ICWA Weekly News 12-18-24

Two Different Realities: Comparing the U.S. Congressional Report on COVID to DOH After Action Reports; Washington Department of Health Dims Holiday Cheer with Pertussis Fear

In this Issue: Comparing the U.S. Congressional Report on COVID to DOH After Action Reports; Washington Department of Health Dims Holiday Cheer with Pertussis Fear. Merry Christmas - each article is about as long as our normal issues.

December 13 Episode of Informed Life Radio - - notes and links

Health Hour: Deuterium?

Guest: Stephanie Seneff. Deuterium is the second most abundant element in the human body. Who knew? Dr. Stefanie Seneff knew, and she explains what it is, what it does, and how glyphosate and insufficient gut microbes may be upsetting the proper balance of deuterium, leading to chronic disease.

• Book: Toxic Legacy: How the Weedkiller Glyphosate is Destroying our Health and the Environment, by Stephanie Seneff, PhD.

• Preprint Study: Is Deuterium Fractionation a Major Controlling Factor in Human Metabolism and Cancer? An Essential Role for Proline by Seneff.

• Preprint Study: Cancer, Deuterium, and Gut Microbes: A Novel Perspective by Seneff, Kyriakopoulos.

• Presentation: Deutenomics: A Revolution Unfolding in Biology and Medicine [2 hrs, on Youtube (believe it or not]

• Deutenomics - Dr. Petra

Liberty Hour: How to avoid Bovaer ® (methane suppressant for cows)

Guest: Henry Ealy. Drugging cattle to prevent their natural gaseous emissions ranks among the most stupid and possibly most dangerous things Bill Gates has yet promoted. Guest Dr. Henry Ealy (aka Dr. Henele) explains the cattle-feed drug Bovaer® and how to avoid meat and dairy products contaminated with it.

• Bovaer Approval Letter from the FDA. [5 pages; You can hardly count all the vague loopholes in actual food and animal safety]

• Bovaer® from DSM-Firmenich

• Elanco is the U.S. company distributing Bovaer.

• Meet Dr. H - Energetic Health Institute

• ICWA Weekly News on Substack

• New Book Recommended by Dr. H: Vax Facts: What to Consider Before Vaccinating at All Ages & Stages of Life: Thomas, Paul, Hoover, DeeDee

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Two Different Realities: Comparing the U.S. Congressional Report on COVID to Washington Health Department After-Action Reports

Four years after the start of the COVID-19 hysteria, the Washington Department of Health (DOH) reflected on the state’s COVID-19 policies. Last March, they published a COVID-19 After-Action Report that only looked at what they considered to be opportunities for improvement.

They doubled-down on their blameless perspectives in September with a report titled, “A Chorus of COVID—Voices from the Frontlines.”

The DOH website had this to say about the report:

The COVID-19 Insight Report (PDF) and accompanying COVID-19 Chapbook (PDF) capture important insights from Washington community-based organizations during the pandemic and help us all reflect on lessons learned. In these pages, DOH community partners share their collective wisdom and the policy, community, and institutional recommendations that will support community-based recovery and rebuilding.

“Poor heath is often how communities that dominant society marginalizes know and feel what exclusion really is. That’s why it’s urgent that we not forget what COVID taught us."

The theme of the forty-four-page report boiled down to the following excerpt on the introductory page:

The ongoing pandemic is also deeply entangled with the ways we don’t treat people well. It vividly illustrates pre-existing inequities — racial injustice, ableism, high incarceration, poor eldercare, the school to prison pipeline, lack of worker protection, no to low wage employment, housing and food insecurity, the pains of social isolation, lack of resources for those struggling with addiction, people without healthcare, life with no internet, cut-off utilities, no car or slow transit, strain carried by all caregivers.

The list above could go on.

Did the DOH have no concern or remorse for the loss of civil rights? Or having to push faulty products? These two reports were quite a letdown considering the public health establishment has repeatedly said they need to regain the public’s trust. One such instance was in early 2023 at a meeting of the Washington State Public Health Association.

Dr. Umair Shah, Secretary of Health, posted to X/Twitter:

Grateful to spend time with #PublicHealth leaders today to talk about how we can restore trust in public health. Restoring public health will NOT come by accident. It will take serious investment and support across this system. And we must be unified in our efforts.

This indicates a pretty serious intent, but why don’t they address the trust issue more head on?

And now we have a U.S. Congressional Report from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that was released December 4th that provided a much more circumspect review of pandemic responses that truly show the DOH’s ignorance of ineffective and sometimes disastrous COVID-19 policies.

After two years of work, twenty-five hearings, thirty-eight depositions or interviews, investigation of government documents, review of scientific publications and more, the committee released its 520-page report containing 114 findings of fact about actions of the federal government and other key players in national and local public health responses.

“After Action Review of the COVID Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward.”

The report is full of damning findings that we saw plenty of here in Washington and for which the DOH has shown no signs of admitting.

Let’s get into some of the report findings.

Detailed on pages 377 through 380, it is explained how the mandates did more harm than good.

Vaccines alone, and therefore COVID-19 vaccine mandates, could not and did not bring us to “herd immunity.” Yet, they caused collateral damage that has been felt by millions of Americans.

Governor Jay Inslee was guilty of this “massive collateral damage” when he mandated in October 2021 that all Washington state employees were required to take the COVID-19 jabs. This led to 1,900 Washington state workers quitting or getting fired, twenty-one percent of them coming from the Washington Department of Transportation. And these mandates trickled down to our communities, such as the firing of a dozen Kirkland firefighters in December 2021 and the firing of eighty healthcare workers at PeaceHealth in Bellingham.

Furthermore, the report referred to the findings from University of Washington (UW) Assistant Affiliate Professor Dr. Kevin Bardosh, who criticized the COVID-19 shot mandates at a Select Subcommittee hearing at the nation’s capital. The ICWA Weekly News from 8-1-23 covered Dr. Bardosh’s perspectives as well. His testimony on July 27, 2023 was summarized on the subcommittee website:

A May 2022 British Medical Journal [hereinafter “BMJ”] Global Health paper written by Dr. Bardosh and several other public health and bioethics experts from around the world found that COVID-19 vaccine mandates caused significant collateral damage. The paper’s summary stated:

“Our analysis strongly suggests that mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policies have had damaging effects on public trust, vaccine confidence, political polarization, human rights, inequities, and social well-being. We question the effectiveness and consequences, of course, of vaccine policy in pandemic response and urge the public health community and policymakers to return to nondiscriminatory trust-based public health approaches.”

The BMJ paper also found that COVID-19 vaccine mandates primarily served to encourage vaccination in younger people who were the least at-risk for serious COVID-19 illness, and that this further entrenched distrust and provoked reactance:

Here’s a portion of the transcript from his subcommittee testimony, which is quoted verbatim in the final subcommittee report:

Question: Doctor Bardosh, let's amplify some of the points from your publications. There was a collaborative effort that you published with researchers and physicians from Johns Hopkins Harvard and Oxford, yes or no?

Answer: Yes

Question: Did the COVID vaccine mandates from your research from your publication with others erode civil liberties?

Answer: Yes, it did

Question: Did the COVID vaccine mandates fracture trust in public health officials?

Answer: Yes, it did

Question: Did the COVID vaccine mandates create financial stress to individuals and families who lost their jobs to the COVID mandates?

Answer: Absolutely.

Question: Doctor Bardosh, do you feel that the decrease in individuals receiving routine pediatric immunizations for their children, do you feel that is due to the mandates of the COVID vaccine?

Answer: Yes, I do.

Question: and finally, and I thank you for your brevity. Doctor Bardosh, do you feel that the COVID-19 vaccine mandates have harmed America.

Answer: Yes. I do.

This collateral damage may have hampered our preparedness for a future pandemic. Dr. Bardosh testified that COVID-19 vaccine mandates decreased public confidence in vaccines and would likely be responsible for resistance to vaccines during a future pandemic.

As Dr. Bardosh highlighted in the BMJ paper, vaccine mandates appear to have also deepened political divisions. Rhetoric from some politicians and public health officials painted the vaccine mandates as a necessary policy to combat the selfish, ignorant, or malevolent “unvaccinated” who were perpetuating the pandemic. Americans wanted to be honestly educated about both the virus and the vaccines, not indoctrinated. During the Select Subcommittee’s July 27, 2021 hearing, Dr. Bardosh testified that this rhetoric was a “scapegoating response,” which evidence indicates may be counterproductive as a public health strategy.

Further related, the reported showed on page 405 that the mandates of the COVID-19 experimental product destroyed informed consent:

Worse, mandatory vaccination policies represented a direct assault on the doctor-patient relationship. Vaccine mandates may be the most salient example of pandemic-era policies where governments and other political entities inserted themselves in a decision that should be between each patient and their doctor. This is inherently incompatible with the definition of the doctor patient relationship.

The COVID-19 vaccine mandates also largely ignored the notion of naturally acquired immunity. By the standard of most COVID-19 vaccine mandates, there was no exception made for those who had previously contracted the virus. The mandates also left no room for women who were pregnant or trying to get pregnant. If left up to doctors, who are familiar with their patients and their health, individual patient risk and benefit could have been much better assessed.

But here in Washington, instead of considering the doctor-patient relationship, as well as acquired immunity, Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson were only interested in forcing the falsehood onto the public that the shots were needed to stop transmission of the virus. After Thurston County Superior Court Judge Carol Murphy denied a request for a temporary injunction in a lawsuit by hundreds of Washington State Patrol troopers, corrections officers, ferry workers and other public employees, in victory, Ferguson said on Twitter that the verdict “ensures a safe and health[sic] work environment for all state employees.” His statement implied the negligent falsehood that the COVID-19 shots would prevent transmission of the disease.

When the governor’s emergency proclamation expired in August of 2022, Brandy Chinn, rules and legislative relations manager in the Office of Financial Management (OFM), used the same reasoning for adopting the governor’s directive for state employees:

On August 5, 2022, Governor Inslee issued Directive 22-13.1, COVID-19 Vaccination Standards for State Employees, which directs a COVID-19 vaccination condition of employment requirement for state executive and small cabinet agencies. Although the emergency proclamation is expiring, COVID-19 and the effects of its risk of person-to-person transmission continue to impact the life and health of all Washingtonians and the economy of Washington State. COVID-19 vaccines are effective in reducing infection and serious disease, and widespread vaccination is the primary means we have as a state to protect the health and safety of our workforce. As an employer, there is an obligation to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for all state employees. The vaccination requirements set forth in these proposed rules will help establish and maintain a healthy and safe work environment to protect the welfare of all state employees.

On page 327, the report used the heading “The Government Perpetrated COVID-19 misinformation.” The report highlighted Public Health officials disparaging Ivermectin as only for animals and demonizing off-label prescription – two tactics used here in Washington.

The following passage from the WMC’s Misinformation Position Statement shows how state agencies turned misinformation into policy used to persecute dissenting doctors:

The WMC relies on the U.S Food and Drug Administration approval of medications to treat COVID-19 to be the standard of care. While not an exhaustive list, the public and practitioners should take note:

• Ivermectin is not FDA approved for use in treating or preventing COVID-19

• Hydroxychloroquine (Chloroquine) is not FDA approved for use in treating or preventing COVID-19

This suddenly-adopted policy was used against doctors Ryan Cole, Scott Miller, Guito Cassagnol Wingfield, Michael Turner, and others for prescribing ivermectin to patients.

Back in the Congressional subcommittee report under a similar heading “The Government Perpetrated COVID-19 misinformation,” the report discussed the government’s silencing of free speech, with Findings highlighted on Page 329:

Government-led censorship and Public Health officials squashing “Legitimate Scientific Debate: was witnessed in the injustice of the WMC persecution of Doctors Richard Eggleston and Thomas Siler for opinion articles they wrote in the Lewiston Tribune and American Thinker, respectively, when they criticized COVID-19 policies.

As for masking mandates, the report found on page 241, that “public health officials flip flopping on the efficacy and use of face masks without full scientific transparency caused mistrust in public health establishments.”

This mockery of masking science in Washington was evident in an August 2021 article in The Spokesman Review when Secretary of Health Umair Shah reinstated the indoor mask mandate:

It’s time to mask up again, Washington.

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surging statewide, state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah reinstated his indoor mask mandate in all public settings, including restaurants, grocery stores, gyms, retail locations and any public-facing office.

Beginning Monday, everyone – regardless of vaccination status – will be required to wear a mask in most indoor settings.

Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday he originally lifted the mask mandate because vaccination rates were increasing earlier this summer, but case rates are now at a point where they “pose a danger for the whole state of Washington.”

Much worse, page 249 criticized the forcing of masking on children:

One area where the mask mandate may have caused quantifiable harm is the masking of children. The April 3, 2020-February 25, 2022 (with a brief lift between May 13,2021-July 27, 2021) CDC guidance masking in schools was unbelievably far reaching. It called for “universal indoor masking by all students (age two and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccinations status.”

Governor Jay Inslee’s mask mandates in schools led to widespread protests by students during the winter of 2022, such as at Washougal High School, Ilwaco High School, and Coweeman Middle School.

Also on Monday, January 31, 2022, about two dozen Richland students from various schools walked out of classes, with the support of a Richland School Board member, to protest having to wear masks. Schools closed in Richland on February 16 after the school board voted to defy the state requirement that students wear masks inside buildings.

On February 9 and February 10, the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District dealt with forty to fifty protesting students and parents. Protesters accused the school staff of blocking the school’s front entrance. At times tempers flared from the protestors, such as when someone from the parent group yelled “Communist” a few times, and an adult got in the face of the school district secretary and said, “Something stinks.” Soon, the protestors calmly moved around the building and protested down by State Route 4.

The Congressional report also stated that the CDC was wrongly influenced by the American Federation of Teachers regarding school closure policies that lasted much longer than they should have. The committee found that schools were not the hotbeds of infection they were painted to be, teachers were not shown to have higher risk of COVID or serious infections, kids were less susceptible to the illness, and countries with closed schools didn’t have less transmission than other places.

The committee found the CDC ignored or manipulated the available data, causing “immediate negative impact[s]” on the physical and mental health of children as well as academic performance.

School closures were catastrophic for already struggling schools. The impact will be felt for years, and educators are finding that students are “not rebounding.” Also concerning is the fact that “standardized test scores show that children lost decades’ worth of academic progress.” Data also shows that the less disruption kids had from school, the less their academic performance was impacted. The impacts were amplified in low-income and minority populations, and an “estimated 230,000 students have simply ‘disappeared’ from public schools.”

Isolation, loss of access to resources, increased ability to “self-medicate,” excessive screen-time, and loss of sports and other extra-curricular activities led to a monumental increase in behavioral and mental health issues in children, including suicide attempts. Instead of moving around schools and playing sports, kids were tied to screens and cooped up in houses. They were not able to access school lunches when needed. Not surprisingly, BMIs in children doubled, and Type 2 diabetes increased 182%.

The committee further found that children affected by school closures potentially lost income-earning capacity of $70,000 over their lifetime, resulting in lower state GDPs and an estimated $28 trillion loss to the U.S. over the century.

What about lockdown effects on children in Washington, page 253 confirmed there were some:

Reports indicate that speech delays in children are more common in the wake of the pandemic. In 2023, the American Speech and Hearing Association conducted a national poll of audiologists and speech-language pathologists who work with children under the age of five, the majority of whom reported an increase in referrals for concerns about hearing, speech, and language delays or disorders since the pandemic began.[footnote 866] Of the polled speech-language pathologists, 84 percent reported seeing more children with emotional or behavioral difficulties, 79 percent reported seeing more children with delayed language or diagnosed language disorders, and 78 percent reported seeing more children with social communication difficulties.

Page 235 discussed the needless and harmful six-foot social distancing requirements:

Governments at every level and private entities implemented social distancing nationwide in manner that adversely impacted nearly every person in the country. Small businesses limited the capacity of patrons allowed in the shop at one time, grocery stores placed stickers on the floor alerting people where to stand, and schools struggled to reopen because the rule limited the number of desks that could be in a classroom at one time.

In an article in City News Everywhere, Governor Inslee said that social-distancing must be successful in order to reopen Washington. And he based this on Tony Fauci’s science: “Our people in Washington accept data and science, and make decisions based on logic and science. And we want to continue that pattern.”

The article added, “For now, however, Washington state will continue to keep businesses and schools closed, and its population physically distant.”

Adhering to the trickle-down theory, the Washington State House Democrats announced, “Social distancing is one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19 as the virus is transferred from person to person. Even if you do not show signs of the virus, you could be a carrier and should practice social distancing whenever possible.”

The following bullet point in the guidelines quotes Fauci’s ‘science:’

• Maintaining six feet of space between individuals. It’s okay to get fresh air, walk the dog, buy groceries and pick up medications – just maintain six feet of space.

One would think that someone at the level of higher learning would like to research the science behind this social distancing. But instead of taking the time to do so, the University of Washington came up with the following graphic:

Social-Distancing@Work_8.5x11.jpg (1545×2000) (washington.edu)

Even hospitals serve as research institutions. But instead of looking for the science to support this six-foot social distancing, the Washington State Hospital Association came up with this banner.

social distance banner - Washington State Hospital Association (wsha.org)

While the bulk of the committee’s report provides hard facts, one supposed “conclusion” is controversial, unsupported, and has caused outrage: praise for the COVID-19 shots.

The following excerpts from the report claims that Operation Warp Speed “saved millions of lives.”

Page 3: Operation Warp Speed was a tremendous success and a model to build upon in the future. The vaccines, which are now probably better characterized as therapeutics, undoubtedly saved millions of lives by diminishing likelihood of severe disease and death.

Page 339: In January 2021, critics argued that the failure to meet the goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of 2021 was an indication that OWS was broadly faltering. However, there is little doubt that the rapid development and authorization of COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives. The NIH estimates that as many as 140,000 American lives were saved by May 2021—within 5 months of the first authorization.

John Leake posted on Courageous Discourse in his analysis of the report that this was a “big lie.” He made the following points:

• In other words, the Subcommittee acknowledged the Big Lie that Fauci and his virology buddies propagated in the spring of 2020, while at the same time maintaining the Big Lie that Warp Speed “saved millions of lives.”

• How long can this Big Lie be maintained? I implore Rep. Wenstrup and President-elect Trump to discard this Big Lie as soon as possible.

• However, the Big Lie that Operation Warp Speed “saved millions of lives” is simply no longer tenable and should be dropped. As with all things in life, timing is a major consideration. Major decisions that will rock huge boats must be done when the time is ripe. I hope the time to ditch the Warp Speed Lie will ripen after Trump and Kennedy are sworn in.

Stand for Health Freedom looked at the “therapeutics” raised in point #3 above and made the following argument:

This was not presented as bipartisan consensus, but instead “extensive findings.” It was in the introductory letter setting the stage for the report, but not explored in the report. Words matter. Public health officials insisted the COVID shots were “vaccines,” which carry the public expectation of being “safe and effective.” How many Americans would have complied with an EUA “therapeutic”? The letter was signed by Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Dr. Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M.

Rhoda Wilson wrote in the Expose’ on December 7, 2024, that the report neglected the harm done from the shots:

While criticism about politicizing the vaccines is warranted and the “irresponsible statements” did prove to be outright hypocrisy, the truth is the covid vaccines have proved to be the most harmful substance to be marketed as a vaccine and should never have been unleashed onto the public, anywhere.

Stand for Health Freedom found some acknowledgment of injury in the report:

The committee stood up for Americans injured by experimental products, stating, “It is paradoxical to imply that the vaccine injured are “anti-vax” since a person must be vaccinated to experience a serious adverse event.”

Further, the committee found not only was the government insulting and dismissing hurt Americans but also, the systems set in place to catch problems early and to compensate those “inevitable” injuries or deaths are failing Americans.

The committee found VAERS is “insufficient and not transparent.” One cited scientific report found that a dozen people who filed VAERS reports did not have a follow-up contact even months later to verify their report. The committee found the systems may be missing safety signals, especially about neurological conditions.

It was also found that the CDC is “resistant” to sharing or transparency with the V-Safe database set up specifically to capture data related to the COVID shots. “Specifically, CDC is defending against FOIA lawsuits filed by groups seeking data and millions of free-text responses gathered through the program.”

Here in Washington, the DOH’s ignorance of all the above and their obsessive belief that COVID-19 injuries are rare are reflected in Scott Lindquist’s VAERS presentation to the Washington Board of Health last April 10, 2024 [1:47:40]:

• COVID vaccines are the most extensively studied vaccine in the history of the United States.

• It’s a big team. I think that the best way to summarize it is, and again this is at the federal level, FDA and CDC, these are big teams looking at this. To put it that way, a lot of resources have gone into this, and continue to go into it. And so, it is a massive team.

• You can imagine the amount of deep tilt to review a single report in the VAERS system. It’s hours of investigation, so, then again, like I said earlier that’s our role at DOH is to respect the system and make sure that those reviewing the cases have access to the records.

• That does not say that this vaccine caused the vomiting and diarrhea. Very likely, we’re going to find that the cause is something different.

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Washington Department of Health Dims Holiday Cheer with Pertussis Fear

The Washington Power of Providers (POP) has pushed the fear button to market the pertussis vaccine to healthcare providers.

They alerted providers on November 6 of an increase in pertussis cases here in our state.

Then on November 20, the Power of Providers newsletter pushed the fear button again:

The third bullet point marked the reason behind the fear campaign: To push the pertussis vaccines.

And this became further evident during the December 5 Power of Providers Pertussis Update webinar. Two days before Thanksgiving, the POP sent out the following notice to healthcare providers.

The webinar was also an opportunity for medical assistants and nurses to attain continuing education credits.

The response was so tremendous that attendance was filled to capacity.

Not to be deterred, we found the Pertussis webinar on their Youtube channel, as well as the slide presentation.

Conor Nath, a MD Resident at the University of Washington Department of Pediatrics, first apologized during his presentation for speaking while just getting over a cold. But before all the attendees could settle into their seats, Conor pushed the pertussis vaccine while showing the following slide on page ten of the presentation:

“Prevention of this disease through vaccinations is really kind of the mainstay of preventing epidemics and outbreaks like we’re seeing right now.”

Then at the 16:00 mark, while showing the slides on recommended antimicrobial agents for the treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis of pertussis,” Conor pushed the pertussis vaccine again: “We recommend vaccines as the first line to prevent these outbreaks.”

Starting on page 18 in the presentation, the flurry of slides for marketing the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine began:

They claim Whooping Cough is most deadly for infants. This is an alarmist statement when you look at Washington data for deaths from pertussis, which we obtained from an archived report titled Communicable Disease Statistical Summary. In the years 1952 to 1982, DTaP/tdap vaccine uptake rates averaged around 70%. Again, with the DOH overstating the urgency and magnitude of danger, they continue to erode the public’s trust.

Washington State Pertussis Cases and Deaths – 1952-1982

While showing a slide listing the available DTaP and Tdap vaccines, Conor Nath said, “Many of them are combo vaccines, which is just helpful when getting folks on board, one less poke which is always a nice one when talking to parents.”

While showing the Additional Notes slide twenty-one, Conor Nath narrated:

“Pertussis vaccines really work, but they fade over time, so it’s important to get them every ten years in primary care settings or emergency departments where you might be having contact with infected people.”

Kaitlyn Sykes, who presented herself as an epidemiologist in the Office of Immunizations at the Washington Department of Health, next gave a slide presentation on the measurements on “how well the community is protected against pertussis.”

K-12 Pertussis Vaccine Status, 2019-2024 School Data.

Page thirty-eight showed the recent school entry data for the pertussis vaccine. Note that 2.9 percent of K-12 students are not in compliance with paperwork, which is more than the total of all exemption types being claimed for pertussis-containing vaccines. This also means that students who have had a pertussis vaccine or are planning to get one is around 94% - much higher than in the days of almost zero deaths per year. That’s a lot of vaccine, and a lot of vaccine-injury risk, to stop a fraction of a death in the state.

Esther Lam, who is an MPH from the Washington Department of Health (DOH), presented the data on this year’s rise in pertussis cases.

The following summary slide implied the need for pertussis vaccination, since most “hospitalized patients had no documented history of pertussis vaccination:”

No documentation does not equal unvaccinated, so we wonder how all their statistics are skewed.

Esther Lam then noted that the most recent weekly pertussis surveillance report are posted on the DoH website.

The three presenters then fielded questions.

The first question was as follows: “Do you have data on which school districts have policies to effectively exclude students who are not in compliance with the state law and how that correlates with reported kindergarten through twelfth grade immunization rates?”

Conor’s answer: “My district barely enforces the law, so there is no enforcement for parents who don’t comply”.

Kaitlyn’s answer: “Right now, we just don’t have that information, but we are working on a way to collect it in the future. Right now, it’s an optional question that we ask some schools when they are reporting, but it isn’t always answered. But thank you for this question. It’s something we really want to consider in the future.”

Another question was as follows: “At what point do we exclude students who have Tdap exemptions? For example, if there is one reported pertussis case at the school, are students with Tdap exemptions excluded from school?”

Esther’s answer: “I think in situations such as this, we would recommend reaching out to the local health jurisdiction where the school is. I think there are a few considerations in making those decisions, and we would defer to the local health jurisdiction and their guidance for that.”

The Webinar host, Phil Wiltzius answered as follows: “I would echo that, and sometimes I would check with the county health officer as well, because they tend to have jurisdiction for cases when there tend to be large outbreaks. So, that would be a good reference to contact as well.”

Another question: “If someone is not vaccinated and has a clinical diagnosis of whooping cough, should we still vaccinate while they’re ill?”

Conor Nath’s answer: “I don’t have specific data about that. However, with the thought that it will take awhile for the antibodies to be produced, we certainly won’t get any clinical benefit from vaccinating that individual.”

An immunization nurse consultant in the Office of Immunization answered as follows: “Usually in general for vaccinations, we do recommend that a person is not acutely in their acute phase of their illness, and then after they’re out of that acute phase, then they can be vaccinated.”

The last question: “Can pertussis be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers, and if so, is testing recommended in the high close contacts?”

Conor Nath’s answer: “It can certainly be transmitted in asymptomatic or very minimally symptomatic carriers, which is why we really push vaccines to prevent more serious cases. As for close contact, in my clinical practice, I am hesitant to do some of those more expensive PCR tests when I don’t have strong suspicion. So, if they’re asymptomatic but have a close exposure with someone who would be at high risk, then he would eligible for post exposure prophylaxis. But so, you wouldn’t necessarily need to test in that setting.”

Conspicuously missing among the questions, let alone topics raised, were safety concerns about the pertussis vaccines.

VAERS has recorded 193,437 adverse events in the United States to the pertussis vaccine.

In the United States, 3,396 deaths have occurred following the pertussis vaccine.

In Washington, 4,846 adverse events have occurred following the pertussis vaccine.

In Washington, fifty-seven deaths have occurred following the pertussis vaccine.

The webinar noted the following slide, which showed that, for those under one year of age, 130 of 144 overnight hospitalization pertussis cases were of those who did not receive the vaccine. [Or we think documentation was not available].

But as for the side effects, the webinar did not mention that forty-eight of the fifty-seven deaths in Washington following the pertussis vaccine were of those under six months of age.

All but one of the deaths occurred while the pertussis vaccine was administered with other shots, which goes against the above recommendation from Conor Nath that the pertussis vaccine should be administered with other vaccines. The one death following just the pertussis vaccine was in 1990 in which the write-up said, “Patient vaccinated with DTP September 5, 1990, developed SIDS.” VAERS ID: 26175

Getting back to marketing the pertussis vaccine, this past week, the DOH pushed the jab with its question of the week:

Q: How Effective is Tdap Vaccination During Pregnancy at Protecting Newborns from Pertussis?

A: Tdap given during pregnancy is highly effective at preventing pertussis (whooping cough) in infants. It is, by far, the best way to minimize the risk of pertussis hospitalization during baby's first months of life.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluation found Tdap vaccination during the third trimester of pregnancy prevents 78% of pertussis cases in infants younger than 2 months of age. These findings are similar to other studies from the United Kingdom and the United States that suggest that vaccinating the mother during pregnancy is highly effective at protecting infants against pertussis.

When infants do get pertussis, their infection is less severe if the pregnant person received Tdap during pregnancy. A CDC evaluation found maternal vaccination is 90% effective at preventing infant hospitalization from pertussis. The 2-minute video is available at Immunize.org's YouTube channel, along with their full collection of quick video answers to popular Ask the Experts questions.

The DOH’s perspective and the studies they look to must be critically examined. We can address this at length in a future post, but for now, read this opposing view: “Maternal Gestational Tdap Vaccination and Autism: A Critique of Becerra-Culqui et al. (2018)” by James Lyons-Weiler, Alison Fujito, and our own Bernadette Pajer.

Although the DOH has been more aggressive in its marketing of the pertussis vaccines for this holiday season, it should be noted that they have been instilling pertussis fear since the start of the summer. As noted in the June 12, 2024, issue of ICWA Weekly News in response to an advisory:

The DOH doesn’t provide the vaccination status of the 170 confirmed or suspected cases, except for infants. They report “Of the 29 infants who had pertussis so far in 2024: 25 were old enough to have received a dose of pertussis-containing vaccine, and 4 (14%) had received at least one dose.” Since the vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission, and outbreaks occur in fully vaccinated populations, DOH should not assume a 100% vaccination rate would have prevented the 25 from infection. But they should understand—if they are keeping up on the science—that the 25 infants who were not vaccinated and who experienced pertussis now have naturally acquired immunity, while the 4 who are vaccinated and got sick anyway, are still susceptible to infection because of the immune-skewing effects of the shots. See the Cherry study. While natural pertussis immunity is not lifetime, it does provide far longer-lasting and broader protection than the shots.

For a more detailed and accurate analysis of the pertussis vaccine, one could study Suzanne Humphries’s findings in her book Dissolving Illusions:

Immunization against pertussis, which was introduced at a time when mortality from the disease had been falling steeply for 70 years, made a much less convincing impact… the death rate had fallen very substantially before 1957, and there was relatively very little room for improvement.

Humphries then quoted Dr. Justus Strom in 1960:

It may be questioned whether universal vaccination against pertussis is always justified, especially in view of the increasingly mild nature of the disease and of the very small mortality.

Humphries then cited the adverse events from the pertussis vaccine:

Very early on, there were indications of problems. A 1946 article discussed twin boys aged 10 months (D. M. and G. M.) who both died on June 19, 1945, after receiving their second injection of diphtheria and pertussis vaccine.

After the second immunizing injections, both infants cried considerably on reaching home; they vomited and consumed excessive amounts of water, each taking about two full bottles. They then “feel asleep” and when next noticed by their parents appeared “lifeless.”… At 11:30 p. m. when his diaper was changed, he was found to be ice cold and wringing wet with perspiration. The parents explained that they regarded these symptoms as expected effects of the injections and therefore did not summon medical aid until 5:30 a.m., when D. M. appeared to be dead and G. M. gravely ill.{498}

A 1948 article in Pediatrics discussed cases of brain damage following use of the vaccine. The article is hauntingly similar to the large number of cases of autism that would escalate decades later. The children, mostly boys, had been developing normally and showed no problems prior to receiving the vaccine. They manifested “acute cerebral” symptoms within hours of injection. A regression or “failure of further development” occurred afterwards.

Inspection of the records of the Children’s Hospital for the past ten years has disclosed 15 instances in which children developed acute cerebral symptoms within a period of hours after the administration of pertussis vaccine. The children varied between 5 and 18 months in age and, in so far as it is possible to judge children of this age range, were developing normally according to histories supplied by their parents. None had convulsions previously… Twelve of the children were boys and three were girls, a sex difference also encountered in relation to other substances, such as lead, causing gross injury to the developing nervous system. At inoculation time, the children varied in age between 5 and 18 months. Developmental data were obtained in detail on all but two of the children, whose mothers simply stated that they had developed normally. Reference to the case histories showed that such objective activities such as sitting, walking, and talking had appeared in many of the children prior to the inoculations; and the regressions or failure of further development occurred after the encephalopathies [any disease or symptoms of disease referable to disorders of the brain] in several instances. In so far as it was possible to judge none of the children were defective prior to their acute illness.{499}

The authors discussed these children’s cases at length. At the end of their paper, they conclude that the risk of the vaccine seems too great if the only thing to be avoided was “the average attack of pertussis.” At the time of their paper, death from whooping cough had become relatively rare.

Humphries also wrote that Dr. Strom detailed the neurologic problems after vaccination and noted that complications were higher from vaccination than from naturally acquired disease.

In Sweden, as in several other countries, neurological complications after pertussis (triple) vaccination have been observed. A nation-wide investigation showed that 36 cases of such complications had occurred in about 215,000 vaccinated children (1 in 6,000) during 1955-8. Most of these consisted of convulsions, coma, or collapse, and the children were restored to health; but there were four deaths, of which two were sudden, and nine cases indicative of encephalopathies with severe lesions (1 in 17,000). An investigation of the incidence of neurological complications after pertussis [natural disease] showed that this was not so high as after vaccination.

Dr. Ström was not the only professional calling for discontinuation of pertussis vaccination. In 1981 Dr. Gordon Stewart stated that vaccination was not justified because most cases of whooping cough were mild and recovery provided lasting immunity.

And you can read about ICWAs attempt to get the DtaP and Tdap shots removed from daycare and school requirements and all of the supporting documents - a mountain of science - showing the shots do not prevent infection or transmission. Rather, they create asymptomatic carriers, and receipt of the shots makes one permanently susceptible to pertussis. Governor Inslee’s attorney struck down our appeal after the Board of Health said no. But hey, why let facts influence public health policy? Facts just get in the way of vaccine programs.

Are there alternatives to pertussis vaccine? Humphries noted the benefits without any hazards of consuming vitamin C as an alternative to the vaccine:

Pertussis is another disease that consumes large amounts of vitamin C and is effectively ameliorated with high enough doses. A 1936 pilot study by Otani{746} documents more rapid improvement than expected in the majority of his cases, even though his dosing was far too low to have reached an effective threshold. He only used 50 to 200 mg per injection.

Vermillion published a similar study in 1938.

In this small series of twenty-six cases of whooping cough, cevitamic acid seemed to be strikingly effective in relieving and checking the symptoms in all but two of the cases which apparently received little if any relief. It is our opinion that it should be given further trial in all cases of whooping cough regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time already elapsed since the original symptoms.{747}

But he also used very low doses of cevitamic (ascorbic acid) acid. In 1937 Ormerod reported in a small study group:

Ascorbic acid has a definite effect in shortening the period of paroxysms from a matter of weeks to a matter of days.{748}

His doses were also very low—150 to 500 mg. Given that pertussis is a toxin-mediated disease, these low doses would not have come close to tissue saturation. Sessa{749} and Meier{750} also reported positively on low-dose vitamin C in pertussis.

There are no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to demonstrate the effect of high-dose vitamin C on the duration and severity of pertussis. However, there are practices that have been caring for very young infants and children for 30 years using high-dose vitamin C, and they have not lost or damaged one of those children. There are thousands of happy mothers who know that vitamin C saved their children from suffering the feared ravages ravages of pertussis. Vitamin C has no known toxic dose and, when used properly, makes whooping cough far more manageable.

Doctors have used vitamin C effectively in cases of measles, scarlet fever, poliomyelitis, pertussis, opiate withdrawal, coronary artery disease, cancer, life-threatening sepsis, encephalitis, pneumonia, and other conditions. Unfortunately, their work has been forgotten or actively denied.