Introductory Comments:
My name is Louise Kuo Habakus. I am a co-founder and the Director of the Center for Personal Rights. On behalf of the Center, all the speakers, many volunteers, and nearly 100 participating organizations and sponsors, we are delighted to welcome all of you to the inaugural American Rally for Personal Rights. We are here in Grant Park, downtown Chicago, the birthplace of many great social movements. Grant Park is the location of the historic victory speech by President Obama, when our nation stood in solidarity as he promised our country new leadership characterized by change and courage. Today, we stand in the heartland of America and affirm our rights to vaccination choice and parental consent.
We are many hundreds of us here, joined by thousands more from all over the world, watching the live webcast of this event in their homes, at house parties and satellite rallies. Take a look at these balloons! People who could not travel to Chicago sent balloons so they could be counted… each red balloon represents an adult, each yellow balloon a child.. these hundreds of people are also standing with us today. In the US, this event is gathering crowds coast to coast. The 4 foot balloons represent our satellite rallies. Let’s give a special shout out to everyone watching live, incl our satellite rallies in NYC, Edison NJ and Kent, WA.
Before we go any further, let me be extremely clear. To the press, most of all. And to our public health officials. To doctors, politicians, school nurses and the pharmaceutical industry. And anyone else who attempts to write us off with facile and misleading labels
We are not anti-vaccine
- You have not been listening
- We reject your divisive and inaccurate labels
- We are in favor of choice. We are pro-vaccination choice
We demand, for this medical intervention that is mandated for all of our children, as for every other medical intervention, the human rights standard around the world.
That is… the right to free and informed consent. Vaccination choice is a human right.
Look at us now. We are mainstream America. And there’s no denying it. We have some important and special news to announce, that was shared, earlier this week in a press conference. Three weeks ago, the Center for Personal Rights contracted with Harris Interactive to conduct a national survey, the first of its kind. Harris reached a representative sample of 1,114 parents with children up to 17 years of age. And here are the results.
Today, a majority of American parents believe that:
- parents should have the right to decide which vaccines their children should receive without regard to mandates
- a majority believe that government should fund an independent scientific study of fully vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals to assess long-term health outcomes… and
- a majority believe that pharmaceutical firms have undue influence over vaccine mandates
Those deeply concerned about vaccination choice, parental rights, and vaccine safety science free from industry influence are the majority. Parents are asking more questions about vaccines. Parents want a national dialogue about vaccines. This has never been stated on a national platform before national press. Mainstream America affirms the right to vaccination choice and parental consent.
But… if you watch TV or read the papers, you’d never know it. How many of you watched the Frontline program on the Vaccine War last month? They presented a small handful of Ashland, Oregon moms against the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and a number of Establishment doctors in white coats.
You may not have realized that Frontline left a lot of footage on the cutting room floor. Right now, we are going to share with you many deep and diverse perspectives that are not discussed in the national narrative on vaccination choice. Because, not only are we the majority. We have some very smart, credentialed, professional, courageous, high integrity and impressive people in our ranks.