• Question A-III: Is exposure to thimerosal associated with increased risk for clinically important tics and/or Tourette Syndrome?

• Item B-V: “Simultaneous Vaccination” with a background note that says in part, “Usually simultaneous vaccination is incompletely studied at time of licensure.”

• Goals of “Guidelines for investigating and assessing the causality of individual adverse events” and “Guidelines of minimizing risk of VAEs in immunocompromised persons.”

Surely we could add better questions to their list, and we should. Comments on study ideas should go to [email protected] and [email protected]. But request and read the Draft ISO Scientific Agenda for the Vaccine Safety Working Group first-I’ve only hit a few topics in this 63-page report HERE.  We should also keep in mind that this is the first meeting of its kind to occur. This is truly a big deal! A long time coming, I know. And you can argue it’s too little, too late, but it’s never too late for the truth.

In my comments to the committee, I noted that pre-natal exposure to vaccines or viral/bacterial infections were linked to schizophrenia and autism in the offspring (which has been shown in many animal studies as well), yet the flu vaccine is still recommended to pregnant women. I asked them to look at subgroups of children who may be more vulnerable to vaccines, because of underlying immune, genetic or other factors. I told them that my son’s mitochondrial markers are impaired in a manner similar to Hannah’s from what has been released on the Poling case coverage. I asked them to do the right thing.

Of course, the meeting was not totally engaging. The worst part of the meeting in my opinion was the testimony of Lisa Randall (whom some of you are familiar with) in the session for how to effectively engage the public. Her basic message was:

1. science completely refutes that autism and vaccines are related and even further, she says no more studies are needed

2. studying safety of vaccines "encourages" irresponsible parents to not vaccinate because it perpetuates the myth of a relationship

3. she's terrified apparently that her completely normal, perfectly healthy kids may develop measles because of our anti-society, uneducated choices. She was the only pro-vaccine person I heard speak, but I left a few minutes before the end.

She also mentioned she's a paid consultant, in addition to becoming a “concerned mom” after hearing parents disparage our vaccination schedule and program. Kelli Ann Davis mentioned in her testimony that Lisa’s employer is a non-profit funded by pharmaceuticals and the CDC. I did tell Lisa about titre tests that determine immunity to quell her measles fear. Unfortunately for us, there's no autism vaccine (tongue in cheek).

Lisa’s organization, Voices For Vaccines, has a website to share stories, presumably about how vaccinated or unvaccinated kids got communicable diseases. I would encourage you to check out their site and enter your own "story" HERE.

It takes guts to stand up in front of twenty people who believe that vaccines may have caused irreparable damage in their children and say you’re afraid that your normal, healthy children might get measles and that you take money from pharma to provide a “voice” for vaccines. The irony that my son has no voice, but she wants one for inanimate objects, did not escape me.

Anyone who cares can find all sorts of research that shows that autism accompanies altered immune system function. This is true by many measures: inflammation, oxidative stress, and of course, abnormal cytokine elevations. Whether vaccines might cause this abnormal function or exacerbate an underlying condition remains to be seen, in the exact studies Lisa doesn’t want seen conducted.

So this is dedicated to Lisa Randall, who fights against mothers and fathers whose children have a serious disease, without any understanding of the basic science behind their appeal for more research, while she takes cash from vaccine manufacturers.

Send a thoughtful research question to the committee, and thank them for engaging the public on this (I know this idea is painful to many of you). I believe we might get somewhere with this, and we have a chance to guide serious scientific study in this area. This is what we've been asking for. Let’s make the most of it.

Tracy Stewart is the mother of a nearly five-year old autistic son who hasn’t said mama in over three years. She’s Vice President of the National Autism Association of Florida and strongly believes more study is needed in this area.