I hope you had a great week. I’ll do my best not to too political today but I did have a lovely time handing out How to Vote cards for the Health Australia Party on Saturday. I must say all the volunteers and candidates representing other parties were very civil and I had some great conversations. Unfortunately the Health Australia Party has been labelled as anti-vax by the media so I had to clarify things with a few people. I know the vaccine debate is a very hot issue and most people see it as a black and white argument. Today I want to paint some shades of grey.
When my eldest daughter was baby I must admit I was wary of vaccines. I remember being at the Box Hill Town Hall lined up with all the other mums and babies with my precious new baby in my arms. I knew some babies could have an adverse reaction to vaccines so I asked some questions about what they were about to inject into my tiny baby. I wanted to know about the risks, what to watch for afterwards and what to do if she showed any signs of a reaction. I also requested a copy of the information insert, the batch number and the doctor’s name. I recall there was quite a lot of eye-rolling and impatient sighs from the staff. I was kept waiting for a very long time until they finally and reluctantly gave me the information. I never took my children back to the council for their immunisations again.
I did take them to my local GP for their vaccines and he was very careful each time to make sure that they were well and I felt reassured. I learned though that the system expected mothers would quietly do what they were told and it seems that same attitude still applies more than 30 years later.
Even now if we asked questions about vaccine safety we’re labelled as troublemakers and conspiracy theorists. Now, I do need to say here that I am not anti-vaccines. My children were all fully immunised, as was I. Before I become pregnant I had a Rubella vaccine and before travelling overseas I was immunised against Small Pox and Typhoid Fever. I know that certain vaccines can save lives.
As I said however, the vaccine debate is very hot issue and it’s challenging to have a rational discussion about it. An article I read recently said that we really do need to find a way to have that discussion, to meet somewhere in the middle for the sake of all our children. The article showed two photos. One was of child who had died of whooping cough and the other was of a child who had died of an adverse vaccine reaction. My heart broke for both families.
It seems that for every story of a vaccine injured child there is an equally disturbing story about a child suffering terribly, or dying, from whooping cough, chickenpox and measles. I can certainly sympathise with both sides of the story.
I do think however that there is a huge gap in the system when it comes to acknowledging the risks of vaccines and the incidence of vaccine damaged children. When I taught sex education many years ago I used to tell parents that the most dangerous sexual position was the ostrich position. Burying our head in the sand is equally, if not more dangerous, when it comes to the truth about vaccines.
To continue the metaphor, this issue has raised its head because of the Government’s No Job No Play legislation. This legislation means that children who are not fully immunised and don’t have a medical exemption cannot attend child-care or kindergarten. This means that parents who don’t want to have their children immunised are under pressure to do so. This is bringing the vaccine debate to the surface and is placing the effectiveness and safety of vaccines under scrutiny.
It seems however that in Australia and the US the mainstream media and conventional medicine only see one side of the debate. One of the very concerning things they are not investigating is the link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. Recently a head scientist at the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the US admitted that the CDC had committed fraud by covering up research evidence linking MMR to brain injuries and autism. That’s pretty disturbing.
This morning I watched a very powerful speech by the Del Bigtree who was a producer for The Doctors TV show. I had already written most of this blog before I watched it but he has inspired me to be brave and share it with you. It goes for about 8 minutes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrUG2z3KEsg
My intention in talking about this issue and my vision is that both sides of the debate open-mindedly come together for the sake of all our children. Let’s be honest and transparent about the risks of vaccines, let’s get really clear about the effectiveness (or not) of vaccines and if we choose to use them to reduce the risk of infectious disease then let’s find a way to make them safer.
In the short term, the advice of a Naturopath I spoke to recently was simply to delay your child’s immunisations until they are older. Apparently in Japan they now delay MMR vaccine until children are two years old. This Naturopath also advised to support children with supplements and essential fatty acids to reduce the risk of brain inflammation, and to detox them afterwards to help their body clear any toxic ingredients. Our Naturopaths at Simply Natural Therapies would be more than happy to talk with you about a protocol to support your child before and after their vaccines. Call us on 9842 7033 to make an appointment.
If you have questions about the effectiveness of vaccines I found this video by Dr Bruce Lipton very enlightening. He actually talks about the role of the tonsils in building immunity and how vaccines bypass that mechanism and may contribute the allergies. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYcLMy3r_DA
So that’s it for today. Take a look at the Right Hand column to learn more about our upcoming classes, events and special offers. As always we have some awesome events coming up. >>>>
Have a great week,
Warm Regards,
Alison Burton
Health and Happiness Guru
Simply Natural Therapies
41 Tunstall Square
East Doncaster
VIC 3109
03 9842 7033
info@simplynaturaltherapies.com.au
www.simplynaturaltherapies.com.au