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Michael Belkin Testimony to Congress
Page 2The
hepatitis B vaccine was effectively mandated in 1991 for universal immunization of newborn
babies by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) -- an adjunct of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Paradoxically, the CDC's own Fact
Sheet on the hepatitis B disease does not include newborn babies as a risk group for
that disease. That Fact Sheet lists the risk groups as injection drug users, homosexual
men, sexually active heterosexuals, infant/children of immigrants from disease-endemic
areas, low socio-economic level, sexual/household contacts of infected persons, infants
born to infected mothers, health care workers and hemodialysis patients NOT
NEWBORN BABIES.
Question: Why then, did the ACIP establish a policy
mandating that newborn babies not at risk of the disease be automatically administered the
3-shot hepatitis B vaccine as their first involuntary indoctrination into the pediatric
care of America?
Answer: Here is that rationale from the original ACIP
1991 statement establishing the official vaccination policy "Hepatitis B Virus: A
Comprehensive Strategy for Eliminating Transmission in the United States Through Universal
Childhood Vaccination ..." "In the United States, most infections occur
among adults and adolescents ... The recommended strategy for prevent/rig these infections
has been the selective vaccination of persons with identified risk factors ... However,
this strategy has not lowered the incidence of hepatitis B, primarily because vaccinating
persons engaged in high-risk behaviors, life-styles, or occupations before they become
infected generally has not been feasible ... Efforts to vaccinate persons in the major
risk groups have had limited success. For example, programs directed at injecting drug
users failed to motivate them to receive three doses of vaccine ... In the United States
it has become evident that HBV transmission cannot be prevented through vaccinating only
the groups at high risk of infection ... In the long term, universal infant vaccination
would eliminate the need for vaccinating adolescents and high-risk adults ... Hepatitis
B vaccination is recommended for all infants, regardless of the HBsAg status of the mother
... The first dose can be administered during the newborn period, preferably before the
infant is discharged from the hospital, but no later than when the infant is 2 months of
aqe ..." (emphasis added).
So in the CDC and ACIP's own words, almost every newborn US baby is now
greeted on its entry into the world by a vaccine injection against a sexually
transmitted disease for which the baby is not at risk '-because they couldn't get the
junkies, prostitutes, homosexuals and promiscuous heterosexuals to take the vaccine. That
is the essence of the hepatitis B universal vaccination program.
 Question:
What are the risks and benefits for administering this vaccine to infants?
Answer:
Hepatitis B is a rare, mainly
blood-transmitted disease. In 1996 only 54 cases of the disease were reported to the CDC
in the 0-1 age group. There were 3.9 million births that year, so the observed incidence
of hepatitis B in the 0-1 age group was just 0.001%. In the Vaccine Adverse Event
Reporting System (VAERS), there were 1,080 total reports of adverse reactions from
hepatitis B vaccine in 1996 in the 0-1 age group, with 47 deaths reported. Total VAERS
hepatitis B reports for the 0-1 age group outnumber reported cases of the disease 20 to 1.
Question: Why don't they just screen the mother to see
if she is infected with hepatitis B (since that is about the only way a baby is likely to
get the disease), instead of vaccinating infants?
Answer: Selling vaccines is extremely profitable and the process of mandating
vaccines is fraught with conflicts of interest between vaccine manufacturers, the ACIP and
the American Academy of Pediatrics. The business model of having the government mandate
everyone must buy your product is a monopolist's delight.
Michael Belkin Testimony continued
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