Turning Vaccine Exemptions Into Class Warfare

Posted 9/14/2012

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

Educated, Articulate Parents Defending Parental Rights

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

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

Vaccine Information & Vaccine Exemptions Should Be Free

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

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

Doctors Engaging in Class Warfare

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

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

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

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

Doctors Want Fewer Medical Exemptions, More Power

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

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

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

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

 Informed Consent: A Human Right

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

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

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

[1] Richardson D. CA Bill Restricting Personal Belief Vaccine Exemption Heats Up. NVIC Vaccine E-News July 2, 2012.
[2] Wang S. More Doctors ‘Fire’ Vaccine Refusers. Wall Street Journal Feb. 16, 2012.
[3] California Immunization Coalition. Director’s Update: AB 2109 Moves on to Senate. May 30, 2012.
[4] Dreier H. Private School Vaccine Opt-Outs Rise. Associated Press/USA Today Sept. 9, 2012.
[5] Richardson D. NVIC Statement Opposing AB 2109. June 20, 2012.
[10] Omer SB, Salmon DA, Orenstein WA, deHart PM, Halsey N. Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization and the Risks of Vaccine Preventable Diseases. N Engl J Med 2009; 360(19): 1981-1988.
[12] Saad Omer, PhD, MPH, MBBS. Grants.
[13] Johns Hopkins Advanced Studies in Medicine. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference Satellite Symposium Oct. 17-22, 2011. Activity Faculty: Neal A. Halsey, M.D.
[14] Moyer CS. Medical Vaccine Exemptions for Children Not Always Justified. American Medical News Sept. 10, 2012.
[16] Salmon DA, Halsey NA. Keeping the M in Medical Exemptions: Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Children. J Infect Dis Aug. 29, 2012 (published online).
[18] NVIC. Vaccine Freedom Wall. Public reports of threats, coercion and sanctions for making informed choices about use of one or more vaccines
[19] Fehr-Snyder K. Immunization Exemption Rates on Rise Among Arizona Schoolchildren. The Republic Sept. 12, 2012.
[20] Cuda A. Vaccine Exemptions on Rise in State. Connecticut Post Sept. 3, 2012.
[21] Asaithambi R. Time to get tough on vaccine refusal. Baltimore Sun April 11, 2012.
[23] Anderson J. Religious Exemptions Tilt Immunization’s Balance. Portland Tribune. Feb. 16, 2012.
[24] Stobbe M. Colorado Second in Vaccine Refusals. Associated Press Nov. 28. 0211.
[26] IDSA. Increase of Religious Exemption to Immunization Requirements in New York State. IDSA Conference Poster Presentation Oct. 20, 212.
 
 
Click here to watch the video
Posted by at No comments:

Find A Compassionate Doctor To Help You Prevent Vaccine Injuries

August 28, 2012
by Barbara Loe Fisher

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

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

Protecting Children Vulnerable to Vaccine Reactions

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

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

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

Here is one Mom’s story:

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

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

The Precautionary Approach: Children Are Not All the Same

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

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

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

CA Bill to Restrict Personal Belief Exemption Passes

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

School Nurses, Not Pharmacists Can Sign the Form

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

Contact Governor Jerry Brown And Make Your Voice Heard

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

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

Read the text of A2109 here.

REFERENCES:
________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

Click here to watch the video

Posted by at 1 comment:

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

Posted: 6/26/2012

by Barbara Loe Fisher

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

Government Tracking Systems Identify Oregon Parents

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

Doctors Demonize Parents Making Informed Vaccine Decisions

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

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


FDA Licenses New Combo Vaccine For Babies

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

FDA Advisory Committee Cut Out of Licensing Process

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parents are watching. Stay tuned.



References

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

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

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

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

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

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

[9] Ibid.

[10] See Reference #2.

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

[15] McBride R. GSK Grabs FDA Nod for Combo Meningitis Vaccine. Fierce Biotech. June 15, 2012.
Posted by at No comments:

Americans Fight for Vaccine Choices

Posted: 5/14/2012

Philosophical Exemption To Vaccination Saved in Vermont!

by Barbara Loe Fisher

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

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

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

Educating One Legislator At A Time

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

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

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

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

Today Everybody Knows Somebody

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

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

Children Endangered by Elimination of Personal Belief Exemptions

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

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

NVIC Educating Vaccine Freedom Fighters in the States

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

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

Vermonters Save Philosophical Exemption

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

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

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

Powerful Doctors Push Eliminating Personal Belief Exemption

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

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

Bill Rammed Through in the Senate

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

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

Parents Speak Out and Demonstrate Against Bill

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

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

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

Parents Pack House Hearing Room

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

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

Bill Amended to Include Parental Admission of Risk

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

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

VT Coalition & NVIC Oppose Conference Committee Compromise

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

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

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

A Delayed Vote and Language Inserted Targeting Teachers

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

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

Philosophical Exemption Saved, Bill on Governor’s Desk

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

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

NVIC Advocacy Portal Played Key Role

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

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

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

California Anti-Choice Legislation Needs to be Stopped

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

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

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

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

Watch an NVIC public service message about this bill.

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

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

SC Bill to Promote HPV (Gardasil) Vaccine

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


References
1 Centers for Disease Control. 2012 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules.
2 Miller NZ, Goldman GS. Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?Human and Experimental Toxicology: Published online May 4, 2011.
5 Boyle CA, Boulet S et al. Trends in the Prevalence of Developmental Disabilities in US Children 1997-2000. Pediatrics. Published online May 23, 2011.
9 Stratton K, Ford A, Rusch E, Clayton EW, editors. Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality. Committee to Review Adverse Effects of Vaccines. Institute of Medicine: National Academies Press. 2011. Pages 70-78
10 NVIC. Vaccine Freedom Wall. Public reports of threats, coercion and sanctions for making informed choices about use of one or more vaccines.
11 Fisher, BL. The Health Liberty Revolution & Forced Vaccination. NVIC Vaccine E-News. Aug. 23, 2012.
12 Attkisson S. How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders? CBS News. July 25, 2008.
13 Orange County Register. CORRECTION re: August 4, 2008 article “Dr. Paul Offit Responds.” April 18, 2011.
14 Fisher BL. Vermont Parents Fight to Save Philosophical Exemption. NVIC Vaccine E-News. Feb. 21, 2012.
15 Harding A. Vermont, New Hampshire Top List of Healthiest States. CNN Health. Dec. 6, 011.
16 CDC. See Reference # 1.
17 CDC. See Reference #2.
18 The Vermont Legislative Bill Tracking System. 2011/2012 Legislative Session. S. 199 Bill Text and Status.
19 Panebaker A. Parents Hold Fast to Exemptions for Vaccines. Vermont Digger.org. Feb. 28, 2012.
20 Kentish E. Kentish: ALEC’s Ugly Duckling (OpEd). VTDigger.org. April 19, 2012.
22 ABC 22 (Burlington, VT). Parents Rally Against Vaccine Bills. March 15, 2012.
24 Gram D. VT House Debates Childhood Immunization Law. Boston Globe. April 12, 2012.
26 Panebaker A. Conference Committee Agrees on Vaccine Compromise. VTDigger.org. April 30, 2012.
27 Hallenbeck T. VT Buzz: Vaccinations Prove Vexing to the End to VT Lawmakers. Burlington Free Press. April 30, 2012.
28 Hallenbeck T. Legislature Votes to Preserve Vaccination Exemption. Burlington Free Press (front page). May 4, 2012.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)