One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has admitted she was wrong after her controversial advice to subject children to a test to see whether they are allergic to vaccinations – a test that doesn’t exist.
Appearing on Channel Seven’s Sunrise, Senator Hanson conceded her statements were incorrect and acknowledged that vaccines were effective, but still believes the reactions to her remarks were exaggerated.
“I have heard a couple of doctors have said that there is no test. I do apologise. If that be the case, I am wrong,” she said. “I was of the opinion that I did read that that was the case. Apparently it’s not.”
After likening the ‘no jab, no play’ policy on vaccinations to a “dictatorship”, saying the policy is set in place to “blackmail” parents into immunisation, Senator Hanson has confirmed her own children are vaccinated.
“It’s a personal decision. I just want parents to make sure that they do the right thing by the children,” she told Sunrise.
“Vaccinations have controlled a lot of diseases. I admit that. As far as having tests done, I admit I was wrong with that. I think it has been blown completely out of proportion.”
Her comments received a rebuke from senior Turnbull government ministers, including Treasurer Scott Morrison labelling her remarks “very ill-informed and very disappointing”.
Bereaved mum Catherine Hughes also took to Twitter, slamming the senator for her “uneducated” comments, and sharing a photo of her own son who tragically died from whooping cough at just 32 days old.
“My son died a horrible death from whooping cough,” Ms Hughes wrote on the Light for Riley Twitter page.
“Your uneducated comments about vaccination are a disgrace to children.”
Since her son’s 2015 death, the brave mother has embarked upon a mission to “educate people about the dangers of whooping cough, and positively promote the need for vaccination”.
“I don’t know who is providing [Hanson with] advice about immunisation, but she needs to consider having a chat with some real experts,” the mum, who is a director of the Immunisation Foundation of Australia and was named Western Australia’s Young Australian of the Year in 2016, told BuzzFeed.
I advise parents to go out and do their own research with regards to this,” Hanson says on the matter.
Stephen Duckett, a former head of the federal health department, says he is “disgusted” by the senator questioning the effectiveness of vaccines.
“This is a situation where you’ve got a popular politician with a significant following who’s actually giving crazy, crazy medical advice,” he told ABC radio, adding: “She has to apologise and retract that statement.”
“I cannot stress how angry it makes one feel that she is putting lives at risk… without any evidence whatsoever.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Turnbull says unvaccinated children are a health risk to others.
“Parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are putting their own children’s health at risk and they are putting the health of everybody else’s children at risk as well,” he said on Sunday.
“That is why vaccination is so important. That is why we have our no-jab, no-pay policy. It has worked very well over the past year and we have seen 200,000 more children vaccinated as a result.”
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