Vaccinations and Freedom of Choice in Health Care

Medical and scientific research, as well as overwhelming clinical reports, have clearly demonstrated the potential for risk posed by many commonly administered vaccines. These same reports have indicated that the effectiveness of many of these vaccines has not been adequately proven. Based on such evidence, doctors of chiropractic have been joined by progressive medical doctors and public health administrators in questioning public policy regarding mandatory vaccines.

The question of vaccines also involves the more general issue of freedom of choice regarding health care and whether government or society has the right to dictate what kind of health care an individual may or must obtain, and whether the government has the right to mandate medical treatment.

It is the position of The World Chiropractic Alliance that:

1. No person should be forced by government regulation or societal pressure to receive any medication or treatment, including vaccines, against his or her will. This includes mandated vaccines as a requirement for public school admission or for employment eligibility.

2. All medical practitioners and public health care officials should be obligated to provide full disclosure of the potential risks of vaccines, including those given to school children in mass vaccination programs. This disclosure should include the relevant facts about the growing concern about vaccines including, but not limited to, the following documented research and actions by health care advocates:

** The U.S. House Government Reform Committee held hearings on the possible link between autism and vaccines. Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., founder of Autism Research Institute and Autism Society of America presented evidence for a vaccine-autism connection. (April 7, 2000)

** The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) agreed that all vaccination of infants with rotavirus vaccine should be suspended because of reports of bowel obstruction developing within weeks of vaccination (July 15, 1999)

*** The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and the AAP made a joint statement urging the elimination of the mercury content in hepatitis B vaccine and other childhood vaccines and rollback of the universal recommendation that all newborn infants receive hepatitis B vaccine at birth as important steps in improving the safety of childhood vaccines and vaccine policies. (July 7, 1999)

*** In the New Zealand Medical Journal, J. Barthelow Classen, M.D., reported a 60% increase in Type I diabetes (juvenile diabetes) following a massive campaign in New Zealand from 1988 to 1991 to vaccinate babies six weeks of age or older with hepatitis B vaccine. (May 24, 1996)

** The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) called for an immediate moratorium on mandatory hepatitis B vaccines for schoolchildren, pending further research about dangerous side effects. (July 9, 1999)

** The AAPS questioned the safety and effectiveness of many vaccines being given to children in the United States. (Aug. 3, 1999)

** A report in Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice showed that the incidence of diabetes in Finland was stable in children under four years of age until the government made several changes in its childhood vaccination schedule. The introduction of these new vaccines in that country were followed by a 62% rise in the incidence of diabetes in the 0 to 4 year-old age group, and a 19% rise of diabetes in the 5 to 9 year-old age group between the years 1980-82 and 1987-89. (October 22, 1997)

3. National studies should be funded -- by public money -- to assess the safety, efficacy, and cost of vaccines. These studies should not be overseen, conducted or funded by pharmaceutical companies or medical institutions which have a vested interest in the continued rampant use of vaccines. The amount of funding for such studies should at least be equal to the amount of money being spent to prove the efficacy of current and future vaccines.