From the September 1999 Idaho Observer:

National MD association denounces compulsory vaccine laws

Vaccine deaths, damages has doctors rethinking public health policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has advised the U.S. Congress and the Department Of Health and Human Services to reverse its policy of recommending mandatory vaccines.

In recent years the several states, in an attempt to comply with federal vaccination “recommendations” and therefore avail their constituents of federal vaccination program monies, have adopted compulsory vaccine laws and have statutorially created vaccine tracking registries.

In an letter sent to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Donna Shalala August 3, 1999, and signed by AAPS Executive Director Jane M. Orient, MD, HHS has been asked to ask state health departments to place an immediate moratorium on mandatory vaccines, citing concerns over safety and ill-informed consent.

“We are hearing concerns from many parents about the number of vaccines that their children are receiving to comply with state or school districts mandates based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is deeply concerned that federal vaccine policy results in the violation of informed consent, and is based on incomplete studies of efficacy and potential adverse effects of the vaccines...

“In many venues, these principles are being violated. 'Recommendations' by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are often transformed into mandates by state health departments, with or without the specific agreement by the legislature, and in turn, by school districts that require this medical treatment as a condition of attendance. If children do not receive all the mandated vaccines, because of their beliefs or individual medical circumstances, they may be deprived of their liberty to associate with others or of their supposed 'right' to a public education. Parents may give 'consent' to the vaccine under duress, such as the threat of having their children taken from them....

“There is also increasing concern about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines so mandated. The rotavirus vaccine is a case in point. One day it was considered a 'must,' and the main issue for discussion was how to force HMOs to pay for it. Then, on July 16, CDC spokesman Barbara Reynolds told The New York Times that 'no one should now be giving this vaccine to anyone.' Despite the occurrence of intussuception in clinical trials, at a rate about 30 times that previously reported by the CDC, physicians were not warned to watch for this complication, which can be fatal in the absence of prompt treatment...

“Many questions have been raised about the use of hepatitis B vaccine in groups at low risk for the disease, including newborns and young schoolchildren...For example, serious adverse effects after receiving the vaccine -- including 48 deaths -- are reported three times as frequently as cases of hepatitis B in children under the age of 14...” stated the letter signed by Dr. Orient.

In recent months, many states have reconsidered their mandatory vaccine policies. Last week, all but two of Connecticut's birthing hospitals suspended routine hepatitis B vaccines for newborns. Conversely, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne has made good his state of the state address to use the power of his office to make sure that Idaho's children are properly vaccinated. With the approval of the first-term governor, Idaho passed vaccine tracking laws which made it more difficult for informed parents to avoid compulsory vaccinations.

The... “decision [to vaccinate] must be made by the patient (or parent) in consultation with their physician -- not through coercion by a government agency or school district,” the letter stated.

AAPS, an association independent of the American Medical Association which still advocates mass vaccinations, was founded in 1943 to protect the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship. By assessing the available data and coming out in opposition to the federal/AMA vaccination agenda, The AAPS appears to still maintain its dedication to the Oath of Hippocrates and represents physicians in all disciplines nationwide.

The annual AAPS conference will be held in Coeur d' Alene this October 14-16. Among the list of scheduled speakers is Ohio Pharmacist Dr. Kristine Severyn of the Vaccine Policy Institute who will be speaking to the national gathering of conference attendees regarding what has finally become the controversial topic of compulsory vaccinations and state-mandated tracking registries. Dr. Severyn's research on the international vaccine tracking registry agenda was published in the April, 1999 edition of The Idaho Observer.

The AAPS letter to Dr. Shalala and AAPS' August 3, 1999 testimony before Congress can be found at: aapsonline.org