By Barbara Loe Fisher
As summer comes to an end, the drumbeat promoting back-to-school
vaccinations grows louder and louder in America. Unlike children in
Canada and the European Union,1 2 our children must get dozens of doses of vaccines or they can’t get a public school education.3
No Shots, No School, No Exceptions
Over the past century, denial of a public school education has been
used like a club by public health and medical trade officials demanding
that state legislators enact “No Shots, No School, No Exceptions”
vaccine laws.4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 In 1914, children had to get one dose of smallpox vaccine to go to school.13 In 2014, children entering kindergarten must get a minimum of 29 doses of 9 vaccines.14 Babies enrolled in daycare get even more vaccines.15
Medical Exemptions Rarely Granted
Parents in 48 states can file a religious or personal belief
vaccine exemption but some states make those exemptions very hard to
get.16
A medical exemption is allowed in all states but doctors rarely grant
them to children anymore because almost all medical reasons for delaying
or withholding a vaccine have been eliminated.17 18 19
Government and medical trade officials have narrowed medical
contraindications to vaccination after Congress shielded doctors and
vaccine manufacturers from vaccine injury lawsuits.20 Today, even children with severely compromised immune systems are given most vaccines.21
Doctors Practicing Authoritarian Medicine
Now that everybody is a candidate for vaccination all the time,
liability free doctors have been given a green light to practice
authoritarian medicine.22 23 24
Distraught parents are contacting NVIC and telling us that
pediatricians are dismissing their child’s vaccine reactions as
unimportant and refusing to make a report to the federal vaccine adverse
events reporting system. Mothers describe how pediatricians are
screaming at them if they decline a vaccination or simply ask for fewer
shots to be given to their child on the same day.25
Recently, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics26
proclaimed publicly that he is justified in getting angry at and
discriminating against parents disobeying his orders to give their
children every federally recommended vaccine on schedule27 which, by the way, means 49 doses of 14 vaccines between day of birth and age 6 with 20 more doses of vaccines by age 18.28
Calling those parents “a public health menace” and comparing them
to “substance abusers,” he refuses to treat their children. He said –
QUOTE - “That person is a danger, not only to themselves but is a danger
to society, a danger to other children in my practice, a danger to old
people, a danger to everyone.”29
Pediatricians Exempt from Vaccine Injury Lawsuits
It is sad and frightening when doctors demonize and threaten
parents making thoughtful medical risk decisions for their children. The
American Academy of Pediatrics knows that vaccines carry serious risks
for some children because AAP leaders successfully lobbied Congress to
be exempt from vaccine injury lawsuits.30 31
Some People More Susceptible to Vaccine Reactions
But even if $3 billion dollars in federal vaccine injury compensation had not already been awarded to vaccine victims in America,32 and even if the Institute of Medicine had not published a series of reports confirming that vaccines can cause injury and death,33 34 35 36 37 everybody knows that people do not all respond the same way to pharmaceutical products38 like vaccines.
Each one of us is born with unique genes and a unique microbiome39 influenced by epigenetics,40
which affects how we respond to the different environments we live in.
Some of us are more susceptible to vaccine complications.41 42 Public health officials have known this for a long, long time.43 44
Learn How to Identify Vaccine Reactions
With so many pediatricians denying vaccine risks and failures, it
is even more important for parents to do their own research. If your
child is getting back-to-school shots, you should know how to identify
symptoms of a vaccine reaction. Once your child has had a vaccine
reaction, revaccination may cause a more serious reaction.45
Plus, you only have two years to file a claim in the federal vaccine
injury compensation program after a vaccine-related death or three years
after a vaccine injury.46 47
A few of the more serious vaccine reaction symptoms are:
- Convulsion or seizure symptoms include eyes fluttering and rolling back in the head; twitching, trembling, jerking, shaking or sudden rigidity of one or more parts of the body.53 54 55 56
- High Fever between 103 and 105 degrees F. or more.48 49
- High Pitched Screaming, also known as the encephalitic cry, is described as a shrill scream, shriek or wail that goes on for hours. Mothers often say they have never heard this type of crying before. Sometimes babies arch their backs while screaming, which can be a sign of brain inflammation.50
- Collapse/Shock. The child may be pale, have bluish lips and suddenly go limp and appear to be unconscious.51 52
- Excessive Sleepiness is when the child sleeps deeply without moving for hours after vaccination and does not respond to noise, touch or light and cannot be easily awakened to eat.57 58 59
- Brain Inflammation, also called encephalitis or acute encephalopathy,has been recognized as a very serious complication of vaccination since the first vaccine for smallpox. Symptoms can include convulsions, high-pitched screaming, collapse, and hours of unconsciousness.60 61 62 63 64 65 66
- Encephalopathy or chronic brain dysfunction can include physical and mental regression, dramatic personality and behavior changes, loss of muscle control, speech and other abilities, or the child may be unable to continue to meet developmental milestones.67 68 69 70 71
Vaccine Reactions May Take A Week or Longer to Appear
This is not a full list of vaccine reaction symptoms and there are
other types of reactions affecting immune and brain function involving
the skin,72 73 74 joints,75 76 blood77 78
and other parts of the body that can be warning signs a child may be
sensitive to one or more vaccines. Some reactions develop within hours
of vaccination while others, like convulsions following MMR vaccination,
can take a week or more to appear.79
Review Vaccine Manufacturer Information & Vaccine Ingredients
Before vaccination, read the vaccine manufacturer’s product inserts
so you are aware of the types of serious health problems reported in
pre-licensure clinical trials and during post-marketing surveillance.80
Take a look at vaccine ingredients as well, because some children are
allergic to antibiotics, gelatin, MSG, Thimerosal, yeast, egg protein
and other vaccine ingredients.81 82
Vaccine Immunity Not Permanent: Pertussis Vaccine Failures
Parents also need to know that vaccine acquired immunity is not
permanent and fully vaccinated children can still get and transmit
infectious diseases.83 Vaccine failures and waning immunity is a real problem for vaccines like B. pertussis,84 85
also known as whooping cough. The FDA reported last year that
vaccinated persons still can be infected with and transmit pertussis,
sometimes without even showing any symptoms.86 The majority of children in many pertussis outbreaks have been vaccinated.87 88
Learn Symptoms of Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
Signs of B. pertussis whooping cough range from a low fever, loss
of appetite and a mild cough to violent paroxysmal coughing with choking
and vomiting of large amounts of sticky mucus for many weeks.89 Small infants can suffer brain damage or die from pertussis if they cannot clear mucus clogging their airways.90
Understanding vaccine risks and failures is a vital part of conscious parenting today.
Ask 8 Questions Before Vaccination
At NVIC.org:
- You can find well-referenced information about vaccines and diseases, including vaccine manufacturer product inserts, and a brochure that lists 8 questions you should ask yourself before your child is vaccinated;
- You can review vaccine reaction reports made to the federal vaccine adverse events reporting system.
- You can read testimonials on the Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall by Americans describing how they are being persecuted when they try to make informed, voluntary decisions about vaccination for themselves and their children.
- You can signup for the free online NVIC Advocacy Portal and work to secure informed consent protections in your state’s vaccine laws.
It is really important to find an intelligent, enlightened doctor
you can trust, who treats you with respect and your child with
compassion. Plan to spend at least as much time empowering yourself with
information and carefully thinking about vaccines and diseases as you
do when you buy a new car or a new home.
It’s your health. Your family. Your choice.
