08/26/2017 / By Tracey Watson
As is the case with many other highly charged issues in the United States today, there is a widening chasm between those who staunchly support and push for vaccinations, and those who have become skeptical of the merits of the CDC’s vaccination schedule. The sheer volume of anecdotal evidence from parents whose children’s lives have been destroyed by vaccines has been enough to convince many other parents not to vaccinate their children. Then there is the mounting scientific evidence that these vaccines carry serious side-effects and the risk of life-altering long-term consequences. And, finally, there are many parents who are not comfortable with the ingredients in some of these vaccines, including in some cases, fetal cells harvested from aborted babies.
There are many individuals and organizations involved in the push to force an ever-increasing number of vaccines on our children. One such organization is the National Meningitis Association (NMA).
Founded in 2002, the organization’s mission statement notes that the “NMA is dedicated to educating families, medical professionals and others about meningitis and its prevention.”
That sounds like a harmless and noble goal, especially since meningitis is one of the most feared of all the diseases that affect children and young adults.
The Mayo Clinic explains that meningitis is often confused with the flu in its early stages, but progresses to include symptoms like a sudden, high fever; a stiff neck; a severe and unusual type of headache; nausea or vomiting; confusion or trouble concentrating; seizures; fatigue; light sensitivity; loss of appetite; and, in some cases, a skin rash.
While viral meningitis is usually mild and clears up on its own, bacterial meningitis can be extremely serious and even life-threatening if prompt medical attention is not sought.
There are three types of bacteria which can cause meningitis, for which healthcare providers claim preventative vaccines are extremely important: Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) and Haemophilus influenzae (haemophilus).
It is important to note at this point that viral infections, for which no vaccines exist, are the most common cause of meningitis.
While choosing whether or not to vaccinate your children against such a serious illness is a personal decision for each parent to make, it is interesting to note that back in 2011, U.S. News & World Report declared that bacterial meningitis cases were on the decline, and that the number of new infections had dropped by 31 percent between 1998 and 2007, largely as a result of vaccinations. The NMA’s website confirms that four out of five teens in the U.S. has received their first dose of the vaccine, and only one in five remains unprotected. If 80 percent of all children in this country are dutifully being vaccinated, why has the number of bacterial meningitis infections only decreased by 31 percent?
Irrespective of the numbers, however, a recent “expert” panel discussion hosted in New York City by the NMA, entitled Communicating vaccine science and advancing vaccine impact, clearly showed that the NMA’s true purpose is not to educate parents about meningitis, but to push all vaccines, by whatever means necessary.
Panel members included:
Paul Lee, MD, of NYU Winthrop Hospital.
Amy Middleman, MD, MSEd, MPH, of Oklahoma University, OU Medical.
Paul A. Offit, MD, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, PhD, of the University of California, Hastings College of Law.
Jason L. Schwartz, PhD, of Yale University.
Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation.
Arthur Allen, eHealth editor of Politico.
William Schaffner, MD, of Vanderbilt University of Medicine.
In introducing the panel, NMA board member Lori Buher immediately made the organization’s stance clear, when she said, “The NMA has pushed for both nationwide recommendations and state-based vaccine mandates. We know how important both efforts are. We need parents and teens to be aware of the risks of M.D. and to understand that the vaccines work and they are safe. But that’s just part 1. We need policymakers to use all their tools to encourage vaccination, and mandates are the best tool in the toolbox.” [Emphasis added]
The mandates to which Buher is referring are state laws which force children to be vaccinated under a “no shot, no school” policy. All states which have such mandates allow for exemptions on medical grounds (e.g. allergy to a vaccine ingredient), while several allow for religious exemptions, and a few for exemptions on “philosophical” grounds.
The NMA believes that vaccines being forced on patients in this way is the “best tool in the toolbox.”
Nonetheless, Buher bewailed the fact that the progress they have made in this regard is being threatened. She noted, “Last year a documentary by the discredited researcher Andrew Wakefield reinvigorated anti-vacciners. Robert Kennedy Jr., a vaccine sceptic, who unfortunately has built-in name recognition, was given a national platform when he and our new president appeared to be teaming up to assess vaccine safety – something that has already been amazingly well studied and needs no new assessments.”
There are several misleading or erroneous statements in what she said.
Firstly, Buher’s statement that Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s research linking the MMR vaccine to autism was discredited is an absolute lie continually repeated by vaccine pushers and the mainstream media.
As reported by TruthWiki, Dr. Wakefield was falsely accused, but then exonerated.
Buher also refers to Robert Kennedy Jr. as a “vaccine sceptic,” but that is untrue. Kennedy simply wants further research done to determine the possible harmful long-term effects of vaccines, in particular with regard to the volume of vaccines administered in a short space of time. It is for this reason that he agreed to chair a vaccination safety committee for President Trump.
Ms. Buher’s further statement that vaccine safety “has already been amazingly well studied and needs no new assessments,” is also patently false. In fact, this was a sentiment echoed by panel member Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation, who insisted, “This is a question that science can answer and we’ve answered it. We’ve looked at if kids who get MMR have a higher rate of autism; we’ve looked at if kids who get vaccines with various amounts of thimerosal or no thimerosal have a higher rate of autism; we’ve looked at whether kids who’ve had no vaccines, some vaccines, or vaccines according to the CDC schedule, have a different rate of autism. In all of these studies, the data are very clear and unambiguous – it’s not like we have half of the studies saying one thing and half of the studies saying the other thing and so more studies need to be done. At this point, no more studies need to be done.” [Emphasis added]
If this is true, why did a peer-reviewed study published this year in the Journal of Translational Science find that while vaccinated kids had lower rates of chicken pox and whooping cough, there were no significant differences in the rates of other diseases, including Hepatitis A or B, high fever over the previous 6-month period, measles, mumps, meningitis (either bacterial or viral), the flu or rotavirus? Furthermore, that study found evidence of great long-term harm, with a 4.2 times higher risk of autism and ADHD; a 5.2 times higher risk of learning disabilities; a 2.9 times greater risk of eczema; and a 30 times higher risk of allergic rhinitis, among vaccinated children. (Related: Fake news is what you get when the mainstream media tells you vaccines are completely safe.)
The “expert” panel went on to discuss:
Clearly, the NMA is nothing but a front for the vaccine industry, and parents who do not wish to vaccinate their children need to be on guard because the vaccine shills have a whole lot of new tricks up their sleeves!
Sources include:
OAText.com[PDF]
Tagged Under: front group, industry shills, meningitis, national meningitis association, nma, parenting, vaccine industry, vaccine mandates, vaccines