Some facts

DON’T BELIEVE THE ANTI-VACCINATION LIES

“There will come a time – I pray to God that it will happen in my lifetime – when those who have pushed vaccines upon innocent, helpless babies – doctors, pharmaceutical companies, government officials – will be proven to have lied and cheated these instruments of death into our children’s bloodstream. When that occurs, the outcry will be heard around the world and there will not be enough hiding places on the globe for these murderers to hide or enough money to pay for compensation. Of course, it will be too late for the babies, like this poor child, to be saved. But we will be able to take satisfaction from the fact that never again will anyone have to be pushed to poison their child because for once and for all, it will be known as poison and we will all wonder how it was we fell for the vaccine lie for as long as we did.”

Meryl Dorey, President, Australian Vaccination Network
AVN Yahoo group, 17 Dec 2008, message #36449

This is what antivaxxers really believe:

No Doctors can be trusted

According to antivaxxers, medical doctors cannot be trusted because they are either in the pocket of pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma), or are simply naive because all medical school curricula is written by Big Pharma. If you have researched vaccination on the internet, you apparently know more than any medically trained doctor, and even immunologists! Stunning statement of stupidity.

Our governments are controlled by Big Pharma

Of course they are. I remember ticking the GlaxoSmithKline box for the Senate at the last election.

Our media is controlled by Big Pharma

It seems that the only advertising that the media gets paid for is from Big Pharma. All other companies and industries don’t pay, apparently. This is how antivaxxers explain the media pandering to common-sense and science. Big Pharma advertising budget is that large! Bigger than banks! Bigger than everything else combined!

Vaccines contain toxic and harmful ingredients that cause all manner of disease and disabilities

These are some of the ingredients antivaxxers claim are in vaccines:

  • anti-freeze(ethylene glycol): NO. There is no anti-freeze in vaccines. There is a compound in vaccines, however, with an awfully long name that starts with polyethylene glycol p blahblahblah. This is what confused them. But as the error has been pointed out to them, time and time again, they persist in wilfully misleading the public with the scary ANTI-FREEZE!
  • aborted fetal tissue: No. Vaccines do not contain aborted fetal tissue. A long, long time ago (the 1960’s) some cell lines were cultured from aborted fetuses. That much is true. What is not true, and once again has been pointed out to the antivax liars, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, is that vaccines do not (in fact, cannot) contain human tissue in any way, shape or form! Ask any blood donor recipient or transplant patient about that.
  • Thimerosol(mercury): this toxic substance, harmful in any amount, causes autism and a host of other disorders (according to antivaxxers). The truth is, however, a lot more encouraging. Mercury is not in all vaccines, and if present, is in minute traces of the less toxic variety. You get more mercury from a single can of tuna than in all vaccines combined. Relax. And still eat tuna.

The swine flu pandemic was man-made, orchestrated by the lizard people and illuminati to inject the world’s population with mind-control microchips that will enable them to commit mass genocide at some future date

This is for real. All major antivax sites sent this David Icke article viral on the internet http://www.davidicke.com/content/view/25191 (warning: graphic images)

Let’s stop it right here for a minute. I think you can see where I’m going with all this. Antivaxxers believe in a variety of conspiracy theories, from the silly to the outright absurd. Anything, and I mean, ANYTHING goes if it supports their ideology. They deliberately mislead, and lie, to get their point across. Where they are successful is largely due to a gullible and/or scientifically illiterate public.

Be informed. Learn what the scientific method is all about. Do your own research, but learn to identify what is scientifically valid, and what is ideological nonsense. It becomes very easy after awhile.
Common warning signs to look out for include statements that:

  • vaccines contain dangerous ingredients
  • no vaccines have been properly tested
  • vaccines cause autism
  • homeopathy can treat, cure or prevent disease
  • sources that have been discredited by the scientific community

If you see ANY of these statements, head for the hills!

Below is a list of antivaccination groups and individuals active in Australia. We highly recommend that you do NOT seek advice from these groups as they subscribe to at least two, or more, of the conspiracy nonsense listed above.

Australian Vaccination Network (AVN)
President: Meryl Dorey
Established: 1994
Location: Bangalow, NSW

This organisation promotes itself as pro-choice, but is a rabid anti-vaccination group, currently under investigation by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission for being a threat to public health. Avoid this organisation at all costs. They take out FULL points for subscribing to every conspiracy theory related to the antivax movement, even AIDS denialism.
Website: http://www.avn.org.au/

Lutheran Church of Australia
A surprise entry – thought I’d seen it all when it all comes to anti-vaxxers, but even this one knocked me for 6. More info in my Lutheran Church post.

Healthy Lifestyles Naturally / Vaccination and Awareness Information Service
Run by: Stephanie Messenger, Stephanie Bailey, Susan Lindberg, Roxanne Iwinski, Les Bailey (Eclectic Services (Qld) Pty Ltd).
Established: 2002 (from copyright on HLN website)
Location: Wynnum, Qld
Extremist anti-vaccination group with an added ‘fluoride is poison’ conspiracy attached.
Websites: HLN – http://www.nup.info/hln/homepage.htm / VAIS – http://www.vaccinationawareness.com.au/

VISA
Run by: Kathy Scarborough
Established: 1997
Location: Adelaide, SA
Another group spreading misinformation and lying about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Also promote homeoprophylaxis (the claim that plain old water can prevent epidemic disease).
Website: http://www.visainfo.org.au/

Vaccination Information Service
Run by: Bronwyn Hancock / Taycare Pty Ltd
Established: 1998
Location: Turramurra, NSW
Another of the big antivax liars. Crackpot statements such as claiming that vaccines do the exact opposite of immunise! Oh, and don’t forget the microchip tracking devices. The stupid burns strongly in this one.
Website: http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/

Ian Sinclair
The same echo chamber of conspiracy nonsense and propaganda.
Website: http://www.vaccinationdebate.com/

Alliance for Health Freedom Australian
Run by: Michael Bending
Established:
Location: Sydney, NSW
Scare-mongering, conspiracy nonsense about all health matters, not just vaccination.
Website: http://www.ahf-au.org/

More to add… (unfortunately)

Yes, I agree! While we are already seen as rabid, idiotic fringe-dwellers by so many in the mainstream, it does our argument no good at all to bring in conspiracy theories which, though we may subscribe to them, are unprovable.

We have mountains, acres and incredible numbers of medical journal articles that prove our case – why weaken it by bringing up something that will turn 99.9% of the population off of what we are saying?
Meryl Dorey, President, Australian Vaccination Network
AVN Yahoo group, 27 July 2009, message #38725