Sunday, September 6, 2009

The other 2 babies who died from whooping cough...

Dana McCaffery has been front page news since she died several months ago. But we keep hearing that there were three babies who died from pertussis (whooping cough) this year - why haven't we heard any details of the other two when Dana's short life has been examined so closely by the media?

Well, I think I have found the answer. The other two were partially vaccinated - and that doesn't make good news when the medical community and the media are trying to panic parents into vaccinating their children, themselves, their parents, etc. Please read the following:

There were 3 infant deaths recorded in NNDSS for this quarter. The youngest, from New South Wales, was 4 weeks of age at onset of illness (my note - they can't even get the details right! Dana got ill at 2 1/2 weeks of age and died at about 4 weeks - that wasn't when she was admitted to hospital!), was admitted to hospital and died in intensive care.8 The infant was too young to be vaccinated. The other 2 infants that died in Australia were eligible for vaccination and each had received 1 dose of pertussis-containing vaccine.

To read the entire article, please click here - http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-cdi3301-pdf-cnt.htm/$FILE/cdi3301g.pdf

4 comments:

  1. Meryl, please respect the privacy and grief of the families concerned, as the government and the media are rightly doing. Dana has only been discussed in the media because we, her family, have authorised it and allowed Dana and ourselves to be identified. It is up to the family to make that decision, so please leave them in peace. There is no conspiracy. Please note the last line of the first paragraph, which states that babies require at least two doses of the vaccine to be protected. Please also retract your statement in regard to Dana, as you yourself got every fact wrong about her in your article the Fear Factor. The details are correct. She was not ill, but developed a runny nose at 11 days old and was unsettled at night, and was four weeks old when she tested positive for Pertussis and was admitted to hospital that afternoon. She had her first coughing paroxysm in hospital 10 minutes after we arrived, and died in intensive care at 4 weeks, 4 days on 9 March 2009. This is all in the public domain, as you would have heard in my call to ABC North Coast on 4 September 2009.

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  2. Hi Toni,
    I think you misunderstand what I am saying. I do not want to know the names or locations of these other two babies or any other personal information. It's just that it seems to me that the media and the medical community have picked up on Dana's death because she was unvaccinated against pertussis while these other two babies had received 1 vaccine each so there is no media interest in their deaths.

    I never said that there was a conspiracy - I simply stated that because they had been vaccinated, they don't make a good news story just as the children who are injured or die after a vaccine reaction don't make a good news story.

    Every child is important. Every death and every injury that can be prevented should be prevented. So why then are babies who die of whooping cough after being partially vaccinated not front page news? Why then are babies who die after vaccination totally ignored and discounted - their family's grief despised and defamed? Surely that can't be right!

    I think you are in incredibly brave woman and I applaud you on your crusade to make some sense out of Dana's short life. You are trying to prevent other children from going through what Dana and the rest of your family did, because when a child dies or is made ill - it is not just the child who suffers - the ripples extend throughout so many different levels.

    I have experienced that myself and I am doing the same thing that you are for the same reason - because of the serious injuries my own child received from his vaccines.

    Mothers are motivated by what their own children experience and you and I are both motivated by the same emotions - caring for children and wanting to keep them healthy. The only point of contention between us is how best to achieve that.

    I know that you and David are still very much in grief, but one day - it may be 6 months down the track or 5 years - I would like to ask if we could get together to share our information and to find some middle ground where we can both achieve our very laudable goals?

    Please have a think about it and let me know whenever you feel up to it.

    Yours in support,
    Meryl

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  3. Meryl,

    As is made abundantly clear by everyone concerned, to attain immunity from whooping cough a child requires at least 2, and preferably 3 doses.

    Three cases that have tragically demonstrated the need for vaccination, and the relative safety of vaccination Vs none. In 3 short months, three babies are dead from an entirely preventable disease. Over the same period (assuming an average 95% vaccination rate), there were around 60,000 infants safely and successfully vaccinated. Surely nothing could make a clearer case for the safety of vaccinating vs not vaccinating?

    The facts of this matter are that if the child and adult population surrounding these three infants had been properly vaccinated (and maintained that vaccination) then these three babies would be alive today. The fact these deaths could have been prevented, but for low community immunity makes them all the more tragic.

    My son had his first round of shots last week, along with boosters for me, my wife and our parents. All are well, and feeling good for the protection we have added to our community.

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  4. If babies die from a vaccination whatever the statistics it is still unsafe.

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