t want to use chicken eggs anymore to make flu vaccines. They wanted the FDA to let them use insects and e coli bacteria and fungus and virus like protein particles and dog kidney cells and other really, really interesting stuff.
This is an EMERGENCY they said and drug companies need to be allowed to make flu vaccine any way they want to right now because this is a really serious public health emergency. And, oh by the way, let’s not forget that it is so serious that everyone who has anything to do with making, promoting and giving new flu vaccines need to be shielded from liability in civil court if people get hurt or die after getting vaccinated.
Yes, it was enough to make us all very, very afraid.
H1N1 Swine Flu Looks Like Seasonal Flu
And when we are really afraid, we don’t think we have time to ask questions or double check the facts. We just want someone to tell us what to do right now so we can feel safe and not afraid anymore.
By the end of the summer, while the drug companies and NIH were testing the new H1N1 vaccines on several thousand healthy American children and adults, reports started coming out of Australia and the southern hemisphere where they had just finished their influenza season, that the H1N1 swine flu virus was really not so bad after all. It was not causing excess mortality, which means there weren’t more people dying from H1N1 than had died in years past from other seasonal flu strains.
Yes, people were getting sick with what looked like influenza just like they do every year but –for most people – it was a few days of fever, chills, body aches, runny nose and cough, maybe some diarrhea, staying in bed, drinking lots of water and juice, and then – feeling just fine again.
CDC Stops Confirming Most Suspected H1N1 Cases
Abruptly at the end of July – when the Secretary of Health quietly extended the national public health emergency declaration for three more months - the CDC announced they were not going to lab confirm suspected cases of H1N1 swine flu anymore. The CDC told the states not to test Americans who were flooding doctors offices and hospitals with symptoms of influenza and confirm that they WERE in fact suffering from type A or B influenza, especially H1N1 swine flu.
The story was – if it looks like influenza then it IS influenza and can be ASSUMED to be H1N1 swine flu.
Really? Is that how the CDC “scientifically” calculates how many Americans die from regular influenza every year?
Two to Four Flu Shots For Many Young Children
The decision to stop testing for H1N1 was followed by an announcement that all children between the ages of 6 months and 10 years - who had never gotten a flu shot before - should get 4 doses of influenza vaccine this year: two seasonal flu shots and two doses of H1N1 vaccine. Further, that the millions of chronically ill and disabled children and adults and also pregnant women should be the first in line to get two shots of influenza vaccine this year.
And then Americans, who were still very afraid, started asking questions because most of us, who got sick with flu-like symptoms this year, realized that it was no worse than the flu we got last year. And most of us didn’t know anyone who had died from the flu this year, which was true for most other years as well.
Two to Four Doses of Mercury?
And then we started asking questions about why young children needed two to four doses of influenza vaccine this year. And we thought - what is up with mercury still being in most vials of influenza vaccine? We thought – is it really a good idea to give children – whose doctors don’t have access to single dose vials of mercury free flu vaccine – two to four doses of mercury this year? Especially when it is against HazMat regulations to pour unused mercury containing influenza vaccine down the drain or toss it into a garbage can?
Is It Influenza, Seasonal, H1N1 or None of the Above?
And then a veteran investigative journalist at a major news network published an interesting report about the fact that 83 to 97 percent of all specimens of suspected H1N1 cases sent to the CDC by state health departments for lab confirmation last spring and summer came back negative - for not only H1N1 swine flu influenza - but also negative for ANY kind of type A or Type B influenza. at all. Which confirmed what the CDC’s influenza expert said at an FDA meeting in 2003: that 80 percent of all flu-like illness every year is not actually influenza but viral and bacterial infections that LOOK like influenza.
Wait a minute. Didn’t President Obama stand up at a press conference in October and say that 1,000 Americans, including about 100 children, had died from H1N1 swine flu?
But were those 1,000 H1N1 lab confirmed deaths or deaths that were ASSUMED by the CDC to be deaths caused by swine flu?
And how does that number of deaths compare with the 36,000 deaths that CDC officials say are caused by seasonal influenza every year?
People Started Asking Questions
And then something unusual happened. Doctors started asking questions and privately some of them told their patients not to bother getting the H1N1 vaccine. And the people, who were still being told by health officials to be very, very afraid, started to do their own research using the great new Library of the World, the internet. People started asking more questions of their government health officials – not just in America – but in Great Britain and the Netherlands, in Germany and Italy, in Poland and in Canada and many other countries.
And then the poll results started coming in revealing that about 50 percent of us were saying “yes” I want to get a swine flu shot and 50 percent of us were saying “No, thank you.”
Fear or Facts?
And that is where it stands today. Some of us are still very afraid and some of us are not.
I am reminded of a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln: You can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
New Vaccine Ingredients Calculator
And I would urge those of you who want to get seasonal or H1N1 vaccines, to go to the homepage of the website of the National Vaccine Information Center at www.NVIC.org and look at the new Vaccine Ingredient Calculator, which will tell you how much mercury is in those vaccines.
Support NVIC’s Research & Public Education Programs
And I would urge those of you, who want better vaccine science and the right to make vaccine choices, to become a donor supporter of the National Vaccine Information Center’s research and public education programs. Truth and freedom are not free, especially when there are so many doing so much to limit the people’s access to both.
It’s been about six months since the Department of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security followed the World Health Organization and declared a very scary pandemic influenza public health emergency in the United States.
Last spring we suddenly found ourselves watching You Tube videos of people being quarantined in hotels and detained on airplanes by HazMat teams. When we went to the grocery stores, we encountered fellow Americans wearing face masks. And every time we turned on the television, there were news reports about schools closing so desks and lockers could be scrubbed down.
The Worst Is Yet To Come?
And we watched CDC press conferences 5 warning us that the worst was surely yet to come because the H1N1 swine flu virus first identified outside a pig farm in Mexico had the potential to mutate and kill tens of thousands more Americans 6 than the 36,000 that CDC officials tell us die every year from seasonal influenza.
It was enough to make us very, very afraid.
No Liability for Vaccine Makers
It was enough to make Congress give drug companies more than a billion dollars of our taxes to quickly create H1N1 swine flu vaccines and then throw in another couple of billion dollars for health officials to deliver and aggressively promote vaccination in Sesame Street ads and on the internet and radio and TV. And while they were at it, Congress shielded everyone who has anything to do with making, promoting and giving swine flu vaccines from all liability in civil court whenever somebody gets hurt or dies after getting vaccinated.
It was enough to make us very, very afraid.
Health Worker Mandates & School Vaccination Programs
It was scary enough to make legislators in Massachusetts and other states talk about passing stronger laws to suspend civil liberties and force people to be quarantined or vaccinated whenever a public health emergency was declared. 10 It was scary enough to prompt New York state health officials to mandate that health care workers get seasonal and H1N1 influenza shots or be fired.
And then there were calls by public health officials for children to line up and get vaccinated in schools 12 just like in the polio mass vaccination campaigns of the 1950’s and early 60’s.
Older Americans Have Antibodies to H1N1 Swine Flu
Throughout the summer, we were told that H1N1 swine flu was sweeping through the country 13 and millions of us had already been infected with the new virus and pregnant women and children were dying. 1Curiously, many Americans over 60 were told they didn’t need H1N1 vaccine because we were still protected by antibodies we got when we recovered from being infected with similar H1N1 flu strains in the past.
Drug Companies Want Adjuvants, No More Eggs
And then, the vaccine manufacturers, who had been pressing the FDA for decades to let them use reactive squalene adjuvants in vaccines, started complaining that they couldn’t grow the H1N1 virus fast enough. The threat of vaccine shortages suddenly loomed on the horizon.
The drug companies complained that they didn’t want to use chicken eggs anymore to make flu vaccines. They wanted the FDA to let them use insects and e coli bacteria and fungus and virus like protein particles and dog kidney cells and other really, really interesting stuff.
This is an EMERGENCY they said and drug companies need to be allowed to make flu vaccine any way they want to right now because this is a really serious public health emergency. And, oh by the way, let’s not forget that it is so serious that everyone who has anything to do with making, promoting and giving new flu vaccines need to be shielded from liability in civil court if people get hurt or die after getting vaccinated.
Yes, it was enough to make us all very, very afraid.
H1N1 Swine Flu Looks Like Seasonal Flu
And when we are really afraid, we don’t think we have time to ask questions or double check the facts. We just want someone to tell us what to do right now so we can feel safe and not afraid anymore.
By the end of the summer, while the drug companies and NIH were testing the new H1N1 vaccines on several thousand healthy American children and adults, reports started coming out of Australia and the southern hemisphere where they had just finished their influenza season, that the H1N1 swine flu virus was really not so bad after all. It was not causing excess mortality, which means there weren’t more people dying from H1N1 than had died in years past from other seasonal flu strains.
Yes, people were getting sick with what looked like influenza just like they do every year but –for most people – it was a few days of fever, chills, body aches, runny nose and cough, maybe some diarrhea, staying in bed, drinking lots of water and juice, and then – feeling just fine again.
CDC Stops Confirming Most Suspected H1N1 Cases
Abruptly at the end of July – when the Secretary of Health quietly extended the national public health emergency declaration for three more months - the CDC announced they were not going to lab confirm suspected cases of H1N1 swine flu anymore. The CDC told the states not to test Americans who were flooding doctors offices and hospitals with symptoms of influenza and confirm that they WERE in fact suffering from type A or B influenza, especially H1N1 swine flu.
The story was – if it looks like influenza then it IS influenza and can be ASSUMED to be H1N1 swine flu.
Really? Is that how the CDC “scientifically” calculates how many Americans die from regular influenza every year?
Two to Four Flu Shots For Many Young Children
The decision to stop testing for H1N1 was followed by an announcement that all children between the ages of 6 months and 10 years - who had never gotten a flu shot before - should get 4 doses of influenza vaccine this year: two seasonal flu shots and two doses of H1N1 vaccine. Further, that the millions of chronically ill and disabled children and adults and also pregnant women should be the first in line to get two shots of influenza vaccine this year.
And then Americans, who were still very afraid, started asking questions because most of us, who got sick with flu-like symptoms this year, realized that it was no worse than the flu we got last year. And most of us didn’t know anyone who had died from the flu this year, which was true for most other years as well.
Two to Four Doses of Mercury?
And then we started asking questions about why young children needed two to four doses of influenza vaccine this year. And we thought - what is up with mercury still being in most vials of influenza vaccine? We thought – is it really a good idea to give children – whose doctors don’t have access to single dose vials of mercury free flu vaccine – two to four doses of mercury this year? Especially when it is against HazMat regulations to pour unused mercury containing influenza vaccine down the drain or toss it into a garbage can?
Is It Influenza, Seasonal, H1N1 or None of the Above?
And then a veteran investigative journalist at a major news network published an interesting report about the fact that 83 to 97 percent of all specimens of suspected H1N1 cases sent to the CDC by state health departments for lab confirmation last spring and summer came back negative - for not only H1N1 swine flu influenza - but also negative for ANY kind of type A or Type B influenza. at all. Which confirmed what the CDC’s influenza expert said at an FDA meeting in 2003: that 80 percent of all flu-like illness every year is not actually influenza but viral and bacterial infections that LOOK like influenza.
Wait a minute. Didn’t President Obama stand up at a press conference in October and say that 1,000 Americans, including about 100 children, had died from H1N1 swine flu?
But were those 1,000 H1N1 lab confirmed deaths or deaths that were ASSUMED by the CDC to be deaths caused by swine flu?
And how does that number of deaths compare with the 36,000 deaths that CDC officials say are caused by seasonal influenza every year?
People Started Asking Questions
And then something unusual happened. Doctors started asking questions and privately some of them told their patients not to bother getting the H1N1 vaccine. And the people, who were still being told by health officials to be very, very afraid, started to do their own research using the great new Library of the World, the internet. People started asking more questions of their government health officials – not just in America – but in Great Britain and the Netherlands, in Germany and Italy, in Poland and in Canada and many other countries.
And then the poll results started coming in revealing that about 50 percent of us were saying “yes” I want to get a swine flu shot and 50 percent of us were saying “No, thank you.”
Fear or Facts?
And that is where it stands today. Some of us are still very afraid and some of us are not.
I am reminded of a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln: You can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
New Vaccine Ingredients Calculator
And I would urge those of you who want to get seasonal or H1N1 vaccines, to go to the homepage of the website of the National Vaccine Information Center at www.NVIC.org and look at the new Vaccine Ingredient Calculator, which will tell you how much mercury is in those vaccines.
Support NVIC’s Research & Public Education Programs
And I would urge those of you, who want better vaccine science and the right to make vaccine choices, to become a donor supporter of the National Vaccine Information Center’s research and public education programs. Truth and freedom are not free, especially when there are so many doing so much to limit the people’s access to both.
NVIC Launches Research Fund To Study Health & Vaccination
by Barbara Loe Fisher
“Show Us the Science and Give Us the Choice” was the rallying cry of the 700 parents and health care workers who traveled from 44 states and 11 nations to attend the groundbreaking Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center Oct. 2-4, 2009. The historic conference featured presentations by more than 40 world experts in the areas of vaccine science, policy, law, and ethics and raised more than $100,000 to launch an international fund raising campaign for scientific research to investigate health differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated children and identify those at risk for suffering vaccine injury.
Families with healthy children and those with vaccine injured children joined hands with nurses, doctors and allied health care workers in a united call for quality scientific research and the human right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions. What we witnessed was a celebration of the human spirit and what we affirmed was dedication to truth in science and the duty to protect the biological integrity of our children.
We are not going to wait any longer for government or industry to answer the big question of whether the nearly 70 doses of 16 vaccines that doctors now give our children between the day of birth and age 18 is contributing to the unexplained chronic disease and disability epidemic that is harming far too many of our children. With 1 child in 6 now learning disabled; 1 in 9 asthmatic; 1 in 100 developing autism; 1 in 450 diabetic and millions more suffering with seizures, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, bi-polar disorder and other chronic illness, the National Vaccine Information Center is assembling a group of independent experts from multiple scientific disciplines to immediately evaluate and act to protect our children’s health.
NVIC’s Children’s Fund for Hope, Health and Healing will raise funds to first create data collection systems and conduct small preliminary studies with a longer term goal of conducting a large 10-year clinical study. The scientific research program will evaluate health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals; identify potential high risk factors for adverse responses to vaccination; and investigate the biological mechanisms for vaccine injury and death.
Vicky Debold, PhD, RN, who teaches health research methods at George Mason University and has served as NVIC’s Director of Patient Safety for three years, has been appointed Scientific Research Director for NVIC’s Children’s Fund for Hope, Health & Healing. She is assembling a steering committee of health research experts and has pledged “to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to understand why so many healthy infants and children are regressing after vaccination and becoming chronically ill.”
NVIC will also raise funds to strengthen informed consent protections in US vaccine laws and support health care workers seeking to protect their right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions. Dawn Richardson, co-founder and president of PROVE, has been appointed as NVIC’s Director of State Advocacy. Mrs. Richardson led a seven-year successful grassroots campaign to obtain conscientious belief exemption to vaccination in Texas in 2003. She said “There is too much abuse of executive power taking place at the state level when it comes to mandatory vaccination.”
If you want to support unbiased, scientific research into the health effects of vaccination and be part of this historic grassroots movement to defend truth in science and the informed consent principle, become a donor supporter of the consumer-led non-profit (501c3) National Vaccine Information Center. The world’s largest and oldest vaccine safety and informed consent organization is funded by donations from individual citizens and foundations, including Dr. Joseph Mercola and the Albert and Claire Dwoskin Family Foundation. NVIC takes no pharmaceutical industry or government funding.
You can direct your tax deductible donation to scientific research or informed consent advocacy – or both. It’s your choice.
Go to www.NVIC.org to learn more about NVIC’s unmatched 28 year record of public service to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths and also learn how to make an informed decision about H1N1 swine flu vaccination. It’s your family, your health and your choice.
A heartfelt thank you to all the parents, grandparents, nurses, doctors, scientists and health care workers who came and made history with us at the Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination. You are writing a new chapter in the three decade vaccine safety and informed consent movement.
Together, we CAN stand up and protect our human right to make informed, voluntary vaccine decisions based on good science. Because the future is ours to change for the better if we have the courage and believe we can do it.
Click here to support NVIC’s Research and Advocacy programs.
“The conference was a complete triumph and will go down in history.”
“Thank you Barbara Fisher and your entire support team for an
outstanding conference. My husband and I were so impressed with the entire conference. The speakers were great and the attendees were knowledgable and committed. There was not a wasted moment. As Barbara said, it was a "World Class Conference". It is regrettable that the press did not attend. But committed, loving, concerned moms are powerful force as your organization has shown. Getting the truth out is a challenge in a truth challenged world.
This issue is so much a matter of integrity and it is shocking how little of that important quality is available today.”
“Congratulations on an amazing conference. I think it was the most well attended conference I have ever been to! I am so proud of you and the work of the NVIC.”
“Thank-you so much for the invaluable conference that you put on this past weekend. The speakers you brought together from around the world were amazing. We are fortunate that we were able to attend. There is comfort in knowing that individuals with the utmost integrity and strength have dedicated everything they have in them to magnify the fact that valid science has never been done on the risks and benefits of mass vaccination. I applaud you and others for holding your head's high for nearly 30 years despite the ridicule and opposition you have faced…. My husband, myself, and my family want to be a part of this. Change needs to take place as fast as possible.”
“All I can say is AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING. The conference was phenomenal. I can't wait to see everything that comes out of this now…
Thanks again for pulling together such an amazing array of experts and people It was truly a wonderful weekend.”
“I am a long time supporter of NVIC, since Chiropractic College. I was at the conference this past weekend and found it just so Incredible on so many levels. The speakers were invaluable, the presentations, the quality of people attending and the contacts that I made were amazing! I write to you today to let you know that I will be a huge supporter of this new study that you are embarking on, good for you!! It's about time I say…. I applaud you for your bravery and unending dedication for truth and the pursuit of freedom of choice. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless you.”
”Congratulations on pulling off a WONDERFUL conference. I worked a lot of conferences in the past as a webcaster and none even touched the excitement and passion that all those who attended had. It was truly an amazing experience to be a part of. I am so excited for NVIC. It's truly an honor to be a part of such a wonderful thing!!”
“I just wanted to say THANK YOU again for all your hard work in making the conference happen this year. I was thrilled to be part of this event. Thank you for all the work the NVIC does to educate and empower us to make informed choices. My mission now is to start working with my state legislators to move the philosophical exemption bill forward!! Thanks again - I'm telling everyone I can about the study that NVIC is now raising money for as well!”
“What a great gathering of fantastic speakers on this topic!! I purchased the recordings already . Just wanted to thank and commend you for all of your hard work!! Keep fighting...people are listening!!
“Show Us the Science and Give Us the Choice” was the rallying cry of the 700 parents and health care workers who traveled from 44 states and 11 nations to attend the groundbreaking Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center Oct. 2-4, 2009. The historic conference featured presentations by more than 40 world experts in the areas of vaccine science, policy, law, and ethics and raised more than $100,000 to launch an international fund raising campaign for scientific research to investigate health differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated children and identify those at risk for suffering vaccine injury.
Families with healthy children and those with vaccine injured children joined hands with nurses, doctors and allied health care workers in a united call for quality scientific research and the human right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions. What we witnessed was a celebration of the human spirit and what we affirmed was dedication to truth in science and the duty to protect the biological integrity of our children.
We are not going to wait any longer for government or industry to answer the big question of whether the nearly 70 doses of 16 vaccines that doctors now give our children between the day of birth and age 18 is contributing to the unexplained chronic disease and disability epidemic that is harming far too many of our children. With 1 child in 6 now learning disabled; 1 in 9 asthmatic; 1 in 100 developing autism; 1 in 450 diabetic and millions more suffering with seizures, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, bi-polar disorder and other chronic illness, the National Vaccine Information Center is assembling a group of independent experts from multiple scientific disciplines to immediately evaluate and act to protect our children’s health.
NVIC’s Children’s Fund for Hope, Health and Healing will raise funds to first create data collection systems and conduct small preliminary studies with a longer term goal of conducting a large 10-year clinical study. The scientific research program will evaluate health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals; identify potential high risk factors for adverse responses to vaccination; and investigate the biological mechanisms for vaccine injury and death.
Vicky Debold, PhD, RN, who teaches health research methods at George Mason University and has served as NVIC’s Director of Patient Safety for three years, has been appointed Scientific Research Director for NVIC’s Children’s Fund for Hope, Health & Healing. She is assembling a steering committee of health research experts and has pledged “to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to understand why so many healthy infants and children are regressing after vaccination and becoming chronically ill.”
NVIC will also raise funds to strengthen informed consent protections in US vaccine laws and support health care workers seeking to protect their right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions. Dawn Richardson, co-founder and president of PROVE, has been appointed as NVIC’s Director of State Advocacy. Mrs. Richardson led a seven-year successful grassroots campaign to obtain conscientious belief exemption to vaccination in Texas in 2003. She said “There is too much abuse of executive power taking place at the state level when it comes to mandatory vaccination.”
If you want to support unbiased, scientific research into the health effects of vaccination and be part of this historic grassroots movement to defend truth in science and the informed consent principle, become a donor supporter of the consumer-led non-profit (501c3) National Vaccine Information Center. The world’s largest and oldest vaccine safety and informed consent organization is funded by donations from individual citizens and foundations, including Dr. Joseph Mercola and the Albert and Claire Dwoskin Family Foundation. NVIC takes no pharmaceutical industry or government funding.
You can direct your tax deductible donation to scientific research or informed consent advocacy – or both. It’s your choice.
Go to www.NVIC.org to learn more about NVIC’s unmatched 28 year record of public service to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths and also learn how to make an informed decision about H1N1 swine flu vaccination. It’s your family, your health and your choice.
A heartfelt thank you to all the parents, grandparents, nurses, doctors, scientists and health care workers who came and made history with us at the Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination. You are writing a new chapter in the three decade vaccine safety and informed consent movement.
Together, we CAN stand up and protect our human right to make informed, voluntary vaccine decisions based on good science. Because the future is ours to change for the better if we have the courage and believe we can do it.
Click here to support NVIC’s Research and Advocacy programs.
“The conference was a complete triumph and will go down in history.”
“Thank you Barbara Fisher and your entire support team for an
outstanding conference. My husband and I were so impressed with the entire conference. The speakers were great and the attendees were knowledgable and committed. There was not a wasted moment. As Barbara said, it was a "World Class Conference". It is regrettable that the press did not attend. But committed, loving, concerned moms are powerful force as your organization has shown. Getting the truth out is a challenge in a truth challenged world.
This issue is so much a matter of integrity and it is shocking how little of that important quality is available today.”
“Congratulations on an amazing conference. I think it was the most well attended conference I have ever been to! I am so proud of you and the work of the NVIC.”
“Thank-you so much for the invaluable conference that you put on this past weekend. The speakers you brought together from around the world were amazing. We are fortunate that we were able to attend. There is comfort in knowing that individuals with the utmost integrity and strength have dedicated everything they have in them to magnify the fact that valid science has never been done on the risks and benefits of mass vaccination. I applaud you and others for holding your head's high for nearly 30 years despite the ridicule and opposition you have faced…. My husband, myself, and my family want to be a part of this. Change needs to take place as fast as possible.”
“All I can say is AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING. The conference was phenomenal. I can't wait to see everything that comes out of this now…
Thanks again for pulling together such an amazing array of experts and people It was truly a wonderful weekend.”
“I am a long time supporter of NVIC, since Chiropractic College. I was at the conference this past weekend and found it just so Incredible on so many levels. The speakers were invaluable, the presentations, the quality of people attending and the contacts that I made were amazing! I write to you today to let you know that I will be a huge supporter of this new study that you are embarking on, good for you!! It's about time I say…. I applaud you for your bravery and unending dedication for truth and the pursuit of freedom of choice. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless you.”
”Congratulations on pulling off a WONDERFUL conference. I worked a lot of conferences in the past as a webcaster and none even touched the excitement and passion that all those who attended had. It was truly an amazing experience to be a part of. I am so excited for NVIC. It's truly an honor to be a part of such a wonderful thing!!”
“I just wanted to say THANK YOU again for all your hard work in making the conference happen this year. I was thrilled to be part of this event. Thank you for all the work the NVIC does to educate and empower us to make informed choices. My mission now is to start working with my state legislators to move the philosophical exemption bill forward!! Thanks again - I'm telling everyone I can about the study that NVIC is now raising money for as well!”
“What a great gathering of fantastic speakers on this topic!! I purchased the recordings already . Just wanted to thank and commend you for all of your hard work!! Keep fighting...people are listening!!
Mild Swine Flu & Over-Hyped Vaccine
by Barbara Loe Fisher
Every day Americans wake up to news reports that warn us about the dangers of influenza, especially the new H1N1 “swine flu” and the need to roll up our sleeves and get vaccinated. We are witnessing a roll-out of the largest, most expensive mass vaccination campaign in the history of our nation. A rollout that is bigger than even the polio vaccine campaigns of the 1950's.
How much do you know about the disease or vaccine risks so you can make an informed decision about whether to get flu shots for yourself or your children?
H1N1 “Swine Flu” Mild
First, the good news is that swine flu is mild for most people and the virus is not mutating into a more serious form. By the end of September, there had been about 600 deaths in America including about 50 deaths in young children. Complications from infectious diseases like influenza are more common in people with heart, respiratory and other health problems and that is true for swine flu.
Limited Testing of Swine Flu Vaccines
Swine flu vaccines have been tested on only a few thousand healthy Americans for a few weeks. There is little or no information about how safe the vaccine is for pregnant women and chronically ill or disabled children because only a handfull were part of the testing. Nobody will know how safe the vaccine really is until it is given to millions of Americans this year and next year.
Drive-By Flu Shots Risky
Swine flu vaccine is not just being given to children and adults in clinics and doctors offices but also in non-medical settings like pharmacies, stores, schools and even at drive-by kiosks. Getting vaccinated in a non-medical setting can be risky. Driving a car immediately after getting vaccinated, when you could suffer an unexpected a shock collapse reaction can be deadly.
No Compensation For Swine Flu Victims
If you or your child are injured from getting a flu swine flu shot, you are on your own. Because Congress shielded the vaccine manufacturers and any person giving swine flu shots from lawsuits if people get hurt. There is no funded government vaccine injury compensation program for swine flu vaccine.
Swine Flu Reactions: “It’s a Coincidence”
But even if there was a funded vaccine injury compensation program - like the one that had to be created by the federal government in 1976 after that year's swine flu vaccine paralyzed about 500 Americans and killed 25, there is little chance you would be compensated if you or your child does become vaccine injured.
Federal health officials are already pre-emptively warning Americans that most of the deaths and cases of brain inflammation, seizures, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, strokes, heart attacks, miscarriages and other serious health problems that develop after swine flu vaccination will be considered a “coincidence” and not related in any way to the flu shots just given.
Prevent Vaccine Injuries
This makes it even more important for Americans to become informed health care consumers. If you choose to get vaccinated and you or your child do suffer a health complication, insist that the health care worker who gave the shot immediately files a report with the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. If the person who gave the flu shot won't file a vaccine reaction report, you can file it yourself.
Do NOT let a doctor or anyone else tell you that a serious health problem you or your child experiences after vaccination is a coincidence and allow more shots to be given until you know for sure. The most tragic cases of vaccine injury occur when vaccine reaction symptoms are dismissed as a 'coincidence" and more vaccines are given that result in more severe symptoms and sometimes end with permanent brain and immune system damage or death.
Thimerosal in Multi-Dose Vials
Injectable flu shots in multi-dose vials contain the mercury preservative, thimerosal, and some come in single dose vials and do not contain mercury. If you get vaccinated, make sure you know what is in the vaccine you are getting because people can be very allergic to different components of vaccines. And some people can't get the live virus flu vaccine.
FOUR Flu Shots for Young Children?
Doctors are telling some children under 10 years old to get 3 to 4 flu shots this year - 2 shots for seasonal flu and one or two more for swine flu. We have never given young children 3 to 4 flu shots in a single year and there is no information about how safe it is to do that.
Government Spend Billions On H1N1 Vaccine Program
Swine flu shots are free for most Americans because the government has given $1 billion dollars to pharmaceutical companies to create the new swine flu vaccines and has given another $5 billion dollars to state and federal health agencies to promote and deliver the influenza vaccines to people. That is a lot of money. The push to get vaccinated is like nothing we have ever seen before.
Most People Recover From Swine Flu
The fact is: Millions of people around the world have recovered from swine flu and millions more will get sick with fevers, body aches, nasal congestion, cough and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting and recover from it this year and next year without any complications.
People who recover from influenza, including swine flu, get long lasting protection from the flu strain they recovered from. Actually, most people over 60 won't get swine flu this year because they recovered from influenza caused by a similar swine flu strain in the past and still have protective antibodies.
Just the Facts, Not the Hype
So, here are the facts:
* The new swine influenza is mild for most people even though a small number have developed complications and died.
* The swine flu vaccine has been tested for only a few weeks on a few thousand healthy children and adults, including very few pregnant women. We don't know how safe it really is for pregnant women or children and adults with chronic illness even though they are being specially targeted for vaccination by government health officials.
* There is very little information about how safe it is to give swine flu vaccine with other vaccines, including seasonal influenza vaccine.
* There is very little information about whether the swine flu shot will keep you from getting swine flu.
All Vaccines Come With Side Effects: Weigh Risks
All pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, come with side effects. The risk of having a vaccine reaction depends upon the vaccine you are getting; your personal and family medical history; whether you are sick or healthy at the time of vaccination; whether you are taking other medications; and whether you have reacted to vaccines before.
If you decide you or your children are going to get swine flu shots this year, you can learn more by visiting www.NVIC.org.
If Your Child’s School Has Vaccine Clinics
And if you have a child, whose school is going to be holding vaccine clinics and you do NOT want your child to get vaccinated in school, you can take the following actions:
Number One: Write a letter to the school principal stating you do not want your child vaccinated in school without your written consent.
Number Two: Ask to be notified in advance exactly when the in-school vaccine clinics will be held.
Support NVIC, Get Red “NO VACCINE FOR ME” Bracelets
Number Three: Support NVIC and raise awareness in your community by giving your child a red NO VACCINE FOR ME bracelet to wear to school. And wear one yourself.
Go to www.NVIC.org to donate and learn more about how to be prepared for the pandemic public health emergency that has been declared in your state. Learn about the public health laws that govern you. Learn about how you can change them by becoming a citizen activist.
Health Workers Being Forced To Get H1N1 Vaccine
Right now, the government says that the swine flu vaccination program is voluntary. That nobody will be forced to get vaccinated. However, health care workers in New York and other states ARE being forced by law to get swine flu shots this year.
Will that be true for all of us next year?
Stand Up For Your Informed Consent Rights
Please join NVIC and become a grassroots vaccine safety and informed consent advocate in your community. Stand up for the human right to make informed, voluntary health care choices, including vaccine choices, today - so your children and grandchildren and all Americans will have that right tomorrow.
Every day Americans wake up to news reports that warn us about the dangers of influenza, especially the new H1N1 “swine flu” and the need to roll up our sleeves and get vaccinated. We are witnessing a roll-out of the largest, most expensive mass vaccination campaign in the history of our nation. A rollout that is bigger than even the polio vaccine campaigns of the 1950's.
How much do you know about the disease or vaccine risks so you can make an informed decision about whether to get flu shots for yourself or your children?
H1N1 “Swine Flu” Mild
First, the good news is that swine flu is mild for most people and the virus is not mutating into a more serious form. By the end of September, there had been about 600 deaths in America including about 50 deaths in young children. Complications from infectious diseases like influenza are more common in people with heart, respiratory and other health problems and that is true for swine flu.
Limited Testing of Swine Flu Vaccines
Swine flu vaccines have been tested on only a few thousand healthy Americans for a few weeks. There is little or no information about how safe the vaccine is for pregnant women and chronically ill or disabled children because only a handfull were part of the testing. Nobody will know how safe the vaccine really is until it is given to millions of Americans this year and next year.
Drive-By Flu Shots Risky
Swine flu vaccine is not just being given to children and adults in clinics and doctors offices but also in non-medical settings like pharmacies, stores, schools and even at drive-by kiosks. Getting vaccinated in a non-medical setting can be risky. Driving a car immediately after getting vaccinated, when you could suffer an unexpected a shock collapse reaction can be deadly.
No Compensation For Swine Flu Victims
If you or your child are injured from getting a flu swine flu shot, you are on your own. Because Congress shielded the vaccine manufacturers and any person giving swine flu shots from lawsuits if people get hurt. There is no funded government vaccine injury compensation program for swine flu vaccine.
Swine Flu Reactions: “It’s a Coincidence”
But even if there was a funded vaccine injury compensation program - like the one that had to be created by the federal government in 1976 after that year's swine flu vaccine paralyzed about 500 Americans and killed 25, there is little chance you would be compensated if you or your child does become vaccine injured.
Federal health officials are already pre-emptively warning Americans that most of the deaths and cases of brain inflammation, seizures, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, strokes, heart attacks, miscarriages and other serious health problems that develop after swine flu vaccination will be considered a “coincidence” and not related in any way to the flu shots just given.
Prevent Vaccine Injuries
This makes it even more important for Americans to become informed health care consumers. If you choose to get vaccinated and you or your child do suffer a health complication, insist that the health care worker who gave the shot immediately files a report with the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. If the person who gave the flu shot won't file a vaccine reaction report, you can file it yourself.
Do NOT let a doctor or anyone else tell you that a serious health problem you or your child experiences after vaccination is a coincidence and allow more shots to be given until you know for sure. The most tragic cases of vaccine injury occur when vaccine reaction symptoms are dismissed as a 'coincidence" and more vaccines are given that result in more severe symptoms and sometimes end with permanent brain and immune system damage or death.
Thimerosal in Multi-Dose Vials
Injectable flu shots in multi-dose vials contain the mercury preservative, thimerosal, and some come in single dose vials and do not contain mercury. If you get vaccinated, make sure you know what is in the vaccine you are getting because people can be very allergic to different components of vaccines. And some people can't get the live virus flu vaccine.
FOUR Flu Shots for Young Children?
Doctors are telling some children under 10 years old to get 3 to 4 flu shots this year - 2 shots for seasonal flu and one or two more for swine flu. We have never given young children 3 to 4 flu shots in a single year and there is no information about how safe it is to do that.
Government Spend Billions On H1N1 Vaccine Program
Swine flu shots are free for most Americans because the government has given $1 billion dollars to pharmaceutical companies to create the new swine flu vaccines and has given another $5 billion dollars to state and federal health agencies to promote and deliver the influenza vaccines to people. That is a lot of money. The push to get vaccinated is like nothing we have ever seen before.
Most People Recover From Swine Flu
The fact is: Millions of people around the world have recovered from swine flu and millions more will get sick with fevers, body aches, nasal congestion, cough and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting and recover from it this year and next year without any complications.
People who recover from influenza, including swine flu, get long lasting protection from the flu strain they recovered from. Actually, most people over 60 won't get swine flu this year because they recovered from influenza caused by a similar swine flu strain in the past and still have protective antibodies.
Just the Facts, Not the Hype
So, here are the facts:
* The new swine influenza is mild for most people even though a small number have developed complications and died.
* The swine flu vaccine has been tested for only a few weeks on a few thousand healthy children and adults, including very few pregnant women. We don't know how safe it really is for pregnant women or children and adults with chronic illness even though they are being specially targeted for vaccination by government health officials.
* There is very little information about how safe it is to give swine flu vaccine with other vaccines, including seasonal influenza vaccine.
* There is very little information about whether the swine flu shot will keep you from getting swine flu.
All Vaccines Come With Side Effects: Weigh Risks
All pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, come with side effects. The risk of having a vaccine reaction depends upon the vaccine you are getting; your personal and family medical history; whether you are sick or healthy at the time of vaccination; whether you are taking other medications; and whether you have reacted to vaccines before.
If you decide you or your children are going to get swine flu shots this year, you can learn more by visiting www.NVIC.org.
If Your Child’s School Has Vaccine Clinics
And if you have a child, whose school is going to be holding vaccine clinics and you do NOT want your child to get vaccinated in school, you can take the following actions:
Number One: Write a letter to the school principal stating you do not want your child vaccinated in school without your written consent.
Number Two: Ask to be notified in advance exactly when the in-school vaccine clinics will be held.
Support NVIC, Get Red “NO VACCINE FOR ME” Bracelets
Number Three: Support NVIC and raise awareness in your community by giving your child a red NO VACCINE FOR ME bracelet to wear to school. And wear one yourself.
Go to www.NVIC.org to donate and learn more about how to be prepared for the pandemic public health emergency that has been declared in your state. Learn about the public health laws that govern you. Learn about how you can change them by becoming a citizen activist.
Health Workers Being Forced To Get H1N1 Vaccine
Right now, the government says that the swine flu vaccination program is voluntary. That nobody will be forced to get vaccinated. However, health care workers in New York and other states ARE being forced by law to get swine flu shots this year.
Will that be true for all of us next year?
Stand Up For Your Informed Consent Rights
Please join NVIC and become a grassroots vaccine safety and informed consent advocate in your community. Stand up for the human right to make informed, voluntary health care choices, including vaccine choices, today - so your children and grandchildren and all Americans will have that right tomorrow.
Gardasil & Swine Flu Vaccines: Inconvenient Truths
by Barbara Loe Fisher
The summer of 2009 revealed two inconvenient truths about vaccination: first, the Gardasil vaccine is not as safe for girls as the government, medical organizations and Merck have said it is; and second, the H1N1 influenza pandemic is not as serious as health officials are telling us it is. Which means that fast tracked swine flu vaccines children will get in schools this fall may end up being more risky than getting the flu.
Doctors Question Benefits & Merck Marketing Tactics
On August 19, the Journal of the American Medical Association published two important articles written by doctors questioning whether HPV vaccine benefits outweigh the risks of recommending it for all young girls. The intellectually honest doctors publicly criticized the aggressive marketing of Gardasil vaccine by Merck and certain Merck-funded U.S. medical organizations and asked for more scientific evidence that universal HPV vaccination is necessary, safe and effective.
Bad Outcome Report After 1 In Every 1,855 Gardasil Shots
In the third article, written by government health officials, it was revealed that 1 in every 1,855 Gardasil shots is followed by a bad health outcome report to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.
These bad health outcomes reported after Gardasil shots include lots of girls suddenly passing out and having seizures within minutes or hours of getting vaccinated and suffering head injuries and broken bones when they hit the floor. In fact, there is a larger than expected rate of girls passing out after getting Gardasil vaccine.
Girls Passing Out & Having Car Accidents
Back in 2007, the National Vaccine Information Center warned that many girls given Gardasil shots were losing consciousness within minutes or hours. Some girls have left doctors offices and fallen unconscious while driving and had car accidents. This brings up the little known fact that four girls who got Gardasil in Merck’s pre-licensure clinical trials died in car accidents. How many of those girls suddenly collapsed while driving?
Clearly, Gardasil vaccine should be given while girls are lying down and they should be warned that sudden collapse can occur without warning within 24 hours of getting vaccinated.
Blood Clots Reports After Gardasil
What else did the recently published government study on Gardasil reveal? Well, we now know that there is a greater than expected rate of reported blood clots in girls who get the vaccine. Some blood clots can lead to pulmonary embolism or stroke, which means the blood clot ends up in the lung or in the brain. In fact four girls have died after they developed a blood clot that traveled to the lung after Gardasil vaccination.
Most Bad Outcome Reports Merck Files FDA Can’t Analyze
But the most shocking fact in this study is that, although nearly 70 percent of all Gardasil reaction reports were filed by Merck, a whopping 89 percent of the reports Merck did file were so incomplete there was not enough information for health officials to do a proper follow-up and review of what happened to the girls who fell unconscious or had convulsions, developed blood clots or inflammation of the brain and nerves, including Guillain Barre syndrome that causes paralysis, or those who suddenly developed serious autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and more.
There were 32 reports of Gardasil-related deaths between 2006 and the end of 2008 but only 20 of these death reports had enough information to be followed up. There are now a total of 43 deaths that have been reported. How many of those Gardasil related deaths cannot be evaluated because of incomplete information?
1986 Law Requires Reporting of Vaccine Injuries & Deaths
This is an outrage. Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, it is a federal legal requirement for any person – a doctor, nurse or any person who gives a vaccination in America – to file a report with the federal government whenever a vaccination is followed by a bad health outcome, especially a hospitalization, injury or death. Vaccine providers are NOT supposed to be notifying the vaccine manufacturer – which clearly is like flushing the vaccine reaction report down the toilet – they are supposed to be notifying the government. And health officials at the FDA and CDC are supposed to be analyzing each and every report of a serious vaccine injury or death.
Massive Underreporting of Vaccine Bad Outcomes
FDA and CDC officials admit that there is underreporting of vaccine-related bad health outcomes. In fact, some studies say that less than 10 percent or even less than 1 percent of serious vaccine adverse events are ever reported.
Closed Government Databases Used to Deny Vaccine Risks
But health officials are quick to downplay the significance of this. They tell us not to worry because the closed government databases, which the CDC operates with vaccine manufacturers and HMO’s they pay to participate in them, can be relied upon to reassure us that all those seizures and blood clots and cases of brain inflammation, paralysis, lupus and deaths in girls who get Gardasil shots are really – mostly - just a coincidence.
In 2005, the National Vaccine Information Center and other parent groups called on the CDC and FDA to open up those closed government vaccine monitoring databases to public scrutiny.
So far, most of that vaccine reaction data is still hidden from public view so it can’t be independently verified.
Will H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Risks Be Hidden From Public?
If the government can let vaccine manufacturers fast track Gardasil vaccine but can’t compel the drug company that makes the vaccine or doctors giving the vaccine - who are shielded from liability - to report each and every death and serious injury that follows vaccination, why should we believe anything government health officials tell us about the safety of vaccines?
Why should we believe that the experimental swine flu vaccines being fast tracked with only a few weeks of study in healthy children and adults are going to be safe and that all vaccine reactions will be reported to the government and then properly followed up?
No Way To Monitor H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Side Effects In Schools
It is far more likely that, when children get swine flu vaccine in schools and then get really sick or even die like the Gardasil girls, that all those bad health outcomes will be written off as a coincidence by health officials. That is, IF any reports are made to the government at all! Because few school nurses or other people giving children swine flu vaccines in the schools will be taking medical histories; or have a way to record vaccine information in children’s medical records, much less monitor children for signs of a vaccine reaction and then file a reaction report to the government.
This is not the way to run a national vaccine program. This is not what we expect from doctors in positions of authority who have accepted responsibility for protecting our individual health or the health of our nation.
Doctors & Drug Companies Shielded From Liability Ignoring the Law
In the early 1980’s, parents of DPT vaccine injured children worked very hard on getting informing, recording and reporting safety provisions of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. We wanted to make sure everything was being done to help prevent vaccine injuries and deaths. Little did we know then that those safety provisions would be blown off by doctors and vaccine manufacturers shielded from liability in that law.
The federal vaccine safety provisions should be codified into every state vaccine law with legal sanctions for doctors and drug companies who fail to file a complete vaccine reaction report.
What Public Health Emergency?
And now, today, we have swine flu vaccines that are being rushed to market with even less testing that the fast tracked Gardasil vaccine had, with the justification that there is a public health emergency. What public health emergency?
As everyone knows by now, the swine flu is no more serious than the garden variety influenza that goes around every year. Just like everyone knows by now that most cervical cancer can be prevented with regular Pap screening and that the very expensive HPV vaccine is questionable at best.
Why are we letting employees working for government agencies and pharmaceutical companies stampede us into taking vaccines that may not be necessary, safe or effective and – certainly - are not properly monitored for safety after they are given to tens of millions of children and adults?
It is time to demand that government officials and drug companies stop conducting national vaccine experiments on the American people.
Come To Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination
If you want to learn more about vaccines and how to be a vaccine safety and informed consent advocate in your community, come to the Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination being held October 2-4, 2009 in Washington, D.C. For more information, go to http://www.nvic.org/.
Watch the video bellow:
The summer of 2009 revealed two inconvenient truths about vaccination: first, the Gardasil vaccine is not as safe for girls as the government, medical organizations and Merck have said it is; and second, the H1N1 influenza pandemic is not as serious as health officials are telling us it is. Which means that fast tracked swine flu vaccines children will get in schools this fall may end up being more risky than getting the flu.
Doctors Question Benefits & Merck Marketing Tactics
On August 19, the Journal of the American Medical Association published two important articles written by doctors questioning whether HPV vaccine benefits outweigh the risks of recommending it for all young girls. The intellectually honest doctors publicly criticized the aggressive marketing of Gardasil vaccine by Merck and certain Merck-funded U.S. medical organizations and asked for more scientific evidence that universal HPV vaccination is necessary, safe and effective.
Bad Outcome Report After 1 In Every 1,855 Gardasil Shots
In the third article, written by government health officials, it was revealed that 1 in every 1,855 Gardasil shots is followed by a bad health outcome report to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.
These bad health outcomes reported after Gardasil shots include lots of girls suddenly passing out and having seizures within minutes or hours of getting vaccinated and suffering head injuries and broken bones when they hit the floor. In fact, there is a larger than expected rate of girls passing out after getting Gardasil vaccine.
Girls Passing Out & Having Car Accidents
Back in 2007, the National Vaccine Information Center warned that many girls given Gardasil shots were losing consciousness within minutes or hours. Some girls have left doctors offices and fallen unconscious while driving and had car accidents. This brings up the little known fact that four girls who got Gardasil in Merck’s pre-licensure clinical trials died in car accidents. How many of those girls suddenly collapsed while driving?
Clearly, Gardasil vaccine should be given while girls are lying down and they should be warned that sudden collapse can occur without warning within 24 hours of getting vaccinated.
Blood Clots Reports After Gardasil
What else did the recently published government study on Gardasil reveal? Well, we now know that there is a greater than expected rate of reported blood clots in girls who get the vaccine. Some blood clots can lead to pulmonary embolism or stroke, which means the blood clot ends up in the lung or in the brain. In fact four girls have died after they developed a blood clot that traveled to the lung after Gardasil vaccination.
Most Bad Outcome Reports Merck Files FDA Can’t Analyze
But the most shocking fact in this study is that, although nearly 70 percent of all Gardasil reaction reports were filed by Merck, a whopping 89 percent of the reports Merck did file were so incomplete there was not enough information for health officials to do a proper follow-up and review of what happened to the girls who fell unconscious or had convulsions, developed blood clots or inflammation of the brain and nerves, including Guillain Barre syndrome that causes paralysis, or those who suddenly developed serious autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and more.
There were 32 reports of Gardasil-related deaths between 2006 and the end of 2008 but only 20 of these death reports had enough information to be followed up. There are now a total of 43 deaths that have been reported. How many of those Gardasil related deaths cannot be evaluated because of incomplete information?
1986 Law Requires Reporting of Vaccine Injuries & Deaths
This is an outrage. Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, it is a federal legal requirement for any person – a doctor, nurse or any person who gives a vaccination in America – to file a report with the federal government whenever a vaccination is followed by a bad health outcome, especially a hospitalization, injury or death. Vaccine providers are NOT supposed to be notifying the vaccine manufacturer – which clearly is like flushing the vaccine reaction report down the toilet – they are supposed to be notifying the government. And health officials at the FDA and CDC are supposed to be analyzing each and every report of a serious vaccine injury or death.
Massive Underreporting of Vaccine Bad Outcomes
FDA and CDC officials admit that there is underreporting of vaccine-related bad health outcomes. In fact, some studies say that less than 10 percent or even less than 1 percent of serious vaccine adverse events are ever reported.
Closed Government Databases Used to Deny Vaccine Risks
But health officials are quick to downplay the significance of this. They tell us not to worry because the closed government databases, which the CDC operates with vaccine manufacturers and HMO’s they pay to participate in them, can be relied upon to reassure us that all those seizures and blood clots and cases of brain inflammation, paralysis, lupus and deaths in girls who get Gardasil shots are really – mostly - just a coincidence.
In 2005, the National Vaccine Information Center and other parent groups called on the CDC and FDA to open up those closed government vaccine monitoring databases to public scrutiny.
So far, most of that vaccine reaction data is still hidden from public view so it can’t be independently verified.
Will H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Risks Be Hidden From Public?
If the government can let vaccine manufacturers fast track Gardasil vaccine but can’t compel the drug company that makes the vaccine or doctors giving the vaccine - who are shielded from liability - to report each and every death and serious injury that follows vaccination, why should we believe anything government health officials tell us about the safety of vaccines?
Why should we believe that the experimental swine flu vaccines being fast tracked with only a few weeks of study in healthy children and adults are going to be safe and that all vaccine reactions will be reported to the government and then properly followed up?
No Way To Monitor H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Side Effects In Schools
It is far more likely that, when children get swine flu vaccine in schools and then get really sick or even die like the Gardasil girls, that all those bad health outcomes will be written off as a coincidence by health officials. That is, IF any reports are made to the government at all! Because few school nurses or other people giving children swine flu vaccines in the schools will be taking medical histories; or have a way to record vaccine information in children’s medical records, much less monitor children for signs of a vaccine reaction and then file a reaction report to the government.
This is not the way to run a national vaccine program. This is not what we expect from doctors in positions of authority who have accepted responsibility for protecting our individual health or the health of our nation.
Doctors & Drug Companies Shielded From Liability Ignoring the Law
In the early 1980’s, parents of DPT vaccine injured children worked very hard on getting informing, recording and reporting safety provisions of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. We wanted to make sure everything was being done to help prevent vaccine injuries and deaths. Little did we know then that those safety provisions would be blown off by doctors and vaccine manufacturers shielded from liability in that law.
The federal vaccine safety provisions should be codified into every state vaccine law with legal sanctions for doctors and drug companies who fail to file a complete vaccine reaction report.
What Public Health Emergency?
And now, today, we have swine flu vaccines that are being rushed to market with even less testing that the fast tracked Gardasil vaccine had, with the justification that there is a public health emergency. What public health emergency?
As everyone knows by now, the swine flu is no more serious than the garden variety influenza that goes around every year. Just like everyone knows by now that most cervical cancer can be prevented with regular Pap screening and that the very expensive HPV vaccine is questionable at best.
Why are we letting employees working for government agencies and pharmaceutical companies stampede us into taking vaccines that may not be necessary, safe or effective and – certainly - are not properly monitored for safety after they are given to tens of millions of children and adults?
It is time to demand that government officials and drug companies stop conducting national vaccine experiments on the American people.
Come To Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination
If you want to learn more about vaccines and how to be a vaccine safety and informed consent advocate in your community, come to the Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination being held October 2-4, 2009 in Washington, D.C. For more information, go to http://www.nvic.org/.
Watch the video bellow:
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