An Irish GP has suggested cutting back on child benefits for parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.
Writing in the Irish Medical Times, Dr Ruairi Hanley became the latest healthcare professional to criticise anti-vaccine groups for warning parents against the Gardasil vaccine.
He proposed his own solution for prompting parents to vaccinate their child: "Barring exceptional circumstances, any parent who fails to complete the childhood immunisation schedule loses 50 per cent of their children’s allowance payment until the child reaches the age of 18. Overnight, this problem would be solved."
Cutting child benefits for parents who don't vaccinate is a policy that was introduced in Australia. Parents risk the loss of $28 a fortnight from family tax benefits if they refuse to vaccinate their children. This is known as the "No Jab, No Pay" policy. So far, it's been successful. Immunisation rates for one-year-olds increased 1.35 per cent to 93.63 per cent across the country, while for two-year-olds it rose 1.75 per cent to 90.06 per cent
The Gardasil vaccine protects against the cervical cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). It is given to secondary school girls at no cost. However, the most recent HSE figures show that the national uptake of at least HPV stage 2 vaccines fell from 86.9 per cent in 2014/2015, to 73.2 the following year.
This has been blamed on anti-vaccine groups that say the vaccine has given young women debilitating side-effects.
Dr Hanley said, "This scientific breakthrough has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of young women in the decades to come. Regrettably, thanks to the efforts of a minority of campaigners, and the irrational world of the internet, thousands of parents are denying their daughters this cancer-preventing jab."
He was also critical of politicians and media outlets who gave these groups a platform to speak: "The journalists who disseminate such drivel, and the politicians who give it a sympathetic hearing, also bear much responsibility for the subsequent human suffering that inevitably occurs when immunisation levels fall."
He continued, blaming 'political correctness' for what he saw as ineptitude: "The culture of political correctness dominating our profession has also played a role. I believe the obsessive desire of GPs to avoid appearing judgemental has made the situation worse. Rather than simply dismissing the arguments of anti-vaccine campaigners, far too many of my colleagues have sought to reason with them through education and explaining basic concepts like cause and effect.".
Minster for Health Simon Harris last week slammed 'false' and 'unfounded' claims from anti-vaccine groups and warned of the greater risks to public health that skipping vaccination can cause. He cited an outbreak of measles in Dublin as an example of this: “The scare surrounding the MMR vaccine in the 1990s resulted in a large reduction in uptake rates.”
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