Tag: vaccine injury

Del Bigtree’s Caught on Tape Claim

Del Bigtree responded predictably to John Rushing’s report, The Viral Threat: Measles and Misinformation.

Why doesn't Del just explain what he said in the interview?
Why doesn’t Del just explain what he said in the interview?

Del, who produced VAXXED, complains that it was a one-sided hit piece. And implies that his interview was the result of editing.

Behind the Scenes with Del Bigtree

Del was given a lot more than just a words in the final edit.

For example, when given an opportunity, Del doesn’t explain his own conflict of interests because he doesn’t seem understand them.

“I’m simply finding the information as I find it.”

Del Bigtree

And if you notice, there are no cuts in Del Bigtree’s scenes.

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

Del wants you to think that he had a lot more to say in those scenes, things that were edited out, but Rushing didn’t cut away.

Del knows that the deaths in VAERS aren’t confirmed vaccine deaths, even though he never says that on his show. But if he explained that, he wouldn’t be able to scare people with “vaccine deaths” anymore.

Del Bigtree’s Caught on Tape Claim

There is also no “big reveal” as the HIGHWIRE cameras kept rolling, as Del claims.

“I vaccinated mine, but I wasn’t aware of this issue. Although one of my neighbors, who is very intelligent and who I respect a lot, who did vaccinate their kids and one of them has autism. Uh, is a believer in this and she sent me, well a ton of your information before I started this story. And we don’t invalidate the way people like her feel at all.”

John Rushing

Or any “other side” of John Rushing that agreed with Del Bigtree.

What does he agree to at the end of his talk with Del?

Del is explaining how he doesn’t think that parents are making a knee-jerk reaction when they blame vaccines for their “injured children.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

John Rushing

What is he agreeing to?

Del Bigtree is once again caught using messaging that hurts autistic families.
Del Bigtree is once again caught using messaging that hurts autistic families.

Maybe he is agreeing that parents aren’t making a knee-jerk reaction, but more than anything, it sounds like he is just being polite.

He is certainly not agreeing with Del that there are no safety studies, that VAERS is a slopping system, or even that parents should blame themselves.

Not surprisingly, Del’s caught on tape claims were enough to satisfy his followers, who have already forgotten that he admitted to misleading them about VAERS reports. Hopefully, they soon realize that misinformation about vaccines is keeping them from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

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Which Countries Have a Vaccine Injury Compensation Program?

Vaccines are safe, effective, have few risks, and are obviously necessary.

They aren’t perfect though, which is why “the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) may provide financial compensation to individuals who file a petition and are found to have been injured by a VICP-covered vaccine.”

But the NVICP is only in the United States.

Which Countries Have a Vaccine Injury Compensation Program?

What do other countries do?

The United States isn't the only country with a vaccine injury compensation program. We weren't even the first to have such a system.

You will likely be surprised to know that many have their own vaccine injury compensation programs, including:

  1. Germany ( year of introduction – 1961)
  2. France (1963)
  3. Japan (1970)
  4. Switzerland (1970)
  5. Denmark (1972)
  6. Austria (1973)
  7. New Zealand (1974)
  8. Sweden (1978)
  9. UK Vaccine Damage Payments Unit (1979)
  10. Finland (1984)
  11. Government of Québec Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (1985)
  12. United States NVICP (1988)
  13. Taiwan (1988)
  14. Italy (1992)
  15. Korea National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (1994)
  16. Norway (1995)
  17. Iceland (2001)
  18. Slovenia (2004)
  19. Hungary (2005)

Does this prove that vaccines are dangerous?

“Vaccines are extremely safe and harm is rare. World-wide, more than 30,000 vaccine doses are delivered per second through routine immunization programs, which,in turn, prevent an estimated 2 million to 3 million deaths annually. The occurrence of serious adverse events, such as those that result in death, threaten life, require inpatient hospitalization, or result in significant disability, are rare (eg, <1 adverse event occurs per 10 million doses for tetanus toxoid vaccines, 1-2 adverse events per 1 million doses for inactivated influenza vaccine, and none for hepatitis A).”

Halabi et al on A Global Vaccine Injury Compensation System

Of course not!

Remember, payouts from these programs, compared to the number of doses of vaccines given, are rare.

Should all countries have a compensation program?

“The most important justification, however, is an ethical argument from justice and equity: introduction of a vaccine injury compensation scheme acknowledges the unique situation that routine childhood immunization is a public health measure, given and accepted in good faith, that may occasionally damage the recipient.”

David Isaacs on Should Australia introduce a vaccine injury compensation scheme?

Sure.

People shouldn’t have to fight for compensation for the rare circumstance for when a true vaccine injury does occur.

More on International Vaccine Injury Compensation Programs

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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Why Should Medical Exemptions Be Based on CDC Contraindications?

Getting a medical exemption for vaccines isn’t controversial.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

Why Should Medical Exemptions Be Based on CDC Contraindications?

As many people know though, some people have been taking advantage of the fact that medical exemptions weren’t clearly defined in California’s vaccine law.

Who are the doctors handing out fake medical exemptions in California?
Who are the doctors handing out fake medical exemptions in California?

Are there just a few doctors taking advantage of the California law?

“But at 105 schools in the state, 10% or more of kindergartners had a medical exemption in the school year that ended last month, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of state data.”

Pushback against immunization laws leaves some California schools vulnerable to outbreaks

Is 10% a lot?

In one recent report, Vaccination Coverage for Selected Vaccines, Exemption Rates, and Provisional Enrollment Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2016–17 School Year, the median rate of medical exemptions in the US was just 0.2%, with a range of <0.1 to 1.5%.

In West Virginia and Mississippi, states that don’t allow non-medical exemptions and where criteria for medical exemptions are fairly strict, the rates were 0.1 and 0.3% respectively.

And that’s about what you would expect, as there are very few true contraindications or precautions to getting vaccinated.

So yes, 10% is an awful lot and that’s a good sign that it is more than just a few doctors taking advantage of the law.

“If a child has a medical exemption to immunization, a physician licensed to practice medicine in New York State must certify that the immunization is detrimental to the child’s health. The medical exemption should specify which immunization is detrimental to the child’s health, provide information as to why the immunization is contraindicated based on current accepted medical practice, and specify the length of time the immunization is medically contraindicated, if known.”

Dear Colleague letter regarding guidelines for use of immunization exemptions

Why do most other states have so few medical exemptions?

Mostly because there are very few true medical reasons to skip or delay a child’s vaccines!

They include, but aren’t limited to, the contraindications and precautions listed in the package insert for each vaccine (the contraindications and warnings sections…) and by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

They don’t include many other things that are “incorrectly perceived as contraindications to vaccination,” such as things in the family medical history of the child, eczema (unless they are getting the smallpox vaccine), colic, sleep apnea, or being a picky eater.

Is everything a vaccine injury?
Is everything a vaccine injury?

It should be obvious.

Medical exemptions for vaccines should be based on CDC criteria because some folks think that everything is a vaccine injury.

More on Medical Exemptions