Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Michael Berry Show. Welcome to the Weekend Podcast. A
bonus podcast. It is not a rebroadcast of a segment
that aired earlier in the week. These are special just
for the weekend. So whether you're cleaning out the garage
one of my favorite weekend activities, or gardening one of
my wife's favorite activities, or painting another of my wife's
(00:22):
favorite activities. Or maybe you're washing the dogs, or maybe
you're sitting on the couch watching NASCAR or mutual of
Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Maybe you're cutting the grass home repair
project or baby sitting the grandkids and having a heck
of a good time doing it. Or maybe you're on
(00:43):
your way to see family, maybe you're on your way
to the lake for the day, for the weekend. Whatever
it is you're doing, it really is an honor. It's
genuinely an honor. There's so many other things you could
be doing, and that you would take us along with
you is really really cool, and thank you for that.
Friend of the show. Cheryl Atkinson used to work for CBS.
(01:07):
She was a really well respected prominent journalist when she
started asking tough questions of the Obama administration. The Obama
administration was basically a controlling interest in CBS, and they
made her life a living hell, and it would eventually
be the reason she left and found a new home. Well,
(01:32):
Cheryl posted or reposted a story that she did right
after Sorry, right before COVID about the possible connection between
vaccines and autism. You know, this is one of those
things that people don't like to talk about because they
hope it's not true. And a lot of people will
(01:54):
say you're crazy for talking about it, You're a conspiracy theorist,
because they don't want it talked about because deep down
they're afraid that there is something there. Well, she says
she was told by both Republicans and Democrats, and I
believe her that there has been a long standing cover
up in Congress on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Today we investigate one of the biggest medical controversies of
our time, vaccines. There's a little dispute about this much.
Vaccines saved many lives and rarely they injure or kill.
A special federal vaccine court has paid out billions for
injuries from brain damage to death, but not for the
form of brain injury we call autism. Now we have
(02:40):
remarkable new information. A respected pro vaccine medical expert used
by the federal government to debunk the vaccine autism link
says vaccines can cause autism after all. He claims he
told that the government officials long ago, but they.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Kept it secret.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yates Hazlehurst was born February eleventh, two thousand. Everything was normal,
according to his medical records, until he suffered a severe
reaction to vaccinations.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Ralph Hazelhurst is Yates' dad.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
At first, I didn't believe it. I did not think that.
I did not believe that vaccines could cause autism. I
didn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
E This is today's hard reality for Yates. The trademark
brain disease, pain and inability to communicate that's common with
severe autism. In two thousand and seven, Yates's father sued
over his son's injuries in the little known Federal Vaccine Court.
(03:44):
It was one of more than five thousand vaccine autism claims.
Congress created Vaccine Court in nineteen eighty eight in consultation
with the pharmaceutical industry. In the special court, vaccine makers
don't defend their products. Federal government does it for them,
using lawyers from the Justice Department. Money for victims comes
(04:06):
from US, not the pharmaceutical industry through patient fees added
on to every vaccine.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Given our hearings are all closed to the public. That's statutory.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
In two thousand and seven, Yates's case in nearly all
the other vaccine autism claims lost. The decision was based
largely on the expert opinion of this man, doctor Andrew Zimmerman,
a world renowned pediatric neurologist, shown here at a lecture.
Doctor Zimmerman was the government's top expert witness and had
(04:38):
testified that vaccines didn't cause autism.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
The debate was declared over.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
But now doctor Zimmerman has provided remarkable new information. He
claims that during the vaccine court hearings all those years ago,
he privately told government lawyers that vaccines can and did
cause autism in some children. That turnabout from the government's
own chief medical experts stood to change everything about the
vaccine autism debate if the public were to find out.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And he has come forward and explained how he told
the United States government the vaccines can cause autism in
a certain subset of children, and United States government, the
Department of Justice suppressed his true opinions.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Hazelhurst discovered that later when doctor Zimmerman evaluated Yates as
a teenager. That's when he partnered with vaccine safety advocate
Robert F. Kennedy, Junior, who has a voice condition.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
This is one of the most consequential for Odds and
arguably in him in history.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Kennedy was instrumental in convincing doctor Zimmerman to document his
remarkable claim of the government covering up his true expert
opinion on vaccines and autism. Doctor Zimmerman declined our interview
request and referred us to his sworn affidavit. It says
on June fifteenth, two thousand and seven, he took aside
the Department of Justice or DOJ lawyers he worked for
(06:12):
defending vaccines in vaccine court. He told them that he
discovered exceptions in which vaccinations could cause autism. I explained
that in a subset of children, vaccine induced fever and
immune stimulation did cause regressive brain disease with features of
autism spectrum disorder.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
This panic to DOJ attorneys and they immediately fired Zimmerman.
They told they called that was a Friday, and over
the weekend they called Zimmerman and said his services would
no longer be needed. They wanted to silence him.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Days after, the Department of Justice lawyers fired doctor Zimmerman
as their expert witness. He alleges they went on to
miss this represent his opinion to continue to debunk autism claims.
Records show that on June eighteenth, two thousand and seven,
a DOJ attorney doctor Zimmermann spoke to told Vaccine Court
we know doctor Zimmerman's views on the issue. There is
(07:15):
no scientific basis for a connection between vaccines and autism.
Doctor Zimmerman now calls that highly misleading. The former DOJ
lawyer didn't return our calls and emails. Kennedy has filed
a fraud complaint with the Justice Department Inspector General, who
told us they don't comment on investigations or potential investigations. Meantime, CDC,
(07:40):
which promotes vaccines and monitors vaccine safety, never disclosed that
the government's own one time medical expert concluded vaccines can
cause autism, and to this day, public health officials deny
that's the case.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
Based on dozens of studies and everything I know as
a physician and a scientist, there's no link between autisms
and vaccines.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
CDC declined our interview request.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
In addition to filing a fraud complaint, Kennedy has delivered
doctor Zimmerman's affidavit to leaders on Capitol Hill. But there,
he claims, is another key part of this story. Roadblocks
set up by the pharmaceutical industry or pharma.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Everybody takes money from pharma, so they've all been corrupted
and it's almost impossible to get anything done on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Kennedy, a Democrat, isn't the only one claiming vaccine industry
money rules the day. We spoke to eleven current and
former members of Congress and staff who claim they faced pressure, bullying,
or threats when they raised vaccine safety questions. Several of
them agreed to appear on camera.
Speaker 7 (08:48):
There's no question in my mind whatsoever that the pharmaceutical
industry had a great influence with people over at the
CDC and FDA. There's no question in my mind.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Republican Dan Burton, former chairman of the House Oversight Committee,
has an autistic grandson.
Speaker 7 (09:06):
I am not against vaccinations.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
He pursued vaccine investigations in the early two thousands. Beth
Clay was one of his staffers.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
There was a lot of pressure from people on the hill.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
When you say people on the Hill were exerting pressure,
what kind of people colleagues.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
Or colleagues there were pharmaceutical lobbyists. The pharmaceutical lobbyists had,
you know, they're the same people that have been entrenched.
They can walk into any office on Capitol Hill and
they'll talk to staff, they'll talk to members, and they'll
encourage them to discourage our investigation.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
At the risk of stating the obvious, why do they
have that kind of access to members.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
It's money. I mean, if you look at the donations
over the last twenty years, the pharmaceutical industry and Republican
and Democrat, they're nonpartisan, they're you know, they put money everywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Former Congressman doctor Dave Weldon, a Republican, says he got
the message loud and clear. If you would want to
hold a hearing on an issue like vaccines and autism,
your own leadership might fight you on that because of
the financial influence the pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 8 (10:17):
So they wouldn't fight you. They would kill it. It's dead.
They don't even want to discuss it. It's dead on arrival.
If you if you as an individual member want to
take on the pharmaceutical industries. It's forgeted.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Can you describe an incident or just how that would go.
Speaker 8 (10:35):
It would typically be in a hallway or on the street,
and you know, people would come up to you and say,
you know, you really need to, you know, back off
on this. It could be it could be bad for
the community, or bad for the country, or bad for you.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Weldon says he's generally pro vaccine depending on the patient
and the shot, and gives flu shots to adults. We
asked him to review doctor Zimmerman's new affidavit.
Speaker 8 (11:04):
I found his affidavit and testimony through that affidavit to
be consistent with my opinions. Some children can get an
autism spectrum disorder from a vaccine.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Republican Bill Posey is a current member of Congress.
Speaker 8 (11:23):
I don't have to tell you that that industry is
a very very powerful industry a fact.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Matter of fact, I don't know if anyone more powerful
than that.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Industry, Posey says his own party leaders twice promised to
hold hearings on the topic, only to scuttle them in
the end. Hazelhurst, who happens to be a criminal prosecutor
was scheduled to be a witness at one such congressional hearing.
Two weeks before the hearing in twenty thirteen, he briefed
congressional staff.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I presented at that congressional briefing.
Speaker 9 (11:54):
And.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
I explained in that hearing, if I did to a
criminal court of law with the United States Department of
Justice did to vaccine injured children, I would be disbarred
and I would be facing criminal charges. I think that
scared the hell out of them.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
The hearing was abruptly canceled. Meantime.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Doctor Zimmerman, the one time expert used to debunk vaccine
autism claims, now says several of his own patients got
autism from vaccines.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
They include Yates Hazlehurst.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Today, with intensive treatment, Yates is doing better. His dad
hopes the new testimony from a most unlikely source will
get new attention.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
A child that was unnecessarily sacrificed, and hopefully good will
come from his suffering.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
The lobby group representing the pharmaceutical industry wouldn't agree to
an interview, told us they're working with Congress and other
stakeholders on the importance and safety of vaccines to support
the health and safety of individuals and community.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Back in April, RFK Junior announced that his agency is
investigating the cause of the rise in autism. It's a
statistical fact, it cannot be denied. There are far more
cases of autism, so that we know what's causing it.
(13:31):
Many people, myself included, based on their gut or in
my case, a number of readings and people that I
respect who have made a convincing case believe it is
related to the quote unquote vaccines. I say quote unquote
because many of them not even actually vaccines, as the
COVID vaccine was not. And he said that we should
(13:53):
have the results of that investigation soon, and I'm looking
forward to that.
Speaker 10 (13:57):
Oh, we have now the autism raids gone from now
most recent numbers we think are going to be about
one in thirty one, one in twelve, So they're going
up again from one in ten thousand when I was
a kid. And we are going, at your direction, we
(14:17):
are going to know by September. We've launched a massive
testing and research effort that's going to involve hundreds of
scientists from around the world. By September, we will know
what has caused the autism an epidemic and we'll be
able to eliminate those exposures.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So think of that.
Speaker 11 (14:37):
So there was one in ten thousand children at autism
and now it's one in thirty one, not thirty one
thousand and thirty one.
Speaker 9 (14:48):
That is that's a horrible statistic, isn't it. And there's
got to be something artificial out.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
There that's doing this. So you think you're going to
have a pretty good idea.
Speaker 10 (14:58):
We will know by September.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
There will be no bigger.
Speaker 11 (15:01):
News conference in that.
Speaker 9 (15:02):
So that's it. If you can come up with that
answer where you stop taking something, you stop eating something,
or maybe it's a shot, but something's causing it. It
can't be. It can't be from ten thousand to can
you imagine that, Margaret, that's a big that's a big number.
Thank you very much doing it great, Thank you, Bobby.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I don't want another person harmed because their mother thought
it would be in their best interest to protect them,
because that's what mothers do. They want to protect their child.
And they trusted a doctor who trusted a pharmaceutical company
who betrayed all of it, and lives were destroyed as
a result of it. What's her name is it Nicole Shanahan.
(15:47):
The woman who is she? She's the ex wife of
one of the Google guys, Sergey Brinn, and her child.
I don't think she was particularly political. She was just
really pretty. And then her child got a vaccine, and
her child was there was absolutely nothing abnormal wrong with
(16:09):
her child gets a vaccino. All of a sudden boom,
the child goes into an extreme condition of dysfunction. And
she made it her mission to fight back on this.
She's the one who ran for president, ran for vice
president as rfk's running man. If you liked the Michael
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