The Great Harlem Vaccine Debate

Part 1

Are vaccines safe?

December 16, 2019 – Curtis Cost pulled off another outstanding event on vaccines in Harlem! Almost 300 people showed up for The Great Harlem Vaccine Debate on December 15th. When I entered the event I was fortunate to run into the brilliant James Lyons-Weiler, PhD and introduced myself. I told him I publish The Fed Up Democrat and he said, “That’s a great blog! I’ve shared it with many people.”

“Well I’ve shared your work with many people!” I responded enthusiastically. We both got a laugh out of that. What a fantastic compliment to this blog!

I also was able to speak to the amazing Health Freedom Activist Rita Palma, who told me “We are changing the temperature of the vaccine debate in the media; more and more it’s becoming OK to challenge the safety and efficacy of vaccination.” (She may be right, as New Jersey just stopped a bill to repeal their religious exemption to vaccination).

I was also very pleased when Curtis Cost opened the debate and gave a shout-out to The Fed Up Democrat for our support and promotion of The Great Harlem Vaccine Debate.

We did in fact witness a real, true vaccine debate happen and some very interesting things transpired. The pro-vaccine side of the debate consisted of Ankh Imhotep (Community Activist), Asar Imhotep (Computer Scientist), and Dr. Vanammee (PhD Biomedicine). The pro-Health Freedom side consisted of Del Bigtree (TV/Movie producer, journalist), James Lyons-Weiler (PhD Biomedicine), Virstyne Henry (Health Freedom Activist) and Danielle Gail (Parent Activist).

General Overview

I felt the pro-Health Freedom side won the debate on all of the most important points. In this report I will cover the first question of the debate – are vaccines safe? It was fantastic to be able to hear both sides of the most critical health issue of our time and how it impacts the African American Community. There were vendors all over the ballroom selling books, jewelry, herbs, natural health remedies, sage, candles, food and more. There were people from all walks of life and backgrounds who paid diligent attention to the debate for hours.

While I do disagree with the pro-vaccine side of the debate, they certainly brought some perspectives that were very interesting and worth hearing. Late in the debate Asar Imhotep made the point that due to slavery, Jim Crow, and the racist reality of American history there are no scientific institutions designed and run by African Americans. Because of this the Black Community must be scientifically literate and able to read and understand the science put out by the government and Big Pharma, to determine what is and is not true. He continued by saying many African American don’t trust the government or Big Pharma and because of this they are prone to agree with what he calls “anti-vaccine” arguments just based on the talking points alone. African Americans don’t have the luxury of saying everything put out by Big Pharma and the government isn’t true, according to Asar Imhotep.

For the most part this is a very powerful point. Everyone on every side of this debate needs to think for themselves and do their own research. The Great Harlem Vaccine Debate at many times viewed the debate around vaccination through the unique lens of the African American Community. I watched audience members nod their heads as the debaters spoke, as well as engage in discussion with others around them. I saw fantastic conversations emerge from this event.

Now let’s go through each point in the debate regarding vaccine safety.

Opening Statements

The opening statements for the pro-vaccine side came from Ankh Imhotep, who focused on smallpox, polio and measles; noting that Egyptian mummies have shown signs of having had, or having died of smallpox. He referenced Edward Jener inventing the smallpox vaccine in 1796 and how today vaccines work so well we forget how bad the diseases were they have “eradicated.” (This is one of Dr. Peter Hotez’s favorite statements).

“There’s no denying that vaccines work!” insisted Ankh Imhotep.

Del Bigtree made the opening comments for the pro-Health Freedom side stating while some vaccines may be effective there is a severe lack of safety in the current vaccination program. He referenced Eward Jenner’s son – who was one of the first to be given the smallpox vaccine by his father – stating he appeared to suffer from brain damage after he was vaccinated and died in his early 20’s. Bigtree said this may very well have been the first case of autism, as the historical record seems to describe his behaviors in such a manner. Additionally the oral polio vaccine is now admitted to cause polio today, which Bigtree called a “vaccine failure.” Finally he ended by saying it is arrogant to say that any science is “settled” as science is not decided by “consensus,” and at times it is one person like Galileo who is proven right even after being imprisoned or killed for being a heretic.

Debate Question #1 – ARE VACCINES SAFE?

Asar Imhotep opened by discussing the way vaccines are brought to market. He said they would have been first tested on animals for safety and that there is a difference between safety and efficacy testing. He brought up a question that the pro-vaccine side would repeat all night long – if not vaccines, what then? What can be used in place of vaccination, and what science supports its use? Asar Imhotep also stated that science is not about a “one man hero” such as Galileo but rather reproducibility and falsification, which can and should be done by scientists independent of Big Pharma.

On the pro-Health Freedom side Virstyne Henry laid out the overall problems with vaccine safety quite thoroughly and effectively given the short amount of time she had. She stated all the vaccines on the CDC childhood schedule have never been double-blind placebo tested and there has never been a study comparing vaccinated children to unvaccinated children; such a study would clear up many debated points. Henry stated not one vaccine has ever been tested to determine if it does or does not cause cancer, genetic mutations or infertility; facts admitted in every single vaccine package insert. She also quoted the work of the great Dr. Theresa Deisher who is a pioneer in developing adult stem cell technologies and who adamantly states aborted fetal cell lines used in vaccines can and do cause great harm to those injected with them. Henry said the way the vaccine regulatory system is setup is “the fox guarding the hen house.” She went on to state polysorbate 80, a vaccine additive, can turn into sorbitol in the human body and lead to diabetes, that reverse transcriptase in vaccines can result in false-positive HIV tests, and that vaccine adjuvants (most notably aluminum) have been linked to autoimmune disease.

Ankh Imhotep responded on the pro-vaccine side by saying Del Bigtree had been wrong in his opening statement about Jener’s son dying from the smallpox vaccination and Jener’s son “died 55 years later.” (Imhotep was not correct on these points, more on this later).

Dr Vanammee made the point that vaccines reduce the incidents of measles here in America and all over the world (which was more of an efficacy point than safety). Asar Imhotep asked if everyone knows what a vaccine is and does. “It’s not an invisible shield” around the entirety of the body but rather a tool to help an individual develop white blood cells to fight infection.

James Lyons-Weiler responded for the pro-Health Freedom side refuting that vaccines go through the same rigorous testing as drugs. Vaccines are not classified as drugs but rather as “biologics.” This is significant because all drugs in the U.S. are required to first go through a small clinical trial, a larger trial, then a long-term study over many years with some form of placebo control to reference in the study. Weiler pointed out that Del Bigtree’s non-profit ICAN has proved there have been no placebo control studies ever done for any of vaccines on the CDC’s childhood schedule.

If vaccines are so safe, said Weiler, then why has our own federal government declared vaccines to be “unavoidably unsafe” and made it illegal to sue vaccine manufacturers when children are injured by those vaccines?

“Are vaccines safe?” asked Weiler. “They are not safe enough; they are not safe for everyone,” answering his own question. Then Weiler made the one point of the evening I had never heard before. When CDC Whistleblower Dr. William Thompson said the MMR vaccine safety studies were falsified and sanitized before publication, he also said all CDC studies on vaccination are sanitized before published in medical journals.

Del Bigtree was up next and corrected Ankh on Jenner’s son – who did in fact die before the age of 21 and was brain damaged. Bigtree stated vaccines don’t cause autism, but they can and do cause encephalopothy (brain swelling) which can lead to autism. Encephalopothy is listed as a potential adverse effect on the vaccine manufacturer’s package insert.

On the pro-vaccine side Dr. Vanammeer said William Thompson has to come forward otherwise we can’t discuss him or his information much. I need to interject here; this is not correct. Thompson has come forward in the exact correct channels that a whistleblower should come froward; he has given all of his documentation to Congressman Bill Posey of Florida who has discussed Thompson’s information on the floor of Congress and asked for hearings to be held. Don’t blame Thompson for “not coming forward,” blame the US Government for criminally obstructing justice!

Ankh Imhotep said we don’t just listen to one scientist for all information; we need to fact check everything and not fall for “pseudo-science.” I couldn’t agree with him more! However he made the blanket statement that false statements were only on what he called the “anti-vax” side of the debate. He then said that Big Pharma has been protected from all lawsuits because lawsuits against their vaccines were discouraging them from doing research.

“The government created a fund to make sure these businesses stayed in business.”

Well, I must say he nailed that one right on the head!

Asar Imhotep asked a phenomenal scientific question at this point: “How do you quantify the term ‘safe’?” To say vaccines aren’t safe enough is very vague. James Lyons-Weiler responded in agreement saying the CDC says on its website “vaccines are safe” with no qualifying information beyond that. As a biomedical researcher Weiler says he has read all the CDC studies on vaccines and says, “The CDC is expert at doing what I call ‘science-like activities.’”

Del Bigtree then projected a slide of the numbers published by the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) showing in 2018 there were 62,803 adverse events reported including 533 deaths. Harvard University analyzed VAERS and determined it captures less than 1% of the actual number of true adverse reactions to vaccines. That means there is potentially 6 million adverse events a year and 533,000 deaths!

Ankh Imhotep responded by saying this was interesting but what if we had 500,000 cases of measles each year? He reminded everyone that in New York two Jewish communities had recently had measles outbreaks. Asar Imhotep then asked how many of the VAERS reports were determined to be false? Just because you go to a doctor saying you’ve experienced a vaccine reaction doesn’t mean that’s what you actually experienced.

Weiler responded directly to Asar Imhotep by saying, “You really are a scientist because you want to know more.” The VAERS system is designed to have no causality linkage within it. When Harvard finished its study on VAERS they had suggestions for the CDC on how to improve the system but CDC never responded to those suggestions: they don’t want to know the truth.

On the pro-Health Freedom side Danielle Gail, who is a mother and parent activist, said vaccination is not worth the risk. As a parent she uses common sense and instinct to keep her family healthy. She made the excellent point that the vaccine a doctor would give to her is the same dosage given to a 2-month-old baby, which just makes no sense at all!

“I’m not playing Russian Roulette with my children.”

Ankh Imhotep for the pro-vaccine side then quoted a study saying there are only 1.3 adverse events per every million vaccines given. I was unable to hear the precise source of this quote, but it is the standard “1 in a million” line from Big Pharma.

Del Bigtree countered this with facts about the very deadly DTP vaccine, which is no longer used in America. DTP is still used in the developing world and is estimated to have killed 10 times more children than it has saved. Del Bigtree and ICAN are suing UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) for continuing to kill innocent African children with this deadly vaccine.

At this point Curtis Cost took a vote from the audience to determine who they felt did a better job proving their side of the debate. Overwhelmingly the crowd felt vaccines were not safe. There were 3 more questions debated after this, including:

Debate Question #2 – ARE VACCINES EFFECTIVE?

Debate Question #3 – CAN YOU RAISE A HEALTHY CHILD WITHOUT VACCINES?

Debate Question #4 – WHO SHOULD HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE IF A CHILD IS VACCINATED; PARENTS OR GOVERNMENT?

Each of these questions from the debate will be detailed in subsequent reports.

For more information on The Great Harlem Vaccine Debate,

Presentations after the debate: https://www.facebook.com/100004629017551/videos/1513173545513598/?notif_id=1576456052547838&notif_t=live_video

Brooke Jordan presentation recorded by Rita Palma https://www.facebook.com/rita.palma.980/videos/10221683923755505/

Danielle Gail is part of The Family Freedom Alliance, which you can follow and join at www.familyfreedomalliance.org

***There was one other participant on the pro-vaccine side of the debate, however he was added to the debate last minute and I do not have his name and credentials at this time.