‘Vaccination: the facts, the experts’ and the Telethon Kids Institute 

Review of the Telethon Kids Institute Vaccination Forum (Part 1)

On the 30 May 2016 the Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia held a public vaccinationforum titled ‘Vaccination: the facts, the experts’. The experts on this panel included Dr. Christopher Blyth and Dr. Tom Snelling, the scientific director for an Infectious Diseases Centre funded by Wesfarmers Ltd, one of Australia’s largest listed companies with 500,000 shareholders.
Tom Snelling presented the ‘new’ national approach to vaccination for expectant mums (that is, vaccinating pregnant women with several vaccines).
Notably his publications do not include any studies investigating the safety and efficacy of vaccinating pregnant women. Peter Richmond (potential conflicts of interest) and Chris Blyth were presenting the benefits of the seasonal flu vaccine and other new vaccines that have been added to the national schedule.
There was no-one on this panel presenting the risks of vaccines or the reason why the US government describes vaccines as being ‘unavoidably unsafe’.
In other words, this panel was presenting only one-side of this medical issue.
The Telethon Kids Institute stated it would publish this Q and A forum on its website after the event. 

My first question related to the increasing number of vaccines being added to the childhood schedule and the reason why they have been mandated in Australia’s Social Services (SS) policy, not in a public health policy.
There is no legislation or regulation in any public health act in Australia to mandate vaccines for the population.
Despite this fact, the Australian government has claimed that they are mandating vaccines in welfare policies because vaccines are necessary to create herd immunity to protect the population from these diseases.

This statement is not supported by any evidence.
Professor Fiona Stanley, the former director of the Telethon Institute and Australian of the Year in 2003, produced research in 2001 that states:
“The rates of infectious diseases in Australia were very low from 1950 – 2000 and the majority of the fall in the under 5 mortality rates (80%) had occurred by 1960: prior to the introduction and widespread use of the majority of vaccines.”  (Stanley 2001 Child Health since Federation p379 and 370)

AND

“Infectious diseases fell before widespread vaccination was implemented” (Stanley 2001 Child Health since Federation p378).

This clearly demonstrates that vaccine-created herd immunity was not responsible for controlling most infectious diseases in Australia, and this is the case for any vaccine that has been added to the schedule since 1985.
This includes hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza B, pneumococcal, meningococcal, rotavirus, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and HPV vaccines.
Why has the Australian government mandated these vaccines in a social services policy, when deaths and illnesses to these diseases were reduced without vaccines and there is no evidence that they can create herd immunity in the population?

The Telethon panel of experts did not answer this question. Here is a video of the Q and A session.
The answer provided by Peter Richmond does not address why the vaccines have been made mandatory when they did not create herd immunity to control these diseases?
The majority of the Australian population was not at risk from these diseases when the vaccines were introduced in the 1990’s, therefore there is no justification for making them mandatory in a social services policy.

Please see below for other facts that were presented at this public forum.

Dr. Judy Wilyman
Science and Politics of Australia’s Vaccination Policies
www.vaccinationdecisions.net 

Facts Presented at the Telethon Kids Institute Vaccination Seminar (30 May 2015)

• vaccines have never been tested for safety and efficacy in controlled clinical trials on pregnant women.
  This would be unethical.
• vaccines did not reduce the deaths and illnesses to most infectious diseases in Australia
• most vaccines were introduced in Australia when infectious diseases were not a risk to the majority of the population
• No legitimate public health purpose has been provided by the Telethon Kids Institute for mandating any vaccine in a Social Services Policy
• The No Jab No Pay/Play policy is a coercive policy that removes informed consent and breaches many human rights covenant
• The link between autism and vaccines has not been de-bunked because fraudulent studies and selective information is being used by the US CDC, FDA and all governments to promote vaccines in national immunisation policies. Human Rights and MandatoryVaccinationThe Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled against mandatory vaccinations in Turkey because it would lead to a violation of individual rights. Yet here in Australia the mainstream media has not reported on this debate or discussed the public’s right to choose all medical procedures, particularly in healthy people.
  Journalists such as the West Australian health reporter, Cathy O’Leary, insist on describing this debate as “anti-vaccination” and referring to anyone questioning vaccines as “anti-vaxxers’ thereby misrepresenting (and failing to investigate) the real issues that are concerning parents who are choosing not to vaccinate.I’d also like to make you aware that the NSW government is currently reviewing it’s Public Health Act 2010 and submissions are due by this Friday 3 June 2016.   

Open Letter to Geoff Hutchison

To Geoff Hutchison

ABC Radio Perth 720

Dear Geoff,

I am writing to you about the way in which you have misrepresented the concerned community who are questioning Australia’s vaccination policies this morning. Your show was an example of the propaganda that is being expressed in all mainstream Australian media about vaccines and the people who are questioning these policies.

Therefore I have copied this letter to the Human Rights Commissioner, Gillian Triggs, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Paul Wellings and other academics who have observed the way in which journalists, have been misrepresenting my research with false and misleading information. As an investigative journalist you are required to look at the evidence on both sides of this medical issue, medical evidence needs to stand up to scrutiny, and our health depends upon this.

Your article presented incorrect information.
We are not a ‘handful of anti-vaxers’ presenting as ‘pseudo-scientific academics’.
Many of us have previously attended these forums but, like your presentation of this event today, they do not include a balanced panel of experts or allow any debate of the issues. This is not acceptable as it is the educated parents who a choosing not to use many of the vaccines.

If you consider yourself to be a good journalist, I would like to request that you ask Jonathon Carapetis, director of the Telethon Kids Institute, to answer the question that I asked at the public forum, presented in the newsletter below. This question was not answered by the expert panel and yet it is critical to the human rights and health of all Australians.

Please be advised that this is an open letter and I will be copying it to my global contacts who are also expecting an answer to the question in this newsletter.
I hope that you will reply soon so I can forward your response to the concerned community (thousands more than a handful of people) and publish it on my website.

Kind regards,

Dr. Judy Wilyman

 

Director Telethon Kids Institute Western Australia 

Open Letter

Dear Professor Jonathon Carapetis,

I note your open letter dated 3 June 2016 to parents that was written after I published my open letter to Geoff Hutchinson (1 June 2016) describing the false and misleading information that was presented in his program (ABC Radio 720) about the Telethon vaccination seminar.

Many Australian parents are concerned about the one-sided vaccination debate that is being presented by the Telethon Kids Institute, the Australian government and the mainstream Australian Media.
There are many medical professionals and researchers speaking about the risks of vaccines but your Q and A panel did not include any of these experts.
Further, many of our questions weren’t answered at this seminar and Geoff Hutchinson, described the concerned parents as ‘anti-vaxers’ and ‘pseudo-scientific academics’ – neither of these descriptions is true.
Geoff Hutchinson, did not make any attempt to accurately present the views of the concerned  parents at this event and nor have other Australian journalists.

Here is the question that I asked at the seminar that was not answered by the panel. Yet the question is critical to the health of all Australians:

Professor Fiona Stanley, previous director of the Telethon Kids Institute and Australian of the Year in 2003, wrote in 2001, “The rates of infectious diseases in Australia were very low from 1950 – 2000 and the majority of the fall in the under 5 mortality rates (80%) had occurred by 1960: prior to the introduction and widespread use of the majority of vaccines.”  (Stanley 2001 Child Health since Federation p379 and 370)

AND

“Infectious diseases fell before widespread vaccination was implemented” (Stanley 2001 Child Health since Federation p378).

My Question:

Why has the Australian government mandated the recommended vaccines (12 plus) for children in a social welfare policy when vaccine-created herd immunity did not reduce the deaths and illnesses to most infectious diseases in Australia?

These quotes from Fiona Stanley are supported by the majority of public health officials of the 20^th century.
This is documented in Chapter 2 of my PhD thesis published on the University of Wollongong website http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/4541/ .

Please explain why hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza B, pneumococcal, meningococcal, rotavirus, mumps, measles, rubella and chickenpox are mandated in a social services policy, when deaths and illnesses to these diseases were reduced without vaccines.
In other words, vaccine-created herd immunity is not necessary to control these diseases and the diseases were not a risk to the majority of Australians when the vaccines were introduced.
Public health policies should be designed for the majority of the population – not the minority, particularly when the solution also presents a risk for some people.

If you believe that I have misquoted Fiona Stanley and other public health officials of the 20^th century, please explain to the concerned community how this quote has been misrepresented and why these vaccines have been mandated in a social welfare policy, before there is any legislation or regulation in a public health policy to support this measure?

Please could you also explain why all journalists, including Geoff Hutchinson, are incorrectly presenting this debate as ‘anti-vaccination’ when the majority of the concerned community want to debate the risks and benefits of vaccines and the removal of informed consent for medical procedures in Australia?

I look forward to your response and will publish it on my website for the concerned community.

Kind regards,

Dr. Judy Wilyman
The Science and Politics of Australia’s Vaccination Policies

Vaccination Question for Jonathon Carapetis, director Telethon Kids Institute 

The following letter has been sent to the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Gillian Trigg, Geoff Hutchinson (ABC Radio 720 Perth) and other journalists and academics at the University of Wollongong.

Director Telethon Kids Institute
Western Australia
5 June 2016
 
Open Letter
 
Dear Professor Jonathon Carapetis,
I note your open letter dated 3 June 2016 to parents that was written after I published my open letter to Geoff Hutchinson (1 June 2016) describing the false and misleading information that was presented in his program (ABC Radio 720) about the Telethon vaccination seminar.
 
Many Australian parents are concerned about the one-sided vaccination debate that is being presented by the Telethon Kids Institute, the Australian government and the mainstream Australian Media.
There are many medical professionals and researchers speaking about therisks of vaccines but your Q and A panel did not include any of these experts. Further, many of our questions weren’t answered at this seminar and Geoff Hutchinson, described the concerned parents as ‘anti-vaxers’ and ‘pseudo-scientific academics’ – neither of these descriptions is true.
Geoff Hutchinson, did not make any attempt to accurately present the views of the concerned parents at this event and nor have other Australian journalists.
 
Here is the question that I asked at the seminar that was not answered by the panel. Yet the question is critical to the health of all Australians:
 
Professor Fiona Stanley, previous director of the Telethon Kids Institute and Australian of the Year in 2003, wrote in 2001, “The rates of infectious diseases in Australia were very low from 1950 – 2000 and the majority of the fall in the under 5 mortality rates (80%) had occurred by 1960: prior to the introduction and widespread use of the majority of vaccines.”  (Stanley 2001 Child Health since Federation p379 and 370)
 
AND

“Infectious diseases fell before widespread vaccination was implemented” (Stanley 2001 Child Health since Federation p378).

My Question:
Why has the Australian government mandated the recommended vaccines (12 plus) for children in a social welfare policy when vaccine-created herd immunity did not reduce the deaths and illnesses to most infectious diseases in Australia?
 
These quotes from Fiona Stanley are supported by the majority of public health officials of the 20^th century. This is documented in Chapter 2 of my PhD thesis published on the University of Wollongong website.
 
Please explain why hepatitis B, haemophilus influenza B, pneumococcal, meningococcal, rotavirus, mumps, measles, rubella and chickenpox are mandated in a social services policy,when deaths and illnesses to these diseases were reduced without vaccines. In other words, vaccine-created herd immunity is not necessary to control these diseases and the diseases were not a risk to the majority of Australians when the vaccines were introduced.Public health policies should be designed for the majority of the population – not the minority, particularly when the solution also presents a risk for some people.
 
If you believe that I have misquoted Fiona Stanley and other public health officials of the 20^thcentury, please explain to the concerned community how this quote has been misrepresented and why these vaccines have been mandated in a social welfare policy, before there is any legislation or regulation in a public health policy to support this measure?
 
Please could you also explain why all journalists, including Geoff Hutchinson, are incorrectly presenting this debate as ‘anti-vaccination’ when the majority of the concerned community want to debate the risks and benefits of vaccines and the removal of informed consent for medical procedures in Australia?
 
I look forward to your response and will publish it on my website for the concerned community. 
 
Kind regards,
Dr. Judy Wilyman
The Science and Politics of Australia’s Vaccination Policies

Video ‘No Jab No Pay/Play’Vaccination Forum University of Technology Sydney (UTS), 15 October 2015

In 2015, prior to the introduction of the Australian government’s ‘No Jab No Pay/Play’ social welfare legislation, a media student at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) decided to organise a public forum to discuss the public’s concerns about this policy. As a new parent she was concerned about the unbalanced information presented in the Australian media and she wanted to make a film of a balanced discussion to help inform people about the reasons for this policy.
 
The UTS student wanted a balanced panel of academics and experts to answer the public’s questions. Approximately 45 government and public health officials were invited to attend this forum at an academic institution to discuss this new legislation but all of these experts declined to attend.
The people invited are named in the video and listed below.
If this policy is so important to community health, why are medical professionals, government representatives and public health authorities unable to discuss this policy with the community on whom the policy will be forced?

Here is the video of this event titled ‘Questions and Answers: No Jab No Pay/Play’ in which I discuss the concerns that many Australians have about this policy and the influence of lobby groups on the vaccination debate in Australia.
In this video I have demonstrated that this Social Services policy does not provide evidence that this policy is for a legitimate public health purpose, that it is proportionate to the risk of infectious diseases in Australia or that it is supported by public health legislation.These are the only conditions under which government’s are permitted to limit human rights and the Australian government has not provided this evidence.  

I have also described in the video how the precautionary principle that is used to protect human and environmental health in government policy, has been reversed to protect industry interests in government policy and not the health of the community. This new Social Services legislation has removed the individual’s right to conscientious objection tovaccination, that is, the personal, philosophical and religious right to refuse vaccines. This policy was implemented on 1 January 2016 and it means that children must be vaccinated with the full schedule of vaccines (7 by 2 months of age and 12 by 1 year of age) in order to receive government welfare benefits. There is no selective vaccination or choice to not vaccinate and this amounts to 24 doses of vaccine by 4 years of age.This policy extends the legislation up to 20 years of age and it removes the fundamental medical tenet of ‘informed consent without coercion’ for a medical intervention.

This policy has been implemented without any public debate of the limitations on human rights and the public ‘s voice has been removed from the debate by simplistic labels such as ‘anti-vaxers’ and ‘conspiracy theories’.

Judy Wilyman PhD
Science and Politics of Australia’s Vaccination Policies
www.vaccinationdecisions.net 

‘Vaccination: the facts, the experts’ and the Telethon Kids Institute

Review of the Telethon Kids Institute Vaccination Forum (Part 2)

Here is the academic information that was not included in the Telethon Kids Institute public forum on 30th May 2016 – ‘Questions and Answers: No Jab No Pay/Play‘ (UTS Sydney 2015).
Many Australians are worried about the Turnbull / Abbott government’s No Jab No Pay/Play legislation that breaches many human rights codes but this is not being debated in the Australian media and ‘the experts’ are not presenting all the medical literature.
Further Tim Wilson, the Freedom’s Commissioner  from 2014 – 2016 did not provide any justification for the breaches of human rights that are occurring in the new Social Services legislation – and it is not supported by any legislation in any health act in Australia.

Jonathon Carapetis, director of the Telethon Kids Institute, did not explain why all the recommended vaccines have been mandated in a Social Services Policy.
This  has occurred in 2016 even though there is no increased threat from these infectious diseases and there is no legislation in any health act to support this policy. Whilst Jonathon Carapetis, explained in his ABC radio interview with Geoff Hutchinson (ABC Perth Radio 720, 21 June 2016), the reasons why he believes parents should vaccinate, he did not provide a reason why all the vaccines have been mandated in a social welfare policy that limits human rights?

Further, whilst Carapetis provided information in his interview about Andrew Wakefield, he did not inform the public that Wakefield and all the scientists involved with the autism study that identified a possible link between MMR vaccine and the onset of autism and other severe symptoms in 1998, were exonerated of any wrong-doing in a British court in 2012. The possible link between autism and vaccines has not been disproven and this is well documented in the medical literature.

Please take the time to watch this 50 min video that provides the information that was not included in the Telethon Kids Institute vaccination forum – ‘Questions and Answers: No Jab No Pay/Play‘.  

Judy Wilyman PhD
Science and Politics of Australia’s Vaccination Policies
www.vaccinationdecisions.net