The Vaccine Culture War in America: Are You Ready?

NOTE: This tour de force originally posted here: http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/March-2015/the-vaccine-culture-war-in-america-are-you-ready.aspx

3/8/2015

by Barbara Loe Fisher

More than 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV ¹ but government officials do not ban HIV infected children and adults from attending school, receiving medical care, being employed, or otherwise participating in society. In fact, there are anti-discrimination laws that guarantee civil rights protections for Americans infected with HIV or living with AIDS. ²

No Discrimination or Societal Sanctions for Infected Citizens

In 2012, public health officials reported that about two million people in America are infected with chlamydia, tuberculosis, syphilis and gonorrhea, ³and they estimate another three million people are infected with hepatitis C. ⁴ Like those with HIV or AIDS, these citizens are not targeted for discrimination and blocked from getting a public education, being employed or moving freely in society.

Live Polio Vaccinated Children Could Still Attend School

Between 1963 and 1999, doctors gave live oral polio vaccine to millions of healthy American children, who became infected with vaccine strain polioviruses they shed in their body fluids and transmitted, sometimes causing other children and adults to contract vaccine strain polio paralysis and die. ^5  6 Those with compromised immune systems were at special risk for getting vaccine strain polio and shedding vaccine strain poliovirus for longer periods of time than healthy persons. Yet, children recently given live oral polio vaccine were not excluded from attending school.

Calls for Societal Sanctions After Measles Diagnosed at Disneyland

But in 2015 after a handful of measles cases were identified at Disneyland, suddenly Americans are being asked to surrender civil liberties. We are being asked to discriminate against and condone extreme societal sanctions against fellow citizens, ⁷ including removing religious and conscientious belief vaccine exemptions from state laws ^8 9 so children cannot attend school without 49 doses of 14 federally recommended vaccines by age six and 20 more vaccinations by age 18. ¹⁰
How did a handful of measles cases at Disneyland turn into a full-scale assault on civil and human rights in America?

12 States Introduce Bills to Eliminate Non-Medical Vaccine Exemptions

Why have politicians in 12 states already filed legislation to eliminate non-medical vaccine exemptions, leaving only a very narrow medical exemption that most people cannot get? ^11 12
With 93 percent of pediatricians reporting that parents don’t trust the safety of the government recommended child vaccine schedule, ¹³ why are many of them refusing to provide medical care to children if they have not gotten every dose of every federally recommended vaccine – no exceptions and no questions asked? ^14 15 16

Censorship of Speech, Shaming, Imprisonment, MD Licenses Revoked?

Why are editorials calling for censorship of speech ^17 18 and for parents with unvaccinated children to be hunted down and publicly identified, ¹⁹ sued, ^20 21 criminally prosecuted and imprisoned, ²² and for doctors who criticize vaccine safety to have their medical licenses revoked? ²³
What is happening right now in America is not about the the measles or public health.

Disneyland “Patient Zero” Never Found – Assumptions Made Anyway

It all started in January 2015 after 320 million Americans ²⁴ had just finished ringing in the New Year and California health officials announced that nine visitors to Disneyland were infected with measles. ²⁵ Two weeks later, the total number of measles cases was 51 but no public health doctor in the country could find “patient zero.” ²⁶ That didn’t stop newspapers from proclaiming that a single “unvaccinated” person with measles spoiled the Magic Kingdom and that measles is invading America because of “a decline in parents having their kids vaccinated.” ^27 28

Measles Immunity Wanes, High MMR Vaccination Rate in U.S.

It did not matter that the science shows measles vaccine immunity is not lifelong and wanes, ^{29 30 31 32} just like pertussis vaccine immunity is temporary and wanes, ^33 34 35 or that it is illogical to put all the blame for measles at Disneyland on 1.8% of children attending school with vaccine exemptions ³⁶³⁷ when 95% of children entering kindergarten have gotten two MMR shots ^38 39 and only 1% of children under age three are unvaccinated. ⁴⁰ With a grand total of 170 measles cases reported in 17 states by March 2015, compared to 644 cases reported in 27 states last year, ⁴¹ and with 42% of the California-related cases documented to be in unvaccinated persons, while 13% of cases were vaccinated, ⁴² there is no justification for gutting vaccine exemptions in state public health laws.

Witch Hunt Led By Doctors Against Families, Dissenting Doctors

Rational thinking has been the first casualty in this 21^st century equivalent of a 17^th century witch hunt ⁴³ led by defensive doctors in government, industry, academia and media, who are fed up with parents asking them questions about vaccine risks and failures they can’t answer. ^{44 45 46 47}  Assisted by communication conglomerates ⁴⁸ and Astroturfers, ^{49 50 51 52 53} they piously wave the science flag and call parents “anti-social” if they don’t vaccinate ⁵⁴but completely ignore parents with vaccine injured children talking about how their vaccinated children are never healthy anymore. ⁵⁵ Some of the most vicious attacks have been on families consciously choosing to stay healthy a different way ^56 57 and on doctors caring for families whose children are unvaccinated or receive fewer vaccines on an altered vaccine schedule. ^58 59

The Cultural War on Freedom, Values & Beliefs

After headlines like “What would Jesus do about measles?” ⁶⁰ and “God wants you to vaccinate your children” ⁶¹ marked a new low in American journalism, it became clear that the so-called “vaccine war” ^62 63 is really a culture war ⁶⁴ on freedoms, values and beliefs that have long defined who we are as a nation. ^65 66 67 How it is fought and where it ends will determine the kind of nation America will become in the 21^st century.

Remainder of article & references here: 

http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/March-2015/the-vaccine-culture-war-in-america-are-you-ready.aspx

Autism-Vaccine Cover-up Snowballs as Whistleblower’s Identity is Revealed—LATEST UPDATES

Originally Posted here: 
http://www.anh-usa.org/autism-vaccine-cover-up-latest-updates/

Autism-Vaccine Cover-up Snowballs as Whistleblower’s Identity is Revealed—LATEST UPDATES

August 26, 2014

Rumors are swirling as the world learns of the government’s deception. Here’s what we know for sure.

William W. Thompson, PhD—an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center of Birth Defects and Development Disabilities who received his doctorate in biochemical engineering—has been revealed as the CDC whistleblower. Thompson broke a decade of silence over the government’s deliberate concealment of the link between the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps, and rubella) and a dramatically increased risk of autism, particularly in African American boys.
Thompson is alleging criminal wrongdoing on the part of his supervisors, and has expressed deep regret about his role in helping the CDC hide data: “It’s the lowest point in my career, that I went along with that paper.”
Here is a quick timeline of the scandal:

• In February 2004, a study of the MMR vaccine was published in the journal Pediatrics by three CDC scientists working in the National Immunization Program; one of them was Dr. Thompson. The study, in which vaccine data was gathered on 2,583 children in metropolitan Atlanta born between 1986 and 1993, concluded that there were “no significant associations” between the age at which the vaccine is administered and the incidence of “developmental regression” such as autism. This study has been used for the past decade by the those seeking to say there is no link between autism and vaccines. It should be noted that Pediatricsreceives financial support from vaccine makers through advertising and direct donations, according to a CBS News report.
• That same month, Dr. Thompson wrote to Dr. Julie Gerberding (then director of the CDC, now director of Merck’s vaccine division). In this letter he discusses his intention to present, at an Institute of Medicine meeting on vaccines and autism the following week, “several problematic results” that the Atlanta study had produced.
• For the next ten years, Dr. Brian Hooker, of the Focus Autism Foundation, tried to obtain the original data from that study. This year, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Dr. Hooker received much of the data. He was also allowed to view several highly sensitive documents related to the study thanks to a request from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
• After the FOIA was filed, Hooker was contacted by Dr. Thompson at the CDC, who at that time spoke on condition of anonymity. Thompson guided Hooker to evidence that there was a statistically significant relationship between the age at which the MMR vaccine was first given and the incidence of autism—particularly in African-American boys. Thompson revealed that CDC researchers did not include any children who did not have a valid State of Georgia birth certificate, thereby reducing the study’s sample size by 41%, which dramatically skewed the statistical findings. Thompson claimed this manipulation was intentional because of top-down pressure to promote a pro-vaccine agenda, and because of the CDC’s reluctance to address the vaccine-autism connection.
• Hooker presented his own research—a re-analysis of the original data—in a paper published August 8 in the peer-reviewed journal Translational Neurodegeneration. In African American boys who received the vaccine at 24 months of age (that is, “on schedule,” as opposed delaying the vaccine until 36 months or later), Hooker said the raw data shows the incidence of autism to be 340% higher. Dr. Hooker suggests the extraordinary vulnerability of young African American boys to autism from vaccinations may result from their low vitamin D levels, given their dark skin pigmentation. The prevalence of autism in African Americans is nearly 25% higher than that of whites. “The CDC knew about the relationship between the age of first MMR vaccine and autism incidence in African-American boys as early as 2003,” Hooker says, “but chose to cover it up.”
• This week, Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the Autism Media Channel published a powerful nine-minute video revealing Dr. Thompson’s identity. “We’ve missed ten years of research because the CDC is so paralyzed right now by anything related to autism,” Thompson says. “They’re not doing what they should be doing because they’re afraid to look for things that might be associated.”

No statement has been issued either by the American Academy of Pediatrics on whether the original study will be retracted or not, or by the CDC about Thompson’s statements. There arerumors that Thompson has been escorted off the CDC “campus,” though this has not been verified by independent sources. There is also a rumor that a class-action lawsuit is being readied by the parents of autistic children who received the vaccine.
Earlier this year, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) demanded that the CDC be investigated, highlighting “the incestuous relationship between the public health community and the vaccine makers and public officials,” the manipulation of data, and the swinging door policy between the CDC and vaccine maker Merck—all of which ensures that the autism link is never thoroughly explored. We reportedon the CDC’s manipulation of data earlier this year when they greatly exaggerated flu hospitalization figures in order to push the flu vaccine.
Pharmaceutical companies pay enormous amounts of money for websites to promote vaccines.According to Merck’s website, at least $3.5 million was paid to Medscape LLC, a subsidiary of WebMD Health, from 2008 through 2012. You’ll note that WebMD downplays any adverse reactions to the vaccines or their ingredients. We mentioned Dr. Gerberding as one who went through the swinging door between the federal government and the drug industry, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that courageous whistleblower Thompson once worked at Merck and Co. as well.