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Anti-vaccination organization stripped of charitable status

 
 
 
Angry Floof

Angry Floof

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woot! Australia seems to have contracted the ideological disease that the US has been suffering for a while. One symptom is the anti-vaccination movement. But at least one anti-vax group in Oz is stripped of its charity status. They also have to change the organization name to reflect that they are against vaccination and not just an information organization.

Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network loses charity status

"OLGR's (Office of Liquor, Gaming & Racing) investigation sourced expert medical evidence challenging the accuracy of information provided on the association's website in relation to the risks and benefits of vaccination.

"The investigation highlighted a range of potential concerns, including risks arising from the association’s anti-vaccination advocacy and the potential for misinformation to influence important health decisions resulting in potentially adverse public health consequences."
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edit: There's no general science forum, so this seemed the best place for this.
 
Interesting timing, as some recent outbreaks of the mumps among vaccinated college students are being ceased upon as evidence that vaccinations are not worth the risk by some.
 
hylidae said:
woot! Australia seems to have contracted the ideological disease that the US has been suffering for a while. One symptom is the anti-vaccination movement. But at least one anti-vax group in Oz is stripped of its charity status. They also have to change the organization name to reflect that they are against vaccination and not just an information organization.

Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network loses charity status



edit: There's no general science forum, so this seemed the best place for this.
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Once again, the desert island full of criminals makes fools of us Murrikins...
I think it's affluence related - what other country can afford support so much anti-science, pseudo-science and not-even-science?
 
dockeen said:
Interesting timing, as some recent outbreaks of the mumps among vaccinated college students are being ceased upon as evidence that vaccinations are not worth the risk by some.
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How long have these anti-fax groups been around?
 
Elixir said:
Once again, the desert island full of criminals makes fools of us Murrikins...
I think it's affluence related - what other country can afford support so much anti-science, pseudo-science and not-even-science?
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Despite being a product of the Enlightenment, America has a long history of anti-intellectualism that goes back to the very beginning.
 
RavenSky said:
How long have these anti-fax groups been around?
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http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements

There have been many anti-vaccine movements. The current one draws its roots to a piece of fraudulent science published by Andrew Wakefield. Basically, he lied about sample selection (it turns out that sample selection was performed by asking parents at his child's birthday party when the paper claimed something very different), and then it was discovered that his research was funded by lawyers who wanted to sue vaccine manufacturers and wanted any old published paper they could use to win their court case.

Wakefield has since lost his science career to this, but thankfully his paper has inspired a whole movement, so now he makes money telling people how dangerous vaccines are, and audiences lap it up. Rather than admit that Wakefield committed fraud, anti-vaxxers see him as a noble hero whose career was destroyed by "them" because he dared to speak the truth.

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The article does not mention the recent Muslim anti-vaccine movement which has had much more serious consequences for humanity. :(
 
dockeen said:
Interesting timing, as some recent outbreaks of the mumps among vaccinated college students are being ceased upon as evidence that vaccinations are not worth the risk by some.
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There's a major outbreak of measles in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia right now because of this kind of nonsense. I had 'em as a kid (before a vaccine), almost friggin' died!
 
Underseer said:
http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements

There have been many anti-vaccine movements. The current one draws its roots to a piece of fraudulent science published by Andrew Wakefield. Basically, he lied about sample selection (it turns out that sample selection was performed by asking parents at his child's birthday party when the paper claimed something very different), and then it was discovered that his research was funded by lawyers who wanted to sue vaccine manufacturers and wanted any old published paper they could use to win their court case.

Wakefield has since lost his science career to this, but thankfully his paper has inspired a whole movement, so now he makes money telling people how dangerous vaccines are, and audiences lap it up. Rather than admit that Wakefield committed fraud, anti-vaxxers see him as a noble hero whose career was destroyed by "them" because he dared to speak the truth.

- - - Updated - - -

The article does not mention the recent Muslim anti-vaccine movement which has had much more serious consequences for humanity. :(
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. It was an interesting read.

Wakefield was 1998. I don't think that one could be the cause of mumps outbreaks at colleges now, though.
 
dendrast said:
There's a major outbreak of measles in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia right now because of this kind of nonsense. I had 'em as a kid (before a vaccine), almost friggin' died!
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The interesting thing about the mumps outbreak is that people who had been fully vaccinated (and only partially) were getting it.
 
dockeen said:
The interesting thing about the mumps outbreak is that people who had been fully vaccinated (and only partially) were getting it.
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Epidemiologists don't like to point this out, but the fact is that most vaccinations and immunisations are effective at protecting populations, rather than individuals.

Not everyone's immune system is identical, and so small proportion of individual (vaccinated) patients can often still contract the disease (albeit often in a milder form) if exposed to it; But as long as a large enough proportion of the population are vaccinated, the chances are that this group, for whom that specific vaccination is individually ineffective, won't be exposed in the first place.

The received wisdom is that people will be less likely to get a shot to protect their family, friends and neighbours than they will to get a shot to protect themselves, so this aspect of immunisation programs is usually downplayed. But it is not at all surprising that some vaccinated patients contract the disease once it becomes endemic, and it is most certainly not an indication that the vaccination or immunisation in question is ineffective.

Herd immunity is a good example of how reality abhors libertarianism. We are all in this together. :D
 
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