In this episode of Informed Dissent [listen below], Free Now Foundation Board Member Dr. Jeff Barke sits down with Free Now Board Chair & President Alix Mayer, for a conversation that unfolds less like a policy discussion and more like an origin story. It’s a story of vaccine injury, at a time when few had ever heard the term.

Alix’s journey into advocacy began long before lawsuits and legislation, but rather with a single medical decision that abruptly unraveled her life.

It was the late 1990s. Alix was living in Silicon Valley, leading a global research group at Apple. An upcoming family trip to Bali prompted her to visit a travel clinic to “get your travel vaccines” (including hepatitis A and B, along with other vaccines).

Less than two weeks later, while in Bali, Alix’s body began to fail in ways she couldn’t comprehend. Previously a strong, robust 29 year old athlete used to windsurfing and mountain biking, Alix experienced sudden leg weakness and a sudden and temporary onset of emotional distress, while in Bali. She returned with severe fatigue. Initially, she attributed this to jet lag, but instead of recovering upon her return to the Bay Area, Alix slid into chronic illness.

Over the weeks and months that followed, Alix experienced a growing constellation of disorienting symptoms: flu-like illness that didn’t resolve, persistent migraines, joint pain, digestive problems, and eventually cognitive impairment that interfered with reading and comprehension. She continued working as long as she could, navigating doctors’ appointments and partial explanations, never suspecting vaccines as the cause. For years, she says, the connection simply wasn’t visible—either to her or to the medical system treating her.

More than a decade later, a physician encouraged her to look back at timing and causality. When she did, Mayer began reviewing vaccine adverse event information and found that her symptoms aligned most closely with Section 6.1 (Adverse Events) on hepatitis B vaccine package insert, one of the vaccines she had received. By then, the damage had already reshaped her life. Recovery was slow, incomplete, and nonlinear—but the realization itself became a turning point.

That recognition redirected her energy. Instead of quietly managing chronic illness, Mayer began documenting what she was learning. She started a blog in the mid-2000s and over time, her work expanded into broader advocacy. She became involved with Children’s Health Defense, joining the national board in 2019, and later helped launch its California chapter in 2020. From there, Free Now Foundation became the re-branded California Chapter, focusing on litigation and challenges to vaccine mandates and enforcement mechanisms.

Mayer has become an expert in California’s legal and medical situation, and discusses SB277 (2015), which eliminated personal belief exemptions, and SB276 (2019), which significantly tightened the path for medical exemptions. She describes a system that places physicians under scrutiny and leaves families navigating complex administrative hurdles, often with schools acting as enforcers. Not everyone can homeschool or leave California, Alix says, emphasizing the need for legal and procedural routes to personal choice and true informed consent.

Free Now Foundation is involved in helping families pursue alternative pathways, including disability-based accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Individualized Education Programs, and other lesser-known legal strategies. “We are actively litigating to clarify and expand these options, while also pursuing broader due process challenges to end vaccine mandates entirely,” assures Alix.

Alix and Dr. Barke also discuss differences among vaccine schedules, outlining three reference points: California’s schedule, the CDC schedule, and the narrower K–12 school-entry requirements. Dr. Mark McDonald joins as the discussion widens to informed consent, manufacturer liability protections, and the vaccine injury compensation process. Rather than staying abstract, the conversation repeatedly returns to lived experience—patients, families, and institutions responding under pressure.

The episode concludes with Alix explaining how effective Free Now Foundation has been over the last three years. We are a lean organization and invest heavily in legal action, while also preparing to expand our educational reach through new podcasts, PRA requests, legislative actions, and more. What began as a personal health crisis has evolved into an organized effort to reshape how medical authority, law, and individual choice intersect—especially for families navigating California’s uniquely rigid system.

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