Vaccine – Making the Right Choice
So the latest book on vaccine from
Dr Paul Offit MD (head of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia): Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All which will no doubt draw fire form the anti vaccine crowd as his previous books did. He has written widely and has several oped (listed here) all of which debunk the myths associated with vaccines in an attempt to stem the rising anti-vaccine tide.
His outstanding credentials on the subject as a vaccinologist and an expert in infectious diseases lend credibility to his position and one that is supported by the data that vaccines save lives. Despite the claims by the anti vaccine proponents of brain damage, autism, diabetes, and cancer, as Dr Offit points out these claims are littered with misinformation, faulty research, and sly deceptions and unfortunatley offerd to fraught parents who are doing their best to make the right choices in a complex world. I have written about this before and the importance of data (Snake Oil and Detox, Vaccination and Essential Part of Child Healthcare and Wrapped in Data and Diplomas It’s Still Snake Oil), but it was the piece on the Colbert Report that I thought brought home the message:
As is often the case humor can help get the message across
Vaccination – Essential part of Child Healthcare
It is in the words of Victor Meldrew (don’t know who he he is here’s a link to this famous BBC British Comedy character and the series One Foot in the Grave) “unbelievable” that Time magazine would give ink to the delusional rantings (Autism and Vaccines) of an individual who appears hell bent on a mission to return our countries childhood back to the dark ages of killer measles epidemics and chicken pox for the masses. But wait, she used to be a Playboy model so this obviously provides the essential scientific background to debate the pros and cons of vaccination….or could it be a simple eye candy decision for the photo cover. Whatever it is I agree with Orac in his post “I really wish this were an April Fools Joke” where as he highlights
Jenny thinks it’s acceptable that infectious diseases will return because of her efforts and those of her fellow antivaccinationists
Her unscientific belief that vaccines cause autism – there are numerous studies (here, here and here for example and this Hollywood Mom Amanda Peet and her support of vaccinateyourbaby.org public service campaign ) showing no, repeat NO epidemiological evidence for a causal association of vaccinations and autism. Correlation does not equal causation (simple statistics) and promoting this as science is like the snake oil salesmen in the wild west…. marketing hype). This is someone who can’t even remove expletives from her conversation with a journalist……
If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back
Right! As Orac says
No matter how many studies exonerate vaccines as a cause of autism, you don’t believe them
And if science disproves your latest hair brained idea you’ll find something else to blame as in the Toxin gambit as we moved off Mercury as a cause. This is no longer about science or science- and evidence-based medicine this is McCarthgeddon and reminds me a lot of the McCarthy from the 1950′s and his hunt now seen through the clarity of history as a modern day witch hunt….interesting they share the same name.
If you were wondering – get your kids vaccinated….for everything. Follow the science.
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