National Vaccine Information Center

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a United States nonprofit organization that presents itself as a consumer-led advocate for vaccine safety, informed consent, and legal protections for people who believe they have experienced vaccine injury. It was founded in 1982 under the name Dissatisfied Parents Together by Jeff Schwartz, Barbara Loe Fisher, and Kathi Williams. The founders had become concerned after observing health problems in their children following DPT vaccination and after viewing the television program DPT: Vaccine Roulette, which portrayed a causal relationship between the vaccine and serious illnesses. The organization later adopted its current name in the early 1990s. NVIC became involved in policy discussions surrounding the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. In cooperation with the American Academy of Pediatrics and other participants, it contributed to the development of provisions that created the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, required healthcare providers to give parents vaccine information, and established reporting requirements for vaccine-related adverse events. NVIC has continued to emphasize compensation, informed consent, exemptions, and individual choice as central issues in vaccination policy. The organization is also associated with claims that mainstream vaccine research has inadequately examined vaccine risks. Its public communications have promoted or amplified the discredited assertion that vaccines cause autism, despite extensive epidemiological research and scientific reviews finding no causal relationship. Critics characterize the group as a leading source of vaccine fearmongering and misinformation, while NVIC describes its work as advocacy for vaccine safety and medical freedom. Its name can sound similar to that of a government body, but it is independent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Since 2003, NVIC has operated Medalerts.org, a website that republishes data from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. VAERS is designed as an early-warning and signal-detection system rather than proof that a vaccine caused a reported event. Public-health experts have criticized Medalerts for presenting VAERS reports without sufficiently emphasizing the database's limitations, potentially encouraging readers to treat unverified reports or coincidental events as confirmed vaccine injuries or deaths. During the 2010s, NVIC expanded its digital outreach through social-media channels and campaigns directed at parents, wellness communities, anti-GMO audiences, and other groups skeptical of conventional public-health institutions. In 2020 it organized an international public conference on vaccination that brought together prominent figures and organizations from the broader anti-vaccination movement. The group also received substantial attention over its funding relationships, including reported support from Joseph Mercola's foundation, a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan received during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent restriction of its ability to purchase advertising on Facebook. NVIC remains an active advocacy organization focused on vaccine policy, vaccine injury claims, and opposition to compulsory immunization measures.

NVIC began in 1982 as Dissatisfied Parents Together, founded by Jeff Schwartz, Barbara Loe Fisher, and Kathi Williams. The founders were motivated by concerns about illnesses observed in their children after DPT vaccination and by the television documentary DPT: Vaccine Roulette. That program has been criticized for drawing unsupported causal conclusions from temporal associations between vaccination and illness. The early organization became part of a growing U.S. movement demanding stronger vaccine-risk disclosure, legal remedies, and greater parental control over immunization decisions. In 1985, Barbara Loe Fisher and Harris Coulter published DPT: A Shot in the Dark, a book that argued for a connection between whole-cell pertussis vaccination and autism. Medical and public-health consensus does not support that connection. Whole-cell pertussis vaccines were later replaced in the United States by acellular formulations because of reactogenicity concerns unrelated to autism, while extensive later research found no credible causal link between vaccines and autism. The organization participated in policy work that helped shape the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. The law established the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, required healthcare providers to provide parents with vaccine information, and created systems for recording and reporting adverse events. NVIC has treated these provisions as important evidence for its broader argument that vaccine recipients should receive risk information and access to compensation mechanisms. In the early 1990s, Dissatisfied Parents Together changed its name to the National Vaccine Information Center. From 2003 onward, the organization maintained Medalerts.org, which republishes information from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. VAERS reports are useful for identifying possible safety signals but cannot independently establish causation. Reports may be incomplete, inaccurate, duplicated, coincidental, or unverified. Critics argue that Medalerts has not consistently conveyed these methodological limitations with the prominence used by the official federal system, particularly when presenting death reports associated with COVID-19 vaccination. During the 2010s, NVIC invested in websites, social-media accounts, and targeted outreach to parents and wellness-oriented communities. Its communications have challenged routine childhood immunization, promoted vaccine exemptions or alternatives, and repeated claims that mainstream research has failed to investigate vaccine risks. Scientific reviewers and journalists have described the organization as a major anti-vaccine group and have specifically criticized its continued circulation of the vaccine-autism claim, which has been rejected by large epidemiological studies and systematic reviews. The group attracted further attention through public advertising. In 2011, its Times Square billboard campaign and an influenza-related advertisement shown on some Delta Air Lines flights prompted objections from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other science advocates. Critics argued that the organization's official-sounding name could cause the public to mistake it for a government source and that its messages could discourage protective vaccination. NVIC's financing has also been examined. A Washington Post analysis reported that approximately 40 percent of its funding between 2009 and 2018, identified as $2.9 million, came from the Natural Health Research Foundation associated with supplement entrepreneur Joseph Mercola. The Focus for Health foundation was also reported to have contributed $400,000 between 2011 and 2017. In 2020, NVIC received a $136,070 Paycheck Protection Program loan, a development criticized because the organization had opposed federal vaccination initiatives while benefiting from a federal relief program. On October 16–18, 2020, NVIC held its International Public Conference on Vaccination. Participants included representatives or prominent figures connected with Children's Health Defense, the Informed Consent Action Network, Joseph Mercola's advocacy network, Andrew Wakefield, and Sherri Tenpenny. The event reflected cooperation among vaccine-opposition organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, NVIC was identified in research and reporting as one of the important disseminators of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook. Facebook later prevented the organization from purchasing advertising on its services. NVIC remains active as a U.S. vaccine-policy advocacy nonprofit, but its scientific credibility is strongly disputed by public-health institutions, medical organizations, and science communicators.

1. 2021Facebook advertising restriction

   Facebook prevents NVIC from purchasing advertising on its networks.

   Source
2. 2020International Public Conference on Vaccination

   NVIC hosts a conference connecting prominent figures and organizations in the vaccine-opposition movement.

   Source
3. 2011Advertising controversy

   NVIC advertising in Times Square and on some Delta Air Lines flights prompts public-health criticism.

   Source
4. 2003Medalerts.org begins operating

   NVIC maintains a website that republishes Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System data.

   Source
5. 1990Organization adopts the National Vaccine Information Center name

   Dissatisfied Parents Together changes its name to the National Vaccine Information Center in the early 1990s.

   Source
6. 1986Participation in vaccine-injury legislation

   NVIC participates in policy discussions surrounding the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, including vaccine information and compensation provisions.

   Source
7. 1985Publication of DPT: A Shot in the Dark

   Barbara Loe Fisher and Harris Coulter publish a book arguing that whole-cell pertussis vaccination is associated with serious conditions, including autism.

   Source
8. 1982Organization founded as Dissatisfied Parents Together

   Jeff Schwartz, Barbara Loe Fisher, and Kathi Williams establish the organization in the United States.

   Source

Consumer-led vaccine-safety, informed-consent, and medical-choice advocacy; widely described by scientific and public-health authorities as anti-vaccine because of its promotion of unsupported or misleading claims about vaccination.

• NVIC.orgAdvocacy and information website

  The organization's primary website provides material on vaccine policy, vaccine safety, informed consent, exemptions, alleged vaccine injuries, and legal or political advocacy. Its content reflects NVIC's consumer-choice orientation and has been criticized for presenting unsupported or misleading claims about vaccine risks.

• Medalerts.orgAdverse-event data website2003

  A website maintained by NVIC that republishes data from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. Because VAERS reports do not establish that a vaccine caused an event, public-health experts have criticized interpretations that treat the reports as confirmed causal evidence.

• International Public Conference on VaccinationConference2020

  An NVIC-organized conference bringing together speakers and organizations associated with vaccine opposition, informed-consent activism, and pandemic skepticism. The 2020 edition served as a coordination and messaging forum during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 2020International Public Conference on Vaccination

  International · United States

  NVIC convened vaccine-opposition speakers and allied organizations from October 16 to 18 to discuss vaccination, informed consent, and COVID-19-era public-health policy.

  Outcome. The conference demonstrated coordination among major vaccine-opposition networks during the pandemic.

  Source
• 2011Times Square vaccine advertising

  United States

  NVIC placed digital billboard advertising in New York that questioned routine childhood immunization and directed audiences toward alternative-health content.

  Outcome. The campaign drew criticism from the American Academy of Pediatrics and science communicators, who argued that it could undermine childhood vaccination.

  Source
• 2011Delta Air Lines influenza advertisement

  United States

  NVIC produced advertising concerning influenza prevention that was shown on some Delta Air Lines flights and directed viewers toward the organization's vaccine-skeptical materials.

  Outcome. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute for Science in Medicine urged Delta to remove the advertisements; Delta did not immediately stop showing them.

  Source

• 2003Launch of Medalerts.orgStrategy

  NVIC sought to make vaccine adverse-event information accessible to the public.

  What changed. It began maintaining Medalerts.org and republishing VAERS data.

  Aftermath. Critics argued that the presentation did not adequately explain that VAERS reports cannot prove vaccine causation.

  Source
• 1990Rebrand as the National Vaccine Information CenterStrategy

  The organization sought a name emphasizing vaccine information, safety, and consumer advocacy rather than its original identity as Dissatisfied Parents Together.

  What changed. It adopted the National Vaccine Information Center name in the early 1990s.

  Aftermath. The new name became the basis for its national advocacy and was later criticized as potentially sounding like a government institution.

  Source

• 2021Restriction from purchasing Facebook advertisingControversy

  Facebook barred NVIC from buying advertising after concerns about vaccine-related misinformation.

  Source
• 2020COVID-19 misinformation and federal relief loan controversyControversy

  NVIC was identified as a significant online disseminator of COVID-19 misinformation and was criticized after receiving a $136,070 Paycheck Protection Program loan.

  Source
• 2019Reported dependence on funding linked to Joseph MercolaControversy

  A Washington Post analysis reported that 40 percent of NVIC funding from 2009 through 2018 came from the Natural Health Research Foundation associated with Joseph Mercola.

  Source
• 2011Public-health criticism of advertising campaignsControversy

  NVIC advertisements in Times Square and on Delta Air Lines flights were criticized as potentially harmful because they questioned vaccination and promoted alternative-health messaging.

  Source

• 2020NVIC hosts an international anti-vaccination conference during the COVID-19 pandemic

  The organization hosted a virtual or online International Public Conference on Vaccination attended by figures associated with several prominent vaccine-opposition networks.

  CampaignOther
  Source

1. National Vaccine Information Center
2. National Vaccine Information Center official website