As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to oppose HB4870, a bill that would require students to be immunized against the human papillomavirus (HPV) to attend school.
If this legislation passes, Illinois students who opt out of the HPV vaccine could be denied access to an education. I consider this overreach by the government and an infringement on parental rights.
First and foremost, there is no public safety issue in Illinois warranting such legislation. Though HPV is a public health concern, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that is not spread in school; therefore, making school attendance conditional on receiving the HPV vaccine is unwarranted.
The HPV vaccine is the most controversial vaccine to ever hit the global market. Despite claims by the manufacturer (Merck) that the vaccine prevents cancer, there is not one scientific study proving that the HPV vaccine has ever prevented cancer of any kind. Further, a paper just published by the Royal Society of Medicine raises serious concerns about the HPV vaccine’s effectiveness. The researchers found that the HPV trials were not designed to detect cervical cancer, which takes decades to develop.
At the same time, there is a large and growing body of evidence demonstrating great harm from the HPV vaccine.
– As of December 2019, 64,270 adverse events from the HPV vaccine — over 4,200 of which were fatal, life-threatening, or resulted in permanent injury — had been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which is believed to capture less than 1 % of all adverse events.
– According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, HPV vaccines are associated with more adverse events than other vaccines.
– Worldwide, protests and lawsuits against the HPV vaccine are ongoing due to growing reports of injuries, deaths, clinical trial fraud, and fraudulent marketing. In fact, several countries have chosen not to mandate the HPV vaccine, with some withdrawing their HPV recommendations altogether, due to concerns over vaccine reactions.
– Before the HPV vaccine was introduced in Britain in 2008, cervical cancer rates had been on a sharp decline for two decades, with rates cut in half from aggressive public education programs promoting routine cervical exams. Despite high HPV vaccine uptake rates for over a decade, the UK is now seeing a 54% increase in cervical cancer in those who first received the vaccine.
– Each dose of Gardasil 9, the only HPV vaccine available in the United States, contains 500 mcg of aluminum. More than 20 years ago, the FDA acknowledged that aluminum is neurotoxic. As a result, it established aluminum guidelines with a limit of 25 mcg per day for IV dextrose solutions for premature infants up through adults. Ironically, FDA documents don’t address safe aluminum limits for vaccines — even though multiple studies show that injected aluminum bioaccumulates in the body, causing systemic toxicity.
– Given the high occurrence of adverse events, it’s extremely concerning that the HPV vaccine is free from manufacturer liability (as are all CDC-recommended childhood vaccines). If injury or death were to occur, parents’ only option would be to file a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. This federal no-fault program can be cumbersome to navigate, with some claims taking more than a decade to adjudicate. Moreover, compensation is extremely difficult to obtain.
You should know that many parents who are on board with vaccinating their children vehemently object to the HPV vaccine for the reasons cited above. HPV is a benign infection that ordinarily resolves on its own. According to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition, most cervical cancer can be prevented through early detection and treatment of abnormal cell changes that occur decades before cervical cancer develops. Cervical cancer is primarily seen in women who fail to get routine HPV testing and Pap smears — the medical gold standard for over 70 years. That makes this mandate particularly egregious, while stripping parents of their rights to make medical decisions for their children.
Trying to curb cancer is an honorable endeavor, but Illinois lawmakers should not force school children to receive a vaccine for an infection that’s not spread in school, that carries a risk of serious side effects and death, and that can be easily prevented through routine screenings. Instead, lawmakers should focus on creating sound health policies rooted in educating constituents so they can make personal health decisions based on unbiased facts — not because they were coerced by the state.
Parents should continue to retain the right to make informed decisions about vaccinations, including whether their children will be vaccinated with the HPV vaccine, in conjunction with their family physician.
Please protect the sacred and important role that parents have in guiding their children’s individual medical decisions and vote NO on HB4870.