On April 5th 2015 in Belgrade, concerned citizens are protesting mandatory vaccination

Citizens’ Initiative for Optional Vaccination Republic of Serbia FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 31st, 2015 To Whom It May Concern: We have prepared this press release ahead of changes to the current law on the Protection of the Population from Infections Diseases, as announced via a statement from minister Zlatibor Loncar regarding the mandatory vaccination of all children. We, citizens of the Republic of Serbia, parents and members of the “Citizens’ Initiative for Optional Vaccination” informal association, are presenting to the media our formal appeal for support from the general public. Our goal is to express our concern regarding the tightening of sanctions against parents who refuse to risk the security of their children’s lives and states of health due to unsympathetic vaccination campaigns. On April 5th 2015, at the Nikola Pasic square in Belgrade at noon, concerned parents and their fellow citizens are coming together for a peaceful protest to express their concern about, and their disagreement with, the FORCED VACCINATION OF CHILDREN AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAW ON THE MANDATORY VACCINATION OF THE POPULATION. We are organizing this initiative with the goal of providing support to parents of children who have been injured by vaccines, as well as to citizens that believe vaccination ought to be a free choice and personal decision, not part of a FORCED program of the health protection system. We reference the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the European Union Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, as pillars of freedom that guarantee parents’ the right to choose the types of medical treatment their children receive. We, parents and free citizens of the Republic of Serbia, request that decision-makers respect our inviolable human rights. He request that decision-makers uphold our human rights and subsequently, and immediately, nullify the requirement that childhood immunizations be mandatory. We ask that the current law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases be amended to respect the Constitution. As a result of the announced modifications and additions to the standing law on the Protection of the Population from Infections Diseases, public representatives within the Government will be voting on the rendition of vaccination from an invasive medical intervention, as currently defined, to the proposed definition of a preventive medical intervention. Are we, concerned parents, to truthfully consider the injection of unknown substances via a needle as “prevention” or is this measure a serious medical procedure? Can we consider “preventive” an intervention that carries with it a range of unwanted reactions, reactions that vaccine manufacturers themselves have evidenced through various studies, from convulsions, local inflammation, allergies, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, encephalitis, meningitis…to autism and even death? While the right to choose on the matter of vaccination exists throughout the rest of the world, along with the existence of specific funds that provide compensation for vaccine injuries, in Serbia the situation is the exact opposite. Vaccination is unconstitutionally being propagated as mandatory, and injuries are not even acknowledged, let alone are any damages ever paid. In 2014, the United Kingdom, where vaccination is not mandatory, paid out 60 million GBP in damages to those harmed by vaccines. Italy is in the process of compensating over 580 vaccine-damaged children. The United States of America, from the year 1989, has paid out 3 billion dollars in damages to individuals and families injured by vaccines. In our neighboring Macedonia, in 2014, 100,000 Euros in damages were provided to a vaccine-injured child. If there already exists a publicized intention on the part of minister Loncar and the President of the Board of Health and Family Protection, Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, to impose mandatory vaccination on the citizens of Serbia, why is it that they do not provide us, parents that are in opposed to this imposition, with precise answers to the following questions which we persistently ask? We ask these questions with the goal of providing informed consent (or withholding informed consent) and considering the option of vaccination as an acceptable and desired form of health protection. Why have we not yet received a single invitation to participate in their Board meetings? Our questions include the following: • Why do Serbian lawmakers proclaim vaccination as being mandatory while referencing the World Health Organization’s recommended foreign vaccine manufacturers? The same manufacturers that are then indemnified of responsibility in cases of adverse reactions or death resulting from the administration of their vaccines? • What are the heavy metal contents of individual vaccines? • Is there a plan for the introduction of new mandatory vaccines to the immunization schedule? Is there a specified limit to this introduction and who will decide what this limit will be? • Why “must” vaccines produced through genetic engineering methods be injected into our children’s’ bodies? What types of SIDE EFFECTS result from the administration of GENETICALLY ENGINEERED vaccines, specifically SIDE EFFECTS that affect our children and our children’s children? We are seeking CLEAR and PRECISE answers! • How is it possible that members of the Board of Health and Family Protection ignore the official report on Pharmaceutical protocols that the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia published in the year 2014? On page 429 of the report we are citing, the pathogenesis of neurological complications resulting from vaccines is presented. The report presents possible consequences of vaccination, among others, as being: Autism, Dravet Syndrome, Guillian-Barre Syndrome. • Are independent scientists, who have published recognized studies on the subjects of the safety, efficacy, and necessity on vaccines, included within the national health department’s team of professionals? • Who is responsible for paying damages to children injured by vaccines and do clear and concise criteria exist for the compensation of injuries caused by vaccines? • What are the methodologies and instruments utilized by the “laboratory” of the Agency for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Resources to control and examine the ingredients of imported vaccines? • How is it possible that the World Health Organization maintains different criteria for recording deaths caused by the Pentaxim vaccine in “developing” countries, criteria that include Serbia in the list of “developing” nations? Does this mean that the lives of Serbian children are less valuable than the lives of children in Western nations? • Has the Pentaxim vaccine been subject to clinical trials? What are the results of long-term studies on the safety of this vaccine that compare the health of the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated population? Is it safe for a baby to be given five vaccines at once? What are adjuvants does this vaccine contain? • In the future, will parents subjected to mandatory vaccination be given “vaccine inserts” and declarations from manufacturers about the ingredients and possible risks and side effects of the vaccines? • Which level of supervisory or medical agency will decide on the matter of vaccine exemptions resulting from the presence of contraindications? • In what manner are unvaccinated (unprotected) citizens a danger to vaccinated (protected) citizens? What is the purpose of mandatory vaccination if such is not 100% effective protection? • On what basis are decisions made that determine a child is completely healthy and prepared to receive a vaccine? • Why is the leading argument for mandatory vaccination the “myth of collective immunity” when we are the witnesses of the spear of disease specifically within environments of over 95% and even up to 100% individual vaccination? These questions represent only a part of those posed by concerned parents. Representatives of the Parliamentary Board of Health never provide answers to our questions; in fact, they quite frequently threaten us with changes to existing laws and sanctions against the disobedient. Even in cases when something is completely free, no intervention that hasn’t been conclusively proven to be 100% safe and harmless to children’s health and to the health of a nation can possibly be made mandatory. Especially when the chain of governments, institutions, and individuals involved in imposition of mandatory regulations refuse to take complete responsibility for the consequences of their decisions. Without such responsibility, and without conclusive evidence of safety, our human rights are being most severely undermined. Along with this undermining of our human rights comes the endangerment of our religious, civil, and political rights. The laws being suggested and voted upon by our Parliamentary Board are bringing us directly into a dictatorship and denies us, the visibly impoverished citizens of Serbia, of our rights under Constitutional and International Law. Our only goal in taking action to prevent these dictatorial actions is to protect the health of our own children and subsequently the health of the entire nation. We will present all of our questions and request by way of a peaceful protest on Sunday, April 5th, 2015, at the Nikola Pasic square, in Belgrade, exactly at noon. We expect to be joined by all citizens who support freedom of choice and optional, unforced, vaccination. Sincerely, Dragana Basa President, Citizens’ Initiative for Optional Vaccination Media and Press Contacts: Bojana Jovovic Media Relations, Citizens’ Initiative for Optional Vaccination zasloboduizbora@gmail.com Mariah Gligoric Media Relations and Communications Adviser, Gligoric Ethical Capital mariah@gligoriccapital.com