Australian Vaccination-Skeptics Network
| Formation | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Meryl Dorey |
| Type | Pressure group |
| Registration no. | Y2079127-(NSW) and ABN-30077002923 |
| Purpose | anti-vaccination campaigning |
| Headquarters | Bangalow, New South Wales |
|
Membership
|
234 (2014) |
|
President
|
Annastasha David |
|
Head spokesperson
|
Meryl Dorey |
|
Beliefs
|
Conspiracies in vaccine science/policy |
| (not disclosed) | |
|
Key people
|
Tasha David, Brett Smith, Greg Beattie, Meryl Dorey, Judy Wilyman. |
| Website | AVN.org.au |
|
Formerly called
|
Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) |
The Australian Vaccination-Skeptics Network, formerly known as the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), is an Australian anti-vaccination lobby group registered in New South Wales. As Australia's most controversial anti-vaccination organisation, it has lobbied against a variety of vaccination-related programs, downplayed the danger of childhood diseases such as measles and pertussis, championed the cause of alleged vaccination victims, and promoted the use of alternative medicine such as homeopathy and chiropractic.
The vast majority of doctors agree that opposition to vaccination applies to a fringe medical science viewpoint.
The group has been described as a provider of "misleading, inaccurate, and deceptive" vaccination information by the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), and has been heavily criticised by doctors and other experts on immunisation. The group has been called the "stronghold of the anti-vaccination movement" in Australia and is subject to widespread criticism from medical professionals, scientists and other proponents of vaccination. It has also been criticised for harassing the parents of a victim of vaccine-preventable disease, and for promoting the false idea that shaken baby syndrome is actually vaccine injury.
In a July 2010 ruling by the Health Care Complaints Commission analysing the group's claims and activities stated that it "should include an appropriate statement in a prominent position on its website which states:
the Australian Vaccination Network's purpose is to provide information against vaccination in order to balance what it believes is the substantial amount of pro-vaccination information available elsewhere;
the information should not be read as medical advice and;
On 14 October 2010, the organisation's right to fund-raise was stripped from it by the New South Wales Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, stating that its appeals had "not been conducted in good faith for charitable purposes".
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Wikipedia