A guest post from David McCaffery.
David wrote this post for a newspaper. He kindly allowed me to re-post it here.
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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.”
A brief report from today’s debate.
Watch it Sunday May 3rd, Channel 7 at 18:30 EST. Moderated by Mike Munro.
Summary:
It wasn’t a good start for the anti-vaxers whose representative, Dr Giselle Cook, spent her introduction explaining to Mike Munro why he should refer to her as “pro-choice” not “anti-vaccine”. Her time would have been better spent establishing her point of view; instead she came across as flustered. For the pro, was Professor Peter McIntyre, who by contrast, was informed, concise and clearly stated that the small
risks associated with vaccinating far outweigh the consequences of disease.
We were told to interject anytime we liked, and of course it didn’t take long for Meryl Dorey to voice her opinion. But I’m pleased to report, she was smacked down several times by host Mike Munro and even by other mothers in the audience. But when she mispronounced Dana’s name and mumbled, “oh I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to pronounce it. I hope that’s right”, that was when I really began to question her sincerity for the parents of Dana McCaffery who sat only a few chairs away.
I will include a few tid-bits from proceedings today. There is too much to put in one post. However, much of it you will see on tomorrow night’s show and I don’t want to steal their thunder. Nevertheless, this gives you a taste.
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My opinion is the anti-vaxers did not come across very well. Particularly when Mike Munro asked the McCafferys about the hate mail they had received since appearing on the show last week. There was a clearly audible gasp from the anti-vaxer side of the room and mumblings of that’s terrible etc, until Mike Munro looked straight at Meryl Dorey and said, “Didn’t many of those emails come from your organisation Meryl?”. Many of the anti-vaxers were heard to exclaim, we wouldn’t do that etc, but the damage was done.
Meryl was unable to contain herself from accusing Prof. Peter McIntyre of being on the take from the government. She asked him how much money he received from the government for vaccinating kids. (Of course she was referring to the Maternity Immunisation Allowance scheme introduced in 1997, which they also get access to by the way). Professor McIntyre looked at her blankly and replied – none.
Mike Munro inquired of Meryl Dorey’s medical qualifications, to which she replied; only that I have been researching this for 20 years. Munro interjected – so you don’t have any formal medical qualifications? Well then perhaps we should let the doctors answer the questions.
Toni McCaffery asked Meryl Dorey if she had ever been in a neo-natal unit with kids experiencing whooping cough or measles, or seen a child go into cardiac arrest like she had Dana. Meryl, in a defying act of insensitivity said; “of course it is awful to see a child die, any child, but Dana?, Daanna?, I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to pronounce it…”
I could hardly believe my ears when Meryl Dorey dragged out the Wakefield case as evidence that vaccines cause autism. Prof McIntyre commented that this had been repeatedly debunked to which she responded that there had since been seven publications “from reputable scientific journals” showing Wakefield’s data to be correct. Prof McIntyre looked quite bemused at this comment and calmly stated that not only had some of the data been faked but amongst other flaws, the study only involved 12 children and had since been retracted by the the Lancet.
When Munro asked her to produce said papers, Dorey claimed she had sent them to one of the researchers for the show. She claimed she had sent over 30 studies to the studio in support of her arguments including evidence of vaccine damage. Munro looked decidedly unimpressed and asked her to provide evidence instead of just making all these claims. For this, she cited a child in NSW and QLD (from memory) to which Munro responded, your evidence is one or two kids? You keep saying you have evidence for these things but you are unable to produce it in the studio today? Meryl replied, ”I gave you the details of the 2 kids I just mentioned, you didn’t contact them!!??” To which Munro replied, yes we did Ms Dorey and they did not want to talk to the programme. End of discussion.
Munro inquired of a young mother with 5 month old twins about her sons’ vaccination status. The mother stated that she didn’t really know very much, so was unable to really comment, but she had chosen not to have her kids vaccinated. Munro repeated, “So you don’t really have all the information, you haven’t done the research, but you decided to not have your kids vaccinated anyway”; to which she replied yes.
This sparked the ire of a mother with child a few seats behind, who’s child was recovering from whooping cough after contracting it before he was eligible for vaccination. This mother stated that she was not entirely happy sitting in a room with 2 babies in such close proximity to her son since he had not yet completed his full schedule of immunisations and further, her son could also infect the twins, since he was still recovering. But it also made the first mother look pretty naive and irresponsible.
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The thing about the anti-vax lobby is that they are always screeching that parents need more information, but when you offer them scientific data they always have a reason why it is wrong or not acceptable. Often it’s the Big Pharma conspiracy (pharmaceutical companies sponsored that study therefore it’s biased), or they counter offer you something written in a book that they once read. I presented the recent Nature research which links ~15% of autism cases to genes and it was dismissed it out of hand precisely because it only accounts for ~15%, therefore, what about the other ~85%? It must be the mercury and heavy metals in vaccines. It is very difficult to argue with people when their counter arguments have no basis in science and all science you do show them is wrong. Just like the creationists, they continually move the goal posts. And whilst they say they want more information, only as long as that information aligns with their beliefs.
Toni and David McCaffery were in the audience today. I sat next to David and we chatted throughout. They both thanked myself and Richard for our support. What they did today was unimaginably tough and brave. Dana only passed away 6 weeks ago. Yet the anti-vaxers bumble along seemingly oblivious. At one stage when discussion got around to Dana’s death I heard from behind me, someone say it was only one baby. David McCaffery leaned over to me and said, “It was my baby”.
Some light reading whilst I blog the debate
Some people at the forum today, commented that there is not enough information available for parents, and what they do come across is confusing and scary.
The Australian Government has produced a guide on vaccine myths and misconceptions. The one I have posted here is for providers, but much of the information is easy to read and understand.
You can view the pdf here. I’ll be back as soon as I have blogged today’s debate.
Channel 7 and the anti-vaxers; the story so far.
On Sunday evening, Australia’s Channel 7 Sunday Night programme aired a positive, well researched and scientifically based story on the dangers of not vaccinating.
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;
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.
Anti-vaxers update
I received a call from channel 7 this morning.
The researcher for the Sunday Night programme, Stephen Tucker invited me to be in the audience for the debate that will constitute this Sunday’s show. This is in response to the substantial negative feedback Channel 7 received accusing the story of bias, one-sided journalism, badly researched, etc etc. You know the drill (you can see details of some of the correspondence here or go to the Australian Vaccination Network website and search for channel 7).
I held my breath as I asked him who was going to be on the panel and he said a paediatrician (I think he said the one who looked after Dana) but Meryl Dorey was not invited. To my surprise and relief, he said they only wanted people with a science background on the panel. Furthermore, they were having a hard time finding a Dr who thought vaccinations were bad. He relayed to me, out of those he had called, some had mentioned there could be some more research, but they all stated there was no link between vaccinations and autism.
To reiterate,
Meryl Dorey will not be on the panel
Channel 7 only want people with a science background on the panel
Channel 7 are having trouble finding a doctor to say that vaccination is bad
I hope they stand their ground on these issues.
If you are going to be on the audience, please take the time to familiarise yourself with the anti-vaxers tactics. There is a link here to the AVN’s response to the story. In brief they use conspiracy theories, screech about toxins in our vaccines, refer to Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, Oprah and Larry King Live as credible sources, and exclaim that as educated well research parents, they demand a CHOICE!
You’ve heard it all before.
Please take the time to read this. It’s an invaluable tool for preparing yourself with the neccesary information to counter their arguments.
Anti-vaxers demand their say, we need your help!
Just as I predicted…
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
Anti-vaxers “hysterical” over accurate and positive report on vaccination
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.
Whooping cough case confirmed at Macquarie University
A health notice was issued to all students and staff of Sydney’s Macquarie Uni today, warning of a confirmed case of whooping cough on campus.
This comes at a time when New South Wales is experiencing a whooping cough epidemic, with NSW Health warning there has been a large increase in the numbers of cases diagnosed in 2009.
A Health Notice states that Macquarie University has received notification of a confirmed diagnosis of whooping cough on campus. The university warns all staff and students that the bacteria known as Bordetella Pertussis, is highly contagious.
It is spread by droplets from coughing or sneezing and can be spread for up to three weeks after the onset of the cough. Persons at risk include those who are not vaccinated, those who have been in contact with an infected person but particularly babies, young children and the elderly. They provide information on how to avoid contracting the illness and the symptoms to be aware of.
Readers of my other blog will recall I recently did a Dr Rachie Reports on the anti-vax movement in Australia and used the death of a 4 week old baby girl as an example of the importance of being correctly vaccinated.
If you are at risk of contracting whooping cough it is recommended you get a booster shot of the vaccine. Or contact your Doctor / Health Care provider, local public health or community health unit – look under the NSW Government Pages in the white pages directory for numbers.
More information on whooping cough can be found here at the New South Wales department of health website.
Thanks to Johann-Heinrich Schönfeldt from Macquarie Skeptics for the tip-off.
Cancer Victoria issues warning about cancer quacks
Following is a media release issued by the Victorian Cancer Council.
Thursday 23 April, 2009
People who falsely promote and provide unethical, fraudulent and potentially dangerous treatment for cancer are the focus of three significant documents launched by the Cancer Council today.
A book titled ‘Complementary and alternate cancer therapies‘, a fact sheet to help patients and their families make decisions about therapies and another fact sheet for medical professionals with tips on how to help patients avoid such practices has been produced with funding from the State Government of Victoria, Department of Human Services.
‘Many people with cancer use some sort of complementary therapies for legitimate reasons such as maintaining hope and staying in control of their situation,” Dr Amanda Hordern, Deputy Director of the Cancer Information and Support Service said.
“Health professionals are the best people to help people make a safe treatment choice so we have gone to great lengths to publish some guidelines to assist them with this.
“Targeting sick people with unproven alternative therapies can be fraudulent and may have a huge effect emotionally, physically and financially on the person with cancer and their family.
“The new information has been developed to help people recognise which therapies may be helpful and which may be making false claims. This is an important aspect with many complementary and alternative therapies proving to be a risk for some cancer patients,” Dr Hordern said.
Associate Professor Michael Jefford, Clinical Consultant to the Cancer Council said people usually used these treatments hoping to get better.
“People are hoping to shrink or even cure their cancer, deal with side effects, or just improve how they’re feeling,” Associate Professor Jefford said.
“Sadly, people with cancer rarely discuss the use of complementary and alternative cancer therapies with their cancer specialist.
“Doctors are particularly concerned if people use unproven, alternative treatments instead of standard treatment options. They need to discuss all options with their doctor and then make an informed decision on alternative therapies,” he said.
“A major worry is when people with curable cancers don’t get the treatments that could cure their disease.
“It’s about access for patients to the right information and ensuring that they come to the best possible decision that will give them the best possible chance of dealing with their illness.
“Cancer Council Victoria has developed some really good information about these treatments.
“The Cancer Council Helpline has easy access to information about a lot of complementary and alternative medicines. Also, the Cancer Council is training health professionals to talk about complementary and alternative medicines with their patients,” he said.
Cancer Council Victoria keeps statistics on all cancers in Victoria and over the past 20 years survival rates have increased year on year. Detailed stats can be found at www.cancervic.org.au.
The booklet and fact sheets are available free, through the Cancer Council Helpline, 13 11 20, and are also available online.
To interview Dr Amanda Hordern or Associate Professor Michael Jefford please contact Tim Coghlan on 9635 5262 or 0431 150 365.
I have previously blogged about cancer quackery here.
Proud daughter blogs about her Dad (again)
Some people my age might be out at the pub on a Thursday night. Or late night shopping, or something else that involves human interaction.
Me?
Well I trawl the internet searching for people who are “wrong” and need to be told so. And so it was, that during a search for Dr Peter Ford on ABC Adelaide local radio I was pleasantly surprised (okay reader, I did let out an eeeep!) to find a picture of my Dad on the front page of the website!
The proud Dunlops, L-R Sally, Moi, Moose and Minnie
In the lead up to Anzac Day, Dad has done an interview for local ABC radio entitled “Soldiers of Misfortune” detailing his experiences in the Vietnam War and his subsequent fight for the entitlements of veterans.
Some of you may recall his work with veterans contributed to him being awarded an Order of Australia medal on Australia Day, 2009. You can see a transcript of the interview, or hear the audio here.
I attended Da’s investiture for his Order of Australia medal at Government House in Adelaide last month. It was a formal affair, only interrupted by the clearly audible “well done Moose!” from His Excellency Rear Admiral Governor Kevin Scarce whilst pinning the medal to Da’s proud breast.
This somewhat insignificant comment has more relevance when you know that Da requested his medal be engraved with “Moose” but the “powers that be” deemed it unsuitable. (He was cited in the programme however as Lt. Col. Graham “Moose” Dunlop). I have to admit I did let out a little chuckle when this was heard to echo around the plush surrounds of Government house.
Plus, I almost burst with pride. Congratulations Da.
