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The French National Debate on Vaccine Safety

sipping coffee outside a French cafe

In response to growing skepticism in France about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, the French Minister of Social Affairs and Health Marisol Touraine has called for a national debate this fall on the future of vaccination in that country.1 Touraine, who is concerned that there is greater suspicion and “even defiance” toward vaccines among the French people,2 seems intent on putting an end to what she seems to believe is a debate driven more by rumors than science.

According to a recent presentation by European Ecology MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Michèle Rivasi, vaccine safety, “as a general rule, is being questioned” [in France].3  Rivasi went on to say:

Between 2005 and 2010, the proportion of French people in favour or very in favour of vaccination dropped from 90% to 60% (2013 INPES Peretti-Watel health barometer). The percentage of French people between the ages of 18 and 75 who are anti-vaccination increased from 8.5% in 2005 to 38.2% in 2010. In 2005, 58% of doctors questioned the usefulness of vaccines administered to children while 31% of doctors were expressing doubts about vaccine safety. These figures must surely have increased since then.3 

The issue of vaccine safety in France received renewed media coverage in April following a report by the country’s Technical Committee of Pharmacovigilance to the Directorate General of Health regarding the deaths of two newborn babies from intussusception in 2012 and 2014 after receiving the Rotarix and RotaTeq vaccines.4  Intussusception is a “serious disorder in which part of the intestine slides into an adjacent part of the intestine.”5  The oral vaccines, produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck respectively, have also been reported to have caused 500 adverse events—200 of which have been designated as “serious.”4 

Touraine opines that an open national debate to properly educate people on the benefits of vaccination and the importance of it to the country’s well-being is just what the French need. “Transparency is the best medicine to treat unfounded scientific arguments,”1 said Touraine.

It is unclear, however, how transparent this debate will be, given the French government’s (and particularly Touraine’s) stance on vaccination. Touraine has said that she believes vaccines are “absolutely fundamental to avoid disease.”2  She has also been quoted as saying, “Freedom stops where public health begins.”2 Additionally, Touraine’s own background raises concerns about undue personal bias. Prior to becoming Minister of Social Affairs and Health in 2012, Touraine is reported to have participated in a pharmaceutical industry lobbying organization called the Club Avenir de la Santé (Future of Health Club), funded by GSK.6  7  8 

So there is at least some question as to whether the debate will be a fair and balanced one open to all sides, and in which participants are given equal time and opportunities to present their arguments and supporting information. In other words, will France’s upcoming national debate on vaccination be more of a monologue by French health officials than an actual debate?


References:

1 Do vaccines do more harm than good? France launches national debate. RFI Aug. 1, 2015.
2 Greenhouse E. How France Is Handling Its Own Vaccine Debate. Bloomberg Feb. 3, 2015.
3 Erickson N. France: Meeting to debate HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix. SaneVax, Inc. June 25, 2015.
4 Solomon L. Newborn deaths lead France to reconsider two vaccines. VaccineFactCheck.org Apr. 5, 2015.
5 Mayo Clinic Staff. Intussusception. Mayo Clinic.
6 Pharmaleaks. Des lobbyistes de Big Pharma se font virer de l’Assemblée Nationale!. Agoravox Nov. 7, 2012.
7 Marisol Touraine. Wikipedia.
8 Le bureau de l’UFML (*) demande Madame Marisol Touraine de clarifier sa situation. Humanisme-Ecologie-République May 21, 2014.

37 Responses

    1. Mandatory vaccination is a civil rights issue, the freedom to choose. It’s not about right or wrong, though my opinion is that vaccinations potentially are deadly and not safe, but about the right to informed consent and the right to choose. There is so much fear based propaganda influencing the public and from whom is this mandate truly originating from? As is stated in the constitution it is the responsibility of WE THE PEOPLE to keep our government and those in power in check. It might not be a pretty road to fight the Establishment but are we going to let them dictate how we are to live and take care of our bodies?

    2. For the facts about vaccines, google

      “Vaccine McCarthyism” by Global Research.

      Of the many, many articles I’ve read in my research as a concerned parent of a toddler and infant, this was by FAR the most enlightening. Prepare to be shocked.

  1. We need to put a stop to jobs at hospitals threatening employees to either take the shot or lose their jobs… The occupational health team at the Adventist Hospital in DC is pushing the Tetanus, diphtheria and Pertussis (Tdap) and saying it is mandatory… or else lose your job…
    How hypocritical is this? of all the diseases that could be gotten at a hospital this is the one that hospital employees must protect themselves from??? what motivates this… the true care for their employees or the KICK back money promised to them from the pharmaceuticals? There is a payback involved here, its secret agenda hidden… but not from everyone… The Adventist Hospital is a sell out.

  2. 58% of French doctors questioning the usefulness of vaccines and 31% questioning the SAFETY of vaccines has already provided the answer to whether doubting the safety of vaccines is justified.In a Jury trial that would be more than enough to prove reasonable doubt and let the Precautionary principle apply. There should be NO acceptable level of collateral damage to children receiving vaccines, none whatsoever. No parent should have to see their healthy baby die after receiving a vaccine. It should be a crime to inject aluminium into the blood streams of immature babies.

      1. Lisa,

        Well said! How many more babies & children have to coincidentally get ill or in some cases die? My son IS vaccine damaged. MMR caused jerking seizures. This is stated on the CDC website as a severe reaction! How come I had to find this out yrs later> Aren’t these docs informed or just brainwashed & bought?!

        1. Cynthia sorry to hear about your son, truly I am. Have you heard of the Whistleblower from the CDC, a Top Scientist Dr. William Thompson. He and his colleagues conducted the DOJ ordered Safety Study on the MMR Vaccine that was published in Pediatrics in 2004. He came forward in last year and stated the CDC, himself & colleagues were FRAUDULENT with the study….omitting datasets from the final paper….to be specific they went into the board room with trash cans and pitched the findings that did NOT meet the CDC’s ideologies. A Julie Gerberding M.D. who was the CDC Director during this study, now is a Vice President of Merck (the manufacture of MMR). Here’s a link to the Whistleblowers attorney with the official statement (this law firm is considered the best in the country for whistleblowers).

          http://www.morganverkamp.com/august-27-2014-press-release-statement-of-william-w-thompson-ph-d-regarding-the-2004-article-examining-the-possibility-of-a-relationship-between-mmr-vaccine-and-autism/

          I’d also invite you to research a Kerri Rivera with AutismONE. These folks have CURED well over 100 kids of their spectrum diagnosis and have helped literally 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of kids all around the world. They have a protocol that someone can do at home, that allows one to take their health into their own hands. They have a diet similar to the DAN diet and various other protocols designed to detox the body, so it can heal itself. This is yet another example of Western Medicine FAILING the population of the ENTIRE world. Here’s a link to a AutismONE conference that will really touch your heart. Best Thoughts, Josh

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5W_ky0RH8A

  3. In the United States the FDA banned use of scientific methods capable of diagnosing and even predicting vaccine reactions before they occurred. At an FDA conference on the discovery of pig viruses in both RotaTeq and Rotarix, Dr. Holly Franz one of the developers of the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array, commented (VRBPAC May 7, 2010) the slide used to perform the test overnight cost only $400.00. FDA then banned the test for diagnostic purposes and it was withdrawn from the market and is no longer available.

    There is no need for transparency in France where the truth can result in criminal prosecutions of the responsible in corporations. Just demand the test be made available to those who feel a vaccine reaction has happened.

    http://www.activistpost.com/2012/08/exposing-fdas-vaccine-injury-cover-up.html?

  4. my daughter is a nurse at this hospital and she is having my first grandchild not there she is having a homebirth…the baby is due in November and her shots are due in September she is doing all she can to see how not to lose her job… she has already succumbed to this medical tyranny twice in the ten years she’s been a labor and delivery nurse… NVIC.. please look into this … please get it on the news about this hospital and their medical tyranny practices… PLEASE…

    1. Can she not be exempt this time because the warning labels all say not for pregnant women to get the shots because no studies have been conducted on pregnant women and the side effects??? Or could she sign a vaccine exemption form for religious or philosophical reasons??? I tell you what you can do to find out go to a local chiropractor that adjust people that work at that same hospital and see what they use as expemption forms….because I know in our town there are a lot of hospital employees that exempt from taking the vaccines and especially pregnant women.

      1. Our daughter will be having her 2nd child in 5 months but she will be getting a Pneumonia shot. Years ago my doctor would not let me take any shot.. Why are they doing this?

    2. Let go of the bloody job. What is more important here? It is her child’s life, its whole life that’s being affected. What if s/he is born with the central nervous system permanently damaged? 10 years from now, looking back, what would she say to herself about keeping this evil job?

    3. She definitely SHOULD NOT to take any Live Vaccines (one of them is MMR). While I was pregnant, I studied a nursing program and in order to complete practical at nursing home, I had to have immunity or take vaccines. I was not immune to Rubella, my obgyn told me live vaccine can cause birth defects or miscarriages. Also numerous website states (including CDC) that those vaccines are not for pregnant women or those who planning to become pregnant in the next 4 months. By the way, I was not allowed to finish nursing program without immunity or Rubbella vaccine, I was told to come back to the program after delivery. Regarding recommended Tdap vaccine for pregnant women, my obgyn doctor didn’t mention to me yet and I’m soon to deliver (so I assume he would not be recommending anymore).

  5. FDA/CDC doctors admit vaccines cause food allergies

    Nobel Laureate Charles Richet discovered over a hundred years ago that injecting proteins into mammals can cause them to develop an allergy to that protein.
    http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1913/richet-lecture.html

    In 2002, the doctors from the CDC and FDA warned that gelatin-containing vaccines can cause gelatin allergy based on similar findings in Japan.

    “Nonetheless, our cases with anti-gelatin IgE required some previous exposure to gelatin to become sensitized, and this may have come through ingestion of gelatin-containing food or injection of gelatin-containing
    vaccines.”

    They wrote: “Efforts should continue to identify less allergenic substitutes for gelatin currently used by vaccine manufacturers.”.

    Authors:
    Vitali Pool, MD, CDC, M. Miles Braun, MD, MPH, FDA, John M. Kelso, MD, Naval Medical Center, Gina Mootrey, DO, MPH, CDC, Robert T. Chen, MD, MA, CDC, John W. Yunginger, MD, Robert M. Jacobson, MD, Mayo Clinic, Paul M. Gargiullo, PhD, CD.
    Prevalence of Anti-Gelatin IgE Antibodies in People With Anaphylaxis After Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine in the United States
    http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/110/6/e71.long

    Yet today, the CDC table here lists numerous food proteins contained in vaccines, including gelatin, egg, milk (casamino acid), soy, seaweed (agar) and vegetable oils (in Polysorbate 80, sorbitol).
    http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf

    The result – the food allergy epidemic.

    And gelatin in vaccines is still making kids sick today:

    http://acaai.org/resources/connect/ask-allergist/Vaccines

    Japan removed gelatin from their vaccines in 2000.

    Kuno-Sakai H, Kimura M. Removal of gelatin from live vaccines and DTaP-an ultimate solution for vaccine-related gelatin allergy.Biologicals 2003;31:245-9

    My son developed multiple life-threatening food allergies from these food protein contaminated vaccines.

    How can this situation ever be justified?

    Vaccines are among the greatest achievements of modern medicine.
    Food protein contaminated vaccines causing food allergy, is one of the worst blunders of modern medicine.

  6. polio was CURED in 1949. ALL vaccines are unnecessary. Electricity kills germs. 100% safe. 100% effective.

    1. My good friend grew (age35) up in India. His best friend contracted polio when he was 8. Polio has not been eradicated. Even if you don’t travel the world, chances are you know someone who does.

  7. This seems a reasonable place to say this. Daily Kos, a so-called liberal community run news list type site has literally banned any anti-vaccine comments. I have been banned from posting unless I accept this censure. Porstide, another so-called Progressive news list site is totally reactionary in its health articles and will not respond to comments sent to them questioning their policies on health articles. Law and Order, the TV crime based program, while somewhat liberal on a number of issues, it rabid on vaccines with several episodes that are run regularly to promote virulent propaganda.

    Given the hysteria via the FDA about any single adverse reaction to an herb or homeopathic remedy it is enraging that deaths from vaccines, miscarriages, autism or other long term auto-immune diseases are dismissed regularly. Given the 100,000’s or cases of reactive autism alone, it is downright criminal for these govt agencies to, not only ignore this epidemic, but to actively and aggressively promote more of the same.

  8. The truth behind vaccinations is that the science DOESN’T support that they are either safe OR effective. I pray that the media will be forced to cover this issue more fairly as people continue to demand that it be talked about. If they were ‘safe’, you wouldn’t be asked to sign a waiver when you receive one. If they were ‘safe’ there wouldn’t be a long list of serious side effects listed on the insert. If they were ‘safe’ there wouldn’t be a Vaccination Injury Compensation Fund, if they were ‘safe’ there wouldn’t be thousands of families shouting that vaccination has caused injury, illness and death. If they were ‘safe’ Big Pharma wouldn’t be shielded by congress against any liability. Once you learn that vaccinations came along AFTER the downturn in these diseases, their long believed heroism falls apart. Take vaccinations off this pedestal and they have nothing to stand on.

    1. Quite amazing what money and bullies can do. One death over here is a huge deal, make every news site, 500 here, never even mentioned, completely ignored.

      How much more obvious can it be…

  9. Knowing how the French government acts and thinks this debate is not a debate but a propaganda machine to kill in the egg the growing refusal to vaccinate in France.

    One of the largest (if not the largest?) vaccines manufacturers in the world is headquartered in France, Sanofi-Pasteur, Aventis group, and the French government will do whatever it takes to protect the financial interests of its largest grossing industries.

    I have no other expectations from this debate than front page newspaper propaganda showing the debate was all in favor of vaccines and they are completely safe.

  10. This woman is brilliant. What better way to get the questioning or parents on the fence to say “see? They investigated and it’s all ok now!” All you need is to pretend to look into it.

  11. Vaccinations were once helpful in protecting the human population. But they have evolved into chemical warfare. Most likely used for population control. It’s crazy to say milk is good for everyone when there are severe allergies, such as its crazy to say vaccines are good for everybody, when there are severe allergies & reactions. Our immune systems are amazing! & our education around sanitation has come a long way. There is a hidden agenda in the extreme amount of money making in this area of pharmasouticals. We are insentivizing the wrong things. The Drs & government officials are being told what to think, instead of HOW to think critically about this issue. When we do the right thing, and stand on the principles of freedom of choice the people are educated & not controlled.

    1. “Vaccinations were once helpful in protecting the human population.”

      Medical myths die hard. This is the obstacle to overcome. The comment boards all over the internet are full of CDC/pharma trolls chanting the vaccines saved humanity-where’s Polio? Where’s Smallpox? This is the chant that reinforces the myth (lie) that Vaccines are lifesavers. They are not. 98% of the people who contracted Polio were asymptomatic, 1% experienced paralysis for 6-18mths but fully recovered and about 1% were permanently paralyzed. Nutrition, improved sanitation, clean water and the banning of DDT removed the Polio of the 50’s & 60’s. Understanding what builds the immune system also helped reduce diseases and illness in the US. What really eliminated Polio was a diagnostic change (http://vactruth(dot)com/2015/07/05/cdc-made-polio-disappear/).

      Smallpox vaccine didn’t stop smallpox. Stopping the vaccine did which is why Bush Jr. couldn’t get the CDC to get on board with mandatory smallpox vaccines for the US during the Iraqi War. The head of the CDC at the time said too many people would experience devastating consequences from the vaccine because the health of the country overall was poor.

      Both illnesses are still around. They are just diagnosed differently today to continue the myth. Research Monkeypox,Pustular Eczema, Varioloid, Chronic Fatigue Symdrome, GBS, EV-D68. Whooping Cough is being diagnosed by some Drs as Croup so it won’t be know that the Pertussis doesn’t work and there are studies that show that now. Children are also being infected by the Pertussis vaccine so those children are never diagnosed as having whooping cough. Measles is diagnosed as Roseola or Fifth Disease so it’s not know that the vaccines is infecting children or doesn’t work.

      All the illness’s are still among the human population. What’s preventing epidemics (real ones not 150 people), the same things that minimized Polio & Smallpox. Cleverly changing the diagnostic criteria and names of illness continues to fool the public into thinking that Vaccines have save the world.

  12. Adults are affected with adverse effects as well. My wife was paralyzed, and almost died, after receiving the flu shot. She suffered from a varient of GBS, called Miller Fisher. This was diagnosed with a spinal tap, and she is now disabled. We wish we knew before the shot what we know now!

  13. The tyranny of govts who are in the pockets of big pharma is the cause of the chemical warfare raining down on us. This is what happens when “we the people” are
    not vigilant. We have to say no more to our governments & have representatives who support our values. And may the majority win.

  14. I agree with Jen. Unfortunately, whenever these “debates” are propagandized, it is always a debate that is set up to be “science” vs. fearful, uneducated parents. However, if one considers facts vs. propaganda, the “debate” is really won by those who carefully research and look into the matter.

    First of all, proving that vaccines are even effective is next to impossible.
    Secondly, one only has to look into the Vaccine Injury lawsuits to know that vaccines are not safe, and one only has to look at history to know that vaccines never were safe.

    If a lot of a bad thing (viruses and bacteria that cause disease) can be bad, how could a little bit of a bad thing be much better.

    Sensible parents, whether it’s food, medicine, television or a chemical injection, will research and make the best decisions possible.

    The best way to handle vaccination is to have alternatives – alternatives to health care, alternatives to preventive medicine, and if vaccines are so wonderful – then there would be choices and options not to vaccinate and how much and which ones. If they were really that great, then they shouldn’t need to be forced.

  15. These figures must surely have increased since then. In the US and other countries, people are taught there is an overwhelming positive attitude about vaccines.

  16. I live in France, and it has not been splashed over the headlines here that the country has opted out of vaccines. Indeed, my son was only accepted at school without vaccination because he has a medical certificate – that was in September 2015. There has been no opt out that I am aware of.

  17. I wish I could turn back time …have three beautiful children who all received the MMR vaccinations aged now 8, 9, and 11. Two of my children have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder one boy and one girl whilst my 9 year old is having an assessment as a good chance he also has ASD. This is not a coincidence a as when we look back at family videos my children all had a definite different look and were well different children. Words cannot express all my feelings…hurt, anger, confusion, failure, sadness…Lesley Glasgow, Scotlando

  18. I wish I could turn back time …have three beautiful children who all received the MMR vaccinations aged now 8, 9, and 11. Two of my children have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder one boy and one girl whilst my 9 year old is having an assessment as a good chance he also has ASD. This is not a coincidence a as when we look back at family videos my children all had a definite different look and were well different children. Words cannot express all my feelings…hurt, anger, confusion, failure, sadness…Lesley Glasgow, Scotland

  19. I love how these governments and medical associations are trying anything they can to “end vaccine skepticism” – everything but actually studying vaccines and their health consequences.

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