Viera Scheibner
Viera Scheibner | |
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Born | [1] | 27 March 1935
Spouses |
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Viera Scheibner (
A number of critics have questioned her qualifications, research abilities, and honesty.[2][3][4]
Education and career
Viera Scheibner was born in Bratislava (formerly Czechoslovakia, now Slovak Republic).[5]
In 1953, Scheibner studied medicine for one year at
In 1968, Scheibner together with her husband Ervin Scheibner[1] emigrated to Australia and assumed a position as a micro-palaeontologist with the Geological Survey of New South Wales, Department of Mines, later becoming the Department of Mineral Resources.
The primary emphasis of Scheibner's work in Australia with the NSW Department of Mines was the study of the
Views on vaccines
Scheibner authored the 1993 book Vaccination: 100 Years of Orthodox Research Shows That Vaccines Represent an Assault on the Immune System, described "highly inaccurate" in a 2000 article in the journal Pediatrics.[6] Her work has been commonly referenced by antivaccination chiropractors.[4]
Sudden infant death syndrome
Scheibner began claiming that there is a link between vaccination and SIDS in the early 1990s, and in a book Vaccination... published in 1993. In the book and subsequently, she has speculated that "vaccination is the single biggest cause of SIDS". However data shows that since she began making her claims, vaccination rates for Birth to 2-years component of the Immunisation Schedule in Australia increased from 53% in 1990 to 92% in 2006,[7][8] while SIDS deaths fell by 81% over the same period.[9] A 2007 meta-analysis found that vaccines halve the risk of SIDS.[10]
Scheibner claimed that when Japan paused their Pertussis vaccination program in 1974, SIDS deaths disappeared in the country. However,
Shaken baby syndrome
Scheibner claims that injuries and death attributed to shaken baby syndrome, including retinal bleeding, broken bones, fractured skulls and detached retinas are actually caused by vaccination[11] although no science supports this claim.
Commissioner William Carter, Q.C., who was hearing a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission enquiry in which Viera Scheibner was called as a witness, dismissed her claims on the subject of vaccines, finding that he was unsatisfied with her formal qualifications and professional experience, which he found did not "properly equip her to provide a valid professional opinion on the complex subject of immunology".[12] As a result, he was unwilling to accept her evidence in the enquiry.[12]
In 2001, Brian Pezzutti criticised Scheibner's anti-vaccination campaigning in the NSW Legislative Council, describing Scheibner as providing "misleading information", and highlighting her March letter to the Medical Observer which "makes claims that are not supported by the documentation she referred to".[13] Pezzutti stated that it was "very important for people to realise that the information provided by Dr Scheibner is not accurate".[13]
In 1997, the
- "The unanimous choice of the judges was Dr Viera Scheibner for her high profile anti-immunisation campaign which, by promoting mythology and by owing little to scientific methodologies or research, poses a serious threat to the health of Australian children."[3]
Publications
- 1993 Vaccination: 100 years of orthodox research shows that vaccines represent an assault on the immune system, ISBN 0-646-15124-X
- 2000 Behavioural Problems in Childhood, ISBN 0-9578007-0-3
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 80-224-0639-2
- ^ a b Basser MD, Stephen (Autumn 1997). "Anti-immunisation scare: The inconvenient facts" (PDF). The Skeptic. 17 (1): 18–24. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Bent Spoon Winner 1997: Viera Scheibner". Australian Skeptics. 16 June 2005. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008.
- ^ a b
Busse JW, Morgan L, Campbell JB (2005). "Chiropractic antivaccination arguments". PMID 15965414.
- ^ Scheibner V. "Curriculum Vitae / Biography – "Medical Veritas" Editorial Board". Medical Veritas.
- ^
Busse JW, Campbell JB, Injeyan HS (2000). "Chiropractors and Vaccination: A Historical Perspective". PMID 10742364.
- ^ "Vaccination Coverage in Australian Children". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 4 June 2003. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- ^ "Australia's Babies". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- ^ "Australia SIDS 1981-2007" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics. SIDS and Kids. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- PMID 17400342.
- ^ O'Hagan, Julie-Anne (17 October 2003). "Dr Viera Scheibner is a powerful voice in the anti-vaccination crusade..." Australian Doctor. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011.
- ^ Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission(Australia).
- ^ a b Pezzutti, Brian (11 April 2001). "Infectious Diseases Vaccination" (PDF). Hansard of the NSW Legislative Council: 13600. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
External links
- Leask J, McIntyre P (December 2003). "Public opponents of vaccination: a case study" (PDF). Vaccine. 21 (32): 4700–3. PMID 14585678. Archived from the original(PDF) on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2017.