Turning Vaccine Exemptions Into Class Warfare

ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE: 

http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/September-2012/Turning-Vaccine-Exemptions-Into-Class-Warfare.aspx

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.

[6] ONeill S. Bill Would Make It Tougher for Parents to Exempt Their Kids from Vaccines in California. KPCC Public Radio (S. CA). Sept. 13, 2012.

[7] Omer SB, Pan WK, Halsey NA et al. Nonmedical exemptions to school immunization requirements: secular trends and association of state policies with pertussis incidence. JAMA 2006; 296: 1757-1763.

[8] Salmon DA, Omer SB. Individual freedoms versus collective responsibility: immunization decision-making in the face of competing values. Emerging Themes in Epid 2006; 3: 13-15.

[9] Omer SB, Enger KS, Moulton LH, Halsey NA et al. Geographical clustering of nonmedical exemptions of school immunization requirements and association with geographical clustering of pertussis. Am J Epidemiol 2008; 168: 1389-1396.

[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.

[11] You Tube. Live debate with Barbara Loe Fisher and Neal Halsey, M.D. on ”The Today Show.” NBC March 1997.

[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.

[15] Stadlin S, Bednarczyk RA, Omer SB. Medical Exemptions to School Immunization Requirements in the United States – Association of State Policies with Medical Exemption Rates (2004-2011). J Infect Dis Aug. 29, 2012 (published online).

[16] Salmon DA, Halsey NA. Keeping the M in Medical Exemptions: Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Children. J Infect Dis Aug. 29, 2012 (published online).

[17] Fisher BL. The Moral Right to Conscientious, Philosophical and Personal Belief Exemption to Vaccination. National Vaccine Advisory Committee May 2, 1997.

[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.

[22] Seaman AM. More Oregon Kids on “Alternative” Vaccine Schedules. Reuters June 18, 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.

[25] Berk H. Vaccine Exemptions for Religious Reasons May Face Stricter Guidelines in New Jersey. Parentdish Mar. 16, 2011.

[26] IDSA. Increase of Religious Exemption to Immunization Requirements in New York State. IDSA Conference Poster Presentation Oct. 20, 212.

Merck vaccine fraud exposed by two Merck virologists; company faked mumps vaccine efficacy results for over a decade, says lawsuit

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036328_Merck_mumps_vaccine_False_Claims_Act.html

Thursday, June 28, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger


(NaturalNews) Breaking news: According to two Merck scientists who filed a False Claims Act complaint in 2010 -- a complaint which has just now been unsealed -- vaccine manufacturer Merck knowingly falsified its mumps vaccine test data, spiked blood samples with animal antibodies, sold a vaccine that actuallypromoted mumps and measles outbreaks, and ripped off governments and consumers who bought the vaccine thinking it was "95% effective."

See that False Claims Act document at:
www.naturalnews.com/gallery/documents/Merck-False-Claims-Act.pdf

According to Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, both former Merck virologists, the Merck company engaged in all the following behavior:

• Merck knowingly falsified its mumps vaccine test results to fabricate a "95% efficacy rate."

• In order to do this, Merck spiked the blood test with animal antibodies in order to artificially inflate the appearance of immune system antibodies. As reported in CourthouseNews.com:

Merck also added animal antibodies to blood samples to achieve more favorable test results, though it knew that the human immune system would never produce such antibodies, and that the antibodies created a laboratory testing scenario that "did not in any way correspond to, correlate with, or represent real life ... virus neutralization in vaccinated people," according to the complaint. (http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/47851.htm)

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036328_Merck_mumps_vaccine_False_Claims_Act.html

Receivers of flu vaccine more likely to catch H1N1 virus, new study finds

Monday, September 24, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) New information has emerged concerning the Great Swine Flu Hoax of 2009 and the mass vaccination hysteria that accompanied it. As it turns out, the seasonal influenza vaccine that was pushed on everyone as an added preventive measure against H1N1 appears to have been responsible for actuallyinducing more cases of H1N1 infection, this according to shocking new data procured by an influenza expert at Canada's B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

READ MORE:
http://www.naturalnews.com/037302_flu_vaccines_H1N1_infections.html

Flu Shot Being Forced on Health Workers

[ Our thanks to Alliance for Natural Health; original article posted here:
http://www.anh-usa.org/flu-sho-forced-on-health-workers/ ]

October 9, 2012

Why don’t they want it? Because some of them know too much. Here’s the whole tawdry tale.

This week we learned that hospital employees throughout Colorado will be fired unless they get a flu shot by the end of the year. New state health regulations require flu shots for health care workers to be phased in over the next several years, but nearly all hospitals in Colorado have made the vaccinations mandatory—immediately. 

Employees are exempt from the shot only for medical reasons; if they refuse, they will be suspended, and if they haven’t gotten the shot by the end of the year, they will be fired.

Many healthcare workers don’t want the injection. No surprise there. They know more about it, that it is not safe by any means. As we reported last month, the US flu shot still contains mercury, which among other things is associated with the development of Alzheimer’s. And a recent study indicates that people who received a flu shot were more likely to become infected with the H1N1 flu virus than people who haven’t received the shot!

Far safer choices exist to keep people from catching the flu—the most important of which is to ensure an adequate level of vitamin D in your system. Even so, mainstream medicine, the mass media, and federal and local governments all push the flu vaccine as if it is humanity’s last, best hope.
Why? It’s our old friend Crony Capitalism at work again:

• The government has formed strong partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry. For example, the federal government has just invested $400 million of your money toward the development and manufacture of vaccines and “medical countermeasures” to be used in health emergencies and preparedness protection. Vaccine giants Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Lonza are among those on the receiving end.
• Sometimes, as in the case of Gardasil, the government itself is involved in the vaccine’s development and grants a license to a vaccine maker for profit. The government is also subsidizing the development of adjuvants—that is, vaccine agents designed to increase the immune response—which are often very dangerous substances.
• The government then reviews the product for safety and efficacy and—no big shocker here—approves it.
• It then subsidizes the vaccine’s manufacture—$2.8 billion of taxpayer money in 2005 was spent subsidizing the rapid development of cell-based technology for making the flu vaccine.
• Having demonstrated a complete lack of objectivity, the same government issues guidelines to the states about mandating flu shots for all school children and healthcare workers.
• It then shields the vaccine manufacturer from any liability for adverse reactions to the flu shot, dismisses reports of adverse events, refuses to investigate them or even study whether the vaccine is actually conferring any immunity, which in many instances is highly doubtful.

What is especially troubling about this recital of blatant conflicts of interest and flagrant disregard for public safety is that none of the participants seem to feel the slightest shame over it. Instead they haughtily dismiss their critics as cranks or flat-earthers and go right on practicing crony medicine.

Sometimes it appears that the vaccine makers are just fronts for the government, albeit very well-paid fronts. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded Sanofi Pasteur a $77.4 million contract to retrofit its flu vaccine manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania; the vaccine manufacturer, by contrast, will be contributing only $25 million toward the project! As part of the ongoing bird flu pandemic preparation, Sanofi Pasteur received another $100 million contract from HHS to manufacture the vaccine in bulk concentrate form, plus additional fees to be paid for storage of the vaccine, and formulation and filling of the vaccine upon government request. (In 2005, the subsidies were even higher: $7.1 billion in flu preparations.) These contracts will make Sanofi Pasteur the largest supplier of influenza vaccine in the US and the world.

As for the adverse event reports, you may recall that the government has set up a “vaccine court”—the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault payout system with a $2.5 billion fund derived from a 75-cent-per-dose tax on vaccines. It is designed to protect vaccine makers from the kind of costly lawsuits that drove many out of the vaccine-making business in the 1970s and ’80s.

It is not widely known, but the program has issued decisions in favor of plaintiffs who were hurt by the flu vaccine. These included very serious complaints such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, encephalopathy, ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest, transverse myelitis, or some combination of these. In these cases, they received monetary settlements, but the vast majority of the decisions mandated the stipulation that “the Respondent (the government) denies injury/death was caused-in-fact by vaccination.”

Why is the major media silent about this? Do they not care about children with Guillain-Barre Syndrome? Or does it have something to do with the drug company advertising that keeps the traditional media on life support? (Most vaccine makers are subsidiaries of drug companies.)

The CDC reports that they detected an increase in the number of adverse events last season—febrile seizures, that is, convulsions accompanied by high fevers—after children had received the flu shot, though the government made no changes to their flu shot recommendations. On the contrary, a 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office argues that if more people could be counted on to be inoculated every year, it would give companies the incentive they need to make vaccines! In other words, let’s persuade people to get more shots (and in the case of healthcare workers, let’s force them to) so that companies will make enough money on a reliable basis!

The government is also eyeing cutting-edge vaccine research. A new generation of vaccines will be using viral DNA to quickly churn out key proteins to elicit a protective immune response. Protein Sciences of Meriden, CT, has already applied to the FDA for approval to sell a vaccine made by genetically engineering flu genes into a worm virus, which then infects cells from caterpillar ovaries to produce the necessary proteins to make vaccine.
Who will test the efficacy and safety of this new vaccine when it arrives? That’s right, the same federal government that is subsidizing its creation—the one that is going to push state governments to make it a legal requirement.