Medical Lobby Poised to Promote Mandatory Vaccination in Canada
As if today’s parents don’t have enough to worry about trying to raise
healthy children in a world awash in toxic chemicals that contaminate
our food, air and water, we are now threatened with mandatory medical
treatment of our children in order for them to attend school or day
care. In a direct attack on parents’ right to make well considered and
informed health care decisions for their children, the board of
directors of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) plans to pass a
resolution to remove vaccine decision making from parents.
Earlier this summer, a National Post headline announced, “ Doctors’ lobby (CMA) calls for mandatory vaccinations”. The article
goes on to say that the leaders of the country’s largest doctors’ group
are calling for mandatory vaccinations “amid concerns growing numbers of 'vaccine hesitant' parents are spurning the shots.” The resolution will
be voted on at the CMA general council meeting in Halifax, August
23-26. The 80,000 member organization is silent on the issue of
philosophical and religious exemptions.
Following in the footsteps of its American counterparts, the Canadian
Medical Association is moving to align its policies with the American Medical Association (AMA) and its numerous allied medical trade groups which have
adopted hardline resolutions to eliminate parental choice from vaccine
decision making as recently happened in California where parents lost
the right to personal belief exemptions from vaccination for children
enrolled in school or daycare. Their intention is to disempower parents
and make doctors the sole arbiters of who qualifies for hard to get
medical exemptions, often denied even to those who are vaccine injured.
A conglomerate of medical trade groups, sponsored by Pharma orchestrated
the elimination of personal belief exemptions for school children in
the most populated state in the U.S. The California SB277 debacle was led by Vaccinate California and California Immunization Coalition, a
project of the Immunization Action Coalition that is funded by Astra
Zeneca, BioCSL, Merck, Novartis Vaccines, Pfizer and Sanofi Pasteur and
CDC. The American Academy of Pediatrics and California Medical
Association, which are also funded by pharmaceutical companies, were
among the supporters of SB277, as well as Biocom that represents Pfizer,
Merck, GSK, Novartis, Sanofi, Monsanto and Kaiser Permanente. Other
proponents of forced vaccination included an additional long list of
medical trade and government employee associations that receive state
and industry funding along with the Secular Coalition for America, which
is an anti-religious belief lobbying organization with 50 state
chapters. They are now aiming to impose their mandatory vaccine agenda
across the country.
A June 2 CMA announcement titled,“ CMA to take on ‘alternate universe of facts’ hindering vaccination”, declares its intention to take on a “ high-profile stance in support
of strategies to improve immunization rates”. Outgoing CMA president
Chris Simpson finds it hard to understand why people in the
“anti-vaccination” movement ignore medical advice, preferring instead to
rely on an “alternate universe of facts”.
Perhaps Dr. Simpson and Co. are themselves the bastion of this
“alternate universe of facts” in their steadfast refusal to address the
health injuries caused by vaccines. Perhaps they’re unaware of Canada's dual reporting system which obfuscates
the real picture of vaccine reactions and injuries occurring in Canada.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) operates one of these
databases which has recorded 87,911 adverse vaccine reports from 1992 to 2012 and is estimated to represent only 1-10% of adverse
events. This data is kept behind closed doors and is inaccessible to
the public. Where is the CMA's concern about the large Canadian study which found that 1 in 186 children ended up in ER after MMR vaccine and
recorded several deaths during the study period?
Vaccine Adverse Events - New Report
Vaccine Choice Canada has just released an updated Report on the
Canadian vaccine adverse events data bases that raises important questions about vaccine
safety. It should give serious pause to CMA members forwarding a mandatory
vaccination agenda. Our report is an analysis of recent adverse events
reports from both the Canada Vigilance (CV) data base, and the PHAC
data base known as CAEFISS. The increase in serious adverse events (SAE) is especially
noticeable in reports for babies under 2 years old. The
highest number of SAEs were tagged to pneumococcal C and
meningococcal C vaccines, both of which are administered in multiple
doses to infants under (or at) 1 year of age. The most common types of
adverse events were neurological and immune system disorders.
Based on recently released data by the government, our updated Report reveals that in 2014 infants under 1 year of age experienced 35% of all
Serious Adverse Events. This is up from 30% for the previous 3 years.
Revealed also, is that babies under 2 years of age experienced 61% of
all serious events, up from 54% in previous 3 years. And finally, we see
that young children, toddlers and infants (all aged less than 7 years
old) experienced 72.5% of all serious adverse events following
immunization in 2014 compared to 70.5% on average in the previous 3
years. Clearly it is the youngest, most vulnerable children receiving the
highest number of multiple combinations vaccines who are hardest hit by
the current vaccine schedule. It’s not that parents are ignoring medical advice, it’s that too many
families across Canada have seen their healthy children succumb to
neurological and immune system injuries following vaccination - injuries
acknowledged by the Public Health Agency of Canada to comprise the most
commonly reported types of serious adverse events following
immunization. Parents whose children have suffered adverse
reactions and injuries are motivated to study the scientific literature
and make their own well informed conclusions about vaccine safety.
Simply put, growing numbers of parents no longer trust the medical
system and its “vaccines are safe and effective” mantra. Parents are
wary of a government health bureaucracy that buries vaccine side effects
in an indecipherable dual reporting system that is mostly inaccessible
to the public. Families are increasingly protective of their children,
and will not be bullied into accepting the “one size fits all” bloated
vaccine schedule which in Canada calls for multiple doses of 14 vaccines
by age 2.
CMA ignores legal vaccine exemptions and its own code of ethics Dr. Simpson noted that “….immunization in Canada is a complex issue and
that, with few exceptions, the provinces consistently fall below
national targets for vaccine coverage for six preventable diseases:
invasive meningococcal disease, invasive pneumococcal disease,
varicella, pertussis, influenza and rubella. Simpson said this is even
true of the two – Ontario and New Brunswick – where childhood
vaccination is mandatory.”
Surely Chris Simpson must be aware that legislation in both Ontario and New Brunswick, governing vaccination of children in school and daycare, provides for
legal exemptions from vaccination for personal belief reasons of
conscience and religion and that these vaccine exemptions have been in
place for decades. Nowhere does the word “ mandatory” appear in
Ontario’s Immunization of School pupils Act. For Simpson to state that
childhood vaccination is “ mandatory” when
it is NOT, is either an appalling ignorance of the law, or a deliberate
attempt to mislead the public.
The CMA’s proposed resolution to eliminate parents’ right to decide
which if any vaccines a child would receive, violates its own medical
code of ethics which upholds the right of the patient to “make informed decisions
about their medical care” and to “accept or reject any medical care
recommended”. Forced medical treatment contravenes Canadian Medical Law
which enshrines the individual’s right to voluntary, informed consent to
medical risk taking as a foundational medical ethic. As well, the
resolution breaches the various international treatise which uphold Universal Human Rights so well articulated in this European petition. The CMA resolution undermines
the right of families to protect their children from unwanted medical
interference and is an ill disguised attempt to invalidate the personal
freedoms of conscience and religion guaranteed to all citizens by the
Canadian Charter.
Wielding enormous power and influence over government health regulators,
medical lobby groups like the CMA enjoy privileged access to
mass media coverage which enables them to dominate and control the
message. They are given carte blanche to push their agenda, while at the
same time marginalizing all opposition. By endorsing mandatory
vaccination policies, they have launched an all out war on our most
basic human rights and personal freedoms - the right to bodily
integrity, and the right to refuse unwanted medical treatments for
ourselves and our children. There’s a principle at stake here that is
vaster than barring unvaccinated or partially vaccinated from a public
education. Medical lobby groups like the CMA may find that their ill
conceived intentions could backfire in surprising ways.
We remind the CMA that in 1996, the Canadian National Immunization Report stated, “Unlike some countries, immunization is not mandatory in
Canada; it cannot be made mandatory because of the Canadian
Constitution. Three provinces require proof of immunization for school
entrance: Ontario and New Brunswick for diphtheria, tetanus, polio,
measles, mumps, and rubella immunization; Manitoba for measles. But,
exceptions are permitted on medical or religious grounds and reasons of
conscience; legislation and regulations must not be interpreted to imply
compulsory immunization.”
By failing to mention legal exemptions vaccines in the two provinces
that provide them, it begs the question; Is the CMA misleading the
public, the MPs it plans to lobby in support of “mandatory vaccination”,
and its own members - the doctors who are the main vaccine providers
for infants and young children ? Doctors cannot obtain fully informed
consent to vaccination if they mislead parents into believing that
vaccines are mandatory for school and daycare. Will the CMA also mislead
Members of Parliament (who may be unaware of legal exemption provisions
in Ontario and New Brunswick) by promoting the misinformation (as does
Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long Term Care) that vaccinations for
children in school and daycare are “mandatory” in these provinces when
they are NOT?
The CMA’s online advocacy, “ getting involved” includes an
“MD-MP Contact Program” to help CMA members connect with their local
Member of Parliament, and provides “ advocacy skills training.” Will the
CMA urge MPs and provincial health ministers to introduce mandatory
vaccination legislation across Canada (where none exists now) even
though vaccination rates are high, where there is no public health
emergency, and only 1.5% of children are unvaccinated?
The CMA website does not disclose the group’s funding, but was
criticized in a 2009 Globe and Mail article when it was announced that “Pfizer Canada said it
will provide $780,000 to fund the new ‘continuing medical education’ or
CME program, designed to inform physicians of new developments in
medicine and help maintain their skills. Two Pfizer staff members will
also sit on an administrative board, responsible for overseeing,
implementing and evaluating the program, along with two staff members
from the medical association and two individuals from outside
organizations.”
CMA and Ontario Ministry of Health trumpet mandatory vaccination The CMA is not alone in trumpeting “ mandatory vaccination” in Canada. In 2012, VRAN (now Vaccine Choice Canada) filed a complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman about Ontario’s Ministry of Health & Long Term
Care which for many years, has withheld knowledge of the availability of legal
exemptions from the public. Its immunization page does not provide access to the Act where people could read about
their rights, nor to exemption forms. On our website, Vaccine Choice
Canada provides ease of access to these documents. We presented the Ombudsman
with an extensive dossier (collected over many years) of press releases,
media articles, suspension threat notices to students whose vaccine
records are incomplete, and information bulletins to parents, which make
no mention of legally available vaccine exemptions. The Ministry’s
obfuscation of this information misleads parents to believe that
vaccines for school and daycare are mandatory, and prevents them from
making an informed decision. In 2014, three more vaccines were added to the ‘required’ list of
vaccines for school entry which the Ministry characterizes as
“ mandatory” which they certainly are not. These additional vaccines are
covered by the same legal exemptions provided for in the Immunization of School Pupils Act which applies to any and all vaccines, regardless of how many are
‘required’ for school entry. Although our complaint to the Ombudsman culminated in a meeting with
representatives of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, it bore no
fruit. The Ministry persists in
broadcasting “ mandatory vaccination” misinformation which plays out in
the media, and on its website in violation of both the spirit and intent
of the Act which provides for the right to personal belief and
religious exemptions from vaccination for all families in Ontario.
Impact of vaccines on the developing brain
The largest and most intensive delivery of vaccines happens in the first
two years of life, the most critical period of immune system and brain
development upon which vaccines can have devastating impact. In Canada a
baby receiving the recommended pediatric vaccine schedule can
receive up to 14 vaccines combined into 42 doses by 18 months of age. It’s time to stop soft pedaling vaccines as benign immune stimulants
whose benefits outweigh the risks. It’s time to name vaccines for what they
are, complex biochemical compounds, which by definition are drugs, with known capability of crossing the infant’s
still unformed blood brain barrier. Once injected, vaccines cannot be
deactivated or removed should something go wrong. They are comprised of elaborate “proprietary”
formularies for which full disclosure of ingredients or manufacturing
processes is never given. Vaccine formulas may include genetically
engineered organisms, animal and human cell DNA, foreign protein
particles, novel growth mediums, neurotoxic adjuvants, and other secret ingredients protected
by the drug companies that make them and the governments that license these products. As explained by neuroscientist Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD in a discussion about the effects of vaccine adjuvants on the brain, “There is a huge body of research that shows, if you overstimulate
the immune system at the periphery, especially in the critical stage of
early development, you are going to influence the brain in a negative
way, and by doing so, you can create irreversible damage. This is
research that is rarely discussed, because it really shows that there is
reason to question the safety of the burden of vaccines given to
infants. The backbone of this research was done 30 years ago. We already
knew that there is a significant connection between the immune system
and the central nervous system. They communicate. You cannot influence
the immune system at the periphery without changing something in the
brain……[and]… if you increase an immune response artificially at the
periphery, you are going to mess up the brain.” Even the partial list of ingredients disclosed in vaccine product inserts should put every parent on high alert. “Excessive vaccination can result in brain inflammation and brain
swelling that can be prolonged, even lasting years, if not decades”, warns neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD.
Health officials encroaching on parental rights
Health officials have been encroaching on parental rights for a long
time in violation of the informed consent ethic. Our right to determine
what medical treatments our children receive was compromised years ago
when provincial governments embedded the “ mature minor” ruling into health care Acts. This ruling allows minor children to make
medical decisions without parental knowledge or consent. For example, In 1993 the
British Columbia Infants Act, gave health care providers the right to determine what is best for
your child. Under this legislation, doctors or other “health care
providers” will NOT have to seek parental consent or even notify parents
of services given to children as long as they are “satisfied” that the
child understands the “risks and benefits” of the medical procedure. Similar “mature minor” rulings have been embedded in other provincial
health care Acts. Unbeknownst to most Canadian’s the “ mature minor”
ruling removes parental decision making and enables their minor children
of no defined age, to access birth control devices, abortion services
and vaccines without their consent. Public Health has unfettered access
to children as young as eleven in the school setting where it applies
coercive means to induce children to sign vaccine consent forms under
threat of suspension from school. Isn’t it time for Canadian parents to rise up in vocal opposition to any
plan that would undermine our most basic human right to protect our
children from medical and government overreach? Isn’t it time for
parents across the country to protect their inalienable right to
determine which medical treatments they and their children will or will not
receive? The CMA resolution intends to eviscerate
our right to Informed Consent to medical risk taking, and to remove our right to
say “NO” to invasive medical procedures and drugs that carry a risk of
injury and death. Vaccines are such drugs! Please voice your concern to the CMA board of directors. Let them know
that you are vigorously opposed to their “mandatory vaccination”
resolution coming up for vote on August 23-26, 2015.
Address your comments to: Dr. Cindy Forbes – President Elect of the Canadian Medical Association 1867 Alta Vista Dr. Ottawa, ON K1G 5W8
Dominique Jolicoeur - Communications Officer
E-Mail: Dominique.jolicoeur@cma.ca Tel: 613-731-8610 x2038
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