Free Republic

In an interview... former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney contended that vaccines give children autism. Not only that, but she believes that it is knowingly being given to black children by the government despite the fact, she says, that they are more susceptible to getting it. "It’s reminiscent of eugenics," she explained. ...Citing a "whistleblower," Ms. McKinney explained, "The omitted data suggested," she said, "that African American males who received the MMR (that’s mumps, measles and rubella) vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Now, the risk was like 300 percent, I mean it was like, as he...

A new study this week found no link between vaccines and autism. It instantly made headlines on TV news and popular media everywhere. Many billed it as the final word, “once again,” disproving the notion that vaccines could have anything to do with autism. What you didn’t learn on the news was that the study was from a consulting firm that lists major vaccine makers among its clients: The Lewin Group. That potential conflict of interest was not disclosed in the paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine; the study authors simply declare “The Lewin Group operates with...

They sure know how to "bury the lead" at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thursday, the CDC issued its annual National Youth Tobacco Survey; the headline in the accompanying news release read: "E-cigarette use triples among middle and high school students in just one year." This was, indeed, true. In 2014, according to the survey results, 13.4 percent of high school students had used an electronic cigarette at least once during the month the survey was taken. That was up from 4.5 percent in 2013. In a conference call with reporters, Tom Frieden, the director of the...

Have you heard about the brand new H3N2 dog flu sweeping through Chicago and sickening and killing dogs? It may actually be worse than you think: round-the-clock testing has unveiled that this heretofore unknown canine influenza was originally an avian flu that made a “mammalian adaptation” and has been infecting dogs and cats in Asia since 2007. Now it is here in the epicenter of the U.S. Will it sweep across the country and endanger dogs everywhere? Will this deadly flu become like the bird flu in Asia and the swine flu in England, both of which did transform into...

April 2nd as World Autism Awareness Day was inaugurated by a UN Resolution (62/139), adopted by the General Assembly on December 18, 2007. This soon transformed into Autism Awareness Month, which spawned Autism Acceptance Month in 2011 (more on that later). No doubt, a condition affecting approximately 1 in 68 children in the US (according to the CDC) is worthy of a month’s recognition. Compare that figure to the 1 in 150 rate, reported in 2000. In keeping with the proclamation, let us become aware, and try not to get smothered by the semantics… The term “autism” was first used...

Recent outbreaks of an unpleasant intestinal illness in Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania are due to a drug-resistant version of a bacteria that causes travelers' diarrhea, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week. Since May 2014, Shigella sonnei bacteria that have shown resistance to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin have sickened 243 people across 32 states and Puerto Rico, the federal agency said. "Research by the CDC found that the drug-resistant illness was being repeatedly introduced as ill travelers returned and was then infecting other people in a series of outbreaks around the country," the CDC explained. Shigellosis is often...

Among the 110 California patients, 49 (45%) were unvaccinated; five (5%) had 1 dose of measles-containing vaccine, seven (6%) had 2 doses, one (1%) had 3 doses, 47 (43%) had unknown or undocumented vaccination status, and one (1%) had immunoglobulin G seropositivity documented, which indicates prior vaccination or measles infection at an undetermined time. Twelve of the unvaccinated patients were infants too young to be vaccinated. Among the 37 remaining vaccine-eligible patients, 28 (67%) were intentionally unvaccinated because of personal beliefs, and one was on an alternative plan for vaccination.

The increase in numbers of American children diagnosed with autism is frightening. Autism cases have skyrocketed between 20 and 30 fold since the early 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2014, the CDC released a report stating that one child in 68 had autism, a 30 percent increase from only two years earlier. For boys, the risk was even worse — one in 42. The condition, which causes difficulty communicating and limited social skills, was so rare in past generations that the term autism wasn't even used in the modern sense until 1938. Autism wasn't classified as...

A critic of mandatory child vaccinations made no apologies for her views in an appearance on Newsmax TV Tuesday, and said that public anger over the Disneyland measles outbreak should be directed at pharmaceutical companies and the federal government, not people like her. "What's happening is people are freaking out about measles outbreaks," Louise Kuo Habakus said ina combative interview with "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner. "They're pointing the finger at unvaccinated children and non-vaccinated families, when really what needs to happen is people need to be pointing the finger at industry and at Congress." Habakus, co-founder of a group called...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden on Sunday warned that the U.S. could see a "large outbreak" of measles. "We are very concerned by the growing number of people who are susceptible to measles, and the possibility that we could have a large outbreak in this country as a result," Frieden said on CBS's "Face the Nation." There are at least 102 reported cases in 14 states, according to the CDC. Frieden said that the U.S. is "likely to see more cases." Frieden said there is "aggressive public health action" to identify those with measles, isolate...

FULL TITLE: Clarke D Forsythe describes at length why legal abortion deaths do not make it into CDC and other statistics Clarke D Forsythe, in his excellent book Abuse of Discretion: the inside Story of Roe Versus Wade (buy the book on Amazon here) explains at length why legal abortion deaths and injuries do not make it into the published statistics. “Abortion injuries and deaths are washed out of the US public health system through a series of filters. The first filter is the clinics. Clinics do not take responsibility for injuries if they can avoid it. Standard procedure for...

On January 16, The Washington Post (WaPo) reported that guns may serve a defensive purpose—that defensive gun uses may be slightly higher than 3 million each year—but we will not know until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) begin their research into guns as a public health issue. WaPo quoted a New American Magazine article which said, “Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year.”

The CDC released early estimates of the influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) today. Many of us saw the report circulating that the VE was 23% overall. But if you happen to be 18-49 years old, it’s only 12%.

Miami (AFP) - This US winter season's flu vaccine has been just 23 percent effective at preventing doctor visits for people of all ages, according to health authorities' early estimates out Thursday....The flu vaccine is generally most effective in young, healthy people under 65.This season, vaccine effectiveness has been highest -- 26 percent -- in those aged six months through 17 years.Vaccine effectiveness wa s just 12 percent for ages 18 to 49 years and 14 percent for people age 50 years and older, the CDC said.

At least nine people – including two unvaccinated Riverside County siblings – contracted measles after visiting Disneyland Resort in mid-December, state health officials said Wednesday. Public health officials are also investigating three additional cases of suspected measles, which is highly contagious, and a spokesman with the department said it would not be surprising to see more cases. All 12 reported visiting Disneyland or Disney California Adventure between Dec. 15 and Dec. 20. {snip} Of the nine confirmed cases linked to Disneyland, only one was vaccinated, according to the state Department of Public Health.

2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa - Cumulative Reported Cases Graphs "Graph 1: Cumulative reported cases of Ebola virus disease in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, March 25, 2014 – January 7, 2015, by date of WHO Situation Report, n=20712 "Graph 1 shows the cumulative reported cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone provided in WHO situation reports beginning on March 25, 2014 through the most recent situation report on January 7, 2015. Cumulative reported cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone[CSV - 1 page] Graph 2: Cumulative reported cases and deaths of Ebola virus disease in Guinea, March 25,...

The CDC used to have a report called the Morbidity and Mortality Report which reported the previous week's deaths and reasons. I used to have it mailed to me years ago. I remember a while back on HUSSIAN's watch during a flu season, the CDC stopped reporting where deaths were occurring. I have not been able to find the report recently. Has that information been taken from us totally? I went to the CDC

New York City preschoolers will be heading back to class next week with memories of new holiday toys, vacation adventures, and, health officials hope, a flu shot.In fact, because of a new city requirement, young children can, for the first time in the city’s history, be excluded from class if they have not received a flu vaccination.The new rule, which applies to some 150,000 children in city-licensed day care centers and preschools, was quietly adopted by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the waning days of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration. 

he U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to hire a chief of laboratory safety, a new post that has taken on more urgency after a CDC scientist was possibly exposed to Ebola in a laboratory last week. Creating a new high-level safety position was a key recommendation of a months-long internal investigation into the mishandling of anthrax and bird flu in CDC labs this past summer, according to an internal CDC memo obtained by Reuters. Those incidents called into question safety practices at more than 1,000 laboratory and support facilities across the CDC's sprawling network of scientists.

As many as a dozen scientists may have been exposed to the Ebola virus at a lab of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agency officials said Wednesday. The potential exposure took place Monday when scientists conducting research on the virus at a high-security lab mistakenly put a sample containing the potentially infectious virus in a place where it was transferred for processing to another CDC lab, also in Atlanta on the CDC campus.