Monday 6 May 2013

Anger over anti-vaccination comment.

The entirely confusingly named Australian Vaccination Network (next month they will face a court battle to retain their misleading name), actually a cabal of anti-vaccination advocates, has encouraged parents to avoid vaccinating their children and do not rely on your GP's opinion. You know, those experts in community ills who often have there own children and have trained and worked for over a decade to ensure the community is healthy.

Instead, consult books, especially those penned by fringe writers who may have not knowledge or expertise in the science and medicine of infectious disease whatsoever.
As Australian Medical Association president Dr Steve Hambleton suggested, you can obtain facts from the Immunise Australia website and there is an excellent publication, produced by the Australian Academy of Science, The Science of Immunisation: questions and answers

The documents on these sites are fully up front about their being some risks, its just that these risks are generally very minor things like redness, soreness and swelling - probably nothing like that bruise little Johnny is sporting from school today or that bite Jenny inflicted on herself when she bit her own cheek at dinner last night.

 In comparison to acquiring the unadulterated disease against which these vaccines protect, its nothing to be unusually worried about.

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