Apr 29 2009
Anti-Vaxers In Australia
The antivaccination movement is international, and our Australian skeptical brethren have been taking up the fight there (don’t be confused by the “c” in “sceptics.” I’ve tried to point this out to them, but they just won’t listen.) Dr. Rachael Dunlop of the Australian Skeptics, who does Dr. Rachie Reports for their podcast The Skeptic Zone, has written a summary of recent events.
The amazing part of this story, at least for somewhat jaded skeptics, is the mostly responsible manner in which Australia’s Channel 7 has dealt with this issue. It began with a report by Rebecca Maddern on “Sunday Night” which was an overtly scientific and pro-vaccie piece. Instead of token talking-head skeptics juxtaposed against amazing personal stories or kind-hearted (appearing) practitioners, there was token anti-vax cranks juxtaposed against children sick from vaccine-preventable diseases. Australia is apparently bizzaro-world for skeptics (maybe that explains the “c”).
It even gets more bizzaro. Both sides mobilized the troops, flooding the station with either praise or criticism. This prompted them to plan for a debate on the vaccine-autism topic. Dr. Rachie reports:
I was informed by Channel 7 that Meryl Dorey will not be on the panel since they; “only want people with a scientific background”.
(Dorey is an anti-vaccine loon.) Imagine that – only soliciting scientific opinions on an important public health issue from scientists. Apparently they are having trouble finding a doctor or scientist who will take up the anti-vax position. The antivaccination lobby is beside themselves – why won’t the station just have on mindless celebrities like we do here in the US?
Seriously – it’s good to have the occasional reminder that there are responsible journalists out there. We often get caught up doing damage control for terrible science journalism we need to also praise and recognize those who are doing a good job.
So check out Dr. Rachie’s full details of the event, with her updates, and perhaps even take a moment to let your voice be heard by Channel 7.
7 Responses to “Anti-Vaxers In Australia”
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Did you see the episode last night on Law and Order SVU? They did a show that dealt with anti-vaccination. There representation of the whole thing was horrible, then again it is only TV. I’m not a fan of the show it was just on in the background as I was surfing the interwebs.
Very commendable of 7.
Though I’m not holding my breath that there has been a seismic shift in attitudes at the commercial networks towards reporting facts unambiguously.
This is a recent Australian High Court ruling against channel 7: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tvradio/2009/04/30/1240982322294.html
One thing that puzzled me about the report (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-63XHXxTM4) however was that it seemed to imply that vaccination rates in Australia are falling. This was not backed up with any data. After a cursory glance at the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) statistics there does not appear to be any notable drop in “Standard Coverage” across Australia. (Maybe Steven or someone else can clarify this terminology). If anything it seems to have reached a ceiling level. This of course doesn’t show where there may be some significant regional differences.
see:
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/patients/acir/statistics.jsp
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/patients/acir/files/vaccination-coverage-310309.pdf
In other parts of the globe, South Africa will be attempting to eradicate rabies. Alexander McCall Smith promised he would make an appearance for this upcoming health issue in Africa. He was in Winnetka, IL last night.
Glad you are pleased with the network Steve. Makes me a bit more prouder to be living in Australia.
Aussies seem to have a certain cultural ‘bullshit limiter’ that would be nice to export to other countries. What other country would have come up with their superb matter of fact anti drink-drive campaign slogan – “If you drink and drive, you’re a bloody idiot.”
Yup, i wqatched the original show and the follow up panel type show.
It was really well done which was great as i suspected the worst. They had a Prof of Infectious diseases on as a panelsit and a GP who refuses to give vaccines. The GP did not really say much and when she did she made herself sound like a real wack job (which she undoubtedly is). The pro vax guy was really good.
Splendid work all round.
I find the issue of vaccines quite interesting as it seems like quite a few parents seem to feel they need to really evaluate the evidence themselves, and alot of them do not have the basic grasp of science needed to do this properly (without expert guidance). Perhaps Governments need to start Pro Vax advertising a bit more seriously as a public health measure.
I would also be interested to hear from anyone who knows how many people rejected vaccines during the ealry days when Polio, Rubella, etc were major problems. Also if there were large groups rejecting vaccines back then what reasons were they giving, were they similar to todays toxicity “concerns” or something different?
I caught the follow-up episode, quite by accident while channel surfing. When the episode began, I started steeling myself for the credulity and nonsense that I was sure would follow, but imagine my surprise when the show actually took a pro-science, anti-quackery stance. The host even made the effort to call out the anti-vaccination wackjobs on their lack of evidence, and medical qualifications. Very impressive indeed, even though I came away from it all thinking “so the anti-vaccination hysteria has made it’s way here, too.”