Comments on: Some vax facts

By: BigHeathenMike

BigHeathenMike — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:57:26 +0000

Thanks for the link, Phil! I just noticed; must have missed it when you first posted while I was rolling around, Scrooge McDuck-like, in all my Big Pharma phat cash.

By: The Anti-Vaccine Fraud: It Gets Worse « The One World Focus

The Anti-Vaccine Fraud: It Gets Worse « The One World Focus — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:10:42 +0000

[...] well as Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy, and Mike’s Weekly Skeptic Report, which had this to say about the revelations: The [...]

By: bigjohn756

bigjohn756 — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:16:09 +0000

Amanda Peet is very intelligent…also, a doll.

By: Zucchi

Zucchi — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:26:27 +0000

The people who remain anti-vaccine true believers seem like a textbook example of “belief perseverance”; holding onto a belief even harder after being offered contrary evidence. I don’t know what it’s like to have an autistic child; maybe it makes people so desperate for some kind of handle on the situation that they’ll believe whatever seems to offer a coherent cause or way of dealing with it.

(There are probably still parents of autistic children who believe in “facilitated communication”.)

By: Mat in Sydney

Mat in Sydney — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:57:16 +0000

I’m torn. On one hand I can see the value in having this lady use her celebrity to support the cause (ie, fight fire with fire), but on the other hand, isn’t it being hypocritical? We’ve always dismissed Jenny McCarthy primarily based on her lack of formal scientific/medical qualifications (and past culinary habits). It’s nice to have Amanda Peet’s support, but I just feel promoting her as a hero makes us look exactly the same as those who view Jenny McCarthy as a hero. Will it all come down to which side has the most celebrities on their team? I hope not, but maybe that’s the nature of the beast, especially with the power of the media to guide public opinions.

By: Joseph G

Joseph G — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:49:23 +0000

I feel sorry for Jim Carey. Basically, he was faced with a choice: going along with loony anti-vaccine nonsense, or not getting to bang Jenny McCarthy anymore.
I’m not sure which one I’d pick either.

Edit: Or as my boss says “Maybe he doesn’t agree with the anti-vax stuff, but he wants to keep giving Jenny his injections.”
Yeah, I work in a strange place.

By: LaurenF

LaurenF — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:43:51 +0000

@Dawn – Thanks for the clarification, that makes me feel a little better!

He did much better than I do. We both got upset when the nurse stuck him, but he was calmed down and even smiling when I was still sniffling. His daddy’s going to have to take him as he gets more aware of his surroundings, so hopefully my phobia doesn’t get passed on!

By: The Anti-Vaccine Fraud: It Gets Worse | Blue Wave News

The Anti-Vaccine Fraud: It Gets Worse | Blue Wave News — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:10:41 +0000

[...] well as Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy, and Mike’s Weekly Skeptic Report, which had this to say about the revelations: The [...]

By: TheBlackCat

TheBlackCat — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:49:53 +0000

@ Liz: Wow, I knew Wakefield had commercial conflicts of interest, but I had no idea it was anything as detailed and secretive as that. The hospital should also be held responsible for its role in covering up his conflicts of interest.

By: Beelzebud

Beelzebud — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:46:06 +0000

I guess I can forgive her for being in 2012.

I didn’t dislike that movie so much for the 2012 theme (I can suspend disbelief in the name of good fiction), but boy was it ridiculous!

By: mike burkhart

mike burkhart — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:24:05 +0000

I just saw on CNN a report that the study liking vaccines and autism is flawed . Therefore it should not be trusted or relied upon. This meens that Anti-vaxers have no proof to backup there claims.

By: Sir Eccles

Sir Eccles — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:24:35 +0000

So, what is Andrew Wakefield’s visa status in the US?

By: Liz Ditz

Liz Ditz — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:50:06 +0000

I'm keeping a list of positive responses to the BMJ (Yes Wakefield is a fraud, and here are the implications...) and negative responses (Wakefield's research IS TOO valid and vaccines cause autism anyway) at A roundup of responses to the BJM & Wakefield's research was motivated by fraud. The list includes responses to today's revelations in the BMJ http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c5258.full that Wakefield's fraud was motivated by schemes to make millions from alternative vaccines. Some observations 1. The positive responses come from a broad range of sites -- politically left and right; people who are skeptics/ people who have heretofore (to my knowledge) never commented on vaccines or autism before, and so on. The negative responses are from a predictable set of sites and people. 2. The news coverage in the US has (perhaps inadvertently) perpetrated the idea that all parents of children with autism believe in the vaccine causation myth. It is a complete falsehood. Many parents of children with autism and adults with autism robustly reject the myth. 3. Kev Leitch, whose daughter has intense autism, has a moving post on how Wakefield's actions have damaged everyone affected by autism

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:40:33 +0000

@rob (#24):
As long as the A. Peet movie you choose to watch isn’t “2012.” I’m afraid that much of her karmic capital earned combating the anti-vax nutters may have been spent on that piece of disaster porn $#!+. Not trying to be a hater here, I was just disappointed at her choice to be involved with that one. Overall, I think she’s still on the “plus” side.

By: rob

rob — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:11:28 +0000

Amanda: if you read this, congrats to you for being a celebrity that spouts reason!

i am going to go and watch one of your movies on Netflix tonight.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:15:33 +0000

@LaurenF: actually, IIRC, Wakers never was “practicing” (in the formal, licensed sense of the word) in Texas. He was the nominative “consultant” for Thoughtful House, which had another, US licensed physician as the “medical director”. However, from stories I’ve heard (he met with parents who came to TH), he was practicing without a license by giving advice and suggesting medications (leaving the actual test ordering, procedures and prescriptions to the US doc). Fortunately for us all, he is no longer there, but he is still in the US drumming up support for his next “study”.

PS…congrats of the first round being over with. May your son get through them all as easily as my 2 daughters did (a little crankiness, a little redness and tenderness on the vax site on the leg for a day or so). Have to admit, they did better with their vaccines than I did with my last TD…

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:05:16 +0000

PS. I meant to add a warning that the linked ‘Penn & Teller’ on vaccines Youtube clip contains some

Not Safe For Work

Language but forgot to add that to my comment above – mea culpa, my apologies.

By: LaurenF

LaurenF — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:57:05 +0000

I smiled when I saw this post yesterday, because I saw it only a few hours after taking my little boy in for his first round of vaccines (including DTP, which takes a weight off my mind given that it’s been on the rise in my state!)

The nurse and I had a nice chat about Ms. McCarthy and that excresence Wakefield. Somehow I’d missed that he was actually practicing as a doctor in Texas – I thought he was just there to help the anti-vaccine nutters! Man did I get mad hearing about that, so it was nice that it was leavened by the news that he’s losing that right to practice.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:15:03 +0000

All you need to know about the anti-vax movement… This is truly sad.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110111184129.htm

By: Terry

Terry — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:49:36 +0000

@Zucchi:
You should just come to the darkside and realize that the only way to achieve true social justice is to keep the government from stealing all of our money. Then you can fully appreciate HuffPo for what it is.
(/ducks)

By: Zucchi

Zucchi — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:39:26 +0000

As a bleeding-heart, tax-and-spend liberal, I find a lot of interesting stuff at the Huffington Post. It kills me that they also give a home to this kind of crap.

By: Stanley

Stanley — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:24:41 +0000

more of your ‘get drugged up wit dead germs’ garbage?

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:25:42 +0000

Also my favourite song on this issue :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xw0Ob5bqs

Just in case you haven’t seen / heard it before.

Also in case you haven’t seen it yet this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo&feature=related

Via Penn & Teller is pretty great & well worth watching too.

***

NB. Both these clips have featured on this blog in the past too.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:15:16 +0000

@ ^ Nigel Depledge :

It highlights how crappy the media are at reporting stories that are more than mere opinion or football results.

Seconded by me. The media are really pretty appalling when it comes to science generally & this issue in particular. It really shouldn’t be so hard for them to get just the basics right should it? But yet it seems to be.

@9. gogblog Says:

I preferred Jenny McCarthy the harmless and mildly entertaining dumb blonde instead of jenny McCarthy the public health hazard dumb blonde.

Me too.

As a supposed “health issues” spokeslady Jenny McCarthy makes an excellent playboy bunny.

Oh & HAPPY BIRTHDAY Amanda Peet! Many happy returns!

(Just on the off-chance she’s going to read this – belatedly too I know.)

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:34:14 +0000

@ Monkey (10 & 12) -
Man, that’s a tough one!

It highlights how crappy the media are at reporting stories that are more than mere opinion or football results.

Newspapers have been especially bad for many decades, but TV news reports are rarely much better and new media are sometimes even worse. It seems that far too few journalists ask how people know what they claim to know – or even care about integrity in any sense.

I heartily recommend Ben Goldacre’s book Bad Science as an introduction to media-proofing.