Comments by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
Congress has announced two hearings to discuss vaccines in light of the recent “measles outbreaks” that have affected 127 people in 10 states since the Fall of 2018.
The first hearing is in the House, tomorrow, February 27, 2019. The second hearing is in the Senate on March 5, 2019.
The hearing in the House will be with the subcommittee Oversight and Investigations, of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, chaired by Representative Frank Pallone from New Jersey’s 6th congressional district.
Will this hearing look at both sides of the vaccine debate, or simply represent the most extremist view of vaccines promoted by the pharmaceutical companies and their powerful lobbyists and allies in government?
The extremist pro-vaccine view states that the “science has been settled” on vaccines (an obvious non-scientific view), and that ALL vaccines are safe and effective for ALL people, ALL the time, by force if necessary. This extremist view, however, is NOT the majority view of medical doctors and scientists. See:
Medical Doctors Opposed to Forced Vaccinations – Should Their Views be Silenced?
Judging by the memorandum published by Congressman Pallone, himself a career politician with a law degree and no apparent medical background, and which reads like a press release for the Merck pharmaceutical company which manufactures the MMR vaccine and contains factual errors, and based on the only two “witnesses” invited to the hearing who represent the CDC and NIH, it would appear that the hearing is going to be one-sided representing only the most extremist view of vaccines.
Do the lawmakers on this committee (and in Congress in general) understand that the CDC is the largest purchaser of vaccines in the U.S., spending more than $5 BILLION of taxpayer funds to purchase vaccines from American pharmaceutical companies, and therefore have a clear conflict of interest? See:
Should the CDC Oversee Vaccine Safety When They Purchase Over $5 Billion of Vaccines from Big Pharma?
Do the lawmakers on this committee (and in Congress in general) understand that the NIH earns royalties from the sale of Merck’s vaccines, and therefore also have a clear conflict of interest?
The facts clearly show that there is NO MEASLES CRISIS that threatens the public in the United States, as no child has died from measles in the U.S. for many years, and is a common childhood disease.
Yet, hundreds have reported deaths due to the measles MMR vaccine, and the government’s vaccine court, which is the only place one can sue for damages due to vaccines since Congress gave pharmaceutical companies immunity from damages due to vaccines in 1986, has paid out millions in damages due to the MMR vaccine.
The vaccine extremists would like everyone to believe that the only reason people are not dying today due to measles is because the vaccine is so effective. Is this true?
No. Cases of measles were on their way out due to natural immunity long before the vaccine was developed.
Some other facts about the measles vaccine:
- There is NO measles vaccine! Only a 3-combo vaccine (mumps, measles, rubella – MMR), and the scientists who worked for Merck to develop this vaccine have been suing Merck for FRAUD for over 8 years now. See also: Lawfirm Announces $101 Million Measles Vaccine Settlement for Infant that Suffered Brain Injury.
- The MMR vaccine does NOT offer 100% protection, it wears off over time (unlike natural immunity for those who had the measles as children and will never get it again), and many of the measles cases in these outbreaks are among fully vaccinated people. In addition, the vaccine itself can spread measles. See: Dr. Suzanne Humphries, M.D. – Vaccine Strain of Measles Virus Found in Measles Outbreaks.
- MMR vaccine rates across the U.S. are not declining and have held steady for over 10 years.
Demand that Congress Hear BOTH Sides of the Vaccine Debate
The hallmark of a democratic society is open and uncensored debate on public matters considered by lawmakers.
If Congress truly wants to protect public health and conduct hearings on vaccines, then here are some “witnesses” that need to be included to counter the pharmaceutical propaganda which is espoused by Government health agencies that do not want the public to know all sides of the debate.
CDC Whistleblower Dr. William Thompson – In recorded phone conversations with Dr. Brian Hooker in 2014, Dr. William Thompson admitted that the CDC withheld information about the MMR vaccine and its link to autism back in 2004. Congressman Posey is in possession of many of the documents provided by Dr. Thompson, but Dr. Thompson, who has retained a whistleblower lawfirm, has stated he will only speak under oath when subpoenaed by Congress. Why hasn’t this happened?
His conversations with Dr. Brian Hooker are already in the public realm. Listen to them:
Dr. Brian Hooker, PhD. – There is probably no other person in the world who knows more about MMR vaccine fraud than Brian Hooker, the man Dr. Thompson of the CDC chose to call to reveal malfeasance at the CDC regarding the MMR vaccine.
Dr. Hooker was harassed and opposed by the CDC as he spent over 10 years filing over 100 freedom of information acts (FOIAs) to recover raw data sets used to publish research on vaccines by the CDC.
After 10 years, and with the help of Congressman Bill Posey, Dr. Hooker finally got the raw data he had been seeking, and performed his own analysis on the data. He found that the CDC had deliberately hid data that opposed their own public statements on vaccine safety and autism.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – An attorney with a lot of litigation experience regarding vaccine safety and fraud, Mr. Kennedy requested to comment at the upcoming Congressional hearings but was told the meeting was “full.” He is part of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), which is suing the government for not conducting vaccine safety tests, as required by the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Act.
See also: FDA Sued as CDC Recommends Untested, Unlicensed Flu Vaccine for Pregnant Women.
Professor Mary S. Holland – Mary Holland is a law professor at New York University School of Law. She is an expert on the legal issues surrounding mandatory vaccine laws, and has testified before the United Nations comparing the legality of mandated vaccines in light of the Nuremberg Code. See: Could Proposed Mandatory Vaccine Laws Survive Legal Challenges?
Barbara Loe Fisher, Director of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) – NVIC is the nation’s oldest non-profit organization advocating for vaccine safety, started by Barbara Loe Fisher back in the 1980s when she fought for parents’ rights as the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Act passed through Congress giving pharmaceutical companies total legal immunity from vaccine injuries and deaths. She is perhaps the most knowledgeable and eloquent speaker and writer anywhere in the world on the topic. See: From Nuremberg to California: Why Informed Consent Matters in the 21st Century
DISCLAIMER: Everything written above are the comments and opinions of myself, Brian Shilhavy, as editor and writer for Health Impact News, and not part of the NVIC. We reproduce and publish NVIC’s press release below to our readers at their request.
Contact Federal Legislators NOW to Support Vaccine Exemptions and Share Vaccine Injury Stories Before Hearings
Congressional Hearings on Measles Outbreaks 2/27/2019 and State Vaccine Laws 3/5/2019
ACTION NEEDED: Calls and Emails to Support Vaccine Exemptions and Share Vaccine Injury Stories
by National Vaccine Information Center Advocacy Team
Dear NVIC Advocacy Team Members,
We wanted to make you aware of two upcoming federal committee hearings scheduled in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 27, 2019 and in the U.S. Senate on March 5, 2019 to discuss measles outbreaks and state vaccine laws. Communication with members of these two committees along with your U.S. Representative and 2 U.S. Senators to protect vaccine exemptions is absolutely critical.
On February 14, 2019, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb made an inappropriate public statement warning state legislators that if they do not tighten vaccine exemptions in “lax laws,” then the federal government will take action. Vaccine mandate and exemption laws are state laws. Federal officials threatening government intervention if state legislators do not restrict or eliminate vaccine exemptions is federal interference in state rights.
The truth is vaccine injuries happen. No amount of industry sponsored attacks on state vaccine exemption laws or censorship of vaccine reaction, harassment or discrimination experiences over the internet or in the media will change that fact.
NVIC issued a national press release Feb. 25, 2019 urging Americans to attend these Congressional hearings and to communicate concerns directly with elected officials because official testimony is by invitation only. NVIC was not invited.
Attacks on vaccine exemptions and attempts to limit free speech about vaccine reactions are resulting in bills working their way through state legislatures around the country on both sides of the debate. As of Feb. 25th, NVIC is tracking 140 vaccine related bills across 31 states on the NVIC Advocacy Portal, and NVIC supports 61, opposes 74, and we are watching 5 to see what happens. There are currently bills filed in 8 states to add or expand vaccine exemptions and 11 states to restrict or remove exemptions. The lack of informed consent in the vaccination process has resulted in bills being filed in 12 states to improve vaccine informed consent.
The U.S. Vaccine Market alone was $36.45 Billion in 2018, and expected to reach $50.42 billion by 2023. This is a very powerful industry with lots of resources to lobby and influence policy to remove parental rights to be able to delay or decline a vaccine. The industry benefits from forced use.
Thousands of parents have attended state legislative public hearings across the country on bills to restrict or expand vaccine exemptions and informed consent rights. Many have included powerful testimony by parents describing how their children suffered vaccine reactions that permanently injured them or caused their death.
The public conversation about vaccine exemptions, parental rights and civil liberties is happening right now in the halls of state legislatures and in Congress. You can be part of that conversation by using the NVIC Advocacy Portal to contact your state and federal legislators and make sure they understand you want them to protect vaccine exemptions and informed consent rights in America.
ACTION ITEMS
1) Plan on attending the hearings on February 27th and March 5th and calling and emailing members of the committees to express your support for vaccine exemptions and informed consent rights in light of the upcoming hearings. Share your vaccine reaction, harassment and discrimination stories and ask that they are relayed with the Representative or Senator because you don’t know if experiences like yours will be represented in the hearings.
Feb. 27, 2019 U.S. House of Representatives public hearing on “Confronting a Growing Public Health Threat: Measles Outbreaks in the U.S.” (contains link to live stream)
Time: 10:00 AM Eastern
Location: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
U.S. House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce (use links on committee site to fill out web contact form for email)
- Chair: Diana DeGette (CO): (202) 225-4431
- Chair: Joseph P. Kennedy (MA): (202) 225-5931
- Janice D. Schakowsky (IL): (202) 225-2111
- Raul Ruiz (CA): (202) 225-5330
- Ann M. Kuster (NH): (202) 225-5206
- Kathy Castor (FL): (202) 225-3376
- John P. Sarbanes (MD): (202) 225-4016
- Paul Tonko (NY): (202) 225-5076
- Yvette D. Clarke (NY): (202) 225-6231
- Scott H. Peters (CA): (202)-225-0508
- Ex-Officio: Frank Pallone (NJ): (202) 225-4671
- Ranking: Brett Guthrie (KY): (202) 225-3501
- Michael C. Burgess (TX): (202) 225-7772
- David B. McKinley (WVA): (202) 225-4172
- H Morgan Griffith (VA): (202) 225-3861
- Susan W. Brooks (IN): (202)-225-2276
- Markwayne Mullin (OK): (202) 225-2701
- Jeff Duncan (SC): (202) 225-5301
- Ex-Officio: Greg Walden (OR): (202) 225-6730
Mar. 5, 2019 U.S. Senate public hearing on “Vaccines Save Lives: What Is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?” (contains link to live stream)
Time: 10:00 AM Eastern
Location: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (use links on committee site to fill out web contact form for email)
- Chair: Lamar Alexander (TN): (202) 224-4944
- Richard Burr (NC): (202) 224-3154
- Rand Paul (KY): (202)-224-4343
- Bill Cassidy, MD (LA): (202) 224-5824
- Lisa Murkowski (AK): (202)-224-6665
- Mitt Romney (UT): (202) 224-5251
- Michael B. Enzi (WY): (202) 224-3424
- Johnny Isakson (GA): (202) 224-3643
- Susan Collins (ME): (202)224-2523
- Pat Roberts (KS): (202)-224-4774
- Tim Scott (SC): (202) 224-6121
- Mike Braun (IN): (202) 224-4814
- Ranking Member: Patty Murray (WA): (202) 224-2621
- Robert P. Casey, Jr (PA): (202) 224-6324
- Christopher A. Murphy (CT): (202) 224-4041
- Tim Kaine (VA): (202) 224-4024
- Tina Smith (MN): (202) 224-5641
- Jacky Rosen (NV): (202)-224-6244
- Bernie Sanders (VT): (202) 224-5141
- Tammy Baldwin (WI): (202) 224-5653
- Elizabeth Warren (MA): (202) 224-4543
- Maggie Hassan (NH): (202) 224-3324
- Doug Jones (AL): (202) 224-4124
2) Call and Email your own U.S. Congressional Representative and 2 U.S. Senators. Let them know about these hearings and that you wanted to express your support for vaccine exemptions and informed consent rights. Share your vaccine reaction, harassment and discrimination stories because you don’t know if experiences like yours will be represented in the hearings.
If you do not know who your U.S. House Representative or 2 U.S. Senators are or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “NATIONAL” tab, and your elected Congressional Legislators are automatically posted on the right hand side of the page. Click on their name to display links to all of their contact information. If a district office is close to your home, you may also consider visiting and meeting with local staff in person.
3) Login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for state and U.S. updates and action items. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process.
4) Please forward this email to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal and share their concerns with their legislators as well.
TALKING POINTS in the NVIC press release:
- Protecting vaccine exemptions is a parental rights and civil liberty issue. NVIC Co-founder and President Barbara Loe Fisher said, “The state and federal public hearings being held this year are an opportunity for Americans to communicate with their legislators about this important parental rights and civil liberty issue.”
- Vaccine laws are state laws. The federal government licenses vaccines, makes vaccine use recommendations and enacts vaccination requirements for persons crossing U.S. borders, while state governments enact mandatory vaccination laws for residents of states, including for children attending school. In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional authority of state governments to mandate vaccines but warned that vaccine laws must be “limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence” and become “cruel and inhuman to the last degree.”
- In 2019 so far, 140 vaccine-related bills have been introduced in 31 states. Most propose to expand, restrict or eliminate vaccine exemptions and informed consent rights. NVIC is supporting 61 of the bills, including bills to add or protect personal belief vaccine exemptions. There are currently bills filed in 8 states to add or expand vaccine exemptions and 11 states to restrict or remove exemptions. The lack of informed consent in the vaccination process has resulted in bills being filed in 12 states to improve vaccine informed consent.
- Few people qualify for medical vaccine exemptions. There are few federally approved contraindications to vaccination and most adverse health conditions and vaccine reactions do not qualify for a medical exemption to vaccination under federal guidelines.
- Federal officials threatening government intervention if state legislators do not restrict or eliminate vaccine exemptions is federal interference in state rights. NVIC advocates for public participation in vaccine policy and law making. In response to a public statement made by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Feb. 14, 2019 warning state legislators that if they do not tighten vaccine exemptions in “lax laws,” then the federal government will take action, NVIC’s President responded, “The constitutional authority to mandate vaccinations belongs to the states. The FDA Commissioner heading a federal agency legally responsible for regulating the safety and effectiveness of vaccine products sold by drug companies should not be threatening state legislators with federal intervention if they don’t restrict or remove exemptions in vaccine laws.”
- In 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court effectively removed all liability for FDA licensed, CDC recommended and state mandated vaccines. NVIC co-founders worked with Congress to secure vaccine safety informing, recording, reporting and research provisions in the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. The Act gave the pharmaceutical industry a partial liability shield for harm caused by government licensed, recommended and mandated vaccines and created a federal vaccine injury compensation program (VICP) alternative to a vaccine injury lawsuit. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that FDA licensed vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe” and effectively granted vaccine manufacturers a full liability shield, even when there was evidence a company could have made a vaccine safer. More than $4 billion has been awarded to children and adults harmed by federally recommended vaccines since 1988 but two out of three petitioners filing injury claims in the VICP are denied compensation.
- Congress should hold oversight hearings on the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which has been seriously compromised by weakening amendments and federal agency rule making. For the past two decades, NVIC has been critical of federal agency implementation of the 1986 Act’s vaccine safety, research and vaccine injury compensation provisions. In 1999 and 2002, congressional oversight hearings were held on operation of the VICP, and the General Accountability Office (GAO) issued an investigative report in 2014 pointing out continuing problems with the VICP. NVIC Co-founder and Vice President said, “The integrity of the original law has been seriously compromised and no substantive action has been taken by Congress to repair damage done to the 1986 Act by eroding amendments and federal agency rule making. Part of the current focus by Congress on disease control and vaccine laws should include hearings to hold the Department of Health and Department of Justice accountable for betraying the trust of parents obeying laws to vaccinate their children.”
- Incentivizing grants are given to states by the CDC to achieve high vaccination rates. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) gives incentivizing grants to states to achieve high vaccination rates among children with federally recommended vaccines. States with higher vaccination rates receive “bonus” funding awards and states with lower rates may receive lower grant amounts. The CDC’s recommended childhood vaccine schedule currently is 69 doses of 16 vaccines given between the day of birth and age 18 with 50 doses given before age six.
- There are many new vaccines coming that will be federally recommended and state mandated. There are 27 FDA licensed vaccines and 16 of them are mandated by different states for children to attend school. There are new vaccines in development, many of which will be federally recommended and considered by state legislatures for mandates in the future.
Sincerely,
NVIC Advocacy Team National Vaccine Information Center
http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx
Read the full article at the NVIC Facebook post.
Comment on this article at VaccineImpact.com.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) works diligently to prepare and disseminate our legislative advocacy action alerts and supporting materials. We request that organizations and members of the public forward our alerts in their original form to assure consistent and accurate messaging and effective action. Please acknowledge NVIC as originators of this work when forwarding to members of the public and like-minded organizations. To receive alerts immediately, register at NVIC Advocacy, a website dedicated to this sole purpose and provided as a free public service by NVIC.
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