SFU Allows Vaccine Resistance Movement on Campus, Despite Pleas for Censorship

[Turquesa]

Good for SFU President Petter for refusing to cave to the censorship brigade! To be fair, I think this *is* an anti-vaccination group in question. I disagree with the 100% anti-vax stance but believe these people have a right to be heard.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/sfu+urged+to+block+anti-vaccine+gathering/6442822064/story.html

". . . B.C.'s chief medical officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, said for doctors to engage in formal debate can lend more credence to opposition to vaccination, which he called undebatable."

Nonsense. Scientific findings are continually up for debate and criticism. What better venue for that than a university campus? If Dr. Kendall is so confident, his views can withstand a little scrutiny.

By the way, you may recall that Kendall's own "science" was recently put on public trial in the press when he distorted and misrepresented some Cochrane data on the influenza vaccine. Does anyone have that link handy?

[Taximom5]

Here is Dr. Tom Jefferson's letter to the Vancouver Sun .  Dr. Jefferson was the lead author of Cochrane Collaborative's review of the flu vaccine, and is an MD/epidemiologist and also a respiratory infections specialist:

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Cochrane+review+vaccine+definitive+health+officer+suggests/7543272/story.html

[Taximom5]

Some of my favorite quotes from his letter:

"In his Nov. 2 letter to The Vancouver Sun, Dr. Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer for British Columbia, misquotes our work suggesting that our Cochrane review in healthcare workers “reports that vaccinating health care workers protects patients from influenza, pneumonia (a complication of influenza), doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, and even death."

and

"In other words, we report that no effect of the influenza vaccines was detectable on influenza and its complications such as death."

and 

"Misquoting happens frequently in everyday life, and is usually necessary for those who have no arguments.

It is not my place to judge the policies currently underway in British Columbia, but coercion and forcing public ridicule on human beings (for example by forcing them to wear distinctive badges or clothing) is usually the practice of tyrants."

[MissCee]

As a Canadian, I'm honestly thrilled to see that this debate is gaining so much publicity. We do not have a vaccine injury compensation program like the United States does, besides the province of Quebec, so I feel that it's not as debated here as in the United States. I live in Calgary, but I would fly to Vancouver in an instant if I could afford it to attend this seminar :-)