NVIC Vaccine News

Politics, Profits & Pandemic Fear Mongering

By Barbara Loe Fisher
Published May 01, 2009 in Rights & Ethics


Are you grabbing your face mask, stocking up on food and Tamiflu, locking your doors and keeping your TV tuned to the news to find out just how bad the "swine flu pandemic" really is going to get? While Americans are being scared to death, few are noticing how much of their tax money politicians are giving to drug companies and government health officials to grease the skids to create more experimental flu vaccines and drugs and more effective ways to quarantine or force their mass use whenever a "public health emergency" is declared in the future.

Call me cynical but not clueless. The bird's eye view I have had for the past 27 years at the National Vaccine Information Center has taught me one thing: the global alliance between Big Pharma and Big Public Health is a prescription for disaster that could extend far beyond a bout with the flu.

The international drama playing out right now before our eyes is an example of how citizens around the world can be easily manipulated by doctors and politicians engaging in fear mongering in the name of disease control to forward agendas that have more to do with ideology, power and corporate profits than health. When the U.S. Director of Homeland Security is the government official doing the talking rather than the U.S. Director of the Centers for Disease Control, put a copy of the U.S. Constitution in your pocket and take a look at federal and state legislation passed since September 11, 2001 to understand which civil rights you don't have anymore when government health officials declare a "public health emergency."

But before we take a look at the threat to civil liberties that pandemic fear mongering poses, let's take a look at how creation of a global human market for influenza vaccines works. It is a blueprint for Successful Marketing 101 (or perhaps it is all just a coincidence).

In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an international call for all nations to do whatever it takes to increase public appetite and demand for annual influenza shots as the main strategy to prepare for an influenza pandemic. In April 2007, the WHO used money donated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to fund the creation of influenza vaccine manufacturing plants in Mexico and other countries one week after the FDA gave Sanofi Pasteur a license to produce an experimental bird flu (H5N1) vaccine. Sanofi Pasteur is just one of many drug companies the U.S. government has given millions of dollars to for the creation of bird flu vaccines.

On February 19, 2009, the FDA's Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) discussed whether to give approval for the testing of experimental bird flu vaccine on American infants. VRBPAC consumer member, also NVIC's Director of Patient Safety Vicky Debold,PhD, warned that testing of an experimental pandemic bird flu vaccine on infants in the absence of a real epidemic and without assurances that unapproved novel oil based (squalene) adjuvants (AS03, MF59) are safe, could pose unacceptable risks in terms of inducing severe immune dysfunction.

On February 27, 2009 it was confirmed that an influenza vaccine maker, Baxter International, had released a mixture of seasonal influenza viruses mixed with unlabeled live bird flu viruses to facilities in Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Slovenia. Baxter, which is waiting for a license to manufacturer bird flu vaccine, explained it was an "accident" and that no harm was done.

On April 23, 2009, the world heard the first news reports about a mysterious pig (H1N1) and bird (H5N1)and human hybrid influenza virus that was making people sick near a Mexican pig farm. By April 30, the WHO had issued a Phase 5 "Alert" warning that the world was facing an imminent pandemic influenza epidemic on the strength of several hundred cases of "swine" flu and less than 10 confirmed deaths.

The pandemic flu panic that has an especially strong grip on people living in Mexico and the U.S., thanks to the governments of both countries declaring a "public health emergency," has been a good thing for pharmaceutical companies in the pandemic flu business. Wall Street revealed that the pandemic scare sent stock prices soaring for drug companies making anti-viral drugs, rapid flu diagnosis tests and influenza vaccines. Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Novavax, Baxter, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, BioCryst, and Vical are among the drug companies likely to benefit from the world pandemic panic.

In all the chaos that has Americans running to drug stores to buy face masks, closing schools to wipe desks down with rubbing alcohol and avoiding public transportation, there is action being taken behind the scenes by politicians and government health officials to prepare the way for implementation of future quarantine and mass vaccination of citizens with experimental vaccines and drugs that have by- passed normal FDA regulations for demonstrating purity and potency of pharmaceutical products. A "public health emergency" has become an excuse to grease the skids and rush to market experimental drugs and vaccines that are not subject to product liability in the civil courts.

The creation of this pharmaceutical company stockholder dream scenario and simultaneous erosion of civil liberties in the name of disease control began in earnest in 21st century America after the tragic events on September 11, 2001. In a time defined by shock, fear, anger and deep sadness, Congress reacted quickly and passed the Homeland Security Act while CDC officials pulled out model state legislation (Model State Emergency Health Powers Act) that gave sweeping new powers to public health officials to use the militia, if necessary, to quarantine citizens and force them to use experimental drugs and vaccines after the U.S. Secretary of Health declares a "public health emergency."

The stampede in 2001/2002 to re-write long standing public health laws in this country was fueled by reports that terrorists were in possession of weaponized smallpox and anthrax, a fear that was fostered by U.S. government officials and New York Times journalists reporting Iraq had secret stockpiles of weaponized smallpox and anthrax. This myth played a role in public support for the U.S.-Iraq War and persuaded Congress to pass Bioshield and pandemic influenza vaccine legislation that gave billions of dollars to vaccine manufacturers, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to create experimental bioeterrorism and pandemic flu vaccines while protecting drug companies and doctors from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths that will occur.

The mandated, mass use of multiple vaccines has become big business in the last quarter century since the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1986 shielding vaccine makers and doctors from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths and the numbers of vaccines recommended by the federal health officials for American children multiplied from 23 doses of 7 vaccines to 48 doses of 14 vaccines from birth to age six. For older children and adults, there are several dozen more federally recommended or state mandated vaccinations.

All of this liability protection and government vaccine mandating has been a boon for vaccine profit- making and public health agency empire building. In 1986, four drug companies made and sold vaccines in America and, by 2007, after corporate mergers and acquisitions there were six drug company giants making and selling vaccines in the U.S. Today, there are more drug companies seeking to enter the lucrative multi- billion dollar U.S. vaccine market as financial predictions for global profits from the worldwide vaccine business by 2010 have climbed to more than $20B.

A true global influenza pandemic that could take out projected millions of people is something all nations should prepare for using reasonable strategies to ensure the public health and safety. However, it is a matter of legitimate debate as to whether the primary strategy being urged by the WHO, pharmaceutical companies and government health agencies around the world - ramping up production and use of seasonal influenza vaccine and fast tracking the creation and human testing of influenza vaccines using novel but potentially risky adjuvants and cell substrates - is the way to effectively deal with public health or a future influenza pandemic.

Certainly, the loss of the human right to bodily integrity and informed consent to taking pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines that may pose serious health risks is not justified in the name of controlling pandemic influenza or any other infectious disease outbreak. Politicians should not bow to additional pressure from vaccine manufacturers and public health officials to by-pass normal FDA standards in proving safety and efficacy of pandemic flu vaccines and their components for the purpose of rushing them to market in response to the pandemic panic that has been created. The swine flu debacle of 1976 should have taught Congress that lesson.

A rational perspective that reduces pandemic fear and includes common sense advice for staying healthy in every season is being offered by holistic health doctors, such as Joseph Mercola, D.O. and physician Congressman Ron Paul, M.D. The next time you turn on the TV or the radio or search the internet for the latest news on the flu pandemic, take a deep breath and consider all the natural ways to stay healthy and resist influenza or any illness : washing your hands; eating nutritious food; drinking plenty of water; getting enough exercise, rest and sunshine, and lowering stress - which includes not walking around filled with fear, anxiety and dread.

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8 Responses to "Politics, Profits & Pandemic Fear Mongering "
Commenter Name
Yetta
Posted: 7/4/2009 10:45:39 AM
Good article. Don't get your kids vaccinated.
Commenter Name
Christopher-Peter: Maingot
Posted: 7/4/2009 4:57:29 PM
NEW A-H1N1 SWINE FLU VIRUS - WeApOnIzEd Strain? David Butler-Jones - CANADA’S chief public health minister: “It re-combined to create something totally new; how, when, or where it did that, I don’t think we know. What it will lead to is impossible to predict.” (April 28, 2009) 3 vials of VIRUS are missing from Fort Detrick ARMY base in Maryland. Vials containing Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a VIRUS that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes, is missing from the research facility at Fort Detrick; home of the ARMY’S top biological weapons research, for more than a decade. In 97% of the cases, humans with this virus will suffer FLU-like symptoms. Bruce E. Ivins had researched anthrax at Fort Detrick, and committed suicide last year during an investigation into his activities with that research. (April 22, 2009) The latest influenza (SWINE FLU) strain of genes from: SWINE, BIRD and, HUMAN viruses, poses similar PANDEMIC concerns reminiscent of past H5N1 BIRD occurrences. (April 28, 2009) A-H1N1 SWINE FLU VIRUS - Feared to be Military Weaponized Strain. Former National Security Agency (NSA) official, Wayne Madsen, a contributing writer for the “Online Journal” has stated: A top scientist for the United Nations examined the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS victims, and concluded that H1N1 possesses certain transmission “vectors” that suggest, that the new flu strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon. The UN expert believes that Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and the current A-H1N1 SWINE FLU VIRUS are biological warfare agents. Another of Madsen’s sources says: World Health Organization officials are afraid that the presence of gene segments from the dreaded H5N1 BIRD FLU in the A-H1N1 SWINE FLU strain could mean that the new swine flu strain was engineered to “jump species.” (April 27, 2009) World Health Organization (WHO) agency has said; global spread of the H5N1 BIRD FLU virus since 2003 has put the world closer to another influenza pandemic. (April 28, 2009) Baxter International Incorporated., a pharmaceutical company located in Deerfield, Illinois, and with research facilities in Orth-Donau, Austria, manufactured an "experimental virus material" based on a “human flu strain” but contaminated with live “H5N1 avian flu virus” and then distributed it to another Austrian pharmaceutical research company. The Austrian company which received this experimental virus material from Baxter, was; AVIR Green Hills Biotechnology. AVIR Green Hills Biotechnology had obtained funding in 2007 for four different European Union (EU) projects, they are the lead participants and coordinators of the following projects: FLUVACC (Nasal Spray Vaccine) an Integrated research project for vaccines against pandemic influenza, SARS/FLU VACCINE a STREP research project for vaccine development, H5 VACCINE a STREP project for development of a pandemic vaccine to combat avian H5N1BIRDFLU influenza and, CHIMERIC VACCINES a CRAFT project aiming to develop novel vaccines. Baxter's error is reminiscent of a 2005 incident, whereby: Meridian Bioscience Incorporated of Ohio, a manufacturer of “kits” for proficiency testing quality control, used by laboratories to determine how good their tests are at detecting viruses…usually influenza “A” viruses. Meridian’s kits for some reason, contained vials of H2N2 VIRUS in several thousands of their proficiency kits. H2N2 was the virus which caused a 1957 pandemic and, had not circulated since 1968. (April 14, 2005) Baxter manufactures flu vaccines - including a human H5N1 vaccine, for which a licence is expected shortly. (February 27, 2009) Doctors have said: The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, began when an AVIAN FLU virus jumped to people. (April 28, 2009) THE SPANISH INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC/PANDEMIC OF 1918 WAS CAUSED BY VACCINATIONS www.whale.to/vaccine/sf1.html The Bird Flu (HOAX) is surrounded by hype and misinformation, and it's hard to know exactly what to believe. With that in mind, Dr. A. True Ott, PhD, ND., decided to get to the heart of the issue in a two hour seminar. Bird Flu Hoax Pt. 5 – 09:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mL--H99esI Bird Flu Hoax Pt. 6 - 09:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_dusef0Tq0&feature=related Bird Flu Hoax Pt. 7 – 09:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kmF7_2Bs18&feature=related This following news item is a shocking story about how the US government is killing its own soldiers, by giving them a FLU shot vaccine which has caused severe reactions and illnesses. How can any civilized government do this to its own people? Shocking True Story – 06:50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npWPwLcUyw0&feature=related Government Officials Voting Fraudulently: Lawmakers Breaking the Law – 4:00 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhO38CPlAI There is so much going on during the vote for the HPV VACCINE MANDATE you really have to pay attention (1 minute and 11 seconds into the video). Watch the fraudulent voting in the Texas Legislature, and it simply takes place with no objection and no punishment either. What do you think would happen to you or me, if we were caught on video, fraudulently voting?
Commenter Name
Donna
Posted: 7/13/2009 5:37:32 AM
Many thanks go to NVIC and Barbara Loe Fisher for taking such a comprehensive stand on these issues. The idea of informed consent has almost been lost in our medical arena. Without proper information it is impossible for individuals to make good health care decisions. If doctors and other health professionals can't, or won't, explain risks, patients should be very wary of their advice.
Commenter Name
annie
Posted: 7/30/2009 3:06:41 PM
whatdoesitmean.com has some news from the fsb/kremlin on what we have done. please check it out and study squalene/gulf war syndrome as it will be added to the second dose of swine flu vaccine. oink, no way love annie, MT, RN
Commenter Name
Christopher-Peter: Maingot
Posted: 7/31/2009 9:09:22 AM
Be a sport...roll one up! Re: US GOVERNMENT calls for thousands of volunteers to TEST SWINE FLU VACCINE. 22/07/2009 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The race is on: GOVERNMENT and VACCINE MAKERS seek thousands of volunteers...from babies to the elderly...roll up your sleeves for the first swine flu trial shots - TEST WHETHER a new vaccine (adjuvant & all) really will protect against a novel virus. I find it hard to accept the "race is on" concept, especially coming from the CIVIL SERVICE SECTOR...less haste more pace? The GOVERNMENT, and the VACCINE MANUFACTURERS, need not look further for volunteers, but in their own back yards…so to speak. Surely PRESIDENT and, FIRST LADY OBAMA, along with their two children, and the rest of their personal family members combined, would be willing to roll one up (sleeves). Added to that, let's not forget; all the members of his (OBAMA) "ADMINISTRATION” and, all other civil service employees on payrol at "El CASA BLANCA." I believe that many more arms givers, can also be found amongst the other huge numbers of civil employees, both locally and internationally...in the multitude of GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS. These numbers can be quickly increased in a snap (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED) if you will; simply call upon all medical doctors, nurses and health care workers in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; especially those affiliated with the civil service. Owing to huge gains in the number of volunteers afforded via these suggestions; let’s not forget the hundreds more, and even thousands, e.g., Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Karen Kotloff at the NIH, all the members of the CDC, DHS, and HHS. Oh, and be sure to include the Federal Reserve Bosses and the IRS as well. I’m sure many have already thought of this next suggestion, in fact, it must be a given. The staggering amount of volunteers which should be available from the VACCINE MANUFACTURING COMPANIES themselves. If they stepped up to the plate; it would be enough to overwhelm any VACCINATION CENTER. Surely they would be the ones, and especially the CEOs, who are just filled with uncontrollable motivation and excitement, from pent up anxiety to be the first ones in line to receive their own TRIAL-SWINE FLU (ADJUVANT LOADED) VACCINES? I’m certain that I have accounted for more than one thousand volunteers thus far. But in the event that I came up a bit short; might I suggest that both the US GOVERNMENT and, the VACCINE MAKERS look first to their own; that is, babies and elderly, personal families, friends, and even old acquaintances, to make up for any short falls. Prepared and provided by Christopher-Peter: Maingot; without prejudice, malice, aforethought, ill will, vexation, or frivolity.
Commenter Name
Dan
Posted: 9/2/2009 11:59:00 AM
With the profits so lucrative with vaccines, Big Pharm has all the incentive in the world to strategically release a virus to further incite fear and increase profits. It is a scary situation for us all.
Commenter Name
angela johnston
Posted: 10/1/2009 3:00:11 PM
this is very scary to me i am very scaed for my children nobody wants to believe that our goverment is atking over our right to freedom of choice and it not justour goverment but other countries combinred
Commenter Name
Daniel
Posted: 3/17/2010 4:34:34 PM
Hello, I would be interested if doctors get problem when they have differing views on vaccination? Thank you Daniel

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