'Deny her a visa' - Australian outrage over anti-vaccination activist's speaking tour

Dr Sherri Tenpenny believes "vaccines can cause more harm to the health of the individual". Photo / Supplied / drtenpenny.com

Pressure is on the Australian Government to deny a visa to one of the world's leading anti-vaccination activists.

Pro-vaccination campaigners have expressed outrage over a planned Australian speaking tour by Sherri Tenpenny, a prolific US osteopath who believes children should not be immunised.

Sherri Tenpenny, who has written books such as Saying No to Vaccines and Flu and Flu Vaccines: What's Coming Through That Needle?, will be touring in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney in February and March.

The seminars are called Raising Healthy Children Naturally, and Birth, Baby and Beyond.

People will get the chance to sit down and have dinner with the high-profile anti-vaccination campaigner, with tickets ranging from A$125 to A$200.

On her website, Dr Tenpenny writes she believes "vaccines can cause more harm to the health of the individual" and is against "a system that forces parents to inject their children, against their better judgment".

Her views on immunisation are further demonstrated by the T-shirts sold on her site, which read: "I didn't deny my children vaccines... I spared them" and "Fact: 1 in 50 = Autism Overall, Fact: 1 in 25,000 = Unvaccinated, Prove Me Wrong".

But Dr Tenpenny's visit have people so outraged they have vowed to write to local politicians to stop her from spreading her message, with Stop the AVN - a pro- vaccination group - leading the charge.

Stop the AVN's Dave Hawkes said Dr Tenpenny "peddled misinformation".

"She's giving information that's not supported by evidence and marketing it to people with alternative views and possibly leaving them in danger by not vaccinating their young children," he said.

Dr Hawkes - who has a PhD in HIV research - said it was also concerning that people who were joining Dr Tenpenny, like Isaac Goldman, were promoting homeopathic vaccines, which are "essentially water".

"The evidence shows they don't work... and leaves their kids susceptible," he said. "Recently a seven-month-old child who was not vaccinated died from whooping cough."

Stop the AVN members said they were writing to federal politicians asking for their intervention.

"I'm writing to the Hons Sussan Ley and Fiona Nash (health minister and assistant health minister). Vaccines are recommended by every state body in Australia. They are incentivised by our federal govt," one wrote on Facebook.

National Centre of Immunisation Research and Surveillance director Peter McIntyre said Dr Tenpenny was tapping into people's "fear factor".

"When we've got no disease to see, it's very easy to look at something like autism - unfortunately it's something we still don't understand - and start to suggest it has something to do with being vaccinated. You can understand why people would believe that," he said.

"But there are hundreds of studies that disprove that."

Professor McIntyre added there was no scientific evidence homeopathic vaccinations protected people against infectious diseases. It was like asking someone if they wanted to be vaccinated with "sterile water".

"It's just laughable really," Professor McIntyre said.

- Daily Mail