National Vaccine
Information Center
Your Health. Your Family. Your Choice.
Information Center
Your Health. Your Family. Your Choice.
By Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy
Vaccine related legislative activity in states across the country is at an all time high in 2014. The National Vaccine Information Center has been busy monitoring the bills filed in different states and analyzing them for their potential impact on vaccine freedom of choice.
The NVIC Advocacy Portal (NVICAP) is already tracking 58 bills across 24 states. With many bill filing deadlines weeks away, and several upcoming opportunities for amendments on other proposed measures, we expect the number of bills needing grassroots support or opposition to continue to rise.
Battle Lines Being Drawn in States
In 2014, the battle lines are being drawn in the states between those, who want to force citizens to use every federally recommended vaccine and those, who respect and value the legal right to exercise informed consent to medical risk-taking, including vaccine risk-taking. Your participation and action is urgently needed to defend the human right to exercise informed consent to vaccine risk taking in America and push back the Pharma-Medical Trade-Government Health lobby working hard to eliminate or restrict legal vaccine exemptions.
Along with actions you can take in your state to support good legislation or help defeat bad legislation, bill information is being posted on the NVIC Advocacy Portal. It is very important that you take the time to register for this free communication and vaccine choice advocacy network so you can stay informed and get involved.
Education or Marketing and Coercion?
The lines between “education,” marketing and coercion are getting blurred. Public health officials are joining with lobbyists working for pharmaceutical companies and medical trade associations to pressure state legislators to pass bills that require “vaccine education” and signatures of doctors or other state-designed health workers in order for parents to file non-medical exemptions to vaccination for their children to attend daycare or school. Pregnant women are also a target population. For example, both AL SB 294 (Alabama) and PA HB 1567 (Pennsylvania) require expectant parents to receive information about the pertussis vaccine.
Some proposed legislation this year goes so far as to require schools to provide vaccine education programs for children and parents, which is effectively turning our schools into marketing departments for vaccine manufacturers. AL SB 75 (Alabama) and NY A 3703/S 2070 (New York) would require schools to provide meningococcal vaccine education/promotion, while GA HB 162 requires schools in Georgia to educate the parents of sixth-graders about why their children should get HPV vaccine.
Turning Schools into Vaccine Delivery Clinics
Some state legislators are not satisfied with creating school-based vaccine marketing and “education” programs, they want to bring vaccines to children in schools and turn our schools into vaccine delivery clinics. Several states are proposing to set up school- based vaccination clinics, including Pennsylvania (PA SB 251) where state health officials would be authorized to give flu vaccines to kids while they are attending school and SC HB 3236 (South Carolina) that will give the green light to state health officials to give the HPV vaccine to girls entering seventh grade while in school.
Other state legislators want to require schools to post their vaccination rates in the town square. Vermont Senator Kevin Mullin, who unsuccessfully attempted to remove the state’s philosophical vaccine exemption in 2012, is proposing a bill (VT S 194) to require schools and child care facilities to publically post their specific vaccination rates.
Get Vaccinated or Get Fired
Health care workers, teachers, daycare employees and students in NINE states are targets of new legislation that proposes to force children and adults to get federally-recommended vaccines or suffer economic and other sanctions - from denial of employment and education to denial of parental rights to be informed if a minor child has received one or more vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases!
Health care workers in Illinois (Il SB 1610) and Massachusetts (H 1975) may be required to get flu shots every year in order to keep their jobs. If either of the Vermont bills pass (VT H 114 or VT S 103), Vermont would become the first state in the country with pertussis containing vaccine mandates for teachers that could result in teachers being fired for declining vaccination (daycare workers in Vermont are also being required to get pertussis vaccines in these bills). Legislation has been introduced in Illinois (HB 4406) that would require day care centers in the state to mandate all day care workers get federally recommended vaccines.
Last year, influenza vaccine mandates for all healthcare workers in New Jersey (NJ A 2172/S 1464) was vetoed by the Governor after vocal citizen opposition, but the Pharma-Medical Trade-Government Health lobby is back again this session with a vengeance. A proposed new law (NJ S 1176) would require healthcare facilities to require all personnel to get an annual flu shot or be fired and denied new employment.
Mandates and Ignoring Parental Rights
Meanwhile in Indiana (IN HB 1236) some legislators want to pass a law mandating that all boys get HPV vaccinations and the bill also is trying to raise the overall HPV vaccination rates in the state. All sixth grade students in Kentucky will be required to get HPV vaccine if the lobbyists pushing KY HB 311 get their way.
Some of the most disturbing bills are out of New York: NY A 497 and NY S 3134 would make it possible for doctors to give minor children vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases (such as hepatitis B and HPV vaccines) without their parents’ knowledge or consent if the minor child agrees to get the vaccine.
Missouri (MO SB 748), Nebraska (NE LB 460) and New York (NY A 4221) all have bills filed that would require meningococcal vaccinations for students in different age groups.
Papers, Please?
Since the 1990’s, the National Vaccine Information Center has been warning Americans about the systematic erosion of civil liberties and violation of privacy and informed consent rights when citizens are forced to participate in government-operated vaccine tracking systems without their voluntary consent.
The Centers for Disease Control continues to report on and support the expansion of Immunization Information Systems (IIS). These electronic medical record monitoring systems are used to identify, track down and harass those not compliant with the federally recommended child and adult vaccine schedules to enforce use of a growing list of vaccines promoted by public health officials, pharmaceutical companies and medical trade groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Iowa (IA HSB 530), Indiana (IN HB 1352) and Missouri (MO HB 1445 and MO S817) all have bills that will require doctors and other vaccine administrators to enter vaccine records into state vaccine tracking registries operated by government health officials.
Foster Parents’ Informed Consent Rights Attacked
Some legislators don’t want to accept laws protecting vaccine informed consent rights from last year’s legislative session. For example, last year the Arizona legislature passed a common sense law giving foster parents the right to make voluntary vaccination decisions for their own children and still be foster parents. This was particularly helpful in cases where the children of foster parents had medical contraindications to vaccination or had filed non-medical vaccine exemptions. Now there is a proposed law (AZ SB1243) that would basically repeal this law and instead force foster parents to vaccinate their biological and legally adopted children or be denied the right to be foster parents.
Restricting Vaccine Exemptions in Oregon
Last legislative session, the state of Oregon suffered a setback when OR SB 132 was passed and eliminated the religious exemption to vaccination. The new law requires parents and guardians, who file a nonmedical exemption for their child after Mar. 1, 2014, to receive state-approved “education” about vaccination before being allowed to file the exemption. If a parent already has a non-medical exemption form on file with schools and daycare facilities, the form does not need to be resubmitted. Only parents filing non-medical exemptions after Mar. 1, 2014 will have to comply with the new regulations.
Details on this new law and how to obtain the current form for a non-medical exemption before the Mar. 1 change goes into effect are posted in the Announcements section of the Oregon State page on the NVIC Advocacy Portal.
Colorado Vaccine Stakeholder Work Group Issues Report
NVIC is closely monitoring developments in Colorado for any attempts by the Pharma-Medical Trade-Government Health lobby to push for legislation that would restrict non-medical vaccine exemptions. In December, the Colorado Department of Public Health issued a press release on a recent stakeholder report discussing Colorado’s personal belief vaccine exemption. NVIC’s Executive Director, Theresa Wrangham, represented NVIC during the stakeholder engagement project and took the position that it is both unnecessary and coercive to make it more difficult for parents to file non-medical exemptions in Colorado.
The report recommends requiring state-approved education and/or counseling prior to a non-medical vaccine exemption being filed. Parents would need to obtain the signature of a doctor or other state-designated health worker or public health official and the exemption would have to be reviewed annually by the state under this workgroup’s recommendations.
NVIC supports the ethical principle of voluntary informed consent to medical risk-taking and opposes restrictions on vaccine exemptions that make it more difficult for citizens to exercise their informed consent rights. While a bill or proposed rule to restrict vaccine exemptions in Colorado has not been filed yet, there is still time so we are watching this carefully.
Other Attempts to Suspend or Eliminate Exemptions
Some legislators in Vermont would like to see all philosophical and religious exemptions suspended if the vaccination rate falls below 90% (VT H 138 and VT S 102). These two bills fortunately did not make any progress in 2013 but they have carried over to 2014 and need to be watched and opposed.
The battle to protect vaccine exemptions in New Jersey continues with NJ S 1147 attempting to restrict religious exemptions.
Bills Introduced to Expand and Protect Exemptions
NVIC Advocacy Portal users in Mississippi, New Jersey and New York have been very busy communicating with their legislators to brief them about why securing expanded vaccine exemptions is necessary to protect parental informed consent rights and children’s health. Bills have been introduced in Mississippi (MS HB 1420) New Jersey (NJ A 1534) and New York (NY A 6359 and NY S 3934) to add a philosophical or conscientious belief exemption to state vaccine laws. There is another bill in New York (NY A2689), which provides protection to parents who file a religious belief exemption from being persecuted.
Legislators in Oklahoma and Wisconsin have stepped up to the plate on behalf of health care workers whose employers are attempting to require flu shots or other federally recommended vaccines as a condition of employment. Codified exemptions are being proposed in Oklahoma (HB 1892) and Wisconsin (WI AB 247).
Additional support for health care worker informed consent rights has surfaced in Wisconsin (WI AB 608). This bill prohibits a health care provider or health care system from refusing to affiliate with or join another health care provider network or health care system based on the influenza vaccination status of a health care provider or the percentage of fully vaccinated employees.
A recently filed bill in New York (NY S 6443), would give Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants the right to grant and write medical exemptions to vaccinations. Under current law, only state licensed physicians have the legal right to write medical exemptions. The bill would also guarantee that the physician or other state-designed health worker who writes a medical exemption will not be pressured by public health or other government officials to withdraw the medical exemption.
Lawmakers in Virginia are looking out for homeschooled students and students with vaccine exemptions to protect their right to participate in interscholastic activities funded by state tax dollars. A Virginia bill (VA HB 63) has been introduced that would prohibit a public school from becoming a member of any organization or entity regulating or governing interscholastic programs that refuses to allow a student, who is homeschooled or has a valid legal exemption to vaccination, to participate in activities.
Get Involved and Take Action
By registering for NVIC’s Advocacy portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, you have access to:
more detailed information about all vaccine bills pending in your state;
- NVIC’s position on supporting or opposing the bill;
- a direct electronic connection through your computer or cell phone to enable you to contact your personal legislators, and
- talking points and steps you can take to educate your legislators and make your voice heard.
Our amazing NVIC volunteer state advocacy team directors are on the ground in your state working to monitor legislation and help you protect your informed consent rights . They welcome and need your help to background and communicate with legislators in your state.
Raise Awareness About the NVIC Advocacy Portal
Please forward this NVIC Newsletter to family and friends who care about their parental and informed consent rights and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal. You can log in to the Portal and use NVIC’s “Tell a Friend” feature under the “Resources” tab where all you have to do is enter a friend or a family member’s name and email address and we will send information about the NVIC Advocacy Portal and an invitation to register for the Portal. It is free and just by registering, they will automatically receive email alerts with step-by-step instructions about how to educate their legislators when vaccine safety and choice issues arise in their state.
NVIC’s goal is to have dedicated and educated vaccine freedom of choice advocates in every legislative district in the country willing to take a few moments to educate their elected officials regarding vaccines and exemptions whenever their voices need to be heard. Please contact everyone you know who cares about the right, free from coercion and harassment, to be educated and have the final say in whether or not to use vaccines marketed and recommended for mandates by public health officials. Please stress to them the importance of becoming an informed voice of reason in their state legislature. Encourage them to sign up for NVIC’s Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, and we will do our job by providing them with well referenced information they can trust when their grassroots action is needed.
We are excited for the opportunity in 2014 to make a memorable impact in state legislatures by joining hands with tens of thousands of families and enlightened health care professionals across America and defending the ethical principle of voluntary informed consent to vaccination!
NVIC Social Networking
Please also follow NVIC on Facebook and follow the Advocacy Portal on Twitter @NVICAdvocacy! To view detailed information for the bills below you must register to use the Advocacy Portal. Please sign up - it is free!
Current Action Alerts
|
State
|
Date Posted
|
Title
|
|
CO
|
2/5/2014
|
Contact legislators concerning personal belief stakeholder report and possible legislation
|
|
ID
|
2/3/2014
|
Support RS22740 Testimony Needed to Support Informed Consent Rights Regarding Vaccines
|
|
NH
|
2/2/2014
|
Oppose SB 309 as Written on NH Vaccine Association
|
|
OH
|
2/5/2014
|
Ask your legislators to co-sponsor the bill to protect healthcare workers from flu vaccine mandates
|
|
RI
|
2/5/2014
|
Contact legislators concerning proposed new vaccine mandates for students/childcare workers
|
|
WI
|
2/3/2014
|
Contact members of the Health Committee and ask them to support AB 247, protects HCWs - flu mandates
|
Positions on Monitored Bills
|
State
|
Bill Number
|
Date Posted
|
Position
|
Title
|
|
AL
|
SB 294
|
2/3/2014
|
WATCH
|
Requires hospitals to provide pertussis vaccine information to new parents before discharge
|
|
AL
|
SB 75
|
2/1/2014
|
WATCH
|
Requires schools to provide Meningococcal Vaccine information
|
|
AZ
|
HB 2101
|
2/6/2014
|
WATCH
|
Establishes the vaccine financing and availability study committee
|
|
AZ
|
SB 1243
|
1/28/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires foster parents in AZ to vaccinate their own children as a condition of licensure
|
|
CA
|
SB 492
|
2/3/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Allows optometrists to administer vaccines during a declared emergency
|
|
CO
|
SB 32
|
2/7/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Removes restrictions that prevent alternative practitioners from treating children
|
|
FL
|
HB85/SB880
|
2/11/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Creates a pilot literacy program that encourages immunization services for children in the program
|
|
GA
|
SB 85
|
2/5/2014
|
WATCH
|
Allows pharmacists to administer vaccines to children
|
|
GA
|
HB 162
|
1/29/2014
|
WATCH
|
Requires parents of 6th grade students be given information about HPV Vaccine
|
|
IA
|
HSB 530
|
1/25/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires anyone who administers immunizations to enter each immunization into the state registry
|
|
IL
|
SB 1610
|
1/30/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires health care workers to receive flu vaccine or wear a mask
|
|
IL
|
HB 0332, HB 2008
|
1/30/2014
|
WATCH
|
Amends the Public Health Act by making a technical change
|
|
IL
|
HB 4406
|
1/30/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires daycare centers and homes to adopt vaccination policies for staff
|
|
IN
|
HB 1236
|
1/16/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Expands current HPV requirement to include boys, adds program to increase vaccination rate for HPV
|
|
IN
|
HB1352
|
1/16/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires anyone who administers immunizations to enter each immunization into the state registry
|
|
KY
|
HB 311
|
2/6/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Adds HPV Vaccine requirement for 6th grade students
|
|
MA
|
H 1975
|
2/5/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Mandatory annual flu vaccine for health care workers
|
|
MO
|
SB532
|
2/11/2014
|
WATCH
|
Allows relative care givers to consent to vaccination for children via an avadavat
|
|
MO
|
SB 748
|
2/8/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Adds meningococcal vaccine requirement for children and college students living in on-campus housing
|
|
MO
|
HB 1683
|
2/4/2014
|
OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED
|
Allows pharmacists to administer vaccines to children 7 year and older
|
|
MO
|
HB 1445/S 817
|
2/4/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires all immunization providers to submit all vaccination records to the registry
|
|
MS
|
SB 2789
|
2/10/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Concerning exemptions to vaccination
|
|
MS
|
HB 1420
|
2/5/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Provides for a conscientious exemption to required vaccinations for school
|
|
NE
|
LB859
|
2/4/2014
|
WATCH
|
Amends the current law concerning flu and TDaP vaccines for healthcare workers
|
|
NE
|
LB 460
|
1/28/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires meningitis vaccine for 7th grade students and 16 year old students
|
|
NJ
|
AB 2570
|
2/11/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Eliminates use of vaccines containing mercury over three years
|
|
NJ
|
S1147
|
1/31/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Restricts religious exemptions to vaccination in NJ
|
|
NJ
|
S1176
|
1/31/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires healthcare facilities to establish flu vaccination policies
|
|
NJ
|
A351
|
1/27/2014
|
WATCH
|
Makes changes to exemptions to vaccination
|
|
NJ
|
A1534
|
1/27/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Provides for a conscientious exemption to vaccination
|
|
NY
|
A4421
|
2/5/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires seventh graders and college students to be vaccinated against meningococcal disease
|
|
NY
|
A2689
|
2/5/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Provides protections to parents who use a religious belief exemption in NY
|
|
NY
|
A 6359, S 3934
|
2/4/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Adds a philosophical exemption to immunizations
|
|
NY
|
A497/S3134
|
1/29/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Allows minors to consent to STD (eg. HPV and Hep B) Vaccine without parental consent
|
|
NY
|
S6443
|
1/26/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Ensures physicians, NP and PA exemptions to vaccinations prevail
|
|
NY
|
A3703/S2070
|
1/25/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires schools to provide Meningococcal Vaccine information and record vaccination status
|
|
OH
|
HB 394
|
2/5/2014
|
WATCH
|
Expands current law to allow pharmacists to administer all vaccines to children 7 and older
|
|
OH
|
SB 79
|
2/5/2014
|
WATCH
|
Allows pharmacists to administer vaccines to children age 7 and older
|
|
OK
|
HB 1892
|
2/3/2014
|
SUPPORT, IF AMENDED
|
Requires health care facilities grant religious exemptions to flu vaccine mandates
|
|
PA
|
HB 776
|
2/5/2014
|
WATCH
|
Allows pharmacists to administer vaccines to children 7 and older
|
|
PA
|
HB 1567
|
2/5/2014
|
WATCH
|
Requires healthcare providers to give expectant mothers information about pertussis vaccine
|
|
PA
|
SB 251
|
2/5/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Allows the health dept. to offer flu vaccines for children in schools
|
|
SC
|
HB 3236
|
2/5/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Allows the health dept. to provide HPV Vaccine to girls entering the 7th grade in SC
|
|
VA
|
HB63
|
2/1/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Concerning interscholastic participation for home schooled students and non-vaccinated students
|
|
VT
|
H 138, S 102
|
2/5/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Suspends philosophical and religious exemptions if the immunization rate falls below 90%
|
|
VT
|
H 114, S 103
|
2/5/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires pertussis vaccine for teachers and child care workers
|
|
VT
|
S142
|
1/27/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Allows pharmacists to administer vaccines to children 7 and older
|
|
VT
|
S194
|
1/27/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires schools and child care facilities to publicly post vaccination rates
|
|
WI
|
AB 608
|
1/9/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Prevents healthcare providers and systems from refusing to affiliate based on flu vaccination status
|
|
WI
|
AB247
|
1/1/2014
|
SUPPORT
|
Protects healthcare workers who refuse an annual flu vaccine
|
|
WV
|
HB 4280/SB 386
|
2/7/2014
|
OPPOSE
|
Requires children to be vaccinated as a condition to receive aid from the WV Works Program
|
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/February-2014/2014-State-Vaccine-Legislation-in-America---Battle.aspx
2014 U.S. State Vaccine Legislation:
Battle Lines Are Drawn & Your Participation is Needed!
By Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy
Vaccine related legislative activity in states across the country is at an all time high in 2014. The National Vaccine Information Center
has been busy monitoring the bills filed in different states and
analyzing them for their potential impact on vaccine freedom of choice.
The NVIC Advocacy Portal (NVICAP) is already tracking 58 bills across 24 states. With
many bill filing deadlines weeks away, and several upcoming
opportunities for amendments on other proposed measures, we expect the
number of bills needing grassroots support or opposition to continue to
rise.
Battle Lines Being Drawn in States
In
2014, the battle lines are being drawn in the states between those who
want to force citizens to use every federally recommended vaccine and
those who respect and value the legal right to exercise informed consent
to medical risk-taking, including vaccine risk-taking. Your
participation and action is urgently needed to defend the human right to
exercise informed consent to vaccine risk taking in America and push
back the Pharma-Medical Trade-Government Health lobby working hard to
eliminate or restrict legal vaccine exemptions.
Read more about which state bills will force vaccine use or restrict vaccine exemptions and make a comment here.
Vaccine Freedom Wall: Have
you or your children been threatened or forced to get a vaccination
without your voluntary, informed consent? You can share your story with
others by posting your experience on NVIC's Vaccine Freedom Wall here.
NVIC In the News
Battle Over Vaccinations Thrives in States With High Exemptions. This
article states, "a small and vocal minority of skeptics resist
vaccinations on religious or philosophical grounds, or out of unproven
belief that the medicines cause more harm." It also includes the
following quote: "Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center,
which fights attempts to limit exemptions, says the backlash is an
outgrowth of the rapid growth of vaccinations and the concern among some
parents that they don't know enough about them. 'With so many vaccines
going on the market, this issue is not going away... It's not about
people being foolish or ignorant. It's about people becoming more
educated,' she said."
Read the article at NBC. Feb. 4, 2014.
Debate in Colorado Grows Over Child Vaccinations. A
radio interview and debate was moderated by Colorado NPR host Meghna
Chakrabarti with NPR reporter Megan Verlee; Rachel Herlihy, CO Dept. of
Health; Stephanie Wasserman, CO Children's Immunization Coalition and
Theresa Wrangham, NVIC Executive Director, who said "I think it is a bit
arrogant, actually, to say for those of you who don't agree with the
public health agenda and who seek an exemption, we're going to require
that you get extra education because obviously you're missing the boat
here."
Listen to the 5-minute radio interview and read the interview transcript at WBUR Radio. Jan. 20, 2014.
Colorado Health Organizations Recommend Making It Hard to Opt Out of Vaccinations. Public health officials and medical trade groups in Colorado are lobbying to change the personal belief vaccine exemption. A recent "stakeholder" report on vaccine exemptions recommends that parents be required to receive state-approved
vaccine "education" before being allowed to file a personal belief
exemption. The report also recommended that schools be required to
publicly post vaccination rates. The article notes, "The National Vaccine Information Center,
a nonprofit organization concerned about the potential side effects of
vaccines, says the number of exemptions actually fell last year."
Vaccines In the News
CDC Reports Some Babies Injected With Rotavirus Vaccine Instead of Being Given Orally
The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the live oral rotavirus
vaccine has been injected into some babies. Over a period from 2006 to
2010, at least 39 infants mistakenly were injected with the oral
vaccine, resulting in side effects in 50 percent of cases. Since so many
vaccine reactions go unreported, CDC officials suggest the actual
incidence is much higher.
Understanding the Narcolepsy/Autoimmune Relationship
Two
independent studies bolster the hypothesis that narcolepsy- the
inability of the body to self-regulate the wake/sleep cycle- is not only
a neurological disorder but is also an autoimmune disorder and can be
triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by an atypical immune
response. Researchers suspect that a lack of the protein hypocretin,
which ordinarily helps to regulate the sleep/wake cycle, is involved
when narcolepsy develops and causes individuals to suddenly,
uncontrollably fall asleep many times during the day or suffer "sleep
paralysis" and visual and auditory hallucinations. Similarities between
the hypocretin protein and a pandemic H1N1 influenza virus protein may
help explain the spike in cases of narcolepsy that developed in children
and adults given H1N1 swine flu vaccine in Europe during the 2009-2010
pandemic season.
Pfizer Pins Hopes on Vaccine Data to Kick-Start Revenue Growth
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is working to grab a share of the estimated $4 billion dollar market awaiting a vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus, a
bacterial infection that is associated with boils/abscesses and other
skin infections, such as cellulitis and impetigo, as well as mastitis,
meningitis and heart, bone and blood infections. Pfizer CEO
Ian Read said results from recently completed trials of an experimental
vaccine are encouraging. In 2011, Merck "pulled the plug" on their own
late-stage S. aureus vaccine trials when the vaccine was found to be not only ineffective but also associated with multiple organ failure and death.
Volunteers Infected With Flu in NIH Research Program
Health
officials admit they do not fully understand how the body fights the
influenza virus, why the flu vaccine doesn't always protect people or
how high antibody levels have to be to prevent disease or lessen its
severity. Dr. Anthony
Fauci, chief of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, said, "As mind-boggling as it is, we don't know the answer to
that. We made some assumptions that we knew everything about flu." National
Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers are now deliberately infecting
healthy adults with live influenza virus in a study of the natural
progression of influenza infection, with the goal of creating more
effective vaccines.
The Debate Over Vaccination Sparks Strong Feelings
The
flu-related death of a child in North Carolina prompted more public
debate about widespread use of influenza vaccine and whether flu shots
should be mandated. Longtime physician William S. Kelly believes so
strongly in vaccines that he said he dismisses from his practice
patients who refuse vaccines. Others
are very skeptical about the flu vaccine and agree with Alesheia
Baccous, who said, "If I'm healthy and I keep my immune system up,
there's really no need to get a flu shot."
Mississippi Group Calls for Vaccine Choice
A vaccine safety and choice advocacy group, Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights, is
asking legislators in that state to change Mississippi vaccine laws to
give parents the legal right to exercise informed consent to
vaccination. Mississippi and West Virginia are the only two states that
do not provide a religious, philosophical or conscientious belief
exemption in addition to a medical exemption. The parent group said that
a medical exemption is often too difficult to obtain from a doctor and
is supporting a bill that would allow parents to file a non-medical
religious or philosophical belief exemption.
Vaccine Nanoparticles Offer Shake and Bake Field Delivery
Researchers
at the University of Washington have developed an experimental
nanoparticle vaccine using a surface protein designed to trick the
immune system into responding as if it has encountered a pathogen in
nature. The nanoparticle technology would allow vaccine manufacturers to
ship the protein-based vaccines freeze-dried or dehydrated so they
could be reconstituted "on the spot," as needed. One researcher, Michael
Gibney, said, "The one-size-fits-all aspect of the nanoparticle-protein
combination could lead to a quick, shake-and-bake type of manufacturing
process."
Why the Press Shouldn't Dismiss Vaccine Skeptics
Chastising the press for the nearly universal categorization of vaccine questioners as ignorant and irrational, Lawrence Solomon, Research Director of Toronto's Consumer Policy Institute, said the "wholesale
demeaning of vaccine skeptics defies explanation." He goes on to say,
"No journalist would have had any difficulty finding dozens of
distinguished skeptical scientists for the very few 'rogue' scientists
that the press has vilified." It is pointed out that these
well-respected physicians, scientists and academic dignitaries are not
usually against vaccines per se. Rather, they wish to "identify the
vulnerable populations... so that all can be confident when vaccines are
administered." For this, says Solomon, "they deserve our appreciation,
not our ridicule."
Five-Year-Old Dies of Flu Complications - Vaccines Don't Work All the Time
A
small boy in Eugene, Oregon, died from complications of H1N1 influenza,
despite having received the flu vaccine a month earlier. His death
highlights an often-forgotten fact: Vaccination does not guarantee
protection from disease. The child's mother says she will continue to
vaccinate her family against influenza, though she says, "Vaccines
don't work all the time. In this case it wasn't a 100 percent
guarantee, and people need to remember that." Dr. Patrick Luedtke of
Lane Public Health agrees that vaccines are not always effective and
recommends also taking common-sense preventive measures, such as
covering a cough or sneeze and washing hands thoroughly to prevent
transmission of disease.
NVIC Calendar Notes
Feb. 11-12, June 10-11 and Sept. 9-10, 2014: Meeting dates for the National Vaccine Advisory Committee in Washington, DC.
Feb. 26-27, June 25-26 and Oct. 29-30, 2014. Meeting dates for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta, GA.
Feb. 28, May 7-8, Sept. 17-18 and Nov. 19-19, 2014, with a backup summer date of July 17-18: Meeting dates for the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee in Silver Spring, MD.
Mar. 6-7, Jun. 5-6, Sept. 4-5 and Dec. 4-5 2014:
Meeting dates for the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines
Meeting dates for the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines
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