OPINION
As I sat in the Statehouse Assembly Chambers last month, I heard echoes from the voices of desperate parents seeking to be heard on the one parental right they have: the protection of their children!
In the mixture of these echoes were those I heard saying, “Protect our freedom and religion; it’s our right.”
And then I saw the faces of the children, tightly wrapped up in warm winter clothing for long hours into the late night. Some of those children – sadly – were injured from vaccines.
Parents, children, clergy, elected officials, and supporters all united – side by side – gathered by the thousands, inside, outside and around the public areas of the Statehouse.
This drama unfolded following weeks of vocal outrage. I received more than 3,000 emails opposing a proposed bill that would allow state-mandated vaccinations for children, while stripping the law of a religious and medical exemption clause.
The Assembly narrowly passed the bill, funded and fast-tracked by the pharma industry, over my cries of opposition.
I argued that my fellow lawmakers did not offer enough open public debate, nor do I believe that government officials are entitled to remove the right of a parent to protect a child. I also don’t believe government has any say in regards to an individual’s religious practice, except in the case of a true emergency.
Appearing in the last desperate attempt to move this bill, a Republican senator proposed a segregation amendment that would mandate all public schools and public day care centers require vaccination. Families that can afford to attend private schools and private daycares would not have to follow the mandate. In the State Senate, the bill fell short.
It is 2020. How can any Legislature in this country, under the Constitution, entertain such legislation?
Then I realized there is more to this!
We began this debate about the health and wellness of all children. So why would we then entertain a segregated piece of legislation that would exclude certain students. This solely moved the debate from the overall health concern to an even larger question: Why is this hotly-contested bill being rushed through at all?
I think we can all agree if it’s about the health and wellness of our young ones, there should be a majority of support, not just relying on one majority vote in the legislature.
Legislation to mandate state vaccinations are quickly moving through legislatures in other states, too, including Connecticut, Virginia, Colorado and Illinois. The requirement already exists in California and New York. All of these states have legislatures controlled by Democrats.
There is this momentum, but there are many public facts that should give us pause. No one denies that vaccines can cause severe injury and death – indeed the federal 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act specifically provides compensation for anaphylaxis, encephalopathy or brain injury, chronic arthritis, paralysis and death. Victims have proven many other adverse effects in the compensation program as well, including severe allergies, asthma, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, lupus, multiple sclerosis and others.
Studies by independent scientists have validated some of these associations. For instance, a Canadian 2008 study on asthma risk and the diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus vaccine in the Journal of Allergy Clinical Immunology suggested that merely delaying the DPT shot by two months reduced childhood diagnosis of asthma by half. An article by scientists Gallagher and Goodman published in the peer reviewed literature found a nine-fold association between the hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in boys aged 1-9. A study of infant mortality, a key measure of public health, found that countries, like the US, with more infant vaccines have higher death rates in infants in the first year of life than countries with fewer infant vaccines.
These are just a few of thousands of studies on the unintended consequences of vaccines. But for me, the reality hit home when I heard from hundreds of parents and their children: the real victims in all of this.
And there were other citizens, pleading to keep the religious freedoms afforded to them in the Bill of Rights.
Then the bombshell: The “vaccine chairwoman” at Merck Pharmaceutical Co. cashing in her second $9.1 million worth of shares.
This information then led me to the campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, doled out to my colleagues in all these states pushing for legislation.
Let me be clear: I’m not against vaccines. I believe in medicine for the health of our state.
However, I do not believe that elected officials should be overreaching into the households of parents who are entitled to make informed medical decisions for their children. Nor do I believe I should be placed in a position to remove a religious exemption for those individuals that chose to exercise that constitutional right. I stand pro choice!!
So if this debate should continue, I am even more compelled to side with the people. In such an effort, I will be introducing a bipartisan bill in the Assembly that fully protects children and holds government accountable for any over-reaching state mandates.
I join Senate Republican sponsors Mike Testa and Joseph Pennacchio on S-1734 that requires health care practitioners to provide information to a patient or the patient’s guardian at least 48 hours prior to the administration of a vaccine. That information must include a copy of the insert for the vaccine produced by the manufacturer for inclusion in the vaccine’s packaging and list of the vaccine ingredients produced by the federal Centers for Disease Control.
S-1791 would make the state liable for damages stemming from certain vaccine-related injuries if the vaccination is mandated by state law, rule, or regulation as a condition of attendance at a child care center, preschool program, elementary of secondary school, or institution of higher education, or by emergency declaration, at the time of the vaccine’s administration.
An Assembly Resolution is also pending introduction, urging the President of the United States and Congress to repeal the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which has shielded vaccine manufacturers from liability, removed economic and legal incentives for companies to develop safe vaccines, and made it difficult for those injured by vaccines to receive compensation.
It is for all the above reasons I stand to protect children, parental choice and remain in the front lines of protecting all individuals to exercise their religious freedom, and to protect their children’s heath as best as they see fit.
It is with great hope that all my colleagues join in this important fight for families and freedom.
Assemblyman Jamel Holley (D-Roselle) represents Elizabeth, Roselle, Union and Hillside in the New Jersey General Assembly.
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Jamel Holley is a hero, he is clearly representing the people and we need to support him. People do not come out and expose themselves to being called crazies without good reason. When there are 1000s of them it is more than anecdotal data.
hank you Assemblyman Jamel Holley ! I hope your colleagues wake up and join you as well. There are things that need fixing but it’s with the corporations and media not with the parents trying dearly to the last breath to hold on to their rights. Sometimes we have to make very hard decisions in our lives and as you said many have had to do so because of vaccine injury. This is not a fight anyone wants to have for fun or over conspiracy theories. People are fighting because of terrible personal experiences with these products. If people want vaccination rates to go up then let the market take care of the problem. Put a safer product on the market and perhaps things will change. What they are asking now is that we continue to use a product that has not gone through the same evolution as other products. We still don’t drive around in Ford Model T’s because the car evolved to become better and safer. Car makers have liability and if something goes wrong they fix the problem or take the car off the market. Vaccines don’t have to do any of that and without liability there is zero incentive to do so.
Jamel Holley is on the right side of history. There is mountainous research to connect vaccines to brain damage, chronic disease, death, etc. All citizens should be afforded the right to abstain for ANY reason, and especially when vaccines defy their religious beliefs. We are not farm animals that need to be managed. The government has gotten very scary when it comes to vaccines, particularly how they insist that they are safe and effective when all analysis proves otherwise.
So what happens if the 1986 Act is repealed? What happens when parents start suing the manufacturer for every little things that they deem wrong with their child? I don’t want to vaccinate, but the school says it’s ok…so I’ll just find something to sue for.
Let’s get real …you know sue happy America would abuse the bloody bejeezus out of this.
I’m guessing it would be no different than any other medical treatment that has side effects.
So you’re saying that Pharma…an industry well-known for its corruption…should not be made liable for their vaccine products, which are being *mandated* to everyone, because they might face some frivolous lawsuits? Most people don’t have the money to sue even when they have a good case, much less when they don’t. Liability provides significant incentive to make to make the safest possible product. No liability means safety doesn’t need to be a priority. Vaccines are a nearly-60 billion dollar industry. Pharma can be held responsible, for the sake of everyone’s health and safety.
Yes. Let’s get REAL. I’ll take a few frivolous lawsuits over a few hundred thousand more injured kids and adults. And it seems you have no clue how the Vax Court works. Folks fight for 3 to 7 YEARS to get a max of $250k when you prove they killed at family member.
The enemy always knew all vaccines were infectious. They knew you were all given Epsteins Borreliosis AIDS activated with an immune response and induced with immune suppression. The enemy has absolutely nothing for your WAR whore Trillions or your dying nation but a faster death and a New Berlin Wall.
Thank you! Stay strong. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance. May God bless you as you continue your effort to educate your constituents and fellow democrat colleagues
God bless you sir.
My wife and I just returned home after an amazing time in Brazil visiting family and new friends.
It was refreshing to get away and go to a different country and get back to the basics of humanity and rediscover that all of us in this country and all over the world are so much more alike than we are different.
During my 10 days in Brazil not one person asked me about my politics, my religion, the color of my skin, my sexuality, who I love, how I want to raise my kids, the medical choices I make and have made.
I wasn’t asked because, despite what we are led to believe here in this country via outlets like social media and mainstream media, those are not the things that define us as human beings. Our actions define who we are. The way we treat others define who we are.
Hate, prejudice, segregation, intolerance and discrimination come in many forms and NONE are acceptable. Tolerance does not mean only being tolerant and accepting of people who think or act the same way to you do. Equality means accepting all people regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, political affiliation, parental choices, medical choices, etc…
It appears here in the US we like to give things lip service to feel better about ourselves. We can put ourselves on a pedestal by our ideologies but allow our actions to let us down. I see people all the time pounding their chest for equality and minutes later unleashing a scathing hateful attack on someone who makes choices that are different than theirs.
In Brazil, being in a foreign country, you can get down to what really matters and find out what you really are in your heart. All I’ve ever wanted from life is to love people and treat them with respect. I live for that connection with people. It’s why I’ve learned to speak 3 languages and have traveled all over the world. It’s my passion, it’s my heart, it’s my purpose. I don’t go places to see buildings or statues. I go to immerse myself in humanity and connect with people on a different and deeper level without the labels that divide us here.
I go to love on people and with no expectation of anything back I feel that love in return x10. It’s the conversation with every Uber driver who is surprised I can speak Portuguese and light up to tell me how good my Portuguese is (it’s not that good) and excitedly striking up a conversation with me. It’s playing pickup basketball with 14 strangers on a court in a housing development and supporting one another with hand signals and uplifting gestures. It’s having the daughters of a couple you just met come up to you and tell you knock-knock jokes in another language for 15 minutes. It’s hearing your name called out by someone you just met days before while walking through the market. That’s who we are at our core as humans.
I left to go to Brazil after 2 months of fighting for religious, medical and parental freedoms in New Jersey. It was so refreshing to get away and I didn’t realize how exhausted and worn out I was from the multiple days and nights spent in Trenton. When I was at the airport in Sao Paulo last week to come home I saw the same process was beginning in Connecticut. When I landed the next morning at 6:30am the process was still going on in Connecticut. People had been there all day and literally all night testifying.
The fact we are doing this makes me sad. The fact we allow ourselves to be divided and the hate, prejudice, discrimination, segregation and intolerance than comes with it is unacceptable but even worse is unnecessary.
People are inherently good. We are way more alike than we are not alike. I’ve learned to accept long ago that people are going to make different choices than me in life and that is perfectly ok. I respect everyone to make the choices that in their heart they know are best for them and their family and they should never have to come under any hate, discrimination, segregation, prejudice or intolerance from anybody for making those choices that they know are best.
We all need to look at ourselves and get back to what it is that makes us human and cast aside ALL that divides us when that division leads to hate, discrimination, segregation, prejudice and intolerance.
I’m so thankful to everyone I met in Brazil who saw me for who I was without ever inquiring about any of my labels. People who I will stay in touch with forever as if I’ve known them my whole life. I come home empowered. Actions always speak louder than words and your actions will always define who you truly are. Your words are the trailer, your actions are the movie.
Tolerance, love, acceptance, inclusion, equality.
Brazil has mandatory vaccines
You are right on the money Assemblyman. Money is the answer, money is the reason and it was never about protecting anyone but the pockets of those who voted to destroy more children.
Excellently articulated. If vaccinations are mandatory then the state of NJ should compensate for injury. It would also be great if all physicians administering vaccinations were required to actually discuss with parents the potential adverse events that could result, and not just provide an insert. Isn’t that how it’s done with other drugs?
What a reasonable editorial /opinion to unreasonable legislation.
I am not a constituent of the State of New Jersey, though it is my husband’s home state. As I sit reading this article with tears rolling down my face, I pray to God that other elected officials are awaken too. The future for my 2 little ones scare me, though God didn’t give us a spirit of fear. As the Democratic party, I was a Democrat supporter, continue to push and rush new unconstitutional laws the future does look bleek. There’s American refugees within our country, uprooting their families just to protect their most precious God given gifts, our children. I am a mother who cries inconsolably and stay awake praying just thinking that my state is next. My family has been thrown into the arena of activism for our freedoms to choose and protect our kids from the grasp of the government and pharmaceutical profitable mandates. My family has so much damage from these products but yet our voices are trampled over by an agenda based propaganda. We the people are yelling to look at our families, look at the graves, hear our voices; the government refuses to repeal 1986 Act while the CDC, FDA, DPH, Congressman, Legislators and so on are profiting one way or another on the health of human lives. So I thank you. Please cross party lines and state lines. Speak to the Representatives who refuse to listen to the very people that put them in office. As the number of illnesses and disabilities continue to rise, what is going to become of us, of this country, of this world? They can’t make everyone sick just cover up what has been done.
Thank you Mr. Holley for standing up for the downtrodden rather than taking dirty money from a giant industry that faces no liability for it’s product! I wish there were more politicians with your integrity! Bravo!
Thank you for taking a stand for the people, for freedom, & for justice for all. You are a true statesman that I can be proud of supporting!! I hope more legislators are inspired to speak up on this important human rights issue. We can’t allow the pharmaceutical industry to run our government, that isn’t a democracy & it isn’t constitutional.
What happens if the Act is repealed? The pharmaceutical companies will be held liable for any injuries that are caused by their product. Just as in the case with any other lawsuit, why should they be excluded from liability? God forbid these billion and million dollar companies spend a penny on the families they have destroyed….
Sir, you have my respect because you are what true representatives of the people were always meant to be. G-d bless you and grant you continued success in your fight for liberty and freedom for every citizen in our great country. And just as you heed the cries of your constituents, the American people, our G-d should always respond to you and all of us facing evil fascist tyranny. Truth will prevail.
Thank you Assemblyman Holley! You are a true inspiration to the this generation to Continue to fight for freedoms! You are a force to be wreckoned with and know the truth! THANK YOU!
Thank you so much Assemblyman Holley! What a breath of fresh air! A politician who is actually LISTENING to his constituents and not marginalizing the VICTIMS! What would really get attention of Assemblyman Holley’s colleagues would be if donations poured in from all over the country for his campaign! Believe me, if that were to happen, his colleagues would take notice! Five dollars, ten dollars. It doesn’t matter. It sends a message! ESPECIALLY if it is from all over the country! I will be doing so with a note to express my gratitude for being brave! Bless you!
A true leader! Thank you Sir!
Mr Holley,
May God Bless you and continue to guide your heart, as well as, Mr. Testa, Mr. Pennacchio and others who work to preserve our freedom, protect ALL our children, our religion, and our family choices.
We in NJ know that at times you work in an adverse environment where some elected officials can be financially indebted to any one company, group or individual. How is this legal in NJ or any other state, I don’t know?
Thank you for writing your opinion. It is a gift of hope for all who are fighting to preserve the health of our children.
Remain courageous Mr.Holly! The science on vaccines are not complete.
This is man of honor. The people voting against the citizens and their innocent children need to be voted out of office. By then they will have their payouts and have followed the directions of their mighty “leaders.” People who are unwilling to learn the truth and vote based on facts rather than on bribes do not deserve to represent anyone. How is it legal that these people can be bribed by big pharma lobbyists who are using smoke and mirrors to control our citizens. The democrats have gone too far in trying to control people’s personal lives by pretending there is a health crisis. There is no health crisis, and if they did research and met with parents they would know the truth. Lazy and Greedy, hoping it won’t serve them well!
One man saw the true picture, so there is no reason the others did not as well. God bless him in his future of helping the people he represents. To hell with the other ones. VOTE THEM OUT AS SOON AS THEIR TERMS ARE CONCLUDING.
In all my time reading articles on NJ Globe, I find it extremely interesting that this particular piece currently sits at 21 comments all supportive of the op-ed when I can’t recall seeing ANY comments at all on countless articles.
Spreading out Vaccines is NOT Safer for Children:
*A child’s immune system must cope with thousands of foreign antigens each day, whereas the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule exposes a child to only about 300 antigens by the age of 2. One estimate, by vaccine expert Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, suggests 11 vaccines given to an infant at one time would temporarily “use up” only 0.1% of the child’s immune system. And although the number of recommended vaccines has risen over the years, advances in vaccine development mean that the number of antigens contained in those vaccines has decreased—yet rates of autism and diabetes have not.
There Is NO Proven Correlation to Support the Hypothesis that Vaccines Cause Asthma or Allergic Diseases:
Several well-controlled studies have been performed on the subject —
*Using the computerized records of children born between 1991 and 1997 who were enrolled in four large health maintenance organizations (HMOs), researchers identified 18,407 children with asthma. The risk for asthma was not greater in children who received diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine, oral polio vaccine, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine or hepatitis B vaccine compared with children who did not receive these vaccines.
*Another large well-controlled study prospectively evaluated the risk of allergies following receipt of the pertussis vaccine in 669 children. Infants were randomized to receive one of three different diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine or a control vaccine that did not contain pertussis beginning at 2 months of age. Children were followed for about two and a half years and the risk of allergies was determined by parent questionnaires and examination of medical records. Allergic disorders studied included asthma, skin reactions, hay fever, hives and food allergies. No differences in the incidence of allergic diseases were observed in children who did or did not receive pertussis vaccine. Of interest, children with natural pertussis infections were more likely to develop allergic diseases than children not infected with pertussis.
*Another population-based cohort study followed 5,500 patients from ages 7 to 44 years. Investigators looked for associations between receipt of vaccines and asthma or atopic disease. No association was found between the receipt of childhood vaccines (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and smallpox) and asthma, eczema or food allergies.
Its truly sad and horrifying that a vocal minority has been growing over the years on this issue, spouting myths with no scientific base in reality. Simply look at the science – Dr. Paul Offit of CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center has extremely thorough articles with various peer-reviewed and accepted works on the subjects Asm Holley listed:
Anderson HR, Poloniecki JD, Strachan DP, et al. Immunization and symptoms of atopic disease in children: results from the international study of asthma and allergies in children. Am J Public Health. 2001 Jul;91(7):1126-9.
DeStefano F, Gu D, Kramarz P, et al. Childhood vaccinations and the risk of asthma. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2002 Jun;21(6):498-504.
Gruber C, Kulig M, Bergmann R, et al. Delayed hypersensitivity to tuberculin, total immunoglobulin E, specific sensitization, and atopic manifestations in longitudinally followed early Bacille Calmette-Guerin-vaccinated and nonvaccinated children. Pediatrics. 2001 Mar;107(3):E36.
Koppen S, de Groot R, Neijens HJ, et al. No epidemiological evidence for infant vaccinations to cause allergic disease. Vaccine. 2004;22:3375-3385.
Kramarz P, DeStefano F, Gargiullo PM, et al. Does influenza vaccination exacerbate asthma? Analysis of a large cohort of children with asthma. Vaccine Safety Datalink Team. Arch Fam Med. 2000 Jul;9(7):617-23.
Matheson MC, Haydn Walters E, Burgess JA, et al. Childhood immunization and atopic disease into middle-age — a prospective cohort study. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2010: 21:301-306.
Nilsson L, Kjellman N, Bjorksten B. A randomized controlled trial of the effect of pertussis vaccines on atopic disease. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med .1998 Aug;152(8):734-8.
Nicholson KG, Nguyen-Van-Tam JS, Ahmed AH, et al. Randomised placebo-controlled crossover trial on effect of inactivated influenza vaccine on pulmonary function in asthma. Lancet. 1998 Jan 31;351(9099):326-31.
Reid DW, Bromly CL, Stenton SC, et al. A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effect of influenza vaccination on airway responsiveness in asthma. Respir Med. 1998 Aug;92(8):1010-1.
Wickens K, Crane J, Kemp T, et al. A case-control study of risk factors for asthma in New Zealand children. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2001;25(1):44-49.
This Assemblyman is a true American but my question to all citizens everywhere is this: Since when have we the people become so complacent that we allow Big Pharma to not only dodge the court system for injury but then sit back and allow them to inject your children (against your will for those benevolent parents who take the time to study the true science and statistics of vaccination) with agents many times more toxic than the CDC allows to be ingested orally for an adult….directly into the blood stream of your children? When a thief breaks into your home and threatens to rape your wife or kids…do you sit back and watch them do it? NO…You fight with your last breath side by side with your neighbors to defend your family against those who threaten your family with harm. They have absolutely no right to violate your body with agents which are NOT proven SAFE or EFFECTIVE. Where there is risk of injury…there must be choice! We are all born on this planet with a right to be secure in our own person. The use of force against a peaceful person is an act of war…isn’t it time we start calling out treason for what it truly is? Isn’t it time we prosecute those lawmakers who are introducing such treasonous color of law bills? No matter which side of the coin your views fall…you don’t have a right to force someone else to bow to your views. Imagine if religions of the world forced their views upon everyone….Oh wait…they did and many millions of people suffered and died. Are we going to let history repeat itself or are we going to draw a line in the sand?
Thank you Mr.Holley! Thank you for exposing the corruption that is vaccine mandates and politicians being bought by pharma. Let’s hope others follow your lead. It would be nice to add those of us in healthcare being forced into flu vaccines to be able to hold the state of NJ accountable too if we get sick or injured, pls talk to the Senators about adding us to their bill. At least give us that right since politicians have stripped us of virtually any option to opt out. That new law totally screwed us and removes all rights of medical freedom from us when it comes to receiving flu vaccines. The law needs to be repealed. We’re being singled out and targeted under the guise of protecting ourselves and our patients. We all know the flu vac doesn’t work, but what really matters is we lost that freedom to decide for ourselves what poison gets injected into our bodies in this state! Forcing a medication and medical procedure on us just because we care for others, despite our rights and liberties, it’s outrageous!
Thank you so much for actually caring about people . Please keep up the good work and thank you for writing this !
Beautifully and eloquently said! Left me with goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes. THANK YOU ASSEMBLYMAN HOLLEY!
Holley’s proposed legislation would be a disaster for New Jersey. The VICF was established in order to ensure that vaccines remain cheap and accessible to prevent death and injury from disease. The “vaccine court” requires a far lower bar than civil court to award damages. A scientific and demonstrable causal link is not required for damages to be awarded (The majority of awards are actually for arm/shoulder injuries due to Practitioner error in administering the injection). There is a table of possible reactions aligned with temporal windows of occurrence. If the reaction falls within those parameters, generally plaintiffs are awarded compensation. This is designed to keep costs low – because our court system is absurdly expensive. It’s worth remembering that the pharmaceutical companies are not represented in cases heard by the Office of Special Masters, which both keeps costs down and means that no one is putting up a big defense against any claims. This is designed in the interest of public health, not profit. Low cost and widely available vaccines prevent disease and protect the public not only from those diseases, but from our medical centers being overwhelmed by cases of vaccine preventable illness. When outbreaks happens, every patient’s health care suffers because hospitals are overwhelmed and medical workers get sick.
The legislation proposed here is irresponsible to the public health. We live in an insanely litigious society and this law (which won’t pass – so understand that this is pandering for your vote, not meaningful legislation) would make vaccines too expensive for many people and probably the state. Unless the anti-vaxxers actually want massive measles outbreaks in the state – or more state debt and fewer public services – they should oppose this bill.
Thank you for this. 💗 My son is vaccine injured and it has been and will continue to be a hardship for our family.
You are on the right side of it all and here in CT we thank you for you coming out to support us. Unfortunately we had a loss with our legislators yesterday. The fight has just begun!
Thank you for taking the time to properly educate yourself on this issue, for your support of the people, and being brave enough to stand up to the pharmaceutical companies whose profits control so many other uneducated cowards in this country. You’re not taking the easy path, but will be on the right side of history. So grateful for leaders like you…
Thank you!!!!!!!!
This is common sense. This is a good man. So thankful for the work he and others are doing.
Way to REPRESENT – now recruit your fellow dems!
Anti-vaxxers: The flat earthers of medicine.
A fringe movement of science denialism rekindled by one fraudulent study claiming a single vaccine causes a single issue (autism) has mushroomed into every vaccine causes literally everything, even child abuse (anti-vax groups are claiming shaken baby syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome are a vaccine injury)… and everyone in the world is lying to you.
This is the very definition of a conspiracy cult. The first thing a cult must convince you is that everyone else is conspiring to lie to you. Once all objective fact is doubted, they can tell you anything, no matter how absurd, and you’ll believe it.
Think about this: To believe the anti-vax conspiracy theories you must first believe that every single immunologist, virologist, epidemiologist and 99.99% of medical doctors in every country on earth are conspiring to lie to you.
Debating an anti-vaxxer with their ever moving goalposts becomes a ridiculous game of conspiracy whack-a-mole.
Here is the single resource that catalogues and debunks every anti-vax conspiracy: (to dismiss this site without addressing the linked sources for every fact given is not an argument. It is denialism.)
https://vaxopedia.org/2016/08/31/vaxopedia
Hero.
What a bunch of bunk. Vaccine injured? Sez who? The worst anyone is going to get is an allergic reaction and the provider is well-equipped for that eventuality. On the other hand, the litany of risk and lifelong complications from vaccine preventable diseases is myriad. 1200 children got measles in 2019. Of those, perhaps a dozen or so will eventually, maybe years later, get subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. And they will die. There is no cure. And it is a horrible, horrible way to go.
Sir, you are not alone. Most folks are terrible at assessing relative risk and benefit. Then again, most people don’t have a platform to pronounce that ignorance to the world. You do your state and your constituency a disservice.
Thank you Assemblyman Holley, you are a true hero!
While I believe vaccines certainly have their place in protecting people from disease, there has been a lot of misinformation of the public as to safety and efficacy. This is done “for the good of the public” by agencies and industry who stand to financially benefit from vaccines. Vaccine injuries do happen in much greater numbers than we are led to believe, because these injuries are often ignored and labeled “coincidental”. Also, I was surprised to learn that the Measels outbreaks happened in fully vaccinated individuals. Parents absolutely need to have the right to protect their children!
So.
TL/DR: I believe unsubstantiated anecdotes over scientific evidence.
This column is rightly labeled “Opinion.” While the Assemblyman is entitled to his own opinion, he is not entitled to his own facts. The facts are that vaccines represent one of the most important public health advances in the history of mankind. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm) The facts are that the routine vaccination schedule is safe and effective at protecting the public’s health. (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2673970) The facts are that as vaccine coverage wanes, as happens when ill-informed legislators are pressured to weaken public health systems and structures, vaccine-preventable diseases kill, injure, sicken, and drain both families and communities of much-needed resources. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5007135/)
Stand with the facts and with science: vaccines are safe and effective at protecting the public’s health.