Despite Doctor’s Order, School Bans Girl for Not Getting Chickenpox
Vaccine
April 23, 2013
Story at-a-glance
A Staten Island kindergartner has been barred from attending
school because she hasn’t been vaccinated against
chickenpox—even though her pediatrician refuses to vaccinate
her on grounds that it may endanger the health of her baby
sister
While highly contagious, chickenpox typically produces mild
disease characterized by small round lesions on your skin
that cause intense itching that lasts for two to three
weeks. Recovery leaves a child with long-lasting immunity
Research shows a clear link between UV levels and the
prevalence of chickenpox. The authors speculate that UV
radiation can inactivate the virus, either within the
lesions, or after the lesions rupture. Vitamin D produced in
your skin in response to sunlight also provides anti-viral
and immune-boosting benefits
Recent research concluded that the chickenpox vaccine has
failed to provide long-term protection from chicken pox
(vaccine efficacy had declined below 80 percent by 2002);
Widespread use of chickenpox vaccine in the U.S. has
increased the incidence of shingles in children and adults
and is less effective than naturally acquired immunity that
existed in the general population before the vaccine was
licensed in 1995 and the CDC recommended that all children
get the vaccine.
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A story that should serve as a wakeup call to all American
parents is currently making headline news: A Staten Island
kindergartner has been barred from attending school because she
hasn’t been vaccinated against chickenpox—even though her
pediatrician refuses to vaccinate her on grounds that it may
endanger the health of her baby sister.
Chickenpox is caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is
a member of the herpes virus family and is associated with
herpes zoster (shingles).
While highly contagious, it typically produces a mild disease
characterized by small round lesions on your skin that cause
intense itching that lasts for two to three weeks. Recovery
leaves a child with long-lasting immunity.
The case of Frankie Wagner is a disturbing reminder of how
far the US government is going in its illogical pursuit of
maximizing vaccine adherence.
US public health officials say your child should receive 69
doses of 16 different vaccines before age 18. And, believe it or
not, Big Pharma has 145 more vaccines in the pipeline.1
Many homeowners pay property taxes that are directly allocated
for the public schools, but it is clear our government is
willing to take this money even though your children may not
utilize the educational services if they don't keep up with the
medical procedures dictated - 69 doses of vaccines before they
graduate!
Pediatrician’s Advice Ignored by Department of Education
According to Frankie’s mother, Elizabeth, the girl’s
pediatrician does not administer live virus vaccines, like
varicella zoster vaccine, to children in families with infants
as they could contract vaccine strain infections. The Wagner’s
other daughter is only 14-weeks old and her mother has good
reason to suspect her baby daughter could have inherited an
immunodeficiency disease. Elizabeth told NBC News:2
"I don't care if it's a one in 3 million chance. I am
not willing to take the chance with my baby."
The family requested a medical exemption from the Department
of Education (DOE), which was denied even though Elizabeth
herself has an immunodeficiency disease that her baby girl may
have inherited. The disease would increase the baby’s
vulnerability to contracting vaccine strain chickenpox from the
live virus vaccine, but tests to determine if she’s inherited
immunodeficiency cannot be performed until she’s one year old.
According to the DOE, the exemption was denied "after a
thorough review with the parent and the student's doctor."
Wisely, the Wagner’s are arranging for Frankie to be
homeschooled, but this case should really serve as a wakeup call
to parents everywhere. Is forcing a child to get a vaccine to
try to prevent a typically benign childhood disease really worth
the risk to other vulnerable family members, and/or the child
herself—especially when a child’s doctor has concluded that the
vaccine’s risks are likely to be greater than the benefits?
This new form of discrimination and segregation is well
underway.
Denying Education to Force a Non-Essential Vaccine
Merck's chickenpox vaccine was approved for licensure in the
US in 1995. At that time, what had always been regarded as a
relatively benign childhood illness was suddenly reinvented as a
life-threatening disease for which children must get vaccinated
or face dire health consequences.
Before the live virus chickenpox vaccine was recommended for
all children by the CDC and states started passing laws
mandating that children get it to attend school, most children
acquired a natural, longer-lasting immunity to chickenpox by age
six. Before 1995, it was estimated that only 10 percent of
Americans over the age of 15 had not had chickenpox.
For 99.9 percent of healthy children, chickenpox is a mild
disease without complications. However, up to 20 percent of
adults who get chickenpox develop severe complications such
as pneumonia, secondary bacterial infections, and brain
inflammation (which is reported in less than one percent of
children who get chickenpox). Most children and adults who
develop these serious complications have compromised immune
systems or other health problems.
Still, it is because chickenpox can be serious in adults that
it is often regarded as preferable to get it as a child, as
opposed to later in adulthood. It is estimated there were about
3.7 million cases of chickenpox annually in the US before 1995,3
resulting in an average of 100 deaths (50 children and 50
adults). This hardly represents a dire, life-threatening
childhood disease that requires mandatory vaccination of all
children...
Why Mandate a Risky Yet Ineffective Vaccine?
The chickenpox vaccine is made from live, attenuated
(weakened) varicella virus. Unlike the type of immunity acquired
from experiencing the disease, the vaccine provides only
TEMPORARY immunity, and that immunity is not the same kind of
superior, longer lasting immunity you get when you recover
naturally from chickenpox.
It's important to realize that naturally recovering from
chickenpox is the ONLY way you can establish longer lasting
immunity that will protect you until you come in contact with
younger children with chickenpox and are asymptomatically
boosted, which will not only reinforce your chickenpox immunity
but will also help protect you against getting a painful case of
shingles later in life. Merck has developed and is marketing a
shingles vaccine but that is an inferior solution.
Recent research has also cast major doubts on the
effectiveness of the chickenpox vaccine, which is now also
associated with a rise in the numbers of cases of shingles in
older children and adults. As chickenpox vaccination coverage
has increased in the U.S., so has the incidence of shingles
increased—giving evidence for the risks associated with relying
on vaccine-acquired immunity. A review4
of the American varicella (chickenpox) vaccination program,
published just last year, concluded that the vaccine has:
Not proven to be cost-effective
Increased the incidence of shingles
Failed to provide long-term protection from the disease
it targets―chicken pox―as vaccine efficacy was found to have
declined well below 80 percent by 2002
Is less effective than the natural immunity that existed
in the general population before the vaccine was used on a
widespread basis in the U.S.
Yet despite such damning evidence, and the health risks for
the Wagner’s youngest daughter, the DOE still believes
vaccination is in the best interest of everyone involved... In
the Wagner case, the infant may have inherited an
immunodeficiency disease that would increase her susceptibility
to the virus in the vaccine. And the chickenpox vaccine is
already associated with adverse effects in one in 1,481
vaccinations.5
Between March 1995 and July 1998, the federal Vaccine Adverse
Events Reporting System (VAERS) received 6,574 reports of health
problems after chickenpox vaccination. Four percent of reported
adverse events (about 1 in 33,000 doses) involved serious health
problems such as shock, encephalitis (brain inflammation), and
thrombocytopenia (a blood disorder), and 14 of the 6,574
chickenpox vaccine adverse event reports ended in death.
These are far higher odds of something going wrong than the
one in three million chance Mrs. Wagner said she wasn’t willing
to take... Furthermore, there are documented cases of
accidental transmission of varicella vaccine strain virus from a
vaccinated child to other household contacts, including
transmission to a pregnant woman, so the concern the Wagner’s
and their pediatrician have is a real one.
Sun Exposure May Help Stop the Spread of Chickenpox
Interestingly enough, according to research published in
2011,6
data from 25 studies on the varicella-zoster virus, which causes
chickenpox, shows a clear link between UV levels and the
prevalence of chickenpox. Chickenpox rates are much lower in the
tropics where exposure to sunlight is common year-round. In
temperate regions, chickenpox also tends to flare up more often
in the darker, cold-weather months. The authors speculate that
UV radiation can inactivate the virus, either within the
lesions, or perhaps after the lesions rupture.
The effect is likely two-fold. Not only is sunlight able to
destroy many viruses directly, it also enables your body to
produce vitamin D, which gives you anti-viral and
immune-boosting benefits. If your child has been exposed to
chickenpox, a healthy dose of natural sunlight may be just what
the doctor ordered. However, sunlight exposure to active lesions
may result in permanent scarring, so it would be best to avoid
sunshine during this phase.
Many are not aware that prior to the advent of antibiotics
about 70 years ago one of the only effective treatments for
tuberculosis was sunlight. In fact, many solariums were created
specifically to treat TB with UV radiation. Today, researchers
are looking into the possibility of replacing antibiotics with
blue light therapy—especially for antibiotic-resistant
infections.
Why We Must Fight to Protect Philosophical Exemption to
Vaccination
Informed consent to medical risk taking is a human right. You
have the right to be fully informed about the benefits and risks
of pharmaceutical products – like vaccines - and be allowed to
make a voluntary choice about whether or not you decide to take
the risk, without being punished for it. More than $2.5 billion
dollars has been awarded to children and adults in America, who
have been seriously injured by vaccines. Yet those rights are
increasingly being taken away from us.
For example, last year in Vermont, the legal right to take a
vaccine exemption for philosophical beliefs was threated with
bills promoted by two Vermont legislators, State Senator Kevin
Mullin and State Representative George Till. They joined with
the Vermont Health Commissioner, Dr. Harry Chen, to lead a
crusade to take away philosophical exemption to vaccination but
the bills went down in defeat after supporters of the National
Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) and Vermont Coalition for
Vaccine Choice educated legislators and the public about the
need to keep the philosophical exemption from being stripped
from Vermont public health laws.
In the following video, Barbara Loe Fisher of the NVIC
interviews Nicole , a Vermont mother, whose seven year old
daughter, Kaylynne, died within 92 hours of a routine flu shot
in December 2011. Nicole believes that parents should be fully
informed and able to make voluntary decisions about vaccination
for their children.
“If I would have known the reactions and symptoms of
adverse reactions to vaccination, I would have had her seen
immediately. If I would have known about the risks and
symptoms, I would have been most likely able to save my
daughter,” said Nicole. “I feel that Vermonters
need to be educated and be able to make their own decisions
on whether or not they want to vaccinate their children and
pediatricians and physicians, as well, need to be more
educated.”
While the NVIC led a successful effort with the Vermont
parent group to preserve the philosophical exemption to
vaccination in Vermont last year, legislators in Vermont are
coming around again this session, attacking the
philosophical and religious exemptions to vaccination. They now
want to pass a law (HB138) that says that if vaccination rates
in schools gets below 90 percent then both those exemptions will
be suspended. VT legislators also have introduced a bill that
would require pertussis vaccinations for childcare workers and
teachers (HB 114).
Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine
Exemptions
Needless to say, do your own research before making your
decisions. Interestingly, a recent article in Time Magazine7
reports that at least 95 percent of parents consult their
“people networks” for advice on vaccines. This is a trend that
the vaccine industry takes quite seriously, and according to one
researcher, “changing parents’ attitudes about vaccines may be a
matter of influencing the people who are influencing parents in
the first place.” But it shouldn’t be about who can appeal to
your senses or emotions most effectively. It should be about
getting to the truth, and understanding the risks and benefits
involved. According to the article:
“Parents who didn’t follow vaccination advice were
also more likely to have extensive 'source networks' —
troves of books, websites and magazine articles they turned
to for vaccine-related information.”
While Time makes it sound as though parents who read
extensively are somehow reading the wrong material, I
cannot think of a better way to get informed about the multiple
viewpoints. Also, with all the uncertainty surrounding the
safety and efficacy of vaccines, it's critical to protect your
right to informed consent to vaccination and fight to protect
and expand vaccine exemptions in state public health laws. The
best way to do this 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. It is at the state
level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights
can have the greatest impact. It is critical for EVERYONE to get
involved now in standing up for the legal right to make vaccine
choices in America because those choices are being threatened by
lobbyists representing drug companies, medical trade
associations and public health officials, who are trying to
persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public
health laws.
Signing up for NVIC's free Advocacy Portal at
www.NVICAdvocacy.org
gives you immediate, easy access to your own state legislators
on your Smart Phone or computer so you can make your voice
heard. You will be kept up-to-date on the latest state bills
threatening your vaccine choices and get practical, useful
information to help you become an effective vaccine choice
advocate in your own community. Also, when national vaccine
issues come up, you will have the up-to-date information and
call to action items you need at your fingertips..
Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know
If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine
reaction, injury or death, please talk about it. If we don't
share information and experiences with each other, everybody
feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor
if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that
appears in your local newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk
show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.
I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you
might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the "other
side" of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the
courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and
what we know to be true about vaccination will the public
conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid
to talk about it.
We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade
associations funded by drug companies or public health officials
promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate
the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot
be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than
"statistically acceptable collateral damage" of national
one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way
too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn't be
treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
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.
Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions
of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers, school
and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.
Connect with Your Doctor or Find a New One that Will Listen and
Care
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 stop the change in attitude of
many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated
about health and vaccination.
However, 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 a doctor, who treats you with
compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do
what is right for your child.