The Truth About Vaccines? There’s More Than One Side To The Argument

Editor’s note: Liberal America’s official position on vaccines is that we want kids to be vaccinated. We will, however, allow our writers to present information so that we’re all a little more aware of diverse opinions and the reasoning behind them. Our position is that anti-vaxxers are misinformed and a danger to us all. ~tiff and liz

After attending a National Vaccine Information Center meeting in 2000, and becoming disturbed by what she heard, Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, a physician from Ohio, decided to delve into information from the CDC and what she found led her to question everything she had believed until then: a lot of what the CDC told her to take as truth was not true at all.

Since then, Dr. Tenpenny has been researching and educating the public on what she found and what their choices are ? but yesterday, her plans to educate parents in Australia were delayed and possibly completely abandoned. Dr. Tenpenny had all her talks cancelled thank to pro-vaccine campaigners who refuse to even listen to the other side of the story.

photo: SBS Australia
photo: SBS Australia

Since 1998, when the first report of a possible link between the MMR vaccine and Autism was published by the British Medical Journal, vaccination has been a topic of discussion causing extreme emotional response.

The paper, written by Dr. Brian Deer, Dr. Andre Wakefield and another 11 Medical Doctors, was retracted in 2011, following a scandal and a long article exposing ?bogus data? written by the same Dr. Brian Deer. The retraction culminated with Wakefield losing his Medical Doctor license in the United Kingdom, ending his career.

Even after the sanctions, press condemnation and ostracism, Dr. Wakefield maintained his position and defended his research, claiming that the accusations were ?unfounded? and ?untrue?. Many parents and clients stood and still stand behind the doctor’s research, the most outspoken and famous being Jenny McCarthy whose son was diagnosed in 2005.

In an article on The Age Of Autism, McCarthy explains why she believes not all of the research should be discounted and why. However, at that point, hysteria had taken place and no one wanted to hear it.

In June of 2o13, an article on the Liberty Beacon brought Wakefield’s research to the spotlight once again, describing two major events that quietly took place regarding the very same subject:

?The first, the very first Vaccine/Autism link court award in the case of Hannah Poling. Time Magazine published an article on the award, stating:

?(T)here’s no denying that the court’s decision to award damages to the Poling family puts a chink — a question mark — in what had been an unqualified defense of vaccine safety with regard to autism. If Hannah Poling had an underlying condition that made her vulnerable to being harmed by vaccines, it stands to reason that other children might also have such vulnerabilities.”

– to which the then CDC director Julie Gerbergding and now curiously an Executive Vice President at Merck ? the vaccine manufacturer – immediately answered with a retort stating that Hannah Polling’s case was ?unique?.

The second, yet another scientific paper based on research done at Wake Forest University, NY and Venezuela, in which Dr. Stephen Walker found the same results shown in the 1998 paper: molecular changes in the children’s intestinal tissues, highly distinctive and clearly abnormal.

On the other side of the isle, the CDC and the media have been campaigning hard for vaccination without question. Anyone advocating more research or a second look at the possible link between vaccines and Autism has faced extreme and aggressive opposition from the general population who simply follow the Center for Disease Control word that says vaccines are safe and work.

With this amount of contradicting information, shouldn’t education and choice be the best course of action?

The Australian event organizer posted the following note on their site:

“The venue has cancelled our booking due to bullying by vested interests who do not believe in informed consent, free speech and respect for other’s rights, and who appear to support censorship of thought and science. A new venue is being sought now so please book your ticket. You will be notified of the new venue in due time. Thank You.?

At the time of this writing there was no update on where or when the talks are to take place, though the organizers vow to keep their commitment and make it happen.