Black Triangle

In the space of 4 days we have had a flurry of irresponsible news reporting about HPV vaccine following the death of a child. One of the rent-a-gobs that newspapers persist in obtaining quotes from is Jackie Fletcher, “leader” of the JABS campaigning group. JABS is largely concerned with propagating the hoax MMR vaccine-autism association, but in recent years has taken on a more overtly anti-vaccine stance. This has led to Jackie Fletcher being approached on stories unrelated to MMR vaccine in recent months. So how did she fare this week?

Daily Express:

Last night, Jackie Fletcher of Jabs, a campaign group for safe vaccinations, called for immediate withdrawal of all the HPV jabs. She said: “These dangerous side-effects must be investigated straight away. Recalling the jabs is not scare-­mongering.”

and again:

Jackie Fletcher, founder of the support group JABS, said: “We feel the Department of Health should suspend the programme temporarily until they have got to the bottom of this girl’s sad death.

“We have girls registered with us who believe they have been severely affected by the HPV vaccine, including semi-paralysis and muscle weakness. There is at the very least a question mark over its safety.

“This is an invasive procedure and should be removed from schools and put into the hands of GPs.

“The Department of Health just seems to want to allow girls to play Russian roulette with their health.”

The Yorkshire Post:

“A young girl went to school on Monday and she did not come home,” says Jackie Fletcher, founder of Jabs, the support group for children damaged by vaccines.

“Until investigations have been carried out and until the conclusions are made public, the immunisation programme, not just in Coventry, but across the country, should be suspended.

“We have had reports of girls who are now facing long-term health problems following the injections.

“One girl has been in hospital since September suffering from paralysis, another has suffered multiple seizures which means she can no longer drive and another has had severe muscle spasms.

“As an organisation, we are not claiming that these cases are directly linked to the immunisation programme, but they are very serious complaints and surely it is worth thorough investigation?”

So in the space of four days Fletcher has:

• Called for the withdrawal of a vaccine that will save hundreds of women’s lives
• Made further unsubstantiated claims against HPV vaccine off the back of this tragedy
• Accused the government of playing Russian Roulette with girls lives

We know now that the vaccine is extremely unlikely to have caused the tragic death of a young girl; she passed away because of an invasive tumour in her lungs and heart. Will Fletcher retract any of this ill-informed nonsense? Will newspapers ever stop going to her for inflammatory quotes?

In the case of the MMR vaccine-autism “controversy” (it never was in scientific circles), the media argued that a balance had to be struck between the opposing sides of the debate. When Wakefield was pushing his orginal theories, one might give the media some slack. He was, or appeared at the time, a respectable scientist presenting his opinions at a press conference at the Royal Free Medical School – hardly a quack institution.

In the case of Jackie Fletcher and JABS, no such case can be made. It is quite clear they are an anti-vaccine organisation. Already, forum members at JABS are insinuating foulplay in the post-mortem in the current case:

Be interesting to get a little more information on the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination. What is his background, how independent is he from government influences. Will the results be verified by a second/third opinion?

No serious journalist should be approching JABS or Jackie Fletcher for comments about vaccines. They are not a legitimate organisation concerned with true vaccine safety, unlike the authorities who they criticise who have an appallingly difficult job in this environment, but a crank organisation more akin to a flat earth society.