The state must end its mandatory vaccination programme now!

Let Kerrome Forrest not die in vain

A happy, healthy, one year old boy, Kerrome Forrest, is now dead after receiving his state mandated MMR vaccine. He died less than 24 hours after receiving the vaccine.

So what is the response of the state? According to Dr Karen Lewis-Bell, Director of Family Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Environment “we have to do a thorough investigation” and while this is being done “a hold on the use of that vaccine” will be implemented. Dr Lewis-Bell declined to say what vaccine this is but we already know that it is the MMR vaccine --- mumps, measles, rubella -- childhood diseases which in themselves are not life threatening.

What is also not clear is whether it is a “hold” on that batch of vaccines (assuming it can be traced) or the entire MMR programme. In either case we believe that Dr Lewis-Bell and the Ministry of Health should stop playing GOD and initiate a public discussion about the safety of vaccines, and explain why parents should not have the right to chose whether to vaccinate their children or not.

But it is clear that unless pushed the MOH is not going to have such a public discussion because they have their own agenda (perhaps a special relationship with the pharmaceutical companies?) of pushing mandatory vaccines which have nothing to do with public health. Dr Lewis-Bell confirms this when she admits that though the “child had visited the health centre and received a vaccine” there is “no evidence to say that it is the vaccine that has caused the death of this child." Is Dr Lewis-Bell suggesting that the child died from unnatural causes?

Well, a postmortem was peformed on Monday June 29 and a cause of death could not be determined, except that lab tests will now be done on organ tissues. (The results are due in a month's time!) It is doubtful that the good public health doctor would be saying that there is no evidence if it were a bullet that had slammed into the head of this healthy child.

And why say that there is no evidence that the vaccine caused the death when usage of these vaccines has been suspended? The answer we believe is that Dr Lewis-Bell is confident that the vaccine will be ruled out by the government pathologist as the cause of death, and the programme will be resumed. No different from government pathologists assisting the police when examining the bodies of young men shot by them. It is called the circle of impunity.

The Ministry of Health working in tandem with the Ministry of Education is engaging in a form of genocide against Jamaican children by this mindless, unnecessary, and oppressive mandatory vaccination programme. The Health Act mandates vaccinations and threatens parents and principals with fines/jail time and expulsion from schools which contradicts the Education Act which makes public education mandatory.

The truth is that the MOH and health professionals can make no guarantee about the safety of vaccinations. Is there any health professional who can absolutely guarantee the safety of any of these vaccines and support that guarantee by putting up a bond in case of damage? In the case of damage to children, who should the parents sue: the government which mandates these vaccinations or the pharmaceutical companies?

It therefore stands to reason that in the absence of such guarantees parents should have the right to make a choice and the Health Act mandating vaccinations is therefore an oppressive and unconstitutional violation of the right to ‘life, liberty, and security of the person, freedom of conscience, and not to be subject to cruel and inhuman treatment’

It is time for the state to stop burying its head in the sand and recognize a growing epidemic of autism among Jamaican children, which is recognized world wide, as being linked to vaccines.

Let Kerrome Forrest no die in vain: It is time to reject mandatory vaccinations and have an intelligent public discussion about the harm being done to children. The state must be mandated to facilitate this discussion because of its already poor record in protecting the rights of children.

Lloyd D'Aguilar

482-2907
NB: Immediately after posting the above it was discovered that Dr Karen Lewis Bell lied when she said that the vaccine had been put on hold. There was no directive given to any of Jamaica's health centres to put the vaccine on hold. Just goes to show that as far as the state is concerned Kerrome Forrest is just a statistic and the state will continue its fascist-like policy of forcing healthy children to be vaccinated and to accept the risk of permanent damage or death. Is it farfetched to say that this sounds like attempted genocide?
Lloyd D'Aguilar