Today's Weekender - Article on the AVN

[Guest guest]

This was supposed to be an opportunity for me to tell the AVN's side of the

story and I did speak with the journalist for almost 1 1/2 hours but yet again,

the few things that they put in from my point of view were misreported and we

have Ingall, a local paediatrician, spouting off a bunch of garbage about

Dana McCaffery's catching whooping cough because an infected adult has coughed

on her at some point! Why is he allowed to make such a ridiculous statement?

Just because he is a doctor?

This is the same Ingall who diagnosed my vaccine injured son with whooping

cough when he was between 12 and 13 months of age. developed severe

sleep apnoea immediately following his 2 month shots (amongst other problems

such as growth issues and immune suppression). Our GP stopped the pertussis

vaccine after that reaction and Matt received DT only without the P (pertussis)

portion. When we went to see Ingall, he asked if Matt was vaccinated

against whooping cough. We explained that he'd only had the first dose and why.

immediately diagnosed him with whooping cough (no testing was done) and

stated that we needed to get him the other 2 doses of the vaccine. This was

before either my husband or I had started researching the effects of

vaccinations but even so, we looked at each other in complete incredulity. Why,

we asked, should we get the vaccine if (a) he has already had a serious reaction

to it and ( you are saying he has whooping cough. Why vaccinate AFTER the

case?

We did ask our own GP about this and he said that a vaccination was not

necessary if had whooping cough though he doubted that whooping cough

was Matt's problem.

He also wanted us to put a 'button' in 's stomach to feed him because he

was at the very bottom of the growth charts (actually, below the 10th

percentile). We refused this too. We are lucky that this happened over 20 years

ago because within a short time of this, parents who refused to have this

'button' inserted into their baby's stomachs to allow feeding directly into the

baby's digestive system were being charged with Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy

and losing custody of their children.

Back to the story...

Several of the things the journalist said were not quoted correctly. For

instance, she said that the AVN has been found guilty of providing misleading

information on immunisation. That is not true. The HCCC issued a statement to

say that our information was deceptive and misleading. This was not a court of

law and the NSW Ombudsman is currently investigating the HCCC over these

findings. I could just as easily say (and probably be more accurate too), that

the NSW HCCC has been found guilty of breaching their jurisdiction in their

investigation of the AVN and of showing extreme bias towards the

pro-vaccination, anti-choice policies of the government since several lawyers

and barristers have stated that this is their belief.

The reporter says that I avoided the statement about the Northern Rivers area

having a low rate of vaccination and a high rate of pertussis. That is not true.

I told the reporter that the Northern Rivers area has a vaccination rate against

pertussis of somewhere between 88 and 89% but my objection was to the reports

from the North Coast Area Health Service that Ballina has a much higher rate of

vaccination and a much lower rate of disease than Byron Shire next door. There

is nowhere on the Dept of Health website or anywhere else that I have been able

to find these details. The Area Health Service will not answer my emails, my

faxes or my letters and when I call to ask where this information comes from,

they hang up the phone as soon as I say my name. So I asked the reporter to

contact the Health Service to get the information from them since I cannot. This

is not avoiding anything - this is simply asking for some investigation on the

part of the reporter.

As a side note, the McCafferys live in Ballina Shire - not Byron Shire.

I was very grateful for the way in which the reporter has demonstrated that both

myself and Toni and McCaffery are looking for the same thing - more

information for parents on this very important issue.

The last two paragraphs are key, I think.

" Amid the propaganda, vested interests and conflicting information on both

sides, there must be an absolute truth. But how can we know for sure until all

the information is put on the table? "

In any case, please have a read and the Northern Star is asking for responses to

this article. They have an SMS Line where you can text your responses - 0428 264

948 or you can email opinions@....

I would like to ask as many of you as possible to write in with your opinions on

how this issue is covered by the media - especially if you or your children have

had reactions to vaccinations.

Thanks,

Meryl