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Monday, August 30, 1999 |
'A
quick-fix solution
to healthcare'
Why do some parents refuse to have their children
vaccinated? Kathryn Holmquist looks at the growing resistance to
immunisation.
Many of the parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated are
informed, articulate and independent thinkers with a suspicion of the medical
establishment. They do not want the State to dictate to them in the important
matter of their children's health.
The State wants 95 per cent of children to be immunised against measles, but
the growing anti-vaccination movement is going
to make that near-impossible. In Britain, avid campaigners include the Allergy
Induced Autism Group, Jabs, the Informed Parent Group and the International Vaccination Newsletter.
In the US, where vaccination is mandatory for
school enrolment in 50 states, websites disseminate information from vaccine
dissenters. The Informed Parents Vaccination
homepage claims that the US Food and Drug Administration's Vaccine Adverse
Effects Reporting System receives about 11,000 reports of serious adverse
reactions to vaccination annually, some one per
cent (112 cases) of which are deaths from vaccine reactions. It alleges that
"both national and international studies have shown vaccination to be a cause of sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS). In the Republic, the Informed Immunisation Network was set up
by parents who believe that they have a right to be fully informed about the
pros and cons of vaccination. The network argues
that the Department of Health gives only one point of view, in favour of vaccination, when it should be presenting a balanced
picture.
"I am not an extremist but, based on the information I have, I am happy
with my decision not to have my children immunised," says Anne Dunne, a
member of the network.
Last year, the network brought in anti-vaccine campaigner Dr Vera Schreibner
for a speaking tour of the Republic. Dr Schreibner told audiences that she was
developing a breath monitor for babies when she observed a connection between
SIDS and vaccination. Among those who heard
Schreibner speak, was Dublin mother Rosemary Seymour (whose stage name is Rose
Henderson).
"If parents knew about the link with cot death, they wouldn't
vaccinate," she asserts. She had her first child immunised "because
it was the thing to do", but changed her mind on the matter following the
home-birth of her second child. Nor does she intend to have her 10-day-old
baby, Joshua - also born at home - immunised. The two older Seymour children
have already had measles, which in their cases lasted only three days. Their
mother regards measles as a difficult but manageable illness and believes
children need to get childhood diseases in order to build strong immune systems
against diseases like cancer.
"Why should I compromise my child's immune system by allowing them to
be vaccinated?" she asks. Vaccination is
part of the "quick fix" attitude to healthcare, an approach that
shuns the natural reactions of the body to infection, in her view. Suspicious
of the medical industry, she wonders whether the "big health conglomerates
really have an interest in my babies' health at heart". Seymour does not
accept the argument that a 95 per cent vaccination
rate for measles would result in "herd immunity", protecting all
children against measles. She is convinced that mass vaccination
may actually cause more illness than it prevents and that the medical
establishment would see this, if only it were willing to conduct the necessary
research.
Another Dublin mother who heard Dr Schreibner speak was Denise McCabe, who
is in her third year of training in homeopathy. Like Seymour, she had her first
child vaccinated but when her daughter developed eczema, then asthma, she began
to question the wisdom of conforming to medical advice. Her second daughter was
not vaccinated and has been totally healthy. "The alternative view is that
if you are susceptible to a disease, like measles, you will get it. If you are
not susceptible, you will not get it," she says. Childhood diseases boost
the immune system in preparation for adult life, while mass vaccination may be weakening people's immune systems
and be responsible for the rise in auto-immune disorders, she argues. As a
homeopath, she also questions the safety of placing vaccines containing
chemicals like formaldehyde and mercury directly into the bloodstreams of
babies, where they may be causing harm. If you catch the disease naturally, it
enters through the mucous membranes in the nose and by the time the incubation
period is over, your body has had a few days to develop antibodies against the
disease, she says.
"I would not advise parents what to do," she adds. "I would only recommend that parents look at both sides."
ALL
INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR
GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE
KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU
ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.