Provincial health authorities do a disservice to thousands of families when they attribute the number of under-immunized children in BC to parent complacency and misinformation about the hazards of vaccinations. Research on who does and does not vaccinate their children tells a different story. In my experience, the higher the level of education and the more informed a parent is about the effects of vaccines, the less likely they are to choose to have their child vaccinated.

Provincial health authorities attribute the decline in infectious diseases such as polio and diphtheria to the effectiveness of the vaccine program. Once again research does not support this claim. History shows that the major diseases declined substantially before the introduction of vaccines. Small pox declined even though less than 10 percent of the world's population was immunized.

The truth is, no vaccine has successfully passed a double blind, long term study to prove either safety or effectiveness.

Critics of our current vaccine program, including many in the scientific community, credit improved global health to clean drinking water, closed sewage/sanitation systems, and better nutrition. As evidence, witness the high rate of infectious diseases that continue in third world countries where water, sanitation, and nutrition is poor, in spite of high levels of vaccination.

As the parent of a vaccine-damaged child, I regularly meet parents in the same or a similar situation. It is clear to us is that the amount of information about vaccine damage is actually underreported. Every major country in the Western world, with the exception of Canada, has a vaccine damage compensation plan. I'm confident these plans wouldn't have been implemented, and compensation made, unless vaccines did indeed cause damage.

It is a well-accepted fact that all drugs have side effects. Yet the health industry acts as if vaccinations are the one class of drugs without side effects. Any effort by parents and researchers to acknowledge the negative effects of vaccines is met with distain and disbelief. An example of the disregard, the pharmaceutical industry has for the potential negative consequences of their immunization program is the manner in which they are marketing the four vaccines that were recently introduced. The message communicated to parents is that these vaccines are safe and effective even though the long-term consequences can hardly be known given the newness of the vaccines. Thalidomide is a good example of misplaced confidence in the longterm safety of a drug.

If provincial authorities truly want to increase the number of children who are vaccinated in BC, they could start by insisting that all vaccines available for sale in BC prove their safety and effectiveness in double blind, longterm studies done by independent researchers first. In addition, the contraindications to vaccines need to be acknowledged and effectively communicated, as they have with every other drug. Until this happens, I'll choose to be cautious. And I believe this makes me a responsible parent.

Ted Kuntz, M.Ed is an internationally known psychotherapist and has a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology. A video of Ted's "Peace Begins With Me" seminar is available from the HANS office. 604-435-0512

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