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The Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a leading national physician
organization, is calling for a moratorium on all government mandated
vaccines and has passed a resolution to that end at their 57th Annual
Meeting in St. Louis recently.
The resolution calling for an end to mandatory childhood vaccines
passed without a single "no"
vote. A copy of their Resolution is provided below.
"Our children face the possibility of death or serious
long-term adverse effects from mandated vaccines that aren't necessary
or that have very limited benefits," said Jane M. Orient,
MD, AAPS Executive Director.
"This is not a vote against vaccines," said Dr. Orient.
"This resolution only attempts to halt blanket vaccine mandates
by government agencies and school districts that give no consideration
for the rights of the parents or the individual medical condition
of the child."
Most states in the US have mandatory vaccine policies, with only
a small number of states allowing parents to claim a philosophical
exemption from the shots.
Many children are required to have 22 shots before first grade
and this number is likely to increase as more vaccines are developed
and mandated.
AAPS also notes that, as
a condition for school attendance, many school districts require
vaccination for diseases such as hepatitis B, which is primarily
an adult disease, and is usually spread by multiple sex partners,
drug abuse or an occupation with exposure to blood. In addition,
children under the age of 14 are three times more likely to suffer
adverse effects, including death, following the hepatitis b vaccine
than to catch the disease itself.
Just last week, students in Utica, New York were sent home from
school, and told they could not return until they had received their
hep B vaccinations. Parents who refused to cooperate were threatened
by Child Protective Services with possible seizure of their children
based on "education neglect."
Dr. Orient was good enough to give some comments to The Optimal
Wellness Center on the vaccination mandate issue recently.
Concerning the fact most other medical groups won't follow in AAPS's
footsteps and also oppose these vaccine mandates, Dr. Orient thinks
that this may be largely due to conflicts
of interest.
Many people looking into the vaccine issue, question why the American
Civil Liberties (ACLU), a group which champions the individual's
civil liberties above all, does not take up the cause of parents
being forced to vaccinate their children against their will. However,
for some reason they will not touch this issue. "It does seem
to me that the ACLU has a rather restricted range of interests,
many of them focused on undermining religion," says Dr.
Orient.
Concerning the current Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System
(VAERS) Dr. Orient states "Follow-up on adverse reactions is
very poor. Underreporting is rampant,
and we can only estimate how bad it is. There should be user-friendly
public access to the data (no patient identifiers, of course)."
"It's obscene to threaten to seize a child just because
his parents refuse medical treatment that is obviously unnecessary
and perhaps even dangerous," said Dr. Orient. "AAPS
believes that parents, with the advice of their doctors, should
make decisions about their children's medical care -- not government
bureaucrats. This Resolution affirms that position."
Meeting of the Association of
American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Annual Meeting - October
25 - 28, 2000, St. Louis, MO
AAPS RESOLUTION CONCERNING MANDATORY VACCINES
"Ethical Medicine"
AAPS Annual Meeting
October 25 - 28, 2000
St. Louis, MO
WHEREAS: The statement of Patients' Freedoms adopted by the
Assembly at the 47th annual meeting of AAPS in 1990 provides that
"Patients have the freedom ... to refuse medical treatment
even if it is recommended by their physician and to be informed
about their medical condition, the risks and benefits of treatment,
and appropriate alternatives"; and
WHEREAS: There are increasing numbers of mandatory
childhood vaccines, to which children are often subjected without
meaningful informed consent, including information about potential
adverse side effects; and
WHEREAS: Parents who exercise their freedom
to refuse one or more vaccines may be subjected to penalties ranging
from deprivation of the right to enroll their child in school, to
threats of removing the child from parental custody and forcible
vaccination; and
WHEREAS: Safety testing of many vaccines is
limited and the data are unavailable for independent scrutiny, so
that mass vaccination is equivalent to human experimentation and
subject to the Nuremberg Code, which requires voluntary informed
consent; and
WHEREAS: The process of approving and "recommending"
vaccines is tainted with conflicts of interest;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED: That AAPS calls
for a moratorium on vaccine mandates and for physicians to insist
upon truly informed consent for the use of vaccines.
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