Homeopathic 'vaccines' false security: doctor

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

Health authorities are warning people against relying on homeopathic "vaccines" to protect them from deadly meningococcal disease.

The Herald was able to buy homeopathic vaccines for that illness and hepatitis B this week at a West Auckland pharmacy.

The homeopath at Lincoln Mall Pharmacy in Henderson sold two bottles of liquid at $7.95 each.

They are to be taken in doses of up to four drops three times daily for up to five days.

One is labelled "hepatitis b" and the other "meningo coccus [and] meningitis vaccine".

The homeopath said the latter came from two sources.

The Herald's homeopathic inquiries coincided with a New Zealand Medical Journal report on survey findings that just 35 per cent of health shop staff referred a researcher with asthma symptoms to a doctor whereas 92 per cent of pharmacy staff did so.

The director of the Health Ministry's meningococcal vaccine strategy, Dr Jane O'Hallahan, said yesterday that the availability of homeopathic vaccines concerned her.

"I think they could potentially mislead parents endeavouring to do the best they can for their children.

"There's no evidence [in homeopathic vaccines] of anything active or anything that could protect a child. I'm concerned that people are getting a false sense of security and wasting their money."

But the ministry's compliance team leader, Peter Pratt, said homeopathic liquids and tablets were permitted under the Medicines Act, as long as they were sufficiently diluted.

The Lincoln Mall Pharmacy's homeopath, who asked not to be named, said the homeopathic liquid labelled "meningitis vaccine" was derived from a meningitis vaccine.

She said the liquids she sold to the Herald could help protect against hepatitis B and meningococcal disease. "Sometimes they can work to boost your immunity, but they will only boost it if they come across it [the relevant virus or bacterium] because they [the homeopathic substances] don't hold in the body for a great length of time.

"If that person doesn't resonate with that remedy, it doesn't always work."

The pharmacy's manager said there appeared to have been a misunderstanding. "It's the policy of the shop not to promote homeopathic vaccines. There are no homeopathic vaccines as far as I'm aware."

The shop was last night putting a disclaimer on homeopathic "vaccine" bottles stating that they were not vaccines.

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration has issued a warning against homeopathic meningococcal vaccines.

"We believe that if you call it a vaccine, the inference is that it's a preventative," a spokeswoman said. "That's a health claim, so we are going to crack down."

Bruce Barwell, president of the New Zealand Homoeopathic Society, said those who supplied homeopathic vaccines should be "tarred and feathered".