Across the world an increasing number of parents are opting out of vaccination programs because of fears propagated by misguided, ill-informed and often exploitative individuals and groups that immunisation can cause autism and the diseases that children are being inoculated against. The result is outbreaks of diseases not seen since immunisation almost wiped them out such as measles in the UK and whooping cough in Australia.
Those who would seek to dissuade parents from having their children vaccinated argue two points – vaccination causes autism and vaccines are a way for large drug companies to make money.
One of the most vocal “pro choice” vaccination groups in Australia is the Australian Vaccination Network. According to their website they are “working to help parents take back [the] right to free and informed choice”. They offer a range of “fact sheets” on vaccines including the DTP (Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis), MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) and Polio.
The Australia Vaccination Network (AVN) repeat the claims by the anti-immunisation lobby in the United States that the use of mercury in the form of thiomersal in the DTP and MMR vaccines is linked with autism. There is no scientific evidence that there is a link between mercury and autism. Small amounts of mercury were used as a preservative in vaccines to prevent fungal and bacterial growth. Mercury only has an effect on the nervous system when it reaches a certain concentration. Children are more likely to exposed to concentrated levels of mercury in the environment and in food such as fish. In addition peer reviewed scientific studies have shown no connection between autism and neurological abnormalities such as autism. Furthermore thiomersal has not been used in vaccines since 2000. Despite the original study that began the furore over autism and vaccines being discredited and further studies disproving the link the anti-vaccinationists will not give up. More bizarrely according to The Department of Health and Aging MMR has never contained thiomersal.
The AVN claims too that measles, mumps and rubella are non-threatening in childhood and that by immunising children we are risking their infection in later life when theses diseases are more dangerous since vaccination confers only temporary immunity.
To claim that measles is non-threatening in childhood is irresponsible. The World Health Organisation (WHO) identified measles as a leading cause of death among children. The WHO states that the complications of measles include ”blindness, encephalitis (an infection that causes brain swelling), severe diarrhoea and related dehydration, ear infections, or severe respiratory infections such as pneumonia”. Children under the age of 5 are especially at risk and in 2007 197,000 deaths were caused by the disease.
The AVN also cite the oral polio vaccine as being a cause of both polio and vaccine associated paralytic polio (VAPP). There is a link between the live polio vaccine which is given orally and the disease. As recently as 2007 in Nigeria cases of polio as a result of the live oral vaccine were reported. The Department of Health and Aging reports the risk of contracting polio from the live vaccine as 1 in 2.4 million distributed and 1 in 750,000 for those receiving their first dose. However since 2005 in Australia the oral vaccine was replaced with the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) which does not have the VAPP side effect.
The WHO reports that 1 in 200 cases of polio results in irreversible paralysis of which 5-10% die when the muscles that control breathing become paralysed. Between 1988 and 2006 world wide reported cases of polio dropped from 350,000 to 1997 as a result of a world-wide vaccination program.
The truth is that in the Western world we have been lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to these diseases the incidence of which have been massively reduced by immunisation programs. The horror of high levels of infant mortality that preceded the twentieth century are thankfully part of history but organisations such as the AVN would have us return to these days.
It is easy to understand that parents are concerned about their children but pushing misinformation does not allow them to make an informed decision. It spreads fear and creates an environment where epidemics can erupt in populations where childhood diseases had been all but eradicated. People choosing not to immunise their children must rely solely on those that do to prevent their children from becoming ill.
Groups opposed to immunisation may have many motives, including a genuine concern for children based on misguided principles and misinformation. It is my opinion that some, such as the AVN, have financial gain as their motive and are certainly not altruistic. The AVN is not a registered charity (thankfully) but claim to be not for profit, have changed their registered name from Australian Council for Immunisation Information Inc. to Healthy Families…Naturally and to their current name in 2002. They are linked to homeopathy as evidenced by speakers at their national conference in 2006.
A browse through their website reveals links to a company called “Living Wisdom” a counselling service based in Brisbane that offers the usual collection of psychobabble. In fact if you click on the e-newsletter link on the AVN website it is the Living Wisdom news letter advertising pamphlet that is downloaded.
Another link of interest is labelled “Professional Members”. Expecting to find a list of medical practitioners opposed to vaccination I found a list of such professionals as acupuncturists, colon hydrotherapists, osteopathists and homeopathists. This is essentially advertising for which each of these “Professional Members” pays between $200 and $1500 per annum.
Of course you can purchase a membership, buy back issues of the “Informed Choice” magazine and copies of various New Age books. In fact the more that you look into the site and the organisation it appears to be a front for “Alternative medicine” and very little about true informed consent.
Like psychics the AVN appears to be making money from people’s fears and doubts.
It is important that people make informed choices about their health and that of their children but this needs to be based on facts and evidence derived from properly conducted scientific tests. Not ill-informed nonsense.
That the so called vaccine safety studies mentioned in this article are either conducted by the manufacturers themselves or sponsored by them (or else how can ‘studies prove beyond doubt’ that mercury is safe to be injected into infants) does not bother Skeptic. I myself was rendered sick by a vaccine and recovered through homeopathy. I don’t mind AVN and feel it is doing an excellent job.
I only discovered yesterday that sunscreen suffers from the same problem as vaccination. Purveyors of “natural” alternatives to the widely available, titanium-based products, condemn almost every last ingredient in those “non-natural” products.
It seems no amount of assurances from the TGA or even the Cancer Council will stop these people demonising regular sunscreen whilst promoting an alternative they just happen to have a vested interest in selling.
(How does one determine that one got sick from a vaccination and that one was then cured by homeopathy? Who performed each diagnosis? A homeopath perhaps?)
[...] and the position of the AVN that vaccination was dangerous and does not prevent illness. In my piece about vaccination I debunked the myths surrounding it and rounded people who would condemn us to [...]