'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe' the Most Controversial Film in America Launches a Nationwide Bus Tour on August 6th

Los Angeles, CA, July 27, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​Following a notable theatrical U.S. and Canadian release, the team behind America’s most controversial film, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” will hit the road on a nationwide bus tour starting August 6th. The Vaxxed filmmakers will be traveling to the home districts of several members of the United States House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, the entity responsible for subpoenaing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) whistleblower, Dr. William Thompson, a subject at the heart of the film.

Dubbed the "Vaxxed Nation Tour", the retrofitted bus will act as a mobile TV network, with filmmakers Del Bigtree and Polly Tommey broadcasting the stories of the vaccine injured families they meet along the way, as well as local interviews and news about the most current vaccine mandates across the country. In conjunction with its ongoing theatrical release, “Vaxxed” is now scheduled to be screened in almost 600 cinemas as part of a theatrical-on-demand program that distributor Cinema Libre Studio has forged with GATHR ®. The bus will be stopping in many of these cities for filmmaker Q&A’s along the way.

"It is our intention to visit as many of the 29 states where the Congressional Members of the Oversight Committee on Government Reform live and to engage them and their staff in a productive conversation about vaccine safety and the confessions of scientific fraud by Dr. William Thompson, the 'CDC Whistleblower'."

Del Bigtree, Producer

Director Andrew Wakefield and producer Polly Tommey appeared In April on Fox and Friends, during which they underscored how, contrary to some reports, the film is not anti-vaccine.  “Vaxxed” producer Del Bigtree recently had a publicly-taped conversation with California Senator Ben Allen, the staunchly pro-vaccine co-author of SB277, California’s new law mandating that every child be vaccinated before attending school. Senator Allen said on camera, “I watched “Vaxxed," and it’s not an anti-vaccine film.” Rather, the film reveals previously unreleased CDC data showing a statistical association between the introduction of MMR and the phenomenal spike in the number of autism cases in the U.S. Twenty years ago, 1 in 10,000 children were autistic and today the shocking figure is 1 in 68 children. 

“Vaxxed” captured international headlines when it was pulled from the already-announced line-up of the Tribeca Film Festival under pressure from festival sponsors. Two weeks later, Robert De Niro, a festival co-founder, went on national network television (NBC’s “Today Show”) and renounced the “de-selection” of the film saying, “I think the movie is something that people should see. There was definitely something to that movie...” He goes on to say, “There’s a lot of information about things that are happening with the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies. I, as a parent of a child who has autism, I’m concerned. And I want to know the truth.” 

Following its unprecedented “de-selection,” “Vaxxed” has surprised many with a comprehensive U.S. and Canadian theatrical run reaching  65 cities and 29 states. Immediately following the de-selection, distributor Cinema Libre Studio launched the film on a nationwide theatrical release with 4 ½ days of preparation, premiering April 1st at the prestigious Angelika Film Center in NYC, where it achieved the highest single screen box office gross for a documentary this year.

“Vaxxed” investigates how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concealed and destroyed data on their 2004 study that showed a link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism. The information was revealed by a whistle-blower inside the CDC, senior research scientist William Thompson.  

In July of 2015, Congressman William Posey (R-FL) took to the floor to inform Congress of Dr. Thompson's whistleblower testimony that details significant data that he and his co-authors omitted and destroyed to avoid reporting a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4546421/rep-bill-posey-calling-investigation-cdcs-mmr-reasearch-fraud

The “Vaxxed” team of filmmakers, editors and photographers will start the two-month tour on August 6 in Oakland, CA with the objective of stopping in Congressional districts that have members who sit on the United States House Committee of Oversight & Government Reform. With these targeted screening events and Q&As in these key Congressional districts, the “Vaxxed” bus tour hopes to progress the subpoenaing of Dr. Thompson by the Committee. Says producer Del Bigtree, “It is our intention to visit as many of the 29 states where the Congressional Members of the Oversight Committee on Government Reform live and to engage them and their staff in a productive conversation about vaccine safety and the confessions of scientific fraud by Dr. William Thompson, the 'CDC  Whistleblower'."

The film is produced by Polly Tommey of the Autism Media Channel and Del Bigtree, formerly a producer of the hit show “The Doctors.” The film is directed by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, an academic gastroenterologist who has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific publications and spoken internationally on autism and vaccines. Dr. Wakefield and Dr. John Walker-Smith, one of the world’s leading pediatric gastroenterologists, were the first to discover that vaccines caused gut problems that could lead to autism (1998). They, along with 11 other authors, published their results in The Lancet, a British medical journal, in February 1998.

For this, the British General Medical Council(GMC), acting to protect the government from coming under fire for the potential damage caused by vaccines, decided that Dr. Wakefield and his co-author had acted unethically, and they lost their medical licenses. Both Dr. Wakefield and Professor Walker-Smith appealed the GMC ruling in the English High Court . Professor Walker-Smith's professional insurance paid for his appeal. Dr. Wakefield's insurance carrier would not, therefore Dr. Wakefield was not able to continue his appeal. After reviewing the original findings, Justice Mitting found that the GMC’s conclusions were “based on inadequate and superficial reasoning” and that “the finding of serious professional misconduct and the sanction of erasure are both quashed.” Dr. Walker-Smith’s license was completely reinstated, and all charges against him were dismissed.

Ninety percent of the charges against Walker-Smith were the same charges as those against Dr. Wakefield, so had he been able to appeal, the verdict would have applied to Dr. Wakefield also. The Lancet paper should have been reinstated, and yet The Lancet editor refused to do that in order to protect his reputation and his job. Justice Mitting’s  judicial decision marked a long awaited turning point in a decades long campaign to discredit the 1998 Lancet article and Dr. Wakefield in particular.

In large part, the film’s success has been fueled by local groups of parents who believe their children have been injured by vaccines and who have organized tremendous grassroots efforts to help bring the film to their cities. With over 600 screenings getting up in less than a month, “Vaxxed” is on track to become the largest crowd-sourced theatrical campaign of all time.

“Vaxxed” has been endorsed by leading autism and vaccine safety organizations including: Autism Action Network, Autism is Medical (AIM), AutismOne, California Coalition for Vaccine Choice, Canary Party, Generation Rescue, Health Choice Health First, Health Freedom Coalition, Million Mamma’s Movement, Moms in Charge, National Vaccine Information Center, Our Kids, Our Choice, SafeMinds, Thinking Mom’s Revolution, A Voice for Choice and Vaccine Injury Awareness League.

 The Vaxxed movement is specifically asking for:

[1] That Congress subpoena Dr. William Thompson and investigate the CDC fraud.

[2] That Congress repeal the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and hold manufacturers liable for injury caused by their vaccines.

[3] That the single measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine be made available immediately.

[4] That all vaccines be classified as pharmaceutical drugs and tested accordingly.

For information on the Vaxxed Nation Tour schedule of RV locations and screenings: http://vaxxedthemovie.com/vaxxed-nation-tour/

Follow @Vaxxedthemovie #vaxxed

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​For more information, please contact:

Jamie Coker Robertson, JCR Consulting, 310-804-1408, jcokerrobertson@gmail.com

Jennifer Lopez, JLPR, 310-864-8633, Jlopezpr310@gmail.com

Source: Cinema Libre Studio

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