[PROVE] Letters Needed to Oppose Organized Media Efforts Against Vaccine Exemption by Docs

[Guest guest]

Letters Needed to Oppose Organized Media Efforts Against Vaccine Exemption by

Docs

[Dear PROVE members,

The doctors and the pro-forced vaccination zealots are out in force again

drumming up media to try and generate animosity towards parents willing to stand

up for the safety and well being of their child by refusing vaccination because

they believe the vaccine is either unsafe or unnecessary for their child. These

two articles in the Fort Worth paper, especially after falling on the heels of

the Dallas Morning News article a couple of days ago, deserve strong responses

from parents and health care providers who support informed consent. If your

child has been injured or killed by a vaccine, you may want to either call or

send a copy of your letter to the reporters who wrote these two pieces also

(their email addresses and phone numbers are at the bottom of the articles.)

The reporters never seem to think children who are injured or killed by vaccines

are important. Letters need to show what harm vaccines do sometimes.

Please read these two articles and take the time to write to:

letters@...

Again as always, keep the letters short - less than 150 words, and include your

name, address and phone number at the bottom of your letter for verification

purposes by the paper.

The very same industry playing the role of front man for Prop 12 in TX, is

demanding that they not only be allowed to usurp the role of the parent

with regard to vaccine use, but they also want to make unvaccinated

children responsible for vaccine failures. Let's not forget, however,

that doctors and drug companies aren't responsible for much of anything

when it comes to vaccines. They are already protected from liability - and how

much safer is your child because of that? (notice the subtle reminder for our

members in Texas to go out and vote NO on proposition 12 this Saturday September

13th!)

Dawn and ]

SAYING NO to vaccinations

A new Texas law makes it easier for parents to decide that their children will

skip school immunizations -- which could lead to a resurgence in preventable

diseases

By Carolyn Poirot

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/people/family/6727914.htm

Posted on Tue, Sep. 09, 2003

WHEN SHOULD YOUR CHILD GET IMMUNIZED?

Under a new law that went into effect Sept. 1, parents can get a child exempted

from immunizations required by the state for " reasons of conscience. " But

obtaining and completing the affidavit needed for an exemption to the

immunizations required for attending child-care facilities, elementary and

secondary schools and colleges will take some effort.

It might not be enough effort, though, to prevent a resurgence of

vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and pertussis, public health

experts say. Disease rates go up as exemption rates go up, and no one knows yet

how many additional exemptions will be granted under the new state law.

Last week, the Texas Department of Health began mailing out about 600 copies of

the official affidavit, which must be completed by parents who want to claim

conscientious objection to vaccinations. The 600 affidavits are in response to

350 written requests for one or more forms received through the end of August.

More are expected from parents, who have 30 days from the start of school to get

their children's immunizations up to date or file an official exemption form.

" We don't know how many to expect, " said Doug McBride, press officer for the

state health department. " From the public health protection perspective, we hope

it's not very many, but it is a legal option. We ask parents to base their

requests for exemptions on accurate information. "

Even without the new exemptions, Texas has experienced a resurgence in pertussis

(whooping cough), with 1,240 cases in 2002 -- mostly in infants and young

children not yet caught up in the school safety net. This year, 297 cases of

pertussis have been reported through the end of August.

Before the new law, parents could cite only medical or religious reasons to

request an exemption for their child. Statewide, about 1 percent of public

school students have claimed exemptions in the past for medical or religious

reasons.

In the Fort Worth school district last year, the numbers were even lower, with a

total of 33 students opting out of required immunizations for medical reasons

and 28 for religious reasons, from among the district's 81,000 students, says

Jackie , the district's health director.

No one knows how many more there will be under the new law, which maintains

medical exemptions and rolls religious exemptions into the broader

" conscientious objector " category.

" On average, exemptors are 22.2 times more likely to acquire measles and 5.9

times more likely to acquire pertussis than vaccinated children, " says

Salmon, associate director for policy and behavioral research at s Hopkins

Bloomberg School of Public Health.

He is co-author of a Colorado study that looked at all reported cases of measles

and pertussis in that state between 1987 and 1998.

The study, published in the Dec. 27, 2000, issue of the Journal of the American

Medical Association, also found that schools with pertussis outbreaks had more

exemptions (average of 4.7 percent of students) than schools without outbreaks

(1.3 percent of students), and that at least 11 percent of vaccinated children

in measles outbreaks acquired infection through contact with an exempted child

despite their own vaccination.

Salmon says the complexity of the exemption process in terms of paperwork or

effort required is adversely associated with the number of exemptions filed.

" The harder you make it to get an exemption, the less exemptions, " Salmon said

in a telephone interview.

In many states, the process of claiming a nonmedical exemption requires less

effort than fulfilling immunization requirements, and some parents take the path

of least resistance, Salmon said.

In California, for example, it is easier to claim an exemption than to verify

your child's shot record.

" In California, they hand me a form that I take to my health-care provider to

fill out what shots my child has gotten when -- or I turn the form over and sign

a note that immunizations are contrary to my philosophical beliefs and hand it

back to them. That's all there is to it, " Salmon said.

He helped write a stricter new Arkansas law that requires demonstration of a

strong conviction against vaccinations, counseling on the risks of not

vaccinating, a notarized letter and annual reviews for nonmedical exemptions.

In Texas, the law is not nearly as difficult administratively, Salmon says.

" Texas' new law is actually pretty easy, and that's a little disturbing. I don't

know how many more exemptions you will see. Only time will tell, but I do know

that with harder criteria, you have fewer exemptions. I am concerned that the

new law will mean more. "

Dr. Mark Shelton, director of the department of infectious diseases at Cook

Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, says physicians are very concerned

because when you look at other states with more liberal exemptions you find

population pockets with no protection.

" We don't know what's going to happen in Texas, but we are worried it will mean

more exemptions and more disease. We already have a pertussis problem in North

Texas, and in some places -- Ireland, for example -- they are having big

outbreaks of measles.

" I would just remind parents that vaccines protect their children and other

children, and the risks of not taking a particular vaccine are far greater than

the risks of vaccinating, " Shelton says. " Most parents believe strongly in the

value of vaccination, so we don't foresee large numbers, but if you have five in

a school, and you get an outbreak, you have a big problem. "

Outbreaks are complicated by the fact that some children will not develop

complete immunity from the vaccines (vaccine failures) and there is no way to

identify those children. Also, there will always be some who do not get

vaccinated because of individual health circumstances.

Medical exemptions are allowed for individuals who are immunocompromised, have

allergic reactions to vaccine constituents, or have a moderate-to-severe illness

that could be aggravated by a particular vaccination. Medical exemptions require

a statement from a physician.

" Public health personnel should recognize the potential effect of exemptors in

outbreaks in their communities, and parents should be made aware of the risks

involved in not vaccinating their children, " Salmon says. " The increase in

community risk is due to pockets of unprotected or susceptible people who create

a weakness in our armor against infectious disease. State laws provide a safety

net ensuring that all or nearly all children over 5 years of age are fully

vaccinated. "

For more information, go to the Texas Department of Health Web site at

www.tdh.state.tx.us or www.immunizetexas.com.

Guidelines for vaccination exemptions for reasons of conscience

Under Texas law, which took effect Sept. 1, only official forms developed and

issued by the Texas Department of Health Immunization Division will be accepted

by the schools. No other forms or reproductions will be allowed.

• Written requests for the affidavits must be submitted through the U.S. Postal

Service, commercial service or by hand delivery to:

TDH Bureau of Immunization and Pharmacy Support

1100 W. 49th St.

Austin, TX 78756

The letter must include the full name of each child for whom a form is

requested, date of birth of each child, and the parent or guardian's complete

return mailing address, including ZIP code.

* E-mail, telephone or facsimile requests cannot be processed.

* The official affidavit must be filled out, notarized and submitted to

officials at individual schools.

* Students who already have a religious exemption on file do not need an

affidavit. But the affidavit is required for new claims for exemption based on

philosophical beliefs, including religion.

Source: Texas Department of Health

Carolyn Poirot, cpoirot@...

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Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2003

Easing of law could give rise to sicknesses

By Mitch

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/6727813.htm

Robby and Amy Montemayor watch over their 3-month-old daughter, Jillian, who

came down with whooping cough and spent nearly three weeks in the hospital in

July and August.

At about noon Monday, an eerie silence fell over the Montemayor house in

ville as Jillian's parents listened for the sound of their daughter's

cough.

Jillian was in bed in another room, and at the 3-month-old's first cough, all

talking in the family room ceased. The cough was drawn out, but it was not the

oxygen-starved sound of whooping cough that had sent Jillian to a Fort Worth

hospital for 19 days in July and August.

" I wish we had videotaped her, " said Jillian's mother, Amy Montemayor. " So

people could see just how much she suffered and know how much they need to get

their children immunized. "

Public health officials recently reported that a 5-week-old Tarrant County boy

had died in August from whooping cough, one of 24 cases reported in the county

to the health authority this year.

Whooping cough is one of several diseases that public health officials worry

will make a resurgence now because of a new law that allows parents to opt out

of state-required immunizations. Before the law took effect Sept. 1, parents

needed a religious or medical reason to exempt their children from

immunizations. Now, parents need no specific reason.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, begins with symptoms similar to a cold: a

runny nose, sneezing, coughing and a mild fever. But it can develop into

debilitating coughing fits, punctuated by high-pitched whoops as the patient

struggles for air.

" What gets me is I had read books and books and books and books, and there was

nothing in there about it, " Amy Montemayor said. " I thought whooping cough was a

thing of the past. And I was just blown away when I found out how prevalent it

was. "

Dr. Hathaway, of the Tarrant County Public Health Department, does not

approve of the relaxed rule.

" The immunization rule that was watered down in this last session is the culprit

because it sends the wrong message that getting immunizations are not

important, " she said.

Although the number of whooping cough cases this year is lower than last year's

number, officials are concerned because the number of deaths from it have not

decreased.

Four people have died among the 317 whooping cough cases in Texas this year. In

2002, four died among 1,240 cases, according to Texas Health Department records.

Normally, whooping cough follows a three- to five-year cycle, increasing and

then decreasing, according to state health officials. Texas seems to be at the

end of a four-year cycle and poised for another increase, said Tabony,

surveillance coordinator for vaccine-preventable disease at the Texas Department

of Health.

" Because of the recent deaths, starting in 2000, we've done increased outreach, "

Tabony said. " It's alarming that we still have had four deaths. "

Mitch , mitchmitchell@...

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Dawn

PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)

prove@... (email)

http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)

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PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and practices

that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is to prevent vaccine

injury and death and to promote and protect the right of every person to make

informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their family.

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This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.

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