If I were still a practicing ob-gyn and one of my patients said she was not going to vaccinate her child, I might try to persuade her to change her mind. But, if I were unsuccessful, I would respect her decision. I certainly would not lobby the government to pass a law mandating that children be vaccinated even if the children’s parents object. Sadly, the recent panic over the outbreak of measles has led many Americans, including some self-styled libertarians, to call for giving government new powers to force all children to be vaccinated.
Those who are willing to make an “exception” to the principle that parents should make health care decisions for their children should ask themselves when in history has a “limited” infringement on individual liberty stayed limited. By ceding the principle that individuals have the right to make their own health care decisions, supporters of mandatory vaccines are opening the door for future infringements on health freedom.
If government can mandate that children receive vaccines, then why shouldn’t the government mandate that adults receive certain types of vaccines? And if it is the law that individuals must be vaccinated, then why shouldn’t police officers be empowered to physically force resisters to receive a vaccine? If the fear of infections from the unvaccinated justifies mandatory vaccine laws, then why shouldn’t police offices fine or arrest people who don’t wash their hands or cover their noses or mouths when they cough or sneeze in public? Why not force people to eat right and take vitamins in order to lower their risk of contracting an infectious disease? These proposals may seem outlandish, but they are no different in principle from the proposal that government force children to be vaccinated.
By giving vaccine companies a captive market, mandates encourage these companies to use their political influence to expand the amount of vaccine mandates. An example of how vaccine mandates may have led politics to override sound science is from my home state of Texas. In 2007, the then-Texas governor signed an executive order forcing eleven and twelve year old girls to receive the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, even though most young girls are not at risk of HPV. The Texas legislature passed legislation undoing the order following a massive public outcry, fueled by revelations that the governor’s former chief of staff was a top lobbyist for the company that manufactured the HPV vaccine.
The same principles that protect the right to refuse vaccines also protect the right of individuals to refuse to associate with the unvaccinated. Private property owners have the right to forbid those who reject vaccines from entering their property. This right extends to private businesses concerned that unvaccinated individuals could pose a risk to their employees and customers. Consistent application of the principles of private property, freedom of association, and individual responsibility is the best way to address concerns that those who refuse vaccines could infect others with disease.
Giving the government the power to override parental decisions regarding vaccines will inevitably lead to further restrictions on liberties. After all, if government can override parental or personal health care decisions, then what area of our lives is off-limits to government interference? Concerns about infection from the unvaccinated can be addressed by consistent application of the principles of private property and freedom of association. Instead of justifying new government intrusion into our lives, the vaccine debate provides more evidence of the need to restore respect for private property and individual liberty.
That is some kinda stupid. How will private property owners know who is vaccinated and who is not? They gonna tattoo it on their foreheads? Walmart gonna check documents at the fucking door?
I am with SSS. This shit is starting to piss me off. There will be epidemics because people fail to vaccinate their kids. Conspiracy nutjobs can kiss my rosy red ass.
The US had NO measles deaths for over 10 years.
Yet over 100 cases were paid as harmed from the vaccination courts.
Little known fact not ever mentioned: The VACCINATED are spreading the disease.
Being vaccinated only lowers the chance of getting measles by 35% and doesn’t seem to actually stop the spread at all.
My brother, sister, son, ex-stepson, nephew, niece and myself were all vaccinated and ALL contracted measles. As our ages span three decades, we were not vaccinated, nor sick, at the same time/year.
Today it is forced vaccinations, for the “safety” of the herd.
How long will it be before they come up with a vaccine for the “disease” (ask the psychiatric association, or Ms. Freud) of not believing the bullshit?
Then we can all be happily lobotomized, conveniently forgetting that it is for the safety of the herd.
I’m not a freaking herd animal, nor are my children.
My god cries for the stupidity and erasure of basic human rights.
Anyone that asks the government to expand its powers over our children, health and bodies, deserves whatever horror they get. And horror it will be.
ps- anyone else notice how all these vaccination “debates” are nothing but panels of paid for government/medical stooges with NO opposite side?
It isn’t because the opposite side of the debate doesn’t exist, it is because nothing we are told is fair and balanced.
If vaccines were so freaking safe, wouldn’t we be presented with the actual truth from the non-vaccine camp?
Nah, it is 100% agreed upon by EVERY medical doctor that you must vaccinate. Just ignore the hundreds and hundreds that DON’T mandate it.
I give up. We so deserve the horror headed our way.
Next up…Gooberment mandated GMO foods…why…because you’ll need that 3rd eye to keep tabs on the gooberment trolls .
I had a colonoscopy right before Christmas…what a wonderful present . All the results were great. I had a 20 minute conversation with the doc about the results and we talked about the economy etc. We talked about healthcare too.,His personal thoughts about the increases in colon cancer were due to GMO foods.
It’s called human herding…
That wasn’t the real LLPOH was it? If it was, I retract my request for his mentoring.
“There will be epidemics because people fail to vaccinate their kids.” ——— Llpoh
You are incorrect. A correct statement; — “There COULD be epidemics because people fail to vaccinate their kids.” I’m talking about highly contagious AIRBORNE diseases. Parents of such children should as least voluntarily agree to self-quarantine until the danger subsides.
Still, I can never agree with forcing vaccinations, because of the reasons the esteemed RP has stated. The next logical step is treating every one who disagrees with the government as mentally ill …. and forcing them to take psychotropic drugs, circa the 1950’s Soviet Union. Is that what you want??
Stuck – I would not mandate vax. But I would deny public funds of any and all kinds to those unvaxxed or their parents – Snap, public school, welfare, public medical care, etc. There is no right to those things whatsoever. They can be withheld for whatever reason. And I would so withhold.
Ron Paul saying let private property ban them is bullshit – there is no way to identify those vaxed.
And if you do not vax for measles, eventually each year there will be literally millions of cases of measles. Measles is massively infectious.
Death by measles is relatively rare in an advanced economy. However, birth defects in resulting from pregnant women catching rubella is not.
Seriously, I am having the same issues that SSS talked about. The conspiracy theories and such are problematic.
I have done the research, and spoken to the pros, and the antivaxx attitudes do not add up. Almost invariably the stats the antivaxxers use is discredited. No such data really exists. And the risk to society of abandoning vax is enormous. There will be deaths, and birth defects, and medical issues galore. Antivaxxers in the end are hoping/relying on everyone else to do it, and so provide relative immunity to their own family. They want their cake and to eat it too.
It is beyond me to understand, and the data simply does not exist.
Llpoh
I also have done tons of research …. had to, before making a decision to NOT vaccinate our two sons (yeah, I’m one of those “cake-eaters”). I found that there was plenty of evidence to not vaccinate. We both see data “X”; and you conclude “Y”, and I conclude “Z”. That’s not a conspiracy, just a difference in interpreting data.
BTW, they are both pictures of perfect health. I guess we just got lucky.
Stuck – it all comes down to stats. I do not know if your kids caught all the childhood diseases. For their sake, I hope so. A run in with mumps as an adult is horrible and really not good. If they have not had the mumps they need to try to avoid that experience. If they travel, they need to be aware of outbreaks of measles, mumps, polio, whooping cough, etc. None are fun to catch.
Herd immunity is protecting the entirety of society at the moment. Enough of the herd is immune to provide general protection.
Antivaxers often say “if you believe that vax protect then go for it”. Vaxes do not fully protect. The generally protect a certain percentage. And that certain percentage in effect then protects the whole. An 80% protection rate can protect the entire herd, allowing far easier containment.
If enough do not vax, then there will be severe outbreaks. Some of the stuff is not good.
For instance – did you pass on the polio vaccine? It is still alive in pockets of the world – most notably Pakistan, but it is slowly being eradicated owing to vax. For sure it would be most unfortunate if polio had a resurgence. But most Americans are now safe as a result of blanket vax for polio that happened over the years.
One vax that I definitely believe every female should get is the HPV vax. HPV is the only cause of cervical cancer, to my understanding. No HPV, no cervical cancer.
Rubella, as opposed to normal measles, is also something best eradicated. A return to the US would be most unwelcome, not because of the disease itself but because of the number of birth defects it can cause. It is very virulent, and can spread quickly.
At the moment, the US is probably more or less safe from these diseases, owing to herd immunity that exists. And maybe the US could react quickly and vax if there is a recurrence if/when herd immunity is lost.
The vast reduction in communicable disease is a result of vax. But there are cracks appearing. It would be unfortunate to see polio, rubella, mumps spring up again.
An from personal experience whooping cough is not amusing. Immunity apparently wears off over the decades. Best that it be avoided. It is not as highly contagious as measles, but it is pretty contagious, and it makes life miserable for a long time if contracted. And it can kill the very young.
Obama openly sides with radical Islame .Obama openly targets Christians.What does that have to do with vaccinating infidels?
llpoh, did you take your polio vaccine on a sugar cube or in a glass of kool-aid?
SAY HER NAME: VACCINE VICTIM HANNAH POLING
By Cliff Kincaid
February 10, 2015
NewsWithViews.com
Brian Williams’ “chopper whoppers” about his exploits as a correspondent flying into Iraq are making him look foolish. It’s not clear whether he can survive in the anchor chair. But don’t think the Williams case means that the media are now on guard for misrepresentations and false claims. The controversy over vaccines has been another media low point. We are being told they are completely safe with no side effects. That’s a blatant lie.
Anybody who watches Williams’ newscasts can see who pays the bills: pharmaceutical companies. Commercials for various pills, and even vaccines, are regular fare and dominate the several minutes of time that pay for the newscast itself. You would have to be a fool to think these companies don’t try to exercise influence over what appears on the broadcasts.
Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s book, Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington, offers evidence of how powerful these companies are. She explains how pharmaceutical companies, their front groups, and public relations representatives work to manipulate news coverage and hide the truth from the American people about injuries caused by vaccines.
Attkisson, an Emmy Award winner who received the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2012, left the network when it became clear that her investigative stories, especially of Obama administration misdeeds, were not welcome. One of the stories she had been covering on a regular basis for many years was the vaccine-autism link. She continues to do so on her own website.
This is an area where the truth affects many people, not just Brian Williams’ career. The developmental disorder known as autism is estimated to affect two million people. It involves difficulties in social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication. Hiring doctors and the rapists to treat the disorder can cost a family $50,000 or more a year. However, there is no cure.
The number of cases have risen from an estimated one in 5,000 in 1975 to one in 64 today, a more than 600 percent increase. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) claims it can’t identify the cause, but has consistently claimed that the disorder is not linked to the growing number of vaccines required for children.
The pro-vaccination side has increasingly resorted to vicious name calling and smears against those favoring informed consent and parental choice on vaccines. The Washington Post published a piece by Arthur L. Caplan, an alleged expert on medical ethics, comparing the opponents of vaccines to Holocaust deniers. He said that doctors favoring choice on vaccines should have their licenses lifted.
There is one name these proponents of mandatory vaccines in the media desperately want to avoid: vaccine victim Hannah Poling. You can search in vain for her name in the recent coverage of alleged vaccine safety.
Attkisson notes in her book that in 2008, the federal government agreed to pay damages to the family of Hannah Poling, “a child who developed autism after multiple vaccinations.” Attkisson explained that the “landmark case” amounted to $1.5 million for the girl the first year and $500,000 each year after. In total, the compensation could amount to $20 million over the child’s lifetime.
The Poling case was just one of thousands of cases filed in the National Vaccine Injury Program. But it was selected as a “test case” to evaluate the arguments underlying most of the other vaccine-autism claims.
Attkisson writes that the case was “ordered sealed, protecting the pharmaceutical vaccine industry and keeping the crucial information hidden from other families who have autistic children and also believe vaccines to be the culprit.” But word leaked out.
At the time, the head of the federal Centers for Disease Control,which assures the public of vaccine safety, was Dr. Julie Gerberding. After insisting the settlement of the Poling case was not an admission of a direct vaccine-autism link, she left the CDC to become president of vaccines for Merck. Last December she was promoted to executive vice president for strategic communications, global public policy and population health at Merck.
Attkisson reported on the Poling case for CBS News on March 6, 2008. She said, “While the Poling case is the first of its kind to become public, a CBS News investigation uncovered at least nine other cases as far back as 1990, where records show the court ordered the government to compensate families whose children developed autism or autistic-like symptoms in children, including toddlers, who had been called ‘very smart’ and ‘impressed’ doctors with their ‘intelligence and curiosity’ … until their vaccinations. They were children just like Hannah Poling.”
In a September 10, 2010, story on the vaccine-injury court award, Attkisson reported, “Hannah was described as normal, happy and precocious in her first 18 months. Then, in July 2000, she was vaccinated against nine diseases in one doctor’s visit: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, varicella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae. Afterward, her health declined rapidly. She developed high fevers, stopped eating, didn’t respond when spoken to, began showing signs of autism, and began having screaming fits.”
Not surprisingly, Attkisson reports in her book, the vaccine makers didn’t appreciate her stories. She said that after word leaked out about the government’s settlement in the Poling case, “vaccine makers and their government partners” worked hard “to controversialize and tamp down all news coverage of the facts.” She notes that their strategy included “a full-forced attack on me and my ongoing reporting.” She learned in June 2008, after the fact, that “PR officials and a top attorney for vaccine maker Wyeth have managed to get a private meeting to spin two Evening News senior producers in New York about my reports.”
Attkisson names one of the pharmaceutical PR officials as former ABC and CNN reporter Eileen O’Connor, who now works at the State Department under President Obama.
Attkisson comments on the pressure campaign: “It’s wrong on so many levels, in my opinion. Improper for the meeting to be conducted without my participation or knowledge. Unethical to offer the powerful corporate interests—who are also advertisers—special access, while those on the other side aren’t given an audience to be heard. Inappropriate because the producers haven’t been in the chain of command on any of my vaccine-related stories.”
She notes in the book that some of the “hardest pushback” she ever received for a story came after CBS Evening News Executive Producer Jim Murphy assigned her to look into the reported cover-up of adverse effects of various prescription drugs and military vaccinations. She writes, “That series of reports leads to me to investigate related stories about childhood vaccinations and their links to harmful side effects, including brain damage and autism. At the time, the Bush administration is marching in lockstep with the pharmaceutical industry in denying problems with the prescription drugs at issue as well as both military and childhood vaccines.”
She writes, “It’s one thing for them to want their side of the story told: that’s understandable. But it’s quite another for them to want the stories censored entirely. They’re trying to keep them from airing altogether.”
She reports that just minutes before one of her first stories about childhood vaccinations and autism was to air, a spokesman for a nonprofit group called Every Child by Two called CBS in New York. “The spokesman evokes the name of former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who cofounded the group,” Attkisson says. “The call reaches Murphy, who then calls me on the hotline that rings directly into the Washington bureau newsroom. I’m preparing for my live shot. ‘Why is some group called Every Child by Two, supposedly fronted by Rosalynn Carter, calling me about your story?’” Murphy asks.
Attkisson responded, “I have no idea,” and said she had never heard of the group. She then learned that it “promotes children getting fully vaccinated by age two and rejects the idea of investigating harmful vaccine side effects that could injure the very youngsters they purported to protect.”
Attkisson recounted how she also later learned that Every Child by Two is funded by the major vaccine manufacturer, Wyeth, and a Wyeth spokesman was listed as the group’s treasurer. She writes that she wondered “how they knew we planned to air a story on the news that night.” Nevertheless, CBS went ahead with the story.
In a 2011 story, “Vaccines and Autism: a new scientific review,”Attkisson cited an article in the Journal of Immunotoxicology entitled, “Theoretical aspects of autism: Causes—A review.” Itwas a review of studies finding cases of autism following vaccination.
You don’t have to be a scientist to notice this pattern. I have heard from several parents who have seen it for themselves. One told me, “Our son was affected by vaccines and there are too many out there with the same story. I’m sick of hearing and reading news reports saying there is no correlation between autism and vaccines.”
On her website, Attkisson is described as an investigative journalist “who tries to give you information others don’t want you to have.” That certainly is the case with vaccine safety. She’s one of the few journalists with national stature willing to tackle this issue.
As we have recently commented, the media across the political spectrum seem unwilling to cover vaccine-related injury cases. Many reporters and commentators are mindlessly spouting claims about “vaccine safety” and dismissing a vaccine-autism link without even mentioning cases like that of Hannah Poling.
Attkisson has vigorously defended her stories. Indeed, when challenged by CNN reporter Brian Stelter about her stories linking vaccines to autism, she replied, “…those were some of the most important stories I’ve done and I would like to continue along those lines, at some point. It continues to be a very important debate.”
Now a senior independent contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s The Daily Signal, Attkisson continues to cover the vaccine problem on her own website and is now quoting CDC’s immunization safety director as saying it’s a “possibility” that vaccines rarely trigger autism but “it’s hard to predict who those children might be.”
Attkisson comments, “It is a significant admission from a leading health official at an agency that has worked for nearly 15 years to dispel the public of any notion of a tie between vaccines and autism. Vaccines are among the most heralded medical inventions of our time. Billions of people have been vaccinated worldwide, countless lives have been saved and debilitating injuries prevented. The possibility that vaccines may also partly be responsible for autism, in individual cases, is not something public health officials are typically eager to address.”
The major media are not eager to address it, either. But the people are demanding that the truth be told. They do not believe the media’s declarations of vaccine safety and effectiveness.
Whatever the fate of Brian Williams, the credibility of the media will continue to nosedive.
© 2015 Cliff Kincaid – All Rights Reserved