Yesterday morning (Oct 9), New Jersey Moms Louise Kuo Habakus and Claudine Liss of the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice appeared on Fox News (Fox & Friends) to talk about the vaccine freedom rally next Thursday (October 16) in Trenton in support of conscientious belief exemption legislation giving New Jersey parents the legal right to follow their conscience when making vaccine choices for their children. After the show, Louise and Claudine were invited back for an informal, spirited discussion about the epidemic of chronic disease and disability and the recent flu vaccine mandate instituted in New Jersey for all children.

Smart, sincere, passionate, and articulate, these two Moms are what the vaccine safety and informed consent movement is about and their call for freedom of choice echoes the one that has been made by parents of vaccine injured children for nearly three decades. For more information about how to stand with Louise, Claudine, Larry Palevsky, M.D., me and more than 500 parents registered to rally in Trenton next Thursday and make your voice heard for vaccine freedom, contact the NJ Coalition for Vaccination Choice at www.njvaccinationchoice.org.

On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a unanimous appeals court ruling that opened the door for families of vaccine injured children to sue vaccine manufacturers for vaccine design defects that lead to injury and death. The next day a Missouri Appeals Court upheld an $8.5 million judgment against American Cyanamid for injuries suffered by a man who contracted vaccine strain polio from a live oral polio vaccination as a child. Both civil court decisions rightly hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for failing to appropriately test and improve vaccines they sell to the public so that health risks from using the product can be eliminated or at least significantly reduced.

When Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which was historic societal acknowledgment that vaccines can injure and kill and that the vaccine injured should be compensated even as vaccine availability should be protected, it was clear in both the legislative history and clarifying language accompanying the Act's passage that Congress never intended to give blanket, exclusive immunity to drug companies marketing vaccines for public use. Until this week, too many federal judges have misinterpreted the spirit and intent of the 1986 law. Hopefully, the Georgia decision will ultimately give parents of vaccine injured children the legal ability to hold drug companies accountable in a civil court of law for failing to reduce the reactivity of their products.

Whether holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable in the judicial system or petitioning legislators to allow Americans to follow their conscience and exercise informed consent to medical risk taking, vaccine educated citizens in America are standing up for their civil rights in larger numbers. It is a good sign, a beacon of hope that the business of saving our children from a lifetime of chronic illness and disability has become a priority for more than a small minority of citizens. Saving our children is everyone's business and standing up for freedom of speech and conscience is the first order of business in a democratic society.

Whether you live in New Jersey or another state - I hope to see you at the rally in Trenton on Oct. 16 and two days later on Oct. 18 at the Natural Living Conference in Mahwah sponsored by the Holistic Moms Network.