September 14, 2000: Illinois State Board of Health Chicago Hearing Testimony
From Barbara Alexander Mullarkey, IVAC spokesperson

Illinois Vaccine Awareness Coalition members say, "Vote NO for the chickenpox vaccine mandate. "Show us the vaccine science. There are no chickenpox safety studies on the ingredients, either singly or combined. Missing are long-term safety and effectiveness studies. At the August 22, Carterville hearing, I challenged Merck's scientist to produce ingredient safety studies and long-term vaccine safety studies from peer-reviewed, published journals. He has yet to produce them.

From July 1, 1990-July 28, 1999, the federal government has on file 9,018 adverse reaction reports for chickenpox vaccine.

The no-safety-data ingredients are: fetal bovine serum, hydrolyzed gelatin, monosodium glutamate, MRC-5 cells: DNA and protein 9aborted fetal lung cell cultures), neomycin, sucrose.

According to the manufacturer, a vaccinated person can transmit the live virus to close contacts, The package insert warns that vaccinated people need to avoid newborns, pregnant women and immuno-compromised persons. No evaluation exists for cancer-causing or mutagenic potential or for fertility impairment. No reproduction capacity data exist as well as no animal studies. There is unknown duration of protection and an undefined need for booster doses.

According to the Vaccine Information Sheet (VIS), Centers for Disease Control admits chickenpox vaccination may cause: High fever, seizure caused by fever 1-6 weeks after the shot. VIS also lists adverse reactions of pneumonia, severe brain reactions, low blood count behavior changes, breathing difficulty, hoarseness, wheezing, hives, paleness, weakness, fast heart beat.

The Summary for Basis of Approval states, "unmodified mammalian DNA present in each dose of VARIVAX exceeds that present in any other vaccine." It also reports that the live virus vaccine "does not undergo purification."

IVAC is concerned that a parent has to sacrifice a child to death or to an adverse reaction following vaccination before the affected child or sibling can get an exemption. Many children would fail to qualify for the exemption because they were not hospitalized and only visited an emergency room or a doctor's office.

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