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Dachel Media Review: Diagnosis, Clinic for Vaccine Choice

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss and the Weakness of Vaccine Science

ReissBy John Stone

One of the problems that the phenomenon of Dorit Reiss points to is the fundamental lack of solidity of vaccine science: we are not talking about something like the laws of thermodynamics, the periodic table, the theory of relativity – instead it is something that has to be defended by a sequence of dodgy manoeuvres and obfuscations. The claims for the vaccine program which are being made are politically absolutist but there is no unchallengeable super-theory behind any of it, only a multitude of industrially manufactured products which may be neither as effective or as safe as their advocates claim, have usually not been as well tested as they should have been, and can only be defended by a bulwark unbalanced legislation backed up by endless institutional malfeasance. Pubmed, the index of peer review medical studies, is testament to this: even if there are many studies which are favourable to products it does not make anything about their findings immutable evidence, or proof of anything. They can only be provisional.

Nor is the quality of all that evidence necessarily high despite sentiment that vaccines are a good thing. The 2005 Cochrane Review of MMR vaccine safety, concluded after having sifted 5,000 studies  :

“The design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies, both pre- and post-marketing, are largely inadequate. The evidence of adverse events following immunisation with MMR cannot be separated from its role in preventing the target diseases.”

Indeed, this body of evidence was so poor that it was not even clear how most of the final 31 studies admitted to the review met the inclusion criteria.

There is a fundamental problem with vaccines, that although great claims are made for their effectiveness their harms are apparently instantly deniable, and there is no logic to this imbalance. If something does go wrong you will not only be met with immediate professional indifference and denial, the only recourse in establishing it is to take legal action. But such is the institutional bias that this is a vain hope in most countries, and even in the US where awards are made in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program with some frequency they usually end up by being “no-fault” concessions by the government.

And this is also the problem of Reiss: reality can be stage-managed in the mainstream media but the evidence of hundreds and thousands of wrecked lives are harder to suppress in the social media: there is no one – apart from usual medical spokespeople spouting the conventional wisdom  – who can be more authoritative. There are no underlying scientific principles, only a morass of flawed, limited studies and a host of bureaucratic decisions masking the legal reality that vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe”  . Despite her grand debut as a vaccine advocate in Harvard Law Review   (standing in for Art Caplan) barely six months ago Reiss has ended up scrambling from one blog to another trying to block out the ever peeping reality that these products cause unaccountable injury and death. Caplan, confronted by Mary Holland, disappeared – if Caplan played a false move while in open debate it could have serious consequences, but Reiss is expendable (though also apparently, in retrospect, inexhaustible). If she has a somewhat uncertain professional status as a lawyer, as has been suggested, this may be part of the story too.

As it is her defence of vaccines often rests on the rants of David Gorski or the blog of Liz Ditz, and if she tends to play her hand courteously (at least superficially) she is surrounded by a ragbag of supporters and associates who do anything but. This week found her in trouble defending flu mandates for young children in New York on the comment page of the John Gambling Show  and resorting to anonymous Facebook page “notes/chillin-out-vaxin-relaxin-all-cool/flu-shots-for-kids-two-year-yes they are effective”.

But it got worse. She also cited the “Poxes” blog of “Reuben Gaines”, known as well for his “Edward Jenner” Facebook page. As I pointed out Gaines had made fraudulent claims in Age of Autism to be a professor of epidemiology working at the Department of Health in Washington DC  while naming Johns Hopkins as his academic institution. He has also demonstrated only very little knowledge or competence in epidemiology.  Even more excruciatingly on a Reiss blog in the Time of Israel a couple of months ago he admitted to trolling me, remarking:

"John Stone Oh Johnny. You're so easy to troll"  

Reiss tried to distract from the issue by misrepresenting the point of what was being said while engaging in blatant innuendo:

“As I said before, I don't take a passing comment on an internet thread as something more serious than a passing comment on an internet thread, and I'd admit I find that one a lot milder than is usual for the discussion of these issues (unfortunately). Mr. Gaines has not tried to stalk you to your place of work, send threatening or insulting emails or attack you directly and constantly.”

But, of course, it was not a passing remark, it was an admission of what he does (probably under a variety of names).

By this stage “Gaines/Jenner” was also hopping around the Gambling blog trying to limit the damage, culminating in this exchange:

John Stone · Top Commenter : “Edward Jenner Please show me any official sites which establish the presence of Prof Reuben Gaines at (1) Johns Hopkins University and (2) Deparment of Health Wahington DC”

Edward Jenner · Top Commenter · Johns Hopkins University:  “Get your facts straight, John. I went to Hopkins for my MPH in the 90s. I teach at a completely different institution. Stop lying. It's not that hard to do.”

John Stone  · Top Commenter:  “So, at what institution are you a professor?”

Edward Jenner •  Top Commenter · Johns Hopkins University

“At none anymore. I've left my job at DC DOH and am moving to a bigger city on the East Coast. That's all you get, honey bunches. I don't want calls to my new employer this time.”

But in Reiss’s world Gaines is an authority.

It points to two things: her confidence in vaccine science is not based on genuine knowledge – in fact she seems oddly naive. And the real professionals know too much to stick their necks out in public debate.

John Stone is UK Editor for Age of Autism.

Comments

SkepticalOfPaidShills

You know, let's give Dorit the benefit of the doubt, and assume that she made every single one of those posts on her own time, away from work.

And then it gets ironic.

If any autism parent heard someone describing the mother of a 3-year-old as an upper-class, multi-degreed professional who, after leaving work, spent a hella long time on the computer, but NOT for work?

Like, an ADDITIONAL 30 hours--un-scheduled, at random times, adding up to 30 hours--of a single week, on her computer, specifically actively commenting and responding to other's posts on blogs, FaceBook, etc.?

In other words, and ADDITIONAL 30 hours a week, on top of work, NOT paying any attention to her 3-year-old child?

What 2 words would spring to mind?

REFRIGERATOR MOTHER.

.

SkepticalOfPaidShills

ForSkeptical: you are absolutely correct.

Xanax: thank you so much for collating all the posts. WOW. I suppose we should check and make sure that her university actually held classes that week. But even if they didn't, it seems to me that it would be remarkably easy to pull her posts from various pro-vaccine websites (VoicesForVaccines, etc) and FaceBook pages for the whole semester.

Even assuming that she had no classes that week, I wonder how many working mothers of 3-year-olds would spend so much of her week off posting snarky comments on the internet, no matter how passionately she believed in something.

Let's assume a minimum of 2 minutes per post (which is ridiculously low): 2 x 947 = 1894 minutes.

That's more than 30 hours.

On one site.

Someone needs to post THAT on Katie Couric's website. Or maybe many of us can post it. The more, the merrier!

Linda

Some of the posts supposedly authored by Reiss don't sound like they came from the same person.

cia parker

Forskepticalofpaidshills,
All Dr. Hickie has to reply is their party line, that everyone is at risk of contracting hep B at any time by casual contact, even though official information says that it is not transmitted by casual contact. Dr. Sears said that in the mid-'80s, before the hep-B vax program for newborns began in the US in 1991, that an average of only 360 infants and children a year was diagnosed with hep-B, most of them born to hep-B infected women. Pregnant women are now routinely tested for hep-B, so it is unlikely that an infant would be born now to an infected woman without everyone's being aware of the woman's status. The medical cartel plays with groundless fears, flaming them into terror strong enough to convince people to vaccinate against it, and suppressing all the evidence of the many thousands severely damaged or killed by the vaccine itself (my daughter has autism because of the hep-B vax given her at the hospital at less than a day old, given without permission: it caused, as all vaccines often do, encephalitis). So Dr. Hickie will certainly say that hep-B is contracted all the time by toddlers in day care putting toys in their mouths infected by other children. A nurse said yesterday at Shot of Prevention that the hep-B virus is on everything at the hospital, and everyone who sets foot in a hospital should be vaxed for it. No evidence, just fear. And most people (over 99%) who get hep-B make a complete recovery from it, like with HPV, it is only those with depressed immune systems from alcoholism, unsafe sex, vitamin deficiencies, or drug addiction who may eventually die from it. There is no evidence for hep-B being transmitted through casual contact, but they'll say it anyway, just to sell the vax, and ignore school nurse Patti White's congressional testimony on the surge in autistic kindergartners starting in 1996 was caused by the hep-B at birth beginning in 1991, as well as Judy Converse's excellent book on the subject.

Carol

Ghost blogging is huge now. I'm sure ghost commenting is also a phenomenon. In fact, I think I saw a reference to it on a ghost blogging site.

Forskepticalofpaidshills

Would UC Hastings really be ok with this? For any employee, never mind a 'Law Prof' it seems wrong. I know of work places that don't allow closed doors because of just this type of on-line activity (whatever it is, it isn't 'work').

John Stone

Xerxes

Thanks for the elucidation - I see you did actually say in the first place.

John

Forskepticalofpaidshills

Diane-
And that's just on the Couric site. She may have posted elsewhere.

Diane W Farr

Ms. Dorit is remarkable. She averaged over 15 hours a day blogging on Katie Couric site for six days and averaged almost nine posts an hour. How does she do it?

Linda

Look what I found. I usually steer clear of Dr. Gorski's venom but Skeptical... said he's been quiet lately and I got curious. Saw a post lashing out at Dr. Oz for doing a show on breast cancer linked to cell phones worn in bras. Epidemiologist Devra Davis, PhD, MPH, founding director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the U.S. National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, together with other scientists, are working very hard to warn women against this practice (EnvironmentalHealth.org). Of course, Dr. Gorski thinks it's all unsubstantiated fear mongering nonsense: "Is it possible that cell phone radiation can increase the risk of breast cancer? Sure, but it’s incredibly unlikely. There’s no currently known biological mechanism by which it could happen." (Actually, there is, Dr. Gorski. See Dr. Davis and BioInitiative Report for starters. Research cited and all.)

But that's just background. That isn't why I'm writing. I happened to scan the article's comments and check this out - from "Dr." Hickie. He of course marches in step with Gorski's ignorance regarding RFR. But big mouth spills something else very interesting. Want some insight into how important vaccines are to the practice of pediatrics? Here you go, in a practice of 3 physicians, see the second sentence below...

"Chris HIckie

December 16, 2013
As a doctor whose at most has had a few free lunches a year hosted by drug reps, I have no idea what these $2000 dinners are about, Denise. And my practice purchases over $250,000 in vaccines a year, so you’d think if there really was an element of big pharma doing this, they’d be at my doorstep–but they aren’t.

The only harm I’ve ever experienced from my cell phone was I slipped and fell on it (on a holster on my belt) and got a bruise for that. But since the phone was off, I know it wasn’t those evil radio waves that caused the bruise (s/o) but rather using my iliac crest as the point of maximal force dissipation during a fall."

So, his practice purchases "over $250,000" of vaccines. If "over $250,000" is cost, what is the mark-up? If one small practice is purchasing over $250,000 in vaccines, multiply that by all the other pediatric practices, big and small. Oh, and Dr. Hickie might consider giving Pharma a little, even if fake, resistance. That ought to bring in some nice dinners and up his take significantly, as Pharma has a long standing history of being very generous when it comes to pushing product. I think Hickie isn't visited often with gifts because he's just being too easy.

And I have to comment on his snarky attitude toward cell phones. You'd think being a pediatrician that he'd align himself with his professional organization in mentioning for the sake of the other readers, that wireless technologies are not known to be safe for children and that there is mounting evidence to suggest that these technologies are dangerous, that he would espouse precaution. For all the vaccines that he hawks to supposedly safeguard children's health, he is completely clueless in other areas that even the AAP is up on http://www.scribd.com/doc/104230961/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-letter-to-the-FCC. He is out of step with his own profession. Hickie is not only dangerous because he's a vzccine bully. Together with his partner in crime Gorski, we can now add his ignorance of the biological effects of EMF/RFR to his unimpressive resume.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/12/16/fear-mongering-over-cell-phones-and-cancer-by-dr-oz/

XerxesOnXanax

Hi John, I think Facebook displays them in your local time, but the method I used to extract them gives them in universal time (UTC) which I then further converted to Pacific time.

Benedetta

The news caster asked at the end of the link I gave - why all this prescription of pain killers.

Dr. Wakefield mentions this in the discussion of the monkey studies in 20:25 in his video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ei0QSvKdgw

So Kentucky has cracked down on the doctors.

Doctors have said - now they will be turning to herione on the streets and the death tow from prescription drugs will now be nothing compared to what is coming.

Benedetta

http://earlystart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/children-who-lost-their-parents-to-prescription-drug-abuse-dr-sanjay-gupta-reports-an-epidemic-tearing-apart-family-after-family/

Jenny I hope you can get this link up and see it.

This boy is a son of a dietician and my friend in high school.

My Mother-in-law was a dietician too. A very good one. She wrote a book for California hospitals back in the 60s. She died of this autoimmune disease. She had four kids and out of her 10 grand children she had three with autism, all the rest with mood disorders.

John Hopkins is leading the research on diet, but it has only been 10 years since they found the modified Atkins diet controls epilepsy-- hmmmm -- it takes 20 years to get research information to the public - clincians.

Well 20 years if it is not being hushed up because it might lead to understandig it is all a vaccine injury then it will take who knows how long.

Are you able to get help from dietician over in the UK?????

Dorit writing over 1000 post and most on the weekends --
My comment on this is -- a lot of us work overtime and weekends. If the money is good enough - some times when the money is not good, but we need it anyway.

Jenny Allan

Benedetta
You seem to have misunderstood my comment. I said :-
"I always advise seeking professional guidance with any dietary intervention."
In the UK, GP's do not normally issue dietary advice to patients, but instead refer them to a dietician or nurse with a nutrition interest. 'Professional' does not necessarily mean 'medical', just someone qualified to provide dietary advice. This could even be a suitably qualified friend or relative who might provide free advice. With vitamins and probiotics, most pharmacies and health shops also have qualified staff on hand to advise.

John Stone

Hi Xerxes,

Thanks for collating this - just to note that the times quoted are presumably for the Eastern US, not California where Prof Reiss is resident.

XerxesOnXanax

I was inspired by posts here and on recent articles to write a script to pull all the comments from the Katie Couric article. Here is a sampling of "unpaid" Dorit's activities on that thread alone (times converted to PST, where her employer resides):

Nov 27th: 138 posts between 8:59am and 10:37pm
Nov 28th: 79 posts between 9:32am and 10:25pm
Nov 29th: 100 posts between 9:40am and 9:28pm
Nov 30th: 177 posts between 5:57am and 10:37pm
Dec 1st: 167 posts between 7:09am and 11:19pm
Dec 2nd: 66 posts between 6:13am and 9:36pm
Dec 3rd: 72 posts between 7:11am and 10:57pm

It tapers off after that, but as of mid-day Dec 21st, she had posted a total of 947 times on that article alone. For the time periods listed above, her postings were pretty evenly spread throughout the days.

For someone who "doesn't get paid" to post, she certainly uses an immense amount of her employer's time to spam and berate parents on just this article alone.

The fact that her most prolific days (Nov 30th and Dec 1st) were weekends, she may in fact no be getting paid. But in that case, I wonder what her employer would think about her use of paid time on their dime. If she is getting paid to post, someone deserves a refund, as she is simply terrible at producing convincing, much less coherent, arguments.

Forskepticalofpaidshills

Yes and notice that Dr. Hickie has not answered the points about H1N1 causing narcolepsy -neurological damage- in his 'vaccines are not associated with neurological damage' spiel to his patients (which would seem patenly untrue) nor what his thoughts are on the necessity of hep b vaccine for infants whose parents test negative.

SkepticalOfPaidShills

Hmm. I know Orac pays very close attention to AoA, and he has been unusually quiet about all the issues we have been raising in the last couple of weeks. Gee, wonder why?

I also notice that our friend Dorit has also been extremely quiet this week, unless I missed her posts somewhere.

Perhaps we should have section here JUST for keeping track of Dorit's posts around the internet. We can call it "Dorit Sightings" or something, and people can post links to wherever they notice her posts. Might not hurt to keep track of the other shills' posts, too.

Benedetta

I understand Jenny;
But the truth is you may seek professional medical help; seek all you want; seek and seek and seek. Untill the money runs out, or you get the reputation of doctor shopping.

Jenny Allan

Benedetta- Sorry you had such a bad experience with food intolerance testing in the US. I believe there IS a test for gluten intolerance, but my autistic grandson improved enormously on a GF/CF diet. At that time he was untested, but his consultant stated this diet had 'worked' with other patients. My grandson's progress was properly monitored by medical professionals at that time.

Recently, there has been a great deal of press and media misinformation about gluten/casein free diets, in particular the 'harm' supposedly caused by 'depriving' young children of milk. This is claimed to cause calcium deficiency -all absolute rubbish of course; all milk substitutes aimed at children are Ca fortified, and anyway Vitamin D is more important for 'fixing' Calcium in bones. My grandson lived in London, a city built on chalk with very 'hard' water, no calcium deficiency there!!

Of course, child vitamin supplements are also under attack, as if a daily child dose Haliborange (UK) could ever cause harm, but the propaganda continues. A resurgence of child rickets in the UK, seems to have caused a Government rethink, but the press is as confusing as ever. Only this week the Daily Mail health page warned against vitamin supplements as useless and potentially harmful. I will continue with my daily vit/mineral pill, which keeps me healthy -and to hell with them!! But I am an adult and can please myself.

With children, I always advise seeking professional guidance with any dietary intervention, however harmless, since this 'keeps things right' and provides a shield against criticism from the many enemies of this and other autism web sites.

Linda

Carol,

Sounds like the conversation was being monitored by the doctor's struggling conscience.

Carol

Lou, if pediatricians get bonuses when they reach a vaccination goal, is it possible that they're also targeted if they under-vaccinate? I remember reading that doctors' prescriptions were monitored by drug companies (through cooperating pharmacies).

I was expelled from the practice of my original pediatrician for not (re)vaccinating. My daughter had been aggressively vaccinated in another country so it didn't seem reasonable to redo all those on a whim, especially since this same pediatrician had told me that Hib or HepB vaccines just might cause autism. We had agreed to do titers, but he seemed to have forgotten that.

It was such an odd conversation: he was turned sideways to me and looking at his shoes while he talked. My impression at the time (and which persists to this day) was that our conversation was being monitored, as unlikely as that sounds.

Linda

T. Colin Campbell claims to have discovered through his many years of research that casein is the most powerful known carcinogen. I have not looked at his studies. I wonder if he studied raw or processed casein. Colin is a pretty smart guy so I doubt he would miss such a basic factor. Here is one of his publications.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/6/1667.full

Benedetta

But Jenny when you have something like gluten sensitivity and not celiacs; they do not have test -- well they just getting together a few; not known by the vast majority of doctors.

And if you have a mitochondnrial disorder - just in the very past few years they are saying low carb works.

It is just now a decade since John Hopkins in 2003 said a modified Atkins diet worked for epilepsy.

None of this information -- I maan none is in the doctor offices on the tip of the doctor's tongues.

I even asked about the article of low carb diet that came outin 2005 to my son's neurologist. He barely shook his head yes. I almost missed his head shake.

Getting tested by the medical profession --- by an allergist ---a food allergy ---- tomatoes was the only thing that showed up, when obviously there was a reaction to onions too.

Jenny Allan

Lou asks:- "I am still confused, and unsure about the casein milk protein, and if you listen enough to all the experts some say casein and others say lactose."

Most 'autism diets' preclude casein. This means NO milk products at all unfortunately. Lactose intolerance seems to be another consequence of gut damage. However, lactose, a milk sugar, is fully fermented during the process of converting milk to yogurt, and I believe this makes yogurt and yogurt products accessible to lactose intolerant persons. 'Live' yogurt also contains beneficial probiotic bacteria.

The only way to find out about food intolerances is to undergo professional testing. This costs money but is worthwhile since simple dietary changes can make a huge difference to a person's heath and wellbeing.

Lou

"I am still confused, and unsure about the casein milk protein, and if you listen enough to all the experts some say casein and others say lactose."

"Part of the diet was cooked in all the healthy groups Doctor Price followed, Milk products however were almost always consumed raw." Note Doctor Pottenger showed that cats fed pasteurized milk failed to reproduce in three generations. 25% of human couples in the US today are unable to naturally have children.

The issue of milk is at its base quite simple. Whole unprocessed milk is one of natures best foods for HUMANS. For millennia human cultures have lived primarily on RAW milk and RAW cheese.

When you take good wholesome raw milk pasteurize and homogenize it you turn the good wholesome milk into an often toxic man made "food"

Then like all the foods man has denatured (processed) and made into "processed foods" a rational person does not drink commercial milk.

http://healthyprotocols.com/2_milk.htm

Lou

"I don't think revenue is the issue for most pediatricians. The ones I know personally care very deeply about their patients, and recommend vaccines because they wholeheartedly believe in them."

It costs a parent about 2200 dollars to shoot up one child to "the schedule". "Pediatricians" if they reach their "patient vaccination coverage goals" receive a nice bonus.

ANY "pediatrician" who is not ACTIVELY questioning "vaccination" does not deserve to practice. Any "pediatrician" with an IQ over 120, probably most, and who STILL recommends "vaccination" would be brought up on criminal charges under an honest system.

We do NOT have an honest system. Only MOTHERS can bring honesty for their children.

SkepticalOfPaidShills

@ottoschnaut: I think vaccine revenue per patient of a pediatrician is more likely to be, at the most, only hundreds of dollars per patient per year, even in the first year where there are so many vaccines. For children older than 1 year, it would be much less.

I don't think revenue is the issue for most pediatricians. The ones I know personally care very deeply about their patients, and recommend vaccines because they wholeheartedly believe in them.

And that's the problem.

They have been trained since childhood, if you consider all the propaganda in our society, to believe that vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary.

Medical school, residencies, and CME (Continuing Medical Education--REQUIRED for board certification) are all to some extent controlled by the pharmaceutical industry. Med school classes are taught be doctors who are paid consultants for vaccine manufacturers. CME classes are designed by pharma, and sometimes taught directly by pharm reps!

With the combination of military-like training (in terms of mind games) of med school followed by near-priesthood status after earning the M.D., is it really any wonder that so many doctors do strongly believe what they have been so carefully taught?

It's not just the vaccine industry. This problem is all-pervasive in our culture. We've talked about cigarettes already. Look how infant formula became the "scientific" way to feed your baby, and how the entire country became convinced that feeding your baby out of a can resulted in stronger, healthier babies. Same carefully placed propaganda--mothers giving babies bottles on TV shows, in books, in cartoons, in advertisements. Several generations grew up believing that WAS how babies were fed.

Even today, in my kids' junior high school, they have what used to be called "home ec" classes (now called "Family Consumer Science"), where they learn about baby care. Breastfeeding is not even mentioned. Formula feeding is gone over in great detail.

Pediatricians and even OBGYNs are taught about infant feeding by...formula companies.

Banking industry, housing industry, food industry--you name it, it's been propagandized, and what most people believe has very little to do with fact.

The problem is our entire culture, not the pediatricians who mistakenly trusted that they were being taught only truth.

All accolades to John Stone

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
- Mahatma Gandhi

I hold John Stone's investigative work and reporting in the highest esteem and strongly recommend his informative analyses to others whenever possible.


Benedetta

Cia Parker: That is exactly how I see it too.
I am sorry about your daughter's GI problems, that is a bad deal.

I know they are all saying there is cross allergy to other things besides wheat, and you should not start eating other things to replace wheat. I am still confused, and unsure about the casein milk protein, and if you listen enough to all the experts some say casien and others aay lactose. That wheat allergies can make us unable to digest lactose. Those that usualy can digest lactose, cannot.

Milk has a lot of carbohydrates;is that lactose a milk sugar? Wheat we have given up 100 percent. It has worked too. But the cheese, Greek yogurt -- and I am making kefir right now. They are good sources of probiotics. I wonder also when it comes to milk protein - about the ketogenic diet that is mostly cream and that diet does work too.

I received an email the other day on epilepsy research that is going on, and they were discussing a decade after the discovery that a modified Atkins diet works. They said they were beginning to understand the mechanisms of why it works. I would like to know too - but it was an overview and that is all it said.

Jim Thompson: Putting on a manager's hat instead of the engineer's hat -Excellent and very good analogy. No Dorit is not a science person, or medical person, or the kind of person that is the most knowlegable about vaccine reactions -- that person being a parent or care giver that witnessed a vaccine reaction.

Marsha; Exactly! We all know it, it is the majority of Americans that they are trying to keep in the dark and thus keep a lid on it all.

ottoschnaut

Dr. Hickie is apparently experiencing "increasing concerns expressed by parents" about vaccination policies, according to his website.

The Hickie website also states..."scrupulous worldwide scientific research show no link between childhood vaccines and the risk of autism and/or other adverse neurological outcomes."

So either Dr. Hickie is unaware of the increased incidence of narcolepsy following flu shots reported by mainstream media., or he is choosing to conceal that data from his prospective marks. The CDC reports " Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder."

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/h1n1_narcolepsy_pandemrix.html

Dr. Chris Hickie seems to me to be a deliberate scam artist preying on the ignorance of a trusting public. Vaccines are indisputably "unavoidably unsafe" and do in fact cause life long neurological impairment. Any statement by him to the contrary is bald faced lie.

My question for anyone who can answer is: what percentage of revenue is derived from vaccine sales in the typical indiscriminate vaccinationist pediatric practice? If an office has a patient base of 10,000 kids, my guess is revenue runs about $2000/year per patient or $20 million in revenue per year. I will approximate vaccine revenue at 60% that number.
Can anyone shed some light on this? I am quite certain that the profit motive for unscrupulous vaccine con artists with a medical license can be quite tempting- I just don't know how tempting.

Dr. Hickie- how much money did vaccine sales put in your pocket last year? Is the "increasing concern" expressed by your patients putting a dent in your income stream? May I suggest you try to cash in on the spinal surgery, or Advair, or Vioxx scams? It seems right in line with what you actually do for a living.

Jim Thompson

Bob Moffitt:

Yes, with the Challenger Disaster there were seven un-informed astronauts that paid the price. With the Vaccine Mercury Disaster it is parents and their cherished children that pay the price. There was a lack of scientific integrity then, as shown in the Challenger Disaster “management versus engineering hat” decision. There is a lack of scientific integrity now. Look at the decision by Merck and Co., Inc. to market mercury preserved flu vaccines to children and pregnant women in this country. These Thimerosal preserved flu shots contain 50 parts per million mercury. That is 250 times the D009 Mercury Hazardous Waste threshold!

See http://www.biocsl-us.com/s1/cs/becs/1211307234530/news/1253567300387/prdetail.htm

and

http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228

and

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/q-a---how-about-a-half-cup-of-mercury-hazardous-waste.html .

Bob Moffitt

@Jim Thompson .. you posted:

"It might be helpful here to consider what happened in 1986 when a flawed critical evaluation resulted in the decision to launch the Challenger Shuttle that led to the deaths of seven crew members. On the eve before launch Roger Boisjoly described how his manager at Thiokol caved into making a decision that resulted in the Challenger Disaster"

Indeed there are "many"lessons to be learned from the Challenger Shuttle disaster .. not the least of which you already mentioned .. the personal intellectual "conflicts of interest" that allowed critical decision making to rely upon what was best for the Thiokol "corporation" .. rather than what would have been in the best interests of those unsuspecting astronauts and our nation.

Always remember .. the ONLY reason thimerosal (mercury presevative) was EVER used in vaccines is because it was extremely "cost effective" .. PERIOD. Lacking "cost effectiveness" .. thimerosal .. a well-recognized dangerous neruo-toxin .. would be banned from ANY product .. let alone childhood vaccines.

The investigation that followed the Challenger disaster also revealed how far "scientists" will go to protect their professional reputations as well as the professional reputations of the corporations they work for .. when threatened with public disclosure of the "unintended consequences" that resulted from their decisions.

As we have learned .. the "coverup" is ALWAYS worse than the "crime" itself.

Which is why those tasked with investigating "what went wrong" in the Challenger disaster .. were routinely denied information critical to complete their assigned task. Such "lack of transparency" is the FIRST line of defense for those guilty of betraying the public's trust.

Does that sound familiar ....

Dorit lost the debate

Nhokkanen, so now let me get this straight: Reuben Gaines is not a Professor of Epidemiology or whatever it was that he suggested, Dorit hasn't passed her bar exams and now Hickie is not thought very highly of based on ratings by his patients. Very interesting.

Jim Thompson

John, Dorit Reiss is qualified to discuss law. It is not clear that she is equally qualified to discuss science. While her abilities to quote citations appear to be excellent, her abilities to critically evaluate the documents represented by those citations, based on sound principles of science, are well worth questioning. See http://www.uchastings.edu/academics/faculty/facultybios/reiss/ .


It might be helpful here to consider what happened in 1986 when a flawed critical evaluation resulted in the decision to launch the Challenger Shuttle that led to the deaths of seven crew members. On the eve before launch Roger Boisjoly described how his manager at Thiokol caved into making a decision that resulted in the Challenger Disaster. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/us/roger-boisjoly-73-dies-warned-of-shuttle-danger.html?_r=0 .

“The general manager of Thiokol turned to his three senior managers and asked what they wanted to do. Two agreed to go to a launch decision, one refused. ‘So he (the general manager) turns to him and said ‘take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat’ – and that’s exactly what happened,’ said Boisjoly. ‘He changed his hat and changed his vote, just 30 minutes after he was the one to give the recommendation not to launch. I didn’t agree with one single statement made on the recommendations given by the managers.’ ”

Also, as Richard Feynman wrote in Appendix F to the Rogers Commission report on the Challenger disaster, "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled". See http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt .

Thank you for calling out “the fundamental lack of solidity of vaccine science” in “the phenomenon of Dorit Reiss.” She seems to do mostly public relations work for the vaccine manufacturers. But isn’t that Julie Gerberding’s job? See http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/julie-gerberding-former-cdc-director-to-become-president-of-mercks-vaccine-business.html .

Marsha

I did a lot of research (reading, observations and connecting the dots) and came to a conclusion that Autism and ADHD mislabeled as psychological disorders. They both show a picture of brain damage. Severely autistic kid is very similar to an elderly person that suffered brain damage due to stroke. I would even go further and say that Autism and ADHD are post stroke stages of our kids. Same as stoke that vary in severity and recovery. I also think that both conditions are purposely mislabeled as psychological disorders, which just delays public realization of vaccine dangers. If physiological and not psychological explanation of trauma would be accepted, then the question “why” would be inevitable. I never heard anyone explain strokes of adults by bad genetics or “mom’s bad lifestyle during pregnancy”. It’s always viewed by society as tragedy. Why our kids’ tragedies viewed as psychological or behavioral conditions? Actually - ADHD is already labeled on several wikipedia pages as result of brain trauma. I guess, ADHD pages don’t get censored as much as pages about autism.

nhokkanen

Dr. Chris Hickie's patients rated their experience with him at 3.1 out of 5 stars on the HealthGrades website -- below the national average.

http://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-christopher-hickie-38fg9/patient-ratings#TopOfMain

His Facebook page states that he's leaving the clinic he started and moving to another city. No wonder he's more childishly offensive than usual.

False Skeptics Make me Laugh

"Her defense of vaccines also rests on the 60,00 pediatricians who vaccinate and the still 90-95% of parents who vaccinate and who haven't been fooled by your lies."

Argumentum ad populum.

"Just come out and admit it--what's really bugging you right now is that we are now pushing your lot off the stage and you haven't the slightest damned clue what to do about it other than shriek even more loudly."

Hasty generalization heaped in with a healthy dose of ad hominem.

"You really are so sad. Do you only go after women who defend vaccines?--not that you're any threat to them either."

Hefty strawman fallacy there.

Hickie, your inability to make a cogent argument, much less a coherent one, is quite telling in this context. I truly fear for the patients in your practice. You may want to lay off the sauce.

I thought it was only those who are skeptical regarding vaccines that make such blatant fallacies as you've made here. At least, that's how it is according to that idiot Gorski person whose arse you have your nose so far stuck in.

Dorit lost the debate

Christina, it is quite obvious that Matt Zukowski and Dorit Reiss lost the argument you linked to. Dr. Suzanne Humphries came across as much more credible and unbiased.

Christina Waldman

I know it, John.

John Stone

Hi Christina,

The problem with Reiss's response to your article is that whatever she says there is an array of conflicts:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/12/not-paid-to-post-dorit-rubenstein-reiss-uc-hastings-college-of-law-and-kaiser-permanente.html

except, of course, that in her case she lives in a mental fairyland where there are no conflicts. Meanwhile, her claim to have become an important tort lawyer in Hastings news on the back of her Harvard Law Journal reply to Mary Holland makes it clear that professional self-promotion is close to the heart of her agenda in these activities.

John

Christina Waldman

She is still espousing innocence http://katiecouric.com/features/hpv-conversation-continued/

About 17 hours ago (where it has collapsed "12 comments")

The conversation in part:

Dorit Reiss · Top Commenter · Works at UC Hastings College of the Law
Christina Waldman A. actually, no, I don't have a job to promote the HPV vaccine, in spite of your interesting, original, if somewhat fantastic conspiracy theories. I realize it's hard for you to realize that someone may feel strongly that it's important to protect people against preventable diseases.
B. Are you claiming you vaccinated your children against HPV?
Reply · Like · 13 hours ago
Dorit Reiss · Top Commenter · Works at UC Hastings College of the Law
Christina Waldman actually, we have been addressing complex issues. There is no evidence vaccines cause susceptibility to cancer. Luckily, vaccines are not junk, and their ingredients are carefully thought out by people who actually understand how the body works.
And yes, I am speaking up to urge people to vaccinate their children against HPV infections. Not because it's my job, but because HPV caused cancer kill thousands and cause tens of thousands of cancers a year. I actually care about that.
Though I realize in anti-vaccine world, if you speak up to protect children against preventable infections, you must be part of some far-fetched, convoluted conspiracy. It must be a sad world to live in.

Christina Waldman [one of my responses]
Dorit Reiss Having an HPV vaccination is something an individual should decide for him or herself, as it is a very personal matter of reproductive health. My children have made their own decisions on vaccines, once they were old enough to give informed consent (though they were not informed of all risks as well as benefits, as is required by law).
(end)
**************************************************************

The CDC says HPV "causes" cervical and other cancers, without qualification. Yet, according to the American Cancer Society: "....But HPV does not completely explain what causes cervical cancer. Most women with HPV don’t get cervical cancer, and certain other risk factors, like smoking and HIV infection, influence which women exposed to HPV are more likely to develop cervical cancer....."
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cervicalcancer/detailedguide/cervical-cancer-what-causes

samaxtics

I so love it when Chris Hickie posts a comment here. He couldn’t alienate parents more from allopathic pediatric medicine if he drew up a plan and executed it!

And we know what Chris fears. Here’s a fine example of projection:

“Just come out and admit it--what's really bugging you right now is that we are now pushing your lot off the stage and you haven't the slightest damned clue what to do about it other than shriek even more loudly.”

For decades, Allopathic medicine driven by pharmaceutical interests controlled, and sadly still controls, the mainstream media. It’s a lot harder to control the message on Social media though and making things more difficult is that with a few clicks, anyone can access medical journals and support/consumer groups. And now the medical consumer can check things out before they comply with the medical advice they’ve been given. And that’s a real kick to the crotch for those who went to medical school to lord over you, not be a partner in health.

And if you question one practice, maybe you start questioning other things. And then you get to see the really big picture that whilst Chris has come to AOA to take the piss out of parents who dare to question his profession, the reality is:

“Infant mortality is a major measure of a country’s health system and the U.S. ranks near the bottom here. The U.S. infant mortality rate is 6.1 deaths for every 1,000 live births, well below the OECD average of 4 deaths per 1,000. In Iceland, just 1.6 babies out of every 1,000 die and in Sweden, Japan, and Finland it’s around 2 per 100,000. “

Chris, you can exit stage left.

Hilary Butler

@ Chris Hickie,

Isn't it interesting, though, that 5% of pediatricians ADMIT to not vaccinating. There is also a percentage of pediatricians and obstetricians, who don't vaccinate their children, but would never admit to that in public.

So the question is, how many paediatricians ARE there in USA? And if 5% admit to NOT vaccinating their children, how many paediatricians does that add up to?

Why in the current "spanish inquisition" climate amongst medical peers, would so many not vaccinate their children?

Because in total numbers, 5% is NOT insignificant.

And everyone knows why most paediatricians who don't vaccinate, stay very quiet.

It's called the "golden handcuffs" of student loans. Most paediatricians, after going through medical school, and landing up with student loans of around HALF A MILLION, have no other practical skills or ability to pay back that money without a very high paying job.

Then many then get seduced by the money and acclaim, and continue to upscale their mortgages and debts and unless they are ruthlessly brutal on themselves, are simply trapped in a high paying job, where they have no choice but to sell their souls to the system.

I know. I've talked to a lot of them, and know what they think and why.

BUT... of course you won't find any scientific studies verifying such terrifying anecdote. Or the fact that a very high percentage of trapped doctors actually find out they hate the job when they start it, but have no choice other than to continue.

And their patients pay the price for their anger, through aggressive management of their children's health.

The caduceus symbol is actually the most appropriate symbol for the medical system, in both actuality and spiritual reality.... of which you are an outstanding example.

Do you really think Dorit Reiss needs her femininity defended, least of all by you? If she wants to play ball with the boys, she will get exactly what she deserves. But actually, she's out there battling with mostly women, ... so she's not making any preferences about who she acts,demeans and undermines, in the most subtle way.

And she will attack anyone, regardless of why they are, including women doctors.

Perhaps the caduceus should be the emblem for lawyers as well.

cia parker

John,
But more than naïve, she's dishonest. She cites those ridiculous studies I cited the other day in many places as evidence that the big vax/unvax study has already been done, and it proves that vaccines do not cause autism. They are so ridiculous that anyone with her education would see immediately that they do not prove anything at all. She said several times a couple of weeks ago about the Katie Couric show that while I and many others were fighting for the families with vaccine-injured daughters, SHE stood for the victims of cervical cancer, as though Gardasil were the best and only way to prevent cervical cancer from occurring thirty or forty years from now from infections today. And as though these future women's cancers, which in most cases might be avoided by taking folic acid etc., practicing safe sex, not smoking, and regular Pap/DNA testing, were more tragic and moving than the stories of literally hundreds of parents on Katie's blog about their daughters' disability or death caused by Gardasil. She just gets to brush all of them off as unproven and merely coincidental. This goes way beyond naivety and into criminality.

cia parker

Benedetta,
I thought it was crazy several years ago when I first read about the Paleo craze, all meat all the time. I've been an ethical vegetarian for decades, and I couldn't imagine that it could possibly be true what they were saying, that their GI symptoms improved a lot when on the grain-free, lactose and casein-free diet. Now, of course, my autistic daughter has those GI problems, and they are indeed a lot better on the Paleo diet (I prefer to call it a dairy-free Specific Carb diet, but that's just semantics). And now I realize that that's a spectrum too. The vaccines often activate an auto-immune response in the GI tract, and the immune system attacks the molecules of gluten or grains at large, and casein, because they resemble vaccine ingredients. It makes holes in the intestines, etc. etc. If it happens in babies and small children, the results are autism as well as IBD (also known as autistic enterocolitis, still said by Wikipedia to be fraudulent nonsense, even while study after study is confirming the connection, see pharma researcher Micah Mazurek's work). If it happens in older people, the results are sensitivity to gluten, casein, etc., and colitis or Crohn's disease, and a multitude of other symptoms. Of course new hybrids would make it worse, but the fundamental problem is that the vaccines cause these reactions to any kind of grain and dairy. (Pecan Bread.com thinks that homemade goat's milk yogurt fermented over 24 hours to predigest the casein is an exception.)

cia parker

Link to report at Ripoff Report.com on Dr. Hickie, filed by angry patients, first filed in 2006, updated last February:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/dr-christopher-hickie/tucson-arizona-85747/dr-christopher-hickie-worthless-doctor-tucson-arizona-216851

cia parker

Boyle also participated in the monkeying with the steep increase in autism in those born after 1990 in Brick Township, in order to conceal the increase, rearranging the study groups to include children too young to have been diagnosed with autism in a smaller range of age group (to conceal the very high numbers in children four, five, and six, seven), and putting kids too old to have received the new vaccines in with some of the autistic seven year olds. Deliberately shoving the midpoint dividing the two groups down to conceal the increase. And last year at the congressional hearing prevaricating about autism and mercury. And now, with regard to the new Somali study which inadvertently revealed that the autism rate among American children is now one in 38, she still insists that the rate is one in 88, the CDC figure from April 2012 (now way outdated).

SkepticalOfPaidShills

@Chris Hickie "Her defense of vaccines also rests on the 60,00 pediatricians who vaccinate and the still 90-95% of parents who vaccinate..."

That's an acceptable, scientific defense of an invasive medical procedure?

"We should do it because 60,000 pediatricians were taught in med school by paid pharma consultants and then further trained by paid pharma reps in CME to buy their product?"

"We should do it because 90-95% of parents do it (convinced by paid advertising as well as threats that their child can be refused medical care, forced out of school, or even taken from them)?

Except for the threats, you could say exactly the same thing about cigarettes.

Once we consider the threats, though, we are talking about coercion.

So your argument becomes, "We should do it because 90-95% of parents have given in to coercion."

Nice.

Thank you for making it so clear.

John Stone

Louis

One of the problems is that epidemiology might very well fail to detect quite intolerable levels of damage, although fear Cochrane's conclusion on MMR could easily have carried the implication that the results - if the studies had been properly conducted - would have been so gross that they had to be massaged.

John

Angus

well done John great work

Angus

John Stone

Specially for Chris Hickie I thought I would post the link to my old article 'Paul Offit and the Milgram Experiment'.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/10/best-of-age-of-autism-paul-offit-and-the-milgram-experiment.html

Louis Conte

What has evolved is a dysfunctional belief that these drugs SHALL be administered unless someone (and pitty the person who steps forward) somehow proves there's a problem. Epidemiology doesn't really suffice here as it doesn't focus on individual outcomes. To get a sense of what is going on with vaccine injury, one must study those injured, such as the population of compensated cases in the NVICP. This was suggested by Bernadine Heally years ago.

Would Dorit stand with us an call for a full, independent assessment of the health outcomes of those that the United States government has agreed are vaccine injured?

And just one other note everybody - please note what Eileen Nicole Simon is saying. THERE IS research out there that shows that autism (and other disorders) is a result of brain injury. Autism is not a disease but a behavioral disorder that manifests as a result of brain injury.

The compensated cases in the NVICP show this. All we have to do study the injured.

david m burd

Drs. Hickie, Danahey, Graham: Could you please provide your justification for injecting the Hep B into newborns - despite their mothers being in fine health and testing negative for any Hep B infection? And further injecting the Hep B vaccine several more times on their 'well baby' visits?

Babies that weigh 7 - 12 pounds? Why don't you inject yourselves with Hep B vaccines adjusted to your adult weights? With syringes holding 15 times the syringe volume you inject into babies. Go ahead, do it to prove your belief that the Hep B vaccine is all benefit, no risk.

Hera

Dr Hickie,
just some history about thalidomide here.

Thalidomide wasn't withdrawn because of peer reviewed studies in journals. In fact the science at the time had already shown that thalidomide was safe ; so safe in fact that it was billed as being near impossible to overdose on.
When the thalidomide babies first started being born, missing arms and legs, their parents were told their disabled babies were definitely genetic.After all, not everyone who took thalidomide during pregnancy ended up with a disabled baby. And the science showed it was safe. (Yes, you can check, they were right: It did.)Most physicians believed there was no mechanism through which it could cause those types of injuries.
Of course, later we realized thalidomide cuts off blood flow to extremities at certain doses, at certain crucial times during pregnancy, resulting in missing limbs. And of course, it did not happen to everybody who took the drug...
The problems with thalidomide were discovered by a doctor, who had two effected children born to relatives, and who then went travelling from place to place collecting anecdotes from parents of thalidomide use and birth defects.


www.iansvoice.org ,Hannah Poling, Bradley Banks, please tell us you at least know these names.

And please tell us if one of your kids, your own child had been harmed by a medical treatment, what would you want a doctor to say to you? What would provide you with comfort?

What if it was you personally, that was injured, severely, by a medication or medical treatment? What kind of thing would give you comfort?
I'm asking a genuine question. What would you want done or said?
Would "trust me" be enough for you in that circumstance? Would you want acknowledgement of your injury? Research into what happened?
what do you think would give you peace?

Benedetta

In the Lord's Prayer:
The words "Deliver us from temptation" has real meaning when it comes to what the health care workers are forced to give to make money, maintain their livily hood.

Speaking of livily hoods.

Dorit can pick up and go; she has no vested years of the study of medicine to keep her. She has the law and can waffle somewhere else. She so far as not - so the money must be really -- too ----good!

That seems to be the bottom line every time and turn.

Meanwhile vaccine injuries are seeping into other people's living hoods. First the sick and parents of the sick; Mass numbers of people all become allergic to the very food that our civilization was built on.

If anyone on TV says "HEY, eat less wheat and you will feel better!" News media shows endless, beautiful, golden fields of wheat being harvested by big machines, and there is an interview of a wheat farmer out in the Heartland in Kansas; who looks all bewildered that anyone would be allergic to wheat; something he has been raising and his father raised and his grandfather raised. His family depends on it for a living!
As does the factory workers that makes those big combines, and big Agricultural companies with all their employees that supply seed, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer.

Just like the vaccine pushers as in the CDC, NIH, and big pharma; big agricultural companies along with bewildered farmers main goal is to keep all research all quiet on any news programs.

The public will never know that serious health problems caused an allergy to wheat even exist.
It is out of the bag to a few people that the there is a new type of wheat invented back in the 1950s that produces more gluten.It seems that at every turn the public seems to lose.
We have Dorit and all those minions that work for her cause - all out there pushing and protecting any kind of vaccine. Next thing you know they will be mandating the rabies vaccine; not so far fetched - the flu vaccine is mandated.

I wonder if the Dorits of the world really understand what they are defending? Most people do not. They love the argument that they never had a bit of trouble with their vaccines, and if you had any trouble with vaccines it is your weak genetics.

Meanwhile; Mass numbers of people all become allergic to the very food that our civilization was built on.

If anyone on TV says "HEY, eat less wheat and you will feel better!" News media shows endless, beautiful, golden fields of wheat being harvested by big machines, and there is an interview of a wheat farmer out in the Heartland in Kansas; who looks all bewildered that anyone would be allergic to wheat; something he has been raising and his father raised and his grandfather raised. His family depends on it for a living!
As does the factory workers that makes those big combines, and big Agricultural companies with all their employees that supply seed, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer.

Just like the vaccine pushers as in the CDC, NIH, and big pharma; big agricultural companies along with bewildered farmers begin to fight back and tell the public -- well really nothing -- the main goal is to keep all research all quiet on any news programs. The public will never know that serious health problems caused an allergy to wheat even exist.

The only thing that has gotten out to a few people is that there is a new type of wheat invented back in the 1950s that produces more gluten, and will feed the world. -----AND; So far vaccines have been kept out of this allergy wheat business.

Boy! Bernard Rimland was way ahead on all of this!

So once again Dorit and all the vaccine lying minions are safe,

Meanwhile: There are other food allergies rising; allergy to peanuts, and if you live in Asia - it is rice, and if you live in Norway it is cod, and if you live in Israel it is Sesame seed.

Do you all think that

Boy! Bernard Rimland was way ahead on all of this!

So once again Dorit and all the vaccine lying minions are safe,

But Meanwhile: There are other food allergies rising; allergy to peanuts, and if you live in Asia - it is rice, and if you live in Norway it is cod, and if you live in Israel it is Sesame seed.

Carol

What is John Stone (aka come on Johnny Boy) lying about?

Just Say No to Bully Pediatricians like Hickie

Oh no YOU come on, Chrissy boy - "her defense of vaccines also rest on the 60,000 pediatricians who vaccinate"? Are you really going to try to say that the very people who make their proverbial bread and butter from the vaccine industry (Well Baby Visits), is proof of their safety and efficacy?
While many pediatricians actually blackmail parents into compliance? Like you?

"Effective October 10, 2013, Cottonwood Pediatrics will no longer accept new patients whose parents have decided--with no valid medical reason--to not immunize their child in accordance with the AAP/CDC guidelines. We do this to protect our most vulnerable patients--newborns who are too young to receive vaccines and patients with weakened immune systems (such as children with cancer or transplanted organs) who have a valid medical reason they cannot receive vaccines.

Established families in our practice whose children are currently on "alternate schedules" or completely unimmunized will need to start bringing their child up to date on recommended vaccines within a month of receiving a registered letter we are sending you. If you are a parent of such a family and you cannot agree to vaccinate your child according to the AAP/CDC schedule, we will ask that you find another medical practice aligned to your personal philosophy on vaccines. Please contact us if you wish your child's medical records be transferred to a different provider.

As inferred above, our new policy does NOT apply to children in whom vaccines cannot be administered for specific medical reasons.

We hope to allay your fears about vaccines and have a mutually satisfactory relationship in the years to come.

We thank you for reading our policy. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can answer additional questions or give you more information regarding vaccine safety.

Sincerely,

Chris Hickie, MD, PhD
Helen Danahey, MD
Christine Graham, MD, FAAP"

http://www.cottonwoodpediatrics.com/vaccine%20policy.html

Ottschnaut

Dr. Hickie- to which 60,000 pediatricians are you referring? According to Journal Pediatrics, "61% were comfortable using an ACIS ("Alternative Childhood Immunization Schedule.")

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/11/22/peds.2011-0666.abstract

Your bedside manner, Dr., leaves much to be desired. You exhibit a sneering contempt for families who are eyewitnesses to vaccine injury. Is it your position that every family that reports vaccine is mistaken or lying?

What about the families who have in fact experienced vaccine injury? Have you ever in your practice made a report to VAERS? Have you ever witnessed vaccine injury, caused by a shot or shots you administered?

Dr. Harper refused to endorse the HPV series on Couric's show, saying that pediatricians are good at giving shots but not good at screening for cervical cancers. Since Dr. Harper supervised clinical trials of the HPV series, I would suggest her viewpoint is expert and should be considered.

Dr. Boyle got away with lying about Agent Orange at the Veterans Affairs Administration for a number of years- and then everything she said was proven to be bullshit. Dioxin does cause birth defects and cancer. Should we be assured about vaccine safety because Boyle is now point person at NIH doing damage control on the vaccine injuries?

Eileen Nicole Simon

The pharma defenders should cite toxicology research, not epidemiology. Juan M. Pascual in Neuroscience letters (Nov 2011) pointed out that epidemiology has led to “toxicological hypotheses,” but that epidemiology tends to blur the individual and never accounts for outliers. His comments were an editorial on a paper in the same issue on abnormal brain development in rats exposed to thimerosal (by Ida-Eto et al).

Sadly, autism must be recognized as a neurological disorder. Injury of the oculomotor nuclei and basal ganglia should be investigated as cause of limited “eye-contact” and repetitive movement disorder (of choreo-athetoid type). Most serious is developmental language disorder. I will continue to point out the vulnerability of brainstem auditory nuclei to toxic substances (just look in PubMed). Also, oxygen insufficiency at birth is damaging to the auditory system, and clamping the umbilical cord immediately after birth puts all infants at risk for asphyxia.

Understanding the neurological disorder should also turn away all of the Asperger wannabes. Why don’t they claim to have cerebral palsy that went undetected until adulthood?

david m burd

John, I have a 32 year old niece and several other friends' daughters who have recently become physician assistants (PAs) - strongly motivated by their compassion for everyone but particularly so for infants and the now vast American numbers of small children increasingly afflicted with the autism spectrum, asthma, deadly allergies, seizures, on and on.

My niece (married and 6 months pregnant), when asked by a peer friend (I was present) if she was going to have her baby vaccinated per the CDC Schedule replied she believed in "herd immunity" - therefor it was her responsibility to follow the Schedule - and the topic (in my presence) closed without further ado.

She may as well have been gone to PA classes given by professors affiliated with vaccine manufacturers, and I have little doubt every year tens of thousands graduating with assorted medical degrees have drummed into them vaccines are "safe and effective," the cornerstone of public health, false as it is.

It seems the only way knowledge of vaccines' dangers (and parental choice) reaching the public must someday be a top issue in the national media with all sides getting equal say. But when?


Chris Hickie, MD, PhD

Oh, come on Johnny boy, get a clue. Her defense of vaccines also rests on the 60,00 pediatricians who vaccinate and the still 90-95% of parents who vaccinate and who haven't been fooled by your lies. Just come out and admit it--what's really bugging you right now is that we are now pushing your lot off the stage and you haven't the slightest damned clue what to do about it other than shriek even more loudly.

You really are so sad. Do you only go after women who defend vaccines?--not that you're any threat to them either.

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