Measles Outbreaks No Cause for Panic or Denial of Rights, States Physicians for Civil Defense

TUCSON, Ariz., May 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Because of several hundred cases of measles nationwide, states are proposing laws to reduce the number of exemptions from vaccine mandates. In the most coercive action to date, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered all adults and children living or working in four ZIP code areas to get MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, prove immunity to measles, or face fines of $1,000.

"Vaccines are not exempt from trade-offs, both for individuals and populations," states Physicians for Civil Defense. "The risk: benefit ratio depends on a number of variables. With mandates, liberty is also a casualty."

Mortality from all infectious diseases, including measles, plummeted long before most vaccines existed, because of better nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene. While hundreds in the Third World may still die from measles, the last U.S. death was in 2015, despite yearly outbreaks. In 1915, the year with the highest death rate for measles, a person was three to four times more likely to be struck by lightning than to die of measles, reports Civil Defense Perspectives, March 2019.

Adverse effects of mass vaccination include shifting the age distribution of childhood diseases such as measles, mumps, chicken pox, and pertussis. Adults with waning vaccine-induced immunity are more likely to die or suffer complications.

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund has paid $4 billion in damages, some for crippling, life-long neurologic disabilities.

The mechanism for vaccine injuries may be related to adjuvants. These are additives with a potent nonspecific stimulation effect on the immune system, which might attack the body itself. Most childhood vaccines are adjuvanted with aluminum compounds to increase response.

What about herd immunity that protects immunosuppressed children who cannot be vaccinated? Should healthy children be forced to take risks to protect the more vulnerable? The newsletter points out that we have probably fallen far short of the touted goal of 95 percent immunity for decades because the shots wear off, and fully vaccinated people may catch and transmit measles.

In addition, the live MMR vaccine may cause a disease indistinguishable from measles without special testing. Immunosuppressed children might need to be protected from recent vaccinees.

"For many, the risk of a vaccine may exceed the benefit. Patients or their parents have the right to make that judgment, and to give or withhold informed consent," states Physicians for Civil Defense president Jane M. Orient, M.D. "They need full access to relevant information."

Physicians for Civil Defense distributes information to help to save lives in the event of war or other disaster.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, [email protected]

SOURCE Physicians for Civil Defense