A prominent anti-vaccination campaigner has been barred from entering Australia.

A prominent American anti-vaccination campaigner has been barred from entering Australia, after immigration minister Peter Dutton deemed his views to be against “national interests”.

Mr Dutton believes that Kent Heckenlively — who describes himself as the “world’s no.1 anti-vaxxer” — will undermine the new federal government A$5.5 million vaccination education campaign, aimed at dispelling myths about the risks of vaccination. Dutton commented:

“These people who are telling kids, telling parents that their kids shouldn't be vaccinated are dangerous people …  it is clear to me that it is not in our national interest that [Heckenlively] should come here.”

Mr Heckenlively has authored multiple books on the dangers of vaccination, and has links to discredited anti-vaccination scientist Andrew Wakefield.

Two other anti-vaccination campaigners, Polly Tommey, from the UK, and Dr Suzanne Humphries, from the US, have been reportedly banned from returning to Australia after organising screenings of the controversial film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.

Another anti-vaxxer barred from entering Australia
Xavier Symons
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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

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