Health Impact News Editor Comments

As we have previously reported, the right to choose whether or not one’s child should receive particular vaccines is a fundamental health freedom issue that medical authorities using the force of government are trying to deny parents all across the United States.

In Michigan, for example, the Michigan Department of Community Health is attempting to bypass state laws that allow for vaccine exemptions, and make all decisions to refuse any vaccination be subject to doctors and government officials, according to the Detroit Free Press:

Parents who refuse vaccinations for their children because of philosophical or religious reasons will have to take another step now under a new policy by the Michigan Department of Community Health. Starting Jan. 1, they must have their waivers certified by the local health department. (Source.)

According to the National Vaccine Information Center, this was a totally unannounced and unexpected move right at the end of a lame duck legislative session, which caught everyone by surprise and could be poised for implementation with no debate or opposition.

Who are These Parents Refusing Vaccines?

So who are these parents who want to refuse vaccines for their children? The mainstream media generally portrays these parents as “anti-science, ignorant, foolish,” etc.

It was refreshing, therefore, to read an honest journalistic piece on this topic on the “Michigan Live” website which actually interviewed some parents who exercise their lawful rights to refuse some vaccines.

In contrast to the predominantly one-sided media reports labeling all parents who refuse vaccines as “uneducated,” here is a description of the parents refusing vaccines based on demographic data in Michigan:

Statewide, about 6 percent of Michigan schoolchildren have vaccination waivers, which equates to about 150,000 children who are unvaccinated or undervaccinated. Many are clustered in affluent communities such as Rochester, and have well-educated, health-conscious parents who buy organic food and eschew antibiotics in favor of a homeopathic approach to illnesses. They fear injecting so many viruses into their children could do more harm than good, and see widespread immunizations as being driven by “Big Pharma,” which they see as more concerned about profits than public health. (Source.)

Julie Mack, the author of the story, interviewed a few of these parents, such as Heather Stevens, the mother of a preschooler in Oakland County:

She has a master’s degree in environmental engineering and has helped conducting human health risk assessment for environmental pollutants. She says vaccine safety studies are typically conducted by pharmaceutical companies who have an interest in downplaying safety issues, and says there hasn’t been adequate research into the “cumulative and sometimes synergistic effect of chemicals on the human body,” especially over the long term.

“The media tends to stereotype us as this random, scared/fearful, mob-crew bunch of crunchy hippies,” Stevens said. “At least speaking for myself, and my parent friends that choose to selectively vaccinate or not vaccinate at all, we are all very well-educated prior to becoming a parent and have spent a significant amount of time researching vaccines for the most important people in our life.”

Why Parents Refuse Vaccines: Censored in Most Mainstream Media

While the article gave the predominate medical view that “vaccines save lives,” they also gave the opposing view, covering these major points which are generally censored in most mainstream media stories:

• “While vaccines are touted as safe and effective, experts acknowledge they are not 100 percent safe nor 100 percent effective.”
• “[T]he federal government has a Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Since 2010, the program has adjudicated an average of 1,264 claims a year and paid out on an average of 283. The average award was $719,000.”
• “There’s a couple of people who don’t want their children playing with mine, but if your child is vaccinated, why should you worry?”
• Sue Waltman of St. Clair Shores, agreed, saying she grew up in the 1960s when almost every child had measles, mumps and chicken pox. “Most of us survived. The death rate from those diseases was going down even before they had vaccines,” Waltman said.
• [Waltman] says much of the research into vaccines is by pharmaceutical companies. “It’s not the right kind of research that helps people make good decisions,” she said.

What is happening in Michigan, where health authorities are trying to bypass parents and the public and take away parental rights based on state law and elected officials by forcing all children to be vaccinated whether they want to or not, is a tactic that will certainly spread to other states if they are allowed to get away with it.

Sign Up for the National Vaccine Information Center Updates – Support Their Work!

The National Vaccine Information Center has a “portal” where one can register and keep up to date on any attempts to change vaccine laws in your state:

The NVIC Advocacy portal posts information that no other media outlets are picking up.

It is a free service and you can sign up for alerts from your state here:

NVIC Advocacy Portal

The National Vaccine Information Center is a nonprofit organization supported by donations. There are few organizations more worthy of contributions now at the end of 2014. Please consider supporting their work:

Comment on this article at VaccineImpact.com

See Also:

Are Government Health Authorities Taking Away Your Choice to Refuse Vaccines?