excerpts:
Former MP slams anti-vaccine 'crackpots'
A former federal health minister has dismissed as "crackpots and conspiracy theorists" those who would actively discourage Australians from having their swine flu vaccine.
Dr Michael Wooldridge says the anti-vaccination movement was leading a push against Australians taking up the offer of the free vaccine, but their opposition was putting more people at risk. "We are of course dealing with the first pandemic of the internet age which poses its own problems," says Dr Wooldridge, who says a misinformation campaign was now underway on the internet."The number of people who are actively opposed to immunisation is tiny, in the order of two per cent, but that group is disproportionately heard. "The media often feels it has to present both sides of the argument ... (but) one side of the argument is almost universally held by the medical profession and most people think the rest are crackpots."
Dr Wooldridge was federal health minister in the Howard government from 1996 to 2001.One of the achievements of his term in office was the "Immunise Australia" campaign, which saw Australia's global ranking on immunisation jump 68th to sixth in just three years. He was a panel member on Thursday at an expert briefing in Sydney designed to dispel "myths" about the swine flu vaccine made by CSL Ltd, and which is now being rolled out across the country.
Dr Wooldridge said those who heed the anti-vaccination message - not only in relation to the swine flu vaccine but also a range of immunisations - were placing themselves or their loved ones at increased risk of ill health or death. "Their message is poisonous and insidious ... they sow seeds of doubt in the public's mind about what is essentially the single greatest advance in public health in the last 200 years," Dr Wooldridge says. "This group has the potential to do enormous damage, and my personal view is they should treated as the crackpots and conspiracy theorists that they are."
mm hmm whatever *that* means...meanwhile.... here in Amerikka.... Poll: nearly 2/3 of US parents won't vaccinate their children against H1N1
http://tinyurl.com/ybqpo8y
A new poll by Consumer Reports shows that most American parents will either hold off on vaccinating their children against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus or won't vaccinate them at all.
Nearly 2/3 of the parents who responded to the poll said that they'd either wait or refuse the vaccine. 50% said that they would wait to vaccinate their children, mostly due to concerns about side effects of the vaccine. 35% said that they would definitely vaccinate their children.
43% of the parents said that they weren't overly worried about their children contracting H1N1, and an equal amount said that other parents were overreacting.
The poll had a 3% margin of error.
Over 1500 people responded to the telephone poll between September 2-7.
The results, if accurate, mean that....
WAIT FOR IT. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANS? PEOPLE ARE PAYING ATTENTION? THE WORD IS GETTING OUT? THE RESISTANCE IS WORKING?
some of those who are most vulnerable to the swine flu are going to be unprotected against it.
Parents, will you get the H1N1 vaccine for your children? For yourself? What about the seasonal flu shot?
jeebus. insert forehead slap here. there's still work to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment