In Australia they have decided that this recommendation should be considered a crime and they will no longer tolerate the dissemination through social networks of anti-vaccine messages by nurses and midwives in their country according to the latest information published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Australia.
Taking into account the overwhelming data presented by the World Health Organization in this regard Should it be considered a crime for nurses and midwives to recommend non-vaccination to their patients?
WHO notes that vaccines prevent up to three million deaths in the world for diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough or measles.
However, there are a minority of health professionals who advocate not vaccinating the population. Can it be considered a crime when putting public health at risk, taking into account the data of the World Health Organization?
In Australia it can be
From the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council have released a statement by which consider that promoting non-vaccination can be considered a crime under the legislation in force in the country and is prosecutable by the Australian Health and Professional Regulation Agency by promoting false, equivocal and misleading information in a population very receptive to the messages and advice given by both midwives and nurses, as they instill confidence in patients and in society in general.
That is why from this Council they point out that the obligation of these health professionals must be to provide the best possible evidence and not to express a position that is not endorsed by science and that in fact ignores scientific evidence.
It is not simply about persecuting or denouncing those health professionals who spread messages against vaccination in Australia, since this council also commits to continue providing clear advice on vaccines to nurses and midwives registered therein.
Without vaccine there is no pay
In Australia, the policy that no public payments from any administration would be given to those families that do not have all their vaccinated members, according to the vaccination calendar of the country.
Since this measure is underway, around 6,000 children of conscientious objection parents have been vaccinated. There are still areas in the country where vaccination is not massive but work is being done to achieve it because they are very clear from the Australian government and its public health-related bodies that immunization saves lives.
On the part of the Medical Association of Australia and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Australian Academy of Sciences, an information campaign was launched to publicize the evidence and benefits of immunization through vaccination.
This campaign included a brochure published by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1996, Professor Peter Doherty which details the latest scientific advances achieved in the field of vaccination.
Informative measures to respond to disinformation and fear that according to the Australian Medical Association is what the population offers the anti-vaccine movement.
