Meryl Dorey

Meryl Dorey is a mother of 4 children, the eldest of whom was injured by his DPT vaccine in 1989 and again by his MMR vaccine in 1990.

In 1994, after a great deal of medical research and meeting many other families with children who had been injured or killed by vaccines, Meryl worked with health professionals and parents to form a local organisation in the Northern Rivers of NSW called the Vaccination Awareness Network (VAN). Four years later, VAN combined with many other local vaccination information and support groups to form the Australian Vaccination Network (now the Australian Vaccination-risks Network – AVN). In 1998, 2 AVN Committee Members travelled to Canberra and lobbied Federal Parliament to enact a conscientious objector clause which, until January 2016, guaranteed that no child would be discriminated against in school, preschool or childcare whether they were vaccinated or unvaccinated. We also ensured that no financial penalties would be levied against those families who chose not to vaccinate their children.

 In the 26 years since its founding, the AVN has educated, supported and lobbied on behalf of families and health professionals around the country. We have networked closely with national and international health rights organisations and oppose any form of mandatory mass medication without informed consent. We are not anti-vaccination but simply believe that all medical procedures must be a matter of free and informed choice and that the government’s rights over citizens bodies stop at their skin.