Why the Documentary Vaxxed is so Controversial and Important to Support

Recently Dr. Andrew Wakefield directed the documentary Vaxxed to educate the public about autism in general, and more specifically to address the coverup of the 2004 research connecting the MMR vaccine to autism. Gastroenterologist Wakefield has become a champion for the autism community, which stands behind Wakefield’s dedication and work to help the growing numbers of children suffering from autism. Dr. Wakefield’s work has focused on alleviating the gastrointestinal distress often accompanying patients of autism. [1]

The movie Vaxxed is controversial because the coverup of the MMR vaccine connection to autism has far-reaching implications for the very deep corruption in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the thousands of children who have suffered from a devastating disease that could have been avoided. Discrediting this information and keeping it from the public’s attention is paramount for the pharmaceutical companies that profit from vaccines. [2,3]

Congressional Testimony Exposes The Truth Of The Vaccine-Autism Coverup

On July 29, 2015, Congressman Bill Posey presented details of omission and destruction of study records by colleagues of Dr. William Thompson, senior scientist at the CDC. Dr. Thompson admitted that the destroyed 2004 study results showed a connection between the MMR vaccination and autism in African-American infants.

The following are parts of an unofficial transcript prepared by Adriana Gamones of the Age of Autism. The video may be viewed to hear the contents of the congressional report.

Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL) speaks at 1:02:29.

Original Link: http://www.c-span.org/video/?327309-1/us-house-morning-hour&live

Congressman Posey reported:

 “In August, 2014, Dr. William Thompson, a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked with a whistleblower attorney to provide my office with documents related to a 2004 CDC study that examined the possibility of a relationship between the mumps, measles and rubella vaccines and autism. In a statement released in August, 2014, Dr. Thompson stated, ‘I regret that my co-authors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the Journal of Pediatrics.’

 Mr. Speaker, I respectfully request the following excerpts from the statement written by Dr. Thompson be entered into record.”

Now, quoting Dr. Thompson:

 “My primary job duties while working in the Immunization Safety Branch from 2000 to ’06 were lead or co-lead three major vaccine safety studies—the MADDSP MMR Autism Cases Control study was being carried out in response to the Wakefield Lancet study that suggested an association between the MMR vaccine and an autism-like health outcome. There were several major concerns among scientists and consumer advocates outside the CDC in the fall of 2000 regarding the execution of the Verstraeten study.

One of the important goals that was determined up front in the spring of ’01, before any of these studies started, was to have all three protocols vetted outside the CDC prior to the start of the analyses so that consumer advocates could not claim that we were presenting analyses that presented our own goals and biases. We hypothesized that if we found statistically significant effects at either 18 or 36 month thresholds, we would conclude that vaccinating children early with MMR could lead to autism-like characteristics or features. We all met and finalized the study protocol and analysis plan. The goal was to not deviate from the analysis plan to avoid the debacle that occurred with the Verstraeten thimerosal study published in Pediatrics in’03. At the September 5th meeting, we discussed in detail how to code race for both the sample and the birth certificate sample.

At the bottom of Table 7 it also shows that for the non-birth certificate sample, the adjusted race effect statistical significance was huge. All the authors and I met and decided sometime between August and September ’02 not to report any race effects for the paper. Sometime soon after the meeting, we decided to exclude reporting any race effects, the co-authors scheduled a meeting to destroy documents related to the study. The remaining four co-authors all met and brought a big garbage can into the meeting room and reviewed and went through all the hard copy documents that we had thought we should discard and put them in a huge garbage can. However, because I assumed it was illegal and would violate both FOIA and DOJ requests, I kept hard copies of all documents in my office and I retained all associated computer files. I believe we intentionally withheld controversial findings from the final draft of the Pediatrics paper.”

Congressman Bill Posey continued:

“Mr. Speaker, I believe it’s our duty to ensure that the documents that Dr. Thompson provided are not ignored. Therefore I will provide them to members of Congress and the house committees upon request. Considering the nature of the whistleblower’s documents, as well as the involvement of the CDC, a hearing and a thorough investigation is warranted. So, I ask Mr. Speaker, I beg, I implore my colleagues on the appropriations committees to please, please take such action. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.” [4, 5]

Blackout By Mainstream Media Of Coverup Of MMR Vaccine-Autism Study Results

While this important news was covered widely by the alternative media sources, as usual, there was virtually a blackout by mainstream media. This reality is fairly well known, accepted and criticized by those in the holistic health community. It explains why alternative news sources are so critical for those seeking news outside of sources supporting conventional medicine protocols.

Mainstream media is funded largely by their advertisers. Pharmaceutical companies comprise a large part of media’s funding dollars. [6]

The powers and pressures yielded by pharmaceutical companies are immense. Pharmaceutical dollars influence physicians, members of Congress and news reporting. It is quite likely that they impacted the showing of the Vaxxed movie at the Tribeca Film Festival. [7]

Vaxxed Was Removed From The Tribeca Film Festival, But Picked Up By Cinema Libre

The important Vaxxed documentary was scheduled to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, but was pulled after extreme pressure for its removal. Cinema Libre picked up the film and is in the process of showing the film throughout the US.

Cinema Libre Chairman Philippe Diaz said in a statement:

“We chose to distribute this film to correct a major issue, which is the suppression of medical data by a governmental agency that may very well be contributing to a significant health crisis. The media storm of last week also revealed another issue: the hyper-mediatization by some members of the media and the documentary community who had not even seen the film, as well as Tribeca executives, which condemned it as anti-vaccine.”

Richard Castro, head of distribution, said, ‘It’s disturbing that an American film festival can succumb so easily to pressure to censor a film that it has already selected and announced. On Friday I received a call from Tribeca executives expressing concerns about showing the film, but no opportunity was afforded our filmmakers to even address those concerns. When I questioned the rationale, it was indicated that sponsors’ interest was a factor.’” [8]

Robert DeNiro And The Vaxxed Movie

Robert DeNiro is one of the founders of the Tribeca Film Festival, now in its fifteenth year. In an interview on the Today show, DeNiro supported the contents of the film Vaxxed and he emphasized the importance of the film being viewed.

He called out mainstream investigative journalists for failing to do their jobs and implored them to actually investigate the connection between vaccinations and autism. DeNiro shared that he has an 18 year-old child who suffers from autism and that his wife recalls their child’s regression following the MMR vaccine. DeNiro is personally touched by autism and wants research done that will uncover causes and treatments. [9]

Respected Medical Journalist Del Bigtree And Vaxxed

Del Bigtree is an Emmy award-winning medical journalist who produced the film Vaxxed. In an excellent interview, Bigtree revealed how he became acquainted with Dr. Andrew Wakefield and made the decision to produce the important documentary.

When questioned as to his objective in producing the film Vaxxed, Bigtree stated:

“I want the media to be held accountable for the weeks and weeks of covering a measles outbreak at Disneyland, terrifying people when only 644 people were affected. That’s .000002% of the people in this country, which effectively translates to zero, when one in 45 kids is now diagnosed with autism. I’d like the media to explain why it won’t cover the story of a top CDC scientist who admits they committed fraud on the MMR study when they discovered a causal link between the vaccine and autism, a disease that is accelerating so fast it could spell the end of our society. If that’s not a story, what is?

I also hope the film will be a tipping point that will allow tons of doctors to come forward and admit they’ve long known there’s a link between vaccines and autism. It should create questions among mainstream audiences about the whole nature of safety testing in medicine. Drugs have to undergo rigorous studies which are far more expensive than the limited safety work done with vaccines. I want parents to realize that their kids’ vaccines are not being appropriately studied—they haven’t been studied nearly as well as Viagra. We’ve been playing Russian roulette with the health of the children in this country.” [10]

The Media’s Expected, Biased, Unfair Response To Vaxxed

A quick news search will reveal tremendous media support maintaining the denial between the MMR vaccine and autism. Wakefield is painted as a quack and demonized unfairly, while the movie Vaxxed is criticized severely. [11-14]

Use Of Quackery Label To Discredit Alternative Medicine

The esteemed and brilliant physician Dr. Andrew Wakefield is commonly portrayed by conventional physicians and mainstream media as a quack. The use of the term quackery is calculated and meant to immediately discredit any individual or treatment which threatens the profits of mainstream medical practices.

This strategy to demonize any health practice, research or physician which threatens conventional medicine protocols is longstanding. It began early in the history of medicine. Quackery name calling has aggressively been used to destroy the reputations of chiropractors, along with successful practitioners who safely treated and cured cancer patients using alternative treatments. [15]

Why See And Support The Film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up To Catastrophe

Vaxxed is an excellent film that exposes the truth about autism and the coverup of research connecting the MMR vaccination to autism. The documentary includes many important experts. It provides information that cannot be obtained from mainstream media.

The film includes interviews with Dr. Brian Hooker, with whom Dr. Thompson leaked documents. Vaxxed also interviews several autism experts and physicians, including Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, Mark Blaxill, and Dr. James Sears. Former drug representatives and Representative Bill Posey are also included in the film. [16]

The NYC Movie Guru gave Vaxxed an excellent review on April 1, 2016. The following is a small excerpt from his review:

“The controversial doc Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, about the CDC’s cover-up of data in a 2004 study that links MMR (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) vaccines to autism, will open your eyes to the corruption of a government agency whose job is to protect public welfare. Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the film’s director, combines fair and balanced interviews with sources ranging from parents of autistic children who were harmed by MMR vaccines to politicians, doctors and a former pharmaceutical rep along with archival footage of congressional audio recordings of Dr. William Thompson, CDC whistleblower who called Dr. Brian Hooker, a biologist, to confess that the CDC had covered-up and even manipulated crucial data in the 2004 study. Vaxxed does bring up the fact that Dr. Wakefield was accused of fraud in his 1998 report on MMR vaccines and autism, but he was falsely accused.” [17]

For more information, see Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.

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