Update - School District Contest Potential Cover Up

I reported that there may be a cover up regarding the number of people speaking out about this contest: Take Action: Vaccine Contest in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – A Cover Up? I finally had some time on Friday to follow up and figure out what is happening, and how only 19 people could have written given the huge amount of coverage that the contest received.

I called the school district’s Assistant Superintendent for Community Relations and questioned her regarding the 19 complaints and why there weren’t more reported by NPR. I learned through a combination of the phone call and an email that NPR apparently did not wait for her to gather all of the complaints and only mentioned in their news story the 19 she had readily available (she reports that she did not have access to the individual school board members’ email, only a central, aggregating email where 19 complaints were submitted). I am waiting to hear back from NPR regarding their side of the story.

The school district is tallying up the complaints and will send me the numbers.

In addition to that discussion, the Assistant Superintendent tried to distance the school district from the contest, which I would not let her do. Below is a portion of the email that I sent to her, documenting our phone discussion and my objection to her position that the school district isn’t responsible for the contest:

Finally, I am appalled that in our discussion you tried to push this contest off on the Health Department and distance the schools. The school district’s own announcement states that the school nurse is involved, and that the Superintendent or another administrator will present the prizes and take pictures with the winning children. Further, per the school district announcement, if there are questions, people are supposed to call the school nurse or the health department. Do you mean to tell me that the school district has no power to keep such a contest out of the schools when approached by the Health Department?

In response to underreporting of complaints, my friend Mandy created this petition: http://signon.org/sign/nc-school-system-offers. Please take a moment to sign. Now that we know the truth, that reporting of the opposition to the contest was suppressed, this petition is more important than ever. Thank you!

Finally, we must be making some progress, because according to strongly pro-vax school board member, “In contrast, there have been several supportive emails including one signed by 67 infectious disease physicians who live and work in this area.” I wonder on whose payroll they are? I think I need a copy of that letter.

Thank you to all of you who have been following along and making your voices heard. All we can do is try. It make take years for the public to shift its views, but the truth is the truth and all we can do is live and speak it.

Comments

[Lawrence]

Here's the results of anti-vax stances: What good comes from this?

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/may/26/7/measles-case-ar-1066570/

[MelodyButler]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8539390/More-than-330-measles-cases-in-just-four-months.html

Stop protesting a contest that is designed to save lives. All you have to do is read up on trends from Europe to see what the true efforts of anti-vaccinators cause. An increase of vaccine-preventable moralities among children. I'd rather deal with the low risks of vaccines adverse effects and the higher risk of hospitalization, and brain damage from contracting these dieases themselves. Please educate yourself on the truth behind vaccines. They save lives!

[Lawrence]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJbc9Xw3yHc&feature=player_embedded

Vile, vile woman....