Tag: vaccine injury stories

Has Bobby Kennedy Taken Over the Anti-Vaccine Movement?

What happened after SB276, the new vaccine law, was signed in California?

Did Bobby Kennedy's "mic dropping speech" mark the birth of a new civil rights movement for the health freedom or anti-vaccine movement?
Did RFK Jr’s “Mic Dropping Speech” Mark the Birth of a New Civil Rights Movement for the Health Freedom or Anti-Vaccine Movement?

They flew Bobby Kennedy back to Sacramento for a rally.

Has Bobby Kennedy Taken Over the Anti-Vaccine Movement?

What did he have to say?

“It’s a sad day for California. And it’s a sad day for our country. And I have asked a question and I would like to ask this legislature who voted for this God awful bill. If we can give government and big industries the right to inject untested medical products that are zero liability into our children coercively, where does the power of government end? What else can they order us to do? Can they do the same thing that they do in China? Which is to tell people that they have to abort their babies for “the good of society?” Can they euthanize people for “the good of society?” Where is the legal boundary?

Bobby Kennedy

It is a sad day when a Kennedy is spouting this kind of stuff…

Vaccines are well tested and everyone has a choice on whether or not to get vaccinated. Mandates to attend school do not force parents to vaccinate their kid.

Comparing these mandates that protect those who can’t be vaccinated to forced abortion and euthanasia is unconscionable.

“We have signed treaty after treaty after treaty saying you can not force an American citizen or any citizen of the civilized world to take a medication or to submit themselves to a medical procedure without informed consent. What has happened to the Democratic party? What has happened to the party that used to stand for listening to women? Why are they listening to pharmaceutical companies and not to the women?

Bobby Kennedy

What has happened to the Kennedys?

Again, vaccine mandates do not force anyone to get vaccinated and protected.

And pushing anti-vaccine talking points on folks is not giving them informed consent. This type of misinformation simply scares them away from vaccinating their kids. It is misinformed consent!

“And yet, you have all of the members who voted for this and none of them can answer the question – where is all of the autoimmune diseases coming from? If it’s not the vaccines, then where is it coming from? We have, from my generation, according to HHS, 12% of the people in my generation, prior to 1986, had chronic diseases. Today, 54% did. Let’s pretend all of those hundreds and hundreds of studies aren’t there that say it’s the vaccines.”

Bobby Kennedy

Let’s pretend that his statistic that 54% of American children have a chronic illness…

Actually, let’s not, because it isn’t true. Although often cited by anti-vaccine folks, the number comes from a 2011 report, A national and state profile of leading health problems and health care quality for US children: key insurance disparities and across-state variations, but doesn’t mean what most people think it means.

“An estimated 43% of US children (32 million) currently have at least 1 of 20 chronic health conditions assessed, increasing to 54.1% when overweight, obesity, or being at risk for developmental delays are included; 19.2% (14.2 million) have conditions resulting in a special health care need, a 1.6 point increase since 2003.”

Bethell et al on A national and state profile of leading health problems and health care quality for US children: key insurance disparities and across-state variations.

Is obesity a vaccine injury?

Where are the “hundreds and hundreds of studies… that say it’s the vaccines?”

“Let’s pretend that all the vaccines, everyone of those diseases, the autoimmune diseases – Guillain-Barré syndrome , cerebral palsy, diabetes, Rheumatoid arthritis. The neurodevelopmental diseases, ADD, ADHD, speech delay, language delay, tics, Tourette syndrome, ASD, autism. The allergic diseases – allergies, food allergies, eczema, asthma, anaphylaxis. Where can we find those listed? In two places. One in the list of chronic diseases that are now epidemic among American children and on the vaccine inserts. And why would the company put them on the vaccine insert? They put them there because the only way you can sue them under NCVIA is if they know or suspect of an injury being caused by a product and they failed to put it on the insert. So it’s the one place where their honest. For many years they told us, well, just because we put it on the insert, it doesn’t mean that it is actually a vaccine adverse event or caused by the vaccine. But the code of Federal regulations says you can not put it on an insert unless you believe that it’s caused by the vaccine. So they are lying.”

Bobby Kennedy

Well, someone is lying…

Although listed in the vaccine insert, if they are in the Adverse Reactions section, they may not actually be caused by the vaccine.
Although listed in the vaccine insert, if they are in the Adverse Reactions section, they may not actually be caused by the vaccine.

What goes into a vaccine insert is dictated by the FDA, specifically the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, and Section 314 of the NCVIA, after consultation with the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, including:

  • Contraindications – all situations when the vaccine should not be given
  • Warning and Precautions – all adverse reactions and safety hazards that may occur after getting the vaccine and what you should do if they occur
  • Adverse Reactions – this section includes clinical trials experience, post-marketing experience, and voluntary reports, and it is very important to understand that it is not always possible to establish a causal relationship to vaccination for these adverse effects. So just because something is listed here, whether it is SIDS, autism, drowning, or a car accident, doesn’t mean that it was actually caused by the vaccine. Updated in 2006 to require that only adverse events “for which there is some basis to believe there is a causal relationship between the drug and the occurrence of the adverse event,” it still doesn’t mean the adverse event was definitely caused by the vaccine.

As a lawyer, you would expect, or at least hope, that Bobby Kennedy understands how vaccine inserts really work…

“This state is doing something horrendous. It is stepping between a doctor and the 4000 children in this state whose doctors have told them you can not afford to get a vaccine because it could kill you or it could cripple you. Their doctor, who has known that child often-times since birth, who has reviewed the medical records, who has done all of the tests on that baby, who knows the family, has said it is dangerous to receive this product. Don’t ever do it. And yet, the State of California, is going to come in, a bureaucrat, between that doctor and that child, and say that we are going to give it to him anyway. This is criminal.”

Bobby Kennedy

This is probably one of the biggest myths about California’s new vaccine law.

For one thing, SB276 doesn’t revoke legitimate medical exemptions.

Did Ron Kennedy know these kids since birth and think that vaccines would kill or cripple them because they had a learning disability or food allergies?
Did Ron Kennedy know these kids since birth and think that vaccines would kill or cripple them because they had a learning disability or food allergies?

And the problem hasn’t typically been the legitimate medical exemptions from doctors who have known kids since birth, but rather inappropriate exemptions from doctors who advertised medical exemption consultations and appointments for new patients.

“Big pharmaceutical companies are the most evil companies on earth. Who are commoditizing our children. Who are giving our children this tsunami of chronic disease and then making the money to try and tell us that we are going to get rid of infectious disease, like chickenpox and measles, but we are going to trade that for rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes and autism and ADD and ADHD. And all of those infectious diseases are treatable and curable, usually within a week, and none of the chronic diseases that they are causing are treatable or curable. And they are making $50 billion dollars selling our kids these mandated vaccines that are untested and liability free, but they are making $500 billion a year selling them the epi-pens, the seizure medications, the Prozac, the albuterol inhalers, the rhumatoid arthritis medication, the diabetes medications that our children are now addicted to for life because of these vaccines. ”

Bobby Kennedy

As usual, it all comes back to Big Pharma conspiracy theories and the idea that everything is a vaccine injury.

Bobby Kennedy thinks the pharmaceutical industry is in "a war against our children."
Bobby Kennedy thinks the pharmaceutical industry is in “a war against our children.” Do you?

So what’s their next plan?

Lawsuits.

Lawsuits so that they can help keep kids unvaccinated and unprotected.

“We are an insurgency. They can not stop us now. We are not going to go away.”

Bobby Kennedy

Of course the anti-vaccine movement is not going away. It has been around since before we had the first real vaccine, when folks were getting variolated to protect them against smallpox.

“You know this is the most important battle, probably in human history.”

Bobby Kennedy

Fighting to keep your intentionally unvaccinated kids in school, where they could put others at risk to get sick, including kids with immune system problems or those being treated for cancer, is the most important battle in human history?

He wasn’t done yet though…

“What we have to understand is that the domination of business by government is called communism. The domination of government by business is called facism. And what we’re fighting for is the essential tenets of American democracy, which is free market capitalism, which we don’t have. They destroyed the markets didn’t they. There’s no market for vaccines because they couldn’t sell them, so they had to disable the markets and force us to take them against our will. And for democracy and they’ve taken democracy from us. And they’ve taken the institution of Justice directly. They have gotten rid of the 6th and 7th amendment guarantees. The Federal Constitution guarantees of a jury trials. We are the only people in our country who you can injure – a private corporation can injure and disable and you can’t get a jury trial.”

Bobby Kennedy

Except that you can’t usually get a jury trial if you think you have a vaccine injury. The only thing is that you have to go through the Vaccine Court first.

Be skeptical if you truly want to learn to protect your kids. Although speeches from folks like Bobby Kennedy might make you feel better about your decision to skip or delay your child’s vaccines, understand that it is not really an informed decision.

More on Bobby Kennedy

Who Are the Medically Fragile Children?

As SB 276 becomes law in California, one thing we have been hearing about from some folks is how it will affect medically fragile children.

No one is coming to take the medical exemptions from medically fragile children.
No one is coming to take the medical exemptions from medically fragile children…

Will SB 276 or vaccine laws in other states take away the medical exemptions from medically fragile children?

Of course not!

Who Are the Medically Fragile Children?

The first thing to understand is that when folks like Rob Schneider talk about medically fragile children, they are using the term differently than when medical professionals and most parents do.

“Medically fragile” means having an acute or chronic health problem which requires therapeutic intervention and skilled nursing care during all or part of the day. Medically fragile problems include, but are not limited to, HIV disease, severe lung disease requiring oxygen, severe lung disease requiring ventilator or tracheostomy care, complicated spina bifida, heart disease, malignancy, asthmatic exacerbations, cystic fibrosis exacerbations, neuromuscular disease, encephalopathies, and seizure disorders.

2005 California Health and Safety Code Sections 1760-1761.8 FACILITIES HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE SECTION 1760-1761.8

The medically fragile kids as defined by the California Health and Safety Code, who require skilled nursing care, are not typically the kids who are getting routine medical exemptions.

Sure, some of them might need one. A child with severe HIV disease or a malignancy being treated with chemotherapy would likely get a medical exemption for live vaccines, etc.

A child with an acute encephalopathy or uncontrolled seizures would also qualify for a medical exemption.

And since vaccines aren’t 100% risk free, there might be some kids with a vaccine injury among these medically fragile kids. It is likely not a high number though, as severe reactions to vaccines are very rare.

“CMC {children with medical complexity} are likely increasing in prevalence because of increased survival rates of infants born prematurely, those born with various congenital anomalies, and/or those with chronic conditions, as well as improved treatments for acute illnesses in fields such as intensive care and oncology.”

Cohen et al on Children With Medical Complexity: An Emerging Population for Clinical and Research Initiatives

In most other cases, medically fragile kids wouldn’t need a medical exemption and would greatly benefit from being vaccinated and protected!

They would also greatly benefit if everyone around them was vaccinated and protected, especially if they did have a medical exemption.

Again, no one is coming to take their necessary medical exemptions if they have one though.

More on Medically Fragile Children

A California Pediatrician Who is Not a Hysterical Anti-Vaxxer Wrote a Letter to the Governor…

Did you think it was over, now that SB 276 has been passed and Governor Newsom said that he would sign it, as long as a companion bill with a few added amendments also gets passed?

I'm glad Elisa Song vaccinates some of her kids, but I wonder how many exemptions she has written since SB 277 passed...
I’m glad Elisa Song vaccinates some of her kids, but I wonder how many exemptions she has written since SB 277 passed…

Of course, it’s not…

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

While many of us wanted Governor Newsom to sign SB 276 in its original form, as he had promised, without the added amendments that weaken the law, most see it it as an acceptable compromise.

And then there are the anti-vaccine folks who want Newsom to veto SB 276 so that kids can continue to get inappropriate medical exemptions and remain unprotected and at risk against vaccine preventable diseases.

“I am a pediatrician trying to do the best I can for the children in my practice. And the best is not simply repeating that vaccines are “safe and effective.” Because they’re not 100% safe. Because they’re not 100% effective. Because parents are asking questions. Because parents are afraid and want to do the best for their children. And because we, as primary care physicians, need to be able to practice the art and science of medicine to the best of our abilities, for the child sitting in front of us, without bureaucratic handcuffs and fear of retribution.”

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

No one says vaccines are 100% safe and effective, but they are very effective with few risks.

Parents are afraid because of the anti-vaccine rhetoric and misinformation they see and read on the Internet and sometimes from holistic type doctors who pander to their fears.

“SB 276 continues to place the decision regarding an individual child’s vaccine risk/benefit assessment and whether or not that child qualifies for a vaccine medical exemption in the hands of the government.”

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

This is not true.

SB 276 simply says that you can’t make up your own reasons for why kids can’t get vaccinated and protected.

“SB 276 continues to too narrowly limit the criteria for “appropriate” vaccine exemptions to those contraindications detailed by the CDC, AAP and ACIP. These criteria do not take into account the emerging field of vaccinomics pioneered by the Mayo Clinic and the latest research on increased risk for various chronic illnesses including autoimmunity after vaccination in certain vulnerable populations. Epigenetics is making it increasingly clear that the one-size-fits-all CDC schedule will not work. “

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

As other states have done, SB 276 and SB 714, set rules on what counts as a medical exemption.

“SB276 continues to essentially eliminate all medical exemptions, even those consistent with the CDC, ACIP or AAP guidelines. By arbitrarily limiting the number of medical exemptions a physician may write to 4 in any calendar year before triggering investigation, SB 276 will deter physicians from writing ANY exemptions for fear of irreparable damage to their professional reputation, financial security, and emotional trauma, even if ultimately found innocent. How will a physician decide which 4 children are “deserving” of medical exemptions each year, in order to prevent an automatic investigation once they write that 5th exemption?”

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

Since few children should actually need a true medical exemption, the limits in SB 276 are hardly arbitrary. And since what counts as a true medical exemptions is rarely arbitrary either, doctors who write five or more true medical exemptions in a year will have nothing to fear when those exemptions are reviewed.

“A Harvard study has found that 2.6% of people vaccinated will have a vaccine injury. California’s current medical exemption rate of 0.7% falls far below this number, implying that there are many children whose vaccine injuries could have been avoided if an appropriate medical exemption were written by their physician.”

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc. report did not find “that 2.6% of people vaccinated will have a vaccine injury.”

It actually found possible reactions in 2.6% of vaccinations. And I hope that everyone is aware that a possible reaction is not the same as a vaccine injury…

Also, in addition to the fact that current rate of medical exemptions in California is far higher than 0.7%, it is the clusters of medical exemptions in many schools that are the problem.

“Until such time when vaccine risks and benefits can be clearly defined in broader terms that take into account personal and family history and epigenetics, this risk needs to be taken on by each parent and each child. And where there is risk, there must be choice. And where there is uncertainty, the BEST person to help that parent navigate vaccines is the person who knows that child’s medical and family history best – THEIR PHYSICIAN.”

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

Elisa Song talks a lot about the risks of vaccines, or at least what she thinks puts kids at risk, including family history and epigenetics.

“I believe in public health, yet I care for individual children and families who sit across from me everyday, trusting that I am giving them valid, scientific, evidence-based information that will keep their individual baby safe and healthy, and believing that I am providing them with true informed consent.”

Elisa Song’s Letter to Governor Newsom

It would be great if she truly were giving her patient’s “valid, scientific, evidence-based information” and “true informed consent.”

She’s not…

“I learned how to integrate conventional pediatrics with functional medicine, holistic nutrition, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine and essential oils – and it changed my life!”

Elisa Song

Notice anything missing?

$267 for a home remedy kit filled with homeopathic treatments???

She never talks about the risks of getting a vaccine-preventable disease.

And she overstates the risks of vaccines.

“While the media and common public opinion are quick to say that the link between vaccines and autism has been absolutely disproved, they have not done their due diligence research.”

Measles: Know the Facts by Dr. Elisa Song, M.D.

It is hard to make a truly informed decision when your doc downplays the risks of natural disease, makes you afraid to get vaccinated, and tries to sell you natural therapies that we know won’t prevent infections and won’t actually boost your immune system.

More on Anti-Vaccine Pediatricians

Are Fewer Than 1% of Vaccine Injuries Reported to VAERS?

It is a common anti-vaccine argument that fewer than 1% of vaccine injuries are reported to VAERS.

I've found that fewer than 1% of anti-vaccine signs are true...
I’ve found that fewer than 1% of anti-vaccine signs are true…

They even think that they have evidence from Harvard to support their claim!

Are Fewer Than 1% of Vaccine Injuries Reported to VAERS?

Do they?

Are fewer than 1% of vaccine injuries reported to VAERS?

It has long been suspected that reports to VAERS are under-reported, as it is a passive reporting system.

The original claims for under-reporting to VAERS were based on an old study about drug reactions and were not specific to vaccines though.

Is that the Harvard study?

Nope.

“Restructuring at CDC and consequent delays in terms of decision making have made it challenging despite best efforts to move forward with discussions regarding the evaluation of ESP:VAERS performance in a randomized trial and comparison of ESP:VAERS performance to existing VAERS and Vaccine Safety Datalink data. However, Preliminary data were collected and analyzed and this initiative has been presented at a number of national symposia.”

Electronic Support for Public Health–Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (ESP:VAERS)

They are talking about a report, Electronic Support for Public Health–Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (ESP:VAERS), that was conducted at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc.

“Preliminary data were collected from June 2006 through October 2009 on 715,000 patients, and 1.4 million doses (of 45 different vaccines) were given to 376,452 individuals. Of these doses, 35,570 possible reactions (2.6 percent of vaccinations) were identified.”

Electronic Support for Public Health–Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (ESP:VAERS)

It is very important to note that all the study found is that all possible reactions, including minor reactions, like pain and fever, are not common.

They didn’t actually finish the report to see how commonly those reactions were reported to VAERS.

But we already know that more serious reactions are reported to VAERS much more routinely.

“Sensitivities ranged from 72% for poliomyelitis after the oral poliovirus vaccine to less than 1% for rash and thrombocytopenia after the MMR vaccine.”

Rosenthal et al on The reporting sensitivities of two passive surveillance systems for vaccine adverse events

And there has even been a more recent report, Advanced Clinical Decision Support for Vaccine Adverse Event Detection and Reporting, which also used an ESP-VAERS system, that found great improvements in reporting of adverse events to VAERS.

Even more importantly, even with it’s limitations, VAERS works!

“Despite its limitations, VAERS effectively detected a possible problem soon after introduction of RRV-TV in the United States.”

Lynn R. Zanardi, et al on Intussusception Among Recipients of Rotavirus Vaccine: Reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

Although it would be ideal to have even more reports sent to VAERS, time and again, we have seen that VAERS works.

“On November 23, 2010, the combination of the coding term “febrile convulsion” and the Fluzone(®) TIV product exceeded a predetermined threshold in the VAERS database. By December 10, we confirmed 43 reports of febrile seizure following TIV in children aged 6-23 months. Clinical features of most reports were consistent with typical uncomplicated febrile seizures, and all children recovered. Further epidemiologic assessment of a possible association between TIV and febrile seizures was undertaken in a separate, population-based vaccine safety monitoring system.”

Leroy et al on Febrile seizures after 2010-2011 influenza vaccine in young children, United States: a vaccine safety signal from the vaccine adverse event reporting system.

As we have seen, for VAERS to work, we don’t need all side effects and reactions to be reported.

“VAERS is primarily a safety signal detection and hypothesis generating system. Generally, VAERS data cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. VAERS data interpreted alone or out of context can lead to erroneous conclusions about cause and effect as well as the risk of adverse events occurring following vaccination.”

Shimabukuro et al on Safety monitoring in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

Also, VAERS is not the only safety system that we have to make sure that our vaccines are safe.

The other thing that folks should understand? Most reports to VAERS are not actually vaccine injuries…

More on the Percentage of Reports to VAERS