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Therein lies the focus of this chapter. There was a __ Silver Jubilee Medal one year after this broadcast. Six time in our history when the threat of death from acute __ years after that, she received the Order of Australia. In a illness was enormous. And it was ever present. nutshell, she was eminently qualified to make all sorts Loss of children and other family members to the likes | of pronouncements regarding vaccines. However, one of measles or whooping cough was the norm rather than —_ doesn't need qualifications to make statements such as the exception. It was a long time ago. The examples "What changed...was that we introduced immunisation". above were well over 100 years ago. Thankfully, we were Why? Because that statement is probably the most delivered from that. Death rates fell and the illnesses — well-accepted and cherished aspect of our collective ceased to be the threat they once were. This change is _ beliefin immunisation. Ask virtually anyone why deaths generally attributed to several influences, but first and from measles or whooping cough plummeted and you foremost is the advent of immunisation (also called will hear "vaccination" or "immunisation". If you had vaccination), as we heard above. asked me 25 years ago, | would Immunisation has been have chimed in the chorus. | written into the history books, . . . was raised on the same belief. alongside clean water, as being It Isa belief that lies at the But there is a problem. The our greatest weapon in the fight heart of all thought on belief is not correct. This can against the acute killer diseases 9 9 9 be very easily demonstrated. In of our past. vaccines. It is also possibly fact, in this chapter, | will show As a natural corollary to this, one of the most universally you clear and compelling we realise that in order to Q . evidence that the belief is prevent a return to those days, accepted medical beliefs completely without foundation. we must keep vaccinating our of our time. children. If we fail to do this, the image of those frightening Fourteen years ago, when days serves as a reminder of Vaccination — A Parent's Dilemma what will happen. was written, I realised that this false belief underpinned The belief that vaccination arrived and transformed almost all thought on vaccination. | knew it had a our world from one where death from acute illness was __ significant impact on our collective evaluation of the common, to another where it is rare, is seldom practice. Since then, | have come to an even greater Statistical Evidence discussed. It is a belief that lies at the heart of all understanding of its role in the debate and decided to thought on vaccines. It is also possibly one of the most — dedicate a whole chapter to it. universally accepted medical beliefs of our time. Let's have a look at the evidence now. We can plot the The voice of authority in the radio broadcast above death rate for each illness on a graph and point an was that of Dr Margaret Burgess, one of our nation's —_ arrow to the spot where the vaccine was introduced. most respected spokespersons on vaccination. A Figures for deaths in Australia going back as far as 1907 professor of paediatrics with a long list of credentials, can be found in the Commonwealth year books. awards, memberships, published papers, etc. in the field | Population figures are available from the Australian of vaccines, she was to receive a Queen Elizabeth II Bureau of Statistics. For the following graphs, | obtained figures going back well Measles—Australia before 1907 from the Commonwealth 180 Department of Health for some igo illnesses.’ The rates on the graphs ye represent deaths per 100,000 population. The figures are five- 8 i20 yearly totals. The introduction of the > Vaccine . we : 8 ioo Inteaduded vaccine is indicated on each graph. vaccines. It is also possibly one of the most universally accepted medical beliefs of our time. * Measles The measles graph shows us that the five-yearly death rate, 100 years before the vaccine was introduced, was around the 170 mark. For the five years immediately prior to introducing the vaccine, it was less than one. That's a reduction of 99.5 per cent—before the vaccine arrived. The remainder of less than 1.0 per © 2011 Greg Beattie Sources: Data published by Commonwealth of Australia in The History of Diphtheria, Scarlel Fever, Measles, and Whooping Cough in Australia, 1788-1925 (Cumpston, 1927) and Commonwealth Year Books, plus Australian Bureau of Statistics population data. 30 * NEXUS APRIL - MAY 2011 It isa belief that lies at the heart of all thought on Measles—Australia www.nexusmagazine.com