Viera Scheibner

Viera Scheibner (Slovak: Viera Scheibnerová; born 27 March 1935, Bratislava) is a Slovak-Australian anti-vaccination activist and retired geologist. From 1958 until 1968 she was assistant professor in the department of geology at Comenius University, Bratislava. Since her retirement from the Department of Mineral Resources, New South Wales, Australia in 1987, Scheibner has been active in the anti-vaccination field, writing and giving lectures opposing vaccines and vaccinations.

A number of critics have questioned her qualifications, research abilities, and honesty.

Education and career Viera Scheibner was born in Bratislava (formerly Czechoslovakia, now Slovak Republic).

In 1953, Scheibner studied medicine for one year at Masaryk University in Brno (Faculty of Medicine). She did not complete her studies, and obtained no medical qualifications. She then enrolled in the Faculty of Sciences (Geology), and in 1954 transferred to the Comenius University in Bratislava where she graduated in 1958 under prof. D. Andrusov. During 1958–1961, she became a lecturer in the Department of Geology and Palaeontology of the Comenius University, Bratislava and was also a Senior Lecturer 1962–1967, at the Department of Geology and Palaeontology at Comenius University. Scheibner was awarded a doctorate in Natural Sciences (RNDr.) from the Comenius University in Bratislava in 1964. In 1967–1968 she served as Senior Associate Professor (Docent) at the Department of Geology and Palaeontology of Jan Amos Comenius University, Bratislava.

In 1968, Scheibner together with her husband Ervin Scheibner Her work has been commonly referenced by antivaccination chiropractors. while SIDS deaths fell by 81% over the same period. A 2007 meta-analysis found that vaccines halve the risk of SIDS.

Scheibner claimed that when Japan paused their Pertussis vaccination program in 1974, SIDS deaths disappeared in the country. However, Victorian medical practitioner Stephen Basser, writing in the Australian Skeptic magazine, said that the studies Scheibner cited did not support her statements and that she had omitted information [from the studies] which did not support her position, including data showing pertussis mortality in Japan increased 800% in the five years following the pause in Pertussis vaccination. although no science supports this claim.

Commissioner William Carter, Q.C., who was hearing a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission enquiry in which Viera Scheibner was called as a witness, dismissed her claims on the subject of vaccines, finding that he was unsatisfied with her formal qualifications and professional experience, which he found did not "properly equip her to provide a valid professional opinion on the complex subject of immunology". As a result, he was unwilling to accept her evidence in the enquiry. Pezzutti stated that it was "very important for people to realise that the information provided by Dr Scheibner is not accurate".

Publications 1993 Vaccination: 100 years of orthodox research shows that vaccines represent an assault on the immune system, 2000 Behavioural Problems in Childhood,