Reports that Turnbull Government has belatedly listened to Labor and public health exports for a public awareness campaign on the importance of vaccination is welcome news.
However, Labor is disappointed the Government hasn’t allocated more resources to this critical initiative.
The Turnbull Government hasn’t just dragged their feet to act on this important initiative, they have failed to put enough money behind it to seriously combat the level of misinformation circulating in the community.
For months, Labor has been calling on the Government to fund a public campaign to combat the dangerous misinformation on vaccinations, writing to the Prime Minister in March to encourage urgent action.
Health experts have consistently reiterated the importance of getting accurate information to parents and have been calling on the Government to act:
“We need … to maintain accurate information in the face of the misinformation that tends to be circulated.”
[MICHAEL MOORE, 18 MARCH 2017]
“It is absolutely essential that we have accurate information, and this fatuous idea that parents can spend half an hour on Wikipedia and come to a greater understanding of the issues than their doctor and the accumulated wisdom of all the world’s medical scientists is ludicrous.”
[MICHAEL GANNON, 6 MARCH 2017]
Does the Turnbull Government seriously think that the small amount of funding they have allocated will be enough to fight against misinformation?
Dangerous misinformation peddled by anti-vaccination proponents should never take the place of proven, scientific advice.
We welcome a step to ensure parents are equipped with the right information, and we hope that parents now take the responsible step and protect their children.
SUNDAY, 23 APRIL 2017