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Page 1 of 15 International Vaccine Conference Exclusive Report Show Us the Science: An Exclusive Mothering Report on the Second International Public Conference of the National Vaccine Information Center
First published in Mothering Magazine, Issuse 105, March/April 2001
"Science for Hope and Healing: Challenging the Status Quo," the Second International Public Conference of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), was held September 8 to 10, 2000, in Arlington, Virginia. Thirty distinguished scientists from the US, Canada, and Europe, including immunologists, molecular and cell biologists, epidemiologists, gastroenterologists, pediatric neurologists, microbiologists, and internal medicine specialists, presented and discussed the biological mechanisms and possible high-risk factors for adverse responses to vaccination. The conference drew nearly 500 representatives from 37 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia. Representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health also were in attendance; they answered questions during breaks but did not make any presentations.
"The purpose of this conference is...to provide a forum for an open discussion and debate about the science, policies, and ethics of vaccination," said Barbara Loe Fisher, president and co-founder of NVIC, in her opening remarks. "NVIC has a long public record of working to institute safety and informed consent reforms in the mass vaccination system. We believe that a child who dies from a vaccine is just as important as a child who dies from an infectious disease. We believe that a humane society will place equal emphasis on preventing both kinds of deaths and injuries. We support the rights of all healthcare consumers to know what is and is not known about vaccines. We are not antivaccine. We are pro-education."
The first NVIC conference for scientists and scientific inquiry into vaccine safety, the International Scientific Workshop, held in 1989, evaluated the neurological complications of pertussis and the whole-cell pertussis vaccine. Over 70 percent of compensation claims to the national Vaccine Injury and Compensation Program [VICP] have been for the whole-cell pertussis part of the DPT. In 1996, the NVIC realized a major goal when the FDA licensed an improved pertussis vaccine known as the acellular pertussis (DTAP) vaccine.
In 1997, the NVIC held the First International Public Conference on Vaccination, which brought more than 500 doctors, scientists, health officials, lawyers, ethicists, journalists, and parents from 34 states and five foreign countries to Washington, DC. Many scientists who spoke at this conference felt they could be risking their careers for presenting their views. One speaker, Andrew Wakefield--the eminent British scientist who postulated a link between the measles viral infection, either from the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine or from natural measles, and autism--was threatened professionally and personally after presenting his findings at the conference.
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