UPDATED: Australian Vaccination Network- a website of deception

UPDATE May 16, 2011: Parents with new born babies are being urged to keep them at home and out of harm’s way as a whopping cough outbreak travels through Sydney and New South Wales. There have been 4580 cases of whooping cough so far this year in NSW alone. Dr Rob Menzies from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance said: “We’re appalled at how many kids are getting whooping cough because the chardonnay set and the alternatives don’t vaccinate their children.”

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS STORY. YOU COULD SAVE THE LIFE OF A CHILD. I was working late in front of the brilliant Lateline on ABC1 a couple of weeks ago when they broke a compelling story about the Australian Vaccination Network. I watched the report with tears in my eyes and my jaw dropped somewhere near the floor. Tears for the McCaffery family whose baby Dana died of whooping cough at only 32 days, and dropped jaw for the extraordinary cruelty and willful deceit of the Australian Vaccination Network.

From its name, the Australian Vaccination Network sounds like a reasonable organisation, right? Somewhere you might be able to find information about vaccinating your children. Maybe some pros, maybe some cons.

Well, the last part is right. The whole website is a con because it’s not objective at all. The Australian Vaccination Network is run by a group of extreme anti-vaccination zealots who have harassed and traumatised the parents of a baby girl who died of whooping cough. More than they were already traumatised by the loss of their 4 week old baby if that’s even possible.

UPDATE 27th July:

Fairfax reports:

When their four-week-old baby daughter Dana died from whooping cough Toni and David McCaffery sought love and healing to ease their grief.

Instead, they say they were subjected to a campaign of harassment and abuse at the hands of anti-vaccination campaigners, a group who were yesterday labelled a serious threat to the public’s health and safety.

The Health Care Complaints Commission issued a public warning against the Australian Vaccination Network after it refused to display a disclaimer on its website to inform readers its information should not be taken as medical advice.

Earlier this month the commission investigated the network, run out of Bangalow on the north coast by Meryl Dorey, and found its website presented incorrect and misleading information that was solely anti-vaccination and quoted selectively from research suggesting that vaccination may be dangerous.

Its investigation was sparked by two complaints, one from Toni and David McCaffery, whose four-week-old daughter Dana died from whooping cough last year.

The couple, from Lennox Head, allege they were subjected to months of harassment and abuse by Ms Dorey and anti-vaccination campaigners, accusing them of lying about the cause of their daughter’s death. They received anonymous letters and emails that said whooping cough was not fatal and vaccinations were not needed.

Mrs McCaffery, whose daughter was too young to be vaccinated when she caught whooping cough, said Ms Dorey also tried to get her baby’s medical records from the hospital without permission. ”Instead of love and healing in the weeks after Dana’s death, we got ugliness … it has been terrible,” she said.

Mrs McCaffery also complained that Ms Dorey had quoted misleading statistics, spread misinformation through seminars and the internet, and gave poor telephone advice.

The second complaint against the network was made by Ken McLeod, a member of a group called Stop the AVN.

He said Ms Dorey had claimed that meningococcal disease was harmless and ”hardly kills anybody”; that vaccination was being used to spread AIDS in Third World countries; and homeopathy could take the place of vaccination.

His group now wants the state government to apply for a court injunction against the network and have it closed down. The group’s website says Ms Dorey believes ”vaccines are part of a global conspiracy to implant mind control chips into every man, woman and child and that the ‘illuminati’ plan a mass cull of humans”.

Ms Dorey did not return calls yesterday but issued a statement on her website which said the HCCC’s recommendation was ”laughable” and she was seeking legal advice.

”Nobody would expect nuclear safety advocates to issue statements on the benefits of nuclear power; Greenpeace to make films on the pleasures of killing and eating whales … Why then should we be expected to make statements we don’t believe are factual and that are not supported by the medical literature?

”If the AVN is expected to show both sides of this issue, why aren’t the medical community and the government likewise cited for their lack of disclosure on the risks and ineffectiveness of vaccines?”

A spokesman for the HCCC said it could take no further action but it was disappointing the network was refusing to make its position clear.

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This story is so outrageous and so appalling, you really should take a few moments to watch it. Terrific work by Steve Canane (formerly Triple J’s Hack program).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29tciApImhI&hl=en_GB&fs=1]

If you can’t see the video, Lateline reports

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission has compiled a damning report after examining Australia’s most prominent anti-vaccination group, the Australian Vaccination Network.

The commission accuses the AVN of providing inaccurate and misleading information and selectively quoting research out of context to argue against vaccination.

It’s also noted accusations that the AVN harassed the parents of a child who died of whooping cough last year, after they’d advocated the importance of childhood vaccination in the media.

The report’s likely to go public within the next two weeks.

It is not uncommon to look up side effects and health risks on the internet.  Google has replaced a doctor’s consult in many homes around Australia and while I think we should obviously consult a real life flesh and blood doctor for any real medical issues I would certainly look up side effects of medication on the web.  When googling vaccination, the Australian Vaccination Network comes up as the first  result in my search.  According to their  site

The Australian Vaccination Network is working to help parents take back that right to free and informed choice by allowing them to see the less publicised side of this important issue before making a decision.

What they forget to add is that they are fanatics who are vehemently opposed to vaccination. Hard to imagine how balanced the information is when they are so boldly opposed to it.   In fact when you read their “About us” page they provide their Constitution but no solid information on who is part of the Network and if there is in fact any scientific or medical knowledge backing their position.

Look, this is not an argument about vaccinations although I am most definitely in the pro-vaccination camp. And I believe the view that it’s a personal decision is a flawed one because one person choosing not to immunise their children can have devastating and tragic effects on someone else’s child – as the McCaffery family discovered.

But what is so outrageous about this story is the fact the Australian Vaccination Network are so devious in not disclosing their position anywhere on their website and the fact that they knowingly publish false and misleading information about vaccinations so as to further their cause.

When you are trying to persuade someone to take a particular course of medical action – one that could have life-or-death consequences for their child as well as other people’s children – you MUST disclose your position. You MUST be transparent. Anything less is gross abuse. Almost as gross as the actual abuse and harassment The Australian Vaccination Network has inflicted on a family in deep grief over the loss of their baby.

What a shocker. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS STORY SO VULNERABLE PARENTS AREN’T MISINFORMED BY THIS WEBSITE OR THIS DANGEROUS GROUP.

What influenced you in your decision to vaccinate your child or not?  Do you think organisations like Australian Vaccination Network should have to declare their hand before offering one-sided and (according to independent health authorities) deliberately false information about vaccination ?