Health and Medical |
Report Predicts Massive Resistance to Mandatory AIDS Vaccine
By Wes
Vernon WASHINGTON - A new report predicts massive resistance to a mandatory AIDS vaccine is coming in the U.S. in the next few years. Millions of parents would refuse to have their children vaccinated by any variation of an HIV/AIDS shot, the Committee to Protect Medical Freedom said at a news conference Wednesday. The paper, titled "If AIDS doesn’t kill you, the AIDS vaccine will,” declared an AIDS vaccine would have HIV in it. Among those supporting the findings of the study was Dr. Howard Umovitz, a prominent member of a group of scientists calling for an HIV/AIDS vaccine moratorium. Jim Turner, a Washington attorney and expert on the swine flu vaccine scandal of the 1970s, lent his support, as did Barbara Lee Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center. Redmond Handy, an opponent of the military’s mandatory anthrax vaccination program, also warned of what he sees as the dangers of rushing into a mandatory AIDS vaccine program. The thrust of the report, written by Clifford Kincaid, is that there’s big money in rushing the an AIDS vaccine to market, some of it tied up in conflict-of-interest questions involving the promoters and their connections with companies that stand to benefit. More to the point, he says, there are indications that the vaccine, possibly to be administered to 11- to 12-year-old children, or perhaps earlier, contains a risk of inflicting the very disease it is intended to prevent. Promoting the idea of a mandatory AIDS vaccine is United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan, along with high-tech magnate Bill Gates. Kincaid challenges them to take the vaccine themselves if they are so certain it is safe. Some of the discussions on radio talk shows around the country indicate "the U.S. could witness massive civil disobedience against a massive mandatory HIV/AIDS vaccine. Parents want to know what is in the vaccine, and they should be told that it is a form of HIV that the government says can cause AIDS,” the report alleges. Jon Cohen, author of "Deep Denial,” published by the New York Academy of Sciences earlier this year, is quoted as saying that "medical products sometimes do the opposite of what they are supposed to do, causing illness rather than alleviating it. Such risk, of course, is common to all drugs, but at least many sick patients accept that they would have fared poorly even without the ill-fated drug treatment. Vaccines, in contrast, are administered to [healthy] people, often children.” Which means the vaccine would be targeted at those without AIDS. Further, AIDS is most likely to be avoided by choosing a healthful way of life. The study asks: Does it make sense to subject innocent children or AIDS-free military personnel to a risk that could be greater than the that of the disease, depending on the habits chosen as they go forward in their lives? Polio and smallpox, for example, could strike without warning. The public has been warned about AIDS and how to avoid it. In anticipation of Wednesday’s news conference, various health agencies have told Gannett News Service there was no plan to make the AIDS vaccine mandatory for any American. But Kincaid, the director of the Committee to Protect American Freedoms, says the proof is available at the Web site of the U.S. Military HIV research program, where it is openly stated that AIDS vaccines under development will be "licensed and used to protect military personnel.” These shots are not voluntary in the military service, he says. Kincaid added that Dr. Deborah Brix, who runs the program, could have made the denial in the 30 days since he asked her in writing a series of questions about the program. His question included: "Who made the decision to use and mandate this vaccine on U.S. military personnel?” Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, reports that a member of the federal committee that recommends vaccine for children had said that an AIDS vaccine would be tested and then forced on all 12-year-old children. Neal Halsey, M.D., chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases, reminded HIV vaccine researchers and developers at a meeting in February 1997 of an advisory committee of the federal Centers for Disease Control that CDC plans to target 11- to 12-year-old children for "universal application” of an HIV vaccine. The Kincaid study says "babies are being used as guinea pigs now.” The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, under the auspices of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, is sponsoring an HIV vaccine test on babies born to HIV-infected women. A spokesman for this program, where mothers have no ability to provide informed written consent, has admitted that "a small percentage of our trial applicants have become infected” and now have access to "the best medical care available.” One cannot get any details as to who the "guinea pigs” are. Have they chosen to remain anonymous? "Or are their identities being concealed because they are dead or dying?” Dr. Umovitz, a member of a group of scientists calling for a moratorium on all HIV vaccine research, says coverage of "promising” vaccines is extremely misleading, and those being tested so far appear harmful and dangerous. Some undergoing trials increase the likelihood of infection and accelerate the disease. In a paper, he quotes Dr. Albert Sabin as saying the available data "provide no basis for testing any HIV vaccine in humans.” U.N. leader Anan and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has engaged in extensive research on AIDS, think an AIDS vaccine just may be a "secret weapon.” But the Committee to Protect Medical Freedom concludes: "What if the theory driving the vaccine research is scientifically bankrupt? …. What if their war on AIDS proves to be a no-win war in which millions more die? Then the world will move on to the next crisis and the same people may still be in charge.” |