By Dr. Mercola
As one of the world's most well-known and respected voices,
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has a unique opportunity to call
attention to important social issues and make a huge impact
worldwide.
Unfortunately Gates, through his foundation, has been
partnering with not only biotech giant Monsanto to hoist
genetically modified seeds on third-world countries, but also
with Big Pharma, to whom he pledged $10 billion to provide
vaccinations to children around the world.
This is billed as a humanitarian effort to save lives, but
what children in developing countries need is healthy food,
clean water and better sanitation.
These are the keys to preventing the spread of infectious
disease, and they are being wholly ignored by the likes of Bill
Gates and other vaccine proponents – at the children’s expense!
The Aftermath of a Bill Gates Vaccine Campaign …
An American family, the Gianelloni’s, visited a village in
Uganda shortly after a Bill Gates vaccine campaign swept through
and discovered what Bill Gates’ money does for hungry, sick
children – essentially nothing.
The family found that the children were starving, living on
one meager meal a day. Their only water source was the same
stagnant stream that they bathed in. They had no sewage or
sanitation. But, thanks to Gates, they were now vaccinated
against measles and
polio. Never mind that the most pressing epidemics in the
area were actually Yellow Fever, malaria, HIV/AIDs and diarrhea
…
Worse yet, one little girl who had received a measles vaccine
two weeks earlier was now suffering with the measles as a
result! After this blogger left, thanks to her and the mission
group that arrived with her, the village had a water tank and
clean water system, a cow, and a year’s worth of rice and beans.
You can probably understand why the blogger made this comment
about Gates’ “philanthropy”:
“I don’t care who you are or what side of the vaccine
philosophy you fall under, there is no logic in the world
that can explain that going into a remote village and giving
children who only eat one meal a day and have never had
clean drinking water, a vaccine.
Seriously? Think about it. Can you imagine walking up
to this precious little girl and saying ”I know you are
starving, but here is a measles vaccine instead. I promise
this will make you much healthier than food or water”. It’s
a scary day when simple logic no longer exists.
Food & Water, nope. Vaccines, yep. And innocent
children suffer the consequences. It’s absurd."
Food, Water, Sanitation is What’s Needed to Help Prevent Disease
The most vulnerable of the world's children are those in the
poorest countries where death and disease are often a result of
malnutrition and lack of adequate sanitation and clean drinking
water. In many third-world countries, children are often
battling some sort of infection 200 days out of the year.
Vaccines can be devastating to these already immunosuppressed
children, as well as to adults, because vaccines often weaken
and confuse the immune system, which ultimately increases the
recipient’s susceptibility to the very infectious diseases
vaccines are designed to prevent.
Nonetheless,
emerging vaccine markets like third-world countries will
soon outgrow developed markets by hundreds of billions of
dollars. Emerging markets are areas of the world that are
beginning to show promise as a profitable venture for many
products, including vaccines. And emerging markets – primarily
in developing countries in Southeast and Central Asia, and
Africa – have been on vaccine makers' radar for quite some time.
One reason that vaccine makers are interested in these parts
of the world is that that's where most of the world's deaths
from major infectious diseases occur. The only problem has been
that, until recently, making vaccines for undeveloped countries
with no money to pay for them was not exactly a profitable goal
for vaccine makers.
Concerned that developed countries would have little or no
resources for addressing serious infectious diseases if vaccine
makers continued their pull-out, the World Health Organization
and the G8 – the top developed countries in the world –
responded with a plan for enticing vaccine companies to stay in
the business. That plan was called Advance Market Commitments
(AMCs).
AMCs Guarantee Drug Company Profits
Under AMCs, developed countries make legal, binding
agreements to purchase vaccines that are needed in low-income
countries. The purchase guarantees a bottom line for the
manufacturers. In return, the manufacturers promise to sell
those vaccines at reduced prices in the countries where they are
most needed.
The idea is simple: "rich" nations sign legally binding
commitments to purchase and/or finance an AMC vaccine once it's
ready for market. In return for the guaranteed market and
income, drug companies promise to sell the new vaccine to "poor"
countries at vastly reduced prices.
To speed up the process, the World Health Organization
"prequalifies" AMC vaccines in an approval process that slices
years off the time it normally takes a vaccine to make it to
market.
Unfortunately, legally binding, advance market commitments to
purchase vaccines that are mostly needed in third-world
countries could backfire on developed countries that don't need
– or want – certain vaccines.
For instance, HPV (human papillomavirus) statistics show that
HPV causes 4,000 deaths from cervical cancer per year in the
United States, compared to 274,000 worldwide, 88 percent of
which are in developing countries. So why were the
HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix -- which have known
safety issues -- introduced in the U.S. and Europe, first,
instead of going straight to where they're needed most, if
not to help sell huge quantities of the vaccine at premium
prices, in anticipation of it becoming an AMC?
Even Gates and a Leading Vaccine Maker Admit Clean Water is Key
Malaria is another one of the top neglected diseases that
world health leaders want to address with AMCs, but the ability
to resist diseases like
malaria requires a strong immune system, and for that, you
require good nutrition, clean drinking water, and sanitation. If
we want to help people in other countries to lower their malaria
rates, and rates of other infectious diseases (like
infection-associated diarrhea, which is one of the most common,
and most preventable causes of death among children in the
developing world) it would be wise to focus on these basics
first.
Infectious organisms are more likely to penetrate the bodies
of malnourished children due to inadequate vitamin C, which
causes their skin to break down more easily and facilitates the
entry of bacteria and other pathogens. The same is true for
vitamin A deficiency, another common third-world problem, which
results in increased susceptibility to infection and which could
be rectified in individuals for pennies a day. Also, the living
conditions of third-world children are often so poor that they
are exposed to inordinately large numbers of pathogens, from
which they have little defense.
In order to eradicate infectious disease from a nation, you
also have to first address compromised immune systems. If you
hit immune suppressed children with a potent, adjuvant-loaded
vaccine, you're far more likely to create new disease, not
eradicate it.
With all of the billions being poured into vaccines to “save”
the children, how many water purification systems could have
been built? How many sanitation facilities? How many rations of
meat and fresh produce?
Even Bill Gates himself has admitted that vaccines alone
don't eradicate disease. In a Wall Street Journal
article about the resurgence of polio in African countries,
Gates said that's why he is revamping his disease fight to
incorporate health, hygiene, and clean drinking water programs
into vaccination programs.1
Polio spreads, after all, largely through feces-contaminated
water, so ignoring that major risk factor while trying to
eradicate the disease is ignorant, to put it nicely.
What's really interesting is that at least one major vaccine
maker has also echoed these sentiments, as evidenced on the
front page of GlaxoSmithKline's presentation to shareholders in
June 2010:2
"With the exception of clean drinking water, vaccines
are the most cost-effective public health measure," GSK
said.
What if, just what if,
the same amount of money that has been spent on vaccines over
the past decade had been spent on sanitation facilities,
toilets, healthy food and clean water instead?
What You Can Do to Make a Difference
Increasing numbers of vaccines are being introduced not only
in third-world countries but also in the developed world, and
it's simply not wise to blindly depend on the information coming
directly from the vaccine makers' PR departments, or from
federal health officials, agencies or foundations that are mired
in conflicts of interest with industry ...
No matter what vaccination choices you make for yourself or
your family, it is a basic human right to be fully informed
about all the risks of medical interventions and pharmaceutical
products, like vaccines, and have the freedom to refuse if you
conclude the benefits do not outweigh the risks for you or your
child.
Unfortunately, the business partnership between government
health agencies and vaccine manufacturers is too close and is
getting out of hand. There is a lot of discrimination against
Americans, who want to be free to exercise their human right to
informed consent when it comes to making voluntary decisions
about which vaccines they and their children use.
We cannot allow that to continue.
While it seems "old-fashioned," the only truly effective
actions you can take to protect the right to informed consent to
vaccination and expand your rights under the law to make
voluntary vaccine choices, is to get personally involved with
your state legislators and the leaders in your community.
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.
Mass vaccination policies are made at the federal level but
vaccine laws are made at the state level, and it is at the state
level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights
will have the greatest impact.
Signing up to be a user of NVIC's free online Advocacy Portal
at www.NVICAdvocacy.org
gives you access to practical, useful information to help you
become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own
community. You will get real-time Action Alerts about what you
can do if there are threats to vaccine exemptions in your state.
With the click of a mouse or one touch on a Smartphone screen
you will be put in touch with YOUR elected representatives so
you can let them know how you feel and what you want them to do.
Plus, when national vaccine issues come up, you will have all
the information you need to make sure your voice is heard. So
please, as your first step,
sign up for
the NVIC Advocacy Portal.
Right now, in California, the personal belief exemption is
under attack by Pharma-funded medical trade organizations and
public health officials trying to get a bill (AB 2109) passed
that would require parents to get a medical doctor's signature
to file an exemption for personal religious and conscientious
beliefs. Watch NVIC's 90-second public service message and learn
more about what you can do if you are a California resident.
Internet Resources
To learn more about vaccines, I encourage you to visit the
following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center
(NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:
-
NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims:
View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who
have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you
or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please
consider posting and sharing your story here.
-
If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions:
Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent
vaccine injuries.
-
Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post
descriptions of harassment by doctors or state officials for
making independent vaccine choices.
- Vaccine
Ingredient Calculator (VIC):
Find out just how much aluminum, mercury and other
ingredients are in the vaccines your doctor is recommending
for you or your child.
- Vaccine
Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)
on MedAlerts. Search the government's VAERS
database to find out what kinds of vaccine reactions,
injuries and deaths have been reported by patients and heath
care workers giving vaccines.
Find a Doctor Who Will Listen to Your Concerns
Last but not least, if your pediatrician or doctor refuses to
provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to
get vaccines you don't want, I strongly encourage you to
have the courage to find another doctor. Harassment,
intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus
operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to punish
those patients and parents, who become truly educated about
health and vaccination and want to make vaccine choices instead
of being forced to follow risky one-size-fits-all vaccine
policies.
If you are treated with disrespect or are harassed in any way
by a doctor (or government official), do not engage in an
unproductive argument. You may want to contact an attorney, your
elected state representatives or local media, if you or your
child are threatened.
That said, there is hope.
At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit
that they're starting to adopt a more individualized approach to
vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns
of parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of
smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents
in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including
delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the
same day or continuing to provide medical care for those
families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.
So take the time to locate and connect with a doctor who
treats you with compassion and respect and is willing to work
with you to do what is right for your child, and isn't just
competing for government incentives designed to increase
vaccination rates at any cost.