Diplomatic Immunity

Immunisation coverage – can we fix it? Yes we can! Yes we did!

Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 14, 2013

I think a celebration is about due. Today the Minister of Health has announced that NZ has had an unprecedented increase in the uptake of immunisation in its children.  Not only that, we have closed the traditional longstanding   inequity gaps in delivering immunisation in our children – now two year old Maori, Pacific and European children and children … Read More

Stephanie Messenger – messages of misinformation

Helen Petousis Harris • Oct 17, 2013

Apparently one of Australia’s anti-vaccination lobbyists is visiting NZ and doing tours around some of the local hotspots of like-minded people. This includes areas with pockets of the lowest immunisation rates in the country. For those who are not familiar with Stephanie’s work, she co-authored a book with Meryl Dory (Of the Australian Vaccine Network fame) where they … Read More

Holistic Doula and the measles model

Helen Petousis Harris • Aug 29, 2013

For those like me who didn’t already know, a Doula is someone supports a woman and her family during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond. It is not medical role but rather provides emotional and practical support. Now someone called the Holistic Doula has developed her own model to show how natural exposure to an infection leads to immunity in the community … Read More

Dr Kelly Brogan and the case of the misplaced science

Helen Petousis Harris • Aug 20, 2013

Cornell and MIT educated Dr Kelly Brogan appears to subscribe to a range of standard anti-vaccination pseudoscience propaganda which is particularly disappointing considering the education she claims to have. This month The Healthy Home Economist published an article by Dr Kelly Brogan on Gardasil  who has recently produced a number of articles on vaccination in on-line forums. Read More

Wakefield has not been vindicated and the courts do not think MMR causes autism

Helen Petousis Harris • Aug 07, 2013

Bit of a buzz on anti-vaccination websites about apparent court rulings in favour of MMR/autism cases. An example is  from a website called “why don’t you try this?” which cites as a source Whiteout Press (“if its blacked out, covered up of censored you can find it here”)  which in turn cites The … Read More

Breast milk is not a substitute for vaccination.

Helen Petousis Harris • Jul 02, 2013

It is not uncommon to find folks promoting breastfeeding as a way to boost their children’s immune systems as an alternative rather than an adjunct to vaccination. On the West Coast, this philosophy is hindering the regions efforts in achieving high enough vaccine coverage to prevent disease as noted in the Herald this week. When it comes to prevention … Read More