A public meeting hosted by the Postive Action Group asked attendees to question if they know enough about the treatments offered to them?

Speakers at the event included general counsel of Jurby Wellness Nigel Taylor and its founder, Courtenay Heading.

Mr Taylor was the first to speak, where he outlined the importance of patient autonomy, in particular of formal patient consent.

He said: ’We should have a dialogue with health care professionals, not merely be dictated to.’

Mr Taylor said that by having a real dialogue, we will be able to make ultimately smarter choices for ourselves and loved ones.

He gave the HPV vaccine and the official side effects warning provided by the UK and Manx governments as an example.

It says: ’Soreness, swelling and redness in the arm are common but wear off in a couple of days. Other side effects such as raised temperature, sickness, itching, rash, and pain in the injected arm were reported in fewer than one in 10 but more than one in 100 people.’

However, he stated that other serious side effects are not reported.

Mr Heading’ outlined his opposition to the current vaccination ’culture’ and ’obsession with illness’.

He believes the HPV vaccine is not safe, citing evidence from Denmark and the USA where cases of death and serious illness are reported.

He also outlined why he believes that the MMR jab would be better given as three separate doses.

Mr Heading challenged Health Minister David Ashford to commit to ensuring residents were taking no more than five medications at one time by 2020.

Quality of life

The island’s director of public health, Dr Henrietta Ewart, told the Manx Independent: ’Vaccinations are one of the great successes of modern medicine.

’No other medical intervention has done as much to save lives and improve quality of life.

’Vaccines are safe - every vaccine is rigorously tested for effectiveness and safety before it is approved for use. All vaccines are continually monitored for safety and any serious adverse event is fully investigated.’

She added: ’HPV vaccination protects against human papilloma virus types 16-18 which cause the majority of cervical cancers. Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under 35.

’The safety of HPV vaccine is continuously monitored, it is used in 84 countries and over 80 million people have received the vaccine.

’No causal link has been demonstrated between the vaccine and serious chronic illness or death.’