I Speak of Dreams

Totally False in at Least Two Dimensions "New Study: Baby monkeys develop autism after routine CDC vaccinations"

 I have no idea why the Hewitson macaque-vaccine "study" is being presented as news, or as meaningful.  Hewitson's team's research (and ethics) were severely criticized from 2008 to 2010 by research scientists.  Also, I don't think either the amygdala growth study or the HepB study have been replicated.

First it's Catherine J. Frompovich at VacTruth on April 29, 2012:

Monkeys Get Autism-like Reactions to MMR & Other Vaccines In University of Pittsburgh Vaccine Study

Then Ethan A. Huff at Natural News picks up the beat  on May 6, 2012:

Vaccine bombshell: Baby monkeys given standard doses of popular vaccines develop autism symptoms

Both stories go on to represent the Hewitson monkey studies as (a) fact (b) news.  They are neither.

No, the macaques in the study did not develop "autism like reactions".  No, you can't draw any conclusions from the studies.   All you can really tell is that twenty infant macaques (and maybe fewer) were subjected to invasive procedures and death -- for no benefit.

The Hewitson studies are confusing because of their history and the fact that the same monkeys are used to make different points.  

Here is a listing of the publications that used infant macaques injected with vaccines and that listed Hewitson as an author.

1. 2008: Poster presentation at the International Meeting For Autism Research (IMFAR) poster 3024:    Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and Amygdala Growth and Opioid Ligand Binding: authors L. Hewitson, B. Lopresti, C. Stott, J. Tomko, L. Houser, E. Klein, C. Castro, G. Sackett, S. Gupta, D. Atwood, L. Blue, E. R. White, and A. Wakefield. "The objective of this study was to compare early infant cognition and behavior with amygdala size and opioid binding in rhesus macaques receiving the recommended childhood vaccines (1994-1999), the majority of which contained the bactericidal preservative ethylmercurithiosalicylic acid (thimerosal)". (Exposed to thimerosal,N=13 ; unexposed; N=3). (The "significant changes in bhavior after MMR" study) Conclusions: This animal model, which examines for the first time, behavioral, functional, and neuromorphometric consequences of the childhood vaccine regimen, mimics certain neurological abnormalities of autism.
2. 2008: Poster presentation at IMFAR poster 3028 Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and Brain Stem Volume and Opioid Ligand Binding authors A. Wakefield C. Stott, B. Lopresti, J. Tomko, L. Houser, G. Sackett, and L. Hewitson. "The objective of this study was to compare brain stem volume and opioid binding in rhesus infants receiving the recommended infant vaccine regimen." (Exposed to thimerosal,N=13 ; unexposed; N=3). (The "delayed reflexes study") Conclusions: This animal model examines the neurological consequences of the childhood vaccine regimen. Functional and neuromorphometric brainstem anomalies were evident in vaccinated animals that may be relevant to some aspects of autism.
3. 2008:  Poster presentation at IMFAR poster 3033 Microarray Analysis of GI Tissue in a Macaque Model of the Effects of Infant Vaccination  authors S. J. Walker, E. K. Lobenhofer, E. Klein, A. Wakefield, and L. Hewitson.  Objectives:   This study was designed to evaluate potential alterations in normal growth and development resulting from the vaccine regimen that was in use from 1994-1999.  Specifically, this portion of the study was to compare the gene expression profiles obtained from gastrointestinal tissue from vaccinated and unvaccinated infants.  (Vaccinated, N=7;  Unvaccinated, N=2)  Conclusions:   We have found many significant differences in the GI tissue gene expression profiles between vaccinated and unvaccinated animals.  These differences will be presented and discussed.   
4. 2009 (October) Paper in NeuroToxicology; withdrawn February 2010: Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight L. Hewitson, L. Houser, C. Stott, G. Sackett,  J. Tomko,  D. Atwood, L. Blue, E. R. White, and A. Wakefield.
5. 2010 Paper in Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2010;70(2):147-64. Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study. L. Hewitson, B. Lopresti, C. Stott,  NS Mason and  J. Tomko.  (This appears to be the same study as the poster presentation 3024, minus some authors. & adding NS Mason.)
6. 2010 Paper in Toxicol Environ Health A Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine: influence of gestational age and birth weight. Hewitson L, Houser LA, Stott C, Sackett G, Tomko JL, Atwood D, Blue L, White ER.J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2010;73(19):1298-313.PMID: 20711932 (this appears to be the same paper as the withdrawn NeuroToxicology paper with the subtraction of  Wakefield as a co-author).

On to the criticisms:

1. May 16, 2008 Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain Monkeying Around This post introduces what posters are, in a scientific context.
2. May 17, 2008 Orac at Respectful Insolence Some monkey business in autism research (or why it is not a good idea to provoke Orac 
   1. In the biomedical field, poster presentations are the lowest form of "publication" of one's data. 
   2. The poster presentation only sketches out the methodology, and important 
   3. It's evident that this is really one study divided into MPUs (minimal publishable units) of 3.
   4. Why is the control group so small (3 monkeys) and the effect group so large?  How were individual monkeys assigned to control vs. condition groups? 
3. May 18, 2008 Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain Laura Hewitson's Stinker, on all 3 IMFAR poster presentations:  Hewitson has severe and significant conflicts of interests (COI) that were not revealed, contrary to the IMFAR requirements.
   1. Her partner is a employee of Thoughtful House,
   2. Her co-author, Andrew Wakefield is (at the time of publication) chief researcher at Thoughtful House
   3. Her partner is on the Board of Directors of SafeMinds (the "thimerosal causes autism" organization)
   4. Hewitson's son has autism
   5. Hewitson and her partner are part of the Omnibus Proceeding--in other words, the Hewitson family are suing the government for compensation for their son's alleged vaccine-caused autism.
4. July 16, 2008 Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Autism: No Rats Will Be Harmed, But Keep An Eye on the Kids. Most of this post is about the ill-fated NIMH chelation for autism study,  but Willingham addressed some significant flaws in the first two poster presentations, namely, the undisclosed conflicts of interest, and sharply questioning the framing of the discussion:
   1. Willingham highlights  the connection between Thoughtful House and the 3 poster presentations, a conflict of interest that is not disclosed.
   2. Posters 3024 and 3028 use the phrase "Childhood vaccines are a possible causal factor in autism".  This is an astonishing assertion:  by 2008, there was  "no peer-reviewed published research confirming this statement--especially the "causal" part--and a substantial amount countering it".
   3. Poster 3024 asserts, and 3028 implies two things: (a) the majority of childhood vaccines contained thimerosal and (b)the thimerosal might be the vaccine component associated with autism.  This is simply silly on both counts: it is not true that "the majority" contained thimerosal; the MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal; and pediatric vaccines became thimerosal-free in 2001.  
5. October 7 2009 Catarina Science Mom at JustTheVax 20 Monkeys, which discusses the withdrawn 2009 Hewitson HepB study in NeuroToxicology.  She finds that there are multiple procedural and study-design flaws that render the study almost worthless:
   1. The three IMFAR posters mentioned above are clearly part of the same set of monkey studies
   2. There was no randomization of the subjects.  A study either is randomized or not. 
   3. Since there was only one interpreter of the monkeys' behavior pre- and post-vaccine administration, no blinding was possible, introducing another layer of potential biase.
   4. It seems that an additional 4 control animals were added after the IMFAR poster presentations.  Rather than strengthening the study, the late addition of subject weakens study as it adds a possibly confounding variable.
   5. The authors failed to publish baseline biochemical data, such as blood mercury levels pre- and post-injection.
   6. The authors collected data on 18 behaviors and published tables on 13 behaviors.  H0wever,  only 3 reached statistical significance.
   7. The significant conflicts of interest of 3 authors (Hewitson, Wakefield, and Stott) are noted, with a particular emphasis on Stott.
   8. The study was funded by a collection of groups and individuals with vested interests in finding vaccines harmful to health and causal in autism.
6. October 7 2009 Orac at Respectful Insolence Some Monkey Business in Autism Research discussing the withdrawn 2009 Hewitson study in NeuroToxicology;
   1. "Even if the study was well designed and executed (which it is not), and even if the study conclusively showed delayed development of survival reflexes (which it does not), it is still a very, very, very long leap to conclude that vaccines and or thimerisol are responsible for increased autism rates in humans. 
   2. These "survival" reflexes (called "primitive reflexes" in humans) are present at birth in human infants and their  absence would be noted by any competent pediatrician.
   3. Absence or delayed appearance of "primitive reflexes" is not a feature of autism.
7. October 24, 2009 Prometheus at Photon in the Darkness A Made for Court Study? (This is another of Prometheus's master class in how to read and analyze scientific papers -- you would do well to study his technique)
   1. "Most fatal for this study – is that there was not an increase in human infants who were late to suck, root, etc. following the introduction of neonatal hepatitis B vaccination in 1991. Given that the “uptake” of this vaccine at birth was close to (and often exceeded) 90%, an effect of this magnitude would have been noted. Nor is there a difference between the US – which has continued hepatitis B vaccination at birth – and the UK – which almost never gives the hepatitis B vaccine at birth – in developmental delay or autism prevalence."
   2. "This current study, as well as the entire macaque research program by Hewitson, is a good example of terrible research. The subject numbers are far too small for any meaningful statistics, and the outcomes being followed are numerous and tricky with a random scatter of results not even consistent between different publications of the same research."
   3. "What we have is far worse than ideological reporting and spinning of the scientific research – apparently we have the ideological conduction of research in the first place. This is similar to the research program of Benveniste on homeopathy."
8. February 12, 2010 Prometheus at Photon in the Darkness Where are the Monkeys? (on the sudden withdrawal of the 2009 HepB paper in NeuroToxicology)
9. February 12, 2010 Orac at Respectful Insolence Wakefield's "Monkey Business" Hep B paper withdrawn? (on the sudden withdrawal of the 2009 HepB paper in NeuroToxicology)
10. July 16, 2010 Steven Novella at Neurologica Blog Terrible Anti-Vaccine Study, Terrible Reporting, on the 2010 paper in Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2010;70(2):147-64.Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study. 
    1. The number of subjects (9) and controls (2) is far far too small to determine anything.
    2. The authors "also makes multiple analyses (another red flag by itself), which means she can compare multiple variables looking for any difference. Then she invokes the sharpshooter fallacy and declares any change she does find to be clinically meaningful."
       
11. July 16, 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain From IMFAR to Poland: How A Monkey Study Can Totally Change  In this post, Sullivan compares the withdrawn 2009 Neurotoxicology paper to the recently-published paper in 
    1.  Of 13 authors on the original abstract, only 4 remain
    2. A new author was added, N.S. Mason.
    3. In the Neurotoxicology paper, the study had data on 13 vaccinated monkeys. Now the number of monkeys is only 9. 
    4. The Neurotoxicology paper had data on 3 controls. Now it is only 2.
    5. In the Neurotoxicology paper, the vaccinated monkeys “showed attenuation of amygdala growth”
    6. In the Acta Neurobiol Exp paper, the vaccinated monkeys have larger amygdalas
    7. A commenter notes that the researchers adminstered  "the vaccines at four times the human rate
12. July 16, 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain The genie is out of the bottle: Vaccines cause autism This is Sullivan's sarcastic commentary on how enthusiastic the "vaccines cause autism" brigade is over the Hewitson Acta Neurobiol Exp paper, "Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study."  Sullivan has the questions listed below, and concludes "Just another 16 monkeys giving their lives for nothing."
    1. Why is there such a large difference between the number of subject animals and the number of control animals?
    2. Why did the number of control subjects go from 4 to 2?  What happened to the other 2?
    3. Why did the "unexposed" monkeys' amygdalas shrink?
13. July 16, 2010 Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain The genie is out of the bottle: part 2: More genies, more bottles  As it turns out, this issue of Acta Neurobiol Exp is devoted to "issues in autism", a notion proposed by Professor Dorota Majewska, who is a significant supporter of Andrew Wakefield; the editor missed the three questions that Sullivan posed.
14. July 16 2010 Orac at Respectful Insolence Too much vaccine/autism monkey business for me to be involved in--but evidently not Laura Hewitson
    1. Because all vaccines now are   thimerosal-free, Hewitson had to add thimerosal to the vaccines to produce its replication of the vaccine schedule from the 1990s. 
    2. Because Macaque monkeys mature faster than humans, the macqcques received in one year what humans receive in four years.
15. July 16 2010 ToddW at Harpocrates Speaks Newsflash!  Vaccines Cause Autism...If you are Scientifically Illiterate
    1. On the small sample size, ethics of animal experimentation, and institutional review: "If the sample size is going to be so small that no statistically significant or meaningful results can be found, then there is no reasonable justification for subjecting animals to the research"
16. July 26, 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain Laura Hewitson has left the University of Pennsylvania
17. July 27, 2010 Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary In the Name of Science

 

"40 Reasons" An Anti-vaccination polemic debunked

The original document is called 40 Reasons Why You Should Never Vaccinate Infants, by Jagannath Chatterjee, an Indian anti-vaccination activist.  The list was being circulated earlier this year, so Autismum took it upon herself to go through the list

• Part 1: Points 1-5
• Part 2: Points 6-12 and 22 (are you surprised that Chatterjee repeats his nonsense?)
• Part 3: Points 13-18 and 22 (it's the mercury!--a totally failed hypothosis)

I will continue posting the installments as Autismum posts them.

 

 

 

Thank You, American Airlines, For Refusing to Air Meryl Dorey's Anti-Vaccine Rant

I finished my critique of Meryl Dorey's interview about 9:30 pm, PDST on 4/21/2012. Close to 11 pm, the online petition went up.  I was in the first handful to sign.  I didn't keep track of the signatories per hour.  This morning, Phil Plait published a request that the interview be pulled, and even more people signed the petition.  Right now the count is about 2,540 signatories

At 3:01 pm today, I received the following tweet:

Phil Plait clarified that the print version wouldn't run either.

Thanks, American Airlines.  You did the right thing, in a darned speedy manner.

 More thank you notes: 

Peter Bowditch

Advodiaboli American Airlines Grounds AVN

Australian Skeptics, Anti-Vaccination off the Air (Line)

Australian Doctor US Airline Pulls Anti-Vax Interview

AVN Responds

The Australian Vaccination Network has mounted their own poll  (I made a mistake by not tracking the "don't air" poll; won't repeat it.  As of GMT 4/24/2012 at 5:00 pm, this petition had 59 signatories)

Meryl Dorey's Hilarious Anti-vaccine Idiocy, Meryl Fights Censorship

Altitude Media and American Airlines Allow Meryl Dorey to Lie about Vaccines, Autism

Update from @AmericanAir

@lizditz This interview has not been submitted to AA yet. We have decided not to air this audio. We thank those who shared their opinions.

On April 20, 2012 Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccine Network (AVN) announced that:

Australian Vaccination Network, Inc. Interview to air on all American Airlines flights for July/Aug 2012 

Australia's Vaccination Awareness and Information Service   transcribed the interview.  For the sake of clarity, I will put the interviewer (who at this time is unknown) in green type and indented; Meryl's words  in red type and indented.

ER: The debate over vaccinations has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years as questions have been raised regarding the safety of compulsory vaccines. And joining us now to give her view is Meryl Dorey. Meryl is president of the Australian Vaccination Network, as well as editor of Living Wisdom magazine, and we’re delighted to welcome her to The Executive Report. Meryl, welcome to the show.

The "questions about the safety of compulsory vaccinations" are raised only by those who oppose vaccinations and whose goals are the elimination of vaccine programs.

Why did the Executive Report choose to interview Ms. Dorey, a woman with only a high-school diploma and no known training in immunology, vaccinology, or epidemiology? Ms. Dorey's problems with telling the truth and accuracy about vaccines and did I mention her little fundraising problem and her other little fundraising problem? And that other one. I would like to know why. 

Meryl: Thanks very much.

ER: Now Meryl, vaccines are designed to repress disease but there’s been some recent issues with the whooping cough vaccine that might be a sign of things to come. What’s going on there?

Why are they asking this ignorant woman?  Why not someone from Immunise Australia or Professor Peter McIntyre or Julie Leask or even Tom Sidwell, a PhD candidate in immunology who is a gifted science writer?

Meryl: Well, vaccines are made to create antibodies, and antibodies only mean that you’ve been exposed to a disease; they don’t mean that you’re immune.

My jaw dropped when I read that.  On the whole, having the disease and having the vaccine against the disease activate the same immune response.  Ms. Dorey is a "vaccine expert" and can spout such easily refutable nonsense?

And what we’ve found with the whooping cough vaccine is that, yes, it is creating the antibodies, but it’s also bringing a new disease, a new form of whooping cough to the fore and this form of disease is not covered by the vaccine.

This is just crazy talk and completely inaccurate.  What is accurate:

• Since 2005, we've known that "infection-acquired immunity against pertussis disease wanes after 4-20 years and protective immunity after vaccination wanes after 4-12 years"
• We know that the acellular pertussis vaccine only has an effectiveness rate of 80-85%
• Evidence for "new disease" is faint 
• Yes, some of the genotypes have shifted, but the shift doesn't seem to affect the potency of the vaccine.

This is what science does: continue to grow, to address problems.  

So in the United States and overseas we’re seeing record numbers of cases of this whooping cough.

Yes, California had whooping cough  in 2010 but in 2011 not so much.  Why? Think the adolescent booster campaign had anything to do with it? And gee, only 11% of Australian adults are current on vaccines (including a pertussis vaccine in the prior ten years).  Do you think the low vaccination rate might have something to do with the pertussis epidemic in Australia?

We’re seeing more cases than we’ve had since before the vaccine was introduced

She has made this claim before and had it thoroughly debunked. She's lying, pure and simple. Furthermore, Dorey is ignoring the changes and advances in diagnostic techniques, such as PCR, have made in reported rates.

and it’s a much more dangerous disease.

This is an assertion without evidence. "Whooping cough deaths were higher during the 1990s". 

So for the first time in decades we’re seeing babies die. So the vaccine’s not working and we’re seeing similar situations with measles and mumps and we may see this with more diseases into the future. So we need to look at what we’re doing.

Babies have been dying of pertussis all along: "From 1993 – 2008, 16 babies under 12 months lost their lives to pertussis. Fatalities continue right up to the present day." So Dorey's claim of: "...first time in decades" a flat lie.   "Vaccine not working"?  And the measles and mumps vaccines "aren't working" claim is an easily refutable lie.

ER: Now what’s your view on the state of autism as it relates to vaccinations?

Why are they asking this woman with a high-school education and no expertise in autism?  Wouldn't they have been better off asking an expert like Bruce Tonge?

Meryl: Well, autism has been related to vaccination in the medical literature for a very long time,

No it hasn't.  A simple search for vaccine autism on PubMed reveals only 4 citations prior to 1998, including a review of Harris Coulter's 1993 crank screed against vaccination. but that's hardly "medical literature".   The vaccine-autism connection was first,  Wakefield's MMR theory in 1998, and then the equally flawed mercury theory in 2001.  Both have been evaluated in studies having hundreds of thousands subjects, and no connection has been found.

but the study that everybody talks about is the one by Andrew Wakefield that was printed in 1998 in the Lancet. And this study says that the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine maybe a cause of autism. A lot of people are saying that this journal article has been discredited

Yes.  Even the majority of Wakefield's co-authors withdrew their names from the paper, six years after publication.   The paper was finally retracted in 2011.  Wakefield falsified data.

but what they’re ignoring is the fact that since this original paper was published, there have been many other papers verifying this finding.

Dorey can't even get her misinformation (actually, lies) right. No paper has replicated Wakefield's "autistic entercolitis" finding.  No paper has replicated the MMR-autism link. No paper has replicated any gut-autism causation.

So again, we have the question “are vaccines related to autism?”. We’ve had an increase of autism from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 88, and the only common denominator seems to be the increasing use of vaccinations.

"The only common denominator"? No, no and again no.  Do I have to say it again?  Vaccines do not cause autism. (A nice list of things that have changed since the 1980s)

Here are some of the factors in increased identification of autism:

• What about diagnostic expansion? (Here's the difference across DSM I through IV)
• What about diagnostic substitution?
• What about underdiagnosis in the past?
• What about improved ascertainment?
• What about the addition of autism as a special education category?
• What about increased awareness, or "social influence"?

I'm sure this list isn't exhaustive. It just goes to show how wrong Ms. Dorey is.

So we need to look at this openly and not try and suppress the information.

For my money, the autism and vaccines question has been addressed about as openly as possible.  Who is suppressing "information"?  Nothing is being "suppressed".  The facts are that MMR vccines do not cause autism. Mercury in vaccines does not cause autism. The two together don't cause autism. 

ER: So Meryl, what do you feel we should do to ensure the wellbeing of all children?

Meryl: Well, vaccination is a medical procedure and it carries with it risks and benefits. So parents need to be aware of all of the information. We need to have real access to information

I wonder if Meryl knows how to use PubMed, or the Pink Book.  And hey!  There's the internet, with resources like the National Network for Immunization Information  and Every Child by Two and Vaccinate Your Baby and the Vaccine Education Center at CHOP and more.  If that's not "real access to information" I don't know what is.

and vaccination should never be compulsory because it is not 100% safe,

Nirvana fallacy! Nothing is "100%".  However, driving your child to a doctor's appointment which would include vaccination is riskier than having the vaccine.

and no government has the right to say “you have to put your child’s health at risk because we have made this procedure compulsory”.

It  has been shown again and again that vaccines are a very low-risk medical intervention.  Vaccines do not put a "child's health at risk".  In fact, failing to vaccinate significantly raises the risk of illness for your child. 

Vaccines have not been subjected to true double-blind trials. They need to be done. They’ve also never been scientifically tested independently. Most vaccine trials, like most drug trials, are paid for by the pharmaceutical companies that makes the vaccines. We need the government to take a stand on this. And most importantly, we need this study that we’ve been asking for for decades, which compares the overall health of the fully-vaccinated with the fully-unvaccinated.

The famous study.  I know the anti-vaccine brigade "have been asking for it" since 1998 or so, but have never accepted why it would be unethical.  And the natural experiments have been done, and found the vaccinated children are healthier.

And when that study is done, parents will finally have confidence to say, “yes, we’re going to vaccinate because we feel it’s in our child’s best interests”.

ER: Meryl, this has been very informative. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us today.

Meryl: Thank you.

ER: Visit the Australian Vaccination Network online at avn.org.au

Updated to Add:

The following three documents were compiled by Australian Ken McLeod 2010-2011, with assistance from many.

Meryl Dorey's Trouble With The Truth, Part I

Meryl Dorey's Trouble With The Truth, Part II

Meryl Dorey's Trouble With The Truth, Part III

The interview will appear on American Airline's in-flight "Executive Briefing".  This is produced for American Airlines by Altitude Media. I wonder who, and how, the interview was set up, considering how bad Ms. Dorey misrepresents the facts.

The Executive Report is hosted by Stephanie Riggio and Gary Stevens and features conversations with those on the leading edge of a wide variety of industries.

Altitude Media, Inc. has established itself as the leader in in-flight entertainment programming, branded content and production services.

Our high-quality business content targets the executive business traveler and is heard on major airlines, the Airport TV Network and the web.

Our radio shows are magazine style — a blend of CEO interviews, industry spotlights and major business trends. As with any magazine, each show contains a lead cover interview as well as a variety of ongoing features, spotlights and special interest topics.

We are proud to deliver unparalleled programming that addresses the needs and interests of millions of travelers and contributes to making each passenger’s flight an enriching experience.

Contact information:

 Marc Holland, CEO
Elizabeth Montgomery, Executive Producer
Altitude Media, Inc.
4111 West Alameda Avenue, Suite 505
Burbank, CA 91505
Phone: 818-762-6400
Fax: 818-688-0111

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Altitude-Media-Inc/212342082158557

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/altitudemedia https://twitter.com/#!/MarcHollandLA

Ms. Dorey also said that she will "will also be published in the Airlines' American Way in-flight magazine over this period."

 

American Way® is the in-flight magazine of American Airlines and a trusted companion of customers for more than 40 years. American Way, available to every customer on every American Airlines flight, consistently delivers award-winning content and design that covers the latest trends in travel, lifestyle, and business. And to earn the attention of frequent fliers, it publishes twice each month, on the 1st and again on the 15th.

Contact information:

 Susan Stahl Gordon PRESIDENT AND GROUP PUBLISHER, American Airlines Publishing

Michael Woody, Publisher, American Way Magazine
Adam Pitluk Editor, American Way Magazine

EDITORIAL OFFICES
4333 Amon Carter Blvd., MD 5374

Fort Worth, TX 76155

Editorial Department Phone (817) 967-1784
Editorial Department Fax (817) 967-1571

Letters to the Editor E-mail editor@americanwaymag.com

http://www.americanwaymag.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/americanway

 

Sources:

• Media release: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Media-Release—AVN-Information-to-air-on-American-Airlines.html?soid=1101800214009&aid=dZ_4B3ToI5c
• Interview (mp3): American Airlines interview with Meryl Dorey
• American Airlines Interview Meryl Dorey http://www.antivaxxers.com/?p=4668

Listening to Louise Kuo Habakus at a "Vaccine Epidemic" Booksigning and Talk

A version was previously posted here

 On March 29, 2012, Louise Kuo Habakus spoke at a local bookstore, presenting on the "findings" from the book she co-edited with Mary Holland.  I went with Shannon Rosa and Jennifer Byde Myers.  The presentation was scheduled for two hours; we left in disgust after 40 minutes.

Some of the highlights from Habakus's talk:

Did you know that Louise Kuo Habakus is an expert on data analysis from her years on Wall Street, and she knows you "can take data and make it say anything you want it to say" so "all corporate studies are suspect"?

That's a pretty slick little piece of poisoning the well.  The dozens of studies with hundreds of thousands of subjects that have failed to find a connection between autism and vaccines are "all corporate studies". 

Did you know that there are "a lot of credentialed professionals who question vaccine safety"?

Here Habakus is referring to the contributors to her book.  There are a mort of attorneys; the health professions are represented by  Sherri Tenpenny, Andrew Wakefield, Carol Stott, Judy Converse, Vera Hassner Sharav, Sonja Hintz, Twila Brase, and Gay Tate.  I think we need a "Project Steve"  for physicians and scientists who support and advance vaccination, immunology, and prevent infectious disease. Maybe we could call it Project Paul.

Did you know it is common for people who use non-allopathic methods to heal their children's vaccine injuries to be reported to Child Protective Services and have their children taken away?

This scare tactic has to do with the so-called "Arizona Five".  The court recently heard the case and found that, contrary to parents' beliefs and actions, all 5 children are healthy and non-autistic.  Having one's children removed by CPS for using alternative medicine  is probably rare.  I am sure we would hear about more stories if they existed, given how noisy vaccine-rejectionist are.

Did you know that "rotavirus is not deadly in the United States"?

Oh whoops.  That is a big whopper.  From the CDC pre-vaccine:

"In the first 5 years of life, four out of five children in the United States will develop rotavirus diarrhea; one in seven will require a clinic or emergency room visit; one in 78 will require hospitalization; and one in 200,000 will die from rotavirus diarrhea. The risk for rotavirus diarrhea and its outcomes do not appear to vary by geographic region within the United States."

Did you know that "50% of the children are chronically ill" and these illnesses are linked to the "bloated vaccine schedule"?

In this segment of the talk Habakus went over the dreaded 1-in-6 statistic and added in asthma, diabetes (type not specified), food allergies, and obesity.  The very next slide showed the increase in vaccines given from 1983 to the present, and Habakus looked out at the audience and said something like, "do you think it's a coincindence?"  Grr.  Of course she didn't talk about the decrease in morbidity and mortality that the "bloated" vaccine schedule affords children -- and their families.  Nor did she mention that since the number of antigens in vaccines given today is only about 4% of  what I child would have received in the 1980s.

Source: Offit et al. (2002) Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Multiple Vaccines Overwhelm or Weaken the Infant’s Immune System? Pediatrics  2002;109;124-129 DOI: 10.1542/peds.109.1.124   & click to embiggen.

Did you know that the "Vaccine Court" rejected the claims of the 5,000 families claiming autism as vaccine injury and nobody bothered to study the children who were injured.

This non sequitur had me shaking my head.  The Omnibus Cases were the best shot the "autism is vaccine injury" camp had to make their case, and they failed dismally.  The only thing the 5,000 (or so) had in common was: recruited by vaccine injury lawyers and/or a belief that their child's autism was caused by vaccines.  Why would those children be more appropriate to study than the children in this study or this study or this study?

Did you know there's still thimerosal in vaccines? Yes there is, because it is used in the manufacture of vaccines (to disinfect the disgusting vats of soupy growth media) and it is so neurotoxic that even 2 parts per billion can kill brain cells. Mercury is "so toxic that it shouldn't be used at all"?

What part of thimerosal doesn't cause autism is so hard to accept?  What part of "the dose makes the poison" is so hard to understand? 

Did you know that Tylenol is a potent hepatoxin? So if you give Tylenol to an infant after vaccination, the liver is all busy detoxifying the Tylenol so all the nasty toxins in the vaccines aren't filtered.

This is a gross paraphrase of what Habakus said.  It was something about Tylenol (acetaminophen) "using up" all the liver's stores of glutathione, so that the "toxins" in vaccines are able to damage the brain and the body.  There's Whale.to page on acetaminophen and glutathione, and a report on acetaminophen poisoning using glutatione as therapy.  Acetaminophen, MMR, and autism study discussed here; note the study was published in 2008 and has not been repeated. 

Did you know that Paul Offit is paid by the vaccine companies to spend all his time going around promoting vaccines?

A random, ad hominem attack on Paul Offit.  It really does seem that to anti-vaccinationists, he is a myffic figure of dread

Did you know that studies proving that the HepB vaccine causes autistic-like changes in infant macaque brains was suppressed by the vaccine industry?

I had a hard time suppressing my double eyeball-roll on this one.  There was the infamous Hewiston macaque study, Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight, (Hewitson et al. 2009) which was withdrawn before publication.  Before it was withdrawn,  David Gorski MD eviscerated the paper on October 8, 2009.   Life sciences professor Prometheus wrote on October 24, 2009  that it was a paper designed for litigation and "This study raises more red flags than a Kremlin May Day parade in the old Soviet Union. " The study, however, got a lot of play by the "autism is vaccine injury" camp. On  February 11 2010 Orac returned to discussing the study, in "Show me the monkeys," but then notices the paper was withdrawn, as Prometheus discusses.  In July 2012 Sullivan reported that Hewitson left her academic appointment.

The other two studies, Hepatitis B Vaccination Of Male Neonates And Autism Diagnosis, NHIS 1997–2002 (Gallagher & Goodman 2010  J Toxicol EnvironHealth A. 2010;73(24):1665-77)  and Hepatitis B Triple Series Vaccine and Developmental Disability in US children aged 1-9 years (Gallagher & Goodman 2008 Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry Vol. 90, No. 5, September–October 2008, 997–1008) were even weaker than the Hewitson study, if that's possible. Sullivan dismisses both the 2008 study and the 2010 study  dismissed .  Orac discusses the other Hewitt macaque study, which was truly awful.   In 2008, Kev detailed Hewitson's gross conflicts of interest.

Did you know that adjuvants are used in vaccines because they are cheaper than antigenic material? (This argument was made three times.)

Silly me.  I thought adjuvants  serve to:

• bring the antigen—the substance that stimulates the specific protective immune response—into contact with the immune system and influence the type of immunity produced, as well as the quality of the immune response (magnitude or duration);
• decrease the toxicity of certain antigens; 
• and provide solubility to some vaccines components.

Did you know that "our immune systems didn't evolve to handle injected substances" so anything administered by injection harms the immune system?

What?  I think this is some sort of chiropractic talking point, as well as being an article of faith among vaccine rejectionists.  It's a false claim, of course.

Did you know that doctors aren't "taught what vaccine injury is, so they aren't in the mindset that vaccine injury can occur?" and "most doctors don't know about VAERS" so don't tell patients to use it.

Evidence-free reasoning at its best.  VAERS has been covered in Pediatrics.  Vincent Iannelli MD, the About.com source on pediatrics, has a page on how and why to report adverse vaccine reactions to VAERS.

Did you know that the number of doses of Tdap required proves that the vaccine doesn't work?

Science evolves.  Anti-science doesn't.

Did you know that "health can't come through a needle"?

A direct quote from Sherri Tenpenny, anti-vaccination advocate.

Did you know that "there were diseases that went away without vaccines" and "the large drop in disease deaths was due to improved santitation and hygiene, not vaccines".

This one was the famous slide showing decreased MORTALITY (caution, goes to Whale.to) but somehow, the MORBIDITY figures, which only declined after vaccination aren't part of the presentation.

Did you know that vaccination can "only temporarily prevent you getting the disease".

Guess what?  Natural infection with chickenpox doesn't provide 100% protection from a later case of the disease either.  Neither does natural infection with whooping cough.

Did you know that "varicella infection [in early childhood] matures and primes the immune system"? (There was more about the relationship between shingles and the varicella vaccine but I didn't write it down.)

This sounds like pure anthroposophy.   But it is a quote from the odious Viera Scheibner's  Immunizations: The Medical Assault on the Immune System ... "there is no need to protect children from these childhood diseases. These diseases are there to prime and mature their immune system.” .

Did you know that as US vaccination "became more bloated, our rates of infant mortality also went up"? 

Actually, this was interesting. LKH posted a table and one of the doulas present questioned her about infant mortality in third world countries; that the US would have a higher rate of mortality because we could try to sustain very-low-birthweight infants. LKH sidestepped and flashed the next slide.  But the study purporting to "show" this (Miller, N., & Goldman, G. (2011). Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity? Human & Experimental Toxicology DOI: 10.1177/0960327111407644) has been taken apart by Respectful Insolence, ("The current study joins a long list of poorly planned, poorly executed, poorly analyzed studies that purport to show that vaccines cause autism, neurological diease, or even death. ")

Did you know that McDonald and Paul proved that the increase in vaccines are linked to the autism epidemic?

This one, too, had me rolling my eyes.  Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain had the best demolition of the methods ("The paper has made very little, if any, impact on the scientific community. But it has become part of the stable of poor quality papers used by those claiming that vaccines caused an autism epidemic.")

Did you know that the safety of aluminum in vaccines has never been studied?

Wrong again.  Still wrong.

At that point, we left.

That's all the bad news. The good news: Despite extensive publicity, the support of a large group of home-birth advocates, and 300 personal invitations, the audience numbered about 15 people, not including the three of us.

Other views on the book:

Part I: Review of book launch for Vaccine Epidemic

Part II: Review of book launch for Vaccine Epidemic

Part III: Review of book launch for Vaccine Epidemic

I'd forgotten about this from The Path Guy: Anti-Immunization Activists: A Pattern of Deception.

California's AB 2109: Will Vaccine-Refusing Families Have A Hard Time Finding Health Care?

Here's Dr. Bob Sears on the issue:

However, what gravely concerns me is that some doctors will refuse to sign this form. I know how doctors think. Many doctors strongly believe that vaccines should be mandatory, and that parents should not have the right to decline vaccines. Some doctors are willing to provide care to unvaccinated kids, despite this difference in philosophy. But now the power over this decision will be put directly into doctors' hands. He or she can simply refuse to sign the form. Doctors who oppose vaccine freedom of choice have been frustrated for years over this issue. Finally, they will have the power to impose their beliefs on their patients. Patients will be forced to find another doctor to sign the form, submit to vaccines, or get kicked out of public school.

Several things to notice: he's sure that only doctors can sign the form (wrong: Physician Assistants and Nurse Practioners with appropriate qualifications can sign); and notice that he doesn't quantify anything, or use any facts.  It's just "I know how doctors think" and the threat of "being kicked out of public school".  

It's important to know how many vaccine providers there are (pediatricians, family practice MDs, and the county health departments' low-cost or free vaccine clinics) and how many of those would "fire" or discharge vaccine-refusing families.

The survey of physicians reported at the 2011 meeting of Infectious Diseases Society of America showed enormous regional variation in practice responses to vaccine refusal.  The survey didn't cover California or the West at all.

Let's look at some real doctors.  

Heidi Roman MD is a mother and a pediatrician who practices in California.  She recently wrote Why I Won't Fire Vaccine-Hesitant Families, giving three sound reasons

....the particular issue of families who are hesitant about vaccinating their children is something all child health providers have come across. I won’t dismiss patients/families for this reason.

Wendy Sue Swanson MD practices in Washington state, but has written (and made videos) about vaccine issues.  In Pediatricians Who Refuse Families Who Don't Immunize, she wrote

I will always keep my practice open to vaccine-hesitant families. However, the waiting room risk (unimmunized kids & risk to vulnerable populations–ie infants, those too young for vaccines, and immunocompromised children) is a good one and the only compelling reason to close to patients who refuse immunizations in my opinion.

But it’s not a good enough reason for me to send families away who have questions and hesitations about the AAP/CDC schedule. All children deserve a pediatrician versed in immunization benefit/risk & deserve an expert in conversation w their parents to foster insight & understanding. Frankly, if waiting room risk is the concern, there are ways to create separate waiting rooms for kids “up to date” and kids who are not.

Roy Benaroch, MD at The Pediatric Insider develops a typology of vaccine-refusing parents, and  concludes:

...my own philosophy that it’s not the kids fault they’re not vaccinated; and with patience and continuous discussions, I can usually get even the most stubbornly misinformed parents to vaccinate. So finally, with a lot of extra work, the kids get protected. That’s my goal.

Linda Shaw MD practices in a low-income area, and has very, very few vaccine-hesitant or vaccine-refusing families.  Given the constraints of her practice,

Our practice group has decided that caring for vaccine-refusing patients is too much of a liability risk. We will alter vaccine schedules if the parents request it, but they are informed that they may have additional out-of-pocket costs. Patients who adamantly refuse to consider immunization for their children are asked to find another provider to see them. (We will also discharge from the practice patients who chronically "no show" for appointments.)

I think that even if AB 2109 passes, the California Medical Association or the two Public Health Associations (North and South) should sponsor research into the facts on vaccine refusal and hesitancy in California.

Dr. Bob Sears: What Was His Role in the 2009 San Diego Measles Outbreak?

I am keeping a list of reactions (pro and con) to the California Assembly Bill 2109 (AB 2109), which would make Personal Belief Exemptions (PBE) to required school entry vaccinations  slightly -- very slightly-- more difficult to obtain.

But there's a side issue.  One of the opponents to the legislation, Dr. Bob Sears, has been caught in ... a fib?  a misunderstanding? 

I decided not to add those posts to the list, because the Dr. Bob question isn't really about AB 2109, but about the veracity of a physician who has done more to raise false fears of vaccines.  (If you think that's an exaggeration, why don't you read The Problem With Dr. Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule (full text at Pediatrics or  Download Offit_Problems_Dr_Bob_Alterna_Schedule (PDF))

What Dr. Bob claimed:

"I was not involved in that [the San Diego measles outbreak] at all."

But he was.

December 29, 2008, in the Orange County Register:

As it turns out, the boy who spread measles is a patient of Dr. Bob Sears, pictured at left, a member of the famous San Clemente pediatrician family and author of “The Vaccine Book.” 

"NOR have I ever spoken with Seth [Mnookin]"

But he has.

A number of people stepped up to confront Dr. Bob, both in commentsat the Huffington Post and later on other blogs.

• March 26, 2012 Seth Mnookin at the Panic Virus: Bob Sears: Bald-faced Liar, Devious Dissembler, or Both (includes Mnookin's taped interview with Sears)
• March 27, 2012 Orac at Respectful Insolence Dr. Bob Sears vs. Seth Mnookin: Measles Outbreaks, AB 2109, and Lacking the Courage of One's Convictions
• March 27, 2012 Sullivan at Leftbrain/Rightbrain Who Decides Which Facts Are True?  Perhaps Not Dr. Bob

And here is Dr. Bob's rather ranty response to Lilady's repeated questioning. 

(click to embiggen)

Updated 3/28/2012 There is some confusion.  From news reports in 2008:

The measles-in-the-doctor's-waiting-room transmission:

Eight of the measles cases originated from the Cooperative Charter School, while another four stemmed from the Children's Clinic in La Jolla, according to county health officials.

And this news report from February 16 2008 at SignOn San Diego

The measles outbreak is San Diego County's first since 1991. It began when a 7-year-old patient returned from Switzerland on Jan. 15 with what would later be confirmed as measles. He or she infected two siblings and at least four classmates. The 8-year-old patient identified yesterday is a classmate of the 7-year-old.

 

On Jan. 25, the 7-year-old's parents took the youngster to the Children's Clinic of La Jolla. The child may have coughed and sneezed in the office, thus infecting four other children.

<\

Roundup For And Against California's Immunization Exemption Bill, AB 2109

This list will be updated silently

 Currently in California, it is cheaper and easier to get an exemption from vaccine requirements for school entry than it is to actually comply with the immunization requirements. 

Now Assemblymember Richard Pan (D 5th District), also a physician, is planning to change that.  He has introduced AB 2109, which adds the requirement that parents speak with a licensed health professional.  The bill is  in the Assembly Health Committee and will be heard April 17, 2012.

Blog posts and newspaper reports on AB 2109--In favor

• February 29, 2012: Press release from Richard Pan Dr. Pan Introduces Bill to Provide Parents Immunization Information to Prevent Outbreaks
• March 20, 2012 Kenny Goldberg, KPBS Bill Attempts To Reduce Number Of Unimmunized Children In California
• March 20, 2012 ToddW at Harpocrates Speaks California Assembly Working to Protect Public Health
• March 20, 2012 Liz Ditz at I Speak Of Dreams Californians, Protect The Health of All Children: Support AB 2109 (with links to the Assembly Health Committee)
• March 21, 2012 Vincent Iannelli at About Pediatrics Pass the New California Vaccine Bill
• March 22, 2012 Erin Digitale at Scope Stanford School of Medicine Blog Pending vaccine bill would protect vulnerable Californians
• March 22, 2012 Modesto and Sacramento Bee Editorial We all have stake in vaccination rate
• March 22, 2012 ToddW at Harpocrates Speaks The Anti-Vaccine Crowd Shows They Are Anti-Informed Consent
• March 22, 2012 Nurses Who Vaccinate at Nurses Who Vaccinate California's AB 2109
• March 23, 2012 Orac at Respectful Insolence California Bill AB 2109 Real Informed Consent vs. Anti-Vaccine Misinformed Consent
• March 24, 2012  Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams California's AB 2109, Strengthening School-Entry Vaccination Requirements, A Mild Change
• March 25, 2012 Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams Vaccine Exemptions in California: How Many Exemptions and How Much Will They Cost (re AB 2109) 
• March 26, 2012 David Gorski MD at Science-Based Medicine California Bill AB 2109 The Anti-Vaccine Movement Attacks School Vaccine Mandates Again
• March 29, 2012 Hannah Guzik, California Health Report  Number of vaccinated kids drops steadily in California

Blog posts and newspaper reports on AB 2109--Oppposed

• March 2, 2012 Tim O'Shea DC End of Vaccine Exemptions in California?
• March 5, 2012 Sayer Ji various sources  Corporate Media Blackout On AB 2109 Threatening Vaccine Rights
• March 11, 2012 Alan Phillips JD at Natural News ALERT: California's AB 2109 Would Make Doctors Gatekeepers for Non-Medical Vaccine Exemptions!
• March 11, 2012 at Susanne Posel at Occupy Corporatism  AB 2109 Legislation To Take Away Our Right Not To Vaccinate
• March 14, 2012 Action Alert, Autism Action Coalition  Senator Wolk Receives $58K from Vaccine Manufacturers and Sponsors Restrictive Exemption Bill
• March 15, 2012 Sylvia Pimental of the Canary Party Request Assemblyman Pan Withdraw AB 2109
• March 22, 2012 Bob Sears ("Dr. Bob") at Huffington Post California Bill AB2109 Threatens Vaccine Freedom of Choice
• March 23, 2012 Dawn Richardson of NVIC, e-mail posted at another blog Let's Stop AB2109
• March 25 Emily at Laundry and Lullabies AB 2109 - no "personal belief" vaccine exemptions
• No date: Dawn Richardson  at the National Vaccine (mis)Information CenterCalifornia: Oppose AB 2109 Restricting Vaccine Exemptions

 

Evidence-Based Resources

• Shots for School (California Department of Health Website)
• Informed Consent for Vaccination from VaccineEthics.org
• Vaccination Requirements and Exemptions from VaccineEthics.org
• Vaccination Refusal: Ethics, Individual Rights, and the Common Good by Jason L. Schwartz, MBE, AM and Arthur L. Caplan, PhD

California's AB 2109, Strengthening School-Entry Vaccination Requirements, A Mild Change

Currently in California, it is cheaper and easier to get an exemption from vaccine requirements for school entry than it is to actually comply with the requirements. 

Now Assemblymember Richard Pan (D 5th District), also a physician, is planning to change that.  He has introduced AB 2109. (As of March 24, the bill is still in the Assembly Health Committee.) The change in the law is pretty mild.  Vincent Iannelli MD summarizes the change:

Instead of simply signing a personal belief vaccine exemption form on their own, parents will be required to have a written statement signed by a [licensed] health practitioner that says the parent was given information about the benefits and risks of immunizations and the risks of certain vaccine-preventable diseases.

The provisions of AB 2109 are much milder than the recommendations from the The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society ( Download Pediatric_infectious_disease_soc_vaccine_exemptions).  I've excerpted part of the Position Statement below, and added emphasis

Position Statement Regarding Personal Belief Exemption from Immunization Mandates from The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society March 2011

It is recognized that in some states, failure to pass personal belief exemption legislation or regulation could result in public backlash that will erode support for immunization mandates. If legislation or regulation is being considered in this situation, it should contain the following provisions, which are intended to minimize use of exemptions as the “path of least resistance” for children who are behind on immunizations (whereby it would be easier to obtain an exemption than to catch-up the child’s immunizations):

• The personal belief against immunization must be sincere and firmly held.
• Before a child is granted an exemption, the parents or guardians must receive state-approved counseling that delineates the personal and public health importance of immunization, the scientific basis for safety of vaccines, and the consequences of exemption for their child as well as other children in the community who are vulnerable to disease and cannot otherwise be protected.
• Before a child is granted an exemption, the parents or guardians must sign a statement that delineates the basis, strength, and duration of their belief; their understanding of the risks that refusal to immunize has on their child’s health and the health of others (including the potential for serious illness or death); and their acknowledgement that they are making the decision not to vaccinate on behalf of their child.
• Parents and guardians who claim exemptions should be required to revisit the decision annually with a state-approved counselor and should be required to sign a statement each year to renew the exemption.
• Children should be barred from school attendance and other group activities if there is an outbreak of a disease that is preventable by a vaccination from which they have been exempted. Parents and guardians who claim exemptions for their children should acknowledge in writing their understanding that this will occur.
• States that adopt provisions for personal belief exemptions should track exemption rates and periodically reassess the impact that exemptions may have on disease rates.

Despite the relative mildness of AB 2109, both in-state and out-of-state anti-vaccine activists are opposing the bill. 

Update: AB 2109 will be heard TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012
Health
MONNING, Chair
1:30 p.m. - State Capitol, Room 4202

 

Californians, Protect The Health of All Children: Support AB 2109 Before March 25

Update: AB 2109 will be heard TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012
Health
MONNING, Chair
1:30 p.m. - State Capitol, Room 4202

California has one of the most lax vaccine-exemption laws in the United States, according to Mark Netherda, MD of the Sonoma County Medical Society. 

A parent or guardian need only sign the Personal Beliefs Affidavit on the back of the California School Immunization Record for a child to be granted admission to school without immunizations

In other words, it is cheaper and easier to get a vaccine exemption, which puts other children at risk, than it is to comply with school entry laws.

Now Assemblymember Richard Pan (D 5th District), also a physician, is planning to change that.  He has introduced AB 2109:

“Parents are on the front line when it comes to the protecting the health of their children and their communities,” Dr. Pan said. “This bill empowers them with up-to-date, accurate information about immunizations. As a pediatrician, I have spent my career making sure families, physicians and public officials are working in unison to build healthier communities.  AB 2109 strengthens this relationship through education to help save our children from infectious outbreaks that can only be prevented by working together.”

With overwhelming bipartisan support, California has passed legislation calling for children to be immunized for certain diseases that pose an immediate threat to public health.  California is also one of 20 states that allow parents to sign a form that excludes their children from having to receive the immunizations. AB 2109 would simply ensure that parents receive accurate information about immunizations from a licensed health care practitioner before they decide if they will sign the form.

I have posted the current text of the bill at the bottom of this post.  You can keep up with the bill at this link: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2109&search_keywords=

Alaska's Section on Epidemiology (SOE) has published a list of recommendations to reduce outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease; "educating parents" is first on this list.  

Vermont recently eliminated moved closer to eliminating all "philosophical exemptions"; at Vermont Steps Toward Improved Public Health, Public Health activist ToddW lists some of the vaccine-refusers' pet talking points about "informed consent" and "the right to refuse vaccines" and refutes them in detail.

Anti-vaccination groups based outside of California are targeting the members of the committee hearing the bill, the Assembly Committee on Health (here and here)

Several people found the following confusing: If you would like to let the Health Committee know your views on making vaccine exemptions to be slightly easier and certainly less expensive than actually complying with the law and getting their children vaccinated, you can contact members of the Assembly Committee on Health, and ask them to support AB 2109.  The contact link takes you to each individual Assemblyperson's contact form. 

If you would like to let the Health Committee know that you support the simple provisions of AB 2109, and that you would like the Committee to approve the bill for hearing in the Assembly, the names and contact information of the Committee are listed below.

There's a sample phone script below the list; feel free to suggest other talking points in the comments

William Monning (D) - Chair
Tel: (916) 319-2027
Fax: (916) 319-2127
Contact Assembly Member William W. Monning

Dan Logue (R) - Vice Chair
(P) 916-319-2003
(F) 916-319-2103
Contact Assemblyman Dan Logue

Tom Ammiano (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2013
Fax: (916) 319-2113
Contact Assembly Member Tom Ammiano

Toni Atkins (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2076
Fax: (916) 319-2176
Contact Assembly Member Toni Atkins

Susan Bonilla (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2011
Fax: (916) 319-2111
Contact Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla

Mike Eng (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2049
Fax: (916) 319-2149
Contact Assembly Member Mike Eng

Martin Garrick (R)
(P) 916-319-2074
(F) 916-319-2174
Contact Assemblyman Martin Garrick

Richard .S Gordon (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2021
Fax: (916) 319-2121
Contact Assemblyman Richard S. Gordon

Mary Hayashi (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2018
Fax: (916) 319-2118
Contact Assembly Member Mary Hayashi

Roger Hernandez (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Fax: (916) 319-2157
Contact Assembly Assistant Majority Whip Roger Hernández

Bonnie Lowenthal (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2054
Fax: (916) 319-2154
Contact Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal

Allan R. Mansoor (R)
(P) (916) 319-2068
(F) (916) 319-2168
Contact Assemblyman Allan R. Mansoor

Holly J. Mitchell (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2047
Fax: (916) 319-2147
Contact Assembly Member Holly J. Mitchell

Brian Nestande (R)
(P) 916-319-2064
(F) 916-319-2164
Contact Assembly Member Brian Nestande

Richard Pan (D) – sponsor
Tel: (916) 452-0505
Fax: (916) 452-5525
Contact Assembly Member Richard Pan

V. Manuel Perez (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2080
Fax: (916) 319-2180
Contact Assembly Member V. Manuel Peréz

Jim Silva (R)
(P) 916-319-2067
(F) 916-319-2167
Contact Assembly Member Jim Silva

Cameron Smyth (R)
(P) 916-319-2038
(F) 916-319-2138
Contact Assembly Member Cameron Smyth

Das Williams
Tel: (916) 319-2035
Fax: (916) 319-2135
Contact Assembly Member Das Williams

If you decide to phone, here is a sample Phone Script:

• Call the office number and introduce yourself and ask to talk to someone about AB 2109. If this is your assembly member’s office, let them know you are a constituent and what town/city you are from.
• Let the appropriate person know you are in favor of AB 2109 because its passage would increase vaccine uptake of the most serious infectious diseases. (If your family has been affected by someone else's vaccine refusal, be sure to mention it here.)
• Let the legislative office know that you are aware of concerted, organized out-of-state anti-vaccine activists who are targeting the Health Committee
• Let the person you are speaking to know about the distortions, outright lies and misinformation provided by anti-vaccine sites such as the National Vaccine Information Center, Sheri Tenpenny, Mercola.com, and Natural News

 

If you don't live in California, Public Health activist ToddW has a suggestion for you, 

I encourage my readers to get in touch with their state legislators to inquire about current vaccine requirement and exemptions laws and to advocate for similar legislation as that described above. We all have a role to play in preventing outbreaks of diseases. Doing what we can to increase vaccination rates in our states is just one step we can take to help ourselves and our communities.

sources:

• http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_2101-2150/ab_2109_bill_20120223_introduced.html
• http://asmdc.org/members/a05/newsroom/press-releases/item/2766-dr-pan-introduces-bill-to-provide-parents-immunization-information-to-prevent-outbreaks
• http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/mar/20/bill-attempts-reduce-number-unimmunized-children-c/
• http://silencedbyageofautism.blogspot.com/2012/03/follow-bouncing-ball.html
• http://silencedbyageofautism.blogspot.com/2012/03/vermont-steps-toward-improved-public.html
• http://science.kqed.org/quest/2010/10/13/health-officials-to-consider-tightening-vaccine-exemptions/
• If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can check vaccination exemption rates by county, town or school district at http://www.baycitizen.org/data/immunizations/

 

Text of the bill as it stands on March 20, 2011 reproduced below, from http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_2101-2150/ab_2109_bill_20120223_introduced.html. You can keep up with the bill by going to this link: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2109&search_keywords=

BILL NUMBER: AB 2109 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT

 

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Pan
(Principal coauthor: Senator Wolk)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Fuentes)

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

An act to amend Section 120365 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to communicable disease.

 

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2109, as introduced, Pan. Communicable disease: immunization exemption.

Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any private or public elementary or secondary school, child care center, day nursery, nursery school, family day care home, or development center, unless prior to his or her first admission to that institution he or she has been fully immunized against various diseases, as specified. Existing law prohibits admission or advancement of a pupil to the 7th grade level without a full immunization against hepatitis B.

Existing law exempts a person from the above-described immunization requirement if the parent or guardian or other specified persons file with the governing authority a letter or affidavit stating that the immunization is contrary to his or her beliefs. However, whenever there is good cause to believe that the person has been exposed to one of the diseases, a person may be temporarily excluded from the school or institution, as specified.

This bill would require, on and after July 1, 2013, the above-described letter or affidavit to be accompanied by a form prescribed by the State Department of Public Health that includes a written statement signed by a health care practitioner, as defined, that indicates that the health care practitioner provided the parent or guardian of the person, or the person, if an emancipated minor, who is subject to the immunization requirements with information regarding the benefits and risks of the immunization and the health risks of specified communicable diseases. The bill would also require the form to include a written statement by the parent, guardian, or person, if an emancipated minor, that indicates that he or she received the information from the health care practitioner.

By imposing new duties upon local officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 120365 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120365. (a) Immunization of a person shall not be required for admission to a school or other institution listed in Section 120335 if the parent or guardian or adult who has assumed responsibility for his or her care and custody in the case of a minor, or the person seeking admission if an emancipated minor, files with the governing authority a letter or affidavit stating that the immunization is contrary to his or her beliefs. However, whenever there

(b) On and after July 1, 2013, a separate form prescribed by the State Department of Public Health shall accompany the letter or affidavit filed pursuant to subdivision (a). The form shall include both of the following:

(1) A written statement signed by a health care practitioner that indicates that the health care practitioner provided the parent or guardian of the person, or the person if an emancipated minor, who is subject to the immunization requirements of this chapter with information regarding the benefits and risks of the immunization and the health risks of the communicable diseases listed in Section 120335 to the person and to the community. This statement shall be signed not more than six months from the date when the person subject to the immunization requirements is first admitted to the school. If the person was admitted to the school prior to entering the 7th grade and is about to enter the 7th grade, then an additional letter or affidavit shall be filed with the written statement signed by the health care practitioner not more than six months from the first day of school for a person about to enter the 7th grade.

(2) A written statement signed by the parent or guardian of the person, or the person if an emancipated minor, who is subject to the immunization requirements of this chapter that indicates that the signor has received the information provided by the health care practitioner described in paragraph (1). This statement shall be signed not more than six months from the date when the person subject to the immunization requirements is first admitted to the school. If the person was admitted to the school prior to entering the 7th grade and is about to enter the 7th grade, then an additional letter or affidavit shall be filed with the written statement signed by the parent not more than six months from the first day of school for a person about to enter the 7th grade.

(b)

(c ) When there is good cause to believe that the person has been exposed to one of the communicable diseases listed in subdivision (a) of Section 120325, that person may be temporarily excluded from the school or institution until the local health officer is satisfied that the person is no longer at risk of developing the disease.

(d) A copy of the signed written statement shall be accepted in lieu of the original form. A signed letter from the health care practitioner that references the person's name shall be accepted in lieu of a statement on the original form.

(e) For purposes of this section, "health care practitioner" means a physician and surgeon, licensed pursuant to Section 2050 of the Business and Professions Code, a nurse practitioner who is authorized to furnish drugs pursuant to Section 2836.1 of the Business and Professions Code, or a physician assistant who is authorized to administer or provide medication pursuant to Section 3502.1 of the Business and Professions Code.

SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.