The American Academy of Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table

This afternoon I sent the following letter to the AAP and Dr. Bradley Dyer, in light of the newly released position by the AAP regarding parents who have vaccination concerns and the report submitted to Congress by Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC reporting that the VSD data, by which the CDC based their studies claiming Thimerosal in childhood vaccines does not cause Autism, was "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading."

I really think the American Academy of Pediatrics might want to reconsider the gross disrespect they've shown parents interested in making the best decision for their child.

David Kirby, of the huffington POst, on the Julie Gerberding report
Barbars Lowe Fisher, of the National Vaccine Safety Center on the AAP Guidelines



To: Renee R. Jenkins., AAP President

Considering that the CDC, in an official report to Congress, has just taken every study they had to offer regarding the safety of thimerosal in vaccines off the table I am wondering if you shouldn’t reconsidered the vaccine policy written by Dr. Bradley Dyer and recommended to all other pediatricians in your May ’08 newsletter.

The CDC says vaccination saves 33,000 lives per year, that’s 1 in 10,000. Autism is currently at a rate of 1 in 150 and Julie Gerberding says in her report to Congress "CDC concurs," Dr. Gerberding wrote again, "that conducting an ecologic analysis using VSD administrative data to address potential associations between thimerosal exposure and risk of ASD is not useful."

Read that sentence one more time. The head of the CDC is saying that its most powerful and convincing piece of exonerating evidence for thimerosal is, in effect, "useless.". This is in reference to the Verstraeten study. Full text of David Kirby’s article here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/cdc-vaccine-study-design_b_108398.html

1 in 150 only accounts for autism and does not include the shocking increase in autoimmune diseases we have seen over the past 2 decades. In absence of sound scientific safety studies, we have no idea what the true risk/benefit of the current vaccine program is. A sound vaccination program is critical to public health. The problem is that the CDC is not offering us a sound, scientifically validated program. We may well have traded rare devastating outcomes in acute illness for common chronic disease and neurological disorders.

Parents who are concerned about vaccination are neither selfish nor emotional. They are well informed and have logical and reasonable concerns; and they know they may be playing Russian Roulette with their child’s health with either decision, to vaccinate or not.

You should be ashamed of yourself for ridiculing parents for doing the thing that is most instinctual…protecting their own. As a parent, it is my responsibility to put my child first. And your responsibility to “do no harm”

With due disrespect,


Pamela Felice