U.S. Congress Holds Hearings on Vaccines: Will Lawmakers Look at BOTH Sides of the Issue?
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. 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. The public's action is desperately needed to contact these lawmakers and put pressure on Congress to present BOTH sides of the vaccine debate.