July 22, 2009 09:18 AM Eastern Time 

National Vaccine Information Center Questions Safety of
School-Based Swine Flu Vaccine Programs

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is calling on the Obama Administration and state Governors to provide evidence that it is necessary to give experimental swine flu vaccines to children in schools and that strong mechanisms for vaccine safety screening, recording, monitoring, reporting and vaccine injury compensation are in place. NVIC announced that parental concerns about vaccine safety and vaccine mandates will be addressed Oct. 2-4, 2009 in Washington, D.C. at the Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination.

“Parents and legislators should be asking themselves right now: Why are children the first to get experimental swine flu vaccines? Are schools equipped to get signed informed consent from parents before vaccination, keep accurate vaccination records and screen out children biologically at high risk for suffering vaccine reactions? Will people giving these vaccines know how to monitor children afterwards and immediately record, report and treat serious health problems that develop? And will states have the financial resources to compensate children who are injured?” said NVIC co-founder and president, Barbara Loe Fisher.

According to the FDA, swine flu vaccines will be tested for only a few weeks on a few hundred children and adults. NVIC is questioning whether people giving vaccines to children in schools will obey safety provisions in the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 that include:

• Giving written vaccine benefit and risk information to parents before vaccination;
• Keeping accurate vaccine records including the manufacturer’s name and lot number;
• Recording and reporting serious health problems, hospitalizations, injuries and deaths that occur following vaccination to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) http://www.medalerts.org/

Federal Bioshield and pandemic legislation shields vaccine manufacturers and providers from all liability for injuries and deaths that occur when vaccines and drugs are administered under an Emergency Use Authorization during public health emergencies declared by government officials.

NVIC’s October 2-4, 2009 Conference will feature more than 35 scientists, doctors, bioethicists and legal experts discussing the science, policy, law and ethics of vaccination.

For more information, go to www.NVIC.org

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