Deliberate Ignorance: Minnesota Measles' Spotty Reporting is Contagious
By Anne Dachel
The biggest news sources in America twist Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s words.
There are currently lots of stories out on the outbreak of measles in Minnesota. It’s all tied to the Somalis in the Twin Cities and their fears over the MMR vaccine and autism.
The six news reports from major outlets that I cited below each dismissed any vaccine-autism link out-of-hand with trite phrases like “a discredited theory.” Regression after vaccination was tossed aside as mere coincidence, and no one even mentioned the horrific rate of autism, one in 32, among these Somali children.
I’m sure that no reporter has ever looked into the science they constantly reference that has supposedly answered the question: Do vaccines cause autism?
Emily Sohn at NPR is convinced that “abundant scientific evidence” disproves the claim of a link.
Lena Sun at the Washington Post cited Andrew Wakefield as the “founder of the modern anti-vaccines movement,” saying, “He maintained that he bears no fault for what is happening within the [Somali] community. ‘I don’t feel responsible at all,’ he said.”
Christopher Mele at the New York Times also cited the quote from Dr. Wakefield as coming from the Washington Post in his coverage.
Aric Jenkins at TIME repeated the same Wakefield statement and said that Wakefield had given the statement to the Washington Post on Friday, which he never did.
Lena Sun at the Washington Post didn’t actually talk to Wakefield himself about the Somali measles outbreak in Minnesota. All she was interested in was trashing him with the statement, ‘I don’t feel any responsibility at all,’ that she got from some other source that she didn’t name.
I talked with Dr. Wakefield and what he actually told the reporter who contacted him from a Minnesota publication was that he felt no responsibility because Merck stopped making the single doses of measles vaccine in 2008, after his recommendation for single vaccines instead of the MMR combination. These three leading news outlets in America left this out of the story. Clearly, Lena Sun at the Washington Post, Christopher Mele at the New York Times, and Aric Jenkins at TIME had their own agendas here, and they didn’t intend to honestly cover Andrew Wakefield’s side. They only wanted to discredit him.
No reporter at the Washington Post, the New York Times, TIME, ABC News, the Chicago Tribune, or NPR ever actually contacts Dr. Wakefield. It’s so much easier, as Lena Sun, Christopher Mele, and Aric Jenkins just showed us, to twist his words in order to blame him for any measles outbreak.
My questions for these big time reporters:
How do you know that the science is settled? Have you ever looked at ANY of the research that officials use as proof of no link between vaccines and autism?
Have you looked at studies that challenge the safety claims?
How come you NEVER use the word “independent” when you talk about the science on vaccines?
Why do we never hear about the conflicts of interest that are rampant in such studies?
On March 31st Robert Kennedy, Jr. spoke at a rally in D.C.
He was talking to reporters about the STUDIES that they continually reference, the ones that have supposedly disproven a link between vaccines and autism.
“We’ve known for many years that the junk science, the tobacco science coming out of that department, [the CDC], was crooked, and one of the reasons we knew was that the Institute of Medicine told them you got to do biological studies, clinical studies, animal studies, toxicological studies, pharmacological studies, cadaver studies—We want all of those.
“They didn’t do any of them. The only thing they did was epidemiological studies. …I know, from my profession, those are notoriously easy to fix. They’re population studies. You look at an exposed population and unexposed, and you look at health outcomes. … You can design an epidemiological study to prove that sex does not make you pregnant. How would you do that? You just get rid of all the pregnant people before you study the population. You have a lot of people having sex, and nobody’s getting pregnant, and you can prove sex doesn’t make you pregnant. And that’s what they did. It’s easy to get rid of the autistic kids, you just get rid of the boys. All you have to do is get rid of one or two of them in order to dim the statistical signal.
“So you get rid of the older kids, and you focus on younger populations before the diagnosis takes place. …You get rid of black kids because they’re more likely to get autism. You figure out ways to exclude the populations that you think are going to pose a higher risk. And that’s what they did.”
So why does the media only tell us about easily manipulated population studies as proof of vaccine safety? When are we going to hear about the biological, the clinical, the toxicological, the pharmacological, and the cadaver studies?
Kennedy also asked:
“Why does the press not cover Poul Thorsen?
“Why is the press not covering Bill Thompson?
“Why is the press not covering all of these phony Danish studies?”
Any reporter covering vaccines and autism who has to ask:
Who is Poul Thorsen? Who is Bill Thompson? What are the Danish studies?—
There’s no question—they’re all complete failures as journalists.
They only write what they’re told. They perpetrate the lies and the cover-up. They have no idea what they’re talking about.
This is DELIBERATE IGNORANCE. They don’t want to know what’s really going on. They don’t want to know the truth about vaccines. They will never interview people like Andrew Wakefield or Robert Kennedy, Jr. or read their books.
May 5, 2017, Washington Post: Anti-vaccine activists spark a state’s worst measles outbreak in decades
By Lena H. Sun
…Salah no longer believes that the MMR vaccine triggers autism, a discredited theory that spread rapidly through the local Somali community, fanned by meetings organized by anti-vaccine groups. The advocates repeatedly invited Andrew Wakefield, the founder of the modern anti-vaccine movement, to talk to worried parents. …
Although extensive research has disproved any relationship between vaccines and autism, the fear has become entrenched in the community. “I don’t know if we will be able to dig out on our own,” Nuurali said. …
“The Somalis had decided themselves that they were particularly concerned,” Wakefield said last week. “I was responding to that.”
He maintained that he bears no fault for what is happening within the community. “I don’t feel responsible at all,” he said.
May 5, 2017, New York Times: Minnesota Sees Largest Outbreak of Measles in Almost 30 Years
By Christopher Mele
…The state has reported 41 confirmed cases of measles since April 11, and the outbreak is the largest this year in the United States, which had essentially eradicated the disease in 2000 before discredited research stoked fears of a link between vaccines and autism. …
Members of the community came to believe incorrectly that they had an unusually high rate of autism and that the cases were related to vaccines. But later studies showed that their autism rates were not out of line with those of the state’s white population, he said. …
Though the medical research has debunked the connection of vaccines to autism, the notion is deeply rooted in the community, Mr. Noor said on Friday, adding that the “main fight” was combating that perception.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the fear was so entrenched that parents in the community believe the risk of measles is preferable. The Post reported that one of the anti-vaccine movement’s founders, Andrew Wakefield, was among those who had met with the parents. Asked if he felt at fault for the outbreak, he replied: “I don’t feel responsible at all,” according to The Post.
May 5, 2017, TIME: Minnesota Is Experiencing Its Largest Outbreak of Measles in Nearly 30 Years
By Aric Jenkins
Measles is highly contagious and cause severe illness and death. Andrew Wakefield, founder of the modern anti-vaccine movement, told the Washington Post Friday that he doesn't "feel responsible at all."
May 4, 2017, ABC News: In Minnesota's worst measles outbreak, a battle of beliefs over vaccines
By Gillian Mohney
Patti Carroll, the director of outreach for the non-profit group called the Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota, said the goal was to inform parents of their rights and that they could decline recommended vaccinations even during an ongoing measles outbreak.
"There is this huge fear-mongering and frenzy of fear over measles without any information over measles vaccine," Carroll told ABC News. She said the group is not "anti-vaccine," but that they want to bring up potential vaccines risks.
Among the risks she cited is the claim that vaccines are linked to autism, despite numerous academic studies involving millions of children that have found no association between the two. The group's website states their goal is to protect "people from injuries and deaths from vaccines."
May 4, 2017, Chicago Tribune: Measles outbreak sickens dozens of Minnesota Somalis who avoid vaccine
By Amy Forliti
Research that links the vaccine to autism has been widely discredited. But Anab Gulaid, a University of Minnesota researcher who worked on the autism study, said autism is often diagnosed in children around the same age as they receive their measles vaccine, so some fears persist.
May 3, 2017, NPR: Understanding The History Behind Communities' Vaccine Fears
By Emily Sohn
Even in the midst of the outbreak, Somali resistance to vaccination remains strong in Minneapolis. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the United States. It's a relatively recent attitude that emerged alongside escalating fears about links between MMR and autism among the immigrant group.
Understanding the history behind those fears — and the culture that reinforces them, contrary to abundant scientific evidence — is an important step toward overcoming them, research suggests, and not just in Minnesota. …
Around the same time, Andrew Wakefield, a British scientist who used fraudulent research to argue that the MMR vaccine causes autism, visited Minneapolis….
FOOTNOTE:
On May 6th Emily Willingham at Forbes joined the “blame Wakefield for the measles in Minnesota” coverage, with her story, Yet Another Measles Outbreak Traces Directly To Antivaccine Autism Panic.
Willingham also stated that Wakefield had talked to the Washington Post—which again was completely untrue.
In this case, the usual actors, in particular Andrew Wakefield, brought the bad information directly to the Somali American community in Minnesota. Wakefield, however, seems to be insouciant about any role in the current outbreak, telling the Washington Post, "I don't feel responsible at all."
The truth is, when the issue is vaccine safety, all that matters is that the press shuts it down immediately. Twisting Wakefield’s words to make it sound like he has no concern for children sick with the measles was a clever tactic to demonize him. The press is willing to use a lie to do it. And if this lie works, imagine what other bogus claims are coming out of the Washington Post and repeated everywhere …
Here’s where the simple statement: ‘I don’t feel responsible at all,’ first published by the Washington Post, ended up:
At the New York Times, TIME, and Forbes.
And so far the Toronto Sun, San Diego Union Tribune,
Stuff.co.nz, UK Independent, MedPageToday, and the Chicago Tribune – All of these news outlets either published the Washington Post story or quoted the line from it about taking no responsibility.
It seems that the real purpose in covering the measles outbreak among the Somalis in Minnesota is to place the blame on Andrew Wakefield and deny any link between vaccines and autism.
Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seized the moment on twitter where he suggested that Wakefield could be criminally prosecuted because of his remarks in the Washington Post story and his position on the MMR vaccine.
Heartbreaking article about human costs of anti-vax lies. Should Wakefield be prosecuted criminally?
Of course that will never happen. Frieden would never want that to happen. Thomas Frieden, the Washington Post, and all the other minions in the media would never want to see Andrew Wakefield defending himself in public.
Wakefield will never be given the opportunity to explain to the American people that after he questioned the safety of the combined MMR vaccine and urged parents to ask for a single measles vaccine, Merck stopped making it.
Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.
ciaparker,
You are missing the point with the quotes and reasoning backwards.
They show that the CDC explicitly and clearly encourages doctors to consider vaccination status when diagnosing these and related diseases. This will necessarily introduce diagnostic bias in vaccinated populations, calling into question all purported differences in incidence compared to unvaccinated populations (and thereby the very "effectiveness" of the vaccines in preventing these diseases).
Posted by: Stan K. | May 09, 2017 at 04:58 PM
Rtp,
I am in absolute agreement on all points and thank you for those excellent quotes (though the UK link appears inaccessible from the US).
Do you have any resources or leads pertaining to flaws with germ theory and alternatives to it?
Thanks!
Posted by: Stan K. | May 09, 2017 at 02:32 PM
Rtp,
I don't think those quotes are a godsend to us, they indicate that those who have been vaxxed are unlikely to have measles (true, but it's far from impossible). Clinicians don't recognize diphtheria because it's been nearly a hundred years that nearly all children in the developed world have gotten the shot for it, so it would be very unusual for them to get it. There's like one or zero cases a year of it now in the US, down from tens of thousands of cases a year here in the '30s, with a very high fatality rate. It doesn't mean the shots don't work, but that nearly everyone has gotten them and so don't get measles or diphtheria. It's bad that they don't get measles (overall a beneficial disease for most) but good that they don't get diphtheria. If diphtheria comes back in poor areas (or in richer ones) as a result of large numbers not getting the vaccine, once children once more die of diphtheria, then everyone would again get the vaccine for it, preferably without the pertussis component.
Posted by: ciaparker | May 09, 2017 at 02:12 PM
rtp,
I agree that the complete and unadulterated truth about vaccines, including the corruption that underlies them, must be told and shared at every opportunity.
There is no time or need to mince words or "soften" the message.
The continuation of a healthy and functional world citizenry, not to mention of humanity itself, depends upon the truth being exposed and acted upon...resulting in the elimination of the barbaric, unethical, immoral, unscientific, and unwise practice of vaccination.
Posted by: Laura Hayes | May 09, 2017 at 01:47 PM
Deliberate Ignorance: Minnesota Measles' Shitty Reporting is Contagious
is more accurate
Posted by: michael | May 09, 2017 at 11:57 AM
Laura I have said for years that as long as the non-vax movement refused to argue that vaccines were worthless then it would make no difference how much fear we inculcated in people about how dangerous vaccines were, all it would take was for the government to trump up some outbreak and the whole world would be rushing for whatever shots they were told to.
People's fear of germs trumps everything. Even many contributors here can't handle the idea that vaccines are the wrong answer to the wrong question. They just want vaccines to be made a little bit safer and all will be right with the world.
We just can't handle the idea that not only are these things not suitably safe, they don't and can't work at all. It's like this mental block that anti-vaxxers have. A strange desire to use arguments that will always be defeated but we need to use them anyway because they will make us sound more "moderate".
This quote should be tattoed on the brain of every single non-vaxxer as it demolishes the entire vaccine paradigm in one go:
"To minimize the problem of false positive laboratory results, it is important to restrict case investigation and laboratory tests to patients most likely to have measles (i.e., those who meet the clinical case definition, especially if they have risk factors for measles, such as being unvaccinated,[...]"
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt07-measles.html
Pro-vaxxers will still stand there debating like idiots, but you can't lose once you provide it.
And here is another one for diptheria (it is important to note that doctors have a bias against diagnosing it intrinsically with or without encouragement from the various health agencies, but these quotes just make it all the more concrete).
"Because diphtheria has occurred only rarely in the United States in recent years, many clinicians may not include diphtheria in their differential diagnoses. Clinicians are reminded to consider the diagnosis of respiratory diphtheria in patients with membranous pharyngitis and who are not up-to-date with vaccination against diphtheria."
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt01-dip.html
If you are in the UK you can also see these quotes here:
"Following assessment, if a diagnosis of measles is considered likely, it is essential to notify the local Health Protection Unit (HPU)" and subsequently: "Measles is very unlikely in people who have been fully immunized", followed by “Consider a different cause if the patient is likely to have immunity” http://cks.nice.org.uk/measles#!diagnosissub
These quotes are a God send to us but how many of us use them?
One. Me.
Start using them. Please please please. Take them, understand them and spread them far and wide.
Posted by: rtp | May 09, 2017 at 01:09 AM
I am amom who was diagnosed with JRA ( known on the cdc sight to be caused by the R of mmr) I now have 2 autistic . If you think it did not cause your choice. I believe it to be a contributing factor.
Posted by: D. Wilson | May 09, 2017 at 12:04 AM
I'm guessing this was the "hit piece on Andy" Del Bigtree mentioned being interviewed for at the Revolution 4 Truth Rally:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4lSNe6Gwyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PnF-LHuamo
Practically credits Andy Wakefield somehow (they always give him so much credit) with the unfathomable election of a president that somehow believes vaccines cause autism, the largest measles outbreak in Minnesota seen in 30 years, and so forth, but it does mention Vaxxed, the CDC whistleblower (not really a whistleblower according to Hotez), MMR, mercury, activists who believe brain disorders are linked to vaccinations (no mention that package inserts seem to think so too, but )...
I can't put myself in the shoes of your average U.K. resident...does this really help the pharmaceutical industry & their captured government programs? Does this not rather clue in the average person that there's possibly something major going on with these issues???
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | May 08, 2017 at 11:59 PM
It's good to see RFK explain and expose epidemiology studies for what they are - biostatistical manipulations to support the desired conclusion. His examples show why they do not demonstrate safety or efficacy. Looks like the Somali's figured out they were being lied to - good for them.
Posted by: Kws | May 08, 2017 at 09:19 PM
sorry I meant to say:
If instead of pretending the vaccine works we made people aware that it is 100 per cent useless and measles is now diagnosed as roseola, 5th disease etc - especially if the patient is vaccinated [not diagnosed] - then these propaganda stories would soon lose their effect.
Posted by: rtp | May 08, 2017 at 08:24 PM
The most important thing is that none of these children who got measles died of it. I found one report that said that if you go back to 1990, three patients in the US have died of measles in that time. If you include the entire world with millions of malnourished measles patients, then you can get quite a few measles deaths every year. But when they say it is the worst measles outbreak in thirty years, they just mean it's the most cases. And measles is DESIREABLE for children to get. Now ALL of the children who have gotten it have permanent immunity, protection against cancer, heart disease, strokes, and many skin and bone diseases in later life, and the ability to protect future infants in their first year, when they are most likely to die if they get measles (though only four in 10,000 cases, even in the first year, according to Dr. Langmuir's statistics from 1960).
Hard to see how they could successfully sue Dr. Wakefield, who said at the time that he recommended separate M, M, and R shots, but he did in fact recommend them back around 1990. And he's quite right, giving them together in the MMR DOES increase the rate of severe reactions and autism caused by it. It may be that now he is pulling away from recommending the measles vaccine at all, and if it goes to court, we could easily prove that it's MUCH better for most children to just get measles than risk so many severe and permanent vaccine reactions. Bring it on! They are mistaking rubber-stamp industry narratives for the truth. Let's disabuse them.
Posted by: ciaparker | May 08, 2017 at 08:08 PM
And it's not just people emigrating here from another country who are made to get their vaccines over again. You can get that just moving from one US state to another. When I was one year old my family moved from NY to PA and guess what. They treat the neighboring state like it's some third world country just to be jackasses about it. Then I end up going back to NY for grad school and they made me get a tetanus booster. The needle was the size of a turkey baster.
Posted by: arawn | May 08, 2017 at 07:59 PM
Is there some data someplace on how much money the tobacco industry gave the AMA for over 50 years ? That was a drop in the bucket compared to the present vaccine industry.
Where are the commercials of the doctors giving vaccines to there own children on camera to show how safe they are ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUZI0vE0FM
Posted by: go Trump | May 08, 2017 at 07:56 PM
Don't bet on them NOT criminally prosecuting Dr. Wakefield. They have done just about everything else. And as you have pointed out the press so twists the facts is not not like the public is going to hear anything but the same antivaxxer tirade.
'The public" has been so trained that they angrily repeat the dogma and half the time they don't know what they are talking about and end with name calling.
Posted by: L Land | May 08, 2017 at 05:04 PM
Friedan blocks RFK Jr's subpoena for William Thompson and has the audacity to call for Dr Wakefield's arrest for an outbreak of the measles?!! Obstruction of justice is the least of what FRIEDAN should be arrested for! The book should be thrown at him for crimes against humanity.
The unmitigated gall is puke worthy!
Posted by: annie | May 08, 2017 at 03:55 PM
Still extremely relevant is the article I wrote after the Disneyland measles "outbreak":
"Disney, Measles, and the Fantasyland of Vaccine Perfection" by Laura Hayes
http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/01/disney-measles-and-the-fantasyland-of-vaccine-perfection.html
Posted by: Laura Hayes | May 08, 2017 at 02:43 PM
rtp,
Thank you for your bold comments. Half-truths are killing us...literally and figuratively.
Here is my definition for "anti-vaccine": one who operates from informed intelligence and principled ethics with regard to vaccines.
"Anti-" simply means "opposed to or against". And as I spent 80 minutes detailing in my recent WAPF presentation...when it comes to vaccines, what is there to be 'pro' about? NOTHING.
"Vaccines: What Is There to Be 'Pro' About?" by Laura Hayes
http://www.ageofautism.com/2016/12/vaccines-what-is-there-to-be-pro-about-laura-hayes-to-weston-a-price-foundation-conference.html#comments
Posted by: Laura Hayes | May 08, 2017 at 02:28 PM
Measles was a normal right-of -passage childhood illness in the US and other modern countries. Every generation had Measles. It was no big deal. To frighten people they take the number of Deaths in poverty stricken areas of third world countries where there is little to no access to clean sewers , water and food and Multiply it by the TIMES, Washington Post, Tribune and other mainstream outlets in a Net of keeping the information available to the public that would best serve the status quo and the financial support they receive from industries-pharmaceutical sponsored industries. Quotes are cut up and contorted to strengthen their views-their views are One View. They are a singular view. They Feed you what they want and cut off your ability to think. Even in the show "The Brady Bunch" kids were put together to simply get the measles over with. Chicken pox and mumps were also normal short term illnesses. They were Not Diseases. Measles benefits from Vitamin A while the others benefit from ice-cream. I have heard that some millennials are not getting their news from those outlets. Maybe there are some who know how ridiculous it is to try to blame one man for an illness. "He did it." "No he did it first..I'm telling." Instead of Chicken pox young people are now getting Shingles, instead of measles and mumps , young people are getting Encephalitis in the brain after they are shot with Neurotoxic Aluminum, Thimerosal/mercury, formaldehyde, aborted Human fetal cells, peanut oils and more and ending up with Autism, ADHD, Cancers and a lifetime of pain.
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | May 08, 2017 at 02:02 PM
Wow! Frieden is throwing (tweeting) out the term "prosecution?" I wonder if he's haunted by vague (or maybe completely concrete) fears of something or other... The discussion on his twitter feed is worth perusing a bit.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | May 08, 2017 at 01:59 PM
Wakefield does bear some responsibility.
Like all those who question vaccines but still claims that vaccines cam work he is responsible for the fact that the authorities are able to use trumped up outbreaks as propaganda against us.
If instead of pretending the vaccine works we made people aware that it is 100 per cent useless and measles is now diagnosed as roseola, 5th disease etc - especially if the patient is diagnosed - then these propaganda stories would soon lose their effect.
And we should also stop being petrified of taking on the germ theory.
I don't know what it is about some of you non vaxxers - it is as though you are scared to win.
Posted by: rtp | May 08, 2017 at 12:55 PM
Today's journalism - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil - there is a fourth monkey, he covers his nose because THIS REALLY STINKS!
Posted by: Peter Miles | May 08, 2017 at 12:14 PM
So, according to Thomas Frieden, what's causing the Somalis to have such a high autism rate? Bad genes?
Posted by: Carol | May 08, 2017 at 12:09 PM
Given that Johnson and Johnson covered up the talc ovarian cancer connection for 46 years our media has been corrupt for even longer than we thought. They can't even pretend there was a health reason for promoting baby powder to women. And they make profits through the roof while being held up as this awesome company after the poisoned tylnenol scare. The Somali story is related to the fact that when they came here they were forced to get vaccines again even if they said they had had them in Somali. This is a fact no one wants to admit. Dose makes the autism. I remember it from conferences in 2004 I believe. While the media is still ignoring this, when I talk to other parents and people on the street they are starting to listen. They don't fall for the antiscience smart ass arrogant bs--which is mostly men who can't get a date ---The media will have egg on its face. And brain damage on its conscience. If it has a conscience.
Posted by: autism mom | May 08, 2017 at 11:41 AM
Christopher Mele:
"Members of the community came to believe incorrectly that they had an unusually high rate of autism and that the cases were related to vaccines. But later studies showed that their autism rates were not out of line with those of the state’s white population,"
Even if "studies showed (Somali) autism rates were not out of line with those of the state's white population" .. the real question remains UNASKED .. UNEXAMINED .. AND THEREFORE .. UNANSWERED:
What is the rate of autism in the country of SOMALI ... compared to the SOMALI IMMGRANT IN MINNESOTA?
In other words .. comparing the rate of Somali VACCINATED IMMIGRANT CHILDREN .. WITH VACCINATED AMERICAN CHILDREN .. IS EXACTLY HOW RFK SHOWED HOW EPIDEMIOLOGY (POPULATION) STUDIES CAN SO EASILY BE MANIPULATED .. TO REACH A PREDETERMINED .. PREFERRED CONCLUSION.
And so .. Somali parents are expected to believe and trust .. "Anab Gulaid, a University of Minnesota researcher who worked on the autism study, who said autism is often diagnosed in children around the same age as they receive their measles vaccine, so some fears persist?"
Common sense dictates .. Gulaid's "coincidental theory" would apply ONLY if the rate of autism in THE COUNTRY OF SOMALI .. is the SAME as it is for the SOMALI IMMIGRANT child in Minnesota?
In addition .. could it be possible that Gulaid has heard of Dr. William Thompson's greatly anticipated "sworn testimony" of refusing to participate in the deliberate manipulation and destruction of "significantly higher risks of autism to African American children" .. causing him to limit his own questionable "comparison rate study" to Minnesota's "white population"?
(off topic)
This is a "preview" in today's NY Post on Time magazine's latest issue:
"Time tries to scare the pants off us with a report that pandemics are on the rise around the world. There's nothing we can do to basically protect ourselves, we are told, and our government is woefully unprepared ...... (the article includes comments by Bill Gates .. and .. concludes) ...... it wouldn't hurt if President Trump finally appointed someone to head up the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
It was also reported today the new head of the EPA has replaced FIVE SCIENTISTS who had served and supported previous administration's policies and funding regarding the "science of global warming" .. for which President Trump has expressed ... just like vaccines .. his own personal skepticism of.
There is an awful lot of trust riding on President Trump's "appointments" .. and .. at the very top of those appointees is the future Director of the CDC!!!
As Jesse Jackson is fond of saying: KEEP HOPE ALIVE
Posted by: Bob Moffit | May 08, 2017 at 10:38 AM
I am curious about this line in Time magazine: "Measles is highly contagious and cause [sic] severe illness and death." Did they mean to say "can cause" or "causes"?
I suspect the author originally wrote "can cause" and decided to make their pro-vax case stronger by dropping the "can". Truth be damned. The implication is that a case of the measles is a virtual death sentence. So who is doing the fear-mongering here?
Back in the 50s and 60s when I was growing up, there were more than a hundred kids on our block and almost all of us had measles, not to mention mumps, rubella and chicken pox. There might have been a few doctor's or emergency room visits, but I knew all these kids and I don't remember anyone being hospitalized for one of these diseases.
We all lived to tell the tale, and no-one had anything remotely resembling autism.
Posted by: Cait from Canada | May 08, 2017 at 10:37 AM
The Washington Post's recently unveiled masthead "Democracy Dies In Darkness" is so absurd it makes laugh whenever I come across it.
"Honest Inquiry Is Dead Here" actually fits.
Posted by: david m burd | May 08, 2017 at 10:07 AM
They all have obviously been told NOT to speak to Dr Wakefield as we all know he`s the most approachable honest man bar none on the planet.
Pharma for Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: angusfiles | May 08, 2017 at 08:42 AM
If anything the Somali people should bolster the vaccine autism link even more. You take a group of people who have never seen autism where they are from, until moving to the US, and getting vaccines and they are flat out refusing the US vaccine schedule. But all the media can do is blame Wakefield over and over agaib. If nything that makes the media seem crazy not the parents.
Posted by: George stevens | May 08, 2017 at 08:30 AM
Thanks, Anne, for spotlighting more self-serving consensus journalism derived from inaccurate consensus science -- both epidemic in our fast-moving capitalistic society. Such lazy and fallacious reporting amounts to copying a fellow student's test, which was copied from another student's test, and so on over and over from the first fraudulent document generation.
According to the late author Michael Crichton, MD, "the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels." The scoundrels in media and vaccine policymaking have maligned honest researchers, subjected already-stressed immigrant families to bigotry and threats, and ignored vaccine injury reports that, if investigated, could prevent the misery of vaccine-induced autism for future generations.
Posted by: nhokkanen | May 08, 2017 at 08:27 AM