You know the type;

“Was Dana a premature baby? Was Dana breastfed? As a baby suposedly (sic) receives antibodies from the mum in the first eight weeks of life. Did Dana receive the Hepatitus (sic) B injection? Did Dana receive the Vitamin K injection? Did Dana have any reactions to these injections? Was Dana on any medication, etc?.”

Thereby, strongly inferring that pertussis, or whooping cough was not the cause of Dana’s death. I find this highly offensive and told @watf as much.

These type of questions were part of the reason why Toni and David McCaffery spoke out in the first place. They were appalled that the AVN, and in particular Meryl Dorey, were suggesting that the official cause of death (according to the Dept. of Health) as pertussis, was simply a plot by authorities and government to force people to get vaccinated.

But, as we have come to expect with the AVN, just about everything that involves conventional medicine is deemed a conspiracy of some sort; Big Pharma is only interested in money and not our health; they want to keep us sick to make more money; vaccines have never been tested, vaccination causes disease, etc etc. These are the kind of people who wouldn’t surprise you if they told you that the world is flat, the Holocaust didn’t happen and that 911 was a government/inside job.

But, this post was so offensive, Toni McCaffery decided she had well and truly had enough of the misinformation, half-truths and outright lies spread by these people. She responded to @watf to tell them precisely that, the facts.

I am amazed by the strength and resolve of Toni McCaffery at a time like this.  But, as she says below, she has had enough of the AVN and associated cronies and their nasty intent to somehow prove that pertussis was not the cause of Dana’s death.

It was. It’s that simple. Pertussis can be deadly, for every 1 in 200 children. Three babies have died from infections in Australia this year.

Wake up anti-vaxers. And learn some respect.

Toni’s comment is re-posted below, with her permission. You can see the entire comments thread here.

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@where are the facts

Where is your sense of human decency? Your comments are the most hateful and hurtful words that any grieving parent could read.

As Dana’s parents, we are absolutely outraged that groups such as the AVN are intent on proving that Pertussis did not kill her and is not dangerous. We expected opposition to vaccination, but it is unacceptable and despicable that we have to ‘prove’ that Pertussis killed her. Haven’t we suffered enough – now we have to defend the very thing that killed her.

We are outraged that without our knowledge, Meryl Dorey rang the Director of the NCAHS Public Health Unit on 12 March seeking details on Dana’s death and contended the department had misled the public.

Even after I told Meryl what happened to Dana at the debate, a few weeks afterwards I found an AVN blog with members making false claims that stated they had information she was sick from birth, immune-compromised from the HiB vaccine or died as a result of the antibiotics or medical treatment she received.

Not only is no-one privy to this information, it is wrong and extremely distressing. In the latest Living Wisdom, Meryl got every fact wrong about Dana – her age, when she died, where she might have caught it, when the last death was and uses language to downplay the seriousness.

I am pleading with the AVN to leave my beautiful daughter alone and stop this misleading chatter. And I plead to other parents, please do not expose your child to this dangerous disease.

Don’t you think as Dana’s parents, watching every agonising moment of her death, we would know what killed her. We undertook extensive research and spoke with the specialists over several weeks to understand what happened.

Let me be very clear. She was born in perfect health, was breastfed and was putting on weight. Nothing is sacred. We decided to speak out after reading comments in media and blog sites that dismissed the severity of whooping cough, claims of ‘only one baby’, criticisms that we had not acted quickly and that I had not passed on immunity to Dana through breastfeeding.

Reading this blog is almost too much to bear!

Let me be very, very clear – Pertussis can and does kill 1 in 200 babies. Sadly, THREE babies have died in Australia this year – we are the only family to go public and I wouldn’t recommend it. If your baby is ‘the one’ – it is unstoppable.

The intensive care experts were in contact with experts all around the world and tried everything. I stood and watched them try to save her and did the unthinkable and wished she had cancer instead, because maybe then she would have had a chance.

Meryl might call what we have done a fear campaign. We call it a reality check. We only wished someone had warned us of the epidemic as we would have done everything in our power to protect Dana from catching it.

We saw the healthiest, most beautiful baby suffer the most agonising death – and there was nothing we could do.

We will not stand by and let this happen to another family.

Please STOP DEBATING our daughter’s death. Show some respect and leave Dana in peace. We are so sorry we have exposed our beautiful girl to such hurtful people.

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Please note: Comment threads that are deemed offensive, at the discretion of the author, will be removed from this post out of respect. Comments are now closed.

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I’ve lain awake all night in my bed, my mind processing all I heard or wanted to say at the debate. I was ready to speak up at anytime, but wasn’t directly asked a question. (Mind you, my wife was terrific when she spoke. She’s a wonderful, compassionate and intelligent woman.)

So here I go:

My daughter died a horrific death. Moments after she died I held her beaten little body as blood from her double transfusion ran down her arms, onto mine and then the floor. It’s a reality and I ‘know’ it happened.

She died from pertussis, contracted in a region in NSW where 66% of babies are vaccinated. When you combine that with the low adult vaccination rate of 10%(due to people not knowing their booster shots wane after 7 to 10 years), it’s the lowest vaccination rate in Australia, hence one of the most dangerous areas to have a baby.

Dana paid the highest price for our ignorance and apathy.

NSW Health should have proactively alerted the community of outbreaks and precautions to take before it became an epidemic. This requires more than just posters and media releases. We need advertising campaigns supported by vigilant screening, consistent advice from frontline health workers and free boosters for all adults.

However, the efforts of a few are futile. Everyone in our community must work together to increase vaccination rates to protect our most vulnerable.

Please learn from our past. Vaccination was introduced because there is no medicine to stop these bacteria that killed and maimed thousands of children. Now, these third-world diseases are on the rise again. In NSW it is Whooping Cough. In Queensland it is Measles.

Education is the key to saving our babies. You can’t change opinion or inform the community with silence.

Thankfully…hopefully….. that’s all about to change.

I’ll finish with a quote from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh that she made yesterday in a response to the press…..

“As a mother, I strongly believe in vaccination. I also believe that vaccination is a basic parental responsibility and that governments have an equally important role to play in boosting vaccination rates in the community. I support any national moves to improve vaccination rates and have asked my Deputy Premier and Health Minister Paul Lucas to raise this issue at the next Australian Health Ministers Conference in July.”

The report centred around the death of four week old Dana McCaffery from whooping cough. The tragedy was Dana was too young to be vaccinated, but lived in an area of low herd immunity, resulting in her contracting the deadly pertussis bacteria. There is no cure for whooping cough.

Dana’s parents, Toni and David made the brave decision to speak out to reporter Rebecca Maddern of “Sunday Night”. What resulted was a wake-up call for parents who don’t vaccinate as we viewed footage of tiny babies with pertussis and heard of the heart break from the parents. Dana’s paediatrician, Dr Chris Ingall, who was unable to save Dana, implored parents to vaccinate, not only to protect the lives of their own children but others as well.

Our own anti-vaxers, the Australian Vaccination Network, whose role is to “empower people everywhere to make informed health choices for their families and themselves” were given some air time. Represented by Meryl Dorey, she stated that her mother used to just put her out with sick kids so she could get infected, and thereby gain natural immunity. She had this to say about measles and whooping cough;

“You didn’t die from it 30 years ago and you’re not going to die from it today”.

When reporter Rebecca Maddern asked her; “What if one of your children got whooping cough? (to which she responded they had), “And did you seek help from the medical profession?”, she offered;

“No, we treated whooping cough homeopathically and none of us were sick for more than 2 weeks. My vaccinated children got it and my unvaccinated children got it. And none of us were sick for more than 2 weeks and it was nothing more than a bad cough”.

This juxtaposed alongside footage of tiny babies with hacking coughs, gasping for air and barely able to breathe.

The story was intended to be “..a wake-up message to parents about the vaccination debate which needs to end right now”. And it was. It was also a rare example of responsible scientific reporting, based on science and evidence. Although the anti-vaxers did get input, what they got was minimal and in the context of the tragedy of Dana, made them look rather irresponsible.

As was expected there has been an overwhelming response to Channel 7, both positive and negative. Some of the negative responses from the anti-vaxers has been published as part of a story called “Channel 7 – one-sided reporting” on the AVN website.

The usual suspects have had an airing; vaccines have never been subject to double-blind clinical trials (wouldn’t that be unethical?); drug companies are not interested in our health, only money; drug companies pay millions of dollars a year to vaccine injured people; my child started exhibiting autism-like symptoms shortly after receiving the vaccine; vaccines are full of toxins (formaldehyde, mercury), you’ve heard it all before. One letter sent to Channel 7 had this to say;

“Perhaps you can inspired by the organisation headed by actors Jim Carey & Jenny McArthy in and supported by shows much more renowned & respected than yours such as OPRAH WINFREY & LARRY KING LIVE”.

I also encouraged as many people as possible to send positive feedback and many of you did (thank you). The response, both positive and negative, has been so overwhelming, that Channel 7 have agreed to have a “debate” on this week’s show. As a result of my congratulatory email sent to the show, I have been invited to be in the audience. I was informed by Channel 7 that Meryl Dorey will not be on the panel since they; “only want people with a scientific background”.

Further, for the “positive” they have a paediatrician (I believe it is Dana’s) however, they are having trouble finding a doctor for the negative. Apparently all the doctors they have spoken to told them vaccination is a good thing, (go figure). I was also told that all the doctors consulted so far, assured the researcher there is no link between vaccination and autism.

This is a very positive response from a commercial television station, not previously known for their critical thinking and scientific approach to journalism. I only hope they do not cave into the screeching anti-vaxers in the meantime, and maintain their scientific-background requirement for panel members.

I will keep you updated as more information comes to hand. To watch Rebecca Maddern’s report in it’s entirety go here.

Tonight I was informed, to my profound disappointment and frustration, that Channel 7 received such an overwhelming response to the pro-vax story on Sunday night, the next show will be a forum. This is apparently a result of the “other side” complaining that their story was not heard, so they have demanded a debate in their defence.

I was so angry and frustrated that I actually cried.

Scientifically, there IS NO DEBATE about vaccination. I thought this point was brought home by the report from Rebecca Maddern about the death of 4 week old Dana McCaffery. Whilst we have science and evidence, they have conspiracy theories, hearsay, scaremongering and misinformation.

The fight is not over yet.

If you live in Sydney, the debate will be filmed this Saturday, May 2 and Sunday Night are looking for audience members.

Details: Foxtel Television Centre, 5 Thomas Holt Drive, North Ryde. Hosted by Mike Monroe.
When: 12.30pm until 2pm
Email: Stephen Tucker at STucker@seven.com.au to reserve your place in the audience

Please join us if you can.

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To all those who have helped this story get out there, thank you. As per my previous post, please Twitter, Facebook, blog, tell your friends but get to Saturday’s debate if you can. Thanks for your support, Rachael

Share and Enjoy:

]]> http://scepticsbook.com/2009/04/29/anti-vaxers-demand-their-say-we-need-your-help/feed/ 2 http://scepticsbook.com/2009/04/26/meryl-dorey-endorses-homeopathy-for-treatment-of-whooping-cough/ http://scepticsbook.com/2009/04/26/meryl-dorey-endorses-homeopathy-for-treatment-of-whooping-cough/#comments Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:38:30 +0000 Maggie http://scepticsbook.com/?p=981 I have just finished watching a highly anticipated story on vaccination which aired on the Channel 7 current affairs show, “Sunday Night”.

To my surprise and relief, it was positive.

The story centred around the recent death of four week old Dana McCaffery from whooping cough just two weeks out from being eligible for the vaccine. Dana lived in an area of the North Coast of New South Wales where there is a high rate of non-vaccinated children, hence the level of herd immunity is low, allowing for the spread of the disease amongst the population. The tragedy of the tiny baby’s death was highlighted by the fact that she was too young to be vaccinated, but died from a completely preventable illness.

Reporter Rebecca Maddern, emphasised the importance of herd immunity, using the example of a very young boy who had undergone a heart transplant and was therefore not strong enough to be immunised. He relies upon herd immunity as his only mechanism for prevention of childhood ilnesses. Stock footage of children with polio in calipers drove the message home that we need not go back to times when kids were crippled by polio, or died from measles.

In the interest of journalistic balance, we were obligated to endure the opposing view, hence, enter Meryl Dorey from the Australian Vaccination Network. These people spread misinformation and lies about the safety of vaccination, with no remorse. As professional scaremongers, they go by the catch phrase, “love them, protect them, never inject them”. Whilst I would prefer they are not given a platform whatsoever some of the stuff spouted from Meryl on tonight’s show was enough to make you question her state of mind.

Toni McCaffery; “..I did not want to be seen as a vaccine crusader, I just wanted to be a Mum”. David McCaffery; “Nor is it our responsibility, it’s the responsibility of government and they need to take charge”.

When talking about childhood diseases, including whooping cough, Meryl Dorey said her mother used to just put her out with sick kids so she could get infected, and thereby gain natural immunity;

“You didn’t die from it 30 years ago and you’re not going to die from it today”.

Funny that, when the entire story is based on the death of a four week old girl from whooping cough.

When the reporter asked her; “What if one of your children got whooping cough? (to which she responded they had), “And did you seek help from the medical profession?”, she has this gem to offer;

“No, we treated whooping cough homeopathically and none of us were sick for more than 2 weeks. My vaccinated children got it and my unvaccinated children got it. And none of us were sick for more than 2 weeks and it was nothing more than a bad cough”.

(According to the story, three out of her four children are not vaccinated).

She continued her scaremongering by bleating the much debunked vaccines-cause-autism line;

“The reports that we get are children who have seizures, children who become brain damaged, children who develop diabetes, who develop autism, these are serious reactions after vaccination”

The report only briefly touched upon “vaccine damaged kids” with one teenager explaining he became sick one week after his first round of immunisations, but this was very brief. Mostly, we heard from doctors and scientists, such as a pediatrician describing his heart break at watching a baby turn blue from coughing. Professor Peter McIntyre from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance also encouraged parents to vaccinate.

The only criticism I have of the story is that Meryl’s comments about treating whooping cough with homeopathy were left unchallenged. In my experience, many people perceive homeopathy to be a herbal treatment, and therefore assume it has some medicinal effect. Perhaps this was the case for Rebecca, since she failed to question Meryl about this quackery.

One wonders if Meryl’s children did in fact have whooping cough, since she described their symptoms as nothing more than a “bad cough”. A bad cough is not I the way I would describe the distressing footage which aired earlier in the story, of a baby with whooping cough gasping for air and screaming. I raised this issue with Rebecca in a congratulatory email I sent her and suggested she might like to follow it up with a story on homeopathic vaccination.

In the introduction to the story, Sunday Night host Chris Bath called the vaccination debate “..a wake-up message to parents which needs to end right now”.

Well done Channel 7 for a well researched and accurate story. Please email the show here and let reporter Rebecca Maddern and the producers know that they are to be congratulated for accurate scientific reporting. Also there is a poll on the homepage asking whether vaccination should be compulsory. Please vote here.

I am concerned that both Rebecca Maddern and Toni and David McCaffery may be subject to abuse from the anti-vax crowd as a result of this story.

I have already heard that the anti-vaxers are “hysterical” about the way they and their cause was portrayed in the story. A source revealed this response from Meryl Dorey who described the show as “The most horrible, one-sided report I have ever seen” and “it was even worse than I’d feared“. She ended her rant with “I despair about the cover up, the children who will be injured by these shots and the way in which our organisation and the families who have been hurt by vaccines have been portrayed“.

Time to mobilise the troops. Please help by emailing Sunday Night, voting in the poll, and linking to my blog from Twitter, Facebook or your own blog.

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For more information about the anti-vaccination movement in Australia, please see my Dr Rachie Reports blog, the Anti-Vacc Movement, an Australian Perspective.

Toni and David McCaffrey have set up a website in honour of Dana here and a Facebook page here.