NVIC Vaccine News

Upcoming Public Engagement on Vaccine Safety

By Theresa Wrangham
Published June 07, 2011 in Government


June 13-15 Meetings in D.C. Examine Vaccine Safety System 
 
On June 13-15, 2011, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) will meet in Washington, D.C. to discuss recommendations and options for improving the nation’s vaccine safety system. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) has written and submitted comments supporting independent vaccine safety oversight and is represented on an Advocacy Panel discussion during a June 13 Vaccine Stakeholder meeting.  Click here to view NVIC's panel statement.
 
The public can listen to the three days of open meetings via teleconference and offer comments during public comment time June 14-15.
 
Vaccine Stakeholders Weigh In
 
Draft recommendations for improving the vaccine safety system have been developed by the Vaccine Safety Working Group (VSWG) of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC). The purpose of the June 13 stakeholder meeting is to ask various stakeholders – advocacy groups, organized medicine, pharmaceutical industry, public health, others – for comments regarding the VSWG’s draft report and recommendations.
 
The NVAC will discuss the recommendations and stakeholder feedback on June 14.
 
Your Voice is Needed – Register Now!
 
The members of the NVAC and health officials at DHHS need to hear from you! This is your opportunity to communicate why and how you want the vaccine safety system to work better.
 
NVIC Calls for Independent Vaccine Safety Oversight
 
For several decades, NVIC has called for an independent oversight agency outside of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that is solely responsible for monitoring vaccine safety. NVIC maintains that an independent safety oversight mechanism, similar to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) responsible for investigating plane crashes, is our nation’s best hope for enhancing transparency, accountability and the quality of vaccine safety research and monitoring to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths. Currently, DHHS agencies are responsible for vaccine development, licensing, regulation, policymaking, and promotion, as well as vaccine safety.
 
How to Register for the Teleconference
 
While there is no opportunity for the public to comment during the June 13th stakeholder meeting, the public can listen to the meeting and make public comment during the NVAC meetings on June 14-15. The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) has published the agendas for the stakeholders meeting and the regularly scheduled NVAC meeting and reports that there are still openings for the public to register to join the NVAC meeting via teleconference.

To register for the teleconference, email [email protected] or call 202-690-5566 and provide name, organization and e-mail address. You must also register for the webinar and public comment by June 10th.
 
Click here to read NVIC’s written comments.
 
NVIC Advocates for Vaccine Safety Since 1982
 
NVIC co-founders worked with Congress to institute historic vaccine informing, recording and reporting provisions in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. However, many of the Act’s important vaccine safety provisions  have not been properly implemented or enforced.
 
NVIC’s Director of Government Relations, Tawny Buck, who is the mother of a DPT injured daughter, is the consumer member of NVAC and co-chair of the VSWG. NVIC has provided well-informed consumer members to serve on vaccine advisory committees since 1988 and has participated in public engagement initiatives with government since 1995.
 
In 2009 and 2010, Tawny Buck and NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher and NVIC Director of Research and Patient Safety, Vicky Debold, RN, PhD, attended two stakeholder meetings of the VSWG to discuss vaccine safety research priorities and vaccine safety improvements.
 
 

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6 Responses to "Upcoming Public Engagement on Vaccine Safety"
Commenter Name
Catherine Householder
Posted: 6/8/2011 11:48:55 AM
I believe vaccines, which are never 100% safe, should be given only, as a free choice of the parent of a minor,or the individual recipient. Vaccines should never be mandated, taking away a persons freedom of choice regarding their health, beliefs or religion.
Commenter Name
Julya Hoffman
Posted: 6/8/2011 2:32:03 PM
I think your comments to be presented are excellent. We do need independant oversight. We need far better reporting of adverse events to VAERS, esp by ER doctors, pediatricians, & parents themselves. An education program should be established to try to get better reporting. We need a study comparing health issues in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children. I am grateful you were able & willing to compile all of these points in such an intelligent and comprehensive way and I hope your voice & concerns will be heard and acted upon. The issues are vitally important. I don't know how it could be included, but I'd like to see a hold put on giving 1 day old newborns Hep B vaccine until much more study is done. There is no demonstrated need for this vaccine in newborns yet they risk adverse reactions which inevitably go unreported. Thank you..and good luck !!
Commenter Name
peg schadt
Posted: 6/9/2011 12:05:43 PM
Vaccines as they are today are not safe and the American people know it and DO NOT want it for their children. I have a profoundly damaged son from DPT and no longer trust those in the medical or drug industry with the lives of my loved ones. I have been lied to by a self serving industry that puts profits before life.
Commenter Name
Judy Bistany
Posted: 6/10/2011 9:15:53 AM
Before any vaccinations should be recommended as standard policy the public health threat must be identified and verified. Scare tactics and bogus reports paid for by pharmaceutical companies whose motivation is contrary to safety and health must be stopped and their powerful lobbies questioned. Judy Bistany
Commenter Name
Anne McGuire
Posted: 6/13/2011 6:31:33 AM
Even the Declaration of Independence states each citizen has the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". All three rights have to do with the condition of human existence; 'personal health' is clearly part of human existence. Citizens have the inalienable right to self-determine our individual highest health. It is NOT the state of federal government's authority to determine it for us. Both levels of government should detach themselves from their financial dependence/ subservience to chemical and pharmaceutical industry agendas that work against public health and natural immunity. If the government promoted clean water, organic food, and natural substances with the same fervor as these vaccination mandates, society would thrive.
Commenter Name
Vanessa
Posted: 11/17/2012 3:17:43 AM
Fellow Vets: I have suffered now going on two years with several symptoms as a? result of receiving the H1N1 shot AT THE VA. Symptoms include: Neuropathy, pain and numbness in (in order) left knee, left shoulder, and whole area from left elbow to wrist. I was given the shot in my left arm. The symptoms have begun their final stage of going away, now I have only intermittent symptoms (again, after almost two years of suffering). I strongly advise NOT getting this vaccine. Navy, EW.
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