Is anybody else recovering from post trraumatic stress syndrome?

I am certain that significant data was collected over the Stephanopolous interview. Trust me, if it had been bad for us, we'd have heard. I think lots of people know other people who have an affected child. That is way more compelling than TV journalism. And those are the numbers I think they got. Who knows what they found out. Maybe some of it is public information.

They really did cover vaccine safety as opposed to the heathcare reform vote which came down today. Do not forget that I called this, all my friends and patients' parents that might have been following. It really helps to have a context for the situation you are in, especially if it is bad. Context helps you make decisions.

It was not coincidence that the Stephanopolous interview was held on a Monday holiday, lots of people home in front of the TV, a major opportunity to both collect data and influence public opinion. Wakefield was too inexperienced to recognize a land mine: a super prime time interview, and a veteran TV commentator with a mandate from his network and an axe to grind. I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. I still can’t. But Andy is a rugby player. They take things straight on and get bashed around. Despite the forces amassed against him on this occasion, all the propaganda in the universe is not going to sway a parent who watched his child’s descent into autism after one or several vaccines. And there are a lot of parents like that.

The British outnumbered the Americans five to one in the American Revolution. The Americans were frightened. Their first battle was a terrible rout. Ultimately they won the war because of courage, cunning, and because they had no choice. It was fight or be tyrannized.

George, we shall stop watching you.

Does ANYBODY know what is going on with the huge, expensive socialist program that is being rolled into place in Washington right now? I think it relates. Pharmaceutical interests have lost a lot of money over bad products, not just the MMR. Forcing 44M people to buy insurance brings in quite a bit of money. It will be carefully strategised. Have you heard any information about what is happening to that legislation? Or are they getting three birds with one stone as I suggested earlier?

Dr. Mullen:

Do not lump the vaccine-autism debate into some type of "socialist agenda." That is just nonsensical. Shame on you for buying into the baloney that the right-wing corporatists from BOTH major parties are trying to feed us. This issue has nothing to do with healthcare reform -- which is desperately needed. It has nothing to do with socialism. It has to do with protecting the medical industrial complex even in the face of overwhelming evidence of harm. The "ism" that its closest to is fascism.

While we all hoped for a fair hearing from the GMC, in retrospect that decision was the set up for BMJ prostitution with Brian Deer and the subsequent media attacks that followed from it. Neither do I think that the timing of these events is accidental. While we are occupied with this propaganda that can lead to a media circus if charges are brought, the antecedents to the House vote on healthcare reform go unreported. As FDR said, "Nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

The current attack on Wakefield and the media coverage around it, supports the goals of overall socialist strategy: to secure the funding of the healthcare reform act, to smash Wakefield and the association of vaccines with autism, and to damage the credibility of biomedical treatment in so far as possible. NOBODY, least of all Wakefield, should discuss this matter with any media outlet. There is no possibility whatever of a fair hearing or balanced argument. It just increases our burden. If criminal charges are filed against Wakefield, NOBODY SHOULD SAY A WORD. We feed the monster if we engage in dialog at this time. Only his defense attorneys should respond with a statement. Then these pundits will have to go on discussing among themselves how right they are, which is pretty boring and won't get good ratings. The air time that the subject gets will diminish considerably. We are confronting the activity of professionals who know very well what they are attempting. Our response must be professional also.

Has anyone been able to get any information on what kind of deals are going down over healthcare?

Erik,

When you evaluate things in terms of secular humanism versus primary faith in God to get us through minor stuff like Measles, it makes perfect sense to see the left reacting in the way they always do.

Mass vaccinations are like the third rail of humanistic belief.

Doctors today have absolutely no idea that babies are NOT delivered by storks. Nor do they grasp that immunity from dear old mom protects infants and toddlers long enough for them to develop their own immune systems. It has for however many centuries man has inhabited the earth.

Injecting infants and toddlers with germs before they are capable of immune defenses sucks.

But...Every Child By Two is a leftist creation and the left is insensible when humanistic endeavors are challenged for their validity and prudence.

How come you are all still refering to Andrew Wakefield as "Doctor" when he's been struck off and is therefore no longer a doctor?

I can't tell you how much reading this angered me! All he did was accuse Wakefield!! He didn't even let him defend himself!! This isn't news!!! I would expect something like this from something like John Stewert or Steven Colbert but someone like George should know better!!! There was nothing balanced about this!! He didn't get to tell his own side, he didn't even really get to talk!! I am disgusted, and whether you are on one side or the other of this debate, everyone should!! They allowed the arguments of Deer and Offit without mentioning THEIR conflicts of interest, yet proceeded to attack Wakefield?! I expect better from a national news program! This was a hachet job! Way to go GMA! You have just lost yourself several viewers! I think I need to go have another chamomille tea, I'm shaking! Just wow!!! The arrogance, the mudslinging and the condescension I could feel just from reading those words! George you got some balls!!

Two thumbs down for George Stephanopolous!

I thought as a journalist you were supposed to get the story and let viewers form their own opinion. Not invite a guest on the show- berate them, dismiss them and try to sway your audience. We are all capable of thinking for ourselves George.
Stick to the story, facts (real ones), and let the viewers decide. It is unfortunate that George isn't of the same caliber as Dr. Wakefield.

The world would be a better place with healthy children if all Drs. were as pure as Dr. Wakefield. The truth will come out!

Dr. Wakefield is not the problem. The problem is the problem!

Thank you, Dr. Wakefield, for everything you have done and continue to do for our children!

"60 years ago, doctors were among the most revered people"...well, guess what? People today know that many of the over-inflated egos walking around with stethoscopes around their necks know far less about autism and other rising conditions than many parents.

That particular statement hit me hard, as I went against all my motherly instincts and had my 18-month old vaccinated, mere moments after our know-it-all ped told us he suspected Xander had autism and right after he also rudely informed us that 'the vaccine-autism connection was a load of crap'..real professional, eh? The diagnosis a mere 6 month later? Autism, seizures, learning delays, enlarged brain, cerebral palsy and IBD.

Sorry, but the prov-vax mantra of 'correlation does not equal causation" makes me want to punch someone. Mostly Offit.

Wakefield has saved children's lives, not taken them away.

This program is another perfect illustration of how completely dominant the pharmaceutical industry is over the media. The interview was so embarrasingly biased that George should consider retiring. As usual, Dr. Wakefield handled himself fantastically well, under the circumstances. I would certainly recommend that everyone read Dr. Wakefield's book "Callous Disregard", which describes and documents the facts related to the issues. I doubt very much that George read the book carefully with an open mind. ABC and all of the other pharmaceutically dominated media certainly won't give Dr. Wakefield a fair shake.
Michael B Schachter MD, CNS

Hard hitting journalism....puhleze... did anyone see what this lady saw? I didn't...and I don't think I am alone.

MedPage and ABC

A Very Good Morning, America

By: Peggy Peck  |  January 17, 2011

In general, morning television is the last place that one expects to find hard-hitting journalism. But a hard-hitting report is just what Good Morning America served up with the morning coffee on this Monday morning.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will point out that MedPage Today does have an on-going collaborative relationship with ABC News and, as part of that relationship, MedPage Today has produced several co-branded segments for Good Morning America Weekend. And, as those who have read my editorial No Doubt About It know, I have my own opinions about vaccines and autism.

Okay, now that the disclosure is out of the way, I want to say that watching the GMA report on the Wakefield fraud had me jump right out of my chair, do a punch fist in the air, and shout "Yes!"

The show set up the segment with a no-holds-barred report from ABC Senior Health and Medical Editor Richard Besser, MD, who laid out the facts of the fraud in simple terms with compelling video, including a clip from Brian Deer, the journalist whose investigation of Wakefield was published in the BMJ. Deer had this to say: "I think what Dr. Wakefield did was a moral crime, if not an actual crime."

The Besser report was followed by an interview done by GMA co-host George Stephanopoulos, and there was one hardball after another. He started the interview by introducing Wakefield as the author of a new book, Callous Disregard, that is being promoted as "the truth" behind the controversy, but drops this into the question, "Dr. Besser stated your case pretty well --10 of your 12 fellow authors in the the journal retracted it [Lancet paper], your license to practice medicine has been revoked, and last week the British Medical Journal concluded this: they say clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on [your] damaging vaccine scare. Given all of this, why should anyone trust what you have to say about this matter?"

Stephanopoulos kept up the pressure throughout the interview, but my favorite line was when Wakefield admonished Stephanapoulos to "check your facts" and Stephanopoulos shot back, "I read the study and your book."

And even when Stephanopoulos had Wakefield on the ropes, he didn't let up the pressure. In response to Wakefield's favorite parry: an attack on Deer's credibility, Stephanopoulos intoned, "He is not alone, sir. He is not alone. You've had your medical license revoked in Great Britain. They charged you with dishonesty. The Lancet retracted the study. The [BMJ] stands behind Mr. Deer's findings. These people are not alone."

You said it, George.

And you are not alone either.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/24375

It’s hard to imagine myself being a bigger fan of Dr. Wakefield than I already am. Watching him take the hit for things he never did while, being blamed for the “rising rates” of parents who opt-out of vaccines, along with the “deaths” of these parents’ children is difficult to tolerate. The Hungry Lie has a seemingly bottomless appetite.

In 1956, when my parents opted out of vaccinating my siblings and myself for polio, Andrew Wakefield was only a child. In 1975, when my child was born and I opted out of vaccination for ‘anything’, Andrew Wakefield was probably doing his internship. In 1998, when my grandson was born and his parents opted out of vaccines, Andrew Wakefield was nowhere on our radar. We never reasoned that we were protected against disease by the ‘herd’ around us. What my parents understood over 5 decades ago is that disease is less about the germ and more about the host. For the record, my family has no chronic disease, no hospitalizations for illness, no prescription drug use, no shots.

What we knew about vaccines was as true then as it is today. How any medical authority can believe that inoculating a child makes them “healthy” is unfathomable to me. Dr. Wakefield is a voice of reason in a sea of madness. Thank you, kind sir. Galileo was absolved by the Church SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS after his death. We can only hope your absolution occurs in our lifetimes, and in yours.

Unfortunately the ink staining the wretches at salon.com is red.

I find it fascinating that those on the left, who are the most leery of government colluding with industry have been the most hostile to our community over the past couple of weeks. Look at how Dr. Wakefield was treated by George S at ABC (former Clinton campaign guy), how JB Handley was treated by Eliot Spitzer (former Democrat NY governor and attorney general), and now the example of Salon (which leans left) pulling RFK Jr's "Deadly Immunity" article. The most favorable coverage has been from conservative outlets such as Allisyn Camerota on Fox and Friends and the Steve Malzberg radio show in New York, who interviewed JB last week.

A few months ago Dr Wakefield was interviewed on UK television. The programme host was Lorraine Kelly, a fellow Scot and a very popular TV presenter, noted for her motherly warmth and friendly sympathetic matter. The much hyped ITV ‘Daybreak’ was new breakfast time scheduling. The 'Lorraine' programme followed at 8-30am.

Dr Wakefield was in Brussels, having been invited to speak about MMR at the European Parliament. Lorraine arranged for him to discuss the MMR vaccine controversy on her programme, via a live video link to London. Dr Hilary Jones was also present in the ITV studio, having also been invited to promote the pro MMR vaccine stance. I have personally always found TV Doctor Jones to be a particularly sanctimonious and patronising member of the medical fraternity, but with TV programmes we can always switch off or over!!

If this had been purely a Wakefield v Jones interview, it would have been perfectly fair. Dr Wakefield is accustomed to hostile interviewing techniques, and invariably acquits himself well, but I watched with increasing horror as 'sweet reasonable Lorraine' joined in the affray. Both she and Dr Jones constantly interrupted Dr Wakefield, and he had to contend with the two of them hurling accusations at him from both sides at once. He was never given enough time to complete his reasoned logical replies. Lorraine finally interrupted to give the last word, a diatribe extolling parents to make sure their children received the MMR vaccine. I complained to media 'watchdog' Ofcom about the unfair way in which Dr Wakefield was treated, but got nowhere.

I was reminded of all this when I read the transcript of the above interview with host George Stepanopolus;(thanks very much for transcribing). This used the same bullying techniques and interruptions, all intended to 'skew' public perceptions in favour of the vaccinations.

We all owe Dr Wakefield a HUGE dept for putting up with this kind of abuse, (for that is what it is), in order to help our children and prevent future children from unnecessary damage from vaccines. After all, the single measles vaccine was in use in the UK for 20 years, long before MMR and caused far fewer problems. Dr Wakefield simply advocated returning to the older, safer systems of child measles immunisation.

Is there a list someplace of the amount of pharma money the major networks receive for their advertising ???

How much did ABC make from Vioxx ads before that ended ??? Did they return those funds to affected families ???

The 10 minute "ABC backstory" preceeded Dr. Wakefield's constantly interupted interview was just a bit much...

Thankfully Al Gore invented the internet to perform ABC's job...

I issued this public letter re: this interview, hoping to reach at least some of the unaffected public. Formerly I referred to those unaffected as the "majority" but the more folks I interview, the more I live and see what is happening in my own neighborhood I no longer believe the majority are unaffected.

Dear American Public,

Tomorrow you will see the good doctor Wakefield on GMA. Please ask yourself the folowing questions. Why, are we still seeing this man? Why is this news, now?

Please consider that you have not been permitted to hear from the parents whose children he treated. Keep in mind, the GMC brought charges against him, not the parents, whose hearts he held in his hands. Be aware, it is very important for us all to believe that the doc is a sham because his simple suggestion that "more studies are required"... is powerful and potent enough to destroy the pharmaceutical industry as we know it.

If you are once again shown the images of the young man getting "scoped" please keep in mind...this is a STANDARD medical procedure that many children with gatrointestinal disease endure. Just like kids who have cancer go through chemo-therapy, and children with meningitis get spinal taps.

Ask yourselves, truly ask yourselves--why? Why do thousands upon thousands of parents support this man? Is it possible that that many educated, professional parents are choosing denial rather than education when it comes to their child's condition?

Please, for just a moment step back and consider that the pharmaceutical industry did not bank on this many parents getting this many sick kids, being this vocal and educating themselves. They also didn't bank on their very own doctors turning away from them, doing their own research and starting practices that are not controlled by pharmaceutical interests. Worst of all, they did not anticipate that the children these renegade doctors treated, would actually get bettter. Google "DAN" doctors. You will find an impressive list of physicians with thriving practices. Recovery is real. Children are healed. Autism in not psychiatric, it is physical. It is a whole body condition. I implore you, if your life has not yet been touched by autism or auto-immune disorder, or vaccine injury...listen with open ears and open minds to what you will hear tomorrow. Ask yourself what possible interest those of us who support Dr. Wakefield could possibly stand to gain from supporting a fraud? Why would we stay in this? Because we know the truth. Our children are getting better. He is part of the reason why.

Soon, there will be much litigation and turmoil, the sort that will make the historical significance of the cigarette industry/cancer cover up look like nothing more than an unsightly smudge on the great capitalist sweater we previously thought fit perfectly around our form of democracy.

Respectfully,

LJ Goes

Managing Partner, The Misuta Project, LLC

The networks would clearly rather say: 'We tried to contact Dr. Wakefield but he declined to be interviewed', as a quick attempt at neutrality. Letting him speak a few half sentences is their nod towards journalistic ethics.

There can not be a doctor alive with a stronger combination of warmness of heart, alertness of mind, and mass of gonad. Particularly the latter.

Apparently no corrections by salon were necessary to the important parts of RFK Jr's article. A short excerpt.

"In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Ga. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session -- only private invitations to 52 attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva, and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.

The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. 'I was actually stunned by what I saw,' Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.

Even for scientists and doctors accustomed to confronting issues of life and death, the findings were frightening. 'You can play with this all you want,' Dr. Bill Weil, a consultant for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the group. The results 'are statistically significant.' Dr. Richard Johnston, an immunologist and pediatrician from the University of Colorado whose grandson had been born early on the morning of the meeting's first day, was even more alarmed. 'My gut feeling?' he said. 'Forgive this personal comment -- I do not want my grandson to get a thimerosal-containing vaccine until we know better what is going on.'

But instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives at Simpsonwood spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the damaging data. According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine industry's bottom line."

Here is a good interview some of you may appreciate. This mom interviewed Dr. Wakefield and let him finish his sentences and everything. http://www.voiceamerica.com/worldtalkradio/vepisode.aspx?aid=51219

Well, it sure sounds like Kathleen has been busy encouraging the media to focus on her message. I find it ironic that people are so willing to slam Jenny and yet will hold up Brian Deer, Seth Mnookin and Dr. Offit as trustworthy people. Deer lies, Mnookin who by his own admission is a former drug addict (amongst other things) and Paul Offit who can't disclose a conflict of interest for the life of him. Has our society really become so warped? Just depressing.

To Dr. Wakefield & his family and all those suffering, I pray that you would all be given the strength to go on and to speak what is true. Bless you all.

Shelly

Well, if GMA won't fairly offer both sides of a story, I guess one has no choice but to try to find the rest of the story elsewhere. Here is one option:

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=B9D23224EC0AE34FD5415B72B27B1BE5

It is odd how all this recent talk of toning down the rhetoric and acting more civilly to others seems to have been lost on so many tv "journalists"--who shouldn't actually be part of the rhetoric anyway--they are supposed to be dispassionate questioners, in search of facts and differing opinions and perspectives. Anymore most seem to be no more than loud purveyors of the opinions of their employers/advertisers. I stopped watching tv news for this very reason--it is largely uninformative.

Oh, now I did see the inteview -- it's available at the link in the article above...

I did not get to see this, but based on the transcript it sounds like this report started with the typical bullshit story line, and then George took the same approach to the interview as Anderson Cooper did recently, but that Dr. Wakefield was extremely well spoken and managed to get a lot said in spite of the interruptions.

Thank you so much, Dr. Wakefield, for your stamina and backbone and clear intellect.

Reporters and journalists, do your f-ing jobs!!! Stop accepting Brian Deer's words as if they come from a reputable person!!! Stop accepting the pharma/govt spin and look at the conflicts of interest!!! Talk to the Lancet 12 parents!!! It is so bizarre to see this story twisted over and over again.

Thank you, Bob Moffitt, for the transcript.

Don't bother with salon.com; they haven't had anything worth reading in a while.

You can read "Deadly Immunity" here:
http://www.robertfkennedyjr.com/articles.html#

"Jackie Fletcher has campaigned for compensation for her son Robert – now 18 – because she believed his severe epilepsy was triggered by the jab.

Now a tribunal has ordered that the payment be made, after concluding that it could be 'no coincidence' that he suffered his first seizure 10 days after being vaccinated.

All injections carry the risk of extreme reactions, and in rare cases, children have been left brain-damaged by them.

The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme does not examine the safety of particular jabs, but the likelihood that the process caused a reaction....Robert Fletcher, from Warrington, in Cheshire, is unable to talk, stand unaided or feed himself. He suffered the effects after being given the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine when he was 13 months old.

In a six-page judgment, the panel which examined the case said: 'Robert was a more or less fit boy who, within the period usually considered relevant to immunisation, developed a severe convulsion ... and he then went on to be epileptic and severely retarded. The seizure occurred ten days after the vaccination. In our view, this cannot be put down to coincidence.'"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7970199/Mother-wins-MMR-payout-after-18-years.html#disqus_thread

Jackie Fletcher is someone Brian Deer frequently maligns.

Yeah, the best they could do was to find parents who "blamed" Dr. Wakefield for their decision to forgo the HiB vaccine? Now those are hysterical parents.

I hope the ridiculous hypocrisy of this "interview" was self-evident to those who are still trying to truly learn the facts.

Did our fourth branch of government let us down again?

So sorry Dr. Wakefield that you are in the front lines of this fight.

I will call, I will right, I will complain.

But the truth is; that everytime Dr. Wakefield or anyone else is on the news and the message is linked to the words autism and vaccine - we are winning the debate.

Because if you go through 30 years of the words: reaction, vaccine, harmed, autism, it gets people to thinking, and asking and then REACTING.

So this is what we want; I am just sorry it is so hard on Dr. Wakefield.

God forgive me for saying this, but I guess they couldn't find anybody whose child died of measles?

George: Dr. Wakefield have you stopped beating your wife?

Dr. Wakefield: The truth is..

George .. INTERRUPTING: I knew it. Why did you do it? Thank you very much for being here wife beater.

This is the number for ABC news ask for GMA and tell then you want to leave a message.
Phone Number +1.212.456.7777

Wow. George was horrible. He had NOT read Wakefield's book. He had clearly been told what to say. I guess when you are a high paid reporter, you have to rely on what other people tell you instead of fact checking for yourself.

THANK YOU again Dr Wakefield for putting yourself into these stressful situations to set the record straight.

Seems to me they had their narrative all ready to go and then that annoying little stumbling block called truth just keeps popping up.

Every time these fools rush to judgement they invalidate themselves to a wider and wider audience.