Ending Polio

Minda Dentler is the first woman handcyclist to complete the Kona Ironman.  She is a polio survivor and recently made her views on vaccination clear in an article  in the May 2015 edition of the EndPolioNow Newsletter.

 

She says "If not for the anti-vaccination movement, preventable diseases wouldn’t be a risk to children in developed countries".  She also makes the excellent point that these 'anti-vaxxers' send exactly the wrong message to parents in other countries that are trying to overcome the scourge of these diseases.  So the question is: where did this 'anti-vaccination movement' come from?

 

The debate about the risks associated with vaccines really took off in February 1998 when British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, published a study in The Lancet.  In a paper authored by Wakefield and twelve others, it was claimed that their research had proved that the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine was a direct cause of autism.  This sensational claim received huge public attention  ....

 

Read the full article by Rob Byrne, District's Polio Chair here