Facebook has announced that it is banning ads that discourage users from getting vaccines or that portray vaccines as unsafe or ineffective as part of a larger crackdown on misinformation on its platform.
“We don’t want these ads on our platform,” read the blog post from Facebook officials Kang-Xing Jin and Rob Leathern announcing the new policy.
The company has long avoided policing speech on its platform, but in recent months began removing posts that spread misinformation, from topics like coronavirus, to Holocaust denial, QAnon conspiracy groups, and ads sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
But the topic of vaccines differs in one key area: many of those who reject vaccinations outright claim it is because of their religious convictions. And some are accusing Facebook of trampling on religious freedom by banning ads that question vaccines.
Religious Exemptions Are Rare
Interestingly, very few religious doctrines actually prohibit vaccines. Instead, researchers have found that vaccine denial is often clustered in religious communities – churches, small towns – where vaccine misinformation spreads like wildfire.
“For many [religious folks] the root cause of their unwillingness to be vaccinated relates to concerns over vaccine safety that drives them to avoid vaccines—and not any real religious doctrine,” writes Dr. Vincent Ianelli, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
He cites a number of religious communities hit hard by their own unwillingness to get vaccinated, including a group of orthodox Hasidic Jews at the center of an outbreak of measles in New York, outbreaks of polio in Amish communities, and hundreds of rubella cases in a religious community in the Netherlands that resulted in at least one intrauterine death.
Contrary to popular belief, most major religions are in fact pro-vaccine. Catholicism, for example, explicitly supports vaccination, although they caution Catholics to seek out vaccines that are “morally sourced” - that is, not derived from fetal tissue.
But even in the cases where there is no alternative (MMR, Hep A, Varicella), the Catholic Church supports the use of those vaccines, “on a temporary basis.”
The Pontifical Academy for Life explicitly says they can be used “insomuch as is necessary in order to avoid a serious risk not only for one’s own children but also, and perhaps more specifically, for the health conditions of the population as a whole – especially for pregnant women.”
Other faith groups have reached similar conclusions. A number of Islamic leaders have issued fatwas in favor of immunization, arguing that there is no discordance between vaccination and the principles of Islam.
Jewish leaders have reached the same conclusion, despite the fact that some vaccines are made with porcine. They’ve ruled that “limitations on medications with porcine components are only an issue with oral administration (for those who observe kosher rules), not products given by injection,” so vaccines, even those made with gelatin, are acceptable and encouraged for the health of the community.
The War on Misinformation
So while some genuine religious objections do exist, they are few and far between. Most major faiths explicitly support vaccination.
Critics say that those objecting on religious grounds actually have no religious basis on which to object - it is a personal, philosophical objection, not a genuine religious one. They’re essentially using a “religious exemption” loophole, opponents argue.
With all that in mind, is it possible that the Facebook policy is actually a forward-looking one? As the world continues to grapple with a dangerous pandemic, scientists are working hard to create a vaccine for COVID-19 that will allow us to get back to normal life.
But obviously, this requires that enough people get vaccinated to prevent continued spread of the disease. Such an effort relies on the collective knowledge that vaccines work – a belief could be undermined by misinformation on popular platforms like Facebook.
What do you think? What's the best way to combat vaccine misinformation?
Do you agree with Facebook's approach?
44 comments
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Minister Mike
Anti-vaxers, like anti-maskers, are just a gaggle of selfish children searching for their 15 minutes of fame.
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David A Griffith
Thank you Mister Mke for being so succinct. With the shortage of beds perhaps those that refused to wear a mask should be refused a bed.
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Minister Mike
You are welcome, David. On the bed thing - should we lower ourselves to their level?
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David Ciambrone
Yes. I'm tired of the anti-vexers, anti-mask folks. If they get the virus then even their insurance companies should refuse to pay for treatment.
Let's face it--you can't cure stupid.
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Herbert Moore
I am inclined to agree - Trump and company are doing their best to obfuscate the situation. Fortunately, being here in Canada and in particular British Columbia things seem considerably better.
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Alan S Corr
I believe when a vaccine is available it will be safe and effective. I think Facebook is taking a forward look at this issue, and is right in the approach they are taking to block vaccine mis-information; and discouragement.
With all the political drama that’s playing out across our country it’s no surprise that a vaccine that will be helpful would become a political weapon.
When a vaccine is available I will take it . To the best of my knowledge a vaccine is not available at this time . So I find it hard to believe that any doctor would advise any patient not to take a vaccine .
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Antony Karasulas
I pray that your belief is matched by the quality of what they put in your children's veins.
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Alan S Corr
Thank you I have faith that god won’t allow a dangerous vaccine on the market .
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CB
Please do your research before taking any vaccinations.
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Craig
I am all for personal decision making when it comes to vaccines. if you don't believe in it, by all means don't.
However, using social media to push your own agenda is not acceptable either. If you want to post, then back it up with facts, and if you can't then it should be pulled from the site.
I am really disgusted these days with all of the misinformation pushed out as fact, and especially when no one is held accountable for misinformation. If you make a claim, you should have to prove it through legitimate sources and not just hearsay or from disreputable sources. And if you do make false claims, you should have to issue an apology and state correct information.
In the last several years spouting off without checking facts has become commonplace, and not just at the political level. I am ashamed of the media--they used to be a source of fact, but objectivity has disappeared. Social media has become a huge arena for politics, religion and groups trying to bully their ideas into the mainstream.
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David A Griffith
I’m tired of hearing about "the liberal media." How about the truthful media and that is why they don’t cover all the proven false stories and other fabrications of the right. It is quite simple to figure out.
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Daniel Gray
They should be banned. If they cant prove these vaccinations dont work then they should not be able to claim otherwise. And this isnt a 1st Amendment issue
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Antony Karasulas
The problem with this level of naivety is that first there has to be a few hundred thousand bad results before we know the vaccine was rushed and is not ready. Better to have a clear discussion about the risks before, don't you think. Rather than finding out later it would have been better to ask some questions after all.faith in the authorities and the 'experts' is all well and good, but both have failed us many, many times before. As a responsible human being for the sake of those you love please find out exactly what is going into your children's blood! And don't simply assume it will ok.
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Kirk England
Facebook bans things mostly related to political views. If a post doesn’t support the leftist narrative, they ban it. The vaccine is political, unfortunately. If a post says Trump is rushing the vaccine to help people quickly, it gets banned. If the post says Trump is rushing it for political reasons, it gets a pass. If a doctor says hold up we need more results - banned. If a doctor says get it as soon as possible - not banned. It really comes down to FB’s ability to determine a poster’s political preference.
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David A Griffith
Mr. England-
I believe that some of your examples are backwards from what you intended. That aside, Facebook is not political, But trying to just only allow the truth on their site. Also, they are a private company and have the right to only post what they feel like posting. This means if they choose to not put a post up or to label it false, they can do that.
It’s interesting that the conservatives strongly support corporations and businesses to do what they want, whether it is selling cakes, or providing birth control pills. Now, they feel it is against them so they complain, which way do they want it because you cannot have it both ways.
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Krystina S.
Kirk, facts are an interesting thing. Sometimes politicians create a fuss over nonfactual items. Sometimes politicians politicize normally apolitical issues. Sometimes politicians are idiots and their dangerous lies need to be stopped.
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Woodrow
Who wrote this article. Religious Exemptions Are Rare? This is misinformation. Should the moneystery ban what we have to say? When all of this ban of free speech is brought into the courts, this will come to a halt.
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Master Wolf KSC
Facebook controlling its ad content is not a free-speech issue. Not a 1st Amendment issue. Facebook also bands other types of ads that are deceptive, or market things that are illegal. Anti-VAX ads can and probably have caused hurt and damage to the children of people who believe that kind of stuff.
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Lionheart
Has anyone yet seen any comments about the fiasco of Hunter Biden and Joe anywhere on CNN? As of 17 October I haven’t seen anything. Twitter and FB even banned articles. We only get to hear what the media wants us to hear. Misinformation, and the lack of information, rules in today’s politics.
🦁❤️
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T Kosse`
Yeah well Face book still has a lot problems they really need to face up to and address and Mark Zuckerbert need an attitude adjustment and stop thinking that he doesn't have to listen to anyone and that he can do whatever he damn well please.
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T Kosse`
Personally I would love to see face book go away all together, too much of what we do on line is tied into face book it seem if you want to do anything on line you need to have a face book account. I don't have one and I don't want one. People waste too much of their time on face book on nothing but trivial things.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
I started a Facebook àccount a while back, but after seeing what it was about I've never once used it. And what's that goofy crap about all those strangers they pick añd call your friends who they expect you to associate with. It must be for very lonely people, of which I am not one. I'd much rather converse with my fellow Ministers on this blog, all of whom which I atleast know are spiritually minded, even though some of us don't see eye to eye, and some of the articles are totally out in left field.
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Antony Karasulas
It is a known fact that vaccines that are rushed kill or seriously harm a lot of people. This is not speculation. And there are billions to be made from this sudden global vaccine market. It is not unreasonable to ask how safe it really is or to question motives. Facebook has decided to take a side in what should be an open public debate, and is exercising censorship to protect their chosen view. In what universe is this even vaguely not just plain wrong!?
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Daniel J. Trebas
Agreed. Unfortunately what many have agreed to (blind faith in a less than adequately tested vaccine) is based on " a greed" of pharmaceutical money chasers. Fact: I've read countless stories about how almost all, if not ALL, of the human test subjects for these rushed covid vaccine tests have developed bad side effects, including at least one death. skipping the usual vetting process for using animals to do vaccine testing makes these vaccines significantly more dangerous. Also keep in mind that the majority of these human Guinea pigs were in relatively good health when they volunteered. And in a seemingly unrelated story,Walgreens announced they were one of the companies contracted to administer the first available vaccines to old folks in nursing homes; who, by the way, are NOT in as robust health as the volunteer Guinea pig test subjects. SOOoooo..... Brace yourself people, because the same elderly demographic that's already been the most heavily hit with coronavirus fatalities will now have even MORE fatalities from the already known side effects of the vaccine. Yep, ole grandma may have survived the covid out break at her nursing home. But will she survive the vaccine that will likely be forced upon her by the "benevolent" banker/politicians ? I mean, yeah, it's not like the government has EVER harmed people while claiming it's for the people's own good, right? Right. Oh, and they'll say its SO unpatriotic to NOT just go along with whatever some paid off doctor tells you. Just IGNORE all the other FACTS and certainly forget about common sense because the doctor/politician/banker is ONLY looking out for your best interest, right? Right. And just to be clear, my above comments regarding blindly following some "authorities" dangerous directives are pure sarcasm. And all the unheard and devalued old folks are next in line for the chopping block of these unproven and dangerous so-called vaccines.
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David Ciambrone
It is a known fact that vaccines that are rushed kill or seriously harm a lot of people. Please provide REAL (Not some conspiracy theory or from some nut case study) documented cases and evidence that prove this statement.
And Facebook can do what they want. This isn't a matter of free speech. They own the platform and can do as they please. IF you don't agree with them then you are free to not use it.
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Clay Serenbetz
How valuable is your life and good health? WHEN AND IF a vaccine is approved by real CDC/FDA scientists, not The Donald's sychophants, then your long-term quality of life may depend on it, if not your life itself. Otherwise, you're basically playing Russian Roulette, which is extremely dangerous. I am not aware of any religion that supports playing Russian Roulette with human life. Are you?
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Antony Karasulas
Russian Roulette is a good example. Take anything into your body because you have faith that no one ever got it wrong or ever lied, and just see by the results if you were right or not. Proper Russian Roulette.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
I think it would be best if we all followed your doctor's advice, Paul.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
What mother would not vaccinate their child? Look on YouTube watch the videos of an unvaccinated baby struggles to breath and is near death from a disease that could have been prevented with a vaccine. No vaccine is perfect or without side-effects. We are all going to die at sometime, question is how and when: I’m vaccinated and so are my children. What FB is doing is wrong. Anti-Vaxer posts should be allowed. We need more nominations for the Darwin awards.
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Jade Selene Crowley
Have you ever suffered a vaccine injury? No? I have and one of my children has. Until you go through it you have zero idea what you're talking about. Many children die FROM vaccinations. NVIC wouldn't exist if this fact was not true.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Jade Selene Crowley How do you know you and your child suffered from a vaccination injury? Could the injury you recited be from a genetic disease since you and your child were both injured? Or maybe something in you house, the food you eat or the water you drink? Have you seen a child with polio? Rubella? Or die from whooping cough? These diseases killed billions of people. Any idea how many lives vaccinations have saved? I am many billions of other people alive today are proof they work. While you may have been inured from a vaccine don’t you think you should be thankful you and your child are not dead?
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Tabitha
"Critics say that those objecting on religious grounds actually have no religious basis on which to object - it is a personal, philosophical objection, not a genuine religious one. They’re essentially using a “religious exemption” loophole, opponents argue."
I love it
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CB Cuff
Likely the biggest concern about religious groups refusing any vaccine is that they can speak on behalf of their children, another human being. Many children have died due to this selfishness. Jonestown comes to mind. Recently in Canada parents have been charged with the death of their child for this very reason, religious beliefs. Nothing factual or evidential to take someone's life, your own child's, decided through delusional thinking. In Canada a child must be over the age of twelve before they can independently and legally make decisions affecting their medical state. For example birth control.
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Jade Selene Crowley
This is a Constitutional republic not a socilist democratic communist nation, but sadly we're swiftly sliding that way according to Putin. Do not tell me I have to do anything I deem harmful for myself and my children. If the truth about vaccine injuries and death form them are false then WHY the heavy censorship? Use your brain and think for yourselves if it is "misinformation" WHY are you censoring it? The state does not believe you are intelligent enough to decide what is truth and what is false. This is the first step towards communisim.
I've suffered a vaccine injury and so has one of my children. You have no idea what you're talking about when you've never been there experiencing it and yet you keep saying vaccines are safe. No they're not and The Supreme Court of 2011 agrees; "Vaccines are unnecessarily unsafe".
We The People HAVE the right to privacy which includes our bodies AND our childrens bodies guaranteed by US Constitution. We need to move back to being a Consitiutional backed of the people, by the people, and for the people government. Vote the socialist communists out of office and return those who will protect and uphold our Constitution. I f not then give up all of your rights and freedoms right now because you will have none including the right to religion if these socialist communists continue to be allowed to control We The People government. Go google and see what Putin thinks about our socialists thinking canidates, after reading his statement maybe you will wake up and see the truth before it's too late. Remember it was your individual state government that locked up our churches and treated all of US to lockdown as if we were on house arrest.
If you think I'm joking, google what Putin said about Biden and his socialist communist beliefs. It is shocking and if you're not awake yet you will be.
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T Kosse`
You're a fool if you believe anything Putin says
During his final year studying law at Leningrad State University, Putin received a job offer from the KGB. After graduating, he began working in counterintelligence. Putin studied in Moscow at the KGB’s foreign intelligence institute. There, he enrolled under the pseudonym Platov. He learned German. And he also earned a black belt in judo, a martial art he had practiced as a teenager.
In 1985, the KGB sent Putin to Dresden in East Germany. Putin later said that he mainly spied on member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization., “His assignment was to recruit agents, collect data from public and covert sources, analyze the material and send it to Moscow.” Putin worked for the KGB at a time when Donald Trump “appears to have attracted the attention of Soviet intelligence.” Trump made a visit to Soviet Moscow in 1987. And Politico reports that “The KGB almost certainly made the trip happen.”
Vladimir Putin dreams of discrediting the American democratic system, and he will never have a more reliable ally than Donald Trump. A democracy can’t defend itself if it can’t honestly describe the attacks against it. But the president hasn’t just undermined his own country’s defenses—he has actively abetted the adversary’s efforts. If Russia wants to tarnish the political process as hopelessly rigged, it has a bombastic amplifier standing behind the seal of the presidency, a man who reflexively depicts his opponents as frauds and any system that produces an outcome he doesn’t like as fixed. If Russia wants to spread disinformation, the president continually softens an audience for it, by instructing the public to disregard authoritative journalism as the prevarications of a traitorous elite and by spouting falsehoods on Twitter.
During a March 2018 phone call, Trump congratulated President Vladimir Putin on his reelection, despite rampant allegations of fraud and even his own aides' all-caps warning: "DO NOT CONGRATULATE." At a gathering of world leaders several months later, Trump reportedly said the contested Crimea region in Ukraine is Russian, despite his own administration's condemnation over Moscow's annexation of the area. And at a summit in Helsinki the following month, Trump appeared to accept Putin's election meddling denials, despite the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Putin himself orchestrated the interference campaign.
At his first meeting with Putin since Robert Mueller's Russia probe concluded, Trump made light of the robust evidence showing Russia engaged in a “sweeping and systematic” campaign to disrupt the election in Trump’s favor.
After he was asked by reporter whether he will talk to Putin about election interference — a topic he failed to mention himself, Trump responded: “Yes, of course I will.”
But he didn’t stop there. He turned to Putin, seated next to him, smiling and pointing his finger in the Russian president's direction, and said jokingly, "Don't meddle in the election, president. Don't meddle in the election." Putin, after appearing to hear the translation, laughed while Trump grinned.
But Trump's bonhomie toward Putin has continued into the G-20 summit. As he left for the event, Trump blasted host county Japan and India on trade but said nothing about Russia. And when the world leaders posed for a photo at the gathering, Trump walked and chatted with Putin, patting him gently on the back as the two parted ways onstage.
The feelings between the two leaders appears to be mutual. In an interview with the Financial Times this week, Putin described Trump — whom he called “Donald” — as "a talented person" who "knows very well what his voters expect from him.”
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T Kosse`
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his first substantive remarks on the U.S. presidential race, noting what he called Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s sharp anti-Russian rhetoric. He praised President Trump for improving relations between the two countries, and said he was reassured by Mr. Biden’s support for extending arms-control agreements.
Mr. Putin’s comments come after the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Moscow has undertaken a broad effort to undermine Mr. Biden’s bid for the presidency through a media disinformation campaign and moves to leak potentially damaging information. Mr. Biden has warned that interfering in the U.S. election would come at a substantial cost and referred to Mr. Trump in last week’s presidential debate as “Putin’s puppy.” As vice president, Mr. Biden frequently spoke out against Russia’s foreign policy.
“As far as the candidate from the Democratic Party is concerned…we also see quite sharp anti-Russian rhetoric,” Mr. Putin said in a televised interview on Wednesday,
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T Kosse`
TO THE VACCINE-CONCERNED PEOPLE: STOP SAYING THAT THE SUPREME COURT DECIDED THAT VACCINES ARE “UNAVOIDABLY UNSAFE.” IT DIDN’T.
https://rickjaffeesq.com/2019/02/16/to-my-vaccine-concerned-friends-stop-saying-that-the-supreme-court-decided-that-vaccines-are-unavoidably-unsafe-it-didnt/
Bruesewitz v. Wyeth: What the Supreme Court Decision Means for Vaccines
https://healthland.time.com/2011/02/24/bruesewitz-v-wyeth-what-the-supreme-court-decision-means-for-vaccines/
Vaccine injury is a tricky thing to prove — medically and legally. So it was inevitably controversial when the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday against the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, 18, who suffered seizures and permanent brain damage after receiving a diptheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 1993.
The Bruesewitz family sued Wyeth, then the parent company of the maker of the DTP vaccine that Hannah received as an infant, arguing that Wyeth was responsible for Hannah’s condition and should be held accountable. The high court disagreed.
Rather, the Court said, vaccine makers cannot be held liable for negative side effects that parents believe are the result of their products. To be compensated, parents must go before special no-fault tribunals established by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. Congress created these “Vaccine Courts” with the participation of pharmaceutical companies as a sort of “societal bargain” — as Justice Antonin Scalia noted in the majority decision in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth — to ensure the future of vaccine availability in the U.S. At the time of the Act, hundreds of injury lawsuits were piling up against vaccine manufacturers, causing them to abandon manufacture of major vaccines and threatening immunizations for the entire country.
Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, 562 U.S. 223 (2011), is a United States Supreme Court case that decided whether a section of the Vaccine Act of 1986 preempts all vaccine design defect claims against vaccine manufacturers.
Hannah Bruesewitz, the daughter of the main petitioners in the case, received Wyeth's Tri-Immunol DTP vaccine as part of childhood immunizations. The Bruesewitzes claimed that Hannah's seizures and later developmental problems came from the vaccine. They filed suit in the "Vaccine Court", a special court within the United States Court of Federal Claims. Their petition was dismissed for failure to prove a link between the vaccine and Hannah's health problems.
They proceeded to sue in Pennsylvania state court. The case was removed to the local federal court, which held that the claim was preempted by a section of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. A petition for a writ of certiorari was granted on March 8, 2010, bringing the case to the Supreme Court.
In briefings before the Court, both sides argued over the specific language of the statutory provision.
Decision The case was decided on February 22, 2011. The Court, in a 6-2 opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, held that the "plaintiffs design defect claims [were] expressly preempted by the Vaccine Act." Thus, the court affirmed laws that vaccine manufacturers are not liable for vaccine-induced injury or death if they are "accompanied by proper directions and warnings."
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
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Suzanne Esther Greenwood
Wake Up! It is a myth that all vaccines are safe. Just talk to a parent of a vaccine injured child. Check out RFK Jr's organization Children's Health Defense to read facts about some of the vaccines that can cause harm. Big Pharma is controlling the narrative fed to us by media. Big Pharma is not concerned for your health! Big Pharma is creating Medical Tyranny to increase their profit margins. Big Pharma views humans beings as something they can profit from.
The human body is a miracle! The human body is a Temple for Divine Light! My religion is honoring my Divine Light through maintaining a healthy body. A vaccine made with poisons such as mercury and aluminum is against my religious beliefs. The ingredients in vaccines goes against my religion. Thankfully, I am allowed to claim religious exemption. The US Constitution allows for free of religion in the United States. The US government cannot dictate if a religion is valid or not.
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Antonia Geraldine Carey
Dear Reader, If you had staggering amounts of information that something being sold as safe was actually causing sudden deaths, strokes, heart attacks, bells palsy, uncontrollable shaking, apoxia (suffocation) followed by death, but it was being covered up by people who created the faulty therapy, would you try to warn people? What if you could download a report showing over 311,000 adverse reactions in the first two months of roll-out (many permanent, many causing death) and that you knew the report only showed about 10% of the actual numbers, would you try to warn people? What if it came out that the treatment would actually make it easier for you to spread the virus to others through "shedding" and that taking it would be irreversible? What if you found out once you took it, your cells would change and the next time you were exposed, they'd not only kill the virus cells but turn on itself and attempt to kill you and the best you could expect would be to survive but now have autoimmune disease? What if you knew manufacturers had changed the definition of the treatment to call it something everyone thought was safe when it was actually releasing nano technology that literally changed part of your DNA and could attach to your cells, transmute them into something else and later be operated by a third party? What if the technology allowed a third party to alter your memories, or actually transfer into your brain, memories of their choosing based on known technology available to countries since 2010? Would you try to warn people then? What if you found out the person in charge of the new treatment was part of a briefing in the early 2000s where the technology existed to put something into someone's system that could turn off the prefrontal lobe portion that connects them to the Divine - thereby completely cutting them off from it forever and irreversibly?
Please, pause for a moment and realize there are people out here that want you and your families to thrive in perfect health, with the connection to the Divine and that want you to live in freedom and prosperity and that they are willing to put the information out for your benefit. Why ridicule them? No one wants to be right about any of this but it is true. If you'd like to hear about it first-hand, you could look online for a video entitled "Nanotech Development: West Point Military Academy – Psycho-Neurobiology and War – Dr Charles Morgan" and the video "PENTAGON BRIEFING ON REMOVING THE GOD GENE - "FUNVAX" .mp4" which explains in detail what is actually currently possible.
Or don't. You have free will to learn and protect you and your family or not. Whatever you decide will be right for you but each of us has to decide what is the right way to care for our bodies. You do not have the right to take that away from others. Sending prayers for the health, safety, freedom and protection of us all.
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Richard Lee Cornell
Love them. It is clearing up the Republican party of those people who live in the 2rd century that if they pray hard enough that just believing in God will protect them from death. This plague is a God sent plague as if it came to get rid of those who ever dare to question the power of God. People were told not to gather in places from the very beginning so they did what they wanted and group together. One of the Mega church that I go to from March of 2020 shut its doors and did online services. Only to open them with limited numbers allow inside last week. Everyone who enter the building was mask and that was that. A couple who did there thing and did not mask were escorted out. For the vaccine my time (Walgreens) to get a shot is in June. I advise people who want to know about the vaccine is to go to a Podcast called "This Week in Virology" to download all their podcast from the beginning of January 2020. This is a plague that will kill you, your family and your mask-less friends. If this plague was Small Pox you bet everyone would mask.
My doctor advised me not to take any COVID-19 vaccine. I think they are rushing it through for political reasons. People who have taken it have developed serious side effects. No real progress will be done until we get Trump out of power.
That's just sound medical, scientific advice: don't use a vaccine that has not been proven to be safe and effective. It isn't about religious beliefs. Facebook is following a policy of not allowing its platform to be used to spread harmful, dangerous propaganda including misinformation.
I think it would be best if we all followed yo7r doctor's advice, Paul.
It does not mater who is President or not. If you know anyone who is thinking about taking the vacc, please let them know that if they suffer problems or die from the vaccine, their insurance will not cover any expenses, and if they die and have a life insurance policy, it will not pay out; because these vaccines are EXPERIMENTAL.