In the quiet suburb of Washington, D.C., the life of a stay-at-home Mom, Barbara Loe Fisher, took an unexpected turn in 1980 when her bright, healthy two and a half year old son suffered a reaction to his fourth DPT shot.  It was a moment forever etched in her memory, as she remembers how her beloved first born child struggled with the ramifications of a decision she made with good intention, believing that a doctor would never give a child something that could cause harm. 

 

Instead of accepting what had happened to her child, Barbara joined with other parents of DPT vaccine injured children in 1982 and then co-authored a 1985 book on pertussis and pertussis vaccine that was the first major critique of the U.S. mass vaccination system. Since then, she has been a voice of reason and compassion in the vaccine safety debate, defining and defending the human right to informed consent to vaccination.

Barbara’s history of tirelessly writing and speaking about vaccine science, policy, law and ethics in print and broadcast interviews and debates, referenced video commentaries, legislative testimony and public presentations is unmatched. 

Over the past 40 years, Barbara has seen a disturbing shift in public conversations about vaccination, health and autonomy, especially since the declaration of a coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Parents of vaccine injured children and anyone defending the legal right to make voluntary vaccine decisions are being demonized, persecuted, sanctioned and censored in the digital public square. Her voice and the information that NVIC researches and publishes online has been scrubbed from social media platforms and is being stifled by Internet search engines. 

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