Vaccine Rates Rise - And So Does the Incidence of Whooping Cough
Australian Vaccination Network, Inc.
Press Release

For Immediate Release - August 3, 2000 - Amid claims that Whooping Cough is
reaching epidemic proportions in NSW, Dr. Michael Wooldridge, the Federal
Minister for Health, has stated that Australia's rate of vaccination
compliance has reached record high levels.

What is happening here? We need only look back 3 short years to 1997 when
Australia last experienced an epidemic of whooping cough. Again, that
epidemic followed hard on the heels of a national vaccination campaign that
saw compliance rates rise substantially. It seems that as the rate of
whooping cough vaccination increases, so too do the number of cases of
whooping cough. In fact, in that 1997 epidemic, South Australia reported
that 87% of those for whom vaccination status was available were fully and
appropriately vaccinated.

Dr. Jeremy McAnulty, an epidemiologist with NSW Health has admitted that the
vaccine will only offer some protection to between 70 and 80 percent of
fully vaccinated children - and that even in these children, protection will
last for no longer than 5 years. This is proven by the figures showing that
more than 60% of Australians who have contracted whooping cough this year
were aged between 10 and 19 years. Despite these facts, the medical
community and their media mouthpieces are blaming this outbreak on the
unvaccinated - a group that is substantially under-represented in all
outbreak statistics.

According to the National Childhood Encephalopathy Study, the largest and
most long-term study ever performed on the Whooping Cough vaccine, the risk
of encephalitis from the Whooping Cough vaccine is 1:62,000 whilst the risk
of encephalitis from Whooping Cough itself is 1:325,000. Meryl Dorey,
President of the AVN, asks "Why aren't parents being given this information
before making their vaccination decision?"

Contact: Meryl Dorey
Australian Vaccination Network, Inc.
Phone 02 6687 1699
Fax 02 6687 2032
Mobile 0414 872 032
PO Box 177
Bangalow NSW 2479
http://www.avn.org.au <http://www.avn.org.au/>
E-mail meryl@avn.org.au