The VICP Autism Omnibus: How The Government is Killing the Vaccine Program

... and their credibility right along with it.

Today, yet again, the Kangaroo Court Vaccine Injury Compensation Program found that, surprise, surprise, vaccines don't cause autism. Exactly what we expected that their propaganda finding would be. (See the statements by the Coalition for Vaccine Safety, TACA, SafeMinds and the National Autism Association at the end of this post).

A few weeks back, after I posted my chart of the 20 billion dollar vaccine industry and their Wakefield Witch Hunt, Steve Kette, an autism dad, sent me a flow chart that he had done illustrating just how the public/private partnership (Government/Pharma/MSM entity here to for referred to as "The Empire") that is the US vaccine machine program is running itself into the ground.

We have had story after story illustrating the revolving doors between CDC and Pharma/vaccine industry, painful experiences on just how biased the media is, and now an admission straight from the horses mouth that the Secretary of Health, Kathleen Sebelius, is asking for the media for favorable coverage on the vaccine issue. The role of the MSM is to do critical analysis of the government, not hold Kathleen's purse.

And another thing that MSM outlets are supposed to do is compete with one another, right? Not so if you are all a part of one giant conglomco like the Tribune Company Corporation Incorporated. Here is an email exchange that took place today between the two notorious "reporters" Trine Tsouderos from the Chicago Tribune who has spent the last few months trashing our community, and Thomas Maugh from the LA Times who has spend the last few years trashing our community, (and who once responded to an earnest inquiry from me with the oh so respectful, "Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!") collaborating on VCIP Ruling story today:

From: Tsouderos, Trine
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 12:39 PM
To: Dennis, Tami
Subject: Vaccine court story

Hi Tami,

Kaarin said you guys were going to write the vaccine court story – she said to let you know if you need anything, I’m happy to help. My autism sources have been contacting me all day wanting to talk about it, so it would be easy to get quotes.

Anyway, let me know! Best wishes,

Trine

Trine Tsouderos
Chicago Tribune
Science and Medical Reporter
312 222 5648 (w)
312 927 7986 (cell)
ttsouderos@tribune.com



From: Dennis, Tami
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 12:43 PM
To: Maugh, Thomas
Subject: FW: Vaccine court story

They did good stuff. Don’t hesitate to use them if you need comment.



From: Maugh, Thomas
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 2:47 PM
To: Tsouderos, Trine
Subject: FW: Vaccine court story

Please. Anything you can send me would be helpful. I'm gong to be listening in to the Every Child by 2 Press conference.

Thomas H. Maugh II
Science/Medical Writer
Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
310 649-1300



From: Tsouderos, Trine
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 1:02 PM
To: Maugh, Thomas
Subject: RE: Vaccine court story

Do you want me to get JB Handley at Generation Rescue? I have his email.



From: Maugh, Thomas
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 3:02 PM
To: Tsouderos, Trine
Subject: RE: Vaccine court story

Whoever you think would give a good, rational quote. Some of the responses on the PR newswire seem rather irrational.

Thomas H. Maugh II
Science/Medical Writer
Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
310 649-1300

FYI... For the "irrational" response on the newswire... see below. He means the responses from our community. So sweet how Trine and Maugh are there for each other in their battle against the forces of darkness vaccine injured children.

The whole circle is corrupt. Because there is no way to sue Pharma or the Government for vaccine damage, and certainly no way to sue biased media sources, the public is penned in and once vaccine injury takes place... well... to bad... you're screwed. You are also evil and want children to die from polio because you said out loud that a vaccine injured your child. You are also anti-vaccine, even if you continue to vaccinate your other children. (Did I mention desperate and scientifically illiterate? Also you probably have mental health issues. Oh... and Thomas Maugh thinks you are irrational.)

And the public is starting to get that this whole thing is bullshit. There has been speculation today as to why these VICP rulings were dropped on a Friday afternoon, burial ground for media pieces. Is it that the government gets that people think they are full of crappola and don't want these rulings to feed another cycle of vaccine program bashing? That is my guess. (Or are they trying to prevent more stories on Thorsen?)

Because, as Mr. Kette has illustrated below, the Government/Pharma/MSM shenanigans like the rulings today only serve to discredit themselves in the public's eyes, and add fresh, stinky fertilizer to the growing suspicion and distrust of the vaccine program.


The Life Cycle of a Failed Public Vaccination Program
(click to enlarge as pdf)



Kette is quite insightful in placing "Empire Paternalism" at the head of this death spiral, because it begins when the public forgets the profound axiom that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The warm feeling of security that comes from allowing yourself to believe that governments and billion dollar multinational corporations are earnest, righteous and working in your personal best interest is seductive. But Big Brother does not love you... he doesn't even know you. History ONLY illustrates the cycle of powerful governmental/corporate entities falling into corruption and either destroying society OR eventually being held accountable by the people either by the vote or by pitchfork. Powerful entities like these are only held in check when people turn their brains on, stop pretending that the government, or the corporation can fix our problems and heal the world.

Be clear, the corporation exists to make money, the government is not doing its job to hold the corporation accountable, and the media is not doing its job of holding them both accountable. They are all becoming very powerful and very rich by working together. The ONLY accountability for vaccine damage will come directly from the public saying "NO MORE!".

In vaccination, the government is not your friend.

Ronald Reagan's words were never truer than in the case of the story of American Vaccine Injury:

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'We're from the government and we're here to help.'"

UPDATE:

I, along with most of the people who have been writing about the VICP decisions, have been corrected by one of my readers who makes a good poing:

"...Anyone looking closely at the accumulative decision(s) of MEAD, KING and DWYER (plus, 595 Pages) will be hard pressed to find the Special Master(s) (Patricia Campbell-Smith, George L. Hastings, Jr., and Denise K. Vowell) saying, Thimerosal Does Not Cause Autism,  It's Official: Vaccines Don't Cause Autism or Vaccines Could Not Have Caused Autism, U.S. Court Says, and yet, incredibly, that's exactly what being broadcast and reported across the nation by the media.

What the Special Master(s) did say was the Petitioner(s) respectively failed to satisfy the burden of proof , CAUSE AND EFFECT, or by a PREPONDERANCE OF 'CAUSATION-IN-FACT" EVIDENCE under the articulated legal standards. Consequentially, all three petitioners failed to establish their clear entitlements to compensation.

In other words, it appears the full weight and burden of proof to establish a "link" between Autism and vaccines (including the preservative, Thimerosal) was entirely placed on the families of WILLIAM P. MEAD, JORDAN KING and COLIN R. DWYER.

Not an easy task for the family struggling with a sick kid at home, even the family was armed with equal resources and a league of brilliant litigators with law degrees from the Harvard School of Law.

These families faced lawyers hired by the vaccine makers with unlimited resources and truckloads of paper. No reasonable person would call that a fair fight.

There is a huge difference in saying Vaccines Could Not Have Caused Autism, and in saying, by the Preponderance of Evidence the families failed to prove a "link" to the satisfaction of the court, a story broadcasters and media unjustly prejudiced, be it out of ignorance or by intent..."
-Larry

Read the press released from:

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety:

Special Masters Protect Vaccine Program and Deny Justice to Vaccine-Injured Children

Mercury-Autism Link Not Found Because of Government Policy, not Science

Washington, DC - The Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) believes that the Special Masters of the Court of Federal Claims wrongly decided that thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs) do not cause autism. The Special Masters appear to have based their decisions on the government policy to protect the vaccine program rather than to fulfill their role to do justice by vaccine-injured children. In these three 'test case' decisions in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding, petitioners William Mead, Jordan King and Colin Dwyer developed normally through the first year of life and then regressed into autism. They presented thousands of pages of scientific documentation and testimony. Their evidence showed that thimerosal, a mercury-laden vaccine preservative, more likely than not contributed to their autism.

"The deck is stacked against families in Vaccine Court. Government attorneys defend a government program, using government-funded science, before government judges. Where's the justice in that?" asked Rebecca Estepp, a CVS steering committee member and mother of a petitioner in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding.

It is universally accepted that mercury is a neurotoxin and can damage the developing brain and the immune system. All three boys' health improved through medical interventions to reduce mercury toxicity and immune dysfunction. Nonetheless, the Special Masters concluded that petitioners failed to meet their burden of proof, even though Health and Human Services (HHS), the respondent in the proceeding, offered no alternative explanation other than genetic predisposition. The Special Masters appear to be following a misguided government policy that if they acknowledge a mercury-autism link, parents will stop vaccinating their children.

The breaking story of fraud at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) involving Dr. Poul Thorsen, a leading member of a Danish research group that wrote studies supporting the CDC's claims that there is no mercury-autism link, casts further doubt on the Special Masters' decisions. The emerging evidence of Dr. Thorsen's embezzlement of $2 million, falsehoods about his employment, and serious questions about his research throw into question the validity of the science at the heart of HHS's claim of no mercury-autism link.

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) is an alliance of organizations dedicated to vaccine safety representing over 75,000 families. In recent letters to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of House and Senate Committees charged with oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Coalition called for hearings to investigate HHS, the CDC and other government agencies. Those federal agencies have failed to comply with the terms of the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Act (VICA). Specifically they have failed to provide critical vaccine safety science, including from the taxpayer-funded Vaccine Safety Datalink, on thimerosal, autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities.

The Special Masters' Omnibus Autism Proceeding decisions and revelations about Dr. Thorsen's actions only strengthen the Coalition's resolve in calling for immediate Congressional action to investigate vaccine safety - an issue that potentially affects every person in the country.

"We are confident that the truth will win out. We hope that Congress will intervene in what is clearly a miscarriage of justice to vaccine-injured children," said Jim Moody, an attorney and CVS steering committee member.

For more information on the Omnibus Autism Proceeding and vaccine safety, visit www.coalitionforvaccinesafety.org.

SafeMinds:

Government's Refusal to Fund Sound Science Stacks Deck Against Vaccine-Injured Children and Casts Doubt on the Integrity of the National Immunization Program says SafeMinds.


Washington, D.C. - March 12, 2010 - Autism and mercury advocacy organization SafeMinds regrets today's ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims against three families who argued that vaccines which contained the mercury based preservative thimerosal contributed to their child's autism. The denial of reasonable compensation to families was based on inadequate vaccine safety science and poorly designed and highly controversial epidemiology studies supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the defendant in vaccine injury cases and is also responsible for carrying out the very vaccine safety research that should be integral to court decisions. This conflict of interest means the deck is stacked against families when they enter "vaccine court" and is yet one more reason for parents to doubt the integrity of the National Immunization Program.

"The government has its thumb on the scales of justice," said Laura Bono, parent of a vaccine injured child whose case was dismissed. "The Vaccine Injury Compensation Act passed by Congress in 1986 gave immunity to vaccine manufacturers and diminished the incentive to create safer products. Meanwhile, the law only gives the illusion that parents will have their day in court. The process is dysfunctional and many families will not see justice done."

Two HHS agencies, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are responsible for conducting vaccine safety research. Calling into question the scientific integrity of this research, a top CDC funded vaccine researcher, Poul Thorsen, responsible for the oversight of some of the most influential and controversial studies that have been claimed as evidence for no link between autism and thimerosal, is alleged to be under investigation when funding documents were found to be forgeries and millions of dollars were missing.

The director of the NIH institute in charge of autism studies has admitted that HHS has a conflict of interest in conducting autism-vaccine research due to the court cases. Last year, the government dominated Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee blocked critical vaccine-autism research studies from moving forward. "The government must fund an extensive vaccine safety program, including studies of the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children," stated Lyn Redwood, Vice President of SafeMinds. "Trust in the immunization program will continue to deteriorate without adequate and unbiased safety science."

Over 5,000 petitions have been filed in the vaccine court alleging that vaccines caused a variety of damage to the developing brain, immune system, and other metabolic pathways ultimately giving rise to a diagnosis of autism. Already, the court has awarded approximately $5 million in compensation for such cases, of which the Hannah Poling case is the most well-known. Many of these cases were quietly settled by the government so the public is not aware of them. Thus the court has already decided that vaccine injury is linked to autism.

Today's ruling against families demonstrates that the process is arbitrary. The question is not whether some cases of autism have a vaccine etiology. The government has admitted that. The only remaining question is how many kids have been injured - and what must be done now to treat these kids and prevent further injury.

SafeMinds wishes to recognize the bravery and perseverance of the families who now may face a lifetime of inadequate support for their disabled children.

The Coalition for SafeMinds (Sensible Action for Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders) is a nonprofit organization founded to investigate and raise awareness of the risks to infants and children of exposure to mercury from medical products, including thimerosal in vaccines. Further information about SafeMinds and the harmful effects from mercury exposure may be found at www.safeminds.org

Talk About Curing Autism:

Second Round of Autism Omnibus Court Cases Decided

Legal update By Rebecca Estepp, TACA.

March 12, 2010

Today in Washington DC, the Special Masters of the Court of Federal Claims released their decisions in the second round of Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP) claims. Once again, the OAP has failed children with autism that exhibited regression after their routine childhood vaccinations. All three cases: Mead, King and Dwyer were denied compensation.

First off, what is the OAP?

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-660) created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) in 1988. The VICP was created to ensure there was an adequate supply of vaccines and stabilize vaccine costs. Prior to this Act, there were only a handful of drug companies that producing vaccines. These companies faced lawsuits in civil court when their vaccines caused injuries. The drug companies lobbied for liability protection and the Act was passed.

A responsibility of the VICP was to establish and maintain an accessible and timely venue for individuals found to be injured by vaccines. The VICP was developed to be a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines. The U. S. Court of Federal Claims that decides these claims in court is commonly referred to as vaccine court. Damages are paid to individuals from a government-maintained fund. Drug companies can no longer be sued in a civil court of law until the claim has gone through the VICP. For more information go to: HRSA Vaccine Compensation.

The VICP was set up for individuals who suffered an “on-the-table” vaccine injury. That is an injury that happened within minutes or hours after receiving a vaccine.

In 2001, parents of children with autism started filing claims with VICP. These claims were considered “off-the-table,” meaning the vaccine injury did not occur “on-the-table” or at the time of injection. In July of 2002, the Special Masters (the term used for “judges” in vaccine court) established the procedure for addressing these claims and the Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP) was born. It was at that time that parents started flooding OAP with claims. More than 5500 claims have been filed in the program to date.
For more information on the Omnibus cases & decision click HERE.

Who are the Mead, King and Dwyer families?

The Mead, King and Dwyer are families with many similarities. All three families have boys with autism. All of the boys in these cases are the same age, 12 years old. Each family reported that their sons developed typically during the first year of their lives and then suffered a regression after their routine pediatric vaccines were administered. William Mead and Jordan King are both from Portland, Oregon while Colin Dwyer is from Queens, New York. Interestingly, William Mead was developing so typically that he was a model for Pottery Barn.

TACA would like to take this time to recognize the extraordinary efforts of the Mead, King and Dwyer families along with their attorneys. These brave families put their children on the line for more than 5500 children in the OAP. Their attorneys fought a brilliant battle in a very rigid court. These courageous families and their attorneys are truly our heroes.

When were these cases heard? What was the causation theory behind these cases?

These cases were heard in May and July of 2008. These three families were chosen as test cases number four, five and six in the OAP under the causation theory number two. Theory number two states that the thimerosal contained in the vaccines these boys were administered was the sole reason for their injuries.

Weren’t there decisions in the OAP last year? What was the causation theory in those OAP Cases?

Last February the same court denied compensation to the first three OAP cases (Cedillo, Hazlehurst and Snyder) which had a different theory of causation. Those cases theorized that the first three children had suffered an injury due to the combination of thimerosal containing vaccines and damage done from the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Read more information on the first OAP cases at TACA HERE.

Analysis of all OAP decisions

Hindsight is always 20/20. The analysis I wrote for the first round of OAP decisions was far too optimistic. I mistakenly theorized that the reason the first verdicts took 19 months to conclude was due to a close call the Special Masters must have had when coming to their decisions. I no longer hold that opinion.

While I recognize that the Special Masters had the herculean task of sifting through thousands upon thousands of pages of evidence, I believe it took over a year for the Special Masters to carefully choose the language in their verdicts to send the message that the OAP will not award compensation to children with autism. The Vaccine Court seems to be more concerned about protecting the perception of safety in the current vaccine schedule than compensating the children who were harmed in the immunization program.

This opinion change was confirmed today when the Special Masters concluded that Mead, King and Dwyer families did not meet their burden of proof. I’d like to point out that the government did not offer any other explanation for these boys’ regressions, other than to claim that it was a vague, nonspecific genetic cause for which there was not a shred of evidence.

I attended the OAP hearings in 2007 and 2008. I was full of hope this was the venue that would finally lead to justice for vaccine-injured children. I was optimistic as I watched the parents testify and watched their dedicated attorneys fight for their clients. Unfortunately, I now view the OAP as a program where government attorneys defend a government program using government-funded science before government judges. This is hardly fair and I am afraid we never had a chance for justice for these children.

Is there any hope?

I know this all sounds very bleak. However, there are many reasons why there is still hope for children with autism who suffered vaccine reactions.

1. These three decisions will be appealed. The appeal process begins immediately in the OAP.

2. Bruesewitz v. Wyeth—On March 8, the Supreme Court voted in favor of hearing this vaccine injury case. The issue in this case is not whether or not the child was harmed by a vaccine, rather the Supreme Court will decide on whether or not parents have the right to sue a drug company outside of the VICP. Mary Holland, Esq. and Jim Moody, Esq. wrote a wonderful article on this upcoming case for the Age of Autism. Read more HERE.

3. Theresa Cedillo and Michael Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services—This amicus curae brief was filed in February backed by twenty-three autism organizations in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Read more HERE.

4. The above legal cases will take many months to move forward which allows more time for science to develop. This could possibly help our side of the argument.

5. The Dr. Poul Thorsen situation is still evolving. Dr. Thorsen was a lead scientist in the Danish studies conducted in 2003 that showed that vaccines and autism were unrelated. Dr. Thorsen is now missing with $2 million of Danish Universities’ money. Read more of this explosive story HERE.

6. The Hannah Poling and Bailey Banks cases. These two children with autism were awarded compensation for damage done to them during their routine childhood vaccinations. The difference for these two children was their cases were heard outside of the OAP and were compensated for conditions like seizure disorder and encephalopathy. Read more about Hannah Poling and Bailey Banks: Poling HERE and Bailey-Banks HERE.

7. One in four parents now believes in the autism/vaccination connection! And no wonder. There is substantial evidence that a susceptible set of children have reacted to their vaccines. The number of children with autism has been skyrocketing for years and there is still no explanation from the government or the medical establishment for the increase. Read more at CBS News HERE.

8. The newly formed Coalition for Vaccine Safety is spear heading many new vaccine safety initiatives including the call for Congressional Hearings on this topic. For more information on this coalition click HERE.

I ended last year’s decision analysis with “this fight is not over.” I feel even more devoted to that statement this year. While I do think the OAP is broken, needs reform and provides very little chance that any child will receive compensation from it, I don’t think the vaccine and autism connection issue is dead. This fight is far from over.

Rebecca Estepp is Media Relations Director for TACA.

NAA:

Justice Once Again Denied to Vaccine Injured Children

The National Autism Association is disappointed but not surprised by the decisions made public March 12, 2010 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in three thimerosal test cases. These decisions reflect the corruption of a broken system that is rooted in protecting the country’s vaccine program at all costs, and not in compensating children who have been injured by vaccines.

Ironically, it is the government’s negligence in maintaining proper oversight of vaccine safety issues, and then refusing to compensate those injured by vaccines, that is eroding public confidence in the vaccine program. Our government health agencies continue to demonstrate complete loyalty to a vaccine program known to have caused autism and other serious injuries to children.

Because these latest decisions in vaccine court are the end result of a corrupt legal process and a blatant disregard for vaccine safety, we are asking Congress to investigate the Department of Health and Human Services and its subordinate agencies for their role in overseeing vaccine safety issues. These agencies are charged by both federal law and ethical responsibility to ensure that vaccines are as safe as possible. To become a part of this crucial effort to hold federal health agencies accountable for vaccine safety, please visit NAA's Autism Action Center at http://naa.kintera.org/actioncenter.