Vienna, Virginia http://www.909shot.com
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#9119
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“Protecting the health and informed consent rights of
children since 1982.”
KW Note: On January 3, 2002, NVIC sent the following
letter to Mr. William Smith, President of the NY City Postal Union to be used
at a press conference scheduled for that day. The Washington Post ran the
attached article.
NVIC has a full anthrax report on the website. Please
share it:
January 3, 2002
William Smith
President
New York Metro Area Postal Union
350 W 31st St., Fifth Floor
New York, New York 10001
Dear Mr. Smith:
The members of the National Vaccine Information Center
(NVIC) join you in expressing concern about the anthrax vaccination program
created by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for members of the New York
Metro Area Postal Union, American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, who may have
been exposed to anthrax spores from anthrax-contaminated mail.
It is extremely important that any workers, who are asked
to consider post-anthrax exposure anthrax vaccination, understand the
experimental nature of the proposal and be fully informed about continuing
reports linking the anthrax vaccine with serious and chronic neuroimmune dysfunction.
The CDC’s Anthrax Vaccine Consent Form provided to potential vacinees
does not fully describe the serious adverse event reports associated with the
anthrax vaccine.
There has been no investigation of record by either
federal health agencies or the vaccine manufacturer into identifying genetic or
other biological factors which place some individuals at higher risk for
suffering anthrax vaccine-induced chronic health problems. Therefore, it is necessary for all potential
participants in the anthrax vaccination program to be fully aware of all
reported anthrax vaccine adverse events, particularly those that have been
reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), before consenting
to vaccination. The National Vaccine
Information Center supports your call for the CDC to make all VAERS reports
filed on the anthrax vaccine immediately publicly available on federal health
agency websites so that those considering participating in the CDC’s anthrax
vaccination program are more fully informed about reported anthrax vaccine
adverse events.
The National Vaccine Information Center, which was founded
in 1982 and is dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through
public education, is committed to defending the informed consent ethic. Your workers will not have true informed
consent to anthrax vaccination unless all reported adverse events associated
with chronic immune and brain dysfunction are fully described to them and they
are allowed to make a voluntary decision without any element of constraint or
coercion.
Sincerely,
Barbara Loe Fisher
Co-founder & President
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59724-2002Jan3.html
By Christine Haughney
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 4, 2002; Page A13
NEW YORK, Jan. 3 -- Local postal union officials today
advised mail workers in Manhattan against taking a vaccine for anthrax being
offered by federal health officials, instead again calling for the city’s main
processing center to be fully cleaned.
“We don’t want a vaccine. We want the building clean,”
said William Smith, president of the New York Metro Area Postal Union at an
afternoon news conference.
When mail sorting machines at the Morgan facility tested
positive for anthrax in October after processing letters laden with bacterial
spores, Smith called for the U.S. Postal Service to close and clean the entire complex.
Instead the Postal Service cleaned parts of the two floors where the anthrax
was found. Last month, the Postal Service retested five mail sorting machines;
results from one machine came back positive.
On Friday morning, lawyers representing the union are to
try to convince a federal judge to order the Postal Service to thoroughly test
and clean the Morgan facility.
Union officials also are encouraging postal workers to
reject the experimental anthrax vaccine offered by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Federal health officials have offered the vaccine on an
experimental basis to postal workers in New York and the District as a precaution
in case spores are lingering in their lungs.
But the plan has sparked controversy in New York and the
District, in part because it has not been proven to be effective and may cause
side effects.
“CDC doctors claim they know what they’re doing. But they’re
guessing,” Smith said.
Like many District postal workers, most employees at the
Morgan facility have chosen instead to stay on antibiotics and return to work.
“People are worried,” said Bill Bachmann, an electronics
technician who has been taking antibiotics for 67 days. “The vaccine I think
would be better off not to be offered at all.”
Dennis O’Neil, a sorter on the third floor of the Morgan
facility, said he has not returned to work since he heard that a machine on his
floor had tested positive again for anthrax. He also said he would not take the
vaccine.
News@909shot.com is a free service of the National Vaccine
Information
Center and is supported through membership donations. Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how
to protect your informed
consent rights http://www.909shot.com
Become a member and support NVIC’s work https://www.909shot.com/order.htm
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NVIC is funded through individual membership donations and
does not receive government funding. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and
Co-founder.
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not respond to messages.
ALL
INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR
GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE
KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU
ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.