Earlier this week, the Australian Academy of Science, an organisation at least partly funded by the Australian Government  (despite claims to the contrary by the current head of the AMA)  and stacked with people who hold strong relationships – both financial and working – with the pharmaceutical industry, released a booklet called The Science of Immunisation.

Whilst many people would view this as a positive step, considering the fact that the government and medical community have refused to discuss the actual scientific issues involved with this medical procedure, this booklet does not live up to its name. It continues to propagate the same misinformation and propaganda which we have seen over the last few decades regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness.

I will be trying to analyse many of the incorrect statements made in this publication, but since there is so much that is wrong here, it will be an ongoing project – not done overnight. I will also be asking researchers in the fields of health and medicine to critique many of the claims contained within this booklet. After all, just because an organisation is backed by the government does not mean that they are correct.

One more thing before getting on to what you can do to help resolve at least some of these issues. As many of you would have seen, the release of this booklet has been used to push for mandatory vaccination in Australia. Newspapers, radio programs and television shows have appeared to be quite coordinated in asking the question – should parents be forced to vaccinate their children? The impetus for this is a supposed decline in vaccination levels. But in reality, there IS no decline in vaccination levels. The number of Australian children who are now vaccinated against infectious diseases is higher than it’s ever been.

The misinformation being spread by the Academy of Science is that 1 in 12 Australian children is not fully vaccinated, but this is a perfect example of the saying, lies, damned lies and statistics.

Several vaccines have been added to the schedule in the last few years. Because many children would not yet have received these shots since they were not available at the time they were due to be vaccinated, these children are counted as not fully vaccinated. But for the common childhood diseases such as measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, mumps, etc, the childhood vaccination rate is over 93% and rising – not declining.

In addition, we are once again seeing newspapers stating that those who don’t fully vaccinate will miss out on the Family Tax Benefit Part A payments of over $2,100. This is completely untrue! The fact is that parents are entitled to register as conscientious objectors and still get all government payments. When the policy linking these payments with vaccination compliance were first announced, the Health Department’s website also stated that those who didn’t vaccinate would miss out on the money. When questioned about this, the Minister for Health’s policy advisor actually stated that since the government’s goal was to achieve full vaccination, they had no intention of ensuring that information on exemptions would be easily accessible!

It is up to us to ensure that compulsory vaccination does not come to Australia

It is time to hold the government accountable for their intentional misstatements and omissions and to let them know that we absolutely oppose any moves towards making vaccination compulsory. I would like to ask you to write a letter to the Minister for Health, the Hon Tanya Plibersek,  asking why the government is supporting the spreading of incorrect propaganda, distributing information that misinforms parents about their rights and asking if she supports the push to make vaccination compulsory in Australia.

As always, be sure to cc me with your letters – the email is meryl@avn.org.au.

If we remain silent at this time, we will have no one to blame but ourselves should our right to choose be taken away from us. Please ask your friends and family to write to the Minister as well. We need hundreds of letters to be submitted on this issue and we need this to be done promptly.

Thank you for your help at this vital time!

Meryl