That Time Del Bigtree Admitted He Manipulates Folks and Their Fears of Vaccines

If you work to correct the misinformation about vaccines that is out there, at some point, you wonder if the very vocal anti-vaccine folks who are pushing anti-vaccine talking points really believe any of this stuff.

Del Bigtree admits to misusing VAERS reports.

I mean, do they really believe that vaccines don’t work or that pediatricians get million dollar vaccine bonuses?

That Time Del Bigtree Admitted He Manipulates Folks and Their Fears of Vaccines

It seems that we got an answer this week with a new edition of Fault Lines, The Viral Threat: Measles and Misinformation.

In this interview with John Rushing, Del Bigtree admits that he understands that reports to VAERS do not imply causation.

He knows that when he talks about 400 reported vaccine deaths on his show, it doesn’t really mean that 400 people died from vaccine injuries. He knows that they aren’t confirmed vaccine deaths, even though he never says that on his show.

John Rushing: The numbers the way you’re using them though, it implicitly warns against using them that way.

Del Bigtree: Yeah. Yes.

John Rushing: You’re saying that there are 412 deaths last year.

Del Bigtree: I – no. What I’m saying is there’s 412 reported deaths. I never said there were 412 confirmed deaths reported.

John Rushing: So, so some of those causes of death on VAERS

Del Bigtree: Yeah.

John Rushing: one was a drowning.

Del Bigtree: Sure.

John Rushing: One was from co-sleeping. One was from a pre-existing heart condition. There’s no – because a death is reported in VAERS – there’s no way to show causation to the vaccine.

Del Bigtree: Okay.

John Rushing: But in watching your speech and watching your show – man, you would come away thinking 400 people died from vaccines last year.

Del Bigtree: Okay.

John Rushing: And then I can start to see

Del Bigtree: Okay.

John Rushing: where they get the number. And then I go to the source and the source says “don’t use the number that way.”

The Viral Threat: Measles and Misinformation

Do you believe that there really were 400 vaccine deaths last year?

Now you know why…

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The VACCINES Act

A lot of folks have been saying that new Federal vaccines laws were coming.

Instead, we have just been seeing more and more cases of measles.

The VACCINES Act

Well, we might finally be getting a new Federal vaccine law, but it isn’t the kind of law that will force people to get vaccinated that anti-vaccine folks have been warning us about.

Rep. Schrier with the AAP Executive Committee, who urge passage of the VACCINES Act and federal funding for vaccine hesitancy surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rep. Schrier with the AAP Executive Committee, who urge passage of the VACCINES Act and federal funding for vaccine hesitancy surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Instead, the Vaccine Awareness Campaign to Champion Immunization Nationally and Enhance Safety (VACCINES) Act, which was recently introduced by Representative Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) will simply help to increase public awareness of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

“Vaccines were one of the greatest medical accomplishments of the 20th century and have been proven safe and effective at preventing diseases that once killed or greatly harmed people around the world.

As a pediatrician, I understand that parents want to do what they think is best for their children and some do not vaccinate because of unfounded fears. We are now seeing outbreaks of diseases like measles, which was considered eliminated 19 years ago, in part because of an anti-vaccine campaigns around the country. This bill will make sure that parents have access to facts about vaccines, so they can make an informed decision.”

Rep. Kim Schrier

The VACCINES Act will:

While I’m pretty sure the CDC could already do all of these things already without a new law, hopefully it will provide the extra funding and resources to actually get it done.

Tell your U.S. representative to consider co-sponsoring the VACCINES Act and help get this bill passed.

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The Puget Sound Measles Outbreak

Everyone is likely familiar with the large outbreaks that we have been seeing this year in New York (Brooklyn and Rockland County), Michigan, and the Pacific Northwest.

There have already been 79 cases of measles in Washington so far this year.
There have already been 79 cases of measles in Washington so far this year.

After all, those outbreaks make up the majority of measles cases that have occured so far this year.

The Puget Sound Measles Outbreak

Have you heard of the latest outbreak?

This one, also centered in the Pacific Northwest, began with exposures to a traveler with measles at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on April 25.

“A Canadian resident from British Columbia who traveled to the Seattle area in late April 2019 has been diagnosed with measles. The traveler, a man in his 40s, has since recovered from his illness.

Prior to arriving in King County, he spent time in Japan and New York during the period that he was infected, two places that currently have measles outbreaks. This case has no connection to the recently-ended measles outbreak based in Clark County, Washington state.

While he was infectious with measles, he spent time in the Seattle area at several locations, including popular tourist attractions and Sea-Tac Airport. Anyone who does not have immunity to measles through vaccination or from previously having measles is at risk for infection if they were at a location of measles exposure.”

Measles case in traveler to King County

Those exposures have led to cases in:

  • King County – 4
  • Pierce County – 2
  • Snohomish County – 1

With exposures in Bothell, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Orting, Bonney Lake, Puyallup, Renton, Auburn, Issaquah, Woodinville, Kent, and Seattle.

And that’s what has led to the name Puget Sound outbreak. The Puget Sound is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean along the northwest coast of Washington, near Everett, Olympia, Seattle, and Tacoma.

How big will this outbreak get?

Immunization rates in the Puget Sound area are a bit better than in Clark County, where the last Pacific Northwest outbreak was centered.
Immunization rates in the Puget Sound area are a bit better than in Clark County, where the last Pacific Northwest outbreak was centered.

It’s anyone’s guess at this point, keeping in mind that all it would take is for one of these exposures to be in a “pocket of susceptibles” with low immunization rates to start a big outbreak.

And all it would take to stop the outbreaks is for folks to get vaccinated and protected, understanding that vaccines are safe and necessary.

More on the Puget Sound Measles Outbreak

Who Is Romain Gherardi?

Have you noticed that anti-vaccine folks like to elevate the status of anyone who says things that they agree with?

So a scientist or researcher who suggests that vaccines are dangerous is all of a sudden a leader in their field or the very best in the world.

In the real world, it doesn’t work like that…

You have to earn your reputation.

Who Is Romain Gherardi?

Well, I guess that works both ways.

Most of the researchers that anti-vaccine folks praise have indeed earned a reputation, just not the kind they would like.

So who is Romain Gherardi?

Gherardi thinks that aluminum adjuvants in vaccines may be associated with autism.

He is basically a French researcher who thinks that the aluminum in vaccines is bad and scares folks with his poorly done studies and his book, Toxic story: Two or three embarrassing truths about the vaccine adjuvants.

“Gherardi is a fierce advocate for the existence of a causal relationship between containing aluminum adjuvants and a clinical condition which he first called ‘Macrophagic Myofasciitis (MMF)'”

Gherardi : a media story (2 or 3 embarrassing truths about his research)

But what about Macrophagic Myofasciitis (MMF), isn’t that a real disease?

“There is no evidence to suggest that MMF is a specific illness.”

WHO on Questions and Answers about macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF)

Nope.

That’s not to say that some people do not get some inflammatory changes at vaccine injection sites that could be caused by the aluminum in a vaccine.

But these are local reactions. They are not part of a disease.

As far as his research, consider the critique of one of his recent papers that he co-authored with Christopher Shaw, Non-linear dose-response of aluminium hydroxide adjuvant particles: selective low dose neurotoxicity.

“The article states that it was supported by grants from CMSRI. What is not stated is that CMSRI (Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute) is funded by the vaccine-critical Dwoskin Family Foundation. It is also worth noting that three of the authors of this manuscript, Exley, Shaw and Gherardi, sit on the Scientific Advisory Board for CMSRI, with Shaw as the Chair and Gherardi as the Vice-Chair. Whilst it is unknown if any of these authors receive financial compensation for their role at CMSRI it is clear that these competing interests should have been disclosed.”

David Hawkes et al on Questions about methodological and ethical quality of a vaccine adjuvant critical paper

In addition to the funding issue, they found problems with the methods of the study and ethical problems.

Gherardi's letter was retracted.

Amazingly, the response to Hawkes’ letter had to be retracted by the journal!

At least one of Gherardi's papers was peer reviewed and edited by the same person.

It is not hard to find other criticism and complaints about his research either.

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Did Edward Jenner’s Son Die from a Vaccine Reaction?

Maybe people know that Edward Jenner first gave his new smallpox vaccine to James Phipps, the 8-year-old son of Jenner’s gardener.

What they might now know is that two years later, in 1798, he also vaccinated his own son Robert F. Jenner, when he was eleven months old.

Did Edward Jenner’s Son Die from a Vaccine Reaction?

Did he die after getting vaccinated?

Did he suffer brain damage?

Of course not!

Edward Jenner vaccinated his youngest son, Robert.
Edward Jenner vaccinated his youngest son, Robert.

He didn’t even have a reaction and was later inoculated after being exposed to smallpox.

“My two eldest children were inoculated for the smallpox before I began to inoculate for the cow-pox. My youngest child was born about the time my experiments commenced, and was among the earliest I ever vaccinated. By referring to the first work I published on the subject in the spring of the year 1798, page 40, you will find his name, Robert F. Jenner, and you will observe it noticed that on his arm the vaccine lymph did not prove infectious. It advanced two or three days, and then died away.”

Edward Jenner on the Life of Dr. Jenner

He died 56 years later.

Edward Jenner’s other children didn’t receive his smallpox vaccine. As they were all born before his experiments with cowpox, they had already received traditional smallpox inoculations.

“Edward is growing tall, and has long looked over my head. Catherine, now eleven years old, is a promising girl; and Robert, eight years old, is just a chip of the old block.”

Edward Jenner on the Life of Dr. Jenner

Edward Robert Jenner did die young, but it certainly wasn’t an effect of his father’s smallpox vaccine. He died of tuberculosis, which was a common killer at the time. He was 21 and had always had health problems, but again, he never received his father’s new vaccine, so how could he be the “first child to suffer vaccine damage???”

This myth is easy to debunk. Jenner's son that died young was never vaccinated!
This myth is easy to debunk. Jenner’s son, Edward, that died young was never vaccinated!

What about the ethical implications of giving an experimental vaccine to your own child? A vaccine made with cow pus?

Remember, Jenner’s smallpox vaccine was made with cowpox virus. It was replacing variolation, a procedure in which people were actually inoculated with smallpox virus. While much better than getting smallpox, variolation was still dangerous and some people died from the procedure.

His smallpox vaccine was a much safer option.

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Who’s Getting Measles?

We will soon pass the last record high number of measles cases – 963 cases – set in 1994.

We will soon pass the last record high number of measles cases - 963 cases - set in 1994.

With 839 cases as of mid-April, it’s hard to believe that only 55 cases were reported during all of 2012!

Who’s Getting Measles?

So what do we know about the people who are getting measles?

More importantly, the thing that most parents want to know – are their families at risk?

We know that of the 839 cases right now:

  • 442 are in Brooklyn among the Orthodox Jewish community, where only 4% of cases have been fully vaccinated
  • 125 are in Rockland County, New York, among the Orthodox Jewish community, where only 3% of cases have been fully vaccinated
  • 78 were in the Pacific Northwest Outbreak (Washington and Oregon), where none were fully immunized – (ended)
  • 43 are in Michigan, mostly among Oakland County’s Orthodox Jewish community, triggered by a man who had recently traveled from New York

So just over 80% of cases are associated with four outbreaks, one of which has been declared over, and mostly among children and adults who were intentionally not vaccinated.

The rest of the 200 cases?

Among 45 cases in California, are 30 cases in these four outbreaks.
Among 45 cases in California, are 30 cases in these four outbreaks.

They are spread out in smaller outbreaks in other states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Does that mean that you don’t have to worry about measles?

It means that you don’t have to panic about measles.

Get your kids vaccinated and protected, which might include an early dose of MMR, learn the signs and symptoms of measles, and keep up on news of outbreaks in your area.

That should help decrease the risk that they get caught up in an outbreak.

And double check your own vaccine records! Have you had an MMR vaccine? Have you had two doses?

Unfortunately, not everyone can get vaccinated and protected, which is causing some folks to panic. This includes those who are too young to be vaccinated, or fully vaccinated, and those with immune system problems.

That’s not fair.

Let’s stop the outbreaks so we don’t get to the point that measles truly is everywhere and even more high-risk people are put at risk.

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Who Is Larry Palevsky?

Think you know all of the anti-vaccine pediatricians?

“The pediatrician who spoke on Monday night, Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, is regularly cited in pamphlets circulated in New York City that urge women not to get their children vaccinated. His views have no basis in science, experts said.”

Despite Measles Warnings, Anti-Vaccine Rally Draws Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Sadly, there is more than one pediatrician pandering to parent’s fears about vaccines these days.

Who Is Larry Palevsky?

Although not as well known as Sears or Thomas, who were thrown into the spotlight because they wrote anti-vaccine books and were associated with measles outbreaks in their areas, it would be hard to say what makes Palevsky different from any other anti-vaccine expert.

A holistic pediatrician, he was an “expert” for the anti-vaccination movie The Greater Good. Palevsky also often links to and quotes other notorious anti-vax “experts.”

He even appeared on the Gary Null Show – in addition to being anti-vax, Gary Null is among the alternative medicine folks who actually denies that HIV causes AIDS.

So no one should be surprised that Palevsky spoke at an anti-vaccine rally during the longest measles outbreak we have had in the United States in over 25 years. An ongoing measles outbreak that health officials are still struggling to contain.

At the rally, he talked at length about mutating viruses and falsely claimed that failed vaccines were producing a new strain of measles. Women scribbled into notepads as he spoke. Others filmed his comments, sending them to their contacts on WhatsApp. Essentially, he said, there were no studies available to show how the vaccine affects the human body.

“Is it possible that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that is somehow being given in this lot to communities in Williamsburg and Lakewood and Monsey, maybe in Borough Park, is it possible that these lots are bad?” he asked, referring to areas in New York and New Jersey with large ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.

“It’s fascinating because we’re told how contagious the disease is, but somehow it’s centered in the Jewish community.”

Despite Measles Warnings, Anti-Vaccine Rally Draws Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews

It’s fascinating that a pediatrician would actually think that any of this is possible…

Bad lots of vaccines?

Does Palevsky, who runs a Wellness Center, realize that only about 3-4% of the people who have gotten measles in Brooklyn and Rockland County have been fully vaccinated. Most are unvaccinated.

How does that fit into Palevsky’s theories about bad lots, mutating measles viruses, and failed vaccines?

Since Palevsky doesn’t seem to believe in the germ theory of disease, that viruses and bacteria can actually cause us to get sick, it isn’t hard to figure out. For him, of course, it would be easier to blame vaccines instead of the measles virus, I guess even vaccines that these folks have never received.

Sure. It is anything and everything except the fact that parents are intentionally not vaccinating and protecting their kids…

What’s really fascinating is that people are still listening to this kind of misinformation when they can see the consequences of what happens when they leave their community unvaccinated and unprotected.

“I believe in what’s called a starvation diet for kids when they’re sick.”

Larry Palevsky

And that they are listening to it from folks like Palevsky!

“Most of the reason that kids get sick is to move or get rid of wastes anyway.”

Larry Palevsky

But just in case they don’t get better by just removing the wastes in their body or by using supplements, essential oils or herbs and reducing their stress levels, Palevsky is very happy to refer your child to one of the homeopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors and/or other health professionals in his office.

Palevsky wants your child to “breathe more” when they get sick…

And that’s a clue to why we continue to see outbreaks of measles.

This industry of holistic and integrative “health professionals” goes out of their way to make sure parents are too scared to vaccinate their kids.

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