Vaccine Epidemic How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government
Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children by Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland
Featuring more than twenty experts from the fields of ethics, law, science, medicine, business, and history, Vaccine Epidemic urgently calls for reform. It is the essential handbook for the vaccination choice movement and required reading for all people contemplating vaccination for themselves and their children.
Nearly all Americans receive vaccines. The federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends 70 doses of sixteen different vaccines between birth and age eighteen, and all fifty states mandate between 30 and 45 doses of vaccines for admission to day care and school.
Public health officials state that vaccines are safe and effective, but the truth is far more complicated. Vaccination is a serious medical intervention that always carries the potential to injure and cause death as well as to prevent disease. Coercive vaccination policies deprive people of free and informed consent—the hallmark of ethical medicine. National polls show that Americans are increasingly concerned about vaccine safety and the right to make individual, informed choices together with their healthcare practitioners. Vaccine Epidemic focuses on the searing debate surrounding individual and parental vaccination choice in the United States.
Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland edit and introduce a diverse array of interrelated topics concerning the explosive vaccine controversy, including:
The human right to vaccination choice
The ethics and constitutionality of vaccination mandates
Personal narratives of parents, children, and soldiers who have suffered vaccine injury
Vaccine safety science and evidence-based medicine
Corrupting conflicts of interest in the national vaccine program
What should parents do? A review of eight advice books on vaccines that span the gamut
Vaccine Epidemic builds the case that it is your right—not the government’s—to decide whether to vaccinate yourself or your children. Only you, with your healthcare practitioner, can make the appropriate risk-benefit trade-off, and only you can be fully accountable for your choice, as with any other medical intervention.
The 26 Chapters
PART I: THE CASE FOR VACCINATION CHOICE
Chapter 1: Vaccination Choice is a Human Right by Mary Holland, JD
Mary explains why vaccination choice is a human right. Co-editor of Vaccine Epidemic, she is Research Scholar at New York University Law School and previously worked for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, a national human rights advocacy organization. Mary clerked for a federal district court judge, taught international human rights advocacy at Columbia Law School, served as a consultant to the Aspen Institute Justice and Society Program, and has practiced law at two international law firms. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and graduate degrees in law and international affairs from Columbia University
Chapter 2: The International Human Rights Standard by Sookyung Song
Sookyung places vaccination choice in the context of contemporary international human rights norms supporting free and informed consent for all medical interventions. Sookyung is a law student at New York University.
Chapter 3: A Human Rights Assessment by Louise Kuo Habakus, MA
Louise applies a leading human rights-public health assessment framework to demonstrate that mandatory vaccination restricts and intrudes on fundamental human rights. Co-editor of Vaccine Epidemic, she is the director and co-founder of the Center for Personal Rights. Louise received her B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University. She was formerly a Managing Director and Head of Corporate Marketing for Putnam Investments and consultant with Bain & Company.
Chapter 4: Due Process and the American Constitution by Jim Turner, JD
Jim writes about the absence of due process in the vaccine injury compensation program and the loss of moral authority for a government that mandates a medical intervention known to injure and cause death. As Chairman of Citizens for Health, Jim is the nation’s leading natural health freedom advocate for over 40 years. He is a principal in the law firm Swankin & Turner which represents businesses, consumer groups and individuals in regulatory matters involving food, drug, health, environmental and product-safety. Turner is actively involved with The Foundation for Health Choice, an organization advocating choice, information, safety and redress and a founder of Voice for HOPE (Healers of Planet Earth).
Chapter 5: The Right to Legal Redress by Mary Holland, JD and Robert Krakow, JD
Mary Holland and Bob Krakow write about the failure of the vaccine injury compensation program. Bob is an attorney in private practice in New York, focusing on the trial of civil and criminal cases, specializing in the representation of persons injured by exposure to environmental toxins and vaccines, as well as legal services to individuals with disabilities. He is the Board Chair of Lifespire, Inc., a 55 year-old nonprofit organization that provides residential, day habilitation, occupational, educational and medical programs and supports for more than 5,000 developmentally delayed adults and children.
Chapter 6: God, Government, and Parental Rights by William Wagner, JD
William writes in defense of parental rights and the free exercise of religious conscience. He is a tenured law school professor teaching ethics and constitutional law. A frequent speaker at world conferences, he addresses executive, legislative, parliamentary, and judicial audiences throughout the world, and presents at various diplomatic forums including the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. He previously served as a Federal Magistrate Judge, a U.S. Senate legal counsel, a Senior Assistant United States Attorney, and as an American Diplomat. Professor Wagner currently is President of Salt and Light Global and Vice-President of ParentalRights.org
Chapter 7: An Urgent Call for More Research by Carol Stott, PhD and Andrew Wakefield, MB, BS, FRCS, FRCPath
Carol Stott, a PhD epidemiologist and Andy Wakefield, doctor and scientist, address the science — what we know, what we don’t know, and what we appear not to want to know. Based on peer-reviewed science, they argue that the case for a link between vaccines and autism and other childhood health problems is robust and cries out for further research. They provide a primer on epidemiology and important guidance about the use of epidemiology to answer questions of causation.
Chapter 8: A Long American Tradition by Robert Johnston, PhD
Robert writes about the deep and powerful history of activism around vaccinations throughout American history, and the role of dissent in a democracy as integral to social progress. He is an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he directs the Teaching of History program. He has also taught in the Yale History Department and at Yale Medical School. Robert is the author of several award-winning books and will publish another, under contract with Oxford University Press, on the contemporary vaccination safety movement and the democratization of medicine.
Chapter 9: Medical Ethics and Contemporary Medicine by Vera Hassner Sharav, MLS
Vera, a long-time advocate for human research protection, warns of history’s lessons. When doctors veer from Hippocratic traditions, medicine has ended in horror and societal subversion. Recent U.S. medicine has its own dark chapters, including eugenics, forced sterilization, and experiments of vulnerable populations without informed consent. Vera is founder and president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection.
Chapter 10: “The Greater Good” by Allen Tate
Allen offers an analysis of the utilitarian justification for mandatory vaccination. Allen is an undergraduate at New York University.
PART II: NARRATIVES AND THE ECHOES OF OMELAS The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin
Ursula is an award-winning American author of novels, poetry, children’s books, essays, and short stories. Among others, her works explore ethnographic, psychological and sociological themes. We have received approval for the inclusion of one of her short stories in our book. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas describes a utopian society in which everything is pleasing and delightful with one single, unfortunate exception. She asks us all: what constitutes an ethical society? Omelas won a Hugo Award in 1974. Her short story is reprinted with permission from the author and her agents.
Chapter 11: Three Short Years by Gay Tate, PhD
Gay writes about her family’s experience with vaccine injury. Her two youngest children received a dramatically increased schedule of recommended vaccines because they were born just several years after her first. Gay and her husband are both scientists. She writes about the impact of vaccine injury on her family and her motivation to help create positive societal change.
Chapter 12: Pediatrics – Sick is the New Healthy by Judy Converse, MPH, RD, LD
Judy describes the American public health crisis, using her personal story as a backdrop. In addition to testifying before state and federal lawmakers on vaccine safety, she works closely with our most vulnerable and damaged children. An author of three books on the subject, Judy is a licensed registered dietitian specializing in pediatric special needs nutrition care since 1999.
Chapter 13: My Daughter is “One Less” by Amy Pingel
Amy describes her daughter’s ongoing experience with vaccine injury. Thirteen year-old Zeda Pingel sustained two seizures and lost the ability to eat, walk and communicate three weeks after receiving her first dose of human papillomavirus (HPV) quadrivalent vaccine (Gardasil). Amy’s healthy, active, straight-A daughter now breathes through a tracheotomy and receives nutrition via a feeding tube. Amy explains that thousands of girls are having adverse reactions and at least sixty-seven girls have died following receipt of the HPV vaccine. She is part of a movement of parents committed to telling the truth about their children’s neurologic and other injuries.
Chapter 14: A Mother-Son Story by Sonja Hintz, RN and Alexander Hintz
Alex and his mother write about his recovery from vaccine injury as a story of hope. Alex is a 13 year-old boy who no longer has autism. Sonja is a registered nurse who works with vaccine-injured children. They write about Alex’s story and the reasons that his family supports parental vaccination choice and free and informed consent.
Chapter 15: Who Will Defend the Defenders? by Captain Richard Rovet, USAF (Ret.), with Afterword by Colonel Felix M. Grieder, USAF (Ret.)
As a medic and nurse in the Air Force, Captain Rovet recorded post-vaccination illnesses at Dover AFB in Delaware, Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, and Keesler AFB in Mississippi. He addresses the absence of informed consent for vaccines in the military, as told through the stories of our Gulf War veterans.
Chapter 16: “Get Your Affairs in Order” by Lisa Marks Smith
Lisa is a forty-eight-year-old mother of two who almost died after a routine flu shot from a local pharmacy. She was awarded compensation from the federal government through the vaccine injury compensation program. Lisa shares her story about injury and recovery with insight and courage.
PART III: THE TOPICS IN DEBATE
Chapter 17: The Vaccine Bubble and the Pharmaceutical Industry by Michael Belkin
Michael offers an analyst’s view of vaccine licensure, the psychology of the “vaccine bubble,” and the role of industry corruption in the crisis. Michael is a leading market strategist, author of the Belkin Report, published since 1992. He was a Vice President in the equity department at Salomon Brothers where he was a quantitative strategist in global macro proprietary trading. Michael testified before Congress about his daughter, who died at the age of five weeks, about 15 hours after receiving her second hepatitis B booster vaccine.
Chapter 18: The Role of Government and the Media by Ginger Taylor, MS
Ginger examines government statements on vaccines and autism and the media’s failure to investigate them. When the government and media mislead the citizenry, true democracy no longer exists. Ginger is a contributing editor of Vaccine Epidemic, writer, and mother of a child with autism.
Chapter 19: Mercury Toxicity and Vaccine Injury by Boyd Haley, Ph.D.
Boyd writes about the biochemical toxicity of vaccine components and the tie to vaccine injury. He is Professor Emeritus and former Chairman of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky. He was an NIH Post Doctoral Scholar in the Department of Physiology at Yale Medical School. Boyd is the first scientist hired in the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky with academic appointments as professor in the College of Pharmacy and in the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He is the founder and President of CTI Science, a biotechnology company. Boyd has testified as an expert witness in government hearings on the health hazards of mercury in vaccines and dental amalgams.
Chapter 20: Forced Child Removal by Kim Mack Rosenberg, J.D.
Kim argues that child protective services sometimes label the choice not to vaccinate as “medical neglect” and seek child removal. She discusses the current legal landscape with respect to vaccination choice and child protective services, urging parents to be aware of their rights. Kim, a contributing editor of Vaccine Epidemic, received her B.A. in political science from Carleton College and her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She is a lawyer in private practice in New York City. Kim is on the board of the Center for Personal Rights. She also is an officer and board member of the National Autism Association-New York Metro Chapter and the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy.
Chapter 21: Genetic Information – Where Do We Go From Here? by Twila Brase, RN
Twila writes about newborn DNA acquisition without parental consent and concern about 21st century coercive medicine. She is president and co-founder of the Citizens’ Council on Health Freedom (CCHF), a freedom-focused, patient-centered health care policy organization.
Chapter 22: A Doctor’s View of Vaccines and the Public Health by Sherri Tenpenny, DO
Sherri writes about the pull/push of public health and the role of doctors. She is board-certified in Emergency and Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine. Sherri is an author, international medical consultant and founder of an integrative medicine clinic in Ohio. She speaks as a member of the licensed physician community that challenges mainstream orthodoxy regarding the safety, effectiveness and appropriateness of the nation’s universal vaccination program.
Chapter 23: A Holistic Health Perspective by Annemarie Colbin, PhD
Annemarie writes about vaccination from the perspective of a natural health practitioner. Annemarie is an award-winning leader in natural health and a highly sought after lecturer and wellness consultant. She is Founder and CEO of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City, the oldest natural foods cooking school in the U.S. (since 1977). She is an adjunct professor of nutrition at Empire State College and at Touro College. Annemarie is a prolific writer, the author of four books, numerous articles, and a bi-monthly column in New York Spirit magazine. Food and Healing has been translated into six languages.
Chapter 24: What Should Parents Do? by Louise Kuo Habakus, MA
Louise provides resources for the critical question, “What should parents do?” She summarizes the government’s position and eight boos by leading physicians who span the spectrum of medical advice and offer recommendations about vaccination and the options that parents have. This chapter highlights the wide and conflicting range of medical views, further underscoring the need for vaccination choice.
Chapter 25: Who is Dr. Andrew Wakefield? by Mary Holland, JD
Mary examines the sound and fury behind the story of Dr. Andrew Wakefield. She reviews the charges against him and concludes that medical regulators and the media made Wakefield a scapegoat. He dared to dissent from medical orthodoxy by suggesting that parents have a choice; the establishment retaliated.
Chapter 26: The Suppression of Science by Andrew Wakefield, MB, BS, FRCS, FRCPath
Andy writes about his experience with the MMR vaccine. His story is a cautionary tale for us all. Andy is an academic gastroenterologist. He received his medical degree from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School (part of the University of London) in 1981, one of the third generations of his family to have studied medicine at that teaching hospital. His chapter discusses the real dangers to the universal childhood vaccination program due to the absence of a safety first agenda, and free and informed consent. In pursuit of possible links between childhood vaccines, intestinal inflammation, and neurologic injury in children, Andy lost his job, his country, his career, and his medical license.
APPENDIX A — SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
Chapter 7: Scientific journal abstracts from the underlying studies
Chapter 12: Letter from Francis Moore, MD to Judy Converse
Chapter 15: Excerpts from Captain Rovet’s Report on Anthrax Vaccine Injury
Chapter 18: Research supporting the vaccine-autism causation theory
Chapter 24: Counting vaccine doses and combination vaccines
Chapter 25: Statement from Dr. Andrew Wakefield Regarding the GMC Hearing Sanctions
APPENDIX B — TOOLS FOR VACCINATION CHOICE
Chicago Principles on Vaccination Choice
Calls for Immediate Action in the United States
Harris Interactive Poll — May 2010
Public Discussion Presentation
Frequently Asked Questions about Vaccines
Discussion Guide to “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
