Vaccine Injured March on Capitol Hill

[Guest guest]

ADVOCACY

A Day of Remembrance:

Vaccine Injured March on Capitol Hill

By Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center.

www.nvic.org

Barbara Fischkin, left, with Lujene , a parent activist and

founder of No Mercury, See Fischkin's commentary about the rally on

the Huffington Post blog. tinyurl.com/4kot2l Photo by Heeren

of Lighthouse Studios.

They came by the thousands from all over the America. On June 4,

2008, mothers and fathers with vaccine injured autistic children

marched down the middle of Independence Avenue and rallied at the foot

of the nation's Capitol. Some parents walked with, held or pushed

their children in strollers while others, whose children were too

severely brain injured to attend, carried signs and photos. They had

come to witness, in one way or another, what had happened to their

children after vaccination.

The day broke hot and humid with a threat of torrential rains

that would have drenched the marchers. But then, the skies cleared and

the sun came out in time for the determined parents and their children

to gather on the grounds of the Washington Monument and line up behind

Hollywood celebrities Jim Carrey and McCarthy leading the march

and the " Green Our Vaccines " rally that would follow.

Although the primary message of the march was to call on

government health agencies to " remove toxins " from vaccines and

" adjust the vaccine schedule " by reducing the numbers of vaccines

given to infants simultaneously, NVIC supporters carried signs

declaring " No forced vaccination. Not in America. " As NVIC co-founder

Kathi and I walked past the long line of families waiting to

begin the march, we and our now-grown children held up the signs

featuring the American flag and statue of liberty. All the way down

the line, the families of vaccine injured children clapped and cheered

the message of freedom we carried to honor and empower them as we passed.

And while many at the front of the line marching down

Independence Avenue chanted " Too many, too soon, " those of us bringing

up the back of the line chanted " Hey, hey, Ho, ho - forced vaccines

have got to go! " with an African American father urging us to shout

louder and louder as we approached the Department of Health and Human

Services. " Let them hear you, " he yelled. " Tell them what you want. "

I looked at my 30-year old son, who became multiply learning

disabled after a neurological reaction to his fourth DPT shot in 1980

when he was two and a half, as he walked beside me resolutely holding

up our sign and shouting in a deep voice " Forced vaccines have got to

go. " When he was eight years old, I remembered marching in Atlanta in

front of the Centers for Disease Control in 1986 with Kathi and the

young mothers of babies who had been brain injured or died after DPT

vaccination in the 1980's. We were the first generation to march in

protest against toxic vaccines and one-size-fits-all government

vaccine policies justified by the utilitarian premise that it is

ethical to throw a minority of children under the bus in service to

others.

The second generation, whose children were born in the 1990's

and developed autism after vaccination, held a series of rallies on

Capitol Hill sponsored by Unlocking Autism beginning in 2000 when

Congressman Dan Burton initiated congressional hearings on the link

between autism and vaccines. In the summer of 2005, parents protesting

mercury in vaccines marched and rallied on Capitol Hill. Today, the

third generation knows that vaccine damage is about more than mercury.

It is also about too much vaccination: 48 doses of 14 vaccines given

by age six and 69 doses of 16 vaccines federal health officials now

say children must get by the time they graduate from high school.

At the rally podium, Jim Carey delivered a remarkable address

that was also a sweet love letter to his partner, McCarthy. He

said " Autism is everywhere. It is on every street and in every town "

and he asked the CDC " How stupid do you think we are? "

F. Kennedy, Jr. and physicians such as Jay Gordon, M.D.

and professor of chemistry Boyd Haley, Ph.D. called for removal of

toxins from vaccines. McCarthy, who is the celebrity

spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism Now (TACA), held up the

government's childhood vaccine schedule and said " Parents need to know

it is called a recommended schedule, not a mandatory schedule. "

Unfortunately, that may not be true in many states in the

future. Lobbyists for drug companies making vaccines, medical

organizations representing doctors who give vaccines and government

health officials are pressing state legislators in every state to pass

legislation that would automatically turn CDC new vaccine

" recommendations " into state mandatory vaccination laws.

This kind of proposed legislation was beaten back in the

California legislature by the education efforts of autism activist

Rick Rollens last year. But right now, the New York State legislature

is about to capitulate to the Forced Vaccination Lobby and force

children in New York to use every vaccine the CDC " recommends " or face

punishment, including loss of the right to get an education.

A rally of families protesting the proposed legislation will be

held in Albany, NY at the Capitol Building at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday,

June 10. For more information, go to www.mykids mychoice.com

I will never forget marching with parents and their vaccine

injured children in Washington, D.C. on June 4, 2008. Just as I will

never forget all the marches that have gone before during the past

quarter century that parents have been asking those who operate and

profit from the mass vaccination system to make vaccines and vaccine

policies safer.

Three decades of begging is long enough. Now it is time for all

Americans - both those with vaccine injured children and those with

healthy children - to Stand Up and Be Counted for the human right to

make informed, voluntary decisions about vaccination. Our freedom and

the biological integrity of this and future generations is on the

line. Without the legal right to say " no " to vaccination, the people

have no economic or political leverage to protect themselves and their

children from toxic vaccines and dangerous vaccine policies.

The next march on Capitol Hill talking about vaccines should be

all about freedom.

(To view wonderful photos of the rally, go to the blog

Adventures in Autism). adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/

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• • •

Other Media Coverage

Green Our Vaccine Rally

CBS: Led by actors McCarthy and Jim Carrey, they're

marching against the medical establishment that says there's no

evidence vaccines cause autism, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon

LaPook reports.

" We want to send the message to the CDC and our federal

government that vaccinations schedules are not one size fits all for

all children and that each child is different, " said concerned parent

on.

Their new battle cry: Spread out the vaccine schedule.

" Thirty-six vaccines in the first few years of the life are too

many too soon, " Carrey said.

By the time a child is two years old, the CDC recommends 14

different vaccines in as many as 28 doses. That may sound like a lot -

but these shots have helped to wipe out diseases like smallpox, polio

and measles, saving an estimated 33,000 lives a year, according to the

CDC.

Even so, some are asking: Why give so many vaccines over a

relatively short period of time? Dr. Offit helped invent one of

those vaccines.

" There is no advantage to spacing out, delaying or withholding

vaccines, " Offit said. " The only thing that will come of that kind of

behavior will be allowing for a period of time to occur when children

are at risk of vaccine preventable diseases. "

The activists are also worried about the preservatives used to

keep vaccines sterile.

Safety concerns about a mercury-based preservative called

Thimerosol led to its removal from most childhood vaccines almost a

decade ago. But since then autism rates have gone up, not down. Still,

parents are asking lots of questions.

" I would say that as a pediatrician I spend about 50 percent of

my day talking about vaccines, " said Pediatric Dr. Bruce Brovender.

He insists his patients be vaccinated, but he's willing to

compromise with parents - up to a point.

Brovender warns them about the risks if they don't follow the

schedule recommended by the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics.

" They are 100 percent warned that by delaying or spacing them

out they are not going to get the protection they need, " Brovender

said. " It's better to follow the academy's schedule, but it's better

to get something than nothing. "

He says the marchers have forgotten the consequences of failing

to vaccinate properly.

" The child who didn't get the whooping cough vaccine and is now

on a respirator and now may have permanent brain and lung damage, " he

said.

• • •

Washington Post: Marching for the Children

You never truly know what's real with any Hollywood couple, but

when Jim Carrey travels cross-country to support McCarthy--

well, the relationship looks like a keeper. They've been together for

two years, so there might be one of those ugly breakups around the

corner -- but right now they seem so happy that it's hard to be snarky.

The two came to Washington yesterday asking for changes in

vaccines that some have linked to autism. McCarthy has been an

activist since her 6-year-old son, Evan, was diagnosed, and the stars

led a march and rally for 8,000 parents at the Capitol wearing " Green

Our Vaccines " T-shirts (she paired hers with black jeans and black

Converse sneakers, he wore khakis), reports our colleague Marissa Newhall.

" Today I am not the celebrity, " McCarthy told the crowd. " Today

I am a mom of a child who had autism, who has a voice that is willing

to shake the ground of those responsible until all of our children are

safe. "

Organizers want to reduce what they say are harmful toxins in

children's vaccines. Autism has increased dramatically along with the

number of mandatory vaccines over the past 25 years; activists want

the feds to study both vaccine requirements and ingredients.

Carrey skipped the jokes and went straight to the heartstrings.

" My daughter Jane, and Evan are the greatest things that ever

happened to me, and learning how to love them has made me a man. So

dads, hang in there. You need these kids as much as these kids need you. "

Here are some links to media coverage regarding the event:

tinyurl.com/6orl9d

tinyurl.com/3ko5vh

abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=4987758

tinyurl.com/3ko5vh

www.people.com/people/article/0,,20204466,00.html

www.ageofautism.com/