The MMR and HPV vaccines are hazardous to the health of Romania’s children, according to a vote of no-confidence filed against the Health by sovereignist parties.
NEWS: The MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, which was previously considered relatively safe, has now become a subject of concern for parents and physicians in recent years. Why? Because, after recent changes were operated to the formula and changes in the production of this vaccine, there have been alarming increases in adverse reactions, including cases of autism, serious neurological and autoimmune disorders. [...] The aggressive promotion of the HPV vaccine in schools, without informed parental consent, without transparency regarding side effects and in the absence of independent studies, raises major questions. Instead of protecting the health of young women in Romania, the HPV vaccine was imposed as a national program without conducting a proper assessment of long-term benefits. [...] Prevention programs are being sabotaged from within. Regulations linked to its implementation are bureaucratic and poorly conceived, discouraging family physicians and condemning patients to overdue diagnosis and unnecessary expenses for belated treatments.
NARRATIVE: Mass vaccination is a dangerous policy, a genuine attack on the health of children in Romania.
PURPOSE: To undermine the population's trust in authorities and the healthcare system, to promote and validate previously circulated conspiracy theories, to stir and amplify social unrest.
The MMR vaccine continues to be developed according to the original formula
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The narrative concerning the alteration of the MMR vaccine formula is not new - it was circulated in Romanian public space at the end of 2023. At that time, a Romanian-born American physician, Ana-Maria Mihalcea, published a series of videos in which she claimed to have analyzed the “new” vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, and discovered nanotechnology elements designed to be injected into children's bodies, so that they could be manipulated in the future. Veridica has analyzed in detail this false narrative, which in fact is merely part of an anti-vaccination campaign promoted by the American physician, who supports such beliefs that evil forces are secretly working to depopulate the planet, enslave the remaining population and transform “God's creation into something satanic, very evil” (starting minute 2:20).
Contrary to the claims of Ana Mihalcea and SOS Romania Senator Ninel Peia, the MMR vaccine has had the same formula since it was approved for human use in 1971. All attempts at finding the slightest reference to a possible modification operated to its formula have failed. In fact, every year, scientists prepare studies for each vaccine and vaccination campaign, noting and highlighting any new developments in terms of their formula, efficiency and side effects. Parents' concerns about vaccines did not arise due to “alarming increases in adverse reactions, including cases of autism, neurological and serious autoimmune disorders”, as Senator Peia claims, but are amplified precisely by the aggressive promotion of such false narratives. There is no study, to date, that meets the scientific validation criteria and confirms the conspiracy hypothesis that vaccines cause autism or autoimmune diseases.
Cervical cancer, caused by the HPV virus, is one of the few forms of cancer that can be prevented by vaccination. German physician Harald zur Hausen was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for this discovery. Just like the MMR vaccine, the HPV vaccine has not been proven to produce serious side effects, despite conspiracy theories claiming the opposite. Vaccination also reduces the incidence of HPV infection in the unvaccinated population, as an effect of community-wide immunity. The hundreds of millions of administrations, in addition to the dozens of studies and analyses, have clearly and indisputably demonstrated its safety, efficacy and efficiency. Therefore, starting 2020, Romania introduced a national immunization program, targeting not only “young people”, but also boys aged 9-18, for whom vaccination is free.
However, this is not the first time authorities in our country have promoted an anti-HPV vaccination campaign. In 2008 and 2009, the authorities launched a free vaccination program for addressing 10- and 11-year-old girls, but poor promotion and strong anti-vaxx propaganda led to disastrous results. For this reason, Romania currently has the highest incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer in contrast to other European Union states. According to data from the European Cancer Information System (ECIS) of the Joint Research Centre, in 2022, Romania reported the highest incidence rate of cervical cancer in the European Union (32.6 cases per thousand inhabitants), as well as the highest mortality rate (16.8 cases per thousand inhabitants). In 2023, 3,380 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer. By comparison, in Western Europe, cervical cancer is not included in the top 10 leading types of cancer, owing to widespread vaccination. This is just one of the “long-term benefits” the lack of which Ninel Peia invokes in her argument.
However, we cannot help but notice the hypocrisy of the sovereignist senator, who claims prevention programs “are sabotaged from within”, when in fact, the most harmful and at the same time the most effective sabotage is the result of the anti-vaccination campaign he spearheads jointly with his peers. What is even more concerning than sovereignist hypocrisy (which, unfortunately, has become all too familiar), is the cynicism that Senator Peia displays when talking about “unnecessary expenses for belated treatments”, a technical way of saying that, from the sovereignist point of view, palliative care is just a waste of resources without producing “long-term benefits”.
Anti-vaccination is the true example of irresponsible behavior
BACKGROUND: On May 7, 45 senators (28 from AUR, 10 from SOS Romania and 7 from POT) filed a vote of no confidence in Parliament against the Health Minister, calling for his “immediate” resignation due to the “irresponsible management of vaccination policies in Romania”. The entire text of the document, which has since become obsolete, with the resignation of the cabinet, merely reiterates the major themes of anti-vaccine propaganda, embellished with patriotic slogans, reiterating conspiracy theories that present vaccines as weapons of the global cabal aimed at either depopulating the planet or establishing full control over mankind. As usual, the anti-vaccine ideology is forcibly associated with other causes, such as individual freedom or the fight against censorship. Anti-vaccine rhetoric borrows their arguments, distorting them and adding personal opinions and supposedly scientific data, taken out of context, false or simply fabricated.
In fact, vaccines are medical products designed to protect the body against infectious diseases, by “training” the immune system to quickly and efficiently recognize and eliminate the pathogens responsible for the respective diseases. On a personal note, the author of this article considers vaccines to be the greatest invention of modern medicine, more valuable than any form of treatment or medical procedure currently available.
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