A friend suggested she was tired of hearing about vaccines. Her comment and our subsequent conversation seemed to reflect an important shift in parent sentiment: the conversation about vaccines is beginning to get somewhere.
While much of this was born of the MSM’s newfound realization that the vaccine-autism connection was cooked, some of this is due to the tireless of work of those like CHOP’s Dr. Paul Offit who work get the story right.
As part of his passionate agenda to expose vaccine truths he’s published Deadly Choices – How the Anti-vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (Basic Books, 2011) (affiliate link). For those looking to understand the origins of anti-vaccine sentiment, read Deadly Choices.
What struck me is the deep history behind the anti-vaccine movement. From Jenner’s smallpox fix to modern day MMR struggles, Offit draws fascinating corollaries surrounding immunization that seem to defy the generations. Vaccine resistance was not born of Andrew Wakefield but broader concerns rooted in religion, individual liberty, fear and propaganda. Deadly Choices puts the anti-vaccine movement in a historic sequence that reads like good suspense. I couldn’t put it down.
And just for fun, I’ll bet you didn’t know this: The Raggedy Ann doll is a derivative of the anti-vaccine movement. In 1915, Johnny Gruelle, a cartoonist and illustrator in New York City, lost his daughter to congenital heart disease. Despite the child’s cause of death, Gruelle blamed the smallpox vaccine. In his daughter’s memory, he created a doll with red yarn for hair and floppy arms and legs—a symbol of children harmed by vaccines. He called it Raggedy Ann. Who knew?
Perhaps the most valuable chapter, titled “Dr. Bob,” addresses the myths and fallacies surrounding the alternate vaccine schedule as suggested by Bob Sears. This formal evisceration of “Dr. Bob” and his harebrained scheme is worth the price of the book. It should be required reading by every parent in America. Concerning Bob Sears…
Although Sears is probably well meaning, one has to question the hubris of a man who decides to create his own vaccine schedule—someone who claims his schedule is better and safer than that recommended by the CDC and AAP. It’s all the more amazing when one considers that Robert Sears has never published a paper on vaccine science; never reviewed a vaccine license application; never participated in the creation, testing, or monitoring of a vaccine; and never developed an expertise in any field that intersects with vaccines—specifically, virology, immunology, epidemiology, toxicology, microbiology, molecular biology, or statistics. Yet he believes he can sit down at his desk and come up with a better schedule.
I have to add that Deadly Choices author, Paul Offit, should be seen as the ultimate child advocate. Selflessly representing public health interests in the media, Offit individually works on behalf of children in a way that most of us should. In a self-centered world that has too quickly forgotten the threat of deadly childhood disease, Offit’s is a passionate voice of reason. It’s hard to measure the impact of his advocacy.
Despite the recent attention drawn to Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent behavior, dialog surrounding vaccine truths can’t get enough light. To understand the history behind vaccine hesitancy is to understand the patterns of resistance to future public health efforts. Deadly Choices should be required reading by everyone concerned with the future of children’s health.
If you liked this then you might like these other vaccine-related posts on 33 charts: Vaccines, Autism and Firearms; Vaccines, Autism and the Failure of the Hive; Vaccine-Preventable Disease – The Forgotten Story; or When Autism Divides Neighbors.
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Bryan,
Your piece was so interesting this Curious George had to learn some more. I thought Dr. Offit had received death threats and sure enough this is the sad truth.
“But there will be no book tour for the doctor, Paul A. Offit, author of “Autism’s False Prophets.” He has had too many death threats.” DONALD G. McNEIL Jr New York Times.
http://nyti.ms/epCtbq
“When Jonas Salk invented polio vaccine, he was a hero — and I’m a terrorist?”
What concerns me the most about the entire vaccine “debate” is the fact that so many people, even those who are “well educated,” seem to lack a basic understanding and trust in science. Frankly I find this frightening.
Thank you again for presenting your posts/Book Notes in a way that enhances my knowledge and quickly inspires me to read yet another book.
Be sure to read today’s interview with Dr. Offit at The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism.
This is the question I’ve been wanting him to answer:
Dr. Offit will be on The Colbert Report this evening (Jan 31, 2011)
I would love to know more about Johnny Gruelle’s story. How did the medical establishment treat his daughter when there was no “cure” for congenital heart disease.? When there was no hospice, did she die comfortably? There is no cure for autism. Effective treatments are poorly funded and poorly understood by most general pediatricians and family medicine physicians. Ask a pediatric resident to name two autism specific treatments and two chemotherapeutic drugs. They will probably give you the media myths for the first and solid information for the later. I think much of the anti-vaccine rhetoric in autism circles stems from dissatisfaction with the medical establishment. In Louder than Words, Jenny McCarthy’s first book about her autistic son, she articulates this frustration saying she is told that ABA is an evidence based therapy that she should pursue. Then she gets put on an 8 month waiting list to receive it. We would never treat any other “disease” that way. I vaccinate my autistic son and I am a big fan of Offit. I am not an autism expert or a vaccine expert, but as a general pediatrician, I have plenty to say about how families dealing with autism are treated or not treated in this country. Unfortunately, parents are FORCED to become the experts in their child because there is no comprehensive center to care for all their needs.
Thank you for an interesting post and comments. I want to add that Deadly Choices also explain very well the concept of herd immunity. I believe a lot of parents who are deciding not to vaccinate their children do not understand this. Dr. Offit also explains it well here: http://thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/2011/01/interview-dr-paul-offit.html
I take it you haven’t read Andrew Wakefield’s: “Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines: The Truth Behind a Tragedy?” I don’t know how you can ignore all the evidence about vaccines and autism. It almost seems like a religious affiliation, not unlike the claim you made that vaccine resistance was born of “broader concerns rooted in religion, individual liberty, fear and propaganda.”
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