You’d think that recent news about autism—i.e., the increasing amount of definitive evidence proving it’s not linked to vaccines—would be vindication for Paul Offit, the prominent pro-vaccination advocate and medical director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As you might recall, Offit sounded off earlier this year on the Hannah Poling case, offering an opinion that led to all sorts of name-calling and borderline hysteria.
Now, it appears, the hysteria has made a sharp right into psychosis. ABC News reports that Offit has been receiving death threats (as in, more than one) from anti-vaxers. On a recent “Today Show” appearance, Offit revealed that “the threats [he] received included a ‘phone call from an unidentified man who mentioned specific and private details’ about Offit’s family.”
And he’s not the only one: Flu vaccine advocate Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, describes the following:
“Among the most egregious things — I got a letter once railing against my involvement in vaccines and hoping that something serious would happen to me and hoping that something serious would happen to one of my children,” he said. “I had people come to the door of my home and harass my wife and kids, so I no longer have my address listed in the phone book.”
And at one point, Poland said, someone broke into his lab and attempted to hack into his computers. As a result, Poland’s lab is now locked down for security purposes.
Granted, leaders of anti-vax groups respond that they’ve also been the victims of harassment, with taunts like “baby-killer” hurled their way.
None of this behavior is excusable. Just as physicians and scientists have a right to perform their research and discuss their results without fear of violence, so do vaccine opponents have an equal right to raise questions and incite debate. The only real difference here is that one side is backed by the overwhelming bulk of scientific evidence, while the other simply isn’t.
The chilling effect that can/will/has occurred on both sides as a result of harassment is of course dangerous to free speech, but for doctors like Offit and Poland it has a more insidious significance: By keeping these experts from speaking freely about the total lack of an autism/vaccine link, and the health hazards that come with shunning vaccines, we’re endangering not only their first amendment rights, but also the health of children.
So what should be done? Well, for starters, we can stop relying on doctors to provide the sole voices of reason concerning the lack of a link between autism and vaccines—aka, the CDC and other government agencies can lend a hand. After this coming January, maybe that could actually happen.
Related:
RB: While the Anti-Vax Movement Strengthens, Their Arguments Only Get Weaker
RB: And So It Begins: U.S. Sees Big Measles Spike in Unvaccinated Kids
RB: Autism and Vaccination Smackdown Part II: This Time, The Doctors Go At It
November 6th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
“None of this behavior is excusable. Just as physicians and scientists have a right to perform their research and discuss their results without fear of violence, so do vaccine opponents have an equal right to raise questions and incite debate.”
No, they do not equate. They are not equal byany stretch of the imagination. What you propose I call the fallacy of false balance. Vaccines are proven safe and effective. Any promotion of anti-vaccination lies, and they are lies, is promotion of disability and death. Science and medicine should never give an imprimatur of validity to such opinions, which are the antithesis of science and medicine.
Your blogroll promotes exactly that, when you list the Huffington Post, a cesspool of anti-vaccinationist swine. I would have thought that Discover Magazine would be based on science. I was wrong.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Vaccines cause debilitating side effects, it is documented right on the package inserts. The more vaccines, the more chance of the devastating side effect. Common sense. You must stop saying there is no link because the science is there that shows the link between vaccines and physical damage to humans. Two words: Hannah Poling. Not rare. Just ask the United Mito organizations. Death Threats are not condoned by the serious vaccine safety advocates. Put your seatbelt on because the truth about the prevalence of vaccine injury causing autism will be confirmed in the next few years.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Vaccines have adverse effects. Autism is not one of them.
Each vaccine must be considered individually as an individual medicine, with its own risk/benefit ratio, and its own populations of greatest benefit and populations of greatest risk.
But on the balance, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks by many, many orders of magnitude.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I would like to see Dr Offit prove these claims.
He is a drama queen, profits at the expense of our kids health.
He is starting to look a bit crazy so he turns the tables on the parents.
Paul, go take your 100,000 vaccines and call me in the morning, we’ll talk… if you are still able to talk…
Hey come to think of it… Offit has made death threat on all our kids. He actually suggests babies can get 10,000 vaccines at once and be fine. Then defends his comments and up the ante to 100,000.
Sounds like he wants my kid to die.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Dang right. NIH, and especially CDC, get a spine and say what the science says. No more playing nice with the mercury mommies.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Heather @ 12:06:
Thanks for illustrating my point. Mercury mommies like you have no capacity for rational thinking. If you don’t understand the calculation, don’t throw up your hands and say it doesn’t make sense; ask someone smarter than you for help.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Vaccines Do cause Death and INJURY to many people of all ages. There is no long term safety studies done and no studies done with a vaccine given in conjunction with other multiple vaccines. We are in effect playing with peoples lives. There is also no evidence that vaccines prevent disease. There is evidence that vaccines cause disease. We know that the DTap, delayed until a child is 4 mo instead of 2 mo old, reduces the incidence of asthma by a significant amount.Yet, the vaccinators want to inject babies at 6 weeks old now. How many more kids, like mine, will suffer lifelong life threatening asthma?? We do know and it is publicly accepted by “science” that the Hib vaccine can CAUSE juvenile onset of diabetes.
We do know, by looking at the MSDS sheets for thimerosal( which contains mercury), that thimerosal and alumninum are not supposed to be in the same preparation, yet many vaccines contain both. Mercury and aluminum combined significantly increase the toxicity of both. How many epidemics began, at the same time and same area a new vaccine was introduced? Many.
You must immerse yourself in the real science of vaccines to begin to understand the incredible onslaught of violence that is visited upon our children by those who have sworn to protect those very same children. You must read the scientific papers yourself to understand the fraud that is perpetuated by the vaccinators and the vaccine manufacturers.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:49 am
http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab004407.html
Abstract
Background
Public debate over the safety of the trivalent measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and the resultant drop in vaccination rates in several countries, persists despite its almost universal use and accepted effectiveness.
Objectives
We carried out a systematic review to assess the evidence of effectiveness and unintended effects associated with MMR.
Search strategy
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2004, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1966 to December 2004), EMBASE (1974 to December 2004), Biological Abstracts (from 1985 to December 2004), and Science Citation Index (from 1980 to December 2004). Results from reviews, handsearching and from the consultation of manufacturers and authors were also used.
Selection criteria
Eligible studies were comparative prospective or retrospective trials testing the effects of MMR compared to placebo, do-nothing or a combination of measles, mumps and rubella antigens on healthy individuals up to 15 years of age. These studies were carried out or published by 2004.
Data collection and analysis
We identified 139 articles possibly satisfying our inclusion criteria and included 31 in the review.
Main results
MMR was associated with a lower incidence of upper respiratory tract infections, a higher incidence of irritability, and similar incidence of other adverse effects compared to placebo. The vaccine was likely to be associated with benign thrombocytopenic purpura, parotitis, joint and limb complaints, febrile convulsions within two weeks of vaccination and aseptic meningitis (mumps) (Urabe strain-containing MMR). Exposure to MMR was unlikely to be associated with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, autism or aseptic meningitis (mumps) (Jeryl-Lynn strain-containing MMR). We could not identify studies assessing the effectiveness of MMR that fulfilled our inclusion criteria even though the impact of mass immunisation on the elimination of the diseases has been largely demonstrated.
Authors’ conclusions
The design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies, both pre- and post-marketing, are largely inadequate. The evidence of adverse events following immunisation with MMR cannot be separated from its role in preventing the target diseases.
This is what the Cochrane Review found about one of the vaccines currently in rotation. Despite what the cheerleaders and paid spokespersons may utter, vaccine research on the whole is nowhere near conclusively ending the debate about their role in triggering or aggravating PDD’s.
You can fool yourselves all you want, but reality is a different matter altogether.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
# Heather Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I would like to see Dr Offit prove these claims.
____________
Dr. Offit has published the calculations to back up his claim that an infant can tolerate 100,000 antigens at once. If you disagree, then you need to publish a reasonable, logical rebuttal in a credible medical journal. If you do, you’ll be the first. Until you pull that off, your opinion is nothing more than unfounded speculation, which only adds to the needless concern some parents feel over vaccines.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Dr. Offit has published the calculations to back up his claim.
Calculations are not science its math. Let Dr. Offit offer up one of his chidlren to be injected with 100,000 vaccines at once. Then lets see what the outcome is? Let him use his flesh and blood as the guinea pig.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Book Review: Not Stupid. Autism Leads to School for Special Needsby Debbie Marsh
12345678910
Anna Kennedy has written an autobiography that doesn’t hide the pain of being the mother of two autistic children, but the bulk of the book is about triumph. In 1999, she and her husband opened a special-needs school in order to ensure that the needs of her children would be met.
The author felt overwhelmed when her first son was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. That was before she discovered that her second son had autism and would need a lifetime of care.
Although Kennedy resides in Great Britain, American readers will relate to her struggle to raise and educate her children. The book covers her courtship with husband Sean, through the birth of their sons and the boys’ teenage years.
Parents of autistic children will relate to the multiple doctor visits for testing and evaluation, the tantrums, the lack of physical affection. Kennedy tells her story in a down-to-earth style that makes her seem like an old and cherished friend. She doesn’t hide her frustration and sorrow.
“He was obsessed with shapes and patterns and worst of all, he’d scream if I touched him,” she writes of her first son, Patrick. “His refusal to show his love was heartbreaking.”
When her second son, Angelo, was diagnosed with autism, she says, “I was devastated and cried for weeks.” Her honesty makes her more relatable to readers.
By the time the boys were eight and five, they had been turned away from 26 schools for children with special needs. All of them had waiting lists. So she decided to start her own.
“It all started from sheer desperation,” she writes. “There were times when I rang my mum and just cried and cried over the phone.”
Although Kennedy discusses the process of getting the school up and running, this isn’t a how-to manual on starting your own educational institution. The emphasis is on her children, their development and how she and her husband were able to cope with problems they encountered.
Sometimes, it was exhausting just to physically care for Angelo, who sleeps about three or four hours a night and routinely wets the bed, even when he’s awake.
“Do I ever think, ‘Why me?’” she writes. “Only for a second. The thing I crave most is a little peace and quiet – and some sleep!”
But the book also exposes a rich array of friendships that Kennedy gained through her networking with parents and educators. A favorite teacher is highlighted for his work, and the growth of the school is outlined in terms of new needs and changing staff. The author doesn’t avoid discussing growing pains with the school, or her own sadness over a miscarried baby in 2004.
In all, “Not Stupid” is a frank, hopeful account that is recommended reading for adults and teens.
Not Stupid. Anna Kennedy, John Blake Publishing Ltd., 2008, 299p. ISBN 978-1-84454-507-0.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Book Review: Not Stupid. Autism Leads to School for Special Needsby Debbie Marsh
12345678910
Anna Kennedy has written an autobiography that doesn’t hide the pain of being the mother of two autistic children, but the bulk of the book is about triumph. In 1999, she and her husband opened a special-needs school in order to ensure that the needs of her children would be met.
The author felt overwhelmed when her first son was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. That was before she discovered that her second son had autism and would need a lifetime of care.Angelo her youngest son Anna felt was affected by MMR vaccine and talks of her experiences.
Although Kennedy resides in Great Britain, American readers will relate to her struggle to raise and educate her children. The book covers her courtship with husband Sean, through the birth of their sons and the boys’ teenage years.
Parents of autistic children will relate to the multiple doctor visits for testing and evaluation, the tantrums, the lack of physical affection. Kennedy tells her story in a down-to-earth style that makes her seem like an old and cherished friend. She doesn’t hide her frustration and sorrow.
“He was obsessed with shapes and patterns and worst of all, he’d scream if I touched him,” she writes of her first son, Patrick. “His refusal to show his love was heartbreaking.”
When her second son, Angelo, was diagnosed with autism, she says, “I was devastated and cried for weeks.” Her honesty makes her more relatable to readers.
By the time the boys were eight and five, they had been turned away from 26 schools for children with special needs. All of them had waiting lists. So she decided to start her own.
“It all started from sheer desperation,” she writes. “There were times when I rang my mum and just cried and cried over the phone.”
Although Kennedy discusses the process of getting the school up and running, this isn’t a how-to manual on starting your own educational institution. The emphasis is on her children, their development and how she and her husband were able to cope with problems they encountered.
Sometimes, it was exhausting just to physically care for Angelo, who sleeps about three or four hours a night and routinely wets the bed, even when he’s awake.
“Do I ever think, ‘Why me?’” she writes. “Only for a second. The thing I crave most is a little peace and quiet – and some sleep!”
But the book also exposes a rich array of friendships that Kennedy gained through her networking with parents and educators. A favorite teacher is highlighted for his work, and the growth of the school is outlined in terms of new needs and changing staff. The author doesn’t avoid discussing growing pains with the school, or her own sadness over a miscarried baby in 2004.
In all, “Not Stupid” is a frank, hopeful account that is recommended reading for adults and teens.
Not Stupid. Anna Kennedy, John Blake Publishing Ltd., 2008, 299p. ISBN 978-1-84454-507-0.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Dear Peggy and Heather:
Do learn how to read. Dr. offit has said that a child can tolerate 100,000 *antigens*, not vaccines. Now that you know there is a difference, go and learn what that is.
You should note that an infant, from its first breath, is being expose of antigens on an order of magnitude that is astounding. When Grandma and Grandpa come over, they are exposed to more antigens. Big brother and big sister expose them to antigens. YOU expose them to antigens.
Your problem is that you have drank the anti-vaccination kool aid and cannot stop to think for a moment that you may be wrong. You desperately need someone to blame.
My family went through that, and then we quit the blame game, and decided to parent (that is a verb). We have never looked back, and never have been happier.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Vaccines injure and vaccines kill more people than anyone has ever dreamed of. I will never vaccinate my loved ones again after the nightmare I’ve been through thanks to vaccines in Feb 2007. Don’t study the vaccines, study the diseases because the CDC is lying to the public (their reported figures tell a completely different story). Or better yet, talk to an elderly person about disease history! Just do your homework America before Autism affects 1 in 5 people! Duh, it is the vaccines!