Kick Kids Out of Head Start if They Aren’t Vaccinated on the Government’s Schedule?

There’s a new front in the push to mandate vaccinations—this time on underprivileged children. We need to stop it NOW. Action Alert!
A new bill, expected to be introduced in Congress this week, would require that all children in Head Start programs be fully vaccinated unless medical reasons exempt them. The bill, “A Head Start on Vaccinations Act,” would give parents three months to get their kids vaccinated and follow the CDC’s recommended schedule, which includes a total of thirty-four shots for fourteen different diseases—all before the age of six.
The CDC has called for more and more vaccines, at younger and younger ages. Newborns in 1964 were immunized against six diseases. Today they are vaccinated against sixteen diseases, receiving one injection at birth and up to nineteen more injections in their first six months of life. So many vaccinations at such a young age are a tremendous assault on a child’s immune system. Respected integrative physician Dr. Russell L. Blalock notes that “multiple vaccines given close together may overstimulate the growing brain’s immune system and destroy brain cells.”
The Head Start Program is a Department of Health and Human Services project that “promotes the school readiness of young children from low-income families.” In FY2014, Head Start served about 989,000 families, but the number of children enrolled in the program is higher than that, since some families have more than one child who participates.
While we’ve seen numerous attempts at the state level to eliminate or restrict religious, philosophical, and personal belief exemptions, and to mandate vaccinations for children who attend public schools, this is one of the first attempts by the federal government to get involved in mandating vaccinations. Clearly, the federal government is using any means necessary to push its vaccine agenda on unwilling individuals, even if it means usurping powers traditionally reserved to the states.
We already have a situation in which the federal government develops vaccines, partners with Big Pharma vaccine makers, subsidizes them, fast-tracks approvals, denies citizens the right to sue for harm, and pushes the states to mandate vaccines, then turns around and accepts drug company money and political contributions. Now even the fig leaf separation of federal officials from the state mandate will be eroded.
Moreover, as we have said before, Congress needs to face the facts about vaccines. They are not 100% safe—nor are they guaranteed to stop diseases. From 2005 to 2014, no child in America died from measles, yet 108 babies died from the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccine. There is also an abundance of evidence that shows the dangers of exposure to even small amounts of mercury, which can still be found in flu vaccines. Mercury has been linked to severe neurological effects and even autism. Despite the widely touted belief that the link between vaccines and autism has been “debunked,” researchers found eighty-three cases of autism among those compensated by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program for vaccine-induced brain damage.
There’s an even more troubling aspect of this proposal. Last year, we wrote about the CDC whistleblower, Dr. William Thompson, who broke a decade of silence over the government’s deliberate concealment of the link between the MMR vaccine and a dramatically increased risk of autism, particularly in African American boys. The fact that African American children make up nearly a third of all kids in Head Start make this legislation all the more dangerous, exposing vulnerable populations to unnecessary harm. Much more research is needed about how vaccines affect minority children. Mandates targeted on minorities without such research are especially unconscionable.
If passed, this legislation would punish parents who want to do what’s best for their children but who also have legitimate concerns about the dangers of vaccines—concerns that the federal government refuses to address or even to acknowledge. This is what is so odd about the vaccine debate. Proponents of vaccines try to wrap themselves in the mantle of science but refuse to discuss the science itself.
An example of this all-too-common-attitude is Time columnist Joe Klein. He devoted an entire recent column (3/9/15) to descrying “strident voices” in our political discourse. He wants “moderation…a grown-up and civil alternative” to today’s “screech.” Then in his next to last sentence he refers to “crazy…nutso talk about vaccinations.”
The questions being asked about the safety of vaccines are not in the least “nutso.” And it is not scientific to argue that vaccinations and vaccination schedules cannot be improved.
This new federal bill also sets an extremely dangerous precedent: if the federal government can step in and mandate vaccinations for participants in programs that receive federal funding, what’s next? This bill could be the beginning of a very slippery slope leading to mandatory vaccinations for all American children—or all Americans, no matter what age or situation in life. Where does this stop?
Action Alert! Tell Congress it’s irresponsible and inappropriate for the federal government to get involved in vaccine mandates. Not only is this traditionally a state issue, but the well-documented dangers of runaway vaccine schedules certainly warrant caution. There are medical reasons for even more caution with minority children, who need to be the subject of more vaccine-related research. If passed, this bill sets a dangerous precedent that could pave the way for further vaccine mandates for millions of Americans who participate in federally funded programs. Please send your message immediately!