Elected leaders don't have to listen?
Mr Barry Haase is the Federal member for the Durack Electorate which takes in a huge area of the already enormous State of Western Australia. A few days ago, Mr Haase waded into the vaccination debate by publishing the article you can find by clicking here.
Mr Haase treats parents who have made a difficult decision – many times after seeing their own child either die or become seriously vaccine injured – with great disdain. He says that we are “not terribly smart”, that our “point of view is dangerous”, and that it is “illogical that any sane parent” would listen to one of our seminars.
Like most of us, Mr Haase would have been raised with the knowledge that vaccination is the only reason why many more of us are not dying from infectious diseases today. And whilst many of us have looked into this issue using the Australian government’s own data to discover that nothing could be further from the truth, Mr Haase still believes this and will not look at any information that challenges this belief.
I have tried to make an appointment to see Mr Haase in Geraldton on Friday or to speak with him for 10 minutes on the phone to explain a bit about our side but his assistant tells me that he ‘does not have the time’ to meet me.
It may well be that questioning this medical procedure is a challenge Mr Haase is not prepared to face. But as a legislator for this great country and someone who has been charged with enacting the laws that govern us, it is just not good enough for him to say that he ‘hasn’t got the time’ to learn about a medical procedure that has adversely affected and harmed an untold number of families who live in his electorate. It is his job to represent these people and to call them “not terribly smart” or “illogical” and insane, he displays not only an unforgivable ignorance of the issues involved, but a lack of respect for those who his policies have harmed.
Below is the letter I have written in response to Mr Haase. I would be very grateful if you too would consider dropping him a quick note and letting him know about why you question vaccination and whether or not someone in your family has been affected by vaccines. If you do write to him, would you mind copying me in at meryl@avn.org.au?
Mr Barry Haase, MP Liberal Party PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 4154 Fax: (02) 6277 8576
Electorate Offices: 2B/209 Foreshore Drive Geraldton WA 6530 Tel: (08) 9964 2195 Fax: (08) 9921 7990
PO Box 1856 Broome WA 6725 Tel: (08) 9192 7216 Fax: (08) 9192 8860
Mr Haase has taken issue with the activities of the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN). He seems to feel that asking valid scientific questions about a medical procedure that is linked with hundreds of adverse reactions each year - reactions that include deaths - is not something "sane parents" would do.
Try telling that to Kirsten and Mick Button whose daughter, Saba, was vaccinated during the 2010 anti-flu campaign. The Buttons did “the right thing” according to the government and they were betrayed.
The vaccine used on Saba was experimental and had been rejected by the US FDA for use on American children. There were serious deficiencies in the manufacturer's facility including a failure of staff to wear face masks when handling vaccinations; failure to properly split the viruses in the shot, leading to a higher rate of reactions and the possibility of flu infection in the vaccinated; and a failure to investigate the rate of reactions that was 10 times higher than 'expected' in vaccine recipients.
Does Mr Haase know that WA's children were used as guinea pigs during this campaign without the permission or knowledge of their parents? Is he aware that the government advisors who approved this untested vaccine had close financial ties with the drug company that produced the shot?
Mr Haase finds it "illogical" that parents would spend the princely sum of $15 ($20 for couples) to come to an AVN seminar and learn more about this vital health issue, yet the AVN is providing scientifically-based data on the risks and effectiveness of the more than 50 vaccines Australian children receive by school age. This is information that should be provided by the government and medical community but, as we saw with the childhood flu campaign, it is either not distributed or it is suppressed.
You are correct when you say that we have a "snout on" about saving lives - that is why the AVN exists.
The AVN is not anti-vaccination. Our Code of Ethics forbids us from taking that stance. We simply believe in a fair go. We think that medical decisions should be made with full information and that vaccines should be fully and properly tested for both safety and effectiveness before they are released in Australia - something which is currently not done.
We are not a radical group unless you consider it radical to support the democratic rights of parents to decide what is best for their own children.
As for the huge increase in cases of whooping cough - the current epidemic is now in its 4th year and the number of cases has increased exponentially despite a record high level of vaccination. The vaccine is simply not working but yet, the unvaccinated are deliberately vilified.
Contrary to Mr Haase's contention, parents who choose not to vaccinate their children have historically been both highly educated and from a higher-socio-economic status (Rogers and Pilgrim, 1993). It is both disrespectful and highly insulting for him to say we are "not terribly smart".
It is easy to go along with the crowd and vaccinate by default. It takes much time, caring and courage to research this issue thoroughly and from that research, decide that you do not want to vaccinate or to vaccinate selectively. That is why the AVN is currently facilitating the creation of parent's support groups across WA.
In a democracy, information is only dangerous if it is suppressed. Open and honest debate is the best means of arriving at the truth of matters and the AVN encourages this form of communication.
We urge Mr Haase to meet with our representative, Meryl Dorey, when she is in Geraldton. He will see that this group is anything but radical and in fact, provides an important source of evidence-based information for those families who are seeking to do the best for their children.
Kind regards,
Meryl Dorey
on behalf of the AVN Management Committee