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"Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982."

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Smallpox vaccination campaign draws contention

Jane Asher

LIFE Staff Writer

April 03, 2002

Public mass vaccination campaigns may infringe on human rights in the near future.

Since Sept. 11, threats of biological warfare have been made against U.S. citizens, and the Centers for Disease Control is taking immediate action.

The CDC gave $1 million to the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at John Hopkins University in Maryland and the Georgetown University Center for Law and the Public Health to develop a coordinated mass vaccination response in case of a smallpox emergency.

"It is important to have a plan in case of emergency, but their plan is a little harsh," said Barbara Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center.

Public health officials would be given the right to seize private property such as "communications devices, carriers, real estate, fuels, food, clothing and health care facilities, and take control of the use, sale, dispensing, distribution and transportation of food, fuel, clothing and other commodities, alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives and combustibles."

"If passed by the states, the law would give unprecedented police powers to public health officials and those they designate to charge citizens with misdemeanors and imprison them if they refuse to comply with vaccination, medical treatment or isolation orders without being able to go to court first. Those who participate in enforcing the law would not be held liable for any injury, death or loss of property which resulted," Fisher said.

The National Vaccine Information Center is trying to stress the fact that this law should only be passed if amended, Fisher said.

"If citizens object for religious, health or consciences beliefs, they can object and stay in their own houses," she said.

Fisher said it is vital to have enough vaccine and drugs available to those who want it in case of an emergency, but citizens must still have the legal right to informed consent.

"In doing this research, I’ve discovered a lot about the smallpox vaccine. It’s the most reactive vaccine we’ve ever used. The effects of the vaccination are worse than we realize," Fisher said.

When Fisher did research for the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, she discovered that often doctors cannot predict ahead of time which individuals will react to vaccines and die or be left with mental retardation, medication-resistant seizure disorders, paralysis, learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, autism, chronic arthritis or other immune and brain dysfunctions.

"Certainly, America should have a sound, workable emergency plan in place in the event of a bioterrorism attack, but not one that places the life and liberty of the majority of citizens in the hands of an elite few, who will have the power to take both from citizens without their consent," she said.

State Reps. Stephen Adamini, D-Marquette, and Rich Brown, D-Bessemer, said they had not heard anything of the particular bill coming up in Michigan yet.

"There is a lot of laws about vaccinations and about terrorism, but it is such a large package that it is hard to break it down," Adamini said.

Fisher said she thinks that it will eventually come up in Michigan.

Maine is the only state that has adopted the bill with the amendment, and the rumor is that Maryland will pass it without the amendment because it is the home of Johns Hopkins University, Fisher said.

"The most important action you can take is to give this information to as many people as you can and let your individual voice be heard," she said.

Citizens can call and write their federal and state legislators, public officials and talk to community leaders, Fisher said.

"No state of emergency in a free society justifies the sacrifice of the most sacred human right - the right to voluntarily decide what you are willing to risk your life or your child’s life for. What it means to be free doesn’t get more basic than that," she said.

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