REVIEW: Vaxxed: From Cover-Up To Catastrophe (film)

Title: VAXXED: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe
Year: 2016
Genre:  Documentary
Producer:  Del Matthew Bigtree
Director:  Andrew Wakefield
Editor:  Brian Burrowes
Run Time:  1:31
Technical:  Stereo 5.1 Surround, Color, 2.35:1

It took me the better part of a year to lay my hands on a copy of Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.  There has been a strong and consistent effort to bury this film, and after watching it (and allowing my rage to cool a bit), I can see why.  If you are a normal, rational, empathetic human being, this film will piss you off something fierce.

The film was pulled from competition earlier this year in the Tribeca Film Festival, even though festival head Robert DeNiro defended the film's inclusion, based in part on a campaign by another documentarian.

In the interest of disclosure, I must say that when my daughter was one year old, she began having seizures, where her eyes would roll back in her head and her body would go stiff as a board - usually after eating.  Months of tests and scans, combined with hours of research kicked off by a nurse who whispered to me that I should investigate vaccines led me to stop all further vaccines for my children, take them out of public schools and to begin chelation therapy for all of them.

I was lucky in that I was able to reverse the effects and my daughter is happy and normal today, but those decisions ultimately led to a two-and-a-half-year battle with "Children's Protective Services," that cost me a quarter of a million dollars in lawyer and court fees, not to mention my job and most of what I called my life.  I ended up in Indonesia.

That said, I will attempt to review this film as objectively as I possibly can.

It is important to note that the director of the documentary, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was a British Gastroenterologist who wrote a paper in 1998, drawing a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.  His career was subsequently crushed and he was called a fraud for his efforts.  The narrative centers around the so-called "whistle-blower" named Dr. William Thompson, formerly with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, who was granted immunity by president Obama, and his conversations with Dr. Brian Hooker, whose interviews form the basis of this film.

If any of that scares you, or your emotional triggers are firmly installed by indoctrination, then you will not want to see this film, nor finish reading this review.  If you are a parent of an autistic child, or are considering becoming a parent trying to decide whether to vaccinate your child, this film presents vital information in your search for truth.

If I were to list all the degrees, licenses and titles of the people interviewed for this film, it would take the rest of the page to do so.  The information is not hear-say or anecdotal, though there are plenty of interviews with parents, too.  The core of the argument, though, is hard data and research, conducted by, among others, the CDC itself.

The gist of the story is a four-year long effort on the part of five researchers at the CDC to rearrange research data so as to hide the effects and links of MMR vaccine on the US general population.  The whistle-blower, Dr. William Thompson, was one of five co-authors on a paper that found "no link" between the vaccine and autism, yet he began leaking the data to a fellow doctor (Dr. Brian Hooker), hoping that he would make the connections without being led to conclusions.

The director, Andrew Wakefield, himself had found a possible link requiring further study between the MMR vaccine and autism, due to a number of parents who were bringing their children to him (as a gastroenterologist), who were suffering from various intestinal maladies after having received the vaccine.

The film emphasizes the paper's conclusion of a possible link requiring further study, because Wakefield lost his license, was thoroughly discredited, sanctioned and shunned for suggesting a possible link.

The film details both the data that was hidden by the CDC, as well as the personal odysseys of Wakefield, Hooker and Thompson to inform the public and bring attention to the issue.  It details the connection between the general use of MMR vaccine and the exponential rise in cases of autism, a trend that if it continues, will see 1 in 2 (50%) of all US children suffering from autism by 2032.  It also shows that the data reveals a statistically significant correlation (p= >0.05) between MMR vaccine and black boys, with about 80% of all cases of autism affecting boys of every race.

The actual CDC data is displayed on-screen so that the viewer can pause and copy it and run the numbers for themselves if they so choose.

The viewer is led to conclude an actual and strong connection between MMR vaccine and autism based on the conclusions of a number of researchers and physicians.  But it goes on to show how US law was created to protect vaccine manufacturers, special courts were set up to handle vaccine cases, and any awards of damages were taken from the taxpayer and not the manufacturers.  It also details how certain vaccines were renamed and transferred to other markets when causal effects were discovered between the vaccines and certain diseases and syndromes, ultimately ending up in developing countries, where parents were less educated, had less access to good information, and were less likely to sue.

For the final reason above, parents in so-called "developing" countries should absolutely watch this film.  It has vital information that can inform parental decisions, as well as inform parents of possible routes for treatment of autistic children, and to provide vital data from parents considering lawsuits against manufacturers and government ministries that impose vaccination regimes.

The most enduring effect of watching this film is to leave the viewer with the thought that perhaps we have all been entirely too trusting of pharmaceutical and governmental entities whose sole motivation is profit and/or the corrupt money flowing into lawmakers' pockets through lobbying and direct bribery.  The viewer is also left wondering if the preference for males, and especially black males, is not part of some larger, even more nefarious agenda.  For the conspiracy-minded researcher, this film is a treasure trove of road maps to uncovering the truth behind vaccines.  One doesn't need legal protection from liability if one's product is truly beneficial.

As the film points out several times, a measles outbreak at Disneyland a couple of years ago should not have happened, or at the least should not have been a major concern for those who are protected by the promised effects of vaccines.

The free and educated person is morally bound to watch this and similar films.  Whenever governments and organizations claiming "authority" start banning films, books and other information, it is incumbent on the thinking person to immediately obtain, consume and spread that information, for no other reason than the right to free exchange of ideas.  Censorship, regardless of the information in question, is abhorrent to freedom and the right of every individual to decide for themselves what they can read and hear and say.  If one chooses not to receive certain information, that is a right, but it is tyranny when "authorities" dictate what we can and cannot know.

For both the information that it contains, and to exercise one's God-given right to chose, I highly recommend Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.  Even from a purely artistic point of view, the film is well-made, with clear graphics, interesting music choices and competent camera and audio work.  The film can be appreciated solely from a technical and creative point of view, as well as fine documentary art.

This is not an overly sensitive tear-jerker.  There is some emotional appeal, as is incumbent on the art form, but for the most part, the presentation is methodical and straight-forward, so as not to obfuscate the message.

**Important additional information on Adverse Effects Following Immunization (AEFI) and how dangerous side effects are effectively hidden in studies and investigations: