Photo Credit, Innovative Parenting NJ
Last Tuesday on a cold early morning in March, people lined up for the HELP committee hearing on vaccines (Health Education Labor and Pensions). As hundreds arrived, a group of mothers notice something that was off about the people at the front of the line. Empowered Moms For Medical Freedom filmed the whole exchange, “Are you here for medical freedom,” questions a woman off camera to a man standing at the head of the line. He shakes his head sheepishly, no. “Why are you here”, she asks? He looks away. A man standing next to him covers his face with his phone, and another woman never lifts her head from her phone. “They do not seem like they’re here there for the hearing,” explained another voice off camera, “they’re paid to be here!” It is a common practice in Washington D.C. for lobbyists to hire the homeless to stand in line for hearings. One has to wonder, is this practice fair and just? Hearings are designed for all sides, both for and against, to present their case to whatever committee is conducting the hearing. Unfortunately, not all sides are always given the opportunity to be heard.
When it comes to making laws, shouldn’t all voices be heard from all sides? The only speakers in the HELP hearing were proponents for mandatory vaccinations and Ethan Lindenberger, a teenager from Ohio who got vaccinated against his mother’s best wishes. Lindenberger’s story has filled headlines and news casts across the country for a few weeks prior to the hearing. Meanwhile, the hundreds of people representing the vaccine injured were not allowed to speak. Even Robert F. Kennedy Jr, of Children’s Health Defense was excluded from speaking. Well respected scientists who refute the claims made by the CDC and FDA on vaccines, were also excluded from speaking. It was not that long ago in our history when both the CDC and FDA insisted that cigarettes didn’t cause cancer. We now call that, Tobacco Science.
Does the government have a right to mandate Americans’ healthcare choices and suppress the voice of the vaccine injured?
The HELP committee chair, Lamar Alexander took to twitter on the day of the hearing and tweeted, “Internet fraudsters who claim that vaccines aren’t safe are preying on the unfounded fears and daily struggles of parents, and they are creating a public health hazard that is entirely preventable. #VaccinesSaveLives." People representing the vaccine injured were mostly women, mothers of children who were injured by vaccines. They traveled from across the country even though they were not allowed to speak. They filled the hallways and two overflow rooms. Their pain and suffering ignored, accused of being fraudsters, a danger to society. In solidarity they stood poised and un fretted. As the stage was set the orators of the show lamented the safety and efficacy of vaccines, so much so that they think the government now has a right to make medical decisions for all Americans.
Yet the truth is, vaccines are a medical product that can cause injury. However, vaccines are indemnified by the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act. The federal government has paid out four billion dollars to vaccine injured families since the vaccine injury act. In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of, Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC, FKA Wyeth, INC., that vaccines are unavoidably unsafe. The court opined that congress enacted the vaccine injury act to protect manufacturers of vaccines from tort law and jury cases. The court opined that Health and Human Services ensures vaccine safety and efficacy, “The quid pro quo for this, designed to stabilize the vaccine market, was the provision of significant tort- liability protections for vaccine manufacturers. The Act requires claimants to seek relief through the compensation program before filing suit for more than $1,000.24 Manu- facturers are generally immunized from liability for failure to warn if they have complied with all regulatory requirements (including but not limited to warning re- quirements) and have given the warning either to the claimant or the claimant’s physician.”
Is it the place of government to make laws to force people to do something against their own will, especially if doing so could subject themselves or their children to harm?
Photo Credit, Innovative Parenting NJ
Senator Rand Paul was the only member of the committee to voice otherwise. Though he is in favor of vaccination for he and his family, “Sometimes the vaccines run amuck. Like when the rotavirus vaccine that was later recalled because it was causing intestinal blocking in children. I am not fan of government coercion. Yet given the choice, I do believe, the benefits of most vaccines vastly outweigh the risks. Yet it is wrong to say that there is no risks to vaccines. Even the government admits that children are sometimes injured by vaccines. Since 1998 over four billion dollars has been paid out from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Despite the government admitting to paying 4 billion dollars to vaccine injuries, no informed consent is used or required when you vaccinate your child. This may be the only procedure in todays medical world, where informed consent is not required.”
Rand continued to question how far vaccine regulations would go? The senator spoke about the problems of the flu vaccine not always being effective. In 2018 the flu vaccine efficacy rate had a dreadful 36%. Some argue it was even less at 10% efficacy. When scientists attempt to guess on the flu strain, efficacy is measured by the scientists ability to guess right. For example, if the scientists get the strain right, we’ll know when people get sick from the flu and are tested, we can see the strain and determine if scientists guessed well. It’s a shot in the dark. Rand continues, “Between 12 and 56 thousand people die from the flu, or are said to have died from the flu in America. And There’s estimated to be a few hundred from the measles. So I would guess that those who want to mandate measles, will be after us on the flu next. Yet the current science only allows for educated guessing when it comes to the flu vaccine. Each year before that year's flu strain is known, scientist put their best guess into that year’s vaccine. Some years it’s completely wrong. We vaccinate for the wrong strain of flu virus. Yet five states already mandate flu vaccines. Is it really appropriate to mandate a vaccine that more often than not vaccinates for the wrong flu strain?”
As the debate across the country heats up about vaccines and government mandates. The vaccine injured are ignored and discriminated against, yet government mandates will dramatically affect their lives. In the face of this cold reality, the government turns a blind eye to them. Ignoring that science is never settled. Science is about asking questions and finding solutions and testing those solutions. Science is living and evolving. Dogma on the other hand is the antithesis of science. The pharmaceutical industry relies upon scientific dogma that the industry itself funds. According to OpenSecrets.org the pharmaceutical industry has spent millions on lobbying congress. Science doesn’t seem to matter when industry studies can be manipulated, and forged. The CDC has been corrupted by industry, Dr. Julie Gerberding was the, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention from July 2002 thru January 2009. Meanwhile, in February of 2008, Gerberding had been named president of Merck’s vaccine division. The CDC also holds patents in vaccines and benefits financially from them. In 2014 whistleblower William Thompson, Senior Scientist with the CDC, admitted that researchers hid data connecting autism to the MMR vaccine, Thompson stated, “I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed.” To this day, CDC refuses to allow Thompson to testify before congress.
As the HELP hearing went on inside, outside the large group of citizens watched on a screen. Frustrated as they listened, not able to refute the claims being made. Senator Rand finished, “As we contemplate forcing parents to chose this or that vaccine. I think it is important to remember that force is not consistent with the American story, nor is force consistent with the liberty our forefathers sought when the came to America. I don’t think you have to have one or the other though.” As the senator finished his remarks a young man wearing a purple shirt shot up from his seat in applause.
Photo Credit Isaac Lindenberger
Isaac Lindenberger, Ethan’s older brother, does not hold the same opinion on vaccinations as his teenage brother. After the hearing in a crowded hall, Isaac let his passion for personal liberty be known, “Instead of making a dichotomy between the two groups, saying oh there’s anti vaxxers, and there’s pro vaxxers, you have to pick a side. We need to actually make a compromise. The compromise lies in individual liberty, and personal choice, and human rights because good ideas do not require force.”