And so the rug is pulled out from beneath the feet of doctor-not, Jenny McCarthy.
Science wins once again. An errant claim that went out into the world failed the test of reproducibility. Sadly the errant claim, connecting vaccination with autism, collected fans. The fans are not burdened with knowledge of or adherence to the methods of science.
The fans trust a Playboy playmate's "wisdom" over the consensus of the medical community. They will, no doubt, have a continuing negative effect on health care for years to come.
See The Jenny McCarthy Body Count and Science Based Medicine for more.
Shame on the "Lancet" for publishing Dr. Andrew Wakeford's "research" 12 years ago claiming causality between the MMR vaccine and autism based on his "study" involving TWELVE children!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Oprah had Ms. McCarthy on her show promoting her as a social crusader with respect to this whole vaccine-autism issue. Is there a chance that Ms. Winfrey will provide equal time to the refutation of Dr. Wakeford's outrageous report? On the next Oprah: "Science Based Medicine and You" - DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!
This is absolutely a win for the good guys; however, I don't see it slowing down the antivaxxers. This should turn some people around who have been on the fence.
ReplyDeleteMy baby has his 2 month shots today; he had some crying and some sleeping, so I went to the 'net for info. Try doing that without running into these cranks - it's practically impossible!
ReplyDelete