One of the country’s leading biomedical scientists has written to the Prime Minister and Director General of Health urging vaccination exemptions for chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers.
The University of Otago’s Emeritus Professor Warren Tate says he is aware of serious reactions triggered by the Pfizer vaccine in several people who have the condition. He believes some of those with the disease shouldn’t be expected to be vaccinated.
There are an estimated 25,000 people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in New Zealand. Tate is considered a pre-eminent authority in the country on the disease.
Most ME/CFS sufferers develop the illness as a post-viral response. Tate says the physiology of sufferers is profoundly disrupted and at the core of their disease is a dysfunctional immune system, making inoculation with the vaccine potentially dangerous.
“The ME/CFS community, a good proportion of them, should be given medical exemptions because it’s quite dangerous for them to have vaccinations when they’ve got a disturbed immune system,” Tate told RNZ.
“A number of people got in touch with me and they’d had very serious effects unfortunately from taking the vaccination.”
