Vaxxed 2: The People's Truth (2019)

VAXXED II — anti-vax movie with a devoted following shown at the State TheatreShow more

By ChrisAnna Mink

Read more at: https://www.modbee.com/living/health-fitness/article238989403.html#storylink=cpy

Few stories are more compelling than parents talking about the death of their child. Those stories in the movie, “VAXXED II: The People’s Truth, captivated more than 300 people at The State Theatre on Saturday evening. “This was different than the first movie,” said Destiny Avila of Manteca, “It was heart-wrenching because it was the parents’ stories.”

Avila is the mother of a 10-year-old boy whom she describes as vaccine-injured. She said that two days after her son received his pre-kindergarten vaccines, he started having seizures, which are still uncontrolled. She and her husband, Dominic, attended with their 3-month-old son, whom they are not vaccinating.

“VAXXED II” showed many parents sharing stories, similar or scarier than the Avilas, about their children with severe physical and developmental disabilities or death that they attributed to the vaccines.

The stories are deeply moving. But the film is missing scientific data, undermining its credibility.

The film is the follow-up to “VAXXED: From Cover-up to Catastrophe,” the controversial movie released in 2016, which critics deemed anti-vaccine propaganda. The first movie was directed by Andrew Wakefield and alleges that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) covered up a study proving a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.

Wakefield is a British physician who published the original study stating that MMR vaccine caused autism. The paper was retracted because the data were fraudulent and Wakefield’s medical license was revoked. He also appears in “VAXXED II.”

Subsequently, multiple large studies in several countries have shown no link between measles vaccine and autism. The research has done little to alleviate mistrust of vaccines among the anti-vaccine community.
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BEHIND OUR REPORTING - Why we did this story
Some people continue to debate the value of vaccinations. A recent law passed in California restricting medical exemptions for vaccines has a challenge from a group of protesters who want voters to overturn it.
The law authorizes the California Department of Public Health to review vaccine medical exemptions that doctors issue for children enrolling in school.

What you should know
Reporter ChrisAnna Mink is a pediatrician who early in her career was a vaccine researcher.
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“I educated myself and vaccines are not worth the risk,” said Rachel Williams from Riverbank, the mother of two unvaccinated boys, ages 9 and 11. She and Jessica Van Hille-Hart, who also has two unvaccinated teen boys, have an informal local group that invited the “VAXXED II” crew to Modesto and arranged for the movie’s showing.

“Our friends in Modesto asked us to come, because there is so much injury and death in Modesto” said Polly Tommey, the film’s executive producer. She has an adult son with autism whom she describes as vaccine-injured due to the MMR vaccine when he was 13 months old.

A recurring theme from parents in the movie was they weren’t informed that vaccines could have risks. For nearly three decades, Vaccine Information Sheets are required by law to be given to vaccine recipients. Like all medications, no vaccine is risk-free.

Tommey said the problems are more intense in California since passage of SB277, the law mandating vaccines for children to attend daycare or school. By “problems,” it was unclear if she was referring to more perceived vaccine injuries or infringement of parental rights.

In Stanislaus County, 95.9% of children starting kindergarten are immunized. Data are not available about the number of vaccine-injured children in the county.

However, nationwide, there was about one injury claim for every 1 million doses of the 3.4 billion doses of adult and pediatric vaccines distributed from 2006 through 2017. The federal government maintains the database as part of Vaccine Injury Compensation court, which adjudicates injury claims.

Robert Kennedy Jr. is an executive producer of the docu-commentary and he speaks in the film about the risks of vaccines, though he has no medical background.

The movie includes physicians and nurses who describe their perception of the risks of vaccines and the diseases they are meant to prevent. One doctor describes measles as a rash, a cough and a cold that children get over in a few days, which she contrasts with autism, a lifelong devastating affliction.

That measles description is inconsistent with medical experts who describe the infection as serious with complications such as pneumonia, brain damage and death.

In 2019, a record number of measles cases occurred globally, killing 140,000 people. More than 1,250 cases occurred in the U.S. with 70 of those in California. The CDC considers vaccine refusal as a major contributor to the outbreak.

VAXXED II Touring
Tommey and the crew have been on a bus tour of the U.S. and Canada in a black, modified RV, with VAXXED painted on the sides since release of the first movie in 2016. Families with a child whom they consider to be vaccine-injured are recorded telling their stories and they can write their names on the bus. Nearly 9,000 names have been inscribed.

Neither VAXXED movies have been allowed to stream on services, such as Amazon or Netflix, because of concerns that they spreading inaccurate information and threaten public health.

After the movie, a panel discussion with the filmmakers and three local anti-vaccine parents and an electric candlelight vigil in honor of the injured and deceased were held.

No pro-vaccine representatives were on the panel or asked questions during the discussions.

An audience member asked, “How do we stop the pestilence of our government? When does Pan get the death wish? What’s our future?” State Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) is a pediatrician and he authored SB277, as well as SB276 requiring public health officials review of vaccine exemptions.

Sandi Olsen, panel member who was introduced as a local home school mother and vaccine law expert, responded: “Senator Pan was hired to do the job he’s doing. The legislation was already written by the pharmaceutical industry. We need people voting. They’re not listening to us. It’s up to us to refuse laws that are immoral, unnatural and infringe upon our God-given rights.”

The audience responded with rousing applause.

Last December, The State Theatre sent an email to their board stating that the theater had been rented by a private group and this was “not a film endorsed or selected by the State Theatre staff or its Board.”

This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.

This story was originally published January 7, 2020, 2:41 PM.

ChrisAnna Mink is pediatrician and health reporter for The Modesto Bee. She covers children’s health in Stanislaus County and the Central Valley. Her position is funded through the financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with The GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of her work.

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