Autism & Vaccines - Jenny McCarthy on Oprah

[Sheri Nakken]

Much has happened in the last week to raise awareness of this issue -
finally it is out there in the media.
Sheri

Autism & Vaccines - Jenny McCarthy on Oprah

NVIC E-news Jenny McCarthy on Oprah
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

When she was not yet a superstar or even broadcasting nationally, in early
1985 a friend gave Oprah a copy of "DPT: A Shot in the Dark," which was the
first report of an association between autism and vaccination. "We're
waiting until it comes out in paperback," a producer told her friend. The
paperback version was published in 1986 but, by then, Oprah had starred in
"The Color Purple," her show had been nationally syndicated and the vaccine
safety debate had become a heated controversy. Over the last two decades,
many parents of vaccine injured children have written letters to Oprah in
hopes that she would do a show about vaccine risks.

Yesterday, after 22 years, Oprah finally talked about vaccine injured
children when she interviewed Hollywood Moms, Jenny McCarthy and Holly
Peete. Jenny has written a book on her experience of watching her two and a
half year old son regress into autism after an MMR shot.

On the show, Jenny talked about the increases in autism among children and
asked what parents of vaccine injured children have been asking for a
quarter century: "What number will it take for people just to start
listening to what the mothers of children who have seen autism have been
saying for years, which is, 'We vaccinated our baby and something happened."

Jenny says even before Evan received his vaccines, she tried to talk to her
pediatrician about it. "Right before his MMR shot, I said to the doctor, "I
have a very bad feeling about this shot. This is the autism shot, isn't
it?' And he said, 'No, that is ridiculous. It is a mother's desperate
attempt to blame something,' and he swore at me, and then the nurse gave
[Evan] the shot," she says. "And I remember going, 'Oh, God, I hope he's
right.' And soon thereafter-boom-the soul's gone from his eyes."

The CDC's prepared response to a query from the Oprah Show staff about
whether there is a link between autism and vaccines was "CDC places a high
priority on vaccine safety and the integrity and credibility of its vaccine
safety research. This commitment not only stems from our scientific and
medical dedication, it is also personal-for most of us who work at CDC are
also parents and grandparents. And as such, we too, have high levels of
personal interest and concern in the health and safety of children,
families and communities. We simply don't know what causes most cases of
autism, but we're doing everything we can to find out. The vast majority of
science to date does not support an association between thimerosal in
vaccines and autism. But we are currently conducting additional studies to
further determine what role, if any, thimerosal in vaccines may play in the
development of autism. It is important to remember, vaccines protect and
save lives. Vaccines protect infants, children and adults from the
unnecessary harm and premature death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases."

It is curious that the CDC would confine its response regarding the
autism-vaccine connection to thimerosal, when MMR vaccine has been strongly
associated with regressive autism and live virus MMR vaccine never
contained thimerosal. The National Vaccine Information Center, which has
operated a Vaccine Reaction Registry since 1982, continues to receive
reports from parents describing how their children regressed after
receiving live virus or non- mercury containing vaccines, often after being
given 8 to 12 vaccines on one day. The most heart-breaking stories are when
children are vaccinated over and over again despite deteriorating health
because their pediatricians are in denial about vaccine risks.

Jenny McCarthy gave a star turn on Oprah when she clearly, simply and
passionately described what happened to her son after vaccination and how
she was empowered by information she found on the internet to find ways to
cure his vaccine-associated regressive autism. She listened to her mother's
instinct and pursued a course of treatment that involved nutrition and
other alternative therapies. It is a story of a mother's love and
determination to heal her son after he was given the diagnosis of autism, a
neuroimmune disorder that so many pediatricians are taught is untreatable.

In the early 1990's, a mother in California, Cindy Goldenberg, was the
first Mom to cure her son of regressive autism by listening to her mother's
instincts and doing her own research into vaccine-induced neuroimmune
dysfunction. Her son experienced regressive autism after receiving MMR
vaccine. Cindy sought out IVIG therapy as well as nutritional and probiotic
therapies that she said "healed his gut." Her son was soon in a regular
classroom and this year he graduated from high school.

As of last night, there were nearly 2,000 messages, primarily from Moms,
for Jenny and Holly posted on Oprah's website at
http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/1812

Bravo, Oprah. You allowed Jenny to tell it like it is. You have helped
millions of Moms across America understand what happened to their children,
who changed physically, mentally and emotionally after getting vaccinated,
and now suffer with autism and other kinds of vaccine-induced brain and
immune system dysfunction such as learning disabilities, ADHD, seizure
disorders, asthma, and diabetes.

If your child stopped speaking, wouldn't look you in the eye and completely
ignored the world around them, what would you do? In her new book, Louder
Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, actress Jenny McCarthy
shares her emotional story of diagnosis, hope, faith and recovery-a journey
many thousands of parents now face.
National Vaccine Information Center
email:news@nvic.org
voice: 703-938-dpt3
web: http://www.nvic.org

NVIC E-News is a free service of the National Vaccine Information Center
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NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not
receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co-
founder.

Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed
consent rights at www.nvic.org