Vaccine Nation (12 page)

“Why the hell didn’t he just bring his data with him?” Richard said.

Dani shrugged. “You should’ve seen him. He was acting like a character in a grade B spy movie. I’m surprised he even suggested he would bring his file over at all.”

“It may not amount to anything. The guy sounds like a flake to me.”

“Why are you being so negative?”

“I’m not being negative. Just realistic. If he had any important information, don’t you think he would’ve surfaced it a long time ago?” Dani felt a flare of anger, but decided not to respond. Richard said, “I think you’d be better off getting your mind around the notion of taking on Grover Madsen tomorrow morning, and preparing for it.”

That was too much. “All of a sudden you’re devising strategy for me?”

“Whoa! Take it down a peg. I’m trying to help out. The clock is ticking, people are after you—that psycho is after us—and every person we come in contact with exponentially increases our risk. And I see the potential for you to score real points in clearing up this mess by telling your story in the context of debating Madsen on television.”

“And what about the risk that exposes me to?” Dani stood up, her hands balled into fists. “Or should I say ‘us,’ since you now seem to be so worried about yourself.”

“And with good reason. I remind you I’m in this position because I helped you out. And the longer you stay on the run from
the police, with that killer after you, the deeper I dig myself into this hole.”

“Then why don’t you just leave?” Dani shouted.

Richard laughed. Dani gritted her teeth. “Well, one reason is because this is
my
room.” He walked over to her, put his arms around her, pressed his body to hers and kissed her. She put her hands behind his head and pulled his mouth to hers again. She felt a swell of desire and thrust her hips into him.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered.

“I’ve got rug burns,” Dani said.

“So do I,” Richard said. “You seem to be really committed to this youth hostel approach to things.” He stroked her hair, lying on the carpet next to her, their arms and legs intertwined. “There’s a perfectly serviceable bed in there. You couldn’t wait that long?”

“You’re the one who pounced on me in the middle of the room.”

“I didn’t think you’d start tearing my clothes off and drag me to the floor.”

“Will you just shut the hell up for once?” She kissed him. He tasted like the cigar he’d smoked in his client meeting, but he was delicious. He was admiring her breasts. It made her want him again. There was noise at the door, that timid knock. “I think he’s back,” she whispered. “Salisbury.”

“I thought you said he was going to call first.”

Dani shrugged. “Take our clothes into the bedroom, will you? Can you grab me a bathrobe?” She giggled, feeling like a high school kid getting caught by her parents with her pants down.
She walked to the door. “Just a minute.” She peered through the glass peephole: Salisbury. She took the bathrobe from Richard and put it on, then opened the door.

“Please come in.”

Salisbury stepped inside. He looked Dani up and down.

“Sorry about the informality. I was just getting ready to take a shower.”

“The apologies are mine. I should have called first.”

“Did you find your files?” Salisbury produced a USB flash drive from his pocket. Dani motioned to Richard’s computer, still open on the desk. Salisbury loaded the file. Dani’s heartbeat increased. She leaned forward. Salisbury’s file looked similar to the file Maguire had given her, only it had rows of names down the left-hand side in the first column, and each column across the top of the page had a heading, the first, “T,” the second, “T+1,” and so on.

“Project Epsilon,” Dani read the title to the exhibit aloud.

“Yes, that was an industry-wide project name.”

“What do the data represent?”

“Each row has the name of an individual that was either vaccinated or not, depending on which group they were a member of. Each column represents one observation, and my file has five years of data. It seems that Maguire’s has ten. As you can see, the formatting of the data is the same.” He switched from his file to Maguire’s, then back again. “Maguire’s is devoid of the names of the individuals and the observation measurement periods, but I think we can assume each of Maguire’s represents one year as well.”

Dani’s breath came fast. “So it appears that your file has the information missing from Maguire’s—the names of all the individuals—and that Maguire’s file extends the data forward by five years.”

Salisbury sighed. “Unfortunately, no. Just as the files are different, the data points are different, as would be the names of the individuals for the observations. My file is for the vaccinations conducted with my company’s vaccines; Maguire’s file would have been for his company’s, assuming that’s what his file represents.” Dani felt her spirits sink. “See, I worked for a small firm at the time. So we had far less observations than the file you got from Maguire.” He scrolled down the page. “I count 2,672 observations versus the almost 36,000 in Maguire’s file.”

Dani said, “Then your file doesn’t help us prove anything?”

“As a scientist, I’d have to say it doesn’t prove anything. It only makes me suspect that it represents Pharma International’s data for the Project Epsilon study.”

Richard emerged from the bedroom, fully dressed. “This is Richard Blum,” Dani said. “He’s a friend.” Salisbury looked skeptical. “You can talk in front of him.”

“Anything?” Richard said.

“Not much,” Dani said. “Only that it appears that Maguire’s data is from the same study that Walter worked on when he was in the industry. They called it Project Epsilon.”

Salisbury found his voice again. “It was an industry-wide study, ostensibly to evaluate adjuvants, but really to assess side effects of vaccines. A classic control versus observation group project. As I recall, over twenty vaccine-makers participated.”

Richard said, “And?”

“And it was terminated after five years. The data from my company started to show some statistical significance, a correlation coefficient of .62, but probably not enough to warrant making any definitive decisions.”

So the industry pulls the plug before it can show anything damaging to it,
Dani thought.

Richard said, “A correlation coefficient of .62 is enough to justify further study, isn’t it?”

“One would think.”

“What were the results for the other companies in the industry?”

“That information was never disseminated. I learned through some fellow researchers at other firms that their results showed similar correlation coefficients to mine.”

“And what about Maguire’s data? What’s does that show?”

“I haven’t run it.”

“Could you?”

“Of course. By assigning dummy names to the rows of data, and making the assumption that the ten columns represent years.”

“Ten years? I thought you said the study was terminated after five.”

“It was.”

Richard looked at Dani. “Could Maguire have kept going? Kept his study open and continued compiling data?” He turned to Salisbury. “What do you think?”

“It’s possible.”

“How long would it take you to run Maguire’s data?” Dani asked.

Salisbury thought for a moment. “I could have it by the middle of the day tomorrow.”

Dani felt a surge of energy.
Maybe,
she told herself. “Do it, please!”

T
HE NEXT MORNING
, S
UNDAY
, R
ICHARD
set up his laptop on the desk in their hotel room, tested the camera, initiated Identity Cloaker and logged onto Skype. He rotated the TV to face Dani and turned it on with the volume muted, so she could watch the program without interfering with her audio. Then he walked into the bedroom and closed the door to watch her on the TV. Her hands were already sweating at the prospect of staring into the camera. Denise arrived, beaming. “I’ve had the entire Vaccine Choice group working the phones since I heard from you last night. Five to ten calls each, with the promise that each of them will get to another five or ten people, and so on. Email blasts, text blasts, blogs. The works. What a kickoff to the rally later today. This is going to be big!”

Just what I needed,
Dani thought.
More pressure.

A woman came on the computer screen via Skype. “Hi, Dani. We’re so glad you agreed to do this. I’m Carrie Symington, the Associate Producer for
Face the Press.”

“Wouldn’t have missed it.” Dani wondered if the tremor in her voice was apparent.

Carrie said, “We’ll start off with a reference to your status as a witness to David Maguire’s murder, and as a person of interest wanted by the police. We don’t want to make it the focus of the segment, but David will start with some questions about it.”

“Okay.” Dani’s nerves felt jangled. Her pulse was thundering in her ears when Carrie instructed her to look directly into the camera. Denise, standing at the side of the room, said, “Piece of cake. Take a deep breath, look into the camera and let your mind go blank.”

Dani laughed. “Like it isn’t already?”

Carrie smiled. “See? You’re an old pro already.” She disappeared and Dani saw the set and the opening credits for
Face the Press
on both the computer screen and the TV.

Here we go.
Her face felt like it was made of stone.

David Bradley came on screen. “Senator John McKean’s Senate vaccine hearings commence on Monday morning here in Washington, DC at the Russell Senate Office Building. One of the key subjects for consideration by the committee is, ‘Should congressional immunity from lawsuits alleging damage from vaccines continue to be granted to the pharmaceutical industry?’ Today we have a discussion on the two sides of that issue. Representing the pharmaceutical industry is Grover Madsen, chairman and CEO of Pharma International, the country’s largest vaccine maker, and the chairman of the pharmaceutical industry’s association, The Pharma Circle.” Dani saw Madsen’s face flash up on the left-hand side of the TV. He looked as relaxed and confident as her father before Super Bowl XXI. She swallowed hard. “Representing the opposing side of the issue is Ms. Dani North, a member of the Vaccine Choice group, and a documentary filmmaker who recently won at the Tribeca Film Festival for her documentary,
The Drugging of Our Children,
which raises issues critical of the pharmaceutical industry’s products, including vaccines.” Now she saw her own face flash up on the right-hand side of the TV. She looked ashen. She forced herself to look into the camera. They broke for commercial. Dani exhaled.

When they came back on, Bradley said, “Ms. North, we understand on Friday you witnessed the murder of a man named David Maguire, a vaccine researcher for Pharma. We also understand you’re wanted by the police as a person of interest regarding Mr. Maguire’s murder, and regarding the murder of a police officer in your apartment afterward. Please comment.”

“Yes. I’m innocent and I believe whoever is responsible for Mr. Maguire’s murder is planting evidence to implicate me.”

“If you’re innocent, why not go to the police and tell your story?”

“I believe I’m being framed.”

“What do you expect to accomplish by continuing to run?”

“To get to the bottom of this conspiracy.”

“Conspiracy? By whom?”

Dani hesitated. “I’d rather not say until I have proof.”

Bradley furrowed his brow. “So you had nothing to do with either murder?”

“Nothing.”

Bradley looked skeptical. He said, “Turning to our topic today, under the current government rules established in 1986, parents who allege damage to their children from vaccines have no recourse to sue the vaccine manufacturers, but rather must take their claims up with government panels established for damage hearings, called the Vaccine Court. These cases are decided by government-appointed Special Masters who act as judges.

Dani said, “Few are compensated, most go begging.” The camera was still on David Bradley, and her voice had come from nowhere. It sounded mousy and strained. Bradley didn’t acknowledge her. “Well, panel members, should we or shouldn’t we have this Vaccine Court, or abandon it and allow plaintiffs to sue in civil court?”

Dani saw Madsen’s and her face flash in split-screen format on either side of the TV. She said, “Why should we?” Her voice sounded stronger.

“I’m glad you asked that, Dani,” Madsen said, smiling. “Our National Immunization Program is government mandated, and does enormous good. Vaccines have completely rid the world of certain debilitating or fatal diseases, such as polio and smallpox. Polio was a scourge that swept the country in the 1950s—many of you may be too young to remember it—until Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine and the government stopped the epidemic by mandating that all children be vaccinated and, almost as importantly, stopped widespread panic. It was one of the most successful public health campaigns in history.” He paused, as if to allow Dani an opportunity to respond.

Dani’s mind went blank.

Madsen continued, telling the history of the smallpox vaccine. “…and today, smallpox has been eradicated as a result of derivatives of that original vaccine.”

Dani found her voice. “There’s evidence that developing hygiene and nutrition were responsible for the decline in incidence of smallpox, and it would’ve occurred with or without the vaccine.”

“You can’t be serious. The fact that people learned to wash their hands before eating, and then started eating better was responsible for the elimination of smallpox? There’s no science on that.”

“There’s no science in your contention—”

“Let’s stay on topic,” Bradley said. “We’re not here to debate the history of vaccines.”
Dani glanced at Madsen on the TV screen. He looked unperturbed, as if she’d tried to run off on some tangent that didn’t matter. And maybe she had. But at least she was less tense now.

She remembered something Richard had said last night. He’d compared the debate to getting deposed or cross-examined by opposing counsel in a lawsuit. “Don’t try to score points,” he’d told her. “Just play defense, deflect the blows until you can figure out your adversary and see an opening. And don’t try to get fancy until you get your confidence up.”

Madsen frowned. “I would like to make one comment on the previous topic, because the lack of education in the point of view of those opposed to vaccines astonishes me. Ms. North, if you’d ever seen what a person who’d contracted smallpox looks like, how horribly he dies, maybe you could accept the enormous benefits that vaccines have bestowed. You’re against using vaccines to save lives.”

“I’m not against that. I’m against shooting toxic substances into the veins of our children. I’m against the National Immunization Program’s vaccine schedule of fourteen vaccines in forty-nine shots by age six in which a twelve-pound infant can receive up to eight shots per day, even if that child has the flu or has her immune system compromised in some way. I’m against taking parents’ rights to choose to vaccinate their children, or not, away from them by a government mandate that presumes they can’t decide for themselves what’s good for their children’s health. I’m against a CDC communication strategy that’s more appropriately described as propaganda, hyping the risk of infectious disease through scare tactics; overzealously denying any possibility of damage from vaccines that could lead to adverse effects such as autism; and selectively presenting evidence to stampede the public into compliance with the vaccine program rather
than educating them. I’m against inadequate testing of vaccines and their ingredients, in effect using our children as guinea pigs to determine if the things are safe.” She stopped, breathing hard.

“How can you say we haven’t tested vaccines?” Madsen said. “They’re subjected to the same rigorous FDA approval process—including three phases of trails—as all drugs in the US.”

“That only scratches the surface. And what about vaccines’ ingredients? All of them—stabilizers, adjuvants, preservatives, inactivators, growth media—should be subjected to safety tests, toxicological studies you would do for anything else you inject into people. Why aren’t they being done?”

Dani paused to allow Madsen to answer. When he didn’t, she went on, “For parents at home, if you want to know about how scary these ingredients are, check out the website of the National Vaccine Information Center, founded by Barbara Loe Fisher, or watch her video interview on vaccines on Dr. Mercola’s website, the premier natural health site on the Internet.” She took a breath. “Mr. Madsen, our babies get over thirty antigens and over twelve diseases in their mandatory shots. I’m not aware that any of those have been tested for interactions with each other. What about research on interactions between vaccines and other commonly used medications? What about older vaccines being tested with the current standards used for new vaccines? What about follow-up research on side effects?”

David Bradley interjected, “Let’s go back. You said something earlier about ‘shooting toxic substances into the veins of our children.’”

Dani didn’t wait for Madsen. “Aluminum, formaldehyde, aborted human fetal tissue, acetone, MSG, and live viruses, for starters.”

Madsen said, “Those substances are in trace amounts.”

“Oh, so a little poison is a good thing?”

Bradley said, “Let’s look at some of those substances.”

Dani said, “Thimerosal is one I didn’t mention yet. It’s a preservative that’s 49.6 percent mercury, one of the most toxic elements on earth—”

Madsen said, “It was removed voluntarily by the year 2004 from the childhood vaccine schedule, after questions were raised about it, even though in the trace amounts it existed it did no harm.”

“It was removed after representative Dan Burton’s Congressional hearings for the House Committee on Government Reform put pressure on the industry. After it was disclosed that the patent holder’s Medical/Science Department requested that the claim ‘non-toxic’ be removed from thimerosal labels as far back as 1967. After it was publicized that in 1982, an independent panel convened by the FDA called for removal of all mercurybased preservatives, including thimerosal, from OTC topical products because they were ‘not generally recognized as safe and effective,’ meaning, too toxic to rub on your skin.”

Madsen arched his back, looking flustered for the first time. “It was removed. It’s ancient history. Irrelevant to this discussion.”

“What about the flu vaccine?”

Madsen said, “Yes, thimerosal is in it in trace amounts, because it’s necessary as a disinfectant and preservative.”

“And no other disinfectant and preservative is available?” Before Madsen could respond, she said, “About one hundred million Americans receive the flu shot each year, at the urging of our government, the pharmaceutical industry, and advertisements in newspapers and posters in every drugstore in the country.”

“Most who receive the flu shot are adults. This discussion is about our routine childhood vaccinations.”

“So, it’s okay to shoot a little mercury into our mothers, sickly aunts and grandmothers? And I point out that the flu shot is recommended by the CDC for children up to age eighteen. That means thimerosal, which means mercury.”

Bradley said, “We’re getting off topic. Ms. North, can we go back to some of the other substances on your list?”

Dani said, “Sure, aluminum—”

“Aluminum is an adjuvant—a necessary component in vaccines—a substance that stimulates the immune response.”

“I think you meant to say an adjuvant of some sort is a necessary element in vaccines, didn’t you? Surely, you didn’t mean that aluminum, a known toxic heavy metal such as lead, cadmium, and mercury, is the only adjuvant that can be used, and is essential to be injected into our babies as part of their routine childhood vaccines?”

“Artfully—or shall I say craftily—worded, Ms. North. An adjuvant is necessary, yes. Aluminum is currently by far the most effective known adjuvant, present in trace amounts, less than .5 percent.”

“For a substance as toxic as aluminum, .5 percent of the vaccine isn’t a trace amount.” Dani felt her anger rising. “David, you asked about other ingredients. Here’s another. Phenoxyethanol. That’s the chemical name. It’s in a number of vaccines. It’s commonly known to the average consumer as antifreeze, used in your car’s cooling system.”

Madsen said, “You’re beginning to engage in sensationalism, Ms. North. Trace amounts.”

Both Dani and Madsen paused. Bradley steered the discussion again, saying, “Let’s talk about studies of the side effects of vaccines.”

Madsen grinned. “This is one I’d like to debunk once and for all. All those who say we haven’t done any statistical testing of vaccines are plain wrong. I can point to numerous studies, but for the sake of brevity, let’s consider the most comprehensive one. It was an epidemiological study—a population study—of 110,000 children in selected HMOs comparing those receiving thimerosal-containing vaccines with those getting vaccines without thimerosal. The study was undertaken for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. It was published in November, 2003 and showed no statistical evidence of increased risk of speech or language delay in the thimerosal group.”

Dani couldn’t help but shake her head. “That’s a tired old study. There’s a shocking quote from a Dr. Johnson who attended the now infamous Simpsonwood off-site CDC invitation-only conference in the year 2000, to discuss the ongoing findings of that study. This doctor—an industry expert on a panel to consider the safety of vaccines for our National Immunization Program—told his colleagues that his first grandchild had just been born. He went on to say, ‘I don’t want that grandson to get a thimerosal-containing vaccine until we know better what is going on.’ Here are other quotes from that off-site: ‘What if the lawyers get hold of this?’ ‘There’s not a scientist in the world who can refute these findings.’ But lest you think I’m being sensationalist, let me point to the fact that that study went through at least four iterations. The first established statistically that a child getting the thimerosal-containing vaccines was 2.5 times more likely to have neurodevelopmental disorders than a child in the group that received vaccines without thimerosal. The study was revised through four subsequent iterations, in which the data were continually massaged until no statistically significant evidence of harm from the thimerosal vaccines was detected. But don’t
take my word for it. There’s an excellent book called
Evidence of Harm,
by David Kirby, a respected investigative reporter who’s written for
The New York Times,
that lays out the multiple iterations of that study.”