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PIC Releases Educational Documents Showing Chicken Pox (Varicella) Vaccine Has Not Been Proven Safer Than Chicken Pox

Free educational materials help parents make better informed vaccination decisions

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., October 24, 2023 – Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC) has introduced two new educational documents, “Varicella (Chicken Pox): What Parents Need to Know” and “Varicella Vaccine: Is It Safer Than Chicken Pox?” The educational materials include key scientific data on the risks of chicken pox as well as the risks of the varicella vaccine, assisting parents in making a more informed risk-benefit calculation for vaccination.

“Now more than ever, parents are motivated to learn more about the risks of childhood infections and their respective vaccines — and they want to know the numbers,” said Dr. Shira Miller, founder and president of Physicians for Informed Consent. “Although many parents remember from experience that chicken pox is generally benign, as the chicken pox vaccine is required for childcare and school attendance in all states, and with no religious or personal belief exemption in five states including California, we’re pleased to now make available for free a Disease Information Statement and Vaccine Risk Statement for chicken pox.”

Important facts from the Varicella (Chicken Pox) Disease Information Statement (DIS) are as follows:

  • More than 96% of new varicella infections are benign and not reported to public health departments.
  • Fatal cases of varicella are rare in the United States. Before the introduction of the varicella vaccination program, 1 in 40,000 or 0.003% of varicella cases were fatal.
  • Because varicella resolves on its own in almost all cases, usually only rest and hydration are necessary.
  • Immune globulin is available to treat immunocompromised patients who are exposed to chicken pox, such as those on chemotherapy.

Key facts from the Varicella (Chicken Pox) Vaccine Risk Statement (VRS) are as follows:

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, “It is not known how long a vaccinated person is protected against varicella.”
  • The Institute of Medicine has not ruled out the possibility that varicella vaccination can lead to stroke as well as several neurological and autoimmune disorders, including encephalopathy, cerebellar ataxia, transverse myelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, small fiber neuropathy, arthropathy, and thrombocytopenia.
  • Seizures may occur in about 1 in 940 children vaccinated with the varicella vaccine.
  • A study published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal shows the varicella vaccine may cause permanent injury 44 times more often than fatal varicella.
  • The chicken pox (varicella) vaccine has not been proven safer than chicken pox.

To safeguard children’s health, parents need access to balanced educational information on infectious diseases and vaccines. PIC makes scientific data freely available through its education program, a growing collection of concise, reader-friendly educational materials that support parents, physicians, and policymakers in calculating the risk-benefit ratio of vaccination. To read the newest DIS and VRS documents on chicken pox and the varicella vaccine, visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org/varicella.

Press Contact:
info@picphysicians.org
925-642-6651

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Physicians for Informed Consent States, 'For Normal-Risk Children, the Polio Vaccine is Not Proven Safer Than Polio Infection'


New Educational Materials Provide Important Data on Polio and the Polio Vaccine

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., September 7, 2023 (Newswire.com) – Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC) has introduced two new educational documents, “Polio: What Parents Need to Know” and “IPV Vaccine: Is It Safer Than Polio?” Packed with key statistical data on the risk of polio as well as the risk of the IPV (inactivated poliovirus) vaccine, the documents assist parents in making a more informed risk-benefit calculation for vaccination.

“Now more than ever, people have concerns about vaccines on the childhood vaccination schedule, and a question we hear all the time is ‘What about polio?’” said Greg Glaser, general counsel and national coalition director for Physicians for Informed Consent. “These new documents scientifically address this question, so more parents can research the vaccine and decide what’s best for their children.”

The following is a summary of essential facts included in the documents.

Polio – Disease Information Statement (DIS):

  • About 95% of people who contract polio have no symptoms (asymptomatic).
  • The great majority of polio infections that are fatal or result in permanent paralysis occur in people who have had their tonsils surgically removed (tonsillectomy) or do not rest after feeling sick.
  • Before the introduction of the polio vaccine in 1955, paralytic poliomyelitis was a disease of low incidence, occurring in about 1 in 22,000 or 0.005% in the U.S. population.
  • Before the polio vaccine was introduced, about 0.0005% (1 in 190,000) of children at normal risk contracted polio that was fatal or led to permanent paralysis.

Polio – Vaccine Risk Statement (VRS):

  • The polio vaccine does not prevent asymptomatic infection or transmission.
  • The Institute of Medicine has not ruled out the possibility that IPV vaccination can lead to Guillain-Barré syndrome or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
  • Seizures may occur in about 1 in 829 children vaccinated with IPV vaccine.
  • A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows an IPV-containing vaccine may cause permanently injury 38 times more often than permanent injury from polio infection.
  • The polio vaccine has not been proven safer than polio infection for normal-risk children.

“As polio is so feared in our culture, the data we reveal is paradigm-shifting,” said Dr. Shira Miller, founder and president of Physicians for Informed Consent. “Our educational documents show that for normal-risk children the polio vaccine is not proven safer than polio infection — which has serious implications for both children’s health and vaccine mandates for school attendance.”

To protect and enhance children’s health, it’s necessary that parents have access to reliable infectious disease and vaccine educational information. PIC makes scientific data freely available through its education program, a growing collection of concise, reader-friendly educational materials that support parents, physicians, and policymakers in calculating the risk-benefit ratio of vaccination. To read the newest DIS and VRS documents on polio and the IPV vaccine, visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org/polio.

Press Contact:
info@picphysicians.org
925-642-6651

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Physicians for Informed Consent Updates Its Information Statement About Vaccines and Immunocompromised Schoolchildren, Includes Data on COVID-19 Vaccines

The updated document presents five reasons why the vaccination status of other schoolchildren is not a significant risk to immunocompromised schoolchildren

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF., March 28, 2022 (Newswire.com) – 

Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC), an educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics, has released an update to its information statement entitled “Vaccines: What About Immunocompromised Schoolchildren?” Developed as a concise, two-page educational brief, the document includes new information about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines, and addresses the common question, “Is it a health risk to immunocompromised kids if other schoolchildren are not vaccinated?”

A safe environment for all people, including schoolchildren, is the goal of everyone involved in public health. Because immunocompromised schoolchildren are among the most vulnerable children in school, this educational document focuses on concerns about their safety, and provides key scientific data about infectious diseases, and the effects and limitations of vaccination. Importantly, the document (referenced here) shows five reasons why the vaccination status of a child is not a significant risk to other classmates in general or immunocompromised schoolchildren in particular. For example:

  1. Some vaccines cannot prevent the spread of the bacteria or viruses they target. As such, children vaccinated with the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine (DTaP) or the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) can still be infected with diphtheria-causing bacteria, pertussis bacteria, or poliovirus and spread them to others, even with mild or no symptoms of their own. The influenza vaccines (TIV and LAIV) have not been observed to significantly reduce the spread of influenza. About half of schoolchildren vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine can still be infected with measles virus and spread it to others, even with mild or no symptoms of their own. And several studies of the COVID-19 vaccine suggest that the vaccine has had no measurable impact on preventing transmission.
  2. Not all infectious diseases targeted for vaccination are contagious. For example, tetanus cannot spread from person to person under any circumstances. Consequently, a child’s vaccination status for a non-contagious disease does not pose a risk to immunocompromised schoolchildren.
  3. Some infectious diseases are not spread in schools. For example, the main routes of hepatitis B transmission are sexual contact, injection drug use, and being born to an infected mother — routes of transmission that do not occur in school. Nearly all cases of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) occur among children younger than 5 years of age; therefore, nearly all Hib transmission does not occur in school. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is sexually transmitted and is therefore not spread in school.

The Physicians for Informed Consent educational document on vaccines and immunocompromised schoolchildren discusses COVID-19; diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP); polio; influenza (flu); measles, mumps and rubella (MMR); varicella (chickenpox); hepatitis b; Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib); and human papillomavirus (HPV).

“We’re happy to be able to help parents in this way, when they are researching which vaccines are required for attending school,” said Dr. Shira Miller, founder and president of Physicians for Informed Consent. “And the data indicate that whatever vaccine decisions parents make for their children, those decisions don’t significantly affect other children — even if they are immunocompromised. Thus, informed consent and informed refusal in vaccination are both logical and moral, and there is no justification to mandate schoolchildren receive COVID-19 vaccines, or any other vaccines.”

To read all five reasons why the vaccination status of a child is not a significant risk to other classmates, download your copy of “Vaccines: What About Immunocompromised Schoolchildren?” at physiciansforinformedconsent.org/immunocompromised-schoolchildren. Readers are encouraged to share the document with their physicians, friends and family.

About Physicians for Informed Consent

Physicians for Informed Consent is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics. PIC delivers data on infectious diseases and vaccines, and unites doctors, scientists, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and families who support voluntary vaccination. In addition, the PIC Coalition for Informed Consent consists of over 300 U.S. and international organizations. To learn more or to become a member, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org.

Press contact: info@picphysicians.org

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