With children’s vaccinations high on the political agenda, one Greek Australian parent opened his heart on the matter this week – speaking to Neos Kosmos on his decision not to vaccinate.

“We’ve been accused of being negligent, like parents who couldn’t be bothered with our children’s health. Yet we spent many years researching and we were shocked what we learnt about immunisations,” said the 40-year-old self-employed father who prefers anonymity, fearing the social exclusion of his kids at school.

Last weekend Social Services Minister Scott Morrison announced new measures to boost vaccination, noting that the rate of objection to immunisation had risen from under one per cent to around two per cent over the past decade.

The government’s proposal is that parents refusing to vaccinate their children would no longer receive childcare and family tax payments worth up to $15,000 a child from the start of next year.

The numbers of non-vaccinated children is small but growing – up from 15,000 to 39,000 in the past decade.

For a number of years, the South Melbourne family who Neos Kosmos spoke to have been researching potential dangers relating to vaccinations.

“There is, indeed, a lot of research that proves that vaccination substances are safe”, the father claims. “But the vast majority of them were funded by pharmaceutical companies and all are biased.”

His children, aged 10 and 8, were born in Melbourne, and at their birth, were offered vaccinations, which the family declined.

“Nurses were planning to give them two injections without our permission. Therefore, [my wife] had to sign a pack of forms.”

The children’s mother, now in her thirties, said that arrangements at school were initially complicated.

“The kindergarten and primary school’s management knew that we hadn’t vaccinated our kids. They told us that if there is a disease outbreak, our kids would have to be sent home. Which, in my eyes, is the only danger for my kids.”

The children’s father added that getting the schools to accept his kids required the parents to get their GP to sign a form (the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register Immunisation Exemption Conscientious Objection Form).

“Doctors haven’t given us too many problems. In fact, we came across one doctor who agreed with our decision.

“He said that, for many years, vaccinations were not so chemical based. Today they mainly contain poisonous materials such as mercury formaldehyde, aluminium phosphate, ammonium sulphate.”

Disappointed by the federal government’s move to punish those who don’t vaccinate their children, this family remains optimistic, and say others are doing their own research into advantages and disadvantages of vaccinations.

“My wife spent nine months watching what she puts in her body, trying to have a healthy child. We had read books and studies on pregnancy, we study the way vaccines are made and we finally chose not to do what we were told to.”

During Neos Kosmos’ investigation for this story, we spoke on the phone with six families. It came to our knowledge that there are similar cases where parents do not wish to make their case known.

Should you wish to tell us your story, please contact us at: panos@neoskosmos.com.au