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Event brings vaccine debate to   

     Chillicothe area

Agency official says goal is to educate people about options

7:08 AM, Dec. 4, 2011

Written by

David Berman

Gazette Staff Writer

CHILLICOTHE -- Vaccine critics on Saturday took aim at the conventional wisdom that immunizations are necessary to protect children from diseases.

Speak Up & Speak Out 2011, sponsored by the Ross County Network for Children, featured several speakers from across Ohio who expressed their concerns about the safety and necessity of vaccinations.

This year's theme for the annual symposium, which in past years centered on issues such as child abuse, was "Educate Before You Vaccinate."

"We are not here to say 'vaccinate or don't vaccinate.' What we want to do is educate the public. Know what's going into your body. Know what's going into your child's body. ... It should be your choice," said Rebekah Valentich, a Ross County Network for Children board member who organized the event.

As residents of one of 19 states that allows people to refuse vaccinations for philosophical reasons, Ohioans do in fact have a choice.

As a result, "I believe we have a much lower vaccination rate than other places and I don't see any raging epidemics," said Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, an advocate for free choice in vaccination. She also has written two books about the effects of immunizations.

She joined the discussion via videoconference from Cleveland.

A board-certified ostepathic physician and former emergency department director, Tenpenny said she has logged more than 12,000 hours researching vaccinations.

"Health cannot come through a needle. It doesn't come through injections," Tenpenny said. "It's an inside-out phenomenon, meaning there are things we can do to stay healthy without injecting our children and adults with viruses, chemicals, heavy metals and all sorts of things that can complicate our health and make us sicker."

Tenpenny said there are numerous studies that show vaccines actually can reduce a person's ability to fight off illness and disease, but "all we ever hear are the pro-vaccine arguments and all the ways vaccines are safe, protective and harmless. There's a whole other side to the story that needs to get out," she said.

Despite the widely held belief that vaccines were responsible for virtually eradicating polio and smallpox, Tenpenny is not convinced.

"That really didn't happen," she said. "Smallpox was eliminated by quarantine and polio was well on its way out before the vaccine was ever released."

The only local speaker was Dr. Anthony Phillips, a Chillicothe chiropractor who along with his wife decided years ago against having their two sons vaccinated.

Phillips insisted he is not "anti-medical establishment," but he also made clear he disagrees with the medical establishment's sentiment that vaccines are vital to the health of a child.

"Let's just look at the information and put every bias and prejudice aside, and all the emotion that has nothing to do with research aside, and let's just look and see if reasonable people can come up with reasonable solutions," he said. "This issue is not that gray. It's mostly a black-and-white issue, and lot of the information and common things I hear from people in the medical community are simply false."

Many accepted philosophies became head-scratchers several generations later, he said.

"We are fighting against old ideologies based on information that has little to no research to back it up. Some of it is just borderline ridiculous and yet when you start something, although it's false, it's hard to undo," he said.

"This isn't just a matter of facts. We're talking about human nature and bad policy that has never been changed, a lot of marketing, a lot of media and lot of money involved," he said. "This has the makings of a Hollywood movie."

Still, Phillips said he does not have a problem with parents who opt to vaccinate their children.

"Not even a little bit," he said.

The final speaker, Newark attorney Charles Manley, said he was compelled to join the fight against vaccines in part because he had an allergic reaction to a flu shot 16 years ago and almost died.

"There's a battleground for public perception on this issue relative to pharmaceutical companies, doctors and medical researchers and what they would like the public to believe," he said. "Our goal is to just educate and inform as many people in the public about different viewpoints so they can make an informed decision."