The Healthy Truth: Vaccination debate
It is a statistic that is worrying many doctors – the growing number of children in Australia who have not been vaccinated.
As a doctor I get asked a lot: ‘What's the truth about immunisations?’
There seems to be a lot of fear among parents about the risks of vaccination, and, as a parent, I can understand. But the question is: Are the fears founded?
My view is absolutely not, but I have taken a look at what is the worst that can happen if you don't vaccinate your child?
On Christmas Day, 1989, Ashleigh Langoulant was a happy, healthy six-month-old baby. By Boxing Day, all that changed.
Ashleigh had contracted pneumococcal meningitis, a vicious disease which attacks the lining of the brain and spine.
There was no routine vaccine available when she was a baby. There is now.
Dad Bruce said: “It needs people like us to remind people that these diseases are there, there are holes in the fence, and they're significant, and they're life changing.”
Despite all the warnings, the latest Government figures show nearly 36,000 Australian kids are not vaccinated. That is an eight-fold increase in the last 15 years.
So what happens when parents don't vaccinate their kids?
Professor Robert Booy, Head of the Clinical Research team at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said: “Well they put their kids at risk of really nasty infections, that most kids can maybe do okay from, but we can't predict which ones will get it really severely.”
It is a legal right to choose not to vaccinate. The most 'Conscientious Objections' to vaccination are recorded in Queensland and New South Wales, and the increasing number of unvaccinated children across the country is a worrying trend.
Professor Booy added: “People don't understand how easily and how nasty outbreaks can be because we live such fantastically healthy lives without apparent epidemics.”
Dr Rochford’s verdict
“Firstly, let's address the question about autism and vaccines. The study and science suggesting a link has been completely discredited.
“There is no proven link. But I'll admit nothing in medicine is without risk. Parents just need to decide whether they want to take the small risk an immunisation may cause an adverse reaction, or the larger risk their child contracts a serious, potentially fatal disease that they could be protected against with a vaccine.
I know the choice I've made as a parent.”
TOMORROW in the Healthy Truth: I’ll explore the link between sharing a bed with your child, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
