Centre set to host anti-vaxxers
An Auckland midwifery centre is hosting an event run by antivaccination campaigners, despite a measles outbreak that experts warn could cost lives.
More than 20 midwives work out of the Mama Maternity centre in Sandringham, where birthing and parenting courses are also held.
In November the centre is set to host an “informed consent and natural immunity” event by the Authentic Resistance group, which will focus on vaccinations and “a welcome alternative to the pharmaceutical option”.
Participant feedback on its website includes “confirmation of why we may suggest alternatives to vaccinating and supporting the immune system was totally beneficial” and “my initial hesitation around vaccines were reinforced by the skilled facilitators”.
Authentic Resistance is co-run by Erin Hudson, who has previously spoken to media on behalf of the antivaccination group Warnings About Vaccination Expectations NZ.
The event is being hosted as health officials warn parents of unvaccinated children to not take them in or out of Auckland as authorities try to contain a worsening measles outbreak that has reached more than 770 confirmed cases.
The MMR vaccine against measles is available free from GPs.
Starship children’s hospital head Dr Mike Shepherd says some children are likely to die because of the outbreak, saying “we have a highly effective and extremely safe vaccine which prevents this infection — the vaccine means measles can and should be eradicated from [NZ].”
Authentic Resistance and Mama Maternity were approached for comment. Brenda Hinton, director of a company that runs the centre, told Stuff that Authentic Resistance “are completely independent of Mama and have simply hired one of our meeting rooms”.
According to the Authentic Resistance website, Hudson is not anti-vaccination but “believes that parents must keep the right to decide whether to vaccinate their families or not and it should be based on information from the medical literature available. To vaccinate for the ‘greater good’ in her opinion is not a good enough reason”.
One of the midwives who rents rooms in Mama Maternity distanced it from the upcoming event.
“I don’t think them hosting a thing there has anything to do with me or Mama,” said Luise Brandt.
A Herald analysis of immunisation data has found just 77 per cent of 6-month-olds are now getting their vaccines on time, down 4.5 percentage points since rates peaked in 2016. Coverage of at least 90 per cent is needed for herd immunity.
— Nicholas Jones