National Vaccine Information Center

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, was founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine injured children. NVIC is the largest and oldest consumer-led non-profit organization advocating the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the mandatory vaccination system. NVIC's mission is to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education, and to defend the informed consent ethic. The NVIC website was one of the first consumer health information websites on the internet and contains a large collection of information on vaccines, infectious diseases, state and federal vaccine legislation, vaccine policies and bioethics published by NVIC.

Background
The National Vaccine Information Center was co-founded in 1982 by Jeff Schwartz, Barbara Loe Fisher and Kathi Williams, all of whom had children who regressed after severe reactions to the DPT vaccine and were left brain injured. In 1985, Fisher co-authored with Harris Coulter, PhD the first major critique of the mass vaccination system, DPT: A Shot in the Dark (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), which examined the scientific evidence for an association between whole cell pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine in the DPT shot and brain and immune system damage, including autism.

In the early 1980s, NVIC co-founders worked with Congress on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which created a federal vaccine injury compensation program, mandated that doctors give parents vaccine benefit and risk information, and required the recording and reporting of vaccine injuries and deaths (see Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). Since then, NVIC has monitored vaccine research, development, regulation, policymaking, and legislation and has criticized mandatory vaccination policies for lacking informed consent protections for individuals.

Advocating reform of mass vaccination programs
NVIC provides assistance to parents whose children have suffered vaccine reactions, and to those searching for more information about vaccination. The organization promotes scientific research into the biological mechanisms of vaccine induced brain and immune system dysfunction and identification of genetic and other high risk factors for vaccine injury and death. NVIC advocates raising federal health agency standards to require more evidence that new vaccines are safe and effective and that federal vaccine policies calling for universal use of new vaccines are necessary and will not cause long term chronic disease outcomes. NVIC maintains that the right to informed consent to any medical intervention that carries a risk of injury or death, including vaccination, is a human right and that all citizens should have the legal right to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions for themselves and their children.

NVIC's co-founder and president, Barbara Loe Fisher, has represented the vaccine safety interests of consumers as a member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (1988-1991); Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum (1995-1998); Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (1999-2003); Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative of the Centers for Disease Control (2002-2005); CDC Blue Ribbon Panel on Vaccine Safety (June 3-4, 2004); and Consumers United for Evidence-Based Healthcare, The Cochrane Collaboration - US (August 2006-present).

NVIC has been vocal in its criticism of lobbying efforts by pharmaceutical companies to have additional legislation enacted, such as BioShield Two, which would further shield the industry from financial liability for vaccine injuries.

NVIC also has led the public debate about the claimed relationship between vaccination and learning disability or autism. NVIC has questioned the policy of states automatically adding every newly licensed vaccine recommended by public health officials to mandatory laws for school entry, arguing that there has not been an adequate scientific investigation into the association between repeated use of multiple vaccines in early childhood and increased numbers of children suffering with ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, asthma, diabetes and other brain and immune system dysfunction. The issue has been examined by numerous scientific bodies, which have concluded that there is no evidence for the claimed link between vaccines and autism.

With more than two hundred new vaccines currently in development, and a dozen or more in pipeline for introduction in the next decade, NVIC has challenged further additions to the mandatory vaccination schedule for school entry vaccination schedule. NVIC analyzed and publicized product safety concerns about Gardasil, the first HPV vaccine that was licensed in 2006.

Public Conferences on Vaccination
In 1997, NVIC held the First International Public Conference on Vaccination, where more than 500 doctors, scientists, health officials, lawyers, ethicists, journalists and parents from 34 states and five countries gathered in Washington, D.C. to present scientific data about vaccines and diseases and to discuss vaccine-induced injury, death and chronic illness. NVIC held the Second and Third International Public Conferences on Vaccination in 2000 and 2002.

National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act
NVIC co-founders worked with federal legislators to help create and pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which acknowledged the need to provide financial support for the vaccine injured and created a federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). The law included legal requirements for doctors to provide vaccine benefit and risk information to parents before children are vaccinated, keep written records of vaccine manufacturer names and lot numbers for each vaccination given, and report adverse events following vaccination to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The law also preserved the right for vaccine injured persons to file lawsuits if federal compensation is denied or inadequate. By 2004, the U.S. Court of Claims had awarded more than 1,200 vaccine victims $1.5 billion dollars for vaccine injuries.