Louise Kuo Habakus, HHP, AADP
Autism One Conference\u2013 Chicago, IL
May 22, 2009What Are Vaccination Choices and Why Do They Matter?

Thank you for joining us at our Vaccination Education Seminar. We hope you\u2019re motivated to learn more. The subject is multi-faceted, but rest assured it is within our ability as laypeople and parents to grasp.

Vaccines save lives. All children must get all shots on schedule.
To go against expert opinion puts your children and our entire society at risk.
Every licensed vaccine should be given.

I wrote this article for you to read after hearing my presentation. And if someone you know is having a baby, entering sixth grade, heading to college, starting a new job, turning sixty, or traveling overseas, they may have some vaccines in their future, so please share it with them, too.

I am not anti-vaccine, just as I would not be anti-plane if I were speaking out about aviation safety. It is a predictable tactic, to be labeled a term that brings certain calculated qualities to mind: fringe, angry, irresponsible. It is also unprofessional and abrogates the contract between government and citizen, legislator and voter, physician and patient. Parents have legitimate concerns. Rather than approaching us with respect, actively engaging in the dialogue, and answering the questions squarely, our government, industry and medical officials undermine the people asking the questions. They take away our choices to force our hand. They marginalize us for challenging their policies, in an attempt to make the debate go away. This debate is most assuredly not going away. Their actions are merely serving to widen the trust gap and will bring about the very thing they most dread: a steady, irrevocable erosion of public confidence in the national childhood vaccine program. Above all, parents want to protect their children. Backed into a corner, we are told that it is all or none. In the absence of solid answers to their questions, more parents will choose none1.

The vaccinesr eco m m ended by our federal government2 are just that; they are optional. Vaccines arem andated at the state level for daycare and school admission. But if you do not plan to put your children in daycare or school, then you are free to determine your child\u2019s vaccination schedule with a philosophically-aligned physician. We forget that we have the right to fire our doctors. If yours pressures you to vaccinate or fails to address your concerns, get a new provider. Today, doctors are more willing to consider alternative schedules. Find one who will work with you.

statement by a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy that certain or all vaccines would be medically contraindicated (detrimental to your child\u2019s health). Some state health departments maintain the right to override and revoke your medical exemption.

not have the religious exemption. While the precise wording of the statute varies by state, parents in these forty-eight states are permitted by law to exempt their children from some or all shots based on a sincere religious belief against vaccination and/or certain ingredients in vaccines. Some states permit a personal religious belief. Others require membership in a bona fide church.

Some states require you to stop all vaccines; others permit you to pick and choose. But all eighteen allow you to opt out based on your personal beliefs. These states represent over fifty percent of the United States population and include California and Texas.

shots. If you live in one of those states, consider testing your child\u2019s blood for antibody titers. If it is determined that your child is not immune, however, keep in mind that you may be required to vaccinate your child.

I am pro-vaccination choice and support the right of Americans to get all, some or no vaccines. The choice to be fully vaccinated is not a problem in this country. In fact, chances are that your shots are covered by private insurance or a government entitlement program. America loves its vaccines. We recommend and mandate more shots than any other country in the world4. A sizable subset of them is mandated for daycare and school admission. When I talk about choices, I am also talking about the right to selectively vaccinate or not vaccinate at all.

22009 Child & Adolescent Immunization Schedules, CDC,www. c dc .g o v / vacc i ne s / re c s/ s ch e d ul es / c hi ld - sc h ed u le . ht m#p ri nt ab le
3State Vaccine Requirements, National Vaccine Information Center,www. n vic . o rg /V ac ci n e- L aws / st ate - vacc i ne - req u i re me nt s. as p x
4 Autism and Vaccines Around the World, Generation Rescue,h tt p :// t in yu rl. c o m/ d gh x4v

1.\u201cScientific truth\u201d is a moving target. And with vaccination, we aren\u2019t getting the full story.
2. The absence of vaccination choice violates every American\u2019s right to informed consent.
3. The absence of choice creates a moral slippery slope with dangerous societal implications.
4. Mandatory government intrusion into our lives results in the loss of sacred basic freedoms.
5. If you harm someone, you must pay damages. But no one wants to foot this bill.

Our government often takes a long time to do the right thing. Typically, many people are harmed or killed first. It took decades to admit that cigarettes cause lung cancer and to stop using hormone replacement therapy to treat the symptoms of menopause. Five long years passed before we removed both thalidomide and Vioxx from the market.\u201cSafe\u201d changes over time. In the first five decades of the Nuclear Age, the international recommendations for acceptable levels of worker exposure to radiation were significantly revised downward multiple times5. Human beings make mistakes. Because these mistakes can be deadly, we must give people choice.

Vaccines are no exception. Some previously licensed vaccines, once deemed \u201csafe,\u201d were quietly removed from the market. These include the whole cell pertussis vaccine, the first rotavirus vaccine, the Sabin polio vaccine and ProQuad (MMRV). Vaccine formulations and protocols have changed over time, including the presence of certain ingredients, the size and number of doses, and the ages at which they are given. We know all too well, \u201cthat which is known\u201d changes.

by over 90% during the first half of the 1900s, well before vaccines were widely implemented.6 In Figure 1 of this footnote, view the dramatic downward trajectories for six diseases including typhoid and scarlet fevers, for which there were no shots commonly (or ever) administered7. At the time, this was correctly attributed to improved sanitation and hygiene.8 Modern school vaccination programs did not begin until the 1960s and 1970s9.