NJ DOC VS. PARENT: COMMENTARY ON VACCINES

By Anne Dachel

Last week, the Courier Post in New Jersey had two commentaries in the opinion section that are a stunning example of what the controversy over vaccines and autism is all about.  One of the pieces was from a physician, Dr. Meg Fisher, and the other was from a mother, Holly Masclans, who is also a member of A-CHAMP (Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning.

With the title, Vaccinations Are Still Needed for Kids, Dr. Fisher gives readers a list of over a dozen diseases that she says have been eliminated by vaccinations.  It seems the doctor's comments were in response to the heated argument that grew out of the mandate for four new vaccines in the childhood schedule in New Jersey. 

Dr. Fisher has 774 words in total in her opinion piece yet only 62 of them are used in the three sentences that focus on the controversy over vaccines and the link to the epidemic of autism.  Dr. Fisher gives us a litany of vaccines, but that's hardly proof that they don't also have serious and damaging side effects.  I can predict that her piece will do little to restore parents' faith in the vaccine program. 

If the public were to hear about the features of a great new car on the market, they'd hardly presuppose from that there couldn't possibly be also fatal flaws in the braking system.

The risks from vaccines get only a mention.  Dr. Fisher writes, "Every medicine and every immunization has side effects. All vaccines have been tested extensively and found to be safe. There is no link of any vaccine to autism. Furthermore, there is no evidence that thimerosal, a preservative used in multidose vials of vaccines and used in some steps in making some vaccines, has caused any problems to those who received these vaccines."

The other letter, from a mom and an activist in the autism community, is in stark contrast to the glowing report given by Dr. Fisher.  Vaccinations Can Have Side Effects by Holly Masclans paints another picture of what vacines can do.

Holly tells us about her experience with vaccine side effects in 512 words that included things like seizures and autism.  She talks about her son's mercury levels and about the fact that her pediatrician didn't report any of her children's adverse reactions because he felt they were just "coincidence." 

Dr. Fisher says vaccines don't cause autism, but that's not proof of anything.  We're in an epidemic of autism and no one can reasonably tell us why.  I personally would like to ask Fisher the following:

Doctor, how can you reasonably expect parents to believe vaccine are safe when all you can do is to tell us about the diseases they prevent?      

                                                   

1. Why do you devote less than 10 percent of your piece to the issue of vaccine damage?
   
2. Why is Thimerosal only described as a "preservative used in multi-dose vials of vaccines"?
   
3. Why is there is no mention of the fact that thimerosal is half mercury?
   
4. Why is the flu vaccine promoted as life-saving, but the mercury content isn't a factor worth mentioning?
   
5. Why do you completely ignore the heated controversy in New Jersey over the new vaccine schedule?
   
6. Why hasn't anyone ever done the research to show us the impact of so many vaccinations in such a short time on the immune system of a small child?

I have to commend the Courier Post for being so fair and balanced.  Rarely does the press allow the public to see both sides like this.  One thing should be clear to readers looking at the two pieces: They both can't be right; Dr. Fisher and Holly Masclans are giving us two diametrically different opinions. 

A parent reading these is much more likely to be alarmed by the experiences of Holly Masclans and not reassured by the claims of Dr. Fisher.

In a state where one in every 94 children has autism -- specifically one in every 60 boys, the medical profession had better invent some more convincing proof that vaccines aren't the cause.  Dr. Fisher's 62 words just don't do it. 

--
Anne Dachel is media editor of Age of Autism.

 

Comments

[Bill Leonard]

Many doctors are just asking for the gold standard in scientific proof to be applied to vaccines. The fact remains that no study has been done on the long-term safety of giving the quantity of vaccination shots in a short periof of time to infants (e.g. compare two statistically-significant groups where one has been vaccinated and the other hasn't and track them for x years). When Eugene Robin, M.D., (Emeritus Professor of Medicine from Stanford Medical School and one of the world’s leading experts on risk/benefit analysis in medicine) said, in 1997, that 'We must be honest and admit that we do not know the impact of administering multiple, different vaccines on very young children or, indeed, on anyone', should we give it strong consideration? Do any of the points made by Dr. Donald Miller (cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington) at http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller15.html make sense? He echoes Dr. Robin's concern as well: 'The hypothesis that vaccines cause neurologic and immune system disorders is a legitimate one – vaccines given in multiple doses, close together, to very young children following the CDC’s Immunization Schedule. This hypothesis should be tested by a large-scale, long-term randomized controlled trial.'. Would pediatricians and others take his suggestion to review the studies he refers to that say that 'multiple vaccinations spaced close together over-stimulate the microglia, causing them to release a variety of toxic elements ... that damage brain cells and their synaptic connections.'? Does he have a point when he says that 'your pediatrician will not like this schedule. They are taught in medical school and residency training that childhood immunizations are essential to public health. ... They do not question what their professors teach them, nor are they inclined to critically examine studies in Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine that tell them vaccines are safe.'

[HCN]

MANAGING EDITORS NOTE: Dear HCN, I deleted your second comment because it looked like a duplicate in the system. Feel free to resubmit.

KIM

When are you going to post your interviews at the Clinic for Special Children in Lancaster, PA?

How did those interviews get deleted from your Amish and autism parts of Age of Autism series?

[Heidi]

I live in NJ and you can't swing a dead cat in our state without hitting someone dealing with autism. Doctors act like the known side effects from vaccines don't exist and that there could not possibly be unknown side effects that were not found during the initial clinical trial. There have been no clinical trials of all of the vaccines administered together and in short time periods after one another, only what we see in real life now after many years of this overloaded vaccine schedule. Our current population IS the study that says that vaccines can cause neurological damage. In NJ, please find the Gov Corzine town hall meeting nearest you (www.nj.gov/governor) and attend that meeting and tell him you want him to reverse the recent mandate for Flu shot for daycare and school admission since there is no legal guarantee that thimerosal containing flu shots will not be used on 6 mo old infants and you know that flu shots without Thimerosal are in short supply. Thanks Ann for all that you do for our kids!

[Raymond Gallup]

Another question.

There has been no independent, long term safety studies done on any of the vaccines.

Why not?

Maybe it is because the drug industry wants to rush the product out without testing it and use our kids as an experiment.

Another answer to the question. When they do get around to doing independent long term safety studies there should be pro-vaccine MDs being involved in the studies. After all they should be confident vaccines are "safe" since they feed us that baloney.

Ray Gallup
highnoon@gti.net

[Kelli Ann Davis]

All vaccines have been tested extensively and found to be SAFE. There is no link of any vaccine to autism. Furthermore, there is NO EVIDENCE that THIMEROSAL, a preservative used in multidose vials of vaccines and used in some steps in making some vaccines, has caused any PROBLEMS to those who received these vaccines."

There it is again – the switchiepoo strategy: Take the focus from PROOF of SAFETY and put it on PROOF of HARM.

The LAW for the regulation of drugs including vaccines and other biological preparations classified as drugs, explicitly require that all drugs (as the term is defined in 21 U.S.C. Section 321(g)(1)13, including any component used in a drug [21 U.S.C. Section 321(g)(1)(D) must be SAFE (based on the definition of SAFE in 21 U.S.C. Section 321(u)14) and effective in human and animals.

So Anne, here’s another question for the good ole’ doc:

7. Since thimerosal is a component used in vaccines and by LAW it must be shown that it is SAFE, can you please show me ONE frickin’ study that demonstrates the safety of mercury – at any level????

Kelli

PS…..

Doctor, how can you reasonably expect parents to believe vaccines are safe when all you can do is to tell us about the diseases they prevent?

Touché