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Vaccination network ‘attacked’ unfairly

27 Aug, 2010 03:45 PM
THE Australian Vaccination Network has been vilified in the media in recent weeks.

While it is the media’s job to expose wrongdoing when it has been found, it is not their job to act as judge, jury and executioner. Newspapers and radio stations have been reporting ridiculous lies stating that the AVN believes in reptilian aliens and mind-control chips.

They got this misinformation from Ken McLeod, an active member of a group that has set out to either shut our small, volunteer-run organisation down or shut us up in any way they can. That is their agenda. What is the media’s excuse?

And while this beat-up has been taking place, 136 of 139 pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing facilities in Australia have failed their TGA audits – yet this hasn’t merited so much as a mention in the press. It seems that drug companies have a privileged position in our society while vaccine safety watchdogs are shut down quicker than you can say “Pan Pharmaceuticals!”

The AVN was formed in 1994 due to a lack of information in the community on the downsides of vaccination. We were started by a group of parents whose children had reacted to this medical procedure and the health practitioners who had helped us.

Daily, we provide support and information to parents in Australia and overseas who are seeking medically based, fully-referenced data on vaccines. Daily, we help parents report to the Australian Government (because their doctors have refused to do so) their children’s serious and sometimes fatal reactions .

Vaccines are not compulsory. It was previously not illegal to criticise vaccines.

The AVN are vaccine whistleblowers and, like all organisations that are perceived to threaten an entrenched status quo, we are now being victimised by a group that openly states their object is to stop us in any way they can.

That this organisation has used these tactics is shameful and should be taken seriously by the authorities.

That the media and government bodies such as the HCCC have co-operated with them – even sending people who request more information about the current “investigations” to their website – is criminal.

It is time the Australian people learnt the truth about the co-ordinated attacks on the Australian Vaccination Network by those who want, above all, to stop anyone questioning the safety or effectiveness of vaccines.

I invite everyone who is interested in knowing more about the facts behind these attacks to read the documents that can be found at http://scr.bi/cpfdTe and on our website, www.avn.org.au

MERYL DOREY

Australian Vaccination Network

BANGALOW

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We are the group dedicated to shutting down the AVN. The reasons for doing so are simple. The AVN are a danger to public health. The are ant-vaccine. Not fair and balanced information regarding the choice whether or not to vaccinate, just anti-vaccine. Why? Because they believe that vaccines are part of a global conspiracy. Meryl Dorey is a denialist in every sense of the word. She even denies the existence of HIV/AIDS. The AVN lie to their own members and the general public and after the death of a 4 week old girl from whooping cough, embarked on a campaign of harassment against the grieving family. When I say "after the death" I mean, before the parents even had a chance to bury their daughter. The AVN are not to be trusted with any information, let alone information regarding the health of children. Do not be sucked in to their pity story of "vilification." They have been shown evidence that proves that they're wrong time and time again, they choose to ignore it. The AVN are not "whistleblowers." We are. And we've been blowing the whistle on the AVN for over a year now.
Posted by Stop the AVN, 28/08/2010 8:33:43 PM, on Southern Highland News
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aust ralian_Vaccination_Network The Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), formerly known as the Vaccination Awareness Network, is an Australian anti-vaccination lobby group[2] registered in New South Wales. It is dedicated to the idea that one's health can be maintained without the use of pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines. The organisation has lobbied against a variety of vaccination-related programs, downplayed the danger of childhood diseases, championed the cause of alleged vaccination victims, and promoted the use of homeopathy. The AVN has been described as a provider of "misleading, inaccurate and deceptive" vaccination information by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission[2] and has been heavily criticised by Doctors and other experts on immunisation.[3] The group has been called the "stronghold of the anti-vaccination movement" in Australia and is subject to widespread criticism from medical professionals, scientists and other proponents of vaccination.
Posted by Shot_info, 28/08/2010 8:33:45 PM, on Southern Highland News
There is more than one person behind this, Ken is not the only one. Currently there are approx 2,500 people who support the complaint by Ken and the McCaffery family. You have absolutely no qualifications in interpreting scientific or medical research and even less capability with statistics - this is why the HCCC found you to be misleading and quoting research out of context. No person has been sent to the SAVN website for 'further information' and this lie along with others has been reported back to the HCCC. All you were asked to to is put a disclaimer on your webpage stating you are providing solely anti-vaccine information (there certainly isn't anything pro-vaccine on there) and seek advice from a 'real' health practitioner.
Posted by hlth-scientist, 28/08/2010 9:00:47 PM, on Southern Highland News
Contrary to most 2nd hand and 2nd rate media reports, she sounds like a decent, rational and up front person to me. The recent beat up about AVN being undercover extremists was pretty ridiculous. It would be clear to anyone with a mental age of 10, that they are independant of the medical "establishment" and seek to inform people about their concerns re vaccination; you can hear what they have to offer and take it or leave it. I don't get why people are afraid of researching subjects themselves and making informed decisions; they seem to prefer to demonise anybody that questions the orthodoxy, or simply suggests that there may be more to it. What is so difficult about being rational and impersonally addressing the subject? It should be easy if you are an "expert". Sadly, modern media let people have their say less and less. Keep up the good work Fairfax.
Posted by nick, 28/08/2010 9:50:43 PM, on Southern Highland News
If you want to be informed, do your own research. Don't be misled by groups like the AVN, they're quite clearly anti-vaccination advocates.
Posted by Jim, 28/08/2010 10:16:30 PM, on Southern Highland News
Anyone can get the information about lizard people and mind control chips by following a link to a David Icke article posted on the AVN blog. Ken McLeod has nothing to do with it.
Posted by AndyD, 29/08/2010 12:08:03 AM, on Southern Highland News
Just a couple of quick comments, if I may? "Newspapers and radio stations have been reporting ridiculous lies stating that the AVN believes in reptilian aliens and mind-control chips." I will agree that the concept of reptilian aliens and mind control chips IS ridiculous, but are you certain the information came from Ken McLeod? I think it's more probable that the source of this information is your own blog. http://www.stopmeryldorey.com/201 0/08/08/and-another-thing/ As is pointed out in the linked article, in July 2009 you posted a direct link on your blog to an article that makes the very claims you dismissed above. In addition, I would encourage readers to check the accuracy of the figures Meryl Dorey reports in the above piece, and point out that she has a reputation for using facts and statistics to suit her own agenda. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her work, I suggest you Google "HCCC AVN" and read the details of the governments investigation into her practices. In addition, check out antivaxxers.com, stopmeryldorey.com, and scepticsbook.com, all of which contain detailed information about the work of the AVN and Ms Dorey.
Posted by Chris Higgins, 29/08/2010 1:00:28 AM, on Southern Highland News
Despite their claims, the AVN are not pro choice. They are without a doubt an anti vaccine organization. Vaccination rates are dropping, children are dying, diseases that were once thought to eradicated are returning. Yet still, the AVN continues to frighten parents with their dangerous conspiracy theories, whilst promoting pseudoscience and alternative medicine as "valid" alternatives to vaccination. Parents do have a right not to vaccinate their children, but please don't make that decision based on information that comes from Meryl Dorey or the AVN.
Posted by Chris Higgins, 29/08/2010 1:05:57 AM, on Southern Highland News
The AVN were not subject to any unfair attacks. They were the subject of a NSW Health Care Complaints Commission investigation which found that Meryl Dorey & the AVN provide misleading and inaccurate information about vaccination. There is a current public health warning issued against the AVN by the HCCC. The AVN is also subject to a current investigation by the NSW Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing. Whilst we await their final determination, they have detected a number of breaches of charity fundraising laws. Other more serious breaches of the Charitable Fundraising Act have been referred to the NSW Dept of Justice and Attorney General. In July this year, Meryl Dorey was the subject of an exclusive Lateline report investigating allegations that Meryl Dorey and AVN supporters harassed the parents of a 4 week baby that died from pertussis last year. Meryl Dorey seems intent on shooting the messenger in a lame attempt to distract the general public from the investigations. Her critics are not the issue; public health is what is important.
Posted by Christine Bayne, 29/08/2010 3:51:42 AM, on Southern Highland News
"Love them, protect them, NEVER inject them" is not an impartial stance to vaccines. http://thinkingisreal.blogspot.co m/2010/08/meryl-dorey-avn-lizard- people.html
Posted by Sc00ter, 29/08/2010 6:33:12 AM, on Southern Highland News
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