OLYMPIA, Wash. (Jan. 3, 2019) – A bill prefiled in the Washington state House would provide an avenue for parents to opt out of some mandatory vaccines and push back against federal narratives on vaccinations.
A coalition of six Republicans filed House Bill 1019 (HB1019) on Dec 5. Under current law, children in Washington state must receive certain vaccinations in order to attend school or daycare, but the law also allows for exemptions based upon medical, philosophical and religious grounds. HB1019 would provide another avenue for parents to opt out of some vaccinations by allowing for serologic proof of immunity, based upon positive antibody titer test results.
Antibody titer can be attained naturally or through vaccination. Therefore, an unvaccinated person may have positive antibody titer. Additionally, for many vaccines, the initial dose or series may be sufficient for the development of positive antibody titer, and exposure to subsequent doses may not significantly enhance the antibody titer level. Under this scenario, vaccination needlessly exposes one to the risks associated with vaccination.
HB1019 would also require health care providers to give notice, prior to administering a vaccine for which there is a licensed antibody titer test, of the option to undergo the testing to determine whether positive antibody titer already exists. Additionally, the bill would require, prior to administering any vaccine or antibody titer test, notice that no state requirements exist for either vaccination or serologic proof of immunity, other than for the attendance of a child at school or daycare and of the exemptions available pertaining to this.
HB 1019 is inspired by New Jersey’s “Holly’s Law,” which honors the memory of Holly Marie Stavola, who died in the year 2000 of the sequela of encephalopathy, a condition of the brain listed on the federal vaccine injury table as a vaccine adverse event, which she developed following her second dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
EFFECT ON FEDERAL POLICY
Passage of HB 1019 would push back against federal vaccine narratives and make it more difficult for the feds to enforce federal vaccine mandates in the future. The bill sets the stage to nullify potential vaccine mandates, which generally have their basis in the vaccine schedules recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although such recommendations are not binding, they can influence policy-makers at the local and state levels to adopt coercive vaccine mandates.
The CDC makes vaccine recommendations in an environment fraught with conflicts of interest. The CDC relies heavily upon research sponsored by the vaccine industry, the very industry that will profit from vaccines being recommended and used. Vaccines are a “cash cow” for the pharmaceutical industry because, unlike with other products sold by the industry, manufacturers are shielded from liability for harm caused by vaccines. This is due to legal protections put in place in 1986 as a result of extensive lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry. The usual product liability rules applicable to manufacturers of other products do not apply to vaccines. Claims of harm caused by vaccines are heard by a special federal vaccine court and any compensation granted by the court is paid by the public, through a surcharge on vaccines, and not paid by the vaccine manufacturers.
Further, a revolving door exists between the vaccine industry and the CDC, with many members of the federal agency taking lucrative jobs with the vaccine industry after leaving the CDC, and vice versa. An example of this is Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Center for Disease Control from 2002 to 2009. She accepted a highly paid position as president of Merck’s vaccine division only about a year after leaving the CDC.
With liability removed from vaccine manufacturers and vaccine manufacturers heavily influencing the CDC’s recommendation process, the number of vaccine doses recommended by the CDC is steadily rising. According to information provided by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), in 1983 the CDC was recommending that children receive 23 doses of 7 vaccines but, by 2017, the number of vaccines it was recommending had risen to 69 doses of 16 vaccines starting on the day of birth to age 18, with 50 doses of 14 vaccines given before age 6. [1] Furthermore, the CDC now recommends an adult vaccine schedule, [2] with an increasing number of doses being added to the schedule.
With a strong conflict of interest influencing the federal government’s vaccine recommendations, it is critical that states have the power to reject federal vaccine mandates.
Furthermore, there are reasons to question vaccine safety. Although the ingredients in each type of vaccine differs, generally, vaccines contain a myriad of toxic substances. These can include, among others, ethyl mercury (found in vaccines in the form of the preservative thimerosal), aluminum, formaldehyde, and Polysorbate 80. According to the article “Mercury is Not Safe in Any Form: Debunking the Myths About Thimerosal ‘Safety’” by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., no amount of mercury is safe for humans and, although thimerosal has been removed from most childhood vaccines, or thimerosal-free versions of the vaccines exist, thimerosal remains in approximately one third to one half of the influenza vaccine doses administered to pregnant women and infants. [3] Mr. Kennedy is Chairman of Children’s Health Defense and its website contains information concerning the potential dangers of vaccines, with sections of the website specifically devoted to federal failures in the area of vaccine safety (entitled “Federal Failures” and “Government Corruption”). [4] Furthermore, several works have been published recently setting forth scientific information which calls into question vaccine safety. For example, over 400 peer reviewed scientific studies raising concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy are discussed in the book Miller’s Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers by Neil Z. Miller. [5] In the book Vaccines – A Reappraisal Dr. Richard Moskowitz, a family physician with over fifty years of experience, discusses an extensive body of research which indicates harm caused by vaccines and also discusses surprising facts concerning vaccine safety testing, such as that vaccine safety trials are generally conducted without a control group of untreated (unvaccinated) individuals for comparison. [6] J.B. Handley’s book How to End the Autism Epidemic also contains a wealth of information concerning potential harm caused by vaccines, with an emphasis on scientific research indicating harm caused by aluminum, an adjuvant contained in many vaccines, and a causal link between vaccines and autism. [8]
There is no consensus in the scientific community about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines or the necessity for them. Accordingly, states must resist federal vaccine mandates.
As we have seen with marijuana and industrial hemp, a federal regulation becomes ineffective when states enact contradictory policies. If multiple states ban mandatory vaccinations or pass laws which conflict with the CDC’s recommended schedules, it will become extremely difficult for the federal government to enforce any kind of future federal mandate. Such state laws will also undermine the federal narrative. This will make it harder for the feds to generate support for nationwide mandatory vaccine policies.
By passing HB 1019, Washington State has the opportunity to lead on this important issue and to become the potential standard bearer for resisting federal vaccine policy at the state level.
WHAT’S NEXT
HB1019 will be officially introduced when the Washington House convenes on Jan. 14. At that time it will receive a committee assignment.
NOTES
[1] National Vaccine Information Center. “A Guide to Reforming Vaccine Policy and Law.” www.nvic.org. Web. Accessed 2018. https://www.nvic.org/CMSTemplates/NVIC/pdf/NVIC_Vaccine_Law_Reform_Guide.pdf
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult-compliant.html
[3] Kennedy, Robert, F. Jr. “Mercury is Not Safe in Any Form: Debunking the Myths About Thimerosal ‘Safety.’” www.ChildrensHealthDefense.org. Web. Accessed 2018. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/known-culprits/mercury/thimerosal-history/mercury-is-not-safe-in-any-form-debunking-the-myths-about-thimerosal-safety
[4] www.ChildrensHealthDefense.org
[5] Miller, Neil Z., Miller’s Review of Critical Vaccine Studies: 400 Important Scientific Papers Summarized for Parents and Researchers, Santa Fe, New Mexico: New Altantean Press, 2016. Print.
[6] Moskowitz, Richard, Vaccines – A Reappraisal. New York, New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2017. Print.
[7] Handley, J.B., How to End the Autism Epidemic. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018. Print.
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