Father Comes To His Senses After Divorce, Insists Children He Had With Anti-Vaxxer Must Be Immunized

A father in western Sydney has won the right to finally vaccinate his children. His ex-wife is strongly opposed to vaccination, which is why their children, ages 14 and 12, still hadn’t been vaccinated. The father claims to have agreed not to vaccinate “for the sake of peace in the household.” Luckily for their children, he came to his senses when he no longer had to share a roof with a rabid anti-vaxxer.

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

The Family Court rejected the mother’s claims that the children, who will turn 14 and 12 this year, were at an increased risk of experiencing ”vaccine damage” due in part to various allergies she believes they suffer from.

Sitting at Parramatta, Justice Garry Foster said the 42-year-old woman, given the pseudonym Ms Duke-Randall, had submitted hundreds of documents about the risks of vaccination, such as the link to autism, which has been thoroughly debunked by the medical profession.

Justice Foster claims that Ms Duke-Randall had become ”narrowly focused on it, perhaps to the point where the best interests of her children have been subsumed.” This is the worst thing about conspiracy theories – people become basically blind to facts.

The father began to demand the kids be immunized in August 2011, because he started to realize how many extracurricular activities they were missing out on because of their immunization records. Some of his relatives were also unwilling to have their children around his family.

The parents are fighting over custody, property and other issues – so the court had put a hold on the children’s immunizations until a hearing could be held on the issue in January. But the court discharged the order because it believes the mother “was deliberately delaying proceedings and ignoring directions, which led to the ”strong inference that she has done so to suit her own end that the issue as to vaccination be delayed for as long as possible’.”

I’m not sure how parents can in good conscience deny their kids the safety net of vaccinations – especially in a time when we are seeing more and more outbreaks that could have been long eradicated. It took way too long for these kids to be immunized, but at least it’s finally happening.

(photo: Nixx Photography/ Shutterstock)