Parents criticize government for not acting sooner

by Christina England

May 04, 2010

Parents have heavily criticized the Western Australian government for not acting sooner, after the flu vaccine caused hundreds of children to suffer convulsions and vomiting. One angry parent told the Australian that all three of her children were taken to hospital suffering from vomiting and fits after the vaccine saying that it was 'a frightening experience'.

It later emerged however, that this vaccine, which was a combination of the seasonal flu and the swine flu vaccine was never actually tested. Australian reported:-

"Peter Richmond, associate professor at the University of Western Australia's school of pediatrics and child health, said the vaccine was not subjected to trials."

He was reported to have said:-

"As with each year's seasonal influenza vaccine, this year's seasonal influenza vaccine isn't subject to specific trials in children before it's used".

So there we have it ,our children are being used as guinea pigs while the governments hope that they will be OK. It makes you wonder just how many other vaccines are also not tested before use on the public.

It was not until hundreds of small children suffered horrendous side effects from this untested vaccine that action was finally taken.

Sydney Morning Herald reported today that-

"WA Health Minister Kim Hames said the inquiry would scrutinise systems used to identify public health risks, including vaccine side-effects and disease outbreaks, after criticism of the government's slow response".

Note the phrase 'after criticism of the government's slow response'.

It took hundreds of children to become seriously ill and a few deaths before an inquiry in to what went wrong actually took place, honestly, what does she expect?

CORTLAN BENNETT for the Herald reported that Mr Hames continued by adding:-

"There has been concern expressed by members of the public regarding the process and the time taken by the Health Department in reaching a conclusion that there was a problem with the vaccine and proceeding to closing that vaccination program,"

Parents have every right to be angry.

One parent Mrs Flint told the WA News that she was petrified.

"Mrs Flint said that after the 9am vaccination she noticed Avery had a minor temperature about 2pm. She treated him with Panadol and by Avery's 7pm bedtime he seemed "OK".

However, at 7.45pm, Avery started whimpering and moaning.

When Mrs Flint got to his cot the baby had vomited and was lying on his side having a seizure.

"In the car driving to the hospital he was just whimpering," she said.

"He couldn't cry - his head was hanging down in the car seat and he couldn't move.

"I was petrified - it was one of the worst experiences of my life."

By the time Avery arrived at St John of God Hospital in Murdoch, he was burning up with a fever of 39.5 degrees.

The doctor who treated Avery told Mrs Flint her baby was the fifth child with similar symptoms admitted to the hospital that day."

Roger Cook Shadow Minister for Health demanded for data collection and procedures to be investigated, saying in a that 'shattered confidence of parents' needed to be restored.

Government must restore confidence after immunisation bungle

"Mr Cook called on Health Minister Kim Hames to reveal what the Barnett Government and its public servants knew ahead of the suspension of the immunisation program that caused 251 children to receive hospital treatment.

"The shattered confidence of parents across Western Australia can only be restored if the Barnett Government discloses what it knew about the vaccine and how long it waited to act," he said.

Mr Cook said the protocols and data collection procedures needed to be investigated.

"In this instance, the connectivity between each of the health services, including doctors, the WA Health Department and the Health Direct helpline, seems to have broken down and therefore parents and health officials were unaware of the warnings," he said.

Parents must be able to access information that is current and accurate."

Mr Cook said he had been contacted by parents who were angry about the level of information available.

There are only so many vaccine disasters that parents will tolerate before they decide it is safer not to have their children vaccinated. How many babies need to die before our Governments wake up and ensure that the vaccines are fully tested in proper vaccine trials before they are used on millions of innocent babies? Parents deserve far better than this.