The most dangerous bus in Australia: Hundreds sign up to anti-vax tour doctors have slammed as 'irresponsible'
- Anti-vaxxer mothers will begin a bus tour telling parents not to immunise kids
- Hundreds of parents have registered their interest in attending the tours
- Australia is the first country to introduce the Vaxxed Bus tour outside the US
- Anti-vaxx movement gained momentum amid coronavirus crisis and lockdown
- Their disproved theories are dangerous to themselves and wider community
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Hundreds of anti-vaxxer families have signed up for an Australian bus tour which experts fear will spread scientifically disproved theories about vaccinations and try to stop parents from immunising their children.
The Vaxxed Bus tour will begin in northern New South Wales in July and travel up to Queensland, and promises to offer a platform for people who claim vaccinations left their children disabled.
Doctors and medical experts agree there are no links between immunisations and permanent disabilities and say vaccines are a safe and effective way of protecting the wider community from harmful and communicable diseases.
Dr Kean-Seng Lim, a former president of the Australian Medical Association said the tour was 'concerning' and 'irresponsible'.
'The benefits of vaccination have been proven over and over again on a worldwide basis,' Dr Lim told The Daily Telegraph.
'A lot of the anti-vax movement is based on rumours and untruths… any process which increases the misinformation out there is harmful to our society.'
The Vaxxed Bus tour (bus pictured) will begin in south east Queensland in July 2020
The anti-vaccination movement has gained momentum throughout the coronavirus pandemic amid calls for mandatory flu jabs and tough lockdown measures to slow the spread of the deadly respiratory infection. Pictured: A protester holding a placard at a march on May 30
The anti-vaccination movement has gained momentum during the coronavirus pandemic amid calls for mandatory flu jabs to prevent to two viruses mutating.
The Australian Vaccination-risks Network is organising the first Vaxxed bus and tour outside the United States, and will rely on donations from the public to help fund the trip.
Aneeta Hafemeister, president of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network, previously said the 'government, media and medical community have tried to pretend vaccines are safe and harm no one... for far too long.'
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'Our community has done what many would have considered impossible... and pulled together in a unified way to fund this amazing vehicle which will bring so much love and information to the community,' she said.
After the bus makes its way through northern New South Wales - a known anti-vaxx hotspot - it will travel through Queensland.
Dr Lim said the most concerning elements of the tour centre around the lockdown and social distancing policies in place in the latter stages of the COVID-19 crisis.
He is worried the misinformation spread in the tour could lead to a 'concerning' drop in vaccination numbers at an 'irresponsible' time given the current landscape.
The Australian Vaccination-risks Network will be hosting the tour, and will rely on donations from the public to help fund the trip
Protesters gather outside Parliament House in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 May 2020
A statement from the organisation advertising the upcoming tour said it would focus on 'families of those who have died or been permanently injured by vaccinations'.
'[They] will finally have an opportunity to tell their stories to the world,' the statement read.
'The bus will also be documenting stories of families who have chosen not to vaccinate, learning their reasons, and the health outcomes of their unvaccinated children.'
Anti-vaccination rhetoric is considered dangerous within the mainstream community and directly contradicts medical advice which emphasises the importance of immunisation for the health of the wider community.
Meryl Dorey, who will help to run the bus, previously told The Courier Mail there are a significant amount of mothers involved in the movement.
'This is a bunch of mothers who are speaking out about adverse reactions to vaccinations so I would hope that Queensland Health will not give us a hard time but we are prepared for it,' she said.
In fact, they are calling on the state's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young to 'come along and join the discussion'.
People protest during the 'Wake Up Australia!' march against mandatory vaccinations at the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Saturday, May 30
A statement from the organisation advertising the upcoming tour said it would focus on 'families of those who have died or been permanently injured by vaccinations'
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of anti-vaxxers gathered at demonstrations throughout Australia protesting against vaccinations, 5G and the pandemic.
Protesters gathered at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne on Saturday and claimed the global COVID-19 health crisis was a 'scam'.
Up to 500 protesters congregated at Sydney's Hyde Park to voice their conspiracy theories regarding not only vaccination, but also 5G telecommunication networks, fluoride and large pharmaceutical corporations.
'Our body, our choice. Australia still has a voice,' the protesters chanted as they walked through the park.
Before vaccination campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s, diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough killed thousands of children, whereas today in Australia, dying from one of these is extremely rare.
'Immunisation is a safe and effective way to protect you and your children from harmful, contagious diseases. It also safeguards the health of other people, now and for future generations,' the Australian government's health department says.
Interest in ridiculous theories that the ultra-fast mobile technology causes coronavirus have swept across the globe during the health crisis, despite experts' desperate efforts to debunk the claims.
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