It’s wrong to publicise vaccine scare tactics

I FIND disturbing the publicity given by your letters column (August 25) to an organisation calling itself ‘Mothers Alliance Ireland’ and websites trying to use scare tactics against the HPV vaccines.

I am the parent of a daughter in the target age group. I lived in Britain at the time of a similar scare against the MMR vaccine.

The doctor behind that scandal has now been struck off by the British Medical Association for “unethical conduct” after it showed he produced bogus data based on vested interests.

The outcome of his scare tactics was that the incidence of the target diseases rose significantly and many children died worldwide.

My wife, though a medical professional herself, was concerned enough at the time to seek individual vaccinations privately at our own cost (MMR was administered by the NHS for free).

My wife later died tragically of cancer. I want to do everything I can to prevent the risk of cancer striking my family. As a scientist I can see that medical opinion and real science show the HPV vaccine is an important tool in such prevention.

Mothers Alliance Ireland are entitled to their opinions, but not to their own ‘facts’.

Publicising their scare tactics will only result in deaths of children similar to the deaths caused by reduced vaccination from the MMR scandal.

Andrew Doyle

Clifden

Lehenagh

Lislevane

Bandon

Co Cork