Part
1 appeared in October
2007
Part 2 in November 2007
Page 1, 2, Resources & Notes
Economic and Legal Issues
Cynthia Cournoyer has noted that vaccines are the only products in
the US that are legally mandated to be used by every person born.44
Barbara
Loe
Fisher,
cofounder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center
(NVIC), Vienna, Va., has advocated the right of individuals to
make informed,
independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their children
for two decades.
She paints an ominous picture of things to come: "As consumers,
we can bring very little economic pressure on the system to have that
product improved or
removed, because all of us are required by law to use it. It's a dream
for the pharmaceutical industry involved in making vaccines, because
there's no way anybody can say no. It's a stable, ready-made market,
and the
enactment of the compensation law in 1986 has removed almost all liability
for drug companies...."
Fisher cautions that state health departments may develop electronic
systems to monitor the vaccination status of each child. "…If we don't
act now, the public health infrastructure is going to get more power to intrude
in our lives, intrude in our health care choices. It all comes down to whether
or not we, as individuals, are going to fight for the right to make informed
health care choices, including vaccination choices, for ourselves and our children,
and whether we are going to hold the drug companies and government health officials
accountable for the injuries, deaths, and chronic illnesses caused by the vaccines
they produce, sell, and promote for mass use."45
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 created a no-fault
compensation program through which plaintiffs can seek compensation
for injuries from
vaccines recommended for routine administration. The law also provided,
however, that
evidence of gross negligence would be needed to seek punitive damages
against vaccine manufacturers.46 The NVIC said in 2003 that it and
other parent
groups "have
been critical of how adversarial the system is and how difficult it is to get
an award."47 Through fiscal year 2001, the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program had paid $1.3 billion in total awards (petitioner's
awards and
attorney's fees) for approximately 1,660 compensable petitions.48
The compensation program is funded through an excise tax on vaccines.
As a result, consumers foot the bill for any injuries or deaths that
may result
from medical procedures they are required by law to undergo.49-51 Alan Phillips, co-founder of Citizens for Healthcare Freedom, notes: "[Pharmaceutical
companies] have been allowed to use gag orders as a leverage tool in vaccine
damage legal settlements to prevent disclosure of information to the public
about vaccination dangers. Such arrangements are clearly unethical; they force
a non-consenting American public to pay for vaccine manufacturers' liabilities,
while attempting to ensure that this same public will remain ignorant of the
dangers of their products."52,53
Vaccine critic Randall Neustaedter adds: "When lawsuits leveled at drug
companies began wiping out profits gleaned from the pertussis vaccine, the
manufacturers simply stopped production of the vaccine. The United States government
stepped in to pay these vaccine-damage claims. Only then did the drug companies
agree to resume vaccine production...."54
Right to Refuse Vaccination
All states have laws mandating the vaccination of children before they
enter school, but these laws also allow for various types of exemptions
to compulsory
vaccination. Parents may seek exemptions on behalf of their children.
According to the NVIC, all 50 states allow exemptions based on medical
reasons, 48
states allow exemptions for people who have a sincere religious belief
opposing vaccination,
and 18 states allow exemptions based on philosophical, personal, or conscientiously
held beliefs.55
The ease of obtaining a vaccination exemption may depend on the type
sought and the requirements of the individual's state. In the journal
Pediatrics,
researchers say that "in many states, it is easier to claim a religious
or philosophical exemption than to adhere to mandated immunization requirements."56
On the other hand, Kurt Link, MD, states in The
Vaccine Controversy that exemptions
are often very difficult to obtain and that less than two percent of people
who apply for a vaccination exemption obtain one. Link says that parents who
are denied an exemption and try to defy the vaccination mandate may have their
children excluded from school, may be charged with criminal child abuse or
neglect, and may have their children taken into state custody.57
Potential Downside to Exemptions
Parents who refuse vaccinations for their children should be aware of
other potential consequences as well. The literature shows that unvaccinated
children may be at greater risk of contracting diseases covered by routine
vaccines.
In the Pediatrics article,58 the authors
cite research showing that "exemptors" were
22 times more likely to contract measles than were vaccinated people
and six times more likely to contract pertussis.59 In addition, unvaccinated
people
account for the majority of recent cases of tetanus.60 A study published
in 2006 also found that states allowing personal-belief exemptions
and states
with easier exemption processes were associated with a higher incidence
of pertussis.61
Another consideration is that pediatricians may dismiss patients who
refuse to be vaccinated. In a survey of 1004 members of the American
Academy of
Pediatrics published in 2005, 39% said they would dismiss a family for
refusing all vaccinations,
and 28% would dismiss a family for refusing select vaccines.62
Varying State Laws
According to the NVIC, parents who want to exempt a child from mandated
vaccination must know what types of exemptions the law in their state
allows and the
type of proof that may be required. In many states offering philosophical
or personal-belief
exemptions, for example, a parent must object to all vaccines, not particular
ones. With medical exemptions, some states will accept without question
a letter from a physician saying that one or more vaccines would be detrimental
to the
health of the patient, while the health departments in other states review
such exemptions and may decide one is not justified. With religious exemptions,
says the NVIC, state laws differ regarding the definition of the exemption
and the proof needed of one's religious beliefs opposing vaccination.
In fact, the NVIC does not provide or recommend a prewritten waiver for
religious
exemptions. If a prewritten waiver does not meet your state's requirements,
you may draw attention to your child and, if challenged on the exemption,
end up in litigation with your state or county health department in which
you must
prove your religious beliefs.63
Another website, Vaccination Liberation, provides links to exemption
forms ,and information by state and to sample exemption letters (http://vaclib.org).
Joseph Mercola, DO, provides an article on how to legally avoid vaccinations
on his website (www.mercola.com/article/vaccines/legally_avoid_shots.htm).
Dr. Mercola's newsletter has covered other vaccination topics as well.
Fisher of the NVIC offers advice for two particular vaccination situations
in her book The Consumer's Guide to Childhood
Vaccines64:
- Newborns Hospitals generally require parents
who are delivering a baby to sign a form agreeing to have the newborn
treated
by medical personnel.
Fisher
warns that by signing this document, you may also give consent
to have your baby vaccinated with hepatitis B. Fisher states, "Read
any consent form you sign carefully. If you do not want your newborn
vaccinated
shortly after
birth, you have the right to sign it after writing in an exception,
such as, 'I do not consent to have my child given any vaccinations
prior to
discharge from
the hospital.' Bring this to the attention of the person admitting
you and the nursery supervisor and ask to have it printed on the
outside
of your chart. Some parents take the extra precaution of not leaving
the newborn alone
with hospital personnel without being able to observe the baby."65
- Sick
children Staff in hospitals, clinics or emergency rooms often
ask about the vaccination status of children. Fisher states, "You
don't have to provide them with written proof. A verbal answer
is satisfactory. However,
if you are being questioned closely and feel that you are being
pressured into vaccinating your sick child without your consent,
you should understand
that
you have the right to refuse to give permission to have your sick
child vaccinated if you believe vaccination at the time will endanger
your
child's health
or life. You may choose to reassure medical personnel that you
will consult a private pediatrician for further guidance about
vaccination."66
The
point is that individuals need the freedom to choose. They should
not be forced in one direction or another. Fisher stresses this: "Our
organization does not tell a parent what to do.67 I want to make that
clear. We are an information
clearinghouse, and we believe in education. We believe that parents
should take the responsibility for making their own decision. In this
society, we
ought to have the right to make the right decisions without being bullied
and harassed and threatened into vaccinating if we do not believe that
it is in
the best interest of our child."
Alan Phillips adds, "I don't advocate that people do or do not
vaccinate. I say that there's a lot of information that people should
investigate before they make a decision one way or the other. We're so
steeped in what I would now call the myth of vaccination that it seems nonsensical
and counterintuitive to even raise the question. In fact, the first time that
I raised the question with a pediatrician I got yelled at. While I think that
was unprofessional of the pediatrician, it does demonstrate the degree to which
assumptions about vaccinations are held."68
Dr. Dean Black, author of Immunizations:
Compulsion or Choice, states, "As
a parent, there might be times I choose to immunize my child. Maybe I would
find scientific evidence to back its validity in a case where a disease is
so fraught with risk that I dare not expose my child. Maybe then I would choose
[to vaccinate]. But I would do so having thoroughly thought about it....What
I believe we cannot tolerate as a free nation is to have government bureaucrats
come in and say—based upon false statistics—if you don't
immunize your child, you will suffer penalty of law. That, to me, is a gross
injustice that simply has to be changed."69
Holistic Health
Fisher believes that if we are concerned about our health and our freedoms,
we should be worrying about the future. "I truly believe that unless
the public wakes up to what is happening, and starts standing up for their
right to be fully informed about vaccines and their right to make informed
independent vaccine decisions, the day will come when we won't have
that right. We will be forcibly vaccinated by law without exception."70
Fisher urges everyone to stop being complacent, to start becoming informed
about vaccines and diseases, and to act. Specifically, she states, "You
are going to have to work to amend your state's laws. If you would like
to be better informed and to help get the truth out, please join our grassroots
vaccine safety movement."
Fisher believes that alternative healthcare modalities in the US will play
an important role in the vaccine safety movement.71 "Those who are looking
into…osteopathic medicine, naturopathic, homeopathic, vitamin therapy,
etc., are looking for ways to boost the immune system through more natural
means in order to be able to naturally deal with viruses and bacteria that
they come in contact with. This is a very important movement."
Dr. Black agrees. He sees vaccinations as a shortcut for people in our society
who have not taken full responsibility for their health. "It's
a way of saying, don't look at the more natural holistic way of helping
the body. Medicine believes disease is the enemy... Medicine fights disease.
Natural health care works with it... Medicine believes symptoms are evil. Natural
health care believes symptoms are the body's efforts to rid itself of
disease."72
Curtis Cost, author of Vaccines Are Dangerous: A Warning
to the Black Community,
adds, "…parents do not need to be terrified into believing that
the only way to protect themselves and their children from disease is through
vaccines. We know that if parents breast-feed their babies, the risk of death
and disease is dramatically reduced because the breast milk contains all the
natural nutrients that the mother will naturally give to her child as she breast-feeds.
We know that diet has a tremendous effect on disease. If you are not eating
a proper diet, your risk of getting various diseases is much greater. So we
need to focus on taking control of our health...to focus on eating more organically
grown fresh fruits and vegetables, on drinking pure water, and on exercising.
These actions build up the immune system."73
It stands to reason that our approach might be better directed at bolstering
natural immunity, by strengthening the body's own disease-fighting capability,
than trying to manipulate a carefully balanced system which may or may not
tip to the detriment of the future individual. The old adage, "What doesn't
kill you makes you stronger" describes the credo of the vaccine industry.
The problem is that we do not yet know a single silver-bullet remedy for all
childhood illnesses that are known to cause no harm to the future adult.
Page 1, 2, Resources & Notes
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