I Want To Tell You About Zara
Zara Antoinette Shiel was a smiling, drooling toddler with straight brown hair, big brown eyes, and an infectious grin. She was born on July 26, 2013. But the day after she went to the pediatrician for her 15-month “well-baby” visit, on November 19, 2014, she was found dead in her crib.
Though the medical examiner found evidence of brain swelling (edema) during the autopsy, the cause of Zara’s death was inconclusive.
It took years for her parents to understand what happened. But once they started looking into it, Zara’s mom, Carla Shiel, found out that two other babies who had received the same vaccine lot numbers as her daughter also died.
As Zara’s mom shared in public testimony, the transcript of which you can read on Circle of Mamas, those babies died within two months of Zara.
A Dad’s Lament
“My daughter died suddenly and cruelly within 24 hours of routine vaccines,” Zara’s dad, Matt Shiel, explained in a public Facebook post.
After more than three years of anger, pain, and sadness, exacerbated by fighting America’s vaccine court that is throwing the full weight of their resources behind denying, slandering, and disavowing her textbook, tabled, mortal vaccine reaction, Shiel continued,
“I have come to the conclusion that vaccine science is a disgusting business riddled with ‘tobacco science’ logic [and] statistical deceit, combined with collusion and propaganda between government agents and pharmaceutical companies to generate billions of dollars of profit.”
This brokenhearted dad went on to point out that these multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies have no liability in the event that a child is injured or killed by their products.
Following the Doctor’s Orders
Most parents whose children die or become permanently damaged after routine vaccinations don’t have concerns about vaccine safety until it’s too late.
They don’t really think about vaccines.
Why should they? They trust that the CDC has got their backs and that their doctors have done the research. And so they follow the CDC’s recommendations and their doctor’s orders.
Unfortunately, vaccine-induced injury and deaths are much more common than we’ve all been led to believe. This was true even before the severe side effects, adverse events, and deaths from COVID vaccines started making the national news.
Vaccines Can Cause Injuries
Most parents don’t even know that there is a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in America. Most lawyers don’t either.
I’ve been researching and writing about issues related to vaccine safety for almost twenty years. But when I first told my brother, an Ivy League educated criminal defense lawyer and a father of three, about the vaccine court, he was so surprised he accused me of lying.
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was set up to be a no-fault way to compensate families whose loved ones died or became injured by vaccines.
The system was designed to be easy, quick, and favor pay-outs. Instead, the vaccine court antagonizes families, cases can lag for years and years, and thousands of legitimate claims are denied.
Riddled With Problems
In 2014 the Associated Press published an outstanding investigation into the myriad problems with the vaccine court.
That AP investigation found, among other things, that:
Hundreds of cases were stalled for over a decade, and some people died before ever getting compensated
Lawyers have been paid tens of millions of taxpayer dollars without injured families ever getting the help that they need
Many doctors hired by the government to defend vaccine safety have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry
But despite the fact that it is riddled with problems, as of April 1, 2022, this same court has paid $4.7 BILLION over the life of the program to compensate people harmed by vaccines.
Ridicule Instead of Sympathy
The death of a child is devastating.
But instead of sympathy and kindness, the Shiels found themselves being dismissed—and even slandered—after the death of their daughter.
This is a familiar story. If you champion vaccine safety or speak out publicly about your direct experience with vaccine injury, you run the risk of being mocked, vilified, shamed, insulted, and even canceled by your colleagues, friends, and family.
“I knew nothing about any of this until my daughter was dead,” Matt Shiel wrote. “Do your friends and family one small service today, don’t allow them to be ambushed as my family was. Tell them about Zara.”
#RememberZara