FROM THE PAPER THAT BROUGHT YOU THE IRAQ WAR ...

BY DAN OLMSTED

The New York Times' self-appointed role as guardian of the CDC's childhood immunization schedule continues apace this morning with a front-page story, "Public Health Risk Seen as Parents Reject Vaccines." It pretty much speaks for itself but allow us to point out three things.

One: "Recent news stories that a federal vaccine court agreed to pay the family of an autistic child in Georgia who had an underlying mitochondrial disorder has led some skeptics to speculate that vaccines may worsen some conditions. Again, researchers say there is no evidence to support this thesis." Unfortunately for "researchers" -- don't you love these monolithic anonymous categories? -- that's exactly what the government conceded in the Hannah Poling case. The Times gets it wrong by letting "the experts" shape the truth. Again.

Two: "In 1991, less than 1 percent of children in the states with personal-belief exemptions went without vaccines based on the exemptions; by 2004 ... the percentage had increased to 2.54 percent. ..." The number is doubtless higher now. The point is, 2.54 percent of children in the 21 states with vaccine exemptions -- which include California, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania -- is not an insignificant number. Given that about 4 million babies are born in the U.S. every year, it looks to me like there are tens of thousands of kids out there who could be the unvaxed half of a vaxed-unvaxed survey. See Boyd Haley's post (HERE) on our site for why that matters.

Three: Speaking of our site, " ... many of these parents are influenced by misinformation from Web sites that oppose vaccination." At first I thought we here at Age of Autism might qualify, but we don't "oppose vaccination" -- we oppose the autism epidemic and the CDC's out-of-control vaccination schedule that includes hepatitis B shots on the day of birth. What are these manifold sites that "oppose vaccination" and what exactly is the information they purvey that has turned impressionable parents into menaces to public health? I'm sure there are some, but they're not the ones the parents I know are reading. And just because we don't chop down trees, float them down the river, grind 'em up with unpleasant environmental side effects and truck 'em all over the place before we are able to publish doesn't mean the Internet makes us inherently less reliable than the Gray Lady.

Which brings us back to the headline. Five years -- this week -- into the Iraq war, the major players (the president, the veep, the Times) have learned nothing, even though most of the rest of America has made up its own mind. Remember how the Times printed all that bogus stuff about WMD's based in part on Judith Miller's cozy lunches with "expert" Scooter Libby, then on top of the world as chief of staff to Cheney? Well, Mr. Libby was disbarred yesterday, as you might have read. Judith Miller was forced out at the Times, which repented on Iraq but has yet to apply the lesson to the story that is its domestic equivalent -- the poisoning of an entire generation by those we have entrusted with their health.

To quote Bob Dylan, "Time will tell/ Who has fell/ And who's been left behind/ When you go your way and I go mine."
--
Dan Olmsted is editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

[diane]

Hey CDC -- here's a whole group of non-vaccinated kiddos to study - oh wait - don't want to do that.

[Margo]

In 2004 I attended a major science writers' workshop. One of the teachers that year was a young New York Times reporter who was there with his wife and toddler. During a social moment his wife mentioned, quite offhandedly, that they had family friends whose child of the same age had become autistic from the mercury in shots. I was stunned, since at that time the subject was rarely discussed in polite society. Later, during the sessions, I brought it up to her husband. He said yes, thimerosal had damaged children in the past but it had since been removed from children's vaccines. I told him I thought he was wrong about that, and asked if he would like evidence that it was in fact still present. He expressed interest and told me to come up with some documentation. After the meetings adjourned, I spent a fair amount of my own time running down evidence to support my claim. Eventually, I sent him a packet for which he thanked me by e-mail. After a period of several months I followed up with an inquiry as to what was happening with the potential story. He informed me his editor had "turned it over to Gardner Harris, whose take is that there is no connection." It was the first (though not last) I had heard of Harris, but I have been in a state of seeting rage over the coverup ever since.

[Richard]

Sadly the NYT is pretty much a joke of a newspaper having lost so much credibility over the years that many read it like and enquirer magazine. I think it is positive that the issue of vaccines is constantly in the press and this creates open discussion in the workplace and homes.Even though the NYT does not get it parents and grand parents with young children do get it,they see many disabled children all around them and they do not want to be another statistic.

[Kevin]

"Gardiner Harris contributed reporting from Washington."

From whose office in Washington was Gardiner Harris alledgedly reporting?

[Garbo]

Dan, thank you for all you do. And I hope you or someone else informed is working on an op ed response or at least a good letter. Because I just read the comments on that NY Times post and I thought my head was going to explode. The whole tenor is vehemently anti-parent. They. Don't. Get. It. It's like every pharma employee wrote in every talking point all at once.

[<3 AofA]

Anytime I read one of these biased pieces, I get the feeling they are begging for states to abolish our exemption waivers. How unamerican is that?

[Kelli Ann Davis]

“The parents who objected to their children being inoculated are among a small but growing number of vaccine skeptics…..”

How come these parents are bestowed with the coveted title “vaccine skeptics” and we get the emotionally charged title of “anti-vaccine” – kind of odd considering that WE are the ones who actually vaccinated our children!

“They do not perceive risk of the disease but perceive risk of the vaccine.”

No kidding. Maybe that’s because with numbers like 1 in 150 for a life-long disability, parents may think THAT'S just a tad bit more “risky” than contracting the measles.

In Gardiner’s examples did you see him mention one fatality related to any of the recent outbreaks?

[biomedmama7]

It is just shameful how mainstream media has fooled people into thinking Thimerosal is no longer in vaccines, and won't correct the misinformation. It seems to me they are making themselves also liable in the event of future Thimerosal vaccine injury?

[Brooke Potthast]

Another perfectly written piece by you Dan. Today's lead headline in our local rag the Wash Post tells us that the vaccine work on AIDS is somehow not just falling short but may be showing a "trend toward harm among vaccine recipients". Oh REAALLY, I feel like screaming from the top of my roof! How can these people not put two and two together? Every week I read in the Post of a new danger and failure by Pharma drugs and yet every childhood vaccine manufactured and administered is pure and safe by virtue of it being in the US vaccine program. Okay, this is why I never post I am now ready to launch on anyone coming my way! Deep breath, I just wanted to tell you you are a great writer!
Brooke

[KarenAtlanta]

I guess what unnerves me most is being pegged as anti-vaccine when we, as consumers, ask for safe schedules and non-toxic shots.
I like to remind journalists that we were the ones who observed the mandates and vaccinated, now we have nothing to show for it but 4 million in lifetime care.
We are fully vested here.
Remember that Mr.Reporter, next time you slam parents of Autistic children who question vaccine safety.
We complied. We bought in. We vaccinate to schedule.
We started out very pro-vaccine.
We watched our kids, react, regress and suffer.
Some of us have it all documented on paper.

Thank you for busting the myths Dan.