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Ian David Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-29-09 07:30 AM
Original message
The Australian antivax movement takes its toll
The Australian antivax movement takes its toll

The Australian antivax movement takes its toll
by Phil Plait, Apr 29 2009

In America, people who claim vaccines cause autism are a major health threat. Some of these folks are just parents, people concerned about their kids, people desperately looking for a cause for a devastating illness. Others are vocal advocates of nonsense, saying things that are proven beyond reasonable doubt to be untrue.

The end result? Kids, including infants, are getting sick, and some of them are dying. Never, ever forget that, no matter how loudly these people yell, and no matter what garbage they spout (including, inevitably, in the comments that will follow this very post). Babies are dying.

In Australia, this movement is taking root as well. Calling the alarm to this, a TV program in Oz called "Sunday Night" aired an excellent exposé of what happens when parents don’t vaccinate their kids: they risk their children’s lives, and those of others. In the case shown on the TV show, a four-week-old baby, Dana McCaffery, died of whooping cough. This innocent infant wasn’t eligible for vaccination yet, but the lack of herd immunity — that region has lower-than-average vaccination rates — sealed her fate. The fact that other parents didn’t vaccinate their kids gave that little girl a death sentence.

Here’s the segment from that program. Warning (and I’m serious): if you are a parent, or any kind of feeling human being, this segment is seriously disturbing. I could barely watch it.

More:
http://skepticblog.org/2009/04/29/the-australian-antivax-movement-takes-its-toll/


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TZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-29-09 07:47 AM
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1. God. I think the US is contaminating other countries with woo.
I thought Australia was better in this area. Meanwhile, here where I live more and more measles cases are appearing, thanks to the local unvaccinated idiots.
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uriel1972 Donating Member (343 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-30-09 02:25 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. Sure as Night follows Day
Australia follows the Trends of the US.
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Djinn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 12:22 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. maybe but not in this instance
if anything on the anti-vac nutbaggery we followed the UK where the morons have had even greater prominence
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trotsky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-29-09 08:59 AM
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2. It makes me want to slap some people.
Yes, I'm angry with the likes of Jenny McCarthy and the vaccination opponents in the Health dungeon. But really, they're just dupes who don't understand the facts. They were just receptive toward blaming "big pharma" for a perceived "epidemic." The people who really bear the blame here are the Andrew Wakefields, the David Kirbys, the J.B. Handleys, the Geiers, and the RFK Jrs of the world. These people SHOULD know better, but they fan the flames and push the lies. Their hands have blood on them, as far as I'm concerned.
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Anarcho-Socialist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 01:33 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. in the UK, three publications also carry blood on their hands
they are The Sun, The Daily Express and the Daily Mail. They share a similar anti-intellectual, populist, right-wing reactionary viewpoint. They have pushed Wakefield's collection of anecdotal confirmation bias as the absolute truth for the last ten years and have ignored all sound evidence to the contrary. For these papers, hate and fear sells.
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LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 01:55 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Absolutely right
These publications are all vile!
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GoneOffShore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-29-09 12:22 PM
Response to Original message
3. And here's more about the Anti vaxxers in Australia
From all around good guy P. Z Meyers over at Science Blogs:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/news_from_the_other_side_of_th.php

With a link to The Skeptics Book of Pooh Pooh http://scepticsbook.com/2009/04/26/meryl-dorey-endorses-homeopathy-for-treatment-of-whooping-cough/

It's just getting worse.
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Chowlie Donating Member (47 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-30-09 07:55 AM
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5. So
We have people in countries dying because drugs or vaccines aren't available to them, and now we have people dying in countries where they are available, but people refuse to use them. Science needs to shout louder, above the noise level of the propaganda-pushers.
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