We know that vaccines can be harmful, but how do you avoid mandated vaccines? Alan Phillips Esq., a leading vaccine rights attorney and friend of homeopathy, discusses vaccine exemptions.
As more and more people question the vaccine status quo, so rises the number of questions about how to legally avoid mandatory vaccines. This article introduces information underlying the growing international vaccine controversy and vaccine legal exemptions in the U.S.
According to official statistics, 90 – 95% of childhood infectious disease decline in the 1900’s preceded the introduction of vaccines. Vaccines are simply not the reason we have enjoyed lower disease rates in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. In fact, 1962 congressional testimony by Dr. Bernard Greenberg, head of the Dept. of Biostatistics for the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, revealed that cases of polio increased substantially after mandatory vaccinations, and that the statistics were deliberately manipulated by the Public Health Service to give the opposite impression.[ii] This was not an isolated instance; corruption in the vaccine arena has continued and expanded considerably in more recent decades.
For example, the peer-reviewed medical literature is not as reliable as the medical publishing industry would have us believe. Marcia Angell, M.D. of Harvard University, and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine for 20 years, went public in 2008 and said: “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines.”[iii] With regard to influenza vaccines specifically, the internationally respected Cochrane Collaboration, in a 2010 review of the flu vaccine literature, reported that “reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions…”[iv] These are but two of numerous documented examples, but the bottom line is that in today’s world, we have to look further than study conclusions to know what’s really going on in the world of medical science. What gets published or not has huge financial implications, and is frequently skewed or even falsified accordingly.
Another key aspect concerns the integrity of the pharmaceutical industry, which has become highly questionable. In 2009, Pfizer got a $1 billion criminal fine, and a $ 1.3 billion civil fine.[v] In 2012, Glaxo got a $1 billion criminal fine and a $2 billion civil fine.[vi] In 2013, Johnson and Johnson got a $2 billion fine.[vii] Fines in the $100’s of millions are common, typically for illegal marketing of prescription drugs. No one goes to jail, and the behavior continues, so apparently there’s a net gain. The bottom line is that moral, ethical, and even criminal lines are, for this industry, merely financial calculations. Since criminal behavior is routine in the pharmaceutical industry, we have to ask ourselves: “Should anyone ever be required to take a product from this industry?”
Next, while debate rages on over the safety of vaccines, some points are indisputably clear, such as the fact that vaccines come with a risk of injury or death. The federal government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out an average of over $100 million annually for the past 25 years to vaccine victims and their families, for serious injuries and deaths cause by vaccines.[viii] Yes, vaccines can kill you, and have killed people ranging in age from newborn infants to senior citizens, and every age in-between. Worse, both the FDA and CDC have admitted that only 1 to 10% of serious vaccine adverse events are ever even reported.[ix] So, the truth is, vaccines do cause serious harm, but no one knows to precisely what extent. Anyone who tells you that vaccines have a net benefit, then, is, with all due respect, either ignorant or lying.
Are vaccines effective? Debate rages on over this point as well, but there are many documented instances of highly and even fully vaccinated populations having disease outbreaks. So at best, vaccine effectiveness is unreliable.[x] This well-documented inconsistency belies the alleged “herd immunity” theory, which claims that so long as most are immune, all are protected—the theory just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, at least with vaccines (as opposed to with the wild disease).
Are there any alternatives? God bless homeopathy! A particularly wonderful example was in Cuba in the fall of 2008, when homeoprophylaxis was used in place of allopathic immunizations to respond to a leptospirosis outbreak. Two and a half million people were each given 2 doses of a remedy, and the results not only substantially exceeded prior experience with vaccines, it was about 1/15 the cost![xi]And to the best of my knowledge, there are no serious adverse events with homeopathy as there are with virtually any widespread use of vaccines. The failure of our government health agencies to seize upon the Cuban and other homeoprophylaxis successes by aggressively pursuing further research in this area, and the incorporation of homeoprophylaxis into standard infectious disease control strategies, reveals a public health policy driven by something other than the best health interests of the members of our society.
With all of the problems in the allopathic world, and obvious safe and effective alternatives to immunizations that are being systematically ignored, it’s no wonder that a growing number of people are looking for ways to legally avoid immunization mandates. Ironically, vaccines are being required in greater and greater numbers for more and more people. The reason is simple: The US federal government subsidizes vaccine research and development; state and federal governments mandate vaccines; state and federal governments purchase vaccines; and state and federal governments compensate those injured or killed by vaccines. So, for those who are able to throw ethics and morality out the window without a second thought, there’s a racket here offering profound profits, and a convenient vehicle for injecting who knows what into literally billions of people worldwide. The multi-billion dollar international vaccine industry is projected to grow at some 10-12% annually for the next several years.
So you’ve done your research, and you’ve decided that you’d like to postpone, or even forego some or all vaccines altogether. Can you do that? How do you do that? Well, it depends on your specific situation…
Vaccines are required for students, military members and families, immigrants, employees—the list goes on, and continues to grow. Presently, there are over 100 vaccine bills pending in over 30 states that, if passed into law, will do such things as increase the number of vaccines required for children, create new mandate categories in the adult population, allow pharmacists to administer vaccines, increase tracking of vaccination status of both children and adults, allow children to consent to vaccines—there is a huge vaccine freight train rolling downhill at high speed that is gaining more speed along the way, and it shows no signs of slowing up. The federal Department of Public Health’s “Health People 20/20” initiative has a stated goal of vaccinating 90% of healthcare workers with the flu vaccine,[xii] and another goal to vaccinate 80 – 90% of all U.S. adults with the flu vaccine[xiii]—and there are over 270 new vaccines either already waiting for approval from the FDA or in clinical trials.[xiv] There’s no light at the end of this tunnel. We either find the break lever to slow this train down soon, or it will be completely out of control, headed for a sure high-speed collision. We are, genuinely, heading down a path to a vaccine police state.
Fortunately, everywhere vaccines are mandated in the U.S., one or more exemptions are available. Most of the time, a religious exemption is also possible. In a minority of states, philosophical or personal exemptions are available for school exemptions. But the first step is always to find out what exemption options are in your specific situation, and what the correct procedure is. If you attempt to exercise an exemption incorrectly, it may be difficult to fix that retrospectively. So, make sure you understand your rights before you take steps to exercise them. Another critical point to keep in mind is that you must go to an authoritative source to find out what your rights are, what the law is, in your specific situation. Places not to go for help include the Internet, with a few exceptions, and the person or entity requiring you to get vaccinated such as school and employer administrators, as they often misunderstand the law. Sources that are usually reliable include state statutes and regulations (please note you often have to look at both state statues and health department regulations to get the full story), state and local health departments (while not 100% reliable, they can be very helpful at times), and attorneys who are experienced in this arena, if you can find one (the author of this article works with clients and attorneys throughout the U.S.).
Medical exemptions can be hard to get. They usually require the support of a medical doctor, and there are usually specific, narrow criteria that must be met to qualify. But even a doctor’s support is not always enough. One healthcare worker reportedly had letters from three medical doctors saying she couldn’t get a flu vaccine required for work, but the employer said she had to get the shot anyway. So, if you’re considering a medical exemption, make sure you find out first what qualifies for the exemption in your specific situation; and if you can get a doctor to support you for a qualifying reason, then pursuing a medical exemption may be an appropriate route to take.
Religious exemptions are probably the most commonly used exemption. What qualifies is a topic too lengthy for an article, but in brief, it doesn’t require membership in an organized religion, and it doesn’t matter what religion you belong to, if you do belong to one. All that’s required is a sincerely held belief that is religious in nature, as the law defines those terms. However, some state laws require membership in an organized religion, as do many employer policies. Such requirements are unconstitutional. So, these situations can be overcome, but you may need the help of an experienced attorney to make the case.
Philosophical exemptions, when available, are great in that they don’t require you to justify your beliefs or to state reasons. But states have been changing laws to make them harder to get. Washington State, California and Oregon have all passed new laws in the last three years requiring parents exercising a philosophical exemption for their kids in school to jump through additional hoops, such as getting a lecture and signature from a doctor about how wonderful vaccines are and what a terrible person they are for putting themselves and others at risk (not in those exact words, of course). But do unvaccinated children really put anyone else at risk? A recent study found that children who got the flu vaccine had four times the rate of non-influenza respiratory disease as their non-vaccinated counterparts. Another recent study revealed that pertussis vaccination leaves one as a carrier of the disease—you can spread the disease after you are vaccinated. Health authorities in India recently proclaimed that polio has finally been eradicated there; yet, vaccinated children have a more serious disease that is clinically indistinguishable from polio, caused by the vaccine[xv]…the list goes on and on. The long-held notion of a presumed net benefit from vaccines has been slowly undermined by medical science,[xvi] though the medical authorities, increasingly controlled by the pharmaceutical industry, continue to actively suppress this reality to the best of their ability.
I have helped hundreds of clients throughout the U.S. legally avoid vaccines in over a dozen different exemption and waiver contexts and sub-contexts over the past decade, and from this experience, I have learned that there are some situations where getting a vaccine exemption is straightforward, while in other situations it is very tricky. Sometimes, you need only sign a form or write a brief sentence declaring that vaccines are against your personal or religious beliefs, without having to explain your beliefs. However, in those religious exemption situations where you are required to state your beliefs, and where the authorities involved have authority to scrutinize your beliefs, it is highly advisable to seek out professional help from an experienced attorney. In my experience, most people who write their own religious beliefs statement fall into one or more legal pitfalls that can undermine their rights; the law on this point is just not consistent with most people’s common sense approach to the task. It can be difficult or impossible to fix a problem statement once you’ve put it out, to say in effect, “Oops, what I meant to say was…” A good starting place is the Vaccine Rights website, or one of my vaccine rights weekly radio shows where you can call in with your questions or comments. For more information about your rights and those shows, please see www.vaccinerights.com .
See, e.g., “Immunization Graphs Prepared by: Raymond Obomsawin M.Sc., Ph.D., December 2009.
[ii] See., e.g., “Dispelling Vaccination Myths,” Vaccination Myth #6 Alan Phillips, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/08/18/vaccine-myths.aspx, and “The polio vaccine: a critical assessment of its arcane history, efficacy, and long-term health-related consequences,” Neil Miller, thinktwice.com/Polio.pdf, http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/documents/vaccines/Immunization%20Graphs%20PPT%20-%20RO%202009.pdf.
[iii] “Big Pharma, Bad Medicine, How corporate dollars corrupt research and education,” by Marcia Angell, M.D., http://bostonreview.net/angell-big-pharma-bad-medicine.
[iv] Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults, http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab001269.html
[v] Public Citizen Study: Pharmaceutical Industry Is Biggest Defrauder of the Federal Government Under the False Claims Act, http://www.pharmpro.com/news/2010/12/public-citizen-study-pharmaceutical-industry-biggest-defrauder-federal-government-under-false-claims-act.
[vi] GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3billion fine after pleading guilty to healthcare fraud – the biggest in U.S. history, MailOnline, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2167742/GlaxoSmithKline-pay-3b-fine-pleading-guilty-healthcare-fraud.html.
[vii] Johnson & Johnson to pay $2 billion for false marketing, CNN Money, http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/04/news/companies/johnson-and-johnson-settlement/.
[viii] U.S. DHHS, HRSA, National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, Data and Statistics, http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statisticsreports.html#awardspaid.
[ix] Less than 1%, according to Barbara Fisher, citing former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, 1993, JAMA, from Statement of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Hearing of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, “Compensating Vaccine Injuries: Are Reforms Needed?” September 28, 1999; less than 10%, according to KM Severyn, R.Ph., Ph.D. in the Dayton Daily News, May 28, 1993. (Vaccine Policy Institute, 251 Ridgeway Dr., Dayton, OH 45459); only 10% according to the CDC, American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, Fact Sheet on Mandatory Vaccines at http://www.aapsonline.org/.
[x] See, e.g., Dispelling Vaccination Myths, Vaccination Myth #2, “Vaccines are very effective…or are they?”, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/08/18/vaccine-myths.aspx.
[xi] Successful Use of Homeopathy In Over 2.5 Million People Reported From Cuba, http://homeopathyresource.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/successful-use-of-homeopathy-in-over-5-million-people-reported-from-cuba/; see also Homeophrophylaxis: Human Records, Studies and Trials, http://homeopathyplus.com.au/Homeoprophylaxis-Human-Records-Studies-Trials.pdf.
[xii] HealthyPeople.gov, 2020 Topics and Objectives, IID-12.9.
[xiii] HealthyPeople.gov, 2020 Topics and Objectives, IID-12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8.
[xiv] More Than 270 Vaccines in Biopharmaceutical Pipeline Offer Hope to Prevent/Treat Wide Array of Diseases, Yahoo News, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-270-vaccines-biopharmaceutical-pipeline-110000346.html;_ylt=A2KJNF92ZjJSJW4AN_nQtDMD.
[xv] India: Paralysis cases soar after oral polio vaccine introduced, Digital Journal, Apr 26, 2012, http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/news.php?id=7116#newspost.
[xvi] Be sure to see Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s Vaccine Research Library, a growing collection of thousands of peer-reviewed studies showing serious problems with vaccines.
