Attorney Questions School-Administered Flu Shots

by Alan G. Phillips, J.D.

    I’m deeply concerned about the upcoming distribution of seasonal flu shots through public schools in North Carolina (and elsewhere), and you should be, too—for several important reasons.

First, a number of studies reveal that flu shots provides little if any protection to people of any age, perhaps due in part to the fact that vaccine manufacturers have to guess which flu strain will be dominant months in advance—and they often guess wrong. Children with asthma who get the flu shot are actually at a greater risk for hospitalization than those who do not get the vaccine.[i] A review of more than 51 studies involving more than 294,000 children it was found there was "no evidence that injecting children 6-24 months of age with a flu shot was any more effective than placebo.”[ii] Similar results have been found in studies for adults and the elderly.[iii] Recent Canadian data submitted for publishing shows that the seasonal flu shot doubles the odds of contracting the H1N1 ”swine” flu.[iv] Tom Jefferson, a Cochrane Collaboration epidemiologist who “knows the flu vaccine literature better than anyone else on the planet,” says the vast majority of flu studies favoring seasonal flu vaccines were deeply flawed. He stated: “Rubbish is not a scientific term, but I think it’s the term that applies.”[v] A majority of health care professionals don’t get annual seasonal flu shots[vi], and a majority also object to getting this year’s seasonal and H1N1 flu shots[vii]; what do they know that the rest of us don’t? In New York, where seasonal and swine flu shots were mandated under the state health department’s recently declared “emergency,” the response was a series of health care employee protest rallies around the state and court cases that resulted in a Temporary Restraining Order from the NY State Supreme Court, preventing enforcement of the mandate.[viii]

    Next, the distribution of seasonal flu shots through public schools amounts to a questionable State endorsement of one of several different modalities. The North Carolina Supreme Court has stated, “To limit progress by establishing allopathy as the state system of healing, and forbidding all Others . . . would be as foreign to our system as a state church for the cure of souls.”[ix] Yet, this is precisely what the State has now done, and not for lack of proven alternatives. Last fall, Cuba carried out a successful use of homeoprophylaxis on a population of 2.5 million Cubans in their annual Leptospirosis epidemic; the results substantially exceeded those obtained previously with conventional vaccinations at a fraction of the cost,[x] and with none of the deaths and permanent disabilities we routinely tolerate with vaccines. Studies also show that Vitamin D is protective against the flu.[xi] So why aren’t schools providing these more cost-effective and successful means of preventing the flu—and others also proven effective against the flu such as chiropractic[xii] and acupuncture?[xiii] The answer seems obvious: These other protections aren’t profitable for the pharmaceutical industry. This assertion is not mere cynicism. Conflicts of interest abound—members of the FDA and CDC committees who license and recommend vaccines often have ties to vaccine manufacturers.[xiv]

Finally, “free” vaccines in public schools are anything but free. We the taxpayers pay for them, and at a far greater cost than the price of the vaccines themselves—we also pay for their unintended but sometimes devastating consequences. The federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out nearly two billion dollars in taxpayer money since 1986 for deaths and injuries caused by vaccines in the United States,[xv] and this may represent only a drop in the bucket. The vast majority of vaccine injuries are not reported,[xvi] and few of the reported cases result in compensation due to the strict requirements. The result? Private vaccine manufacturers have more than the usual business profits with a captive market, but none of the usual business liability—we pay for both.

Few doubt that State educators have the best of intentions for our children, but they have seriously missed the boat on this one. Government should not be in the health care business, but if it is going to be, its policy and practice should be driven by facts—by what actually works—and not by any one industry’s clout and propaganda. Better yet, health care is a personal matter that should be decided one person at a time, privately, between each person or parent and the health care provider of their choice. As wonderful as our educational institutions may be, it is not appropriate for them to promote—let alone distribute and administer—any one industry’s healthcare products to our children.

Flu vaccines should NOT be distributed through the schools.

Alan G. Phillips, J.D.
P.O. Box 3473
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-3473
919-960-5172

---

[i] The American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference, May 15-20, 2009, San Diego.

[ii] The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2 (2008).

[iii] http://drtenpenny.com/the_truth_about_the_flu_Shot.aspx

[iv] MOH cautious on flu shot fears, http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/700026

[v] Does the Vaccine Matter?, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1/2

[vi] Many health workers refuse flu shots, http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Entertainment/Many+health+workers+refuse+shots/1997673/story.html; Health Care Workers Need Flu Shots, Too, But Not All Are Getting Them, http://www.cdh.org/News.aspx?id=121262

[vii] E.g., 65% of French Nurses Will Refuse Swine Flu Vaccine Over Safety Concerns, http://blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org/blog/2009/09/24/65-of-french-nurses-will-refuse-swine-flu-vaccine-over-safety-concerns/;  Half of Healthcare Workers Will Likely Refuse H1N1 Vaccine, Research Finds, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,542950,00.html

[viii] Judge Halts Mandatory Flu Vaccines for Health Care Workers,
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/judge-halts-mandatory-flu-vaccines-for-health-care-workers/?hp

[ix] State v. McKnight, 131 N.C. 717, 42 S.E. 580,

[x] Successful Use of Homeopathy In Over 2.5 Million People Reported From Cuba,
http://homeopathyresource.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/successful-use-of-homeopathy-in-over-5-million-people-reported-from-cuba/

[xi] See, e.g., Researchers see link between vitamin D, flu immunity, http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/44680902.html; Vitamin D deficiency linked to more colds and flu, http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=vitamin-d-deficiency-linked-to-more-2009-02-23; etc.

[xii] Flu season wellness plan should include chiropractic care, http://www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/media/fluseason.htm

[xiii] What Can TCM Do For You During The Flu Season?, http://www.acupuncture.com/conditions/flu.htm

[xiv] Congressional report reveals FDA "conflict of interest",
http://www.americanchiropractic.net/FDA/Congressional%20report%20reveals%20FDA.pdf

[xv] National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/

[xvi] Statement of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Hearing of the House subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, “Compensating Vaccine Injuries: Are Reforms Needed?” September 28, 1999. Less than 1% according to Barbara Fisher, citing former FDA commissioner David Kessler, 1993, JAMA, in the Statement of the NVIC. Less than 10%, accordingly to K.M. Severyn, R.Ph., Ph.D. in the Dayton Daily News, May 28, 1993.

Forced Vaccinations - Musings on what the road to Hell is paved with

This column and all future Scandals columns will be dedicated in loving memory to Nicholas Regush, my mentor, my adviser, my inspiration, but most of all, my friend. 

Scandals

Forced Vaccinations - Musings on what the road to Hell is paved with

Call me naive, but I don't think that most people who unquestioningly promote vaccination as the end-all and be-all of preventive health care are evil or have evil intent.  In fact, other than a possible select few, I think most ardent vaccine supporters honestly believe they are helping humanity. 

Perhaps they are. And if properly designed studies ever are conducted, time will tell.

Regardless of their intent, however, I do not view their unwavering support as benign, fair-minded or responsible.

For as the saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

In the past week, pavement of that road has appeared to bring us closer than ever to that wretched place.  I am referring, of course, to recent efforts to force vaccination in Maryland by threatening parents with jail.

There are so many aspects of this story that are alarming, it is hard to know where to begin.  But let me start with what I once said in a speech, from which I will be quoting: "We parents deserve the right to choose what we feel is best for the children we love, and for whom we are responsible.  No one else will be expected to care for our children if the vaccines or diseases maim them.  No one else’s heart will be broken like ours if they are killed or otherwise harmed."

No one, indeed.

Of course, the all-trusting supporters of vaccination will argue that vaccine damage is minimal and that the benefits outweigh the risks.  But as anyone who has read my column knows, from what I can tell and have provided credible evidence for, those studies that purport to show zero to minimal damage are based on flawed research, which includes, in part 1) improper comparisons between vaccinated groups and the failure to include any never-vaccinated people as controls, 2) outright dismissal of virtually all anecdotal and other evidence, as well as failure to properly follow up on any of it, and 3) dismissal of biological evidence in support of damage claims.

But even if vaccines had been genuinely shown to be mostly safe, there are some very insidious things going on here.  As the National Vaccine Information Center has aptly warned, "If it happens to your child, the risks are 100%".  Thus, implied in the argument that damage is minimal is a dismissal of the harm done to some children.  I would submit that the amount of harm vaccines do is unknown.  But even if it were small, the implication is that vaccine damage or death  is less important than disease damage or death, or that all that matters is sheer numbers.  And although most would not say this directly, also implied is that vaccine-harmed children are less important than disease-harmed ones. 

Vaccine-damaged children are also often treated like drafted casualties in our war again disease.  It is as if being drafted for this purpose is inherently a good thing, an honorable thing, that vaccine risk is obviously a risk well worth taking.  Even if it were a good thing, however, isn't it a risk that the parents of the potentially damaged child should be allowed to take?  Is it right to force vaccinations on anyone? Does the end justify the means?

And isn't the very subtle implication that only death or harm from disease is "bad";  that death or harm from a vaccine is somehow okay or "good", because it is in support of the "cause" of  "public health"?

Also implied in the argument that it is okay to force vaccination is the notion that "you", an unwilling vaccine participant, should be forced to vaccinate your child(ren) to protect "my" (the one who seeks protection) child(ren) from disease.  There are two major problems with this argument,  First, why should someone be required to risk their child for another?  What makes the child being "protected" more important than the "protector"?

Second, if the vaccines work, anyone choosing them will be protected.  If they don’t prevent the spread of the disease to the vaccinated, why are we vaccinating?  It hardly seems right that those who don’t want to be vaccinated should have vaccination forced on them because vaccines don’t always work.

And to whatever extent vaccines are being required because the 'immune suppressed' cannot be vaccinated, and are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of disease, while my heart goes out to such people, they are not more important than children who are harmed by vaccines.  Nor should the notion that vaccination may in itself be creating immune suppression be left out of this equation.

Besides there is documented proof of outbreaks in 100% vaccinated populations. 

The irony is, of course, that even if they don't recognize it, those who support forcing vaccination are doing so precisely because they don't believe in the effectiveness of vaccines.

Besides, where is the sense of history, the recognition that medicine as practiced and promoted has often been found to be lacking or even just plain, dead wrong?

But even if we were to assume virtually 100% effectiveness and safety of vaccines, is forcing vaccines in a free society ever justified?  As I said in that speech,  "I also consider any notion of 'public health' to be suspect, which sacrifices the individual to some alleged higher goal.  Many of us find it way scarier that the state would sacrifice children to someone's idea of the common good, than to take our chances with Mother Nature.  Who decides?  What's the right number?  Who's counting?  Even in wartime, the draft of adults is only used very judiciously and sparingly.  We also go to considerable effort to avoid enemy civilian casualties.  Yet we seem to think nothing of sacrificing our own innocent children."

Our brave soldiers have fought and died, and will continue to fight and die, in order to protect us from tyranny which threatens our freedom and way of life, including what the Declaration of Independence "hold(s) to be self-evident", the right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".

Do we really want to force vaccination and violate this most basic American right?  Do we really want to pave that road?

by Sandy Gottstein (aka Mintz)

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." - Wendell Phillips (1811-1884), paraphrasing John Philpot Curran (1808)

Sandy Gottstein (aka Mintz) is the publisher of the website "Vaccination News, A Non-Profit Corporation", and writer of  the columns "Scandals" and "Out of Control". 

Past Scandals and Out of Control.

©Copyright 2007 by Sandy Gottstein. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full ONLY with copyright, contact, creation, authorship, and information intact (including all links), without specific permission, and ONLY when used in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Sandy Gottstein is required.

The Story of “The Little Feebles Vaccine That Could”

by Dan Schultz, DC

This is the story of the Feebles Disease and the Little Feebles Vaccine.  It’s an unlikely story, but one you’re probably heard before -- if you had the ears to hear it.

Once upon a time there was a neverland ruled by a Big Bad Pharma Giant.  This heartless, insatiable Pharma Giant wanted nothing more than to own all the gold in the land, so the sent the Little Feebles Vaccine out to get it. Let’s see if the extraordinary cast of characters can help the Little Feebles Vaccine work its way through the neverland maze of obstacles to get to the pot of gold on the other side!

The Little Feebles Vaccine was sad, because he didn’t have a purpose in life.  The Feebles Disease was very rare, had been on the decline on it’s own for many years, and didn’t do much harm anyway.  The Feebles Disease wasn’t much of an arch-enemy, as it could even be good for you! 

But Big Pharma was a clever giant and worked up a scheme. And he knew that a steady decline of a Disease was the perfect time for Little Vaccines to rescue the Ignorant Townspeople and his best chance to snatch up the gleaming, sought-after pots of gold.  The Giant’s statisticians, psychologists and writers knew just what to say in their press releases and the Obliging Senationalizing Media was happy to print them, word for word: 
”Feebles Disease Running Rampant In Certain Areas Of Neverland; Epidemics May Follow.”
”People Suffered Horribly, Lose Time From Work Because Of Devastating Feebles Disease.”
“Purchased Government Officials Say Feebles Disease Could Mutate And Kill Over 2.8 Billion People.”
“Come get a Feebles Vaccine: It’s FREE, And It Could Save Your Life.”

The Ignorant Townspeople were scared.  Now the Little Feebles Vaccine could begin his big adventure, because people stop thinking when they’re scared.   

Soon, the Little Feebles Vaccine journeyed throughout neverland.  Surprisingly (for a little fellow), he hurt many of the Ignorant Townspeople.  The people were angry.  But the Pharma Giant and his minions went on repeating that the Little Feebles Vaccine could not possibly hurt anyone, because he was good.  They knew that if you keep repeating something, most people will start to repeat it, too.  Besides, the Ignorant Townspeople were too busy to investigate the cause of the suffering for themselves. It was easier just to blindly trust someone and to follow the rest of the Ignorant Townspeople.  Whew!  That feels better.

Still, many people were complaining about serious conditions that the Little Feebles Vaccine had caused on his adventure – and they were suing the Big Pharma Giant, who was losing many pots of gold.  Oh, no!  But because the Giant had lots of gold left, and gave some to some Purchased Government Officials who fixed it so that none of the Ignorant Townspeople could ever sue the Giant again. That’s a relief!

But too many of people throughout the land still weren’t accepting the Little Feebles Vaccine.  The Giant was angry.  Not nearly enough gold was being collected -- never enough.  What to do?   Then the Giant got to thinking some more.  What if the Purchased Government Officials forced the people to accept the Little Feebles Vaccine?  He thought that it was crazy enough that it just might work. And it did!

Now, the Big, Bad Pharma Giant could send out more Little Vaccines into the world, even against diseases that the Little Vaccines had caused!  It was marketing genius. 

So the Big, Bad Pharma Giant, the Little Feebles Vaccine and their impressive cast of supporters lived happily ever after…. That is, until the sequel comes out.  It’ll written by Truth and Justice. It’s sure to be a best seller because Truth, it has a certain ring to it and Justice, she always prevails -- coming out soon.