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RFK Jr. and Vermont moms make their cases on vaccines

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MONTPELIER — A prominent member of the country’s most storied political family testified against the elimination of the state’s philosophical exemption for vaccines Tuesday, accusing the Centers for Disease Control of corruption as he made his case to lawmakers.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the slain former U.S. senator, attorney general and presidential candidate, told members of the House Health Care Committee that he supports vaccination. But he said some vaccines that contain thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound in some vaccines, can cause harm in children.

The CDC, Kennedy said, which determines which vaccines children should receive, has not done a proper job of protecting them and has bowed to pressure from pharmaceutical companies. He said the trillion dollar industry spends twice as much on lobbying as any other industry.

“I’m pro-vaccine. I’ve had all six of my kids vaccinated,” Kennedy told the panel. “I think we ought to have state and federal policies that maximize vaccine coverage of the population but I think we have to begin the process by making sure the vaccines are safe, efficacious and that the regulatory agency which recommends vaccines … and monitors them has integrity and credibility and, unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Vermont State House on Tuesday, May 5, 2015.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Vermont State House on Tuesday, May 5, 2015.

Kennedy, who received a raucous standing ovation from some people after completing his testimony, has been an environmental activist for three decades and has worked on the vaccine issue for the past 10 years. He spent most of his 15 minutes before the committee denouncing the CDC’s oversight of vaccines.

“CDC is a troubled agency. There’s been four separate, scathing federal studies about CDC,” he said. “All of them together and separately paint a picture of an agency that has become a cesspool of corruption.”

Kennedy accused the agency of manipulating studies to show that vaccines are more effective than they are, and that they do not cause harm.

“You could design an epidemiological study that shows that cigarettes don’t cause cancer or sex didn’t cause pregnancy. You just get rid of all the pregnant people or you get rid of all the people who have cancer and then you present your study,” he said. “That’s what CDC has been doing with these nine epidemiological studies that they point to.”

He also faulted Congress for creating a “shield” for pharmaceutical companies in 1989 “that suddenly made vaccines very profitable,” causing an increase in the number of recommended vaccines by the CDC.

“When I was a kid the vaccines were not profitable. They were not profit centers for the company. They were almost a civic duty. But now vaccines can add revenue of a billion dollars a year for some of these companies and there is tremendous pressure to add these vaccines to the schedule,” he said. “Most of the people who sit on those committees are vaccine industry insiders. Many of them, if not most of them, have direct financial stakes in the outcome of their decision to add the vaccine to the schedule.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Vermont State House.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Vermont State House.

“What’s very difficult is for the people of our country or the parents of Vermont to believe that those decisions are being made exclusively with the health of their children in mind,” Kennedy added.

Kennedy said the philosophical exemption in Vermont and other states is important because other protections and avenues of recourse no longer exist.

“The Congress has taken away jurisdiction in federal and state courts of any case against the vaccine industry so nobody can sue them. There’s no discovery, no depositions, there’s no class actions, there’s no documents,” he said. “All those things that protect us are gone. The only thing left that protects that child from that company, the only barrier standing, is the parent. And now we want tot make the parent away.”

Kennedy told reporters after his testimony that parents should vaccinate their children with mercury-free vaccines.

In Vermont, six vaccines are required for children to attend school, including ones for polio, Hepatitis B, measles and pertussis, according to Christine Finley, the Vermont Department of Health’s Immunization Program chief.

Currently, all 50 states allow medical exemptions. All but two states allow religious exemptions and 19 states have philosophical exemptions. Only Mississippi and West Virginia have neither religious nor philosophical exemptions.

The House committee is taking testimony on the issue because the Senate voted 18 to 11 last month to amend a House bill dealing with a disease registry to include the removal of the philosophical exemption. They also heard Tuesday from state health officials and advocates on both sides of the issue.

The Senate-passed language would prevent students who are not vaccinated from attending school, but medical a exemption and a religious exemption would remain.

A pro-vaccine advocacy group calling itself “Moms for Vaccines” held a State House news conference Tuesday to encourage lawmakers to scrap the philosophical exemption. Mia Hockett, a primary care physician whose daughter has leukemia, said a recent outbreak of measles highlights the need to encourage vaccination.

“I’m here with a bunch of moms who represent, really, the silent majority who are in support of removing the philosophical exemption to vaccines,” she said. “We think we’re at a critical juncture on this issue here in Vermont. The Disneyland measles epidemic happened … unfortunately for the people who suffered, but on the positive side, raised some awareness that this is a really real issue.”

Hockett said the rate of philosophical exemption is on the rise, partially from lawmakers failure to remove the exemption when the debated it in the previous legislative biennium. She said 56 percent of Vermont students now attend schools that are below the “herd immunity” threshold, place some students at risk.

“By not removing the exemption, in essence, it was a validation that people on the other side — their fear-mongering, their pseudo-science, their misinformation campaign, was valid. And so that perspective has been spreading and the exemptions have been increasing. I think this is absurd and dangerous, honestly,” she said.

Sarah Fogelman, another mom who spoke at the news conference, said she was simply a concerned citizen.

“Not a celebrity. Just drove here from South Burlington,” she said.

She said it was a “duty” for those who can receive vaccinations to do so, to help protect those who can’t.

“As a mother, as a member of the community, as a citizen, I believe in vaccinations,” she said. “I believe the Legislature should remove the philosophical exemption for kids entering school, not only because vaccines have arguably been the biggest advance in public health of the century, but because it’s a social contract,” she said.

If the Senate language is signed into law, unvaccinated children would not be able to attend either public or private schools. But it would protect a community’s most vulnerable people, Fogelman said.

“Eliminating the philosophical exemption will not require anyone to get vaccinated, it merely forces places like our schools to be safe for the most vulnerable members of our society,” she said. “I’m petrified for the elderly, the immune-compromised, pregnant women and those too young to be vaccinated.”

The committee is expected to continue taking testimony Wednesday, and possibly Thursday. Chairman Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, said the Health Department has made clear that the underlying legislation is important. The committee does not need to take a formal position, however, for the legislation to move to the floor of the House, he said.

Kennedy’s trip to Vermont was paid for by the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice. Dorian Yates, a parent from South Strafford and a member of the group, said Kennedy was asked to testify by the group because he could deliver an effective message.

“He is somebody who is very well-versed and well-spoken and knowledgeable on the issue,” she said.

Kennedy also paid “courtesy” visits to Gov. Peter Shumlin and House Speaker Shap Smith.

The hearing was very briefly interrupted as Lippert was explaining the ground rules for those attending the hearing in the State House’s largest room, which had an overflow crowd. A women shouted “prove it” when Lippert said the committee would hear from both sides of the issue. She held a sign calling for equal time for “pro choice” testimony.

neal.goswami@timesargus.com


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