By: Kathy Sinnott
Dear Editor,
“Calls for Closure to Vaccine Scandal”. Scandals associated with Vaccines and vaccine practises in Ireland are inevitable because of the nature of vaccine policy in the country.
Vaccines like any other medicine are sometimes effective and sometimes not, they are sometimes safe and sometimes not. Sometimes they are trialed ethically and sufficiently and sometimes they are not. However the negatives of vaccines are always hidden. Public health campaigns like that recently promoting the H1N1 flu jab present a rosie picture that ignores the full reality. Anyone who tries to create a balance on vaccination is accused of putting lives at risk.
It seems that the only way to learn about the other side of vaccination is through personal encounter with it as in the case of Mari Steed. My son was born healthy and normal, he was profoundly disabled by a vaccine. I am not anti- vaccine but I am strongly in favour of honest information so that a person or in the case of children, parents can make an informed decision on whether a particular vaccine is right for them or their child.
Instead of vacous one sided pamphlets extolling the wonders of the latest vaccine, people making the decision to jab or not should have accurate information on both the positive and the negatives of the vaccine.
As a parent, I am certain that had I known what was in 3 in 1 vaccine and the kind of adverse reactions that were being experienced by other babies, I would have refused the jab, opted for a 2 in 1 vaccine or at least delayed vaccinating until my son’s colic had settled.
Three decades later parents are still being denied this basic and important information. In September thousands of secondary school girls will be vaccinated with HPV vaccines. Will the girls and their parents be informed that this vaccine has a particularly bad safety record?
Yours,
Kathy Sinnott
Hope Project
St Joseph
Ballinabearna
BallinhassigCo Cork
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