As of Feb. 1, there have been 23 cases of polio reported in Syria as a bloody civil war ravages the country and brings a society to its knees.
In an overcrowded and understaffed hospital ward in rural India, a young man battles tuberculosis that has become resistant to every available drug. There is no cure. He will die.
Almost five years ago to the day, a comatose twelve-year-old girl lost her battle with measles and drew in her last breath, her brain painfully swollen and her frail body overwhelmed by the viral infection. The howls of her grieving parents echoed through the halls of the Swiss hospital not half an hour from where I live.
There is a reason pestilence rides with the horsemen of the apocalypse. It was more powerful than the greatest of empires and was a killer more effective than the cruelest of dictators. Monarchies were toppled, continents almost entirely depopulated, and the specter of disease stalked the world’s worst nightmares. And then, one day, an English doctor by the name of Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids didn’t really get smallpox. And from the smallest of cowpox pustules, modern medicine gave birth to its greatest miracle: vaccines.
From whooping cough to the flu, polio to smallpox, vaccines were the powerful vanguard of the renewed battle against disease. And, as had never happened before in the history of humanity, we were finally winning the war.
Ever had smallpox? I doubt it—the world’s only fully successful vaccination campaign eradicated the disease in 1979. The World Health Assembly resolution declaring the disease eradicated stated that “the world and its peoples have won freedom”.
Vaccines represent freedom, for the scourge of disease is a burden, the likes of which enslaves the entire world to fear, distrust, and suffering. The wonderful potential of vaccines is that they offer freedom on a global level, freeing each and every human being who has access to vaccines from the looming danger of dying from fully preventable diseases. Vaccines have saved lives and will continue to save lives. To deny their efficacy is a treacherous folly, and choosing not to vaccinate is a danger to every person on this planet.
Yet, against all logic, vaccination rates are decreasing.
Some parents don’t vaccinate their children because they think that the diseases are no longer a threat. Virulent outbreaks of whooping cough are increasing in prevalence, sending our most vulnerable populations to the intensive care units of our already over-burdened hospitals.
Even worse are those who believe vaccines are harmful. These proselytizing radicals are the greatest danger to the triumphs of modern medicine, and their influence is a direct threat to humanity’s freedom from disease.
Every unvaccinated person has the potential to pass on diseases that could be eradicated, and their unprotected immune systems are susceptible to diseases that are entirely preventable and gravely infectious. That isn’t my fanciful imagination or paranoia. That is a fact. In a globalized world, diseases can travel across continents in a matter of hours. A parent might think he’s exercising a right to not vaccinate his child, when, in fact, he is placing his entire community at risk.
Those who uphold the danger of vaccines are as hazardous to society as any criminal. Jenny McCarthy is a pandering fraud, using her celebrity and the platform of daytime media to frighten a population who sees her as an informed authority. Her main source of authority is a thoroughly debunked study authored by a doctor who claimed that he linked the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism. He rightfully had his medical license revoked and is never allowed to practice medicine again.
I’m not naive. Vaccines aren’t perfect. The whooping cough vaccine that was—if your parents were smart enough to vaccinate you as a child—given to our generation isn’t as strong as was initially thought, and is wearing off much faster than expected, requiring booster shots. But it’s still infinitely better than playing Russian roulette with your own and your entire community’s health.
The day you present to me a peer-reviewed scholarly paper that proves vaccines are harmful, I’ll believe you. But until then, I’ll rest on the extensive body of research that proves these doubters wrong. These people aren’t just wrong—they’re downright dangerous.
The Jesuit values that flutter from the flags on every lamppost on our campus uphold the inherent value of humanity. The nonchalance of parents who decide not to vaccinate their children flouts that very importance, not just for their own children, but also for those around them. Not vaccinating is a direct affront to humanity’s hard-won freedom from disease. Not vaccinating is a direct affront to humanity’s tragic losses to disease. Not vaccinating is a direct affront to humanity.
This link shows the dramatic increase in the number of vaccine our children received between 1983 and 2012.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-arqv6t8VacY/T7QvOcTrpmI/AAAAAAAAD-U/EBqU4n3R0SE/s1600/VaxCDC.png
Where is even one study on the cumulative effect of the increasing number of vaccines in the childhood schedule? THERE ISN’T ONE.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
Study: A continuous increase in the number of vaccine doses in the US correlates well with an increase in the infant mortality rates.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170075/
“…The US childhood immunization schedule requires 26 vaccine doses for infants aged less than 1 year, the most in the world, yet 33 nations have better IMRs. Using linear regression, the immunization schedules of these 34 nations were examined and a correlation coefficient of 0.70 (p < 0.0001) was found between IMRs and the number of vaccine doses routinely given to infants….”
Wow Anne. You’re right on every article that appears about vaccines…and you managed to notify your groupies to come and post here, as well.
How about staying on topic and not posting your multiple Spamming comments?
Lilady,
How about staying on topic and not posting your multiple Spamming comments telling people they can’t post information that you don’t like.
Her comment is on topic.
Wow, lilady. You’re right on every article that appears about vaccines…and you manage to notify the sycophant groupies over at Respectful Insolence whenever you feel “lonely.”
How about staying on topic and not posting your multiple Spamming comments telling people not to post comments that you don’t like. You are not the comment police.
Her comment is on topic, whereas yours is not.
Yes, and THIS link shows that the production of organic foods rose in parallel to the apparent increase of the prevalence of ASD:
http://kfolta.blogspot.com/2013/02/organic-food-causes-autism.html
Thanks for demonstrating yet again that correlation doesn’t equal causation.
Yes, yes, and THIS link shows that the prevalence of ASD tracked with the production of organic foods:
http://kfolta.blogspot.com/2013/02/organic-food-causes-autism.html
Thanks for yet again demonstrating that correlation doesn’t equal causation.
This story is proof that parents need to educate themselves. The real ignorance concerns the fact that the government as recognized that vaccines can could autism.
CBS News ran this story about Hannah Poling in 2010: Family to Receive $1.5M+ in First-Ever Vaccine-Autism Court Award. Are we to believe that vaccines have nothing to do with autism–unless you’re Hannah Poling?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20015982-10391695.html
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism
100% spot on Anne, if the parents don’t educate themselves on the dangers of vaccination reporters like the one above surely won’t do so.
Hannah Poling was not compensated by the Vaccine Court for autism; that reporter from CBS was wrong.
A few months back Age of Autism was trying to promote another bogus autism hearing in Congress and a lawyer affiliated with AoA was lying about the Poling case decision.
Hannah Poling’s mother who is a Registered Nurse and a lawyer, posted a comment on AoA, about the Vaccine Court’s decision and the false representation of Hannah’s settlement by that lawyer:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/11/rolf-hazlehurst-on-vicp-at-congressional-briefing.html
“It is deeply disturbing to me to be told that Mr. Hazlehurst is yet again discussing my daughter Hannah Poling’s VICP case when he has been made aware on more than one occasion that he is making assumptions of fact that are completely incorrect.
First, Dr. Zimmerman was not an expert nor was he asked to be an expert on Hannah Poling’s case. The government conceded her case before ANY opinion was rendered or given. When the government denied the seizures as part of her vaccine injury, we asked Dr. Zimmerman to opine on that issue. The vaccine injury had ALREADY been conceded. In addition, and I say this only because it is now public record, the government conceded a table injury. This essentially means that they did not have to determine whether or not the vaccines caused Hannah’s injury but that her case fit into the table.
Second, Hannah Poling was listed as one of 20 potential test cases. We, her parents learned that she was going to be a test case the same way everyone else did…when the case was conceded. I had indicated that I wanted Hannah to be a test case or be taken out of the omnibus. This was because I was worried that no one was addressing the mitochondrial issue, which was key in her case. As can be seen by reviewing the test cases, mitochondrial disorder was never addressed.
Third, I cannot speak for Dr. Zimmerman in any way. I am going to assume however, that when Mr. Hazlehurst indicates that Dr. Zimmerman diagnosed (Rolf’s) child with “regressive encephalopathy with features of Autistic Spectrum Disorder” which, he indicates is the same diagnosis Zimmerman gave Hannah, Rolf Hazlehurst must have also walked into Dr. Zimmerman’s office asserting that his child (Rolf’s) had been vaccinated and then regressed into ASD. I say this because that is what we did. We knew immediately that Hannah had an encephalopathy and when she had not improved in the acceptable 6 month period, we had her in to see Zimmerman. If this was not the case with Rolf Hazlehurst (and I frankly do not know whether it was or was not), then it is hard to understand why Rolf thinks Dr. Zimmerman or any other physician can read minds. I am not trying to say that the Hazlehurst’s should have known or could have known. It is only to say that if they did not connect the dots, how could they expect the physician to? The term “encephalopathy” has multiple causes as does “features of autism” or “autism.” The use of the term, “regressive encephalopathy with features of autistic spectrum disorder” does not state an etiology. That would need to be determined by history and or laboratory tests, etc.
Finally, and perhaps for purposes of Rolf’s request that Hannah Poling’s records be released to the public, Jon and I have not allowed the release of Hannah’s records nor will we ever willingly allow third parties to tear apart her medical history which includes other close family members as well as things that should have never been in the record to begin with. This case was not litigated so there is very little to “see.” When a case is litigated, the judge and attorneys have an opportunity to redact material that would be inappropriate or an invasion of privacy for others. That did not nor can it happen in this case as it was not litigated.
While I completely understand Rolf’s frustration with the VICP program and do commend his fight for justice for his son, I do not think it is appropriate or fair for him to continue to use my daughter (who is now a teenager and is able to see her name all over the internet in relation to autism and brain injury but incapable of understanding the meaning of the terms), for his own purpose. When Jon and I spoke out regarding our daughter’s case it was to try and shed light on the connection between autism and mitochondrial disorder. It seems to have helped some but it has come at a very high price—our privacy.
Terry Poling
mother of Hannah Poling
Posted by: Terry Poling | November 11, 2013 at 09:07 PM”
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp0802904
If you need help with the big words, just let me know
Wow, what an hysterical diatribe!
Once would think this was a junior high school newspaper!
Listen, Moms like me are pro vaccines but my 12 month old had a seizure after after 5 vaccines. It is just common sense that we are giving too many vaccines at once.
Wow Amanda common sense says you don’t understand what common sense means. I had my first seizure at 4 months old. It was the first indication that measles had gotten to my brain. I spent the next several weeks in hospital. I wasn’t expected to live. As a consequence of measles encephalitis I had uncontrolled severe febrile seizures leading to repeated status epilepticus. Febrile seizures are fairly common in children. They might look scary but almost all are inconsequential. Status seizures are when you have one seizure after another after another. Status epilepticus is a medical emergency. I was repeatedly hospitalized as a child. I couldn’t be vaccinated as a child as that was the protocol then it might have changed now that they know that the risk from disease is far worse than the risk of febrile seizures from vaccines. The too many too soon gambit is the most ridiculous of the anti-vaccine “arguments”. It says the person using it doesn’t comprehend the very basics of the environment we live in, nor the immune system. How many germs do you think a person, an infant, is exposed to every single day and you’re concerned about a handful of weakened ones. A typical upper respiratory infection involves 50000 antigens that is orders of magnitude greater than what is in vaccines over a lifetime.
Maybe it was the reaction to the measles vaccine that passed the blood-brain barrier, my son had a similar episode after his measles vaccination, he also got the measles, hospitalized for 2 weeks as a result, lost his speech, and got autism/pdd diagnosis as a result, as you could tell I wish he never got that vaccine.
Seriously. How dare you try to link the serious consequences of the disease to your false vendetta. Autism is not encephalitis. They are not similar at all. Encephalitis is a medical emergency. It is life threatening. Measles encephalitis occurs in 1 in 1000 cases of measles and is fatal in 15-30%. The death rate is higher in children under the age of 2 years old. This group is also at the highest risk of developing SSPE a rare complication of wild measles. SSPE is a fatal progressive encephalitis. The attenuated virus in the vaccine does not replicate well in humans. That is why measles encephalitis from the attenuated virus in the vaccine is unheard of without an immune disorder. The risk from the vaccine is estimated to be less than 1 in 1 million but there has not been a single case causally related to the vaccine. Obviously at 4 months old I was infected with the wild measles virus. My family was worried whether I was going to live or die. Loss of speech is a common sign of autism. It is not indicitive of encephalitis. Slurring, aphasia, delusional speech are. Autism and encephalitis are not even remotely similar.
Definition of ENCEPHALITIS: inflammation of the brain
Vargas et al found inflammation in the brains of people with autism.
Ann Neurol. 2005 Jan;57(1):67-81.
Neuroglial activation and neuroinflammation in the brain of patients with autism.
Vargas DL, Nascimbene C, Krishnan C, Zimmerman AW, Pardo CA.
Author information
Ann Neurol. 2005 Feb;57(2):304.
Abstract
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired communication and social interaction and may be accompanied by mental retardation and epilepsy. Its cause remains unknown, despite evidence that genetic, environmental, and immunological factors may play a role in its pathogenesis. To investigate whether immune-mediated mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of autism, we used immunocytochemistry, cytokine protein arrays, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to study brain tissues and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from autistic patients and determined the magnitude of neuroglial and inflammatory reactions and their cytokine expression profiles. Brain tissues from cerebellum, midfrontal, and cingulate gyrus obtained at autopsy from 11 patients with autism were used for morphological studies. Fresh-frozen tissues available from seven patients and CSF from six living autistic patients were used for cytokine protein profiling. We demonstrate an active neuroinflammatory process in the cerebral cortex, white matter, and notably in cerebellum of autistic patients. Immunocytochemical studies showed marked activation of microglia and astroglia, and cytokine profiling indicated that macrophage chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and tumor growth factor-beta1, derived from neuroglia, were the most prevalent cytokines in brain tissues. CSF showed a unique proinflammatory profile of cytokines, including a marked increase in MCP-1. Our findings indicate that innate neuroimmune reactions play a pathogenic role in an undefined proportion of autistic patients, suggesting that future therapies might involve modifying neuroglial responses in the brain.
there are 5 causes of autism at present, Valproic acid during pregnancy, Fragile X (a genetic syndrome) Klinefelter Syndrome (another genetic syndrome), brain antibodies from the mother and rubella during pregnancy. We’re looking for other causes and encephalitis is not one. the symptoms doesn’t match. Vaccines are not the culprit, matter of fact, they protect from autism.
Twyla: Which vaccine do you claim caused your child’s autism?
How about discussing the many genetic disorders with features of autism?
harriet h. contracted measles at four months of age…she was too young to have received the vaccine, which is not given until one year of age.
Did you make a claim for your son’s supposed “vaccine injury” in the vaccine court?
Was your son compensated for that “vaccine injury”…or was the case closed for lack of proof?
Encephalitis is a specific type of brain inflamation caused by an infection of the brain usually a virus but can also be caused by bacteria, fungus or parasites. There are other causes of brain swelling including strokes, tumors, edemas; these are not encephalitis. Just because the brain is swollen doesn’t make it encephalitis. Again the long term chronic effects of encephalitis have little commonality with autism. (Replying to comment below with definition of encephalitis and trying to link autism to encephalitis through report that never even mentioned encephalitis just inflammation. Hint it doesn’t say what you think it says. I can’t rep!y directly to comment and names are hidden assuming mobile tech glitch)
Its quite obvious the writer of this article is clueless and should not be be spreading her opinion on vaccination refusel by some parents until she understnds the subject better currentlyshe is on a fifth grade level at best.
Your comment’s spelling and grammar show you’re the ignorant one. Vaccine refusal, resulting from false hysteria created by Jenny McCarthy and her ilk, will prove to be a major health hazard over the next few years.
There is such a thing as spell check, and occasionally people forget to use it and click on submit first, its only an typo that most educated people look past as they do in higher learning obviously your education is high school level which doesn’t mean much in the real world since you are interested in correcting misspelled words. Jenny McCarthy is more credible than any of the Big Pharma propaganda machine science blogs, all her sources can be verified, if vaccines were safe there would not be a vaccine court that paid out billions to the vaccine devastated, there would be an open and public debate with scientists on both sides, instead they have shills on blogs hiding behind cherry picked and fake research as their only proof, now how ignorantly pathetic is that!
Jenny McCarthy is more credible and her sources can be verified? Wow have you ever drank the kool-aid. Although many have called her a stupid bimbo, I say she is not that stupid. There would not be scientists on both sides. The science on vaccines is very one sided. There are enormous benefits to vaccines. They are highly effective and have for the vast majority only trivial side effects. If they weren’t so effective and safe people would be knowledgeable about the diseases they protect against. We are so accustomed to almost all our children surviving unscathed to adulthood we have forgotten that a few decades ago they suffered through serious illness and the lucky ones carried the scars. I am one of the lucky ones who survived measles encephalitis. Roald Dahl’s daughter Alice died from it. 450 American children on average died every single year from measles. On the side of the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists are frauds, charlatans, quacks, con men, profiteers, and the mentally unbalanced preying on the vulnerable. Luckily they are a miniscule fringe group selfishly cowering behind the protection of the majority and the effectiveness of community/herd immunity. They wouldn’t even be noticeable beyond their internet lair except for the havoc they wreck by importing the diseases back in and providing a locus for outbreaks
Who are you “shilling” for Pavlovic?
How about providing some proof to back up your pseudoscientific statements about vaccines and the awarding of damages by the Vaccine Court, in the form of links/citations from reliable first tier peer-reviewed science or medical journals?
(hint) Age of Autism is NOT a first tier peer-reviewed science or medical journal.
Still posting your defamatory remarks about bloggers joejoe?
It’s abundantly obvious that the writer of this article is well-versed in the sciences of immunology, virology, bacteriology and the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable-diseases.
It’s abundantly obvious that you are posting with a fifth grade level of education…or less.
Very well said. The risks of modern vaccines are very, very low; the risks of the diseases we vaccinate against are substantial. It’s unfortunate and tragic when parents leave their children exposed to these diseases because of misinformation promoted by the tiny but vocal anti-vaccine movement.
“…The risks of modern vaccines are very, very low…” Let’s assume it’s true (which is not), still they’re very very catastrophic. New vaccines have new, more immunoactive adjuvants of unknown consequences (but easy to guess), New types of averse events are being uncovered by scientists every year. The latest is called “ASIA” and it explains the exponential raise of autoimmune disease that correlates with the increase in vaccine doses.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20708902
Actually, all ingredients in vaccines are vey familiar. In the U.S. the only adjuvant approve are aluminum salts, used since the 1930s. As to ASIA – “They invoke an entity called ASIA (Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants). From what I’ve been able to tell, ASIA is basically a made-up syndrome that isn’t generally accepted.” http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/08/09/antivaccinationists-against-the-hpv-vaccine-round-5000/
ALUMINIUM SALTS!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19748679
Long-term persistence of vaccine-derived aluminum hydroxide is associated with chronic cognitive dysfunction.CiteNPL
Abstract
“…Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is an emerging condition, characterized by specific muscle lesions assessing long-term persistence of aluminum hydroxide within macrophages at the site of previous immunization…
…
MMF patients had pronounced and specific cognitive impairment. MACD mainly affected (i) both visual and verbal memory; (ii) executive functions, including attention, working memory, and planning; and (iii) left ear extinction at dichotic listening test…:”
Science blogs is your source, a big pharma shill site.
And of course, the risks of the disease we can prevent with vaccines are very, very high.
More unsubstantiated claims. Actually the oral polio vaccine is spreading polio all over the world. It is so blatant that some of these do-gooders are being killed.
Nutrition is what prevents disease, not RANDOM antigens that cause life-long autoimmune problems only to be denied by shills like you with ZERO responsibility for the damages that your belief system causes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21868478
Vitamin A supplements for preventing mortality, illness, and blindness in children aged under 5: systematic review and meta-analysis.
“..RESULTS:
43 trials with about 215,633 children were included. … Vitamin A supplementation was associated with a reduced incidence of diarrhoea (0.85, 0.82 to 0.87) and MEASLES (0.50, 0.37 to 0.67) and a reduced prevalence of vision problems, including night blindness (0.32, 0.21 to 0.50) and xerophthalmia (0.31, 0.22 to 0.45)….
CONCLUSIONS:
Vitamin A supplementation is associated with large reductions in mortality, morbidity, and vision problems in a range of settings, and these results cannot be explained by bias. Further placebo controlled trials of vitamin A supplementation in children between 6 and 59 months of age are not required. However, there is a need for further studies comparing different doses and delivery mechanisms (for example, fortification). Until other sources are available, vitamin A supplements should be given to all children at risk of deficiency, particularly in low and middle income countries…”
Interesting to contrast this with the tragic stories of the French children who were crippled following vaccinations. http://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Sante/Cinq-familles-devant-la-justice-547305
Five children, whose parents believe they were harmed by vaccines, something not yet proven. It might be true for at least some of them; nothing is 100% risk free. But on the other hand, we had 171 children die from flu alone last year, and thousands seriously harmed by flu and whooping cough, and before vaccines, thousands harmed or killed by HiB, measles, polio, diphtheria and the other killers we can now protect children against.
Every child harmed is a tragedy, but sacrificing thousands of children each year because five claim they were harmed by a vaccine – again, not yet proven – is very problematic.
Your denial of widespread adverse events associated with vaccines is what has contributed to the misrepresentation of safety and efficacy that so many scientist are denouncing as of today.
Any risk/benefit analysis for vaccines is meaningless because:
http://www.benthamdirect.org/pages/content.php?CMC%2F2011%2F00000018%2F00000017%2F0011C.SGM
“…the possibility that vaccine benefits may have been OVERRATED and the risk of potential adverse effects UNDERESTIMATED, has not been rigorously evaluated in the medical and scientific community…We hope that the present paper will provide a framework for a much needed and long overdue assessment of this highly contentious medical issue….”
It is possible to prove that a given child has been crippled by vaccines or that it suffers from the very disease the vaccine was supposed to protect it from…
In contrast, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to prove that a vaccinated child would have acquired the disease had it not been vaccinated.
Therefore, sinceplacebo.controlled studies with clinical endpoints to prove that vaccines actually protect (not the usual surrogate antibody titers) do not exit, vaccinating a child has to be considered as a subrepticious CLINICAL EXPERIMENT, which is forbidden by the Nuremberg Protocols.
Both claims are inaccurate.
* Vaccines are studied for safety by researchers from all over the world, and monitored by various governments. There is a lot of information about their safety, and when there is a problem, it’s transparently discussed and examined. For example, when the first rotavirus vaccine caused a serious problem – intussusception – in as rare as one per 10000 cases, the monitoring showed that and it was pulled off the market. And when the H1N1 vaccine caused a slight increase in cases of narcolepsy in Scandinavian countries, that too was openly acknowledged and discussed.
* We cannot prove if a specific child would or would not gotten a disease if she was not vaccinated; but we do have studies examining rates of diseases in populations and finding, again and again and again, that the rates of diseases are much higher in the unvaccinated: http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2069.pdf
Vaccine effectiveness, contrary to what you are implying, is not measured only by titers, but by rates of infection.
Phenomenal article.
“.. against all logic, vaccination rates are decreasing….”
Actually is the opposite. The typical profile of vaccine “refusers” are CONCERNED parents with COLLEGE EDUCATION. In contrast, most of the vaccine-submissive have NEVER contrasted the available information on vaccines nor have the educational baggage to have done so if they cared..
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120604142726.htm
“…More children of college-educated mothers were not vaccinated than children of non-college educated mothers, with noticeable spikes in 2003, 2004 and 2006…”
A college education does not guarantee understanding science. And most anti-vaccine activists do not understand science. Some even deny the germ theory, in the face of the evidence.
First of all, there are no anti-vaccine activists. There are SAFE vaccine activists, including Ms McCarthy.
And they all believe in the germ theory, something most of main stream medicine didn’t do 100 or so years ago.
A. I have met anti-vaccine activists who do not believe the germ theory.
B. Someone who uncritically accepts any criticism of vaccines and discounts their benefits, refuses to accepts answers to questions about vaccines because the abundant data is all manipulated by big pharma, and uses the falls into the tactics and tropes ably summarized by Anna Kata (Anna Kata, Anti-vaccine activists, Web 2.0, and the postmodern paradigm – An overview of tactics and tropes used online by the anti-vaccination movement, 30 VACCINE 3778(2012)) is fairly characterized as anti-vaccine.
Here’s an interesting article, and from the CDC no less…
http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2013/07/12/cdc-admits-as-many-as-30-million-americans-could-be-at-risk-for-cancer-due-to-polio-vaccine/
Yes, it’s not exactly a secret, and is an excellent example of how when problems are discovered they are handled seriously: when it was found out that some polio vaccines were contaminated with a virus – SV40 – in the 1960s, research was undertaken to see if it causes a risk of cancer. Large scale studies concluded it did not cause cancer in humans – summarized here with links: http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/polio-vaccines-cancer-debunking-myth/.
There is no conspiracy to hide problems, and they’re not brushed under the rug: in the rare cases a vaccine has a problem, it is seriously (and openly) investigated, and steps taken to prevent future issues and to know the harm.
The Liberty Beacon…seriously, Rick?
Care to show us where it has ever been proven that a simian virus (SV40) actually caused any cancers.
BTW, those vaccines were administered 60 years ago to children, who, if they are still living, have not been diagnosed with SV40-associated cancers.
You should stay away from crank websites and try to get some education about vaccines from the CDC and try to get some education about cancer from The American Cancer Society or from PubMed.
For most of the last 200 years, society had a built in herd immunity against anti-vaccine beliefs. It wasn’t perfect, but most of the time AVs didn’t communicate with each other in large numbers. When they did, it took great effort to organize newsletters and rallies. The internet changed that. Now an hysterical mother in Wisconsin can swap conspiracy theories with a sociopath in Surrey without leaving home. Entire communities of AVs reinforce the most improbably ideas in real time, and even offer dangerous medical advice for how to “treat” autistic children.
The Liberty Beacon…seriously!
I realize that isn’t the mainstream cool aid you follow, but if you had actually read their article you would have found links to CDC sites.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/11/06-0659_article.htm
(The Institute of Medicine recognizes that the biologic evidence indicates that infections with this DNA virus could lead to cancer in humans and recommends targeted biologic research of SV40 in human populations.)
Information from CDC about vaccines?
Who would you suggest I get this information from? Dr. Julie Gerberding, the former CDC director who is now president of Merck’s Vaccine division and also Director of MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories Private Limited.
Maybe I could get some information from Dr. Paul Offit from CHOP, who has made millions from a rotavirus vaccine he helped develop.
Or maybe I could get some information from Poul Thorsen, the Danish researcher hired by the CDC to investigate the links between vaccines and childhood disorders. OH WAIT, they can’t find him since he absconded with over a million dollars of research money.
The CDC and FBI are still looking for him.
Actually, aside from Thorsen, who I think is in hiding, and who I hope if convicted will spend a long time in jail, both these individuals are excellent sources on vaccines.
I realize anti-vaccine activists like to dismiss Dr. Gerberding’s long career in public service and research because after retiring from CDC she took a job with Merck, but most people don’t have to ignore her many years working for protecting children because of that.
And I realize that anti-vaccine activists begrudge Dr. Offit making money from a vaccine he worked 25 years on – 25 years with no guarantee it will succeed and go anywhere – a vaccine that can save hundreds of thousands of lives. But most people don’t have to buy into that, either.
Both these people have devoted their careers to helping others, and are extremely knowledgeable on vaccines. Unlike the Liberty Beacon’s writers.
I suppose you prefer anti-vaccine, anti-science blogs for your information.
Your remarks about respected doctors and researchers indicate that you are clueless about immunology, virology, bacteriology and the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable-diseases.
Too bad there isn’t a vaccine for ignorance.
By the way, science isn’t science these days. In case you haven’t read up, check out the conflicts of interest in medical journal writers and the widespread scandal that many of the articles are ghostwritten by Big Pharma. Then tell me about pristine “science” and what it shows. Georgetown is known to be a great university but doesn’t it teach a questioning attitude? Also, tell me what science shows that genetic epidemics occur?
@Lisa – if we didn’t know what to look for or vastly broaden the definition of something, that isn’t an epidemic either…..
And please feel free to look at this series of studies and point out on each one where there is a COI:
http://www2.aap.org/immunization/families/faq/vaccinestudies.pdf
Be specific.
Well, that link proves that some people have no idea what is going on around them.
If organic foods were in fact causing autism there would be a decrease in autism.
It seems some people think ‘organic’ food is something new. Organic is the way all food was grown 40-50 or more years ago. That was before chemical companies decided to get into the food industry.
I hope the people who actually read that link realize that it was written as satire.
Compost and manure are exactly what farmers used before chemical companies developed artificial fertilizers from left over petrochemicals.
And cross breeding of various plants of the same vegetable is not the same as generic modification to resist the chemicals used to fertilize them or to keep weeds out of the garden.
It isn’t just the GMOs. It’s the stuff they add before it gets to your table.
Bob Evans Instant Mashed Potatoes. Already mashed and cooked.
Just heat them up in the microwave. Really? They are packaged in a disposable plastic container. The same kind ‘they’ tell us we shouldn’t use in a microwave.
The ingredients are; Potatoes, whole milk and butter. That’s not unusual. That’s what I would use if I was making mashed potatoes. It’s what Grandma would have used when making mashed potatoes 100 years ago.
BUT, there are a few added ingredients in the packaged product. Margarine, hydrogenated soybean oil, water, salt, whey, soy lecithin, mono and diglycerides, sodium benzoate (preservative), artificial flavor, vitamin A palmitate, potassium sorbate(preservative), sodium acid pyrophosphate, spaice, artificial color, and more mono and diglycerides.
ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR? What do you add to potatoes to make them taste more like potatoes?
ARTIFICIAL COLOR? What color do you add to potatoes to make them look more like potatoes?
MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES? And other stuff I can’t pronounce. Food that you can’t pronounce? Maybe it’s French?
PRESERVATIVES? Maybe that’s not so bad. At my age I need all the preservation I can get.
I guess Grandma and I have been making mashed potatoes wrong for over 100 years.
A very lucid, well researched and well written article, Claire. Sadly many of the comments below show that those most in need of persuading have locked themselves in an echo chamber with others who share their misguided apprehensions. If it was just them, I would say leave them to it, but unfortunately they have made it their mission to convince the worried and the uninformed that vaccines are a danger, and that is unforgivable. Well done for advocating on the side of reason and science.
Mr. Chemistry, it is interesting to note that the country of Chile has just banned vaccines with thimerosol for children, the elderly, and pregnant women. Yet in this country we are hawking them in every drugstore. Could it be that we refuse to look at data that already exist or is our country always right about everything? All progress in science has been made through keeping an open mind and questioning. The history of science is filled with backtracking. Are you willing to give your preschooler a shot with mercury preservative that is against the law in other countries? If you are, you are not as smart as you think yourself to be.