Monday 18 February 2013

A critique of the 16-page Australian pro-vaccination bookletentitled “ The Science of Immunisation: Questions and Answers”

Today, Dr Viera Scheibner (PhD) released a "critique" of the pro vaccination booklet that the AMA / Government recently released.  Prior to reading this document, lets take a look at Viera.

Vieras rebuttal

Wiki tell us this about Viera:

Viera Scheibner (1935 – present) (real name Viera Scheibnerová) is a retired micropaleontologist (a branch of geology). From 1958 until 1968 she was assistant professor in the department of geology at Comenius UniversityBratislava. Scheibner has been active in the anti-vaccination field researching, writing and giving lectures on the subject matter of vaccines and vaccinations since her retirement from the Department of Mineral Resources, New South Wales, Australia in 1987.
A great number of doctors, scientists, legal professionals and other critics have questioned her qualifications, research abilities, and honesty

I find it quite interesting that the critique written by Viera doesn't indicate what qualifications she has to make comment on this subject, but I do believe that we need to understand that Micropaleontology is not a degree we would generally associate with subject matter experts on vaccination.

On the basis of that, while her critique may make interesting reading, I'm not inclined to give it any oxygen and will await critiques from those with the necessary medical qualifications and experience to make comment on that particular subject.