A software developer has enhanced an online platform to help parents make more personalized decisions about vaccines for their children.
Software designer Chris Downey introduced VaxCalc in November 2023, and this February he incorporated AI into the service with a tool he calls VaxBot. VaxCalc promises to “simplify vaccine decisions with tools you can trust,” states the website.
VaxBot answers questions through the platform’s extensive vaccine-risk knowledge base, designed to provide “clear, personalized responses to complex vaccine questions,” said Downey. “Over time, as more of this research is integrated, VaxBot will evolve into an even more powerful tool for answering complex vaccine-related questions with clarity and confidence.”
The complexity of vaccination decisions facing parents today motivated Downey to develop the software.
“I created VaxCalc because parents deserve more than one-size-fits-all vaccine recommendations,” said Downey. “Too often, the conversation is dominated by blanket statements rather than real, individualized risk-benefit analysis. My goal is to provide families with the tools, research, and confidence to make informed decisions that align with their unique health priorities, without pressure, bias, or fear.”
Multiple Info Sources
VacCalc offers visitors the option to join an email list for daily insights, research updates, and vaccine guidance. This is an initial step most visitors complete to familiarize themselves with the service, says Downey.
The VaxCalc Research Platform (VRP) draws on a broad spectrum of sources, including Food and Drug Administration (FDA) package inserts, studies, and internal presentations; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) toxicology reports; research reports; open data projects; independent research into vaccine ingredients; scientific journals; VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) data; and the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database.
Downey also pulls from the work of scientists such as Christopher Exley and Paul Thomas, considered renegades in their field; award-winning media investigations; and vaccine injury testimony from real families.
The platform is based on open-source technology, to incorporate the latest research and user feedback and allow continuous improvement and refinement.
A one-month subscription costs $19.86, and an annual plan includes two months free and the VaxBot update.
Emphasis on Reliability
The best-known source of vaccine information is the CDC, which issues a vaccine schedule used by schools and other institutions for admission. The mandates for COVID-19 shots, approved under emergency authorization with a limited record of safety and effectiveness, left many Americans skeptical about the CDC’s recommendations.
“All technology, all institutions, and all medical systems carry the biases of their creators,” said Downey.
VaxCalc takes no position on vaccination, instead working to enable informed consent.
“Freedom isn’t a free-for-all; it depends on a delicate balance of rights and responsibilities, tradition, and constitutional principles,” said Downey. “This balance is exactly what VaxCalc aims to protect. Parents should have access to high-quality, actionable information to make informed choices for their children.”
Return to Traditional Principles
Finding reliable and trustworthy information is not easy, says Downey, which is why VaxCalc starts from the “simple but radical assumption” that the absence of evidence of harm does not prove safety.
“[That] aligns with the founding principles of American medicine before it was taken over by centralized bureaucracy,” said Downey. “It is the responsibility of those recommending a procedure to prove it is safe, not the responsibility of parents to prove harm after the fact.”
Push for Scientific Integrity
Concern about vaccine mandates is far from a fringe idea, says Downey.
“Forward-thinking scientists have been warning about this since the mid-1970s,” said Downey. “Currently, doctors pushing full vaccination have nothing to lose if your child is harmed.”
Medical practices may receive compliance bonuses from third parties for vaccinating patients.
“Parents are right to be vaccine-hesitant,” said Downey. “Not because vaccines are inherently bad, but because every medical intervention should be rigorously examined, not blindly trusted. I see parenthood as a sacred duty, and that includes protecting children from the risks of over-vaccination, which has quietly become a form of institutionalized medical malpractice through routine ‘well visits.’”
Working for Parents’ Rights
Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, says the current system is deeply corrupt.
“CDC officials can collect money on products they are supposed to evaluate,” said Orient. “There’s a revolving door between the FDA and Big Pharma. Journals and researchers are heavily dependent on pharmaceutical funding.”
Parents are responsible for their children, and must have the authority to fulfill that responsibility, says Orient.
“If the child is injured, who will care for that child twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year?” said Orient. “It won’t be the experimenters or the government agency. They don’t even know his name. They don’t suffer with him. They don’t celebrate the child’s first steps, or graduations, or birthdays. [Parental rights] should be obvious.”
Beyond the Mandates
VaxCalc and VaxBot are meant to arm parents with information so no one can unfairly bias their choices.
“There are many ways to bypass government-run school vaccine mandates, and most parents don’t realize they have options,” said Downey.
A key challenge is that doctors routinely go beyond what the law requires in pushing vaccines, says Downey.
“Government mandates almost always require fewer vaccines than the full CDC schedule,” said Downey. “The problem is that most pediatricians have become enforcers of full compliance with the CDC schedule, pressuring families beyond what the law requires.”
Ashley Bateman ([email protected]) writes from Virginia.
