Mandatory Vaccination Policies: American Academy of Pediatrics Gets It Wrong — Fact Check
The new AAP policy, Medical Versus Nonmedical Immunization Exemptions for Child Care and School Attendance, was released Monday, and it is perhaps the first AAP policy to be filled with inaccurate scientific statements, demeaning remarks against parents and children, and outright lies, which are uncharacteristic of most mainstream, science-based medical organizations.
Lie #1: “To protect those who cannot be vaccinated, community or “herd” immunity requires at least 90% of the population to be immunized (95% for highly contagious diseases such as measles or pertussis).”
Not true, in three ways:
The 90% number is not taken from a study; instead, it’s a number that is a goal of the Healthy People 2020 Government Initiative. The fine print of the AAP policy admits that “there is a variance for levels of immunization required to generate community immunity specific to each disease and vaccine . . .” The 90% number is simply “generally understood,” not science-based.
The 95% requirement for measles immunity is often quoted, yet does not have enough research studies to back it up, and the AAP doesn’t furnish any such study in its policy statement.
The biggest lie of all: the 95% requirement for pertussis herd immunity. The AAP knows full well that the pertussis vaccine (DTaP) doesn’t affect herd immunity at all; it only reduces the severity of disease in each individual who gets sick (and it’s only about 80% effective at that). The germs still infect tens of thousands every year, and are contagious from every one of them, regardless of vaccination status. In fact, 90% of children who caught pertussis in CA in 2014 were vaccinated according to the CA Dept of Public Health. The CDC even states unvaccinated children “are not the driving force behind the large scale outbreaks.” Instead, it is “circulation of the bacteria, waning immunity, and [genetic changes in the bacteria which make them resist the vaccine]” that are responsible.
Lie #2: The 2015 measles outbreak “highlighted the dangers of unvaccinated children.”
Truth: The Disneyland measles outbreak didn’t start in a school, and not one single case was even transmitted within any California schools. Over half those infected were adults, and many were vaccinated.
Shocking truth: Is the AAP really saying that children who have never had vaccine preventable diseases are somehow dangerous to the community? Healthy children do not provide any level of risk. Vaccinated children can carry diseases due to vaccine inefficacy, and unvaccinated children can go a lifetime without carrying these disease at all.
Lie #3: Immunocompromised schoolchildren were put in danger.
Truth: Not only did measles fail to touch any schools, no immunocompromised children were affected at all. All children have co-existed safely in schools for decades, and if not a single one has been harmed, why the push for mandated pharmaceuticals now? Additionally, many children have been unfortunately harmed by the side effects of vaccines. Is there a reason these vaccine-injured children are being excluded from this discussion?
Lie #4: “. . . Immunize children according to the recommended schedule . . . and this results in less disease.”
Truth: The AAP already knows that many of the 16 vaccines currently used do not reduce disease spread (diphtheria, pertussis, injected polio, flu) because the vaccines only reduce symptom severity; every infected individual is still contagious, even if vaccinated. Some diseases aren’t even contagious at all (tetanus), don’t transmit between children (hepatitis B, HPV), or have so many strains that vaccination can’t reduce disease in a population (pneumococcus, HPV, Flu).
The assumption that all vaccines should be mandated because all vaccines will reduce disease is scientifically inaccurate.
Lie #5: “Consequently, states with looser requirements . . . end up with more [diseases].”
Truth: although the policy statement has footnotes to research articles, none of these back up this claim. The 2015 California measles outbreak didn’t favor counties with lower vaccination rates, and it didn’t hit any pockets of unvaccinated kids. Some counties with extremely high vaccination rates had multiple measles cases, and some counties with low rates had none.
Truth: The two states that have had the most strict vaccination laws for decades (West Virginia and Mississippi) have consistently ranked the lowest in health for those same decades, including 44th and 50th in infant mortality.
Lie #6: “Neither is there an undue burden of health risk to the individual in that immunization safety is scientifically well established.”
Truth: What is also scientifically well established are these facts:
2000 severe vaccine reactions are reported to the CDC every year. Not mild reactions – severe ones which result in a prolonged hospitalization, a permanent disability, or death.
Over 3 billion dollars have been paid out to victims of vaccine injury.
The Institute of Medicine, science’s largest body of medical researchers, declared in 2013 that “studies designed to examine the long term effects of the cumulative number of vaccines . . . have not been conducted” and “existing research has not been designed to test the entire immunization schedule.”
True statement #1: Coming to a State near you.
Not a lie. The truth. The AAP plans for Pediatricians nationwide to make use of the new policy to mandate the 70 doses on the CDC-recommended vaccination schedule in every state.
True statement #2: “Almost all states allow families to cite religious belief exemptions.”
Religious tolerance is the cornerstone on which America was founded, and it’s one of the most protected Constitutional rights. Removal of this, as California has recently done, in the absence of any health emergency violates one of our nation’s most sacred and long-standing freedoms. And there’s a reason that 47 states allow for parents to consider their religious position when making decisions, even medical ones, for their families. Do you want to have a country that dismisses your constitutionally protected right to implement religious values in your family’s life?
True statement #3: “Whose interest is at stake?”
The heading of one of the paragraphs in this article is very telling. Only they aren’t telling the whole story. We will let you decide who stands to profit most from this mandatory vaccination policy.
True statement #4: “The AAP policy suggests parents are expected to consider the best interest of their child in medical decision-making rather than their own social or emotional interests.”
This is the most concerning statement in the entire piece. It subtly suggests that a parent’s guidance has a limit and the AAP instead knows what is best for your child. They discount the possibility that your decision is based on months or years of research. They assume if you decide not to follow the 70-dose CDC schedule, it can only be an emotional decision — where your “social interests”, not your genuine concerns over vaccine safety, have clouded your thinking.
True statement #5: AAP policy calls for states to use their “Public Health Authority.”
We were mistaken. THIS statement is worse. Is this a precursor of what is to come — public health department officials showing up at your door? Will there be a time that children AND adults are force vaccinated because the government knows what is “best” for you and your children? Could they be offering a not-so-subtle threat with their mentions of police power and authority?