[NVIC] Grassroots Vaccine Freedom Movement Gears Up

[Guest guest]

Grassroots Vaccine Freedom Movement Gears Up

by Barbara Loe

Fisher

The grassroots vaccine safety and freedom movement in America, which was

launched by parents of DPT vaccine injured children in 1982, has been

gaining public support during the past quarter century as the numbers of

vaccines medical doctors force children to get has more than doubled.

From

New York and New Jersey to

Missouri and

Mississippi Americans young and old in big towns and small cities

around the nation are joining together to talk about how to change the

increasingly oppressive mandatory vaccination laws in their states so

they can make informed, voluntary decisions about vaccination.

It is no surprise that decades of collective denial and neglect by the

medical community has led to a demand for fewer and more flexible vaccine

laws. The calls jamming the phone lines and the emails and letters from

desperate parents pouring into the National Vaccine Information Center

have never been more alarming or heartbreaking than they are right now.

Mothers describe how they took their child to a pediatrician or public

health clinic for a scheduled well baby " check-up " or sick

child visit and witnessed nurses and doctors injecting their child with 5

or 8 or 12 vaccines all at once, Then, they say, they watched their

children regress into chronic poor health and disability. Many of the

children have suffered previous vaccine reactions, which were ignored or

dismissed as " a coincidence " by doctors insisting the children

be re-vaccinated. Other children are sick and on antibiotics. Others have

been born premature or have personal or family histories of severe

allergies and autoimmune and neurological disorders.

Over and over again, mothers describe in identical terms what they

witnessed, their babies and children suffer following vaccination -

seizures, high pitched screaming, collapse, unconsciousness, high fevers,

body rashes, head banging, flapping, profound personality changes -

cognitive and physical regression that changes the child physically,

mentally and emotionally forever. And over and over again, mothers

describe how their pediatricians stubbornly deny the vaccines just given

had anything to do with what happened.

As someone who has witnessed the proliferation of vaccines and vaccine

laws devastate the health of three generations of children, there are no

words to adequately describe the pain, despair and fear that has

destroyed the once joyful time of young parenting in America today.

Children and their parents have become unwilling victims of a medical-

industrial complex driven by the profit motive and powered by an ideology

that has a callous disregard for individual human life.

It is no wonder that more and more Americans, young and old, are

demanding the right to make informed, voluntary vaccination choices for

themselves and their families. The grassroots vaccine safety and freedom

movement in America is taking root in many states, particularly in those

with the fewest exemptions and most vaccine mandates inflexibly

implemented.

The conscientious belief exemption to vaccination should be added to the

religious exemption in every state and medical exemptions should be

widened to provide enlightened physicians with the power to write

exemptions for those who do and do not have medical conditions conforming

to the narrow one-size-fits-all contraindication guidelines of the CDC

and AAP.

The right to informed consent to use of any pharmaceutical product or

medical procedure, which carries a risk of injury or death, is a human

right. Vaccination should be no exception.

NVIC supports the efforts in every state to change vaccine laws to allow

informed, voluntary vaccine decision-making. In Mississippi, parents will

be meeting March 17, 2008 at 6 p.m. at the Flowood Public Library, 103

Winners Circle, Flowood, MS to talk about adding a conscientious belief

exemption to Mississippi state laws, which only allow a medical

exemption. Go to

http://parents.m eetup.com/465/ for more information.

***********************************************************

" As states move to

require more vaccines for school-age children, an increasing number of

parents are saying no to some of the inoculations. They are seeking

exemptions from the state in growing numbers....Rita M. Palma, of

Bayport, N.Y., sought a religious exemption from vaccines for her three

sons but was turned down after a hearing with school officials. She said

she had become increasingly uncomfortable with the vaccines the boys were

getting.....After submitting a written request for a religious waiver,

she was questioned at a two-hour hearing by the lawyer for the

Bayport-Bluepoint School District and turned down last February by the

school board. The New York Civil Liberties Union is now pursuing her

case. " It is unbelievably traumatic to have your religious

convictions questioned, " Mrs. Palma said. " For schools to be in

the religious sincerity business is just outrageous. " Sue ,

co-founder of the New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination,

said parents often face a variety of roadblocks when seeking vaccine

exemptions in the state. " We see schools decline letters, or tell

parents that clergy must write letters, " she said. " Parents are

being harassed and being asked to do things above and beyond the

law. " Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk, a Republican from Bergen

County, who introduced a conscientious exemption bill for vaccines, said

parents shouldn't have the burden of proving a religious or medical

reason to refuse vaccines. " This is America; you don't force it on

everybody, " Ms. Vandervalk said. " - Fran Silverman, New

York Times, (March 2, 2008)

http://www.nytimes.com/

2008/03/02/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/02Rvaccine.ht ml?

_r=3 & pagewanted=1 & ref=nyregionspecial2 & oref=slog

in & oref=slogin

" The point of it

is the parents should be in charge of the health care needs of their

children, " said Drumright, whose daughter is 8 and sons are 6 and 4.

" It's not up to the state to dictate to parents how they should make

important health care decisions about their children. " Sen.

Loudon, R-Chesterfield, said he's considering backing a proposal for a

personal exemption. He has headed similar efforts in the past, most

recently in 2003. " I am always open to it, " Loudon said of the

idea of a personal exemption. " I think when a parent does their

diligence and has cause for alarm, they should have the authority over

government to control the health of their children. " ......Missouri

parents once had the right to exempt their children from immunizations

without needing to provide a reason. But the law changed in 1992, and now

parents can only opt out of their kids' shots for religious or medical

reasons..... " As more and more vaccines are being added to the list,

that is where you're getting some pushback by parents, and legitimately

so, " said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the

National Vaccine Information Center, a vaccine safety watchdog agency in

Vienna, Va. She said parents are feeling pressured and powerless with all

the vaccine mandates. " The one- size-fits all approach to

vaccinations ... is simply not medically responsible, " Fisher said.

" Parents have to be given more flexibility. " - Andale

Gross, Associated Press (February 29, 2008)

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/new

s/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/6B1F6136D15D

8F1F862573FF00201C8D?OpenDocument

" Tyler's father, Holzinger, said, " After his

2-year-old vaccinations, he became less verbal; eye contact ceased. He

started swaying, head-butting, doing a lot of these autistic

characteristics. " Tyler's parents and 200 others are active in an

online support group backing a bill giving Mississippi parents the choice

to not have all vaccines....Kellie Bischoff, president of the support

group, said, " Well, that's a scary thought, but if you look at the

other 48 states with nonmedical exemptions, it really is not an issue.

They do not have outbreaks. " Just like the other 48 states, the

support group wants religious and philosophical exemptions added to the

bill. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only states without the

exemptions. Even though it's risky, the support group president stopped

vaccinating her oldest daughter, Emma, at 2 years old because she had

seizures. Her youngest, 2- year-old Addie, hasn't been vaccinated yet.

Bischoff said, " If something were to happen and there were a serious

vaccine reaction, the parent is ultimately responsible for taking care of

this child, not the doctors, not the state, not the school

board. " - WAPT-TV (ABC affiliate in , MS) (February

11,

2008)

http://www.wapt.com/news/15276018/detail.html

Mc for The New York Times

SECOND THOUGHTS: Polatsek, of Trumbull, Conn., stopped

allowing vaccinations for her children, Coby and Sophie, after Sophie was

found to have autism.

More Families Are Shunning

Inoculations

The New York Times

March 2, 2008

by Fran Silverman

Click here for the URL:

AS states move to require more vaccines for school- age children, an

increasing number of parents are saying no to some of the inoculations.

They are seeking exemptions from the state in growing numbers, citing

religious reasons or saying that they believe the vaccines will do more

harm than good.

This fall state lawmakers in New Jersey approved a requirement for flu

and pneumonia shots for preschoolers, and two other shots - one for

meningitis, and a booster against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis for

sixth graders. Connecticut health officials are considering requiring the

diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus booster, and a chicken pox and mumps

booster for school-age children and a flu and Hepatitis A shot for

children entering preschools. In January, New York started requiring a

pneumonia vaccine for preschool children in day care and the DPT booster

shot for sixth graders and is considering requiring flu shots for

preschoolers in day care.

" With the sheer number of vaccinations recommended there is more of

a backlash, more parents with questions, " said Mick Bolduc,

epidemiologist for the Connecticut Department of Health's immunization

program.

The resistance of some parents persists despite the overwhelming

consensus among scientists and health officials that vaccines are

essential for public health and that they do not cause conditions like

autism.

Last week, in fact, an advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention said that all children ages 6 months to 18 years should

receive an annual influenza shot. Flu has been widespread in almost all

states this year.

Currently, flu shots are recommended for children from 6 months to about

5 years.

A pediatrician, Leo Distefano, of West Hartford, Conn., who is a member

of the state's chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said women

were asking about vaccines before they even gave birth. " In almost

every prenatal visit, it's brought up, " he said. " There's more

and more of a consumer mentality. People are really cautious about just

sticking with the routine schedule. "

Silvan, 37, a hospice minister and social worker from Stamford,

Conn., refused vaccines for her infant son at the hospital shortly after

she gave birth last year, out of concern for his health. " I'm not

trying to be extreme and say no vaccines, " she said. " I

appreciate that we don't have polio in this country because of the

vaccines. But it should be our personal choice. "

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut allow for medical and religious

exemptions, but the requirements for such exemptions differ in each

state. In New York, individual school districts decide on exemptions, and

how vigorously school officials question parents varies. In Connecticut

and New Jersey, residents need only fill out a form for religious

waivers. In all three states, medical exemptions require notes from

doctors.

Some parents say that either exemption can be hard to obtain regardless

of state regulations. Lawmakers in New York and New Jersey have

introduced legislation to add a " conscientious objector "

exemption to give parents more alternatives if they want to opt out of

vaccines for their children. Nineteen states already have such

laws.

Less than one percent of school-age children in each state have

exemptions from vaccines, but the numbers are going up. In Connecticut,

904 preschool and school-age children had either religious or medical

exemptions in 2006, up from 845 in 2005.

In New York 3,006 students entering pre-K, kindergarten and grades one

through 12 received religious exemptions and 971 medical exemptions,

which is almost double the percent of the school-age population with

exemptions in 1999. In New Jersey in 2006, 1,474 children received

waivers for religious reasons and 449 for medical, from 242 religious and

485 medical waivers in 1990.

SOME of the resistance to vaccines comes from parents who believe there

is a link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism

despite scientific studies that have failed to show any causal link

between the two. The studies have been conducted by major health

organizations like the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug

Administration, the Institute of Medicine and the World Health

Organization.

A study published in November by the Centers for Disease Control showed

that death rates for 13 diseases that can be prevented by childhood

vaccinations are at an all-time low in the United States, showing the

value of a regular program of vaccinations to the public good, doctors

from the center said.

" We realize parents are going to have concerns, and rightly

so, " Mr. Bolduc from Connecticut's health department said. " But

we feel very strongly in following the national recommended schedule. The

risks from vaccines are outweighed by the benefits. "

Nevertheless, some parents say they want to make their own decisions for

their children.

Polatsek, of Trumbull, Conn., stopped allowing vaccinations for

both her children after autism was diagnosed in her daughter, Sophie, at

age 4. Ms. Polatsek said she was always uncomfortable with the

inoculations and had insisted the pediatrician spread out the shots. She

said she wasn't aware when her children were infants that she could seek

a religious or medical waiver.

" They give you sheets at the pediatrician's office about the

vaccines, but they don't tell you that you can choose not to

vaccinate, " Ms. Polatsek said. " I had to learn through other

people about the exemptions. "

Rita M. Palma, of Bayport, N.Y., sought a religious exemption from

vaccines for her three sons but was turned down after a hearing with

school officials. She said she had become increasingly uncomfortable with

the vaccines the boys were getting.

" About two years ago I hit a wall with it, " she said. " I

said I was going to listen to my inner voice. The whole vaccination

process is based on fear of getting diseases but I would rather put my

faith in God to heal diseases. "

After submitting a written request for a religious waiver, she was

questioned at a two-hour hearing by the lawyer for the Bayport-Bluepoint

School District and turned down last February by the school board. The

New York Civil Liberties Union is now pursuing her case.

" It is unbelievably traumatic to have your religious convictions

questioned, " Mrs. Palma said. " For schools to be in the

religious sincerity business is just outrageous. "

Sue , co-founder of the New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in

Vaccination, said parents often face a variety of roadblocks when seeking

vaccine exemptions in the state.

" We see schools decline letters, or tell parents that clergy must

write letters, " she said. " Parents are being harassed and being

asked to do things above and beyond the law. "

Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk, a Republican from Bergen County, who

introduced a conscientious exemption bill for vaccines, said parents

shouldn't have the burden of proving a religious or medical reason to

refuse vaccines.

" This is America; you don't force it on everybody, " Ms.

Vandervalk said.

__________________________________________

Some want personal vaccine

exemption restored in MO

Associated Press (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

February 29, 2008

by Andale Gross

Click here for the URL:

KANSAS CITY - Darrel Drumright has worked in the health care field for 15

years, but he doesn't trust immunizations.

So for years, the Kansas City chiropractor and father of three has chosen

not to vaccinate his children. His reason - on paper anyway - is

religion. His family is Catholic, so they claim a religious exemption,

which allows the kids to skip their shots.

But what Drumright really wants is to tell the truth: He and his wife are

skeptical about vaccines and feel the shots required for childhood

diseases such as measles and chickenpox could cause more harm than good.

At a time when more parents are using religious exemptions to opt out of

getting their children vaccinated, he and others want Missouri to go back

to allowing parents who don't want to immunize their school-age children

to do so without having to give a reason.

Drumright, 45, said he and others are pushing for a personal exemption -

also known as a philosophical or conscientious exemption - this

legislative session. They have been talking to legislators about the

issue, hoping to spark support.

" The point of it is the parents should be in charge of the health

care needs of their children, " said Drumright, whose daughter is 8

and sons are 6 and 4. " It's not up to the state to dictate to

parents how they should make important health care decisions about their

children. "

Sen. Loudon, R-Chesterfield, said he's considering backing a

proposal for a personal exemption. He has headed similar efforts in the

past, most recently in 2003.

" I am always open to it, " Loudon said. " I think when a

parent does their diligence and has cause for alarm, they should have the

authority over government to control the health of their children. "

Earlier this month, Loudon refiled a bill that he said should help

determine the level of support among legislators for a personal

exemption.

Loudon's bill deals with the issue of vaccine control, but as it relates

to lawmakers, not parents. It seeks to give the Legislature full control

over mandating new vaccines. Under the proposal, state health officials

still would control how vaccines that are already required are

administered to children, but they could not add new mandatory vaccines

without legislative approval.

Although the deadline for filing legislation in the Senate has passed,

Loudon said he still would work with fellow legislators to get a personal

exemption bill filed in the House if his vaccine control proposal is

well-received. The chances of such a bill moving through the Legislature,

however, decrease the longer they wait to get started.

Missouri parents once had the right to exempt their children from

immunizations without needing to provide a reason. But the law changed in

1992, and now parents can only opt out of their kids' shots for religious

or medical reasons.

Drumright and other opponents of vaccines say medical exemptions can be

difficult to get a doctor to sign off on, and religious exemptions put

parents in an awkward position. They say parents might feel wrong about

giving religion - though parents in Missouri can cite religion without

having to declare a particular faith - as a reason if their resistance to

vaccines has nothing to do with their faith.

The Associated Press has found that a small but growing number of parents

around the country are claiming religious exemptions to avoid vaccinating

their children when the real reason may be skepticism of the shots or

concern they can cause other illnesses.

" While you can never guarantee that immunizations will not cause a

problem, they are extremely safe. But the diseases are not, " said

Sue Denny, a spokeswoman with the Missouri Department of Health and

Senior Services. " It's in the best interest of maintaining the

health of not only schoolchildren but the rest of the population to have

a high immunization rate. "

Denny said the health department has only seen a slight increase in the

number of parents using the religious exemption in recent school years,

while the number using the medical exemption has stayed about the same.

State health department records show that about 4,700 religious

exemptions and more than 1,500 medical exemptions were claimed for

Missouri students during the 2006-2007 school year, the most recent year

for which data is available.

In 15 years since Missouri's vaccine exemption law changed, there have

been moves to restore it but none were successful. Vaccine critics, both

locally and nationally, think an exemption proposal could have a chance

now.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an AP

survey of state health departments, 20 states allow parents to cite

personal or philosophical reasons for opting out of their children's

immunizations. The most recent to add a personal exemption was Texas in

2003.

" As more and more vaccines are being added to the list, that is

where you're getting some pushback by parents, and legitimately so, "

said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine

Information Center, a vaccine safety watchdog agency in Vienna, Va.

She said parents are feeling pressured and powerless with all the vaccine

mandates.

" The one-size-fits-all approach to vaccinations ... is simply not

medically responsible, " Fisher said. " Parents have to be given

more flexibility. "

Koreen Bowers, a mother of three from St. Louis, said she's wrestling

with whether she will claim a religious exemption to avoid certain

vaccines for her oldest child, who starts kindergarten next school year.

She wishes Missouri had a philosophical exemption like her home state,

Minnesota.

" I think it just puts a little more control in the hands of

concerned parents, " said Bowers, 39, a financial services worker.

" It's not just about being anti- vaccine. It's about allowing

parents to be a little more selective and be able to make an informed

decision. "

Drumright said parents often are not aware they have options. They go

with the notion that vaccines are mandatory and don't think to question

it, he said.

" We need an exemption where the parent can say 'I'm an informed

consumer' and 'No, thank you,' " Drumright said.

__________________________________________

Parents Contest Mandatory

Vaccinations

WAPT-TV (ABC)

February 11, 2008

Click here for the URL:

, Miss -- Six year old Tyler has Asperger's syndrome, a highly

functioning form of autism.

At 2 years old, Tyler made eye contact and talked quite a bit.

Tyler's father, Holzinger, said, " After his 2- year-old

vaccinations, he became less verbal; eye contact ceased. He started

swaying, head-butting, doing a lot of these autistic

characteristics. "

Tyler's parents and 200 others are active in an online support group

backing a bill giving Mississippi parents the choice to not have all

vaccines. Some parents want to limit how many shots kids get at one time

-- because seizures are a possible side effect.

Others are convinced the shots cause autism or make the symptoms worse.

The CDC and FDA point out there's no research of a connection, but Sen.

Fillingane said concerned parents convinced him to write new bill.

It says if any U.S. doctor believes vaccines may harm a child, he or she

can write a medical exemption.

Fillingane said, " Then they can carry it with them when they enroll

their children in school and their children won't be kicked out of public

schools, as they are now currently if they don't have the full regimens

of the vaccinations. "

The health department said 16 vaccines against diseases like chicken pox

and polio are needed before a child attends public school.

The state's division of autism director backs the bill and said doctors

along with parents should make medical decisions for children. Dr. Mark

Yeager, director of the Autism Spectrum Disorders division, said,

" I'm in the field, of autism and I can tell you I encounter a lot of

people who are frightened, frightened beyond any discussion on how their

children are gonna develop or not develop. "

Opponents like UMC pediatrician Sorey said kids who are not

vaccinated put the public, especially school-age children, at risk. He

believes a decrease in vaccinations led to at least 140 whooping cough

cases last summer and one death. Sorey said, " If you decrease the

number of children vaccinated, sooner or later Mother Nature is gonna

beat your brains out with these same old- fashioned diseases we've always

had. "

Kellie Bischoff, president of the support group, said, " Well, that's

a scary thought, but if you look at the other 48 states with nonmedical

exemptions, it really is not an issue. They do not have outbreaks. "

Just like the other 48 states, the support group wants religious and

philosophical exemptions added to the bill. Mississippi and West Virginia

are the only states without the exemptions. Even though it's risky, the

support group president stopped vaccinating her oldest daughter, Emma, at

2 years old because she had seizures. Her youngest, 2-year-old Addie,

hasn't been vaccinated yet.

Bischoff said, " If something were to happen and there were a serious

vaccine reaction, the parent is ultimately responsible for taking care of

this child, not the doctors, not the state, not the school board. "

Tyler's parents are still debating about his 10- month-old sister, Eve,

who's had only one vaccination. They hope the bill will give them options

with her that they didn't have with Tyler. Holzinger said, " I should

be able to choose if my daughter gets these vaccines, especially when

I've seen what they do to my son. "

National Vaccine

Information Center

NVIC E-News is a free service of the

National Vaccine Information Center and is supported through

donations.

NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not

receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co-

founder.

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