On Tuesday the Australian Vaccination Network sent out an email full of their usual rubbish. Except there was one thing that caught my eye. About one third of the way down is the subtitle “Civil Liberties Organisation approves of Discrimination!” what I found was very amusing. It would appear that a member of the AVN has contacted Civil Liberties Australia regarding their stance on vaccination.
Thr CLA has responded:
Dear DM
We support vaccination, as it is a right of the child.
Note, the child. The child has a separate right from that of the parent.
Parents can believe anything they like, but we believe children have the right to the best chance at health.
This is a formal right under international agreement. the Convention on the Right of the Child.
You can make any choice you like…that’s your right. You can insist on your right to say ‘no’ as a new parent, but it could be your child who suffers the consequences.
Or another child: see the example in our policy document, or see the vision of the baby whooping in Sunday night’s documentary on SBS http://www.sbs.com.au under Video Highlights, “Jabbed: Love, Fear and Vaccines” (you only need to watch a few minutes, the child comes at the start of the program). The child was whooping because an unvaccinated children had passed on the disease to the baby before the baby was old enough to be vaccinated.
If you choose to not vaccinate your children, we believe you are taking away their right to their best chance at health.
Your choice.
FROM OUR POLICY DOCUMENT:
The child has a right to health, independent of the right of a parent to adopt measures for her or his child that accord with the parent’s view
CLA believes that a child has a right to immediate vaccination in the face of an imminent and preventable illness (for example, Hep B for children born to mothers who have the disease) and has a right to a ‘best chance’ at life, which would support the well-tested schedule of childhood vaccinations.
Parents have a responsibility to act in the ‘best interests’ of the child (this is a formal responsibility on a parent under the Convention on Rights of the Child).
CLA’s position allows children (and their parents) to make their own decision on some types of vaccines, especially those that come later in life, such as the HPV[1] vaccine (which isn’t life saving in the same way Hep B, tetanus or whooping cough vaccines can be). It also allows parents a way to opt-out of ‘new’ and less-tested vaccines such as seasonal influenza.
Cheers,
Bill Rowlings
-Civil Liberties Australia
The idea that an anti-vaxxer would contact a human rights organisation is just beyond laughable. People who don’t vaccinate are contributing to a lower heard immunity and placing other members of the community at risk. Vaccination is a human rights issue and should be mandatory, with the only exception being medical reasons. Even adults should be required to be vaccinated if they wish to take part in society.
There is no “right” to lower heard immunity put others at risk of potentially fatal diseases for the same reason there is no “right” to drink and drive.