Letter of the week:
Plunket service and vaccinations
In response to Susan Grimsdell’s letter (Herald on Sunday, April 16), it is a tragedy that childhood vaccination rates are dropping, however, one reason is an appalling requirement that mothers leave a hospital no later than 24 hours after their child’s birth. In the 1970s and 1980s, mothers were permitted a hospital stay of at least a week; not only an opportunity for recovery, establishing breastfeeding, and advice from nursing staff but, also, a visit by a Plunket Nurse from your community advising of its services, commencing with home visits for six weeks and clinic attendance until school age. Although not compulsory, if accepted by mothers it was the reassurance of a community service devoted to their care and that of their babies. From birth to 5 years, your child’s progress, including recommendations for referral to medical professionals for any issues of concern, advice on vaccinations, and reminding mothers of upcoming due dates were recorded in a booklet. The Plunket Society relies on donations to deliver its services to New Zealanders. However, an issue not relevant in past generations is the fact that in the 21st century, an ever-increasing number of babies and preschoolers reside at child daycare centres as soon as can be arranged after the umbilical cord is cut, until commencing school. Any suggestion that vaccinations could be administered at child daycare centres would be another “deadpan” response from the current Government’s Minister of Health, however, in the meantime, babies and young children will become very ill and, sadly, some will not survive. Leonie Wilkinson
Re-examination of case late, but welcome
The worst injustice must be the imprisonment of an innocent person who was accused of a crime that was actually a tragic accident. So the Criminal Case Review Commission’s re-examination of Kevin Harmer’s murder conviction might be 20 years too late but still welcome. The article (Herald on Sunday, April 16) by Sam Sherwood is a good summary of the sad death of Jill Thomas in a burning farm vehicle although the headline seems unfair to Harmer’s second wife, and I hope the excellent TV documentary by Bryan Bruce will be repeated because his reconstructions provide visualisation of the events. Harmer’s conviction relied on some debatable science from an expert witness but the defence explanation of an accident deserves to be analysed with modern computer modelling. There is a plausible theory which fits all the known facts; a petrol container leaked on the passenger-side floor and vapour was ignited by a spark in the starter, causing an explosion which stunned Thomas in the driver’s seat. Harmer opened the door soon after and hot unburnt vapour meeting fresh air immediately became a fireball making rescue impossible. Many people will be watching the proceedings and hoping the truth will come out. Alan McArdle, Glen Eden
