FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, August 22, 2011
Contact: Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota – Patti Carroll (651) 785-5716
HDNet Report: Paper Reveals Stunning Rate of Autism Among Confirmed Vaccine Injury Cases
U.S. government, CDC send mixed signals regarding vaccine/autism link
This Tuesday HDNet TV’s World Report will broadcast an investigation of the recent analysis of
successful claims paid out through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).
The investigative report, “Vaccines and Autism: Mixed Signals,” will be broadcast tomorrow –
August 23 at 8 p.m. Central time. HDNet reporters ask, “Health officials in the U.S. have consistently
denied that there is any link between childhood vaccines and autism. So why is the government
quietly doling out big settlements to families who say just such a link harmed their children?”
http://www.hd.net/programs/hdnet-world-report/
The peer-reviewed paper that broke this story, titled “Unanswered Questions from the Vaccine
Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain
Injury,” was published in the Pace Environmental Law Review in May 2011.
150 families who were successful in proving a vaccine injury through the NVICP were interviewed
about their experience in the program and the specific vaccine damage their child sustained. In a
stunning 41% of cases (62), the child had a confirmed diagnosis of autism, or exhibited clear autistic
features. An additional 21 cases of autism among compensated vaccine victims were identified using
the government’s legal database.
There are over 1,100 additional cases of vaccine-induced brain damage that have been compensated
through the NVICP. “These 83 cases are only the tip of the iceberg,” said Patti Carroll, a contributor
to the paper and member of the Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota. “Additional cases of
compensated vaccine-induced autism have been discovered since the paper was published, and
further investigation is ongoing.”
The NVICP was established in 1986 to protect vaccine manufacturers from liability when their
products injure or kill people. Compensation is paid to victims from a fund collected through an
excise tax imposed on the sale of every vaccine. Over 2 billion dollars have been paid out since the
program’s inception, despite the fact that receiving compensation for vaccine injuries is an extremely
difficult and contentious process.
The CDC and medical industrial complex have continually reassured the public that vaccines do not
cause autism, even after information was leaked to the media in 2008 about the compensated case
of Hannah Poling. Although Hannah’s parents wanted to go public with her medical records in order
to educate parents and doctors about how and why vaccines caused their daughter’s autism, the
Department of Justice sealed the records in that case.
“Vaccine safety advocates knew then that the government was hiding something,” said Carroll. “We
were shocked to learn that not only did they know that vaccines cause autism, but that they have
known for over two decades. They blatantly lied to the public while quietly compensating families for
vaccine injuries resulting in autism. It is unconscionable that it took an autism advocacy organization
to uncover this deceit, but what is even more disturbing is that this truth had to be ‘uncovered’ at all.”
Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota demands a thorough investigation of those responsible, and
supports the push for congressional hearings on the constitutionality of the NVICP.