Parents on the Run

Last week the parents of a newborn baby boy were told that if they took him out of hospital without getting the vaccination against Hepatitis B the Government would take the child away from them. So they left the hospital and went into hiding, saying they believed that aluminium in the vaccine was more dangerous than the disease. Welfare workers couldnt find them, so the saga then became even more "David and Goliath" when the Supreme Court of Australia issued an injunction requiring the parents to get the vacination done, but they still refused. Today the Government has given up because there's no point in giving the vaccine once the babys five days old. So I daresay tonight the antivaccination lobby are rejoicing that they outsmarted Big Brother.

I wonder what the little boy will be thinking? We know for certain that without his vaccination he has an almost 50/50 chance of becoming a chronic carrier of hepatitis, and if he does, a 30% chance of getting cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer and dying from it before he's an adult. In other words at least 1 chance in 8 of a miserable debilitating existence that will end in death from liver failure before he's an adult. And the benefit of not being exposed to aluminium in a vaccine? Well the antivaccination lobby propose all sorts of dire effects of aluminium from alzheimers disease to autism, but there is absolutely zero credible scientific evidence to back up their claims. In any case, Autism is really rare - 1:1000 - and is not lethal, so why on earth would you prefer a 1:8 chance of death from cancer at a young age, over a 1:1000 chance of Autism or Alzheimers in 60 or 70 years? So is this a case of child abuse? Or do the rights of parents overrule the rights of their children ?

This really just highlights the completely confused and unbalanced approach these people have about vaccination. I dont think anyone doubts that on a very rare occasion a vaccination can produce serious side effects. But even Penicillin can be fatal to the rare individual with an extreme hypersensitivity, yet no one disputes that it has saved literally millions of lives in the last 80 years and is right near the top on the Top Ten List of Greatest Discoveries of All Time. And no-one would dispute the possibility that on a rare occasion, someone might have survived a road smash if they hadnt been using a seatbelt. But the balance of benefit versus risk greatly favours our continuing to use penicillin and seat belts, and the same is true of vaccines. Only a conspiracy theorist could deny this.