Crosstalk: June 6, 2018

Barbara Loe Fisher is president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a non-profit charity she co-founded with parents of DPT vaccine injured children in 1982. For over three decades, she has led a national, grassroots movement and public information campaign to institute vaccine safety reforms and informed consent protections in the public health system. She has researched, analyzed and publicly articulated the major issues involving the science, policy, law, ethics and politics of vaccination to become one of the world’s leading non-medical, consumer advocacy experts on the subject.  She is co-author of 'DPT:  A Shot in the Dark' and author of 'The Consumer’s Guide to Childhood Vaccines', 'Vaccines, Autism & Chronic Inflammation:  The New Epidemic', and 'Reforming Vaccine Policy & Law: A Guide'.

​Jim opened the discussion by noting that U.S. News and World Report reported on May 21st of this year that public confidence in vaccines is sagging. Barbara thinks this is just the tip of the iceberg. She indicated that every poll her organization has seen in the last 15 years has increasingly said people are becoming more aware that vaccines have side-effects that can include brain damage and death.

Interestingly, this greater awareness by the public doesn't seem to be due to media coverage. In fact, there's been a huge decline in coverage by the mainstream media on this issue in the past 5-6 years. The coverage that's going on is on the World Wide Web and it's given people the ability to talk to others around the world. This allows them to share their vaccination experiences and sometimes those aren't positive.

The basic problem is that people follow the directions of their doctor, they get vaccinated and are left with chronic health problems stemming from the resulting inflammation.

As this broadcast moved along, Jim had Barbara comment on/answer the following:

--Just a few decades ago we were told that a single dose of the MMR vaccine would eliminate these childhood diseases. Not long after, parents were told that a single dose was not adequate for life-long protection. Then it was discovered that Mumps was making a comeback in some areas so a third booster shot was necessary. What's the story behind that?

--Has there been any final determination regarding the alleged link between vaccines and autism? How about a link between vaccines and pediatric cancer?

--Are the ingredients in vaccines safe? What's the status of the use of cells from aborted baby tissues in certain vaccinations?

--What do you need to know about chicken pox, shingles and the shingles vaccine?

--If there's been so many after-effects from vaccines, why aren't we hearing more about lawsuits against the vaccine manufacturers?