Monday, June 6, 2016

Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe - my review!

Disclaimer:  If you have not seen the film, do not argue with me.  I am not going to provide many links....this is an opinion piece and you are welcome to do the research yourself...I have many such blogs loaded with scientific medical journal articles you are welcome to pour through.  This is not that post.  Here is the website to the movie: Vaxxedthemovie.com

Del Bigtree- the former producer of "The Doctors" produces this film.  He is a medical journalist. 

          I'm one of the many thousands now, that have seen this film Vaxxed...it didn't play locally, no matter how hard I, and many friends, tried...but it was worth the drive into Winter Park, even the high ticket cost....it is a film every American should see....

because it isn't "anti-vax"...

it isn't fantasy...or fiction...

It's a history lesson of how autism went from 1 in 15,000 in 1978...to 1 in 45 in 2014, and only continues to climb, at exponential levels.   

           This is not just better diagnosis...this it not society suddenly noticing that children just aren't functioning the way they used to "back in the good 'ole days"...this is a problem...a huge problem...estimates say that 1 in 2 children will be autistic in 2032 and 80% of boys.  (Stephanie Seneff is the MIT research scientist who said this in the film...)

           Please understand the gravity of this issue....as my '80's generation ages, we will be taking care of these autistic people...many high-functioning "autistic" people write sappy blogs about how autism isn't that bad, they just have special brains, etc.  I'm sorry...the autism I know, doesn't look like that.  It is a 15 year old boy, with a GPS unit on his ankle...who lost the ability to speak, who "forgot" how to use the toilet appropriately and it took him 5 years to regain that ability(still has accidents, still needs diapers sometimes), who has many medications, who has seizures that require hospital visits, who suddenly became this way at 5 years old - right after his kindergarten shots.  This is my vaccine injured cousin.  This is severe autism...this is the "dark side" of austim only weary parents blog about because their children cannot speak for themselves - and these parents are labeled -demonized as quacks, or oblivious to the problems the child had...These severely autistic people will never be functioning members of society, and their numbers grow by the hundreds of thousands every year.  Over 1 million children are diagnosed with autism a year.  A YEAR!  Sure, not all of them are "low functioning"...but if these numbers continue to sky rocket, we will have a societal problem with no fix, that will be upon everyone's shoulders.

This is your problem, your children's problem, and this will be your grandchildren...

           The film goes over what autism is, how it is diagnosed, experts in the field of autism...parents of autistic children...their stories are heard and seen...and they break your heart.  My husband saw this film with me, as well as two dear friends and my parents...My husband drew upon the fact that all documentaries play on emotions, but this film did a particularly good job of keeping that to a minimum.  

           It mentions that vaccines are labeled as a public health measure, not a pharmaceutical drug and are not held up to the same testing because of that.

            The parents of many autistic children told their stories...and many of these stories were almost identical: neurotypical healthy baby, got all the infant shots, maybe had a round or two of antibiotics for ear infections or respiratory stuff, went in for their 12/15 months shots(MMR is one of the 12/15 month shots), got a high fever, high pitched screaming, head banging, stopped walking (if they were already walking), no more eye contact, words no longer spoken, terrible bouts of either diarrhea or constipation, etc. 

           The film explained what "vaccine court" is, and the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 and how 3 billion dollars have been paid out to vaccine injury...and autism is exempt from being a vaccine injury...so this isn't even to autistic kids!

           A French virologist and Nobel Prize winner, Luc Antoine Montagnier, was briefly mentioned...he mentions how wherever the MMR vaccine campaign goes, so autism follows.  

           Enter: Dr. Andrew Wakefield...duh dum DA!!!!!  THE ANDREW WAKEFIELD...the Brittish, discredited, psychopath, anti-vax, anti-science, lunatic, baby killing, gastroenterologist(essentially, a doctor who deals with the digestive system - stomach, intestines, etc.) with that horrible paper that the Lancet(one of the most reputable medical journals in the world) published then retracted...Not him...anyone but him...  He goes on to tell his story...he is a well educated gastroenterologist who was contacted by a mother of an autistic child.  She said the autism happened after vaccination, but specifically, that her child had severe digestive issues and she needed a doctor to take her seriously.  He did.  So he did a little investigating, and eventually published an article, with several peers, about this anomaly of autism, in several autistic kids that they observed, related to their digestive issues - not their vaccination.  Wakefield's co-author has been exonerated, just for the record.   Here is his retracted article, in case you are curious...It simply states that "We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."  Simply put, they found that autistic kids have problems in their gut that may be related to their autism symptoms.  It also states that it often happened, after the MMR vaccine.  In an interview, with Wakefield at the time, he didn't even remotely suggest getting rid of/stopping vaccines, but simply stopping the combo vaccine of MMR and using the separate, monovalent M, M, and R vaccines, that had been used previously.  That's it folks...the big "anti-vax" doctor, simply suggested to use separated vaccines in the interview when talking about his paper.  His paper didn't even remotely suggest to stop using vaccines, but to do more investigation on the combo MMR.  Boom.  Yeah. Bet you didn't know that...

The monovalent (single dose) M-M-R shots were discontinued on Oct 21, 2009.
         It's almost funny now...but in a horrific way...because other such studies have been done linking gut problems and autism and have found the same thing...and those doctors didn't get discredited, their names weren't smeared in an internet frenzy by millions of people, they didn't receive death threats...they were praised for their discoveries long after Wakefield made the same one, just a lot sooner in 1998. 

Ok, back to the film...Sorry, I just had to hyperlink some studies...just couldn't help myself... 

          So, because of Wakefield's paper...So many parents were questioning...waking up...concerned...autism was still on the rise...So the CDC in America finally steps in...they need to put this to rest...too many parents and doctors too, were pitching a fit about all of this MMR nonsense...So they set out to publish a study to calm all of this to down...vaccines do not cause autism.  5 scientists were on the team to do this.  One of them was Dr. William Thompson - aka #CDCwhistleblower(google it).  The team was dispatched to prove MMR to be "safe and effective" and that's exactly what they found.  The study was published in the medical journal "Pediatrics".  It has been used as the pinnacle of vaccine science and the disprove for those crazy anti-vaxers...those Wakefield followers...what do they know!?

          But then, Dr. Thompson made a phone call, about ten years later...to another doctor, Dr. Brian Hooker.  Hooker, also a parent of an autistic son, recorded these conversations and Thompson made some pretty serious accusations about this study.   But before he said too much, he told Hooker how to inquire at the CDC for raw data on this study...and Hooker is a numbers guy...so he started analyzing.  He found some pretty startling results.  He found that African-American children, but especially boys, vaccinated with MMR before the age of 3, were over 200% more likely to be diagnosed with autism...yeah, you read that right.

But there's no link?!  The study showed NO LINK!?  WHY, oh pray tell WHY does the raw data show otherwise?!  

          Thompson goes on to explain that the data was alarming and not proving the point it was designed to...so they found loopholes and threw out that data - literally, stood by a trash can and threw it out - he went and saved copies of it, because he knew it was wrong.  His 4 co-authors deny this accusation.   So there was no statistically significant findings?  This raw material has been reviewed by other doctors and the numbers check out...there is a serious linkage here. This material has even been presented to congress and crickets began to chirp.  Please watch this clip.  The CDC has covered up, committed fraud; it has been swept away and it is a catastrophe.

          This is also not the first time Merck, the makers of the MMR vaccine, have been caught committing fraud!  50,000+ deaths have been attributed to Vioxx...and there's some claims against Merck's MMR for issues, unrelated to autism, that are fascinating also... It's of no consequence that Julie Gerberding, former head of the CDC, was given the position as president of Merck...oh, you know...nothing to see here...

           On the way home, my husband and I discussed the movie, basically the whole hour and a half drive. 

Daniel, who is NOT anti-vax/non-vax, but considers himself moderate on the issue, mentions these questions:
1 - do you trust pharmaceutical companies?

Many people say no...

2 - So why do we trust vaccines, made by pharmaceutical companies, so explicitly?

3 - why is the media so loudly unanimous that vaccines do not cause autism?  Or that vaccines are so extremely helpful to all people, when clearly there are a lot of glaring issues?  

It certainly seems like media outlets are just putting out fluff pieces for propaganda...and America listens so well.

It is extremely worrisome when all media outlets all super agree on any one issue.  

4 - why is there no vaxed vs. non-vaxed study comparing rates of autism, developmental delays, autoimmune disorders, etc?  

If their point is that vaccines are so safe and effective and contribute to long life and health, then the "placebo" of a non-vaxed population should be the benchmark for their claims.

               I can't convince you that being autistic is "worse" than measles, mumps or rubella...or that there's plenty of studies associating ingredients in vaccines and specific vaccines, not just MMR, with autism.  I cannot tell you the tens of thousands of stories of parents who've witnessed the many different side effects...I also can't convince you that there's fraud in the efficacy studies, if there were any done at all...Can I show you my research?  Yes...but I can't make you believe it...I can't make you believe that there are aborted fetal cells in certain vaccines, for diseases that are NOT life threatening (MMR, Varicella, and Hep A are all non-fatal diseases in America and all three of those vaccines have one or more ingredients derived from aborted fetal cells).  I can't make you believe facts, if you aren't willing to accept the piece of humble pie and admit you might be wrong.  If you have questions, please contact me or better yet, research the heck out of this topic.  Please.  For the love of your children and grandchildren...for your nieces, nephews...for society...

There are 4 things you can do:
Demand-
1) That Congress subpoena Dr. William Thompson and investigate the CDC fraud.
2) That Congress repeal the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and hold manufacturers liable for injuries caused by their vaccines.
3) That the single doses of measles, mumps, and rubella shots be made available immediately.   
4) That all vaccines be classified as pharmaceutical drugs and tested accordingly.

I hope you've enjoyed my review...there was so much info I still couldn't cover in it...and I'm long-winded enough as it is...please, PLEASE go see it, rent it, or purchase it - once it is available...talk about it...

Becca H.