My son Gio was born an active, healthy, engaging, responsive, and social baby. He was starting to speak his first words. He wanted to be around all of us. He would eat anything I gave him. He was a happy baby.

One day that all changed. I had no reason to question vaccines. My older boys are fully vaccinated and unharmed. I never had any reason to question the ingredients, the doctor’s advice, or the vaccine inserts. I never thought the people caring for my baby would give him something that could harm him.

Until the day when Gio completely stopped speaking. He was 18 months old. Not only did he stop speaking, he began screaming.  He screamed for months straight.  This vaccine side effect, listed on many inserts, is due to encephalitis, which is swelling of the brain.  

At 18 months old Gio had received 3 doses of Hep B, 2 doses of Rotavirus, 4 doses of DTaP, 3 doses of Hib, 4 doses of Pneumococcal, 3 doses of Polio,  2 doses of Influenza, 1 dose of MMR, 1 dose of VAR, and two doses of Hep A vaccinations according to the CDC Immunization Schedule. Many of these vaccines contain Aluminum adjuvants that have been found in elevated levels in the brains of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

When I say months, I mean months of screaming to the point that I could hardly drive in the car with him because the screaming was so bad and so constant. Words that he was saying every single day with regularity, he was no longer saying. He did not look at us. He didn’t respond to his name. He picked himself up and moved to another part of the house where no people were because he couldn’t handle the talking or laughing. He developed constant diarrhea and ear infections every 2 weeks. He started banging his head on the floors and walls. He started hitting and biting himself.  

Gio is now non-verbal, will be in diapers for years, has an IEP which includes daily individualized therapies, and attends a specialized school for children ages 3-21 with autism. Removing NJ’s Religious Exemption in the name of herd immunity will harm vulnerable children like Gio.

Jennifer Giordano Neptune Township/District 11

Here is a CBS news article about the Poling case in which the US government acknowledged vaccines aggravated an unknown mitochondrial disorder in Hannah had which “resulted” in her autism.

Here is a detailed review of the peer reviewed science explaining How Aluminum Adjuvants in Vaccines Can Cause Autism.