Sir, - The response to my recent article ("A Shot in the Dark?", November 3rd) from the medical establishment has been curious. I would expect a difference of opinion on the points I addressed or some constructive criticism. However, when Dr Philip Sheeran-Purcell is not resorting to offensive and abusive remarks about me, his entrenched "I'm absolutely right - and you're absolutely wrong" attitude in the article "To Vaccinate or not to Vaccinate" (November 11th) does nothing to further the debate.
Parents trying to make the difficult decision whether or not to vaccinate have a right to know from their doctor what the possible dangers or harmful effects of vaccination might be. The issue of vaccination can be very emotive - especially for the many people who have been damaged by particular vaccines. To merely restate the same hackneyed argument that vaccinations have saved the world from disease and pestilence, that they are a panacea for everything - including social and economic problems, if we are to take Prof Tom Matthews (November 10th) literally - is simply not acceptable as an argument any more.
Just as Niall O Cleirigh (while preferring to join in the "open season" against me in yet another tirade of abuse) states that he "does not wish to enter into a medical discussion about the pros and cons of immunisation" (December 2nd), it would appear that his colleagues in the medical establishment are equally reluctant to do so.
As I have absolutely no intention of taking on the might of the medical establishment alone in this regard, the time is long overdue for interested parties to come together in open public forum and debate the points at issue. The forum should include complementary medicine practitioners; those medical doctors who have the courage to state openly their grave reservations about the practice of mass immunisation; and parents who have made a conscious and informed decision not to vaccinate their children. Others in the medical establishment who would promote mass immunisation, pharmaceutical companies and the health authorities should also be represented. This forum might go some way at least in shedding light on the many unanswered questions people have about this less publicised area of medicine once and for all. - Yours, etc.,
From Philip Boxberger
Butterfield Avenue, Dublin 14.