7.30pm 17 April 1997
Risingholme Community Centre, Opawa, Christchurch
attended by approx 50 people

Dr David Ritchie, a former pediatric registrar and part of the Pegasus Group of doctors, spoke at this meeting of the Natural Immunity Network Association. NINA are affiliated to the Immunisation Awareness Society.

Dr Ritchie used to have no problems with vaccinating children but one day he was asked to give a talk on the problems associated with vaccinating and did some rreading and discovered the problems with the vaccination "dogma".

Problems of vaccines

There is no evidence that vaccinations have added to the decline of diseases. Dr Ritchie stated that this was even accepted by pro-vaccinators during a debate he had in Australia.

He then proceeded to go through the vaccines one by one and identify the risks associated with each. These risks were not just side effects of the vaccine but include altering the period of life that the disease strikes people. Dr Ritchie cited whooping cough (pertussis) as an example of the disease being pushed to older age groups. He then added that several countries had stopped pertusssis vaccinations including Sweden.

Vaccine Manufacture

New Zealand vaccines are made in the USA.

In producing a vaccine viruses are passed through approximately 30 animal tissues, with a risk of viruses from these tissues contaminating the vaccines. Dr Ritchie stated that it is not known whether these viruses are harmless or not.

The Media

We are being hit by big media hype regarding a measles epidemic in New Zealand at the moment but Dr Ritchie doesn't believe that the epidemic will eventuate as the prediction is based on the same "bad" mathematical model as in the United Kingdom. He stated that a good part of the meida coverage on vaccines is "not factually accurate".

The Pressure

Pegasus Group doctors get a list of unvaccinated children in Christchurch that is updated monthly. This is distributed by the Plunket Society. The peagsus Group run advertsiisng campaigns, putting vaccinated children in the draw to win things such as a chance to meet soap opera stars. The privacy Act means that parents can request Plunket not to put their child on their distributed register of unvaccinated children. One member of the audience commented that plunket had tricked her by asking her to take part in a minor survey.

Dr Ritchie stated that he can't say that he is anti-immunisation and if he did he would "get stomped on". Members of the audience commented that they were in the same position.

More information about vaccines can be found in the 50 pages that comprise Chapter 5 of Bette Overell's Animal Research Takes Lives - Humans and Animals Both Suffer.

New Zealand health authorities are remaining staunchly inactive with the news of another link between vaccines and illness. Rseearch in Britain has implicated the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as a factor in Crohn's disease and autism.

One of the sudy's authors, Dr Andrew Wakefield, first published research on the topic in the Lancet medical journal two years ago. Since then five new studies have ben undertaken. "The papers are the results of collaboration between other countries and centres in the UK," Dr Wakefield told the GPs magazine Pulse. "They build on the work already done. The results clearly confirm our suspicions and take them further."

Crohn's disease results in chronic inflammation of the gut, profducing ulcers. The cause is unknown but is thought to have an immunological origin. Autism is a condition in which children are unable to develop and mature socially.

The British Government are investigating the research, but in New Zealand no action is being taken on the basis of these worrying finds.

Other vaccines which have been linked to disease include the hepatitis B vaccination, which research suggests is involved in a 60% increase in diabetes.