Here is my reply to the article written by Caroline Marcus titled ‘Sarah Wilson’s apparent support of the ‘anti-vax’ movement irresponsible’ (11th April 2013):
Caroline Marcus has made many unsupported claims in her News Limited media article, one of which is the claim that ‘not-vaccinating your children is irresponsible’. This is untrue and it is Caroline Marcus who is irresponsible because as a journalist who is not an expert in vaccination science or public health policy she has not researched the health topic she is presenting to the public. The article that Caroline Marcus has written encourages the public not to look for the evidence that supports the theory and by doing this she is demonstrating that she is a ‘flat earther’. If the public blindly follows the unsupported claims that Ms Marcus makes in this article then we will end up with a vaccination policy that does more harm than good for population health. I will list here the unsupported claims that have been made:
1. She claims that ‘not-vaccinating your child kills children and babies’ A quick search of the historical data shows that vaccines have been associated with many deaths and serious disability and illness.
2. She states that the parents who investigate the ingredients of vaccines are making ‘nutty claims’.
3. She states that ‘mainstream media needs to ‘shoot these claims down’ rather than presenting the claims and demonstrating with evidence that there is no basis for them.
4. She does not provide evidence for the statement that ‘immunisation alone was responsible for the eradication of smallpox and polio’ or for her claim that ‘measles and whooping cough were virtually eradicated until the “anti-vax” movement spread’.
5. She has made false claims about Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s work and she should research her topic before making false claims. Here is the movie of his work and the way he has been treated by the public health authorities and the mainstream media. All parents with autistic children will be interested in this movie.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/26/dr-wakefield-vaccine-film.aspx?e_cid=20130326_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20130326
Caroline Marcus owes Sarah Wilson an apology because Sarah correctly informed the public that ‘vaccination research is not conclusive’. In fact the reason vaccination science is not conclusive is because it is incomplete – the correct studies have not been funded to ensure that the safety of the childhood schedule is established. It is unethical to pressure parents to use multiple vaccines in their developing infants if the safety of the schedule has not been established. Sarah Wilson is also correctly stating that educated people in wealthy suburbs are weighing up the risks and benefits of injecting toxins into infants in the first year of life.
I would recommend that Caroline Marcus and Sarah Wilson ask channel 7’s Sunrise program why they did not get someone from the wealthy suburbs who is anti-vaccination to represent the anti-vaccination position? Could it have been because this would not have allowed Caroline Marcus to claim in bold letters in her article that ‘THERE IS NO OTHER SIDE TO THIS. There’s medical proof and there’s medical proof’
Well Caroline – I agree with you there’s medical proof and there’s medical proof and it is time for you to present to the public the medical proof that you have used for this article.
