
Unraveling the history of the vaccine-autism scare - soundsop
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/05/unravelling-the-history-of-the-vaccine-autism-scare.ars
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amelim
Anti-vaccination groups, such as those led by Jenny McCarthy, are gaining a
significant amount of publicity these days. One of the most unfortunate bits
of news is that McCarthy herself will be getting her own talk show thanks to
Oprah. The medical community as a whole needs to start standing up to these
erroneous claims and educating the masses before these previously defeated
diseases start popping up again.

Dr. Steven Novella has a pretty good write-up about the whole situation here
if you are interested <http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=444>

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ShabbyDoo
We have a 3 1/2 year-old son who was just diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.
I'm angered by the caused-by-vaccines people because they're obfuscating the
issue and causing funding to be mis-directed.

Interestingly, his school (he attends an early-intervention pre-school run by
our public school system) used an auto-dialer to leave a message from the
principal. The message: A second grader was diagnosed with whooping cough -- a
real risk of vaccine avoidance!

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mistermann
I'm glad this subject came up here on hacker news. I have a 4 month old
daughter and am thinking through this vaccination thing. I went to a
homeopathy "information" session the other night...lets just say their
argument wasn't entirely convincing.

However, I _do_ think there is something to this issue.

Two things that make me cautious are: 1) There is no doubt that pharmaceutical
companies have a vested interest in getting new vaccines approved /
recommended for widespread default usage (whether or not there is an actual
need for it). 2) Most importantly, it seems to me....it would be quite simple
for an individual country to record stats on a per person basis on exactly
what vaccinations they have received, and cross reference this with a)
incidences of disease, and b) incidences of negative (potential) side effects.

As for #2, to me, the idea that this _isn't_ done makes me extremely
suspicious. It is by no means proof of anything, but I can't imagine how a
medical system that truly cares about the health of its customers wouldn't be
extremely interested in tracking this at a very detailed level.

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ScottWhigham
We have a one year old and my wife interviewed several doctors before finding
one that would give the vaccines on an irregular schedules. One of the fears
people have isn't that one particular vaccine is the problem; it's that
bundling multiple vaccines together and giving them to 12mo or 15mo kids is
causing problems. So we found a doctor who gives one shot at visit A and then
gives the other shot(s) at visit B a few weeks later. Maybe it's nothing but I
feel better.

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jobu
Personally I think the extra scrutiny toward vaccinations is a really good
thing. Babies are given a large number of very powerful shots in a short time
frame, often causing sickness for a week or more. Statistically the benefits
of immunization outweigh the risks, but there has to be better way to
accomplish it. Until recently, very little research was done to analyze the
effects of all shots in concert.

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amelim
The "too many too soon" myth is just another strategy by these groups to
target vaccinations. I'm all for extra scrutiny, but that scrutiny needs to be
based in reality and facts, not soccer moms who talk about the evil big pharma
people out to get their kids. Again, here is a very thorough article on the
topic of vaccination schedules should you be inclined to get more information
<http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=289>

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mistermann
I am totally open minded about this topic, but I didn't find that article
particularly convincing. The general point is that you are exposed to millions
of harmful pathogens per year; a vaccination is just a few more, so
.00000000000x% increase.

But, this is assuming that a vaccination is in no way different than normal
pathogens, which I have no way of knowing.

I have heard both anecdotal, as well as confirmed (I am quite sure) cases of
children dying within _very_ close proximity to receiving certain
vaccinations. I think I have heard of 3 Canadian (or was it US) girls getting
sick and dying within days after receiving the new cervical cancer
vaccination.

Now, maybe I can't _prove_ that it was the vaccination that caused my daughter
to die 3 days later, but sometimes recurring coincidences sometimes indicate
something is happening outside our sphere of knowledge.

