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After Years of Being Silenced, Parents Are Now Being Invited to Share Their Stories
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is accepting public comments and oral testimony ahead of its March meeting, a rare opportunity for families and advocates to be truly heard. Submit written comments or sign up for oral testimony by March 12 to ensure your story is included in the official record.
For decades, parents, patients, and advocates in the medical freedom movement have fought to be heard.
They wrote letters, testified at hearings, and stood outside government buildings with stories that were too often ignored. Many were gaslit, called “crazy,” dismissed from pediatric offices for raising safety concerns, and shunned by elected officials who refused to listen.
And yet they never stopped speaking.
Today, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in history. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet March 18-19 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, and for the first time in a long time, the public is not only allowed to speak, but we are being encouraged to share our experiences and views.
The current committee, appointed under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, represents a significant shift from past ACIP panels that critics say were deeply entangled with pharmaceutical interests.
For years, many parents felt that vaccine policy decisions were made without meaningful public input, especially from those most affected.
For families who have waited years, even decades, to be heard, this moment carries profound meaning. The progress we are witnessing today was not handed down from institutions.
It was built on the backs of courageous parents, especially mothers, who refused to stay silent, who kept speaking even when they were dismissed, mocked, and ignored.
Because of their persistence, their sacrifice, and their unwavering love for their children, the door that was once firmly closed is now opening. It’s important to recognize the parents who carried this movement forward when the odds seemed impossible.
For more than three decades, parents of vaccine-injured children have been sounding the alarm about safety concerns surrounding the expanding pediatric vaccine schedule.
Much of what they had to say was dismissed as anecdotal. Parents were gaslit, shamed, pushed out of pediatric offices, and ignored by elected officials who refused to take their experiences seriously.
But they did not stop speaking.
Their courage and their refusal to be silenced laid the foundation for the broader medical freedom movement we see today.
In recent years, that movement grew rapidly as millions of people were pressured, and in many cases coerced, into taking the COVID-19 shot with promises it was “safe and effective” and would help life return to normal.
Through initiatives like the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Bus and thousands of interviews conducted across the country, families have shared heartbreaking stories of what followed: catastrophic injuries, chronic illness, lost livelihoods, and loved ones who never recovered.
Behind every interview is a human story: a parent, spouse, child, or friend whose life changed forever. And for many of these families, the suffering continues.
Moments like this in history are rare, and they carry responsibility.
This is not the time to step back. It is time to carry the torch forward and honor the parents and advocates who came before us, while protecting and informing the generations who will come after us.
Right now, ACIP is accepting written comments and oral testimony ahead of this week’s meeting.
Submit your public comment by March 12 at 11:59 p.m. ET and, if you wish, sign up to share oral testimony. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed, this is your moment to tell your story to a committee that is listening.
For many families affected by vaccine injury, whether from the childhood schedule or the COVID-19 shots, the grief is still very real. Some are still searching for answers. Others are carrying profound loss. That is why it is so important that those with the ability and opportunity to speak up do so.
Policy should never be shaped in a vacuum or by industries that profit from the outcome.
It must reflect the real experiences of families who have lived the consequences. When we lend our voices, we help ensure that human stories, not just statistics, become part of the public record.
How to Act:
- Submit written comments via the federal rulemaking portal under Docket No. CDC-2026-0199 by March 12.
- Sign up for oral testimony by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 12.
- Share this opportunity with others who have been affected to ensure more voices are heard.
Every voice matters. Every story counts. Together, we are a powerful movement, a voting block with influence and courage, ready to make history.
For our children. For future generations. For truth, transparency, and informed consent.
Do you have a story you’d like to share with the CHD Community? Click here for details.
