An Open Letter from Lawrence Palevsky, M.D.

Lawrence Palevsky, M.D. is a New York pediatrician who will be speaking at NVIC’s Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination. Following is an open letter to doctors and health care professionals inviting them to attend and learn more about the science, policy, law, ethics and politics of vaccination.

August 27, 2009

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I am writing to invite you to attend the National Vaccine Information Center’s Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination Oct. 1-4, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. and Dulles International Airport. Go to www.NVIC.org to learn about more than 35 first class speakers from around the world, and register now.

Lines Have Been Drawn in the Sand

The current vaccine controversy is intense. Lines have been drawn in the sand. “Pro-forced vaccinators” are being lionized, while “pro-informed choice” advocates are being harassed and demonized. The current public conversation about vaccination is often one-sided. Science has been replaced with dogma. Lost in the rhetoric is respect for good science and the ethical practice of medicine.

Create a Different Conversation

I am appealing to you to consider creating a different conversation about vaccines. One that allows for independent thought and analysis of contradictions and inconsistencies. One that acknowledges what is and is not known about vaccination, and considers the possibility that some of our current teaching and policy decisions about vaccines may be wrong, or even compromising the health of children and adults. And, one that opens our minds to a new way of thinking about wellness, illness and individual and public health.

A Groundbreaking, Historic Event

This NVIC sponsored vaccine conference will discuss the science, policy, ethics, law and politics of vaccination. It will be educational and experiential. At this groundbreaking, historic event, you will hear a perspective on vaccines and what it means to be healthy, from top scientists, doctors, bioethicists, legal experts and health freedom advocates, who are not afraid to discuss cutting edge issues rarely talked about in the mainstream media or in medical arenas.


A Return to Ethics-Based Medicine

By attending this conference, you are choosing to learn, and to be provided with more information than you already have about acute and chronic diseases and vaccines. You are also choosing to learn more about why support for the informed ethic in medicine and public health policy is important for you, your patients and the public. By attending this conference and learning from experts, who will present scientific evidence and argue for respect for biodiversity and a return to ethics-based medicine, you are choosing to be pro-education and pro-informed consent and NOT “anti-vaccine.”

· If you have doubts that hardline, one-size-fits-all vaccine policies are completely safe and effective;

· If you are concerned that conflicts of interest might be impacting negatively on vaccine science and policy making;

· If you are witnessing more of your patients, young and old, developing chronic health problems following vaccination but are conflicted because you have been taught that “vaccines don’t do that;”

· If you are wondering, in the back of your mind, if the increasing numbers of children suffering from learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, autism, asthma, inflammatory bowel disorders, diabetes and other brain and immune system problems may have something to do with too many vaccines being given;

· If you are worried that your patients are losing the freedom to make voluntary health care choices, and that health care providers are losing the freedom to provide holistic, complementary or alternative medicine;

· If you believe that there is more to know about vaccines than what you’ve been taught, and you are worried or uncertain about what you might never have been told;

· If you are open-minded, or in any way skeptical, and ready to be presented with new scientific and clinical evidence that challenges your pre-conceived ideas about vaccination and health; and

If you want to discover new ideas for how to care for children and adults you see in your practice, THIS CONFERENCE IS FOR YOU.

Bring an open mind.

Bring your curiosity.

Bring a readiness to be challenged, and a willingness to become a more enlightened, confident and successful clinician.

Bring an attitude that welcomes new thinking, and new information.

And, most importantly, bring your friends and your colleagues.

Dare to open your mind to new information and new possibilities.

The 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination will be a humbling but empowering experience that has the potential to change your life, and the lives of your patients.

I look forward to seeing you in Reston, VA in October 2009.

Sincerely,

Lawrence B. Palevsky, MD