by David Kirby and published by Age of Autism - Here
It is not accurate for members of the media to report that the link between vaccines has been “disproven.” This is especially true in light of recent news from the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, and a series of news items from the Federal Court of Claims, Federal health agencies, leading universities and top autism researchers around the country. There are now many reasons why the media should continue its coverage of this serious and ongoing debate:
THE NATIONAL VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (NVAC)
On Friday, February 27, a special group convened by The Keystone Center on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Vaccine Advisory Committee Vaccine Safety Working Group (NVAC VSWG) recommended appointing a panel of experts to explore the strengths and weaknesses of conducting studies on health outcomes in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated populations. The group, known as the “Salt Lake City Writing Group,” said it was “desirable” to include autism as one such health outcome.
As they stated in a draft “consensus statement”:
“(There is) a strong desire to study the health impact of the immunization schedule, potentially through a ‘vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study’. Outcomes to assess include biomarkers of immunity and metabolism, and outcomes including but not limited to neurodevelopmental outcomes, allergies, asthma, immune-mediated diseases, and learning disabilities. The inclusion of autism as an outcome is desired”
The Writing Group supported a recommendation to “charge an expert panel with evaluating study designs for research on the impact of the standard schedule of vaccination on an array of health outcomes of significant public interest. This draft charge is responsive to issues raised at community meetings in Alabama, Oregon, and Indiana as well as the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee request for collaboration with the National Vaccine Program Office.”
Writing Group members who drafted the statement included Federal and State health officials, Federal vaccine officials, CDC officials, and leaders of autism and vaccine safety advocacy groups. They included the following individuals:
Federal Health Agencies and Panels
CDC:
Roger Bernier, Ph.D., MPH, Senior Advisor, CDC
Elizabeth Skillen, PhD, MS, Policy Analyst, Immunization Safety Office, CDC
HHS:
Bruce Gellin, M.D., MPH, Director, HHS National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) and Executive Secretary of NVAC
Dan Salmon, Ph.D., Vaccine Safety Specialist, HHS - NVPO
Ben Schwartz, M.D., former Associate Director for Science, HHS and Medical Director for CARE
NVAC:
Guthrie Birkhead, M.D., MPH Chair, HHS National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) and member of NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group, also Deputy Commissioner, Office of Public Health, NY State Dept. of Health
Andrew Pavia, M.D., NVAC Member & Chair, NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group and with Dept. of Pediatrics, Utah School of Medicine
Chris Carlson, Ph.D., NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group Member, and with Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, Seattle
Lance Gordon, Ph.D., NVAC and member of NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group
James Mason, M.D., DrPH, NVAC Member and member of NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group, former CDC Director and former Assistant Secretary of Health
Tawny Buck, member of NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group, parent of DPT brain injured daughter
State & Local Public Health Agencies and Organizations
Anna Buchannan, MPH, Senior Director, Immunization & Infectious Disease, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
Jim Shames, M.D., Medical Director, Jackson County Health Department, OR
David Sundwall, M.D., Executive Director, Utah Department of Health
Collette Young; Ph.D., MS, Surveillance & Training Manager, Oregon Public Health Division, Immunization Program, OR Public Health Division
Robert Bednarczyk, NVAC Research Analyst, NY Department of Health
University/Academic
Joseph A. Bocchini, Jr., M.D., Professor & Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Louisiana State University
Margaret Dunkle, Senior Fellow, Center for Health Policy Research, George Washington University and Director, Early Identification and Intervention Collaborative, LA County
Alan Greene, M.D., Clinical Profession, Division of General Pediatrics, Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University School of Medicine;
Heather Zwickey, Ph.D., Dean of Research and Associate Professor of Immunology, National College of Natural Medicine, Oregon
Autism or Vaccine Organizations
Peter Bell, Executive Vice President, Programs and Services, Autism Speaks
Sallie Bernard, Executive Director, Safe Minds
Vicky Debold, PhD, RN, Director of Patient Safety, National Vaccine Information Center;
Barbara Loe Fisher, Co-founder & President, National Vaccine Information Center
Members of Public or Other Child Health Groups
Tracy Cron, RN and mother who attended the Birmingham public engagement workshop
Dennis Johnson, MS, Executive VP, Policy & Advocacy, Children's Health Fund, NYC
Debbie McCune Davis, Program Director, Arizona Partnership for Immunization, Arizona State Senator
(*PLEASE SEE THE DRAFT CONSENSUS STATEMENT at Age of Autism, link above)
Showing posts with label David Kirby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Kirby. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Regarding the IACC actions - Autism, Vaccines and the CDC: The Wrong Side of History
by; R.F.K. Jr and David Kirby
Read the full article here
Even as the evidence connecting America's autism epidemic to vaccines mounts, dead-enders at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) -- many of whom promoted the current vaccine schedule and others with strong ties to the vaccine industry -- are trying to delay the day of reckoning by creating questionable studies designed to discredit any potential vaccine-autism link and by derailing authentic studies.
On January 12, a cadre of mid-level health bureaucrats left over from the Bush administration ignored Federal requirements for advance notice in order to vote to quietly strip vaccine research studies from funding allocated by Congress in the Combating Autism Act (CAA) of 2006. Members of Congress had said that this money should be used to study the vaccine-autism connection.
These rogue bureaucrats -- members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee -- held an unannounced vote to remove previously approved vaccine studies from funding under the CAA. Nearly all of the "Federal" members of the panel voted to remove the two studies, whose estimated cost was $16 million - or 1.6% of the billion dollars authorized by Congress for autism. The panel's civilian members, in contrast, voted nearly unanimously to retain the funding.
IACC's action to halt vaccine-autism research flies in the face of congressional intent. The bill's authors clearly stated that vaccine research should be funded. Even the esteemed Institute of Medicine has condemned CDC's methods. In 2005, an IOM panel condemned CDC for its "lack of transparency" in vaccine-autism research.
Read the full article here
Even as the evidence connecting America's autism epidemic to vaccines mounts, dead-enders at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) -- many of whom promoted the current vaccine schedule and others with strong ties to the vaccine industry -- are trying to delay the day of reckoning by creating questionable studies designed to discredit any potential vaccine-autism link and by derailing authentic studies.
On January 12, a cadre of mid-level health bureaucrats left over from the Bush administration ignored Federal requirements for advance notice in order to vote to quietly strip vaccine research studies from funding allocated by Congress in the Combating Autism Act (CAA) of 2006. Members of Congress had said that this money should be used to study the vaccine-autism connection.
These rogue bureaucrats -- members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee -- held an unannounced vote to remove previously approved vaccine studies from funding under the CAA. Nearly all of the "Federal" members of the panel voted to remove the two studies, whose estimated cost was $16 million - or 1.6% of the billion dollars authorized by Congress for autism. The panel's civilian members, in contrast, voted nearly unanimously to retain the funding.
IACC's action to halt vaccine-autism research flies in the face of congressional intent. The bill's authors clearly stated that vaccine research should be funded. Even the esteemed Institute of Medicine has condemned CDC's methods. In 2005, an IOM panel condemned CDC for its "lack of transparency" in vaccine-autism research.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
DOD and CDC: Studies Suggest a Possible Link Between Multiple Vaccines and Injury - by:David Kirby
Dr. J.M. Engler, Director of the Vaccine Healthcare Centers Network (VHCN), a collaboration between the Department of Defense and the CDC, says “We have preliminary findings from one of our many on-going research studies that suggest a relationship between adverse events and multiple vaccinations exist. These findings will require validation, but heighten our concern for the current clinical practice of multiple vaccinations.”
Read the story HERE.
The VHCN, again a collaboration between the DOD and the CDC, lists autism as an adverse event of the DTaP vaccine. This vaccine is given at 2, 4 and 6 months, between 15 & 18 months and again between 4 and 6 years. HERE's the link to the table. Scroll down the list of events and you will see "autism".
Read the story HERE.
The VHCN, again a collaboration between the DOD and the CDC, lists autism as an adverse event of the DTaP vaccine. This vaccine is given at 2, 4 and 6 months, between 15 & 18 months and again between 4 and 6 years. HERE's the link to the table. Scroll down the list of events and you will see "autism".
Friday, October 24, 2008
Deidra Imus - A Forum on Vaccines - View the Webcast
View the Webcast by scrolling down to "Replay Webcast"
This webcast took place on October 23, 2008. It was the first time that two representatives from the American Academy of Pediatrics appeared to debate concerns regarding our current vaccination program.
My overview: The AAP representatives came to the table showing very little sign that they understand the basis for the concern shared by so many parents and at very minimum they certainly had no real answers addressing the concerns that were so very well defined by author David Kirby, Dr.Lawrence Rosen and Environmental Activist Deidra Imus.
I was particularly disappointed with the Dr. Margaret Fisher, chair, Section of Infectious Diseases, American Academy of Pediatrics, and medical director, The Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center. It seemed that she truly believed that we didn't understand that all vaccines go through a standard protocol of research and trial before licensing and that we don't understand the need for public health policy concerning infectious disease.
I look forward to a day when most pediatric physicians do understand that we want true studies in causation, not just for autism and increased chronic disease, but also for the widely accepted injuries that vaccines can cause some children, like encephalitis and seizures. Also, to a day when physicians understand the concerns we have regarding the ingredients in vaccines and the lack of safety studies around those ingredients. Even if physicians don't agree with us it would be nice to see them come to the table understanding what the actual concerns are and able to have a discussion based on those specific concerns.
Dr. Fisher is obviously a physician who is very passionate about her desire to protect children from dangerous and occasionally deadly disease. It would be nice if she, and the medical community, were as passionate about learning how to identify children who might be susceptible to injury for the sake of protecting them from that injury and vaccinating them in an individually appropriate way.
I wish that we could understand what mechanism's caused Amelia's injury and that we knew how to test Joseph for the same. If I had that answer, I could probably vaccinate Joseph in some modified way to protect him from harm and protect him from infectious disease at the same time...but unfortunately that is not possible right now. I've certainly read too many stories exactly like ours for there to be any convincing me that vaccines do not play a role in the increase rate of autism and chronic immune related disease that we see in today's children.
This webcast took place on October 23, 2008. It was the first time that two representatives from the American Academy of Pediatrics appeared to debate concerns regarding our current vaccination program.
My overview: The AAP representatives came to the table showing very little sign that they understand the basis for the concern shared by so many parents and at very minimum they certainly had no real answers addressing the concerns that were so very well defined by author David Kirby, Dr.Lawrence Rosen and Environmental Activist Deidra Imus.
I was particularly disappointed with the Dr. Margaret Fisher, chair, Section of Infectious Diseases, American Academy of Pediatrics, and medical director, The Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center. It seemed that she truly believed that we didn't understand that all vaccines go through a standard protocol of research and trial before licensing and that we don't understand the need for public health policy concerning infectious disease.
I look forward to a day when most pediatric physicians do understand that we want true studies in causation, not just for autism and increased chronic disease, but also for the widely accepted injuries that vaccines can cause some children, like encephalitis and seizures. Also, to a day when physicians understand the concerns we have regarding the ingredients in vaccines and the lack of safety studies around those ingredients. Even if physicians don't agree with us it would be nice to see them come to the table understanding what the actual concerns are and able to have a discussion based on those specific concerns.
Dr. Fisher is obviously a physician who is very passionate about her desire to protect children from dangerous and occasionally deadly disease. It would be nice if she, and the medical community, were as passionate about learning how to identify children who might be susceptible to injury for the sake of protecting them from that injury and vaccinating them in an individually appropriate way.
I wish that we could understand what mechanism's caused Amelia's injury and that we knew how to test Joseph for the same. If I had that answer, I could probably vaccinate Joseph in some modified way to protect him from harm and protect him from infectious disease at the same time...but unfortunately that is not possible right now. I've certainly read too many stories exactly like ours for there to be any convincing me that vaccines do not play a role in the increase rate of autism and chronic immune related disease that we see in today's children.
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