Update – 06 January 2020: This interview was subsequently criticised by ABC management, and the ABC’s Media Watch program which aired on 09 December 2019. See Criticism section at the end of this article.
AVN president Aneeta Hafemeister was recently interviewed about the AVN and the film Vaxxed 2: The People’s Truth by ABC journalist Kyia Clayton, on Evenings with Paul McIntyre, a radio program out of Hobart Tasmania.
It was a remarkably fair interview in today’s climate of suppressing any information about vaccination that does not suit the medical authorities.
Here is the full program, Aneeta starts at 2 hours 33 min:
ABC Radio Hobart – Evenings with Paul McIntyre
Broadcast: Wed 4 Dec 2019, 7:00pm
Alternatively, below you can listen to an excerpt of that part of the program which featured Aneeta, or read the unofficial transcription prepared by the AVN, both of which are published under the fair dealing provisions of the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968. Readers should be aware that publication of this information is not intended to convey an impression that the ABC (the copyright owner) endorses or sponsors the AVN and the contents of our website in any way, which it does not.
Paul McIntyre: Aneeta Hafemeister is the president of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network. The ABC’s Kyia Clayton spoke with her about the organisation, the issue, from her perspective, and the upcoming screening of a film called Vaxxed 2. Kyia began by asking Aneeta how she came to be introduced to the AVN.
Aneeta H: Well, as a first time mum, when my daughter was born, she had what I believe was an encephalitic reaction to the hepatitis B vaccine, which I didn’t realise that at the time, but her high pitched screaming and continuous high pitched screaming and projectile vomiting, did made me question if there was something not quite right.
And a few months later, a family friend gave me a copy of the book called Vaccination Roulette, which was actually the book published by the AVN at the time. And I read that book, and I was just amazed by the information in it. And from there, I found the AVN and I became a member. And I’ve been a member of the AVN ever since. And this was in 2005.
Kyia Clayton: Tell me, this is a very contentious subject, this is a very hot subject, in the media and in conversation. What are some of the misconceptions that you find about people who are a part of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network?
Aneeta H: I think the main misconception is that we don’t use scientifically-based information, and that we aren’t well-researched and that we don’t know what we are talking about. I mean, if you go to the AVN website, all of our information is backed by science. All we do is encourage people to find out both sides of the issue, but that is not a popular opinion. You’re just supposed to do what the government says and what the doctor says, and looking into the other side of the issue is not encouraged.
They don’t encourage you to read the safety data. They don’t encourage you to read the efficacy data. They certainly don’t encourage you to read the vaccine inserts that come with every vaccine. So, it’s contentious, yes, and I understand why, because it’s a very comforting thing to think the vaccines are safe and effective.
And no one wishes that was true more than me, but it’s not true. There are two sides to the story. Vaccines aren’t always effective and they aren’t always safe. And we think people should have informed consent prior to vaccinating their children or themselves. And that, if they make a decision to not vaccinate, or to space vaccines out, or to partially vaccinate, those choices should be respected.
Kyia Clayton: So, let’s just talk about spacing vaccines out, right? For the people who are listening who are completely pro vaccine, and think that anyone who is not pro vaccine is crazy, we’re just saying, there is a lot of scientific information where spacing out the vaccines, for a lot of children, can make a big difference. So, why do you think that this doesn’t get more airplay?
Aneeta H: Because I think if you start questioning how many vaccines you’re getting at a time, you might start to questions vaccines in general. I mean, yes, there is great science out of Japan that shows that selectively vaccinating or putting vaccines off for some time does have better health outcomes for the children. You find in countries, like America, which has the highest rates of vaccination and the biggest vaccination schedule, their infant mortality rates are actually the worst in the industrial world. So high vaccination doesn’t necessarily mean good health.
Kyia Clayton: What are a couple of scientific statistics that you can talk to me about?
Aneeta H: Well, I think the important thing is that over 95% of deaths from infectious diseases decreased before the advent of vaccinations. I mean, the mortality rates from things like measles and whooping cough dropped drastically and were almost at zero before the vaccines were brought in. And yet, the vaccines are given the credit for the drop in the disease.
But we’ve also got to look at over 50% of Australian children now having some sort of chronic illness, whether that’s allergies or ADHD or you know, obesity. There’s all sorts of problems in our children. And we’ve got to start to question why that’s happening.
Kyia Clayton: What do you say to people who have the concern, and this is a big concern, which is, they have a child who has an immune deficiency, or has had to go through chemo, and can’t be exposed to anything. And children who are not vaccinated or are not vaccinated on schedule could be a danger to these children?
Aneeta H: Well, just because you haven’t received vaccines doesn’t automatically make you a reservoir for disease. None of my children are vaccinated and they’re certainly not reservoirs, they’re not cesspools of disease walking around. And also one of the biggest dangers to immune compromised children are recently vaccinated children. There are live virus vaccines like the MMR vaccine and the chicken pox, the varicella vaccine. Those are live virus vaccines that can shed.
Indeed, if you are a cancer patient, it is often on your list, I know this because my brother had cancer and went through chemotherapy, it told him to avoid those who were recently vaccinated with live virus vaccines. So, why aren’t we telling people who’ve just had the MMR vaccine, or indeed, the chickenpox vaccine, to stay home for two months to protect the immune compromised? If that is truly the top concern, that should be something people should be doing and made aware of.
Kyia Clayton: I’m speaking with Aneeta Hafemeister. She’s the president of the AVN, which is the Australian Vaccination-risks Network. How easy is it to find a doctor who will space out vaccinations in Australia?
Aneeta H: I think now, it’d be very, very difficult. I think it’d be very difficult to even have that conversation, as we’ve seen in the last few years. Doctors who have spoken out, basically just saying, “Yes, vaccines can have side effects.” I mean that was the extent of what they’ve said. Like Dr. Kevin Coleman. He came out and said, “Yes, there are side effects to vaccination.” And he no longer has his license. We see Dr. John Piesse in Melbourne, who came out and said, “Vaccines can cause reaction in children. I’ve seen it in my practice.” And he is now fighting to keep his license.
Kyia Clayton: That must make it very difficult for you and members of the AVN to manoeuvre publicly about their opinions?
Aneeta H: It does, because we can only say a lot of them have these opinions and we can’t tell you who they are because they don’t want to lose their jobs, which is despicable in a free country, that you can’t speak about the side effects of a medical product that has a long history of having side effects.
I mean, in America, the Vaccine Injury Compensation program has paid out over $4 billion in compensation to vaccine injury victims. So, I mean, to say that vaccines never cause harm in anyone is just ludicrous. And to shut down debate on it, I think is very dangerous. I think it’s very dangerous. I think the best thing we can do is bring sunlight to this. I think a public debate is desperately what’s needed.
AVN founder Meryl Dory, has called for years for public debate on this, in any forum. The censorship and the fear mongering from the other side is just to the point of ridiculous now. It truly is.
Kyia Clayton: Tell me. There’s a Vaxxed 2, which is a film. There was Vaxxed 1. Vaxxed 2 is opening in Australia in December, the early December. Tell me a little bit about that film and how, if someone’s interested, they can go see it.
Aneeta H: Vaxxed 2 is a sequel to the movie Vaxxed 1: From Cover Up To Catastrophe. That was a documentary exposing the fraud that happened at the Centers for Disease Control in America. There was a top scientist came forward there and said that the CDC had committed scientific fraud. They had done a study and found an association between the MMR vaccine causing autism, particularly in African American boys, and they covered up those findings, and they threw the results in the bin.
But one whistleblower kept all his data, and he came forward to another scientist outside the system. And then, that data was in passed on to Congressman Bill Posey in the USA who went before US Congress and basically begged Congress to please investigate these allegations of fraud. That hasn’t happened yet, but what did happen was because the mainstream media would not cover this story, this documentary film was made to get the story out.
So that film toured Australia in 2017. It was sold out. And as a result of that film, one of the producers of the film, Polly Tommey, was meeting so many parents with vaccine injured children as she traveled around that they actually bought a bus, and they put Vaxxed: From Cover Up To Catastrophe on it. And they went around America, and everywhere they went, they filmed the stories of parents with vaccine injured children. And they also talked to doctors who had differing opinions on vaccines and what vaccines could do to people.
And as a result of these thousands and thousands of hours of footage, of people telling their story, they decided to make another film. And the second film, Vaxxed 2, is called The People’s Truth. And that’s basically all it is. It’s just parents telling the story of what happened to these children. And these were not crazy anti-vaxxer parents. These were parents who believed everything their doctors told them, and dutifully lined their children up to be vaccinated and their children were injured, some of them very badly, some of them were even killed. And this is the story that people need to hear, because these are the people who are ignored by the media and by the mainstream.
Kyia Clayton: And so, if someone is interested in seeing this movie, what do they need to do?
Aneeta H: They can go to the AVN website, which is avn.org.au, and there is a link on the front of our page. And you click that, and it’ll take you to our Eventbrite links, and you can purchase tickets there on Eventbrite.
We do not release the names of the venues until the day of the screening due to harassment. We don’t like our venues getting harassed prior to these events. So, you buy your ticket, and then two hours before the event, you will be text messaged and emailed the venue address.
Kyia Clayton: Thank you so much for giving me your time and for speaking to me about this challenging issue across the planet. I think everyone’s voice needs to be heard.
Aneeta H: Thank you very much for that. It’s much appreciated.
Paul McIntyre: On ABC Radio Hobart, and across Tasmania, that was the ABC’s Kyia Clayton talking to Aneeta Hafemeister, president of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network.
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Thank you Paul McIntyre and Kyia Clayton for presenting this interview and Aneeta for representing us so well.
On 09 December 2019, the ABC’s Media Watch program heavily criticised Paul McIntyre and Kyia Clayton for conducting this interview. The Media Watch website also contains links to statements about the interview by an anonymous ABC spokesperson, and Dr Norman Swan.
