AFA of PA ACTION ALERT
June 30, 2016
Issue
Allegheny County Only Alert — (1) Effort to Mandate HPV Vaccination and (2) Petition Drive
Details
1.) The Allegheny County Health Department (an unelected body) is poised to mandate all 11 and 12 year olds must have the HPV vaccination in order to enter school! So . . . the “health” department is poised to require pre-teen students to get a vaccination to prevent a sexually transmitted disease. Given that the HPV (Human papillomavirus) is sexually transmitted and not contagious in a school setting, this mandate is totally unnecessary for the health of school children.
The Health Department has asked for comments and based on the public response, a recommendation will be made to the Department of Health on July 13, on whether or not to proceed with a HPV mandate.
At a recent public meeting, numerous doctors and medical professionals (some who are on payroll with Merck) spoke in favor of the vaccine mandate, so YOUR input is critical to combat the misinformation that has been provided to the council members. (Probably just a “coincidence” that they worked for Merck — surely this pharmaceutical company doesn’t expect to gain monetarily if the mandate is approved!!!)
Additionally, there have been a number of reported adverse affects (some fatal) associated with the vaccine. Click here for more information and some of the stories.
2.) In 2014 Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald blocked the efforts of a County Council member to place our National Motto “In God We Trust” in the Gold Room of the County Courthouse. There is currently a petition drive to force a referendum question on the Allegheny County ballot in November. They must obtain 20,000 signatures by August 5 in order for the question to be placed on the November 8th ballot. Can you help gather signatures? See number 2 under “Action Steps” for info.
The question is:
“Shall Section 5-103.04 be added to be Administrative Code of Allegheny County to read:
“The motto of the United States, “In God We Trust,” codified at 36 U.S.C. Section 302, shall be permanently affixed, or otherwise displayed in the Gold Room of the county courthouse in a prominent location, in not less than 8-inch lettering. The motto shall hereafter be maintained in accordance with accepted standards of facility maintenance.”
Action Steps
1.) a.) Contact Allegheny County Health Department with your concerns at: publichhealthcomment@alleghenycounty.us Karen Hacker is the director of the Allegheny County Health Department. Your comments don’t have to be long. Something as short as:
Dear Ms. Hacker:
I do NOT support the mandating of the HPV vaccine.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
___________________________________
If you want to write a longer letter, here are some talking points:
- Parents have a right to make healthcare decisions for their children- not the state, much less the county. The HPV Vaccine is already available to any family who wants it. It does NOT need to be mandated.
- With over 100 strains, HPV is the most common STD in the US. HPV infection is experienced by the majority of sexually active women and men without symptoms and is naturally cleared from the body within two years by more than 90 % of those who become infected. According to the CDC, “HPV is very common in women under age 30,” and “…most HPV that is found in these women will never cause them health problems.”
- As of June 24, 2016, there were 44,633 vaccine reaction reports made to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) associated with HPV vaccines. 5,749 were classified as serious reactions, and included unexplained collapse, seizures, muscle pain and weakness; disabling fatigue, paralysis, brain inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, blood clots, multiple sclerosis, optic neuritis, spontaneous abortions, lupus, strokes, cardiac issues, seizures/convulsions, and many other health problems (VAERS reporting is voluntary and it receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events)
- According to the State Health Department’s EDDIE database, for the last 5 years that data is available (from 2009-2013) the average death rate due to cervical AND uterine cancer accounted for 0.2% of ALL deaths in Allegheny County and less than 1% of all cancer deaths. If we assume every case was caused by HPV, which is improbable, we can deduce that there never was and never will be a cervical cancer epidemic!
b.) Ultimately, the Allegheny County Council will act upon the Health Department’s recommendation. Contact County Executive Rich Fitzgerald with your concerns at 412-350-6500, and e-mail him your comments at executive@alleghenycounty.us
c.) Contact County Council with your concerns. Click here to use the form to contact all the County Council members.
d.) Contact YOUR County Council member with your concerns. Click here for the list of districts and here for the County Council members.
2.) For more information on the effort to force an “In God We Trust” referendum question on the November 8th ballot in Allegheny County, contact Rich Majewski ASAP at 6431 Highview Street, South Park, PA 15129, call at 412-867-5847 or email inspiredbaseball@gmail.com
