Hi,
This is a copy of an email sent by Meryl Dorey of the Australian
Vaccination Network.
Obviously relevant to all midwives and students.
Very scary stuff...
Sue
Action needed urgently!
We currently have two issues which will need your
action – both
of them important – both of them more than timely. The first one has
been
touched on in the last issue of Doing the Rounds.
It is
the fact that every single state and territory in Australia
has instituted policies which require students studying in the health
professions
to be doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, etc, to be fully vaccinated
before
commencing or completing their practical work. Without these vaccines
(and the
list of ‘required’ shots is extremely long with some of these poor
souls
receiving 8 vaccines at one time!), they will have to cease their
education and
or lose out on placings in hospital.
In NSW, this new regulation is called Policy
Directive 2005_338 and it states that, “Compliance with this policy
directive is mandatory”. It basically says that starting this year, in
2006,
all health students who are affiliated with the hospital system or with
NSW
Health, will be required to be vaccinated against Diphtheria, Tetanus,
Whooping
Cough (Pertussis), Hep A and Hep B, Chicken Pox (Varicella), Measles,
Mumps and
Rubella and Influenza.
Starting next year, this requirement will be extended to include
everyone –
doctors, nurses, orderlies, office staff – even those who work for
laundries
that are contracted by the hospital!
This is supposedly for the protection of patients though, if the
various health
departments across the country were truly concerned with patients’
health, they
would require any staff member receiving a live virus vaccine (eg MMR
(measles
mumps and rubella), OPV (oral polio), Varicella (chicken pox) and Hep A
to stay
home for 90 days because they are carrying these viruses around and
communicating them to those they are in contact with for up to that
long a
period of time.
There are two ways to get out of this requirement. One is to have a
valid
medical exemption either because you have had a serious reaction (eg
anaphylactic shock) after a dose of a certain vaccine in which case you
will
only be exempted from that particular vaccine) or to have a blood test
showing
you have high levels of antibodies to any of the diseases listed above.
We have been contacted by several people who have had these vaccines
with
serious ill effects including being diagnosed with cancer shortly
afterwards.
We have also been in contact with people who have lost their placement
due to
their refusal to be vaccinated.
This is a situation which we must not stand for! No matter your opinion
on
vaccination, every thinking person must agree that all medical
procedures carry
with them certain risks and it is unethical (and illegal under our
current
constitution) to require anyone to submit to medical procedure against
their
will.
Today it is the health professionals of Australia
– tomorrow, it will be our children and ourselves if we allow this to
happen.
Where do you come in? There are three things we need here.
1 – We need lawyers who are willing to take cases against the health
departments of every state. We currently have a barrister in NSW who is
investigating the best way to approach this issue. Read more about this
in
point 3 below. He will definitely need lawyers to assist him as this
could end
up being a huge and precedent-setting case so if you are a lawyer or
know of
one who is on side and does some public-advocacy work, please get in
contact
with me.
2- Are you a health professional? Are you a health student? Do you know
someone
who is? Chances are you do and chances are that either you (as the
health
professional or student) or they are unaware of these new rules. Please
spread
the word. Make copies of this part of the newslettersand distribute it
to
hospitals in your area or forward it by email to friends, family and
other
interested parties and ask them to do the same. Send to doctor’s
surgeries and
to schools that have a medical faculty. Make everyone aware of what is
being
done – I don’t believe that even the most pro-vaccination medico will
be happy
about being forced to be vaccinated or about vaccinating anyone without
their
express consent.
We will also need financial support to keep this initiative going. If
you know
of people who should be members – give them one of the attached
membership
forms and ask them to join the AVN and subscribe to Informed Voice.
Tell them
why it is so important. Also, please consider giving us a donation of
$26 – if
every member donates this amount, a pittance when you think of it in
the grand
scheme of things – we will be able to achieve our goals as stated in
past
issues of Doing the Rounds.
3- We need lobbyists in each state and territory. Currently, it looks
like the
only way in which we can fight this issue is by first going through the
Anti-Discrimination Tribunals which may sound like a good thing
but…here is the
kicker. The current Anti-Discrimination legislation in Australia
says that you can’t be discriminated against on the basis of race,
religion,
skin colour, sex or disability. Nowhere is it stated that you can’t be
discriminated against because of your health choices. Therefore, the
only way
we can get the ball rolling is to take a case on the basis of
discrimination –
stating that unvaccinated people may at some point in the future be
disabled
due to a so-called vaccine-preventable disease and therefore, they
should not
be discriminated against.
You know this is not true – and I know this is not true. And it is not
a good
barrow to push in a community which already thinks of those of us who
don’t
vaccinate as ignorant and disease carrying lepers.
We need to lobby for changes to the Anti-Discrimination legislation so
that the
right to choose our own form of healthcare is enshrined in law. If we
get these
changes, I can envision some very positive possible ripple effects
happening
such as the following:
- Perhaps the right to choose our own
healthcare will extend to Medicare. After all, you and I pay quite a
bit to keep Medicare going and for people like myself who rarely if
ever use mainstream medical facilities, we would be better served by
having complementary treatments covered under this national insurance
policy.
- Doing away once and for all with the
need to register as a conscientious objector before getting the
childcare payments or maternity payments from the government. If it is
stated clearly in law that we have the right to choose not to
vaccinate, then it would be illegal to require us to file these forms.
- Obliterating the medical witch-hunts
that occur when parents of children who have been diagnosed with
cancers and other serious illnesses choose complementary treatments.
This practise has caused more heartache and pain then you can possibly
imagine!
This is just the beginning. If you are a lobbyist,
have
experience with lobbying or know someone who you feel could help, we
need to
hear from you NOW! Call Meryl on 02 6687 1699 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED].
www.avn.org.au
