Vaccination: What’s Trust Got To Do With It?

As the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) prepares to host the three-day, three-night Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination that will be broadcast online October 16 through 18, 2020, the theme we have chosen is “Protecting Health and Autonomy in the 21st Century,” because at no time in modern history has it been more important for all of us to take a stand and do just that.

This year, the orchestrated actions by governments around the world to restrict or eliminate civil liberties in response to the emergence of a new coronavirus has been unprecedented, and has had profound effects on the global economy and on the physical, mental and emotional health of billions of people.¹

By mid-September 2020, there were about 29 million cases of the new Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) reported worldwide with about 925,000 associated deaths.

The United States, the third most populated country in the world at 330 million people, had recorded over 7 million cases and 198,000 deaths, with an estimated 598 deaths per million people, which is a higher death rate per million people than Sweden,² where health officials have refused to order masking or lock down the country and allowed the population to acquire natural herd immunity to the virus.^3,4

Overall COVID-19 Mortality Is Less Than 1%

According to the World Health Organization, the overall infection mortality rate for the new SARS coronavirus causing COVID-19 is about 0.6%,⁵ although some scientists say it is lower,⁶ while others estimate it can be as high as 1 to 2% in some parts of the world.⁷

Compared to Ebola with a 50% mortality rate⁸ or smallpox that killed 30%,⁹ or tuberculosis that still is a deadly disease killing 20% to 70%,¹⁰ or diphtheria at 5% to 10%,¹¹ or the 1918 influenza pandemic with a 2.5% mortality rate,¹² COVID-19 is near the bottom of the infectious diseases mortality scale with a less than 1% mortality rate in most countries.

Those at highest risk for complications and death include the elderly and those with one or more poor health conditions.¹³

The CDC recently reported that only 6% of COVID-19-related deaths were solely due to coronavirus infection and 94% of the people who died also had influenza or pneumonia; heart, lung or kidney disease; high blood pressure; diabetes, or another underlying poor health condition.¹⁴ Most studies suggest it is rare for children to suffer complications and die from COVID-19.¹⁵

But seven months after the World Health Organization (WHO)¹⁶ declared a coronavirus pandemic,¹⁷ and public health officials persuaded lawmakers to turn the world upside down, a lot of people are asking questions and so are doctors who disagree with each other about the facts. Questions like:

Where did the new respiratory virus come from?

The most popular narratives about the mutated coronavirus is that it either jumped out of a bat or another animal in a Chinese wet food market^18,19 or escaped out of a biohazard lab in 2019,^20,21 but scientists continue to argue about which scenario is more likely.²² And this question:

If I wear a cloth facemask, does it really prevent me from getting infected with or transmitting COVID-19?

There is an ongoing debate in the medical community about whether it is a good idea for all healthy children and adults to wear cloth masks when they leave their home.²³ In March 2020, the U.S. Surgeon General ordered the American public to stop buying and wearing masks because “they are not effective in preventing general public from catching coronavirus”²⁴ and “actually can increase the spread of coronavirus,” which was the position of the World Health Organization.²⁵

But in April, the CDC walked back its “do not mask” order and urged all healthy Americans to voluntarily wear homemade cloth face coverings when entering public spaces.²⁶

In June, the WHO was continuing to say that, “At the present time, the widespread use of masks everywhere is not supported by high-quality scientific evidence, and there are potential benefits and harms to consider … Masks on their own will not protect you from COVID-19.”²⁷

But by June, a number of state Governors and local governments had mandated facemask wearing and an epidemic of mask shaming had begun,^28,29 which led to public protests against masking mandates.³⁰ In August, the CDC doubled down and expanded face masking directives to include all children over the age of 2,³¹ while the WHO warned that children under the age of 6 should not wear masks but children over age 12 should.³²

So, confusion reigns. While some scientists are saying that if all healthy people are forced to wear face masks it will not stop the coronavirus pandemic and gives a dangerous and false illusion of safety,³³ other scientists are demonizing the refusers, alleging that people refusing to mask up are “sociopathic” and have lower levels of empathy.³⁴

About 30 U.S. states require masking for young children and adults who enter public spaces,³⁵ and some states are leveling steep fines of up to $1,000 or threatening jail time for anyone who fails to comply.³⁶

Washington state has made not wearing a mask in public a misdemeanor crime³⁷ and central Texas officials say they wish they could put people in prison for refusing to wear a mask.³⁸ More than 50 countries in the world now require people to cover their faces when they leave home and some do fine and imprison people who go outside without wearing a mask.³⁹

So, what about getting tested for COVID-19? The CDC says that people should get tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the infection. There is also an antibody test to identify whether or not you have been infected in the past.⁴⁰ But lab tests are not always reliable and people are asking this logical question:

If I get a lab test, will it accurately identify if I am currently infected or have been infected with COVID-19 in the past?

Unfortunately, it’s not clear how accurate any of the tests are, especially the antibody test for past infection because the presence of antibodies may not be the only way to measure immunity.⁴¹ The best guess is that the range of reported false negative results for the nasal swab test is between 2% and 50%, and the reported false negative results for the antibody blood test is up to 30%, depending upon when during or after the infection testing is performed.⁴²

In July, a state lab in Connecticut admitted that 90 out of 144 people tested during a 30-day period — most of them nursing home residents — were inaccurately informed they were infected because of faulty, false positive lab tests.⁴³ In August, 77 football players in the National Football League were given false positive test results when, after retesting, all the tests came back negative.⁴⁴ People are also wondering what happens after they get COVID-19, asking this question:

If I recover from COVID-19 will I only get temporary immunity or will I have long-term immunity against reinfection?

The CDC says it is unknown how long immunity lasts or whether you can get the new coronavirus infection twice.⁴⁵ However, last spring researchers found that out of 68 uninfected persons, the blood from one third of them contained helper T-cells that recognized the mutated SARS coronavirus.

They concluded the presence of these defensive helper T cells gives evidence for some residual immunity that may have been produced after common cold infections caused by other types of coronaviruses. This, the scientists said, “bodes well for the development of long-term protective immunity.”⁴⁶

Another important study was published in the medical literature in August providing evidence for robust memory T cell immune responses in people who had recovered from even mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, but had no detectable virus-specific antibodies.⁴⁷

If people can have strong immune responses without symptoms and traditional antibody tests for proof of immunity don’t apply to COVID-19, public health officials may be underestimating the extent of population-level herd immunity that already exists in the U.S., where there have been more cases reported than anywhere else.

COVID-19 Public Health Laws a Public Relations Disaster

While doctors debate the science, it is becoming clearer that the response to the new coronavirus infection by government health officials has been a public relations disaster. The anxiety, fear and chaos created by regulations instituted by most governments after the declaration of a COVID-19 pandemic this year has torn the fabric of societies and affected public opinion about public health laws and vaccination.⁴⁸

Now the people are being told that there is one — and only one — simple solution to resolving the crisis and getting back to normal: that is, the only way we can take off our masks and touch, hug, kiss or come close to each other again^{49,50,51,52,53,54} is for every person living in every country to get injected with one of the liability-free COVID-19 vaccines being fast tracked to market.^{55,56,57,58,59}

In April, WHO officials at the United Nations launched a global initiative “to end the COVID-19 pandemic,” proclaiming that “no one is safe until everyone is safe.”⁶⁰ By May, they were warning that if every person in the world doesn’t get injected with a COVID-19 vaccination, the virus “may never go away.”⁶¹

The WHO,⁶² U.S. government^63,64,65,66 and lawmakers in the European Union,⁶⁷ along with wealthy and politically powerful nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like the Gates Foundation,^68,69,70 GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance,⁷¹ and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)⁷² have given the pharmaceutical industry tens of billions of dollars to develop and fast-track experimental coronavirus vaccines to market and promote their universal use.^73,74

At the same time, governments have given pharmaceutical companies a liability shield from lawsuits when COVID-19 vaccines injure or kill people.^75,76 The hard sell is on, but a lot of people are NOT buying it.

People Are Rejecting the COVID-19 Vaccine Sales Pitch

Every poll taken this year has revealed that between 40% and 70% of people living in the U.S. and Europe do not plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is licensed.^{77,78,79,80,81,82} Populations in developed countries are resisting the siren call for “solidarity,” as doubt about COVID-19 vaccines is becoming more common in developing counties, too.⁸³

The pushback by a wary public has taken government officials by surprise. Apparently, they were banking that the economic and social deprivation, fear and chaos surrounding lockdowns would produce a bull market for experimental mRNA and DNA COVID-19 vaccines using technology that never has been licensed for humans.⁸⁴

It is widely acknowledged now that a solid two-thirds of Americans or more will “just say no” to getting injected with a vaccine containing lab altered parts of a new coronavirus that scientists admit they still don’t know much about,⁸⁵ vaccines that preliminary clinical trials have revealed may well cause more than just a few minor reactions.⁸⁶

A frustrated top U.S. health official has name-called Americans who refuse to go along with public health policies and laws, calling them “anti-science” and “anti-authority.”^87,88 The truth is, people in this country and many others just don’t have confidence in the quality and quantity of the science or government health officials they are being told to trust.⁸⁹

Angry that a growing number of people are reluctant to roll up their sleeves for a vaccine that is being rushed to market at “warp speed,” public health officials,⁹⁰ billionaire Silicon Valley technocrats,^91,92,93 doctors, attorneys and bioethics professors^{94,95,96,97,98} and politicians⁹⁹ are beating the drum for swift enactment of “no exceptions” mandatory vaccination laws as soon as COVID-19 vaccines are licensed.¹⁰⁰

Already, some cheerleaders at leading universities are banging that drum for approving and using experimental COVID-19 vaccines even before testing is done,¹⁰¹ and are calling for young, healthy people to be the first to get the vaccine because it is their “civic duty” to protect everyone else.¹⁰²

They warn that “herd immunity may not be achieved if people refuse to take the coronavirus vaccine,”^103,104 and say that, in order to keep society “safe,” laws must be passed to threaten and coerce you and your minor children to get vaccinated or face crippling social sanctions that will effectively take away your liberty and destroy your life.¹⁰⁵

People in US and Other Nations Rise to Defend Freedom

This summer, huge public demonstrations defending freedom in Berlin,¹⁰⁶ London,¹⁰⁷ Paris¹⁰⁸ and Copenhagen saw tens of thousands of citizens gather to protest masking¹⁰⁹ and other oppressive coronavirus lockdown policies, which have severely restricted normal physical contact between people, caused widespread unemployment,¹¹⁰ and harmed their physical, mental and emotional health.¹¹¹

Like in Europe, people living in Canada,¹¹² Australia^113,114 and New Zealand¹¹⁵ also are resisting months of social distancing policies that have eliminated fundamental human rights, such as freedom of speech and assembly.

The U.S. has seen similar but smaller public demonstrations opposing forced masking, social distancing and lockdown laws and defending freedom in Virginia,¹¹⁶ Pennsylvania,¹¹⁷ Wisconsin,¹¹⁸ Michigan,¹¹⁹ California¹²⁰ and other states, as record numbers of Americans struggle with unemployment,^121,122 the destruction of small middle class businesses,¹²³ mortgage defaults¹²⁴ and bankruptcy filings;¹²⁵ steep increases in anxiety and depression,^126,127 drug and alcohol addiction,¹²⁸ child and spousal abuse,¹²⁹ and divorce.¹³⁰

Social Sanctions for Failure to Get Vaccinated May Align With Lockdown Sanctions

The punishing social sanctions being talked about if you refuse a COVID-19 vaccination are likely to be enforced using government-operated electronic tracking systems linked to digital “immunity passports” that require you to “prove” you are immune to the new SARS coronavirus before you are allowed to work in an office building or enter other public spaces.^{131,132,133,134}

These social sanctions for failure to vaccinate may closely resemble the types of social interaction restrictions enforced in the U.S. and other countries over the past year.

In the U.S., most public health laws, including vaccine laws, are enacted by the states,¹³⁵ while the federal government makes vaccine use recommendations and can mandate vaccines for people crossing national or state borders. Local city and county governments also can impose their own public health regulations.¹³⁶ That is why some states and cities have seen very restrictive COVID-19 pandemic masking¹³⁷ and lockdown regulations¹³⁸ and others have been more open.¹³⁹

So, whether or not you will be punished for refusing to get a COVID-19 shot next year primarily will be determined by your state’s governor and the representatives who have been elected to make laws in your state capitol.¹⁴⁰

Depending upon where you live and the political philosophy of the majority of representatives in your state legislature, after the COVID-19 vaccine is licensed by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and recommended by the CDC for use by all children and adults,¹⁴¹ if you refuse to get a COVID-19 shot, you could be blocked from:¹⁴²

And you could be prohibited from checking into a hospital for surgery, or visiting a family member in a nursing home, or blocked from obtaining private health insurance and Medicaid or Medicare.

In other words, if you refuse to get a coronavirus vaccination, you could be subjected to the kinds of punitive social sanctions I have been predicting and publicly warned about since 1997,^{143,144,145,146} sanctions that are already being applied to Americans who decline to get or give their children dozens of doses of CDC “recommended” liability-free vaccines¹⁴⁷ and already are being denied an education, medical care and employment.^148,149

Broken Promises Leads to Broken Trust

Doctors and public health officials wondering why people don’t trust what they say about infectious diseases and vaccination, including coronavirus and COVID-19 vaccines, only have to look in the mirror to answer the question.

Since 1982, parents of vaccine injured children have been begging doctors to do the kind of science that will explain why so many highly-vaccinated children, who don’t get measles or chicken pox anymore, are stuck on sick and suffering with brain and autoimmune disorders that never go away.¹⁵⁰ For four decades, we have been asking doctors and government health officials to stop sweeping casualties of inhumane one-size-fits all vaccine policies, under the rug.¹⁵¹

What we get from medical professors in universities receiving lots of money from the government and pharmaceutical companies, and from doctors developing vaccines, and from public health officials pushing “no exceptions” vaccination policies are threats, name-calling, bullying and punishment if we try to exercise informed consent to vaccination.^152,153,154 There is no other word for it but abuse.

They order us to obey them but refuse to take responsibility for what happens when we obey the orders they give. They expect us to trust them and refuse to care about the victims of vaccination when the benefits do not outweigh the risks.

Instead, they act to protect the power and profit-making of their business partners: the pharmaceutical industry, medical trade associations, multinational media corporations and Silicon Valley billionaires, and leave vaccine victims to take care of themselves. What’s trust got to do with it?

Broken trust has everything to do with why the majority of people in the U.S. and Europe do not want to roll the dice and find out whether the odds of surviving a COVID-19 vaccination are in their favor.

It is during this extraordinary time of great challenge and opportunity that NVIC is sponsoring the Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination. Our conference will create an expanded base of knowledge about vaccine science, policy, law and ethics brought to you by more than 40 distinguished speakers, who will empower you with information you need to become an effective vaccine freedom advocate.

Go to NVIC.org and register today for this historic conference celebrating freedom of thought, speech and conscience and gain permanent online access to this valuable video library of information. It’s your health, your family, your choice. And our mission continues: No forced vaccination, not in America.

Help Support Vaccine Awareness Week

The Tenth Annual Vaccine Awareness Week from September 20-26, 2020 will feature important information about vaccine science, policy and law that you can share with your family and friends.

With aggressive efforts by pharmaceutical companies, medical trade groups and government to restrict or eliminate all personal belief vaccine exemptions and severely restrict medical exemptions in the U.S., it is critical for you to act now to protect your legal right to make informed, voluntary vaccine choices.

Thankfully, the non-profit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) provides the public with independent, well-referenced information on vaccines and advocates for vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the public health system. This educational charity’s mission since 1982 has been to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and to secure and defend your legal right to exercise voluntary, informed consent to vaccination.

This year, NVIC is sponsoring the Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination: Protecting Health & Autonomy in the 21st Century online Oct. 16-18, 2020. You won’t want to miss it – register here today.

Resources Where You Can Learn More

• NVIC Advocacy Portal — Become a registered user of this unique free online communications network that electronically connects you directly with your own legislators and emails you action alerts with talking points so you can be an effective vaccine choice advocate in your state.You can use it to inform your legislators about why it is necessary to protect vaccine exemptions and your legal right to make voluntary vaccine decisions for yourself and your children.
• Ask 8 Vaccine Information Kiosk — Download brochures and reports on vaccination and how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms, as well as posters and web badges that you can share with your family and friends. Access the illustrated and fully referenced Guide to Reforming Vaccine Policy & Law to educate your legislator when you advocate for vaccine informed consent rights.
• State Law & Vaccine Requirements — You can easily obtain your state’s current vaccine policies and laws here.
• Vaccine Reaction and Harassment Reporting — Search for and read descriptions of vaccine reaction reports made to the federal vaccine adverse events reporting system (VAERS). On NVIC’s website, read about or publicly report a vaccine reaction or describe an experience of being bullied and sanctioned for attempting to exercise informed consent to vaccination for yourself or your child.
• Guide to Flu & Flu Vaccines — This Mini Guide to influenza & Flu Vaccines is a brief summary of facts about influenza and influenza vaccines.

Let’s Help Make NVIC’s October 2020 Online Vaccine Conference A Big Success

October 16-18, 2020, NVIC is sponsoring the Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination: Protecting Health & Autonomy in the 21st Century online. More than 40 distinguished speakers – including Dr. Joe Mercola – will be presenting critical information and perspective about vaccination, health and autonomy that you can use to protect your health freedom rights in 2021. This will be an historic conference that you can’t afford to miss!

Sponsor NVIC’s Pioneering Work

Please support NVIC’s pioneering work to protect the right to know and freedom to make voluntary vaccination decisions. Become a conference Starfish Sponsor for $250 or more and help NVIC keep the $80 general ticket price low so many more people, especially families struggling with financial challenges this year, can attend and have permanent access to the online conference information.

Give NVIC your vote of confidence to continue their four-decade life-saving mission to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and preserve health freedom. Register here to attend NVIC’s October 16-18, 2020 online Fifth International Public Conference on Vaccination: “Protecting Health & Autonomy in the 21st Century.”

Sources and References

• ¹ See all references

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