The problems with “hippies”, whose kid gets tetanus.

First, I have a question.

Did anyone hear about the September 2012 case of Tetanus in the media? 

Thought not.

Funny that.

Wonder why not?

.................Might it be that the person concerned was vaccinated? Shhhh…..

Normally I would stay silent on the topic of a child suffering as a result of parents. However, the decision by this child’s parents to go public and label all other people who don’t vaccinate, as being as dumb as they are – or were - , has led to internet and email vitriole from the snarling provaccine zealots in this country.

That is the primary reason for this blog.

Another reason is even simpler.

The words spoken from the parents’ mouths, condemned themselves, and reveal that their self professed intelligence is fictitious.

Did we (HIlary and Peter) vaccinate our children against tetanus? No. On what basis did we make that decision? Much of that information is here, but there are heaps more medical articles etc, in clear-files that didn’t make it to the website.

And we own and have read, every NZ Immunisation handbook that has been published.

We know “the facts and odds”  - inside out, backwards, forwards, up and down. We believe in careful, informed decision making.

For anyone who has not been following the very public parental self-flagellation, pleas, and subsequent flip-flop, … here are the relevant links, family quotes and my comments, in date order.

First Herald article 

…they made what “they thought was an informed decision not to vaccinate any of their children because of concerns over adverse reactions”

Before I go any further I should address this lie from Starship:

“Dr Shepherd said there had been at least five cases of tetanus in unimmunised children at the Starship in the past 10 years.”

Dr Shepherd knows as well as I do, that before Alijah there had been only THREE cases of unimmunised children in Starship in the last 11 years. One was a transfer from Waikato. It matters, because “at least” means that there were more. And there were not more than five.  There were not even five. A lie, is a lie.

The information construct around this child isn’t just a “word game”. It’s as carefully calculated, manipulated and as deceitful as the word games Starship and Nikki Turner played in 1998, whipping up a non-existent diphtheria case (for which I have all the hospital files, test results and correspondence), into a national disaster and parental crime.

There are two differences between 1998 and 2012.

First, the 1998 parent wouldn’t play IMAC’s games. Second, this kid actually HAD tetanus, whereas the 1998 kid didn’t have diphtheria, something IMAC has never admitted! But the attacking innuendos and lies about how and why non-vaccinators think, are flowing just as freely.

There was media silence until Shelley Bridgeman was co-opted to provide an orchestrated lead-up rant about people with degrees who don't vaccinate, considering themselves so “superior” to those with or without degrees, who DO vaccinate. 

Shelley laid a nicely “coincidental” platform, for the father to beat his chest with more self-incriminating words: 


"Parents like us make the decision to not vaccinate on very little factual information about the actual consequences of the diseases - massive pain, disability and death - and a lot of non-factual, emotive information from the internet stating inflated figures on the frequency and severity of adverse reactions and conspiracy theories about 'evil' doctors, governments and drug companies."
"Believing myths about vaccines is not the same as getting the facts. And that is the core problem."

Fortunately, WE (I, and other people I know…) do NOT fit into Ian William’s category of “parents like us”.

Then today, we read yet more words of wisdom:

"Ian Williams is a smart guy - a scientist, an inventor, a businessman - but when it came to son Alijah's health he dismissed science and behaved like a "hippy", creating a situation where Alijah almost died.”…

Some “smart guy”.

I picked up my dictionary, to find that “hippy” means:

a) a person of unconventional appearance, typically with long hair, jeans, beads etc, often associated with hallucinogenic drugs, and a rejection of conventional values.

b) a person who rejects the values of conventional society and tries to live in accordance with principles of universal peace, love etc, usually in a back-to-nature environment.

Are the Williams....... attempting to classify people who don’t vaccinate........, as being hippies, by inference? Wow.

Back to the article:

“And it's not as if Williams is unfamiliar with science. He has a science degree and he's turning his invention, the WilliamsWarne homebrew machine, into a global success.”….

Amazing that a beer maker, in all of this, would take the opportunity for a free business plug to make profit from penance….

"Parents like us make the decision to not vaccinate on very little factual information about the actual consequences of the diseases."
He also says they fell for the myths and conspiracies that pepper the internet. The Williams downloaded information from the internet and underestimated the diseases while over-estimating the risks of the vaccine reactions.”…

Are the Williams ALSO blaming people who might write so-called conspiracies, for making them believe so-called conspiracies?

“Williams tells parents to watch a video of a child suffering tetanus or whooping cough when making their decision on vaccinations."

Such scientific clarity......  . Having admitted that he knew little factual information, he now wants people to decide on the basis of his emotions and feelings?

He did not realise the severity of tetanus until his son went through it.

Wow. A really really smart guy!

"We sat down and said 'f...ing hippies', because we were hippies about it. We used our intuition and feelings but there's no place for it. There's just statistics on disease and adverse reactions."

Let’s get this straight - and do a summary recap of the above, in my own words.

A “smart guy” with a science degree, admits to being a hippy, ignoring science; believing myths and conspiracies and makes serious decisions based on intuition and feelings.

Which hallucinogenic drugs caused that?

A man with a science degree forgot Science 101 (how to research a topic); didn’t KNOW what tetanus was, or how serious it could be (or any of the other diseases so it appears) and even worse, ....appears to have an inadequate knowledge of even basic wound management. 

But the stunning delusion is that a man with a science degree thought that believing conspiracies, ignoring science and following their intuition and feeling, was an informed decision.

Then to cap that off, a man with a science degree, blames the people who put stuff on internet for sucking them in, … while labelling all other non-vaccinators, as parents “like us”....and trying to show us the "errors of our ways"!!!!!!!

Apparently:

“Already friends have vaccinated their children as a result of their story.”

Hurray!!! …………I am so grateful.
…………………………………………..I am so relieved.
……………………………………………………………….I am so pleased,
………………………………………that your friends “LIKE YOU” have vaccinated their children.

Because…

The last thing those of us who don’t have degrees, but do make our decisions based on science like this need, are more "smart" people with degrees with kids with tetanus, tarring and defining the rest of us who don’t vaccinate -- with their own self-confessed ignorance .....  AND .... then trying to tell us what we should do next.

Next, Ian Williams says…

“Williams now wants Alijah to be a poster boy for immunisation, knowing his story will ignite fierce debate on the controversial issue.”…

The ONLY debate must surely have to be:

1) how someone who thinks they are intelligent could make decisions based on emotions, feelings, myths and conspiracies, … and

2) how many other people “like them” with degrees are equally as hair-brained, and easily conned, and then flip-flop based on the emotion of the situation.

My plea to anyone with science degrees, who have forgotten the ability to study that you had before getting a degree, is ….PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ………vaccinate your children right now!!! Just do it.

And don’t blame me for telling you to do it, or …..come running to me for help if it all turns to custard.

Actually you won’t have to blame me, because isn’t that what IMAC has just told all of you? Wonderful, safe, no problems, so now don’t be stupid….

Just do it.