The national vaccine registry that’s been percolating for years has now been given a serious push following the recent measles outbreaks in Canada. Your family’s vaccine history will soon be available online for any health official to scrutinize and drum up ways to pressure those resisting the vaccinator’s needle. So much for medical privacy! Your vaccine decisions will now be subject to investigation, interrogation, and new levels of intimidation. Welcome to the age of vaccine bullying.
The vaccine registry is already in place in six public health units in Ontario and expected to be province-wide by August, as discovered by a friend’s son who was challenged about his vaccine status when he sought medical advice for a minor matter. This young man suffered a serious vaccine injury as a child and has been exempted from vaccines since early childhood.
His mother wrote, “My son went to a walk in medical clinic today ... he was first asked 'are you anti-vaccine?' The exemptions for school entry were viewable by this doctor (and I'm assuming his medical exemption for MMR). The doctor proceeded to push vaccines on him. My son told him ‘it's none of your business!’”
Citing a recent Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) editorial calling for a national vaccine strategy, the Globe and Mail reports that "Ottawa has committed $133-million to Panorama through a federal agency called Canada Health Infoway, $97-million of which had been spent as of the end of February. The participating provinces have doled out millions of their own, mostly for capital costs. British Columbia, which spearheaded the project, has spent about $130-million over eight years."
A related CBC News article outlines the proposed solution to low vaccination rates that include, identifying children and adults who are due or overdue for vaccinations, harmonize vaccine schedules which currently vary by province and territory, a national vaccination registry with targeted education campaigns towards specific groups and geographic regions, a national committee to work on vaccine hesitancy.
In his CMAJ editorial, ‘ Measles vaccination: a shot of common sense’, Dr. Gordon Giddings says, that the "disfiguring and paralyzing ravages" of conditions like measles are not routinely seen in Canada today. Disfigurement and paralysis? Prior to measles vaccination, in 1962, Alexander Langmuir, MD known as the “father of infectious disease epidemiology”, described measles as a “self-limiting infection of short duration, moderate severity, and low fatality”, which accurately described measles at a time when the vast majority of the population got the disease in childhood. Measles mortality had already declined by 98-99.6% prior to the introduction of the vaccine and it was seen overall as a benign childhood disease that brought the benefit of lifelong immunity. Giddings’ fear mongering is nothing more than that!
Measles "must be managed and monitored with a national solution”, he says. “We must emphasize that there is absolutely no scientific controversy about the effectiveness or safety of childhood vaccines, particularly the MMR vaccine.” Dr. Giddings’ attempt to reassure the public of the safety and effectiveness of MMR vaccine is unconvincing however, and is contradicted by the medical literature which has found MMR vaccine safety testing inadequate.
The Cochrane Collaboration’s report on MMR vaccine found that, “The design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies, both pre- and post-marketing, are largely inadequate. The evidence of adverse events following immunisation with the MMR vaccine cannot be separated from its role in preventing the target diseases.”
A large Canadian study found that 1 in 168 children end up in ER after MMR vaccine. Deaths were acknowledged in the study period but were discounted due to the study design. There was no stated follow-up plan to determine health outcome in the long run Without a follow up, we cannot be reassured that their vaccine reactions don’t lead to more serious health issues in the months and years to come.
Disagreeing as well with Giddings’ platitudes, are the tens of thousands of families who bought into the myth of vaccine safety who then witnessed their child’s neurodevelopmental regression and immune system injuries after MMR and other vaccines.
Data compiled by the National Vaccine Information Center from U.S. government sources reveal that as of July 9, 2012 there have been 6,058 serious adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in connection with measles vaccine since 1990, with over half of those occurring in children 3 and under.
As of March 1, 2012, there have been 898 claims filed in the U.S. federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) for injuries and deaths following MMR vaccination, including 56 deaths and 842 serious injuries. There have also been 288 deaths reported to VAERS in association with the MMR vaccine. It is well known that only 1-10% of adverse reactions following vaccination are reported.
We are reminded by this father of a vaccine damaged child, that, “NO vaccine has successfully passed the scientific rigor of a long-term study which compares a vaccinated population with an unvaccinated control group to prove either safety or effectiveness. The vaccination of children is a complex issue and is one of the most challenging decisions a parent is required to make. As the parent of a vaccine damaged child, I know too well that vaccines are not 100% safe. I live with the consequences of vaccine damage everyday in caring for a son that requires 24-hour care and whose condition will only deteriorate.”
And as stated so eloquently by long time vaccine awareness activist, Sandy Gottstein, “There is a whole, growing world out there of parents who are certain their child(ren) were harmed by vaccines. Insults, shaming, manipulation will not work on them. Platitudes about no evidence will not work on them. A sincere effort to understand what has happened to their children would work wonders, though. Caring about what happened to their children would work wonders. Treating them like collateral damage in a so-called war on preventable disease, not so much.”
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Toronto Life magazine reporter Lauren McKeon is doing a story on the rising anti-vaccination movement and wants to explore why many parents are refusing to vaccinate their children and damage vaccination can cause—especially in cases outside of autism, where little has been written in mainstream media about its potential harm. Please contact Lauren at lauren.mckeon@gmail.com if you're interested in speaking to her.
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