Tasha’s Story

By Tasha Dāvid, AVN President

When I first became a Mum, I never questioned getting my children getting vaccinated. It was just what you did when you have children, you do what your doctor tells you, because they know best. My husband and I had never been told that there could be any adverse reactions, only a bit of redness and swelling at the injection site.

So as each of our six eldest children got progressively sicker after each vaccination, we never made that connection.

Out of our six vaccinated children, our 19, 15 and 13yr old have moderate to severe Autism, our 28yr old has ADHD, our 17yr old has a severe language disorder, and our 23yr old has severe mood swings. They also suffered from chronic ear infections, pica, dyspraxia, bronchiolitis, asthma, eczema, psoriasis, urinary infections, gastrointestinal and autoimmune disorders, allergies, chemical sensitivities and intolerances.

Our two most severely Autistic daughters have had to suffer the most with staying in nappies till they were around 7 years old, poo smearing and eating, absconding on to busy roads, not being able to sleep at night, not being able to communicate, self injury such as even pulling their own toenails out.

We wanted to understand what had happened to our children so we tried genetic testing to look for answers, but no reason was found for our children’s afflictions and since there was no Autism on my side or my husband’s side, we knew it could not have been inherited.

So I started looking for answers on my own, I read books, went to seminars, read all the scientific studies I could get my hands on and that’s when I discovered that our family was not the only one. There were many other families suffering from the same issues as ours.

I found a great new GP who confirmed what we already knew that our children have a genetic susceptibility to adverse vaccine reactions. This realization led us to not vaccinate our 10 and 8yr old and they have thrived because of it. Out of all their siblings they should have been the most susceptible to genetic problems considering that I was in my late 30’s (as was my husband) when I had them and was now overweight.

Yet our two youngest never had to suffer through the many illnesses that their brothers and sisters did, not because they had never been exposed to illness because like all preschool and school children, they had been. But they had a resilience that had been taken from their siblings. They have never had or needed an antibiotic in their lives, but more importantly they had none of their sibling’s disorders.

This was an especially bittersweet realization for me, as I looked at them and realized just how much my other children had lost because of me. I had to come to terms with the fact that my ignorance about what I allowed to be put in to my children’s bodies had caused at least two (possibly three) of my children to NEVER be able to have the chance to be independent, fall in love and have a family. That when I die, they face the possibility of living with strangers who don’t love them the way they deserve to be loved.

People need to realise that vaccination is not one size fits all, that there are families in your community that are struggling with the harm that vaccines have caused. Have we so quickly forgotten Saba Button[1], Ashley Epapara[2] and Lachlan Neylan?[3] This is why vaccination must always remain a choice, otherwise we are saying that some children matter more than others.

This issue has been thrown in to the spotlight once again by the tragic loss of four week old Riley Hughes to Whooping Cough. My heart goes out to this family, no parent should ever have to suffer through the death of their child.

Unfortunately a few journalists have seized on this tragedy to create more hatred and animosity towards innocent children and their families. They are recklessly setting parents against each other and in the process they are doing a great disservice to this family and to the other families that are not aware of the shortcomings of this vaccine.

In 2009 a fully vaccinated nurse is suspected to have infected four infants with Whooping cough in a maternity ward in Sydney[4], as well as several studies[5] since then that show that this vaccine is not providing the protection[6] that our children deserve[7].

In 1991 we had a 71% vaccination rate for Whooping cough[8], yet there were only 347 cases[9], but in 2011 with a vaccination rate of over 92%[10] we had over 38,000[11] cases. How can the unvaccinated be to blame?

Pregnant women need to be aware that vaccine product inserts say that the effect of this vaccine on the development of the embryo and foetus has not been assessed. Vaccination in pregnancy is not recommended unless there is a definite risk of acquiring pertussis[12].

The attacking of parents whether they vaccinate or not needs to stop, because at the end of the day we all love our children dearly, and we all want what is best for them and for all children. Divisiveness is not the answer and it never will be, we will only find real solutions when the fighting stops and open discussion begins.

[1] https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/saba-button-the-girl-who-is-never-alone/story-e6frg13u-1226035296706

[2] https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/little-girl-died-in-cot-after-flu-jab/story-e6frg6nf-1225858118518

[3] https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/toddler-who-was-given-an-adult-flu-shot-is-left-severely-brain-damaged-and-unable-to-walk-or-talk/story-fni0cx12-1226756398505

[4] https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-cdi3404e.htm

[5] https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm376937.htm

[6] https://www.smh.com.au/national/health/whooping-cough-beats-vaccine-20120320-1vibp.html#ixzz2UqBYhk6H

[7] https://digitaljournal.com/article/323187

[8] https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4813.0.55.001#4.%20RESULTS%20-%20VACCINATION%20COVERAGE

[9] https://www9.health.gov.au/cda/source/rpt_3.cfm

[10] https://www.immunise.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/acir-ann-cov-hist-data.htm

[11] https://www9.health.gov.au/cda/source/rpt_3.cfm

[12] https://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/cproot/3580/2/adacel_PI.pdf