Remember last year when Kim Spencer went on a local news broadcast and tore into Dr. Koren Boggs for claiming that there were "several" domestic and international studies that compared vaccinated children to unvaccinated children and found vaccination did not increase the risk for autism? And remember that it pissed me off so much that I made a video rant about it and we demanded a retraction?
Boggs would not make a public retraction of her false claims, but she did privately admit on facebook to her friends that she was wrong. Sort of. About part of what she said. Pitiful.
This week Cassandra Grantham of MaineHealth and Vax Maine Kids takes center stage in making up the same bogus claim on Maine Public Broadcasting.
On MBPN's Maine Calling, Host Jennifer Rooks lead a completely uncritical "panel discussion" with three of the women who are on the "lets cripple the philosophical exemption" team in Maine, Dr. Laura Blaisdell, Dr. Amy Belisle and Cassandra Grantham.
You will remember two of these ladies as some of the participants in the screening of the Invisible Threat that I unloaded on last summer. Back story here: Invisible Threat, Ugh.
During the episode of Maine Calling, Ms. Rooks asked Cassandra Grantham, "What kind of research is out there about the safety of vaccines?" Grantham's response was the same stunningly fraudulent claim that Boggs made last year. Actually, her claims were worse. That there were new vaxxed/altvaxxed/fully vaxxed studies (my fantasy study) that showed no link between autism or other risks and vaccination.
Absolutely amazing. She just completely fabricated completely non existent research, and does it with such confidence! Who could doubt her!
Actually... she might be on to something. We could save BILLIONS in research spending by just speaking research into existence instead of having to go through the costly and time consuming process of actually doing research.
I think I will do that right now! Watch carefully...
So what's really great is that many organizations have put a lot of time and effort into understanding the profound impact of beauty on the world, and there have been several recent studies that have come out showing that I am THE most attractive woman in New England. Further they recommended that funding should be directed toward a program to make my life as comfortable as possible to preserve my rare beauty.
There! Research done, not a penny spent! I also heartily agree with the recommendations of these fine scientists, whose names I can't remember, because they are scientists and you are not so don't question it. Science has spoken.
Following the screening of Invisible Threat last summer, Ms. Grantham actually emailed me and said she wanted to have an exchange on my concerns. I thought, "hey great... a good faith person who actually is following through on the creating a dialogue BS that the vaccine industry reps usually don't mean at all." I gave her just a taste of the problems I had with the vaccine program, and a lengthy note or two on how her VaxMaineKids.org web site was so full of false information that it would have to be taken off line with in minutes of the repeal of the vaccine injury act or they would be sued into oblivion. But as soon as I gave her a rundown of just the start of the problems that needed to be address, and asked how she would like to proceed with the exchange, she suddenly changed her mind and decided she didn't want to talk with me any more. I will put up the email exchange in another blog.
But as a preview as to what a propagandist this woman has turned out to be, her website states, "No other medical study anywhere in the world has ever found a link between vaccines and autism. Not one." I sent her the list of studies that linked vaccines and autism, and she said she only accepted peer review studies. An admission that either she does not know what peer reviewed studies are or that she is a bad faith player who was cornered and gave a BS answer. I have to assume she never even opened the link. Mind you this is a MaineHealth web site, one of the largest health corporations in the state.
So today I finally got the time to write to Cassandra, call her out on her bold face lie, and ask her to cite these vaxxed v. unvaxxed autism studies or retract her claim. I have copied MPBN, MaineHealth, a Maine Rep. who called into the program, and Dr. Blaisdell, who sat quietly by and allowed Grantham's lie to go unchallenged.
Why aren't people vaccinating? I will say it again and again and again. Because the liability protection given to vaccine interests has very visibly corrupted the vaccine program to the bone.
Subject: False Vaccine Safety Claims made by MaineHealth on MPBN's Maine Calling Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 16:45:00 -0500 From: Ginger Taylor <GTaylor@HealthChoice.org> To: Cassandra Grantham CC: Laura Blaisdell, Mark Vogelzang MPBN, Jennifer Rooks and Jonathan Smith MPBN, Rep. Andrea Boland, Andrea Dodge Patstone MaineHealth
Ms. Grantham,
This week on MPBN's Maine Calling, in response to a question about vaccine safety, you made the following claim:
To the best of my knowledge, this is a false claim, as no such research exists. This as testified to by Dr. Coleen Boyle, Director of CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities during the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee hearing 1 in 88 Children: A Look Into the Federal Response to Rising Rates of Autism on November 29, 2012. In response to a question whether or not autism risk had been studied in vaccinated v. unvaccinated children Dr. Boyle stated, "We have not studied vaccinated v. unvaccinated." http://youtu.be/O_GrCAzpA_0?t=9m20s (please see the notes in the video that addresses the claims made by Dr. Koren Boggs that such research exists in further detail.)MPBN: “Cassandra what kind of research is out there about the safety of vaccines?”
Cassandra Grantham: “So what's really great is that is that many different organizations have put a lot of time and effort into understanding the safety and efficacy behind vaccines and there have been several recent studies that have actually come out looking at associations between vaccinations and different situations that kids may find themselves in, autism being one of them, but many others. And of course we can't do studies that actually force families not to immunize their children so that we can look at what we would call it a randomized controlled trial, it's just not fair. So what we have been able to do is look back over time at different populations of children and we've actually found that kids who are immunized, completely immunized with all of the vaccines according to the the schedule that Dr. Blaisdell was mentioning the one that recommended by the CDC, that they have no higher risk of getting autism and some of these other developmental challenges that families face than those kids that delayed or did not receive any immunizations at all. So we're finding that there is research that is now delving deeper into this topic and actually proving that the CDC's recommended schedule is safe and it does work and it doesn't increase risks of other situations for kids.”
My understanding of the history of this topic is that the first such request for a study was made by the FDA in 1981 after they removed mercury from over the counter products. FDA declined to ban it from vaccines, asking CDC to first do a vaccinated v. unvaccinated study to see if it increased health risks, however CDC declined to perform the study.
The autism and vaccine injury communities have been asking for such a retrospective study to be done for more than a decade now, and health authorities have continued to refuse. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced the Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Populations Act of 2007 (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.2832:) to force NIH to do such a study, and reintroduced such legislation in the years since. In response to what he learned from Dr. Boyle during the 2012 hearings, Rep Bill Posey (R-FL) joined with Maloney and introduced H.R. 1757, The Vaccine Safety Study Act (https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2013/04/26/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E576-1) that would again compel HHS to perform the study that you claim already exists.
The bill was not passed, nor to my knowledge has any vaccinated v. unvaccinated research on autism or any other developmental disabilities been published since Dr. Boyle offered her testimony before Congress.
As such it is appropriate for you to either produce the citation for this research that the vaccine injury community has been lobbying for, or to retract your false safety claims on MPBN for the product line you are representing.
Your false claims are only made more egregious by the fact that you have publicly stated in the Portland Press Herald that, "Eliminating the philosophic [vaccine] exemption is the ultimate goal." It is my belief that you are purposely lying to the public in order to remove parental rights and deny Maine children a Free And Appropriate Education in order to promote sales of a product line whose lack of safety is thoroughly documented both by the federal government and the product packaging itself. This type of propaganda sales campaign should not be tolerated by any responsible medical professional, health organization, media outlet or legislator. (http://www.pressherald.com/2014/08/14/state-legislators-to-seek-stronger-vaccine-laws/)
I await your response,
Ginger Taylor, MS
Mother of a vaccine injured child
Co-author of Vaccine Epidemic
Media Director
HealthChoice.org
818-402-9672
Many of their claims are garbage. To the point that their sales teams can pose as "public health interests" go on a supposedly thoughtful, intelligent program, make absurdly fraudulent, easily vetted, vaccine safety claims, which go completely unchallenged by the media, and there is literally no official recourse that the public can take to shut them down or hold them accountable for lies.
Case in point, the ONLY means of recourse I have, as a member of the public and the mother of a vaccine injured child, to address this false claim, for which she should be fired and MaineHealth should be sued and put under review by the state, is to write the above letter. One of probably a thousand letters on vaccine fraud that I have written in the ten years since my son's vaccine induced brain damage.
And MPBN and Maine Health, and Vax Maine Kids and Dr. Blaisdell and anyone associated with this event at all is free to just ignore the complaint, or tell further lies to cover up this lie that was told to cover up the decades of lies and obfuscation being delivered to the American public.
Perhaps if they don't retract this, I will have to get really, really serious with them and write another letter.
Update:
Ms. Grantham has responded:
Hello Ginger ~Thank you for listening to MPBN’s Maine Calling Show – it is great to know that we have reached such a wide audience with important vaccine messages. I want to clarify that I do not represent any product line or company other than MaineHealth, which is a health system which supports on-time childhood immunizations. I have never been paid by or consulted for a pharmaceutical or medical intervention company or agency. Please see below for MaineHealth’s official statement regarding childhood immunizations.
MaineHealth supports the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. We believe that vaccinating children on-time, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), is one of the best ways to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases in our communities and keep children safe and healthy.
In regards to my statements about vaccine safety, I based those on these studies.
1. http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(13)00144-3/abstract
2. http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2013/The-Childhood-Immunization-Schedule-and-Safety.aspx
3. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/06/26/peds.2014-1079.abstract
I will not respond to future emails on this subject.
Furthermore, I request that you cease and desist using my image on your blog, Facebook page and other websites you support and represent.
Cassandra
Cassandra Cote Grantham, MA
Program Director
Childhood Immunizations and Raising Readers
Community Health Improvement
MaineHealth...
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email message, including any attachments, is for the use of the intended recipient(s) only and may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and prohibited from unauthorized disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this message in error, please notify the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message and attachments.
In short, I work for MaineHealth, here are some unrelated studies so I can pretend like I am giving an answer, while not actually citing a vaxxed/unvaxxed study, stop using my picture, and I am not talking to you any more.
Reminder that her web site says, "Vax Maine Kids is a safe place for Maine parents to discuss their concerns and ask tough questions. We promise to always give respectful, evidence-based answers you can trust."
So much for that.
But for more irony/entertainment/fuel for your fury, the ONLY study she actually cited was by FRANK DESTEFANO!!!
Just bullet pointing the things that should be noted here on her :
1. OMG DESTEFANO?!
- DeStefano took a tiny piece of vaccines in this junk study, the part we are least worried about causing problems, studied to see if that correlated to autism. DeStefano: "I have extablished that the spices in apple pie do not correlate to obesity." Moms: "Ummm... yeah... we were worried about the sugar, the butter and the crust. Or the pie as a whole. Because you are recommending our kids eat a crap load of pies, and our kids are getting really fat."
- Grantham is misusing the junk study exactly the same way everyon else uses it. "The spices in apple pie are not linked to obesity, therefor eating four apple pies in one sitting is not linked to obesity."
- Grantham goes further beyond the misuse of this study by claiming it compaires vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Mind you, the word "unvaccinated" does not even appear in the paper. Nor do the words, "CDC," "Schedule," or the phrase, "fully vaccinated." Therefore, it is difficult to see how Ms. Grantham could be both earnest and competent and put this paper forward to defend her MPBN claims.
- DeSoto's critique of the study reports that it did not correctly match cases, and is invalid. http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(13)00662-8/fulltext (and the Journal even links to her critique from the link Grantham provided)
- FRANK DESTEFANO HAS BEEN CAUGHT HIDING THREE DIFFERENT AUTISM LINKS IN HIS WORK AT CDC AND IS CURRENTLY THE SUBJECT OF A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION FOR FRAUD! Here is the rundown for those who want to get current on the developments. (Yet Grantham refers to his work while trying to defend the integrity of the vaccine program. This is me right now.)
- Frank DeStefano, in Sheryl Attkisson's interview with him about the charges against him claimed that it was not possible for vaccines to cause autism, then four days later changed his statement, admitting that he has never looked to see if vaccines can cause individual cases of autism, and that is something that someone could look into. HE IS THE HEAD OF THE CDC IMMUNIZATION SAFETY OFFICE... HE IS THE ONE WHOSE JOB IT HAS BEEN TO LOOK INTO THIS FOR MORE THAN A DECADE! (insert Mugatu)
Just bullet pointing the things that should be noted here on her :
1. OMG DESTEFANO?!
- DeStefano took a tiny piece of vaccines in this junk study, the part we are least worried about causing problems, studied to see if that correlated to autism. DeStefano: "I have extablished that the spices in apple pie do not correlate to obesity." Moms: "Ummm... yeah... we were worried about the sugar, the butter and the crust. Or the pie as a whole. Because you are recommending our kids eat a crap load of pies, and our kids are getting really fat."
- Grantham is misusing the junk study exactly the same way everyon else uses it. "The spices in apple pie are not linked to obesity, therefor eating four apple pies in one sitting is not linked to obesity."
- Grantham goes further beyond the misuse of this study by claiming it compaires vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Mind you, the word "unvaccinated" does not even appear in the paper. Nor do the words, "CDC," "Schedule," or the phrase, "fully vaccinated." Therefore, it is difficult to see how Ms. Grantham could be both earnest and competent and put this paper forward to defend her MPBN claims.
- DeSoto's critique of the study reports that it did not correctly match cases, and is invalid. http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(13)00662-8/fulltext (and the Journal even links to her critique from the link Grantham provided)
- FRANK DESTEFANO HAS BEEN CAUGHT HIDING THREE DIFFERENT AUTISM LINKS IN HIS WORK AT CDC AND IS CURRENTLY THE SUBJECT OF A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION FOR FRAUD! Here is the rundown for those who want to get current on the developments. (Yet Grantham refers to his work while trying to defend the integrity of the vaccine program. This is me right now.)
- Frank DeStefano, in Sheryl Attkisson's interview with him about the charges against him claimed that it was not possible for vaccines to cause autism, then four days later changed his statement, admitting that he has never looked to see if vaccines can cause individual cases of autism, and that is something that someone could look into. HE IS THE HEAD OF THE CDC IMMUNIZATION SAFETY OFFICE... HE IS THE ONE WHOSE JOB IT HAS BEEN TO LOOK INTO THIS FOR MORE THAN A DECADE! (insert Mugatu)
2. The 2013 IOM Report: The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety: Stakeholder Concerns, Scientific Evidence, and Future Studies
- The report actually reports that there is NO VACCINATED V. UNVACCINATED RESEARCH. She actually sent me proof of my claim that I didn't know about. Thank you Ms. Grantham for further indicting yourself. From page 19 of the pdf:
"The committee’s literature searches and review were intended to identify health outcomes associated with some aspect of the childhood immunization schedule. Allergy and asthma, autoimmunity, autism, other neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., learning disabilities, tics, behavioral disorders, and intellectual disabilities), seizures, and epilepsy were included as search terms. Furthermore, the committee reviewed papers on immunization and premature infants.In summary, few studies have comprehensively assessed the association between the entire immunization schedule or variations in the overall schedule and categories of health outcomes, and no study has directly examined health outcomes and stakeholder concerns in precisely the way that the committee was charged to address in its statement of task. No studies have compared the differences in health outcomes that some stakeholders questioned between entirely unimmunized populations of children and fully immunized children. Experts who addressed the committee pointed not to a body of evidence that had been overlooked but rather to the fact that existing research has not been designed to test the entire immunization schedule."
- The report says that it has evaluated doing such studies, that they would be doable, useful, but expensive, time consuming and difficult, so they don't recommend them. Here is their full statement on vaxed v. uvaxed studies.
Skimming through the report, it seems to be full of comedy gold, like this gem: "The committee identified concerns among some parents about the number, frequency, and timing of immunizations in the overall immunization schedule. These concerns were not expressed by clinicians, public health personnel, or policy makers in the committee’s review.""Initiation of New Prospective Observational StudiesObservational studies are another form of clinical research that can provide useful insights and information that may be used to answer research questions. The committee reviewed opportunities to study groups that choose not to vaccinate using a prospective cohort study design. However, such a study would not conclusively reveal differences in health outcomes between unimmunized and fully immunized children for two main reasons. First, to be informative, cohort studies require sufficiently large numbers of participants in each study group and the sample populations often suggested for use in a comparison of vaccinated and unvaccinated children (such as some religious groups) are too small to adequately power a comparative analysis, particularly in the case of rare adverse health outcomes. Because meaningful comparisons require thousands of participants in each study group and less than 1 percent of the U.S. population refuses all immunizations, the detection of enough unvaccinated children would be prohibitively time-consuming and difficult.Such a study would also need to account for the many confounding variables that separate some populations from the average U.S. child, including lifestyle factors and genetic variables. To be useful, a comparison would require children matched by age; sex; geographic location; rural, urban, or suburban setting; socioeconomic group; and race/ethnicity.The committee acknowledges that large-scale, long-term studies of infants through adulthood would be informative for evaluating health outcomes associated with immunization. A new research initiative, the National Children’s Study, is a multicenter, congressionally funded effort that meets these criteria. Although such studies would be the optimal design for evaluating long-term health outcomes associated with the childhood immunization schedule, they would require considerable time and funding, and the committee did not find adequate epidemiological evidence to recommend investment in this type of research at this time."
"Well Jim, the customers are not buying because they don't trust the product, but the salesmen are fine with the product, so screw the custmers!" Of course the salemen are happy, they can lie about the product, don't have to know the true safety profiles, can't be sued and THEY GET PAID!
Astonishing how these people believe this approach will increase vaccine uptake. Crazy pills.
3. Safety of Vaccines Used for Routine Immunization of US Children: A Systematic Review
- The ONLY reference to the "unvaccinated" is in a discussion of an Italian study on the flu shot and ER visits and referred to kids who has not received a seasonal or H1N1 flu vaccine.
- The ONLY discussion of autism in the paper is in regard to the MMR vaccine, no unvaccinated populations studied.
So Grantham has not only proved herself wrong, she has proved herself either incompetent to read medical literature, a bad faith player or both.
I responded to her with the following email:
Subject: Re: False Vaccine Safety Claims made by MaineHealth on MPBN's Maine Calling Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 15:37:29 -0500 From: Ginger Taylor <GTaylor@HealthChoice.org> To: Cassandra Grantham CC: Laura L. Blaisdell, Mark Vogelzang, Jennifer Rooks, Rep. Andrea Boland, Andrea Patstone, Jonathan Smith
Ms. Grantham,
None of the citations you offer contain any research on autism risk, or any other developmental disabilities, in vaccinated v. unvaccinated children, which is the claim you made on Maine Calling. Again, no such publish research exists in any form.
I therefore demand a retraction of the fraudulent safety claim by yourself, MaineHealth and MPBN.
I will not cease using your image, as this is a very newsworthy story and the professional headshot of a medical corporation employee making false claims about the product safety of the pharmaceuticals that it sells is fair use of this image.
Ginger Taylor, MS
Media Director
HealthChoice.org
818-402-9672
As Ms. Grantham has informed me that she is not talking to me any more, I assume I will not be hearing from her again.
So as is appropriate, I have asked MPBN to retract the statement, and review the issues at play with new eyes.
Also as appropriate, I have contacted MaineHealth and asked for a review and retraction of their multiple false vaccine safety claims, disciplinary action against Ms. Grantham, and a clarification on their position to remove the rights of parents to decline vaccines that can cause disability, brain damage and death, and still send their children to school.
Subject: Request for Retraction of False Vaccine Safety Claims on MPBN's Maine Calling Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 16:12:12 -0500 From: Ginger Taylor <GTaylor@HealthChoice.org> To: Mark Vogelzang <mvogelzang@mpbn.net>, Jennifer Rooks and Jonathan Smith <talk@mpbn.net>, Jonathan Smith <jpsmith@mpbn.net> CC: Cassandra Grantham <COTEC1@mmc.org>, Laura L. Blaisdell <BLAISL@mmc.org>, Rep. Andrea Boland <sixwings@metrocast.net>, Andrea Patstone <PATSTA@mainehealth.org>
Ms. Rooks, Mr. Smith and Mr. Vogelzang,
On your December 1 episode of Maine Calling, Cassandra Grantham, a representative of MaineHealth, made a fraudulent safety claim on your show. I have copied you on the my email exchange with her, which details the false claim, my correction of the false information as supported by the Congressional testimony of the head of the CDC's Director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, and my request to Ms. Grantham for her to cite the multiple studies that she claim exist or retract her claim.
As you can see, she has failed to produce any research comparing autism rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated populations and failed to retract her claim.
I there for request that Maine Calling retract Ms. Grantham's claim in the same format which it was offered, noting the false claim on the archived version of the interview if MPBN chooses to leave it online.
I further strongly encourage Maine Calling to perform an honest evaluation on why vaccine rates are low in Maine and falling nationally. As the educated mother of a vaccine injured child, I can attest to the real reason. It is because the liability protection given to the entire vaccine industry in 1986 has resulted in massive corruption in the vaccine program. Ms. Graham's behavior on your show is case in point. Medical providers and medical industry representatives can make any safety claims that they choose, even completely false claims, because there is no accountability mechanism in place for the public to hold them accountable for false claims. Even when a child is killed by a vaccine after a false claim like this is made to a parent coercing them into administering a vaccine that they would not have otherwise agreed to have delivered to their child, there is no recourse to hold anyone accountable, or even force them to stop making these false claims. So false claims like this one, once spoken by someone claiming to hold authority in vaccinated, simply continue to circulate and be repeated.
No doubt Ms. Grantham's false claim will now be circulated by those who have heard your program, even medical professionals who administer vaccines to children.
The vaccine show you did with these three women on December 1, was not just about vaccine rejection, it is the REASON for vaccine rejection. It is a real time example of how and why vaccine interests are alienating and loosing the public trust by abusing the public trust. Your guests correctly reported that the exodus from the vaccine program is being lead by educated parents who have serious misgivings of the safety and trustworthyness of the vaccine program, while they themselves were making false claims about the safety of the vaccine program, thereby proving the untrustworthy of the vaccine program. And MPBN is participating in this corruption by allowing false claims to made on your platform with out challenge or correction.
I hope that the irony that a show you aired to raise confidence in the vaccination is actually destroying trust in the vaccination is not lost on you.
Now this claim of Ms. Grantham is merely one of many problematic statements made by herself, MaineHealth, VaxMaineKids.org and Dr. Blaisdell, and I would be happy to go over the false information that they are sharing with the public under the guise of serving the public if you decide to do a proper investigation of the fraud taking place in the vaccine program both in Maine and at the federal level.
But for now, I await a response on your retraction of this particular false statement. I cannot imagine that MPBN would allow any medical professional, industry representative or government official to make such false claims about any other medical product line or medical program. I don't expect Maine Calling to allow this to stand either.
Thank you for your consideration,
Ginger Taylor, MS
Media Director
HealthChoice.org
818-402-9672
I have decided that this is going to be a test of the system.
Subject: Information Requested on how to file a formal complaint against a Maine Health staffer for fraudulent claims Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 19:25:15 -0500 From: Ginger Taylor <GTaylor@HealthChoice.org> To: William Caron , Kimberly Nemic CC: Rebecca Arseneault, Deborah Deatrick, MPH, Robert Frank, Katie Fullam Harris , Cassandra Grantham, Jonathan Smith, Joe Lawlor, Laura Blaisdell
Dear MaineHealth,
This past week, Cassandra Grantham of MaineHealth appeared on MPBN's Maine Calling and made a fraudulent vaccine safety claim. She reported to the public that there are several studies comparing vaccinated v. unvaccinated children that find no increase risk of autism and other developmental disabilities in children vaccinated according to the CDC's recommended schedule.
In fact, no such research has ever been published.
I contacted Ms. Grantham and asked that she cite the research she claims has been undertaken, or retract her statement. She not only failed to cite such studies, she actually cited a 2013 IOM report that confirmed that no such research exists in the medical literature, and that recommended against undertaking such research because of cost, time and difficulty. She has also failed to retract her fraudulent claim and says she will not be responding to me on this matter again.
This is just the latest of several false vaccine safety research claims that Ms. Grantham has made on behalf of MaineHealth both in public and on the VaxMaineKids.org web site, a MaineHealth Childhood Immunizations Program project. Several of these false statements have been brought to her attention over the last five months, and she has failed to properly address them. I can therefore only assume that Ms. Grantham is a bad faith player and is purposefully misleading of Mainers on vaccine safety matters
This is made all the more egregious as Ms. Grantham has been quoted in the Portland Press Herald as stating that, “Eliminating the philosophic [vaccine] exemption is the ultimate goal,” of the work your organization is undertaking. It is unconscionable that MaineHealth would make fraudulent safety claims in order to advance the agenda of removing parental rights and depriving children of a free and appropriate public education if their families decline to participate in a medical program that presents severe adverse health risks including disability, brain damage and death.
I wish to file a formal complaint against Ms. Grantham with MaineHealth. I believe that it is the duty of MaineHealth to review and retract Ms. Grantham's false vaccine safety claims and to exercise disciplinary action against Ms. Grantham, as well as clarify the organization's position on the rights of parents to receive full and accurate vaccine safety and efficacy information, and practice uncoerced informed consent in vaccination.
I have forwarded the email exchanges with Ms. Grantham and MPBN below for your review.
I am publicly documenting this process here.
Please direct me to appropriate contact on this matter so I may offer a full account of the problem and offer MaineHealth my support in assuring that it is offering accurate, evidence based information on vaccine safety to the public.
Thank you,
Ginger Taylor
Brunswick, Maine
A rep of a health management corporation makes fraudulent claims about the product line that the corporation is selling to the public, and for which it is taking insurance payments and government funding. Is it possible to hold them accountable and force a review and retraction of their false claims, or does the 1986 Vaccine Act prevent the functioning of all public accountability? As always, my money is on the latter, but we have to give them a chance to do the right thing, don't we?
UPDATE:
Guess what... they didn't do the right thing. Neither did any of the state and federal authorities I filed complaints with. The results of my four month attempt to hold them accountable here:
MaineHealth Remains Completely Unaccountable of False Vaccine Claims. So I Wrote a Bill.
