More vaccine victims

Yesterday was a sad time in the world of vaccine freedom. And while I don't want to make anyone else unhappy, I do feel it is necessary to share this information so we will all remember (in case we have forgotten) just why it is we are involved in this issue.

First thing is that I was forwarded some information via Ingri Cassel in the US, the founder of VacLib - another health information and support organisation much like the AVN.

A woman in Australia had found her on the Internet and written to say that she had recently had both children removed from her and her husband due to an accusation of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).

I called and spoke with the woman and won't say anything to identify her but I can tell you that there were several signs that all was not as we had been told and as is so often the case with SBS, there is more evidence to show that there was medical negligence involved than that the parents had harmed their child in any way.

This mother has a 4 year old who was born at full term plus 10 days and that child is perfectly healthy and never had any problems. She recently delivered a baby who, according to her dates which she was pretty confident in, was between 34 and 35 weeks' gestation. At her first ultrasound scan, her doctor told her that her dates were off and instead of being 12 weeks pregnant, she was actually 16 weeks pregnant so throughout her pregnancy, she was treated as if she were further along than she actually was.

Not really important except that her doctor was concerned that she hadn't gained enough weight during her pregnancy (yet one more reason why routine ultrasounds are not a good idea - many doctors are incompetent at anything to do with pregnancy and birthing and this 'crutch' takes away even that little bit of hands-on information which midwives do routinely and so well). Therefore, when she was - according to the doctor - 38 - 39 weeks but according to her own dates - 34 - 35 weeks along, she was subjected to a battery of tests - placental function, foetal stress...you name it. All of them came back normal.

Her doctor was not satistified however and induced her labour - again this information is important in what follows so please bear with me. Her baby was born small (2.3 kg) for a full term baby but probably normal weight for one that was induced so early.

The day after the birth, one of the maternity nurses in the hospital was checking the baby and asked the mother if she had gone into premature labour. The mother said no - that the baby had been induced. The nurse then said that the cartilidge in the baby's ears was not fully formed and certain lines that are on the hands of a full-term baby (sorry, I was not sure about this - I'd never heard of it before) were not evident and that she doubted that the baby was more than 35 weeks - possibly only 34 weeks' gestation - information that agreed with the mother's own thoughts.

The baby was given both the Hep B vaccine and the Vitamin K shot and the family went home. The baby was very different than this mother's first child. She slept a lot and was not all that alert when she was awake - these are all from what I understand fairly normal with premature babies in the first weeks of life.

One thing that the mother did notice as time went on was that the baby, when she was sleeping, would experience tremours in her hands and sometimes her feet and sometimes, her eyes would roll up in her head a bit.

When she was 5 weeks old, after getting a feed of expressed breast milk, this little girl vomited the entire feed up and had another one of those tremours - so much so that her father who had fed her, brought her to the mother and was concerned. It was Saturday night so she called the hospital and explained the situation. They told her it was not a problem and to go see their GP on Monday.

The next morning, the baby once again vomited up an entire feed and the mother was starting to get concerned so she and her husband brought the baby to their local hospital. While they were speaking with the triage nurse and the mother was describing the symptoms, the baby again had one of the tremours they had noticed. The mother pointed that out to the triage nurse who didn't appear to be concerned about it. Immediately after that, however, when they were putting the baby into a bassinet to wheel her into a room for examination, the baby went into a 'full blown' seizure. I am unsure of how long it lasted.

The baby was admitted and all sorts of tests were run. It was found that this baby had evidence of a broken arm and 3 broken ribs. There was also retinal bleeding and and MRI scan was run which showed haemmorhaging in the brain. These symptoms can indicate child abuse or - which I feel is the case from having seen this many times before - they can indicate a botched delivery of a premature baby - especially when there was an induction.

Things were not looking good for the parents at this stage. The baby was transferred to a larger hospital - one with a staff that is known to the AVN for their aggressive and overzealous reporting of both Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy (Please see these links for more information about this 'condition' - False Accusations of Munchausen's, Mothers Against Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy Accusations, and Legally Kidnapped: It Could Happen to You for a look into this made-up condition which gives medicos the right to take our children away from us if we become too inquisitive about their treatment or ask too many of the 'wrong' questions.) and Shaken Baby Syndrome.

The police were called in and the parents were told - no doubt about it - that their little girl had been shaken and that's what caused her injuries. The 'experts' in the hospital were sure and so were the police.

There were interviews held and they were told that a 72 hour interim order was in place which would not allow them to take their baby home and their son was also removed from custody - luckily to be placed with the child's grandmother - not with a stranger.

This order has been extended several times and at this point, the parents are afraid that they will lose custody of their children completely - a nightmare for any parent - especially for those who have done nothing to harm their child.

How can I say this? Well, for one thing, if you haven't already, I would like you to read the story of another pair of loving parents who found themselves in this exact same nightmare with a baby born prematurely and an older child. That is the story of Alan and Francine Yurko.

Alan Yurko is one of the most amazing men I have ever dealt with and his story will be an eye-opener to anyone who is concerned with how the government and the medical community have effectively taken away our rights as parents to decide what is best for our child's healthcare, education or upbringing.

You can read his story here at the Yurko Project. Dr Harold Buttram, an incredibly prolific doctor with a long history of opposition to any form of compulsory vaccination, has written an in-depth paper on this issue. Called Shaken Baby Syndrome or Vaccine-Induced Encephalitis?, this paper describes many of the symptoms suffered by the baby of the family that contacted me yesterday and who we will hopefully be able to help.

This family has been traumatised; their children have been traumatised. This baby's parents have been accused of harming her when in fact, it is very likely that the harm was caused by the very people who have now removed her from her parents' care. And this could happen to anyone at any time if we put our trust and faith in doctors who don't deserve that regard.

Are all doctors like this? NO! But it is one of the many reasons why we need to be so careful when choosing the practitioner we will use and why we should become more confident as parents (read that as more educated) about how to treat minor conditions at home and when it is really necessary to see a doctor.

A book that really helped to give me the confidence to not go to the doctor except in a true emergency (broken bones [5 times], my son falling out of a bunk bed onto his head on a tile floor [only once, thank goodness!], etc! :-) is Dr Robert Mendelsohn's amazing book, How To Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. I highly recommend this to anyone who has children, is thinking of having children or who just wants to know more about whether doctors and annual exams are really the life-savers we've been told they are.

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A young victim of Gardasil passes away - when will we stop this madness?

The following notice came across the Gardasil discussion list, Let's Talk About Gardasil, yesterday. I will include it in full. Please do visit the links to Jenny's page - this young woman should not be forgotten - her death should not be for nothing.

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that I inform you that Jenny has passed away. Her family made the public announcement today, March 16th, at 7:00PM on their blog.

According to her family's blog, she died yesterday, March 15th, Sunday afternoon, holding her parents' hands, surrounded by love.

To read the announcement yourself, please visit her family's blog at:
http://jenjensfamily.blogspot.com/

Also, if you have not already, you can sign the family's petition to the government in order to improve the adverse effects reporting system. An improved reporting system would give scientists better data to produce better diagnoses and treatments. The petition can be signed here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oneclickonelife

Despite the disheartening loss of Jenny, it is always important to remember the joy she brought to this world, and to make sure we try to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Candice L. Jones

What you won't be reading in Australian News

While the media can hype measles and the whooping cough from now until the cows come home, they somehow manage to miss stories like the one below which are incredibly important. We need to ask the following questions:

1- How is it possible that a huge pharmaceutical company with billions of dollars at their disposal managed to make a 'mistake' such as mixing up avian influenza with normal influenza virus when producing what seems to have been millions of doses?

2- Why did their own internal controls fail so badly? Did they really not have any testing procedures in place to confirm before the vaccines left the plant that they were not contaminated with anything?

3- Does this contamination have any connection to the fact that Baxter Labs has won contracts to produce a bird flu vaccine?

Vaccines as Biological Weapons? Live Avian Flu Virus Placed in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries

There's a popular medical thriller novel in which a global pandemic is intentionally set off by an evil plot designed to reduce the human population. In the book, a nefarious drug company inserts live avian flu viruses into vaccine materials that are distributed to countries around the world to be injected into patients as "flu shots." Those patients then become carriers for these highly-virulent strains of avian flu which go on to infect the world population and cause widespread death.

There's only one problem with this story: It's not fiction. Or, at least, the part about live avian flu viruses being inserted into vaccine materials isn't fiction. It's happening right now.

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‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible

Czech newspapers are questioning if the shocking discovery of vaccines contaminated with the deadly avian flu virus which were distributed to 18 countries by the American company Baxter were part of a conspiracy to provoke a pandemic.

The claim holds weight because, according to the very laboratory protocols that are routine for vaccine makers, mixing a live virus biological weapon with vaccine material by accident is virtually impossible.

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There are many more stories about this event - both from those who are pro informed choice when it comes to vaccination and from mainstream medical and financial sources. Just do a Google search on the words Baxter - influenza - and contamination.

The consensus seems to be - on both sides of the aisle - that this event is incredibly suspicious.

In my opinion, the board of Baxter should be up on charges of attempted murder. There should be calls from the governments of countries affected for an independent investigation into this matter.

At the very least, the media should be screaming from every front page, TV news report and radio programme that something stinks about this situation and we need to find out where the smell is coming from and expose those who are responsible to the full force of the law.

Instead, there is a deafening silence - as always seems to be the case when something might question the sanctity of vaccines.

Spread this information around and demand that these sorts of tactics not be allowed to continue.

And while healthy unvaccinated children and adults are being blamed for causing epidemics, point the finger of blame where it really belongs - firmly in the court of the drug companies which sicken us all for profit.

Why do we need this blog?

With the increasing pressure by Australian medical authorities, government officials and media outlets to force the issue of compulsory vaccination, I have decided to establish a blog in order to update AVN members / supporters and other interested individuals about these serious threats to our freedom.

On this blog, I intend to post articles and information, links to sites of interest and information on actions which we can all take to avert what could be a major disaster - the introduction of compulsory vaccination in Australia.

I am also putting out a call to everyone in Australia (and overseas if you feel you would like to be involved and can help in some way) who would like to help organise lobby and public action groups to please contact me by email by clicking here. I will send you through an invitation to attend an online planning meeting (available to everyone who has access to a computer so if you're reading this - you're eligible to attend) where we can all discuss the best and most effective ways of raising the profile of this issue and of putting down the fear which the media has so effectively stirred up in the Australian community with their irresponsible and incorrect reporting.

Below is a debate in the NSW State Parliament which I came across last night while I was researching the recent calls for vaccination to be made compulsory. On checking the date of this debate (1997), I discovered that it took place a short time before the AVN's first lobbying trip to Canberra to oppose any such moves. I believe our quick action at the time is the only reason why there have been no similar debates in Parliament since that time.

Ms FICARRA (Georges River) [12.21 p.m.]: This motion is very timely, as previous speakers have said, because of the low rate of immunisation not only in New South Wales but throughout Australia. Since the beginning of this year six babies have died from the effects of whooping cough. It is clearly established in the medical and scientific community throughout the world that immunisation is the single most cost-effective means of preventing a number of serious diseases, and achieving high rates of immunisation in the population as a whole prevents the spread of diseases. The Opposition has called on the State Government to enforce existing laws which ban children who have not been immunised from attending school during disease outbreaks. The Opposition would like that regulation strictly enforced, and all teachers and parents should be aware that there are existing rules and regulations that should be enforced. Compulsory immunisation legislation would force parents who have been lazy, ignorant or ill informed to immunise their children; it would help to eradicate diseases such as whooping cough and measles; and it would prevent the cross-infection of children who have not been immunised.

Children have been the very innocent victims of the tragic and unfortunate circumstances that have occurred and that have received considerable media attention this year. Compulsory immunisation legislation would allow the State Government to target immunisation promotions towards specific groups. With only 53 per cent of children under the age of six years fully immunised, such drastic measures are needed to protect our children from complacency and laziness. Diseases such as whooping cough and measles have killed more than 220 people in recent years, despite the fact that they are preventable diseases and should have been eradicated decades ago. The only answer is to enforce compulsory immunisation across the country to protect children whose parents do the right and responsible thing. Compulsory immunisation would have many benefits, from helping to eradicate those diseases to preventing cross-infection.

I congratulate the Federal Minister for Health, Dr Wooldridge, who has shown a lot of political, social and medical sense in his campaign to improve our poor immunisation rate. He has set the target for raising rates to 95 per cent by 2001. Current levels have reached crisis point with the rate of 53 per cent being so low that the long-term health of the nation is now being put at risk. For example, Indonesia has an immunisation rate of 100 per cent, while in Britain the rate is 95 per cent. Diseases such as measles and whooping cough are in the process of being cleaned out in countries with a high immunisation rate, but are on the increase in Australia. Dr Wooldridge has foreshadowed a wide-ranging campaign to improve immunisation rates and there will be a trial of immunisation booths in shopping centres, weekend events where parents can have their children immunised, and Australia’s first immunisation research centre. The program has been allocated funding of $32 million in the next two years. Part of the focus of the campaign will be to redress the poor follow-up rates after the first immunisation. The driving force behind the program is Dr Wooldridge, who asserts correctly that the Commonwealth has to take the lead. His initiative reverses the former Government’s decision taken in 1987 to transfer responsibility for running the programs to the States.

Lynne Grimsey who ran the AVN Gold Coast branch in 1997/1998 and myself organised a group of about 5 mothers from the Coast to come down here to Bangalow to help with our planned trip to Canberra. We spent the entire weekend photocopying flyers (enough for every politician in Canberra) making phone calls to raise the $2,000 needed to send us there, finding a lobbyist who would help 2 clueless women to be as effective as they possibly could be and organising air tickets for the two of us to get to Parliament. Lynne had a friend in Canberra who was kind enough to let us stay with them for the entire time.

With the help of the Australian Democrats who let us use their office space as a base while we were in Parliament, Lynne and I spent every day - from about 7 in the morning until about 9 a night - walking the halls of parliament and meeting with everyone from the assistant to the Minister for Health through to representatives of the Independent parties and many front benchers from the Liberals and Senators from the Labor party too. We were there to represent the views of all AVN members who strongly believed that vaccination must never be compulsory and that anyone - whether they vaccinated or not - must receive the same government entitlements.

It was due to these efforts that you are now able to register as a conscientious objector to vaccination and that for the past 10 years, there has been more information available in the community (still hard to come by - but a lot easier than it was 20 years ago when my first child was born) about this vital issue.

It might be time for the AVN to make another lobbying trip to Canberra - and this is one of the things we will be discussing during our online meeting so again, please write if you would like to help.

Thanks and I will have more information on these issues soon.

Meryl