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Author:

Cheryl Critchley

Tags:immunisation Meryl Dorey NSW Health

Meryl Dorey

The head of a group questioning immunisation says she feared for her life at a recent festival appearance and now needs security at public events following a string of death threats.

Meanwhile, officials have warned diseases like polio could resurface if immunisation rates continue to fall in regions with already low coverage.

Northern NSW-based Meryl Dorey runs the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), which urges families to investigate the risks before vaccinating their children.

Her opponents say the AVN is anti-immunisation and selectively quotes often dubious research to scare parents.

Ms Dorey’s late December appearance at the popular Queensland Sunshine Coast Woodford Folk Festival polarised the community.

Government officials and pro-immunisation groups accused her of distorting the facts, while she accused them of stifling debate.

In the end Dorey shared the Woodford stage with Queensland Institute of Medical Research immunology expert Prof. s Suhrbier for a lively debate.

Dorey said things went well, but following a string of death threats over three years and pre-festival publicity attacking her she felt scared for the first time.

“I was really concerned that someone was going to try to kill me,†she said. “That has never happened before.â€

Dorey said the death threats were usually online and involved people saying they’d like to put a bullet through her head or contribute to a contract on her life.

She had approached police three times and made two complaints, but she said they told her they couldn’t do anything unless the threats specified dates and times.

Dorey said some claimed their threats were not serious, but she could not be sure about those reading them and now arranged security when speaking publicly, at up to $500 a time.

“I’m planning on doing a whole range of seminars this year,†she said. “We will have security at all these things.â€

Immunisation hit the headlines again in 2011 when a whooping cough outbreak on the northern NSW coast killed a baby too young to be vaccinated.

The region has vaccination rates five per cent below the state average of more than 90 per cent. Some towns, like Byron Bay have coverage as low as 60 per cent.

Pro-vaccination groups such as Stop Meryl Dorey say the AVN only provides negative information and selectively quotes from largely discredited research.

In 2010 The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission found that the AVN provided information that was solely anti-vaccination, contained incorrect and misleading information and quoted selectively from research to suggest vaccination may be dangerous.

“The Commission recognises that it is important for there to be debate on the issue of vaccination,†it found. “However, the AVN provides information that is inaccurate and misleading.â€

Dorey says her group is fighting this ruling in the NSW Supreme Court.

NSW North Coast Public Health Unit director Corben told Health Reporter the overwhelming majority of research backed the benefits of immunisation and the AVN was unnecessarily scaring some parents.

He said while other factors, such as the type of vaccine, contributed to the whooping cough resurgence, it showed that diseases such as polio could potentially return if more people refused to immunise their children.

Mr Corben said parents should research immunisation but seek balanced information, not material that inferred diseases like the measles and rubella, which could have serious complications, were harmless or “there are sinister motives in promoting vaccinationâ€.

“Be very wary about the information you read on the internet,†he said. “I don’t doubt for a moment that the overwhelming majority of parents want to do the best thing for their kids, but some of them are frightened off by just hearing the negative argument.â€

Australia’s largest independent women’s website, Mamamia.com.au, supports vaccination and says its benefits far outweigh the risks. It is also concerned about the AVN’s approach.

Mamamia news editor Rick Morton said Dorey was alarmist and based many of her arguments on research that had been discredited. “If she was genuinely after balanced and reasoned debate she would consider the other side of the equation,†he said.

Mr Morton said parents should investigate vaccination with an open mind. “Nothing is 100 per cent safe,†he said. “Everybody wants to make vaccination safer but that doesn’t mean that you don’t get them in the meantime. The more people that get vaccinated the better it is.â€

The AVN claims the whooping cough outbreak cannot be blamed on low immunisation rates as the national incidence has increased dramatically since 2001, despite Australian immunisation rates rising from about 71 to 92 per cent.

The AVN wants:

*Mandatory reporting of adverse reactions to vaccines, with penalties for non-compliance.

*Reporting of the vaccination status of those with a disease covered by immunisation.

*No Federal Government financial incentives for vaccination.

*More information on side effects given to students in school immunisation programs.

*Less reliance on pharmaceutical company information rather than government research.

“All we want them (parents) to do is look at both sides and then make a decision,†Ms Dorey said. “If they were buying a car they would not just go into the first car yard … and say ‘here’s $15,000’ for a car.â€

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1 Comment

Craig

January 10, 2012 8:05 am

The AVN, led by Dorey, is a fraudulent belief-based organisation that selectively uses a combination of facts and lies to put across its view of the world – despite evidence disproving their venemous opposition to vaccination.

The fact that it continues to take subscriptions for a periodical it is not publishing (while paying Dorey as the editor), has been the subject of a health warning, despite having been given time to correct its position before the warning was issued, and a regular violator of copyright – with Dorey claiming she doesn’t understand copyright despite a documented history of statements by Dorey to the contrary, indicates that the AVN deserved to be closed down.

Scaremongering has no place in a modern health system.

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Meryl Dorey,SpokespersonThe Australian Vaccination Network, Inc.Investigate before you vaccinateEditor,Living Wisdom MagazineFamily, Health, EnvironmentPO Box 177BANGALOW NSW 2479AUSTRALIAhttp://www.avn.org.auhttp://www.living-wisdom.comPhone: 02 6687 1699 FAX 02 6687 2032skype: ivmmagFreedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose. - C. MillsThe authority of any governing institution must stop at its citizen's skin. - Gloria SteinemWe rely on the help and support of our members and subscribers to continue offering our services freely and without prejudice.Please consider helping us by subscribing to Living Wisdom and renewing your membership promptly if you are already an AVN member. Go to http://www.avn.org.au to subscribe or renew.We also sell books, videos and DVDs on vaccination and other health issues. Go to http://shop.avn.org.au/ for more details.PS - all of our subscriptions are currently on sale until December 24th. Our digital (online delivery) subscription is 50% off. Please check out the information at http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs082/1101800214009/archive/1108706073097.html