The recent disappointing decision of the AAI to give comedian Bill Maher the eponymous Richard Dawkins Award has been a thought provoking event. Within days of receiving the award Maher was on television taking the position that the H1N1 vaccine is unsafe and that the government can't be trusted. And who was the foil for his sword of lunacy? None other than Bill "Let's Politicize Terry Schiavo" Frist! Frist may be a politician, and I definitely disagree with a lot of his politics. But he nailed Maher as both dangerous and wrong in his stance against vaccination. You see Bill Maher isn't just against the H1N1 vaccine - he's against vaccinations. Yet at the same time thinks the vaccination against HPV is okay?
Why would Maher think that the HPV vaccine works and should be allowed and the H1N1 vaccine is a dangerous untested conspiracy? I think it is because Maher isn't making his decision on scientific evidence, instead he is relying on his deep iconoclastic mistrust of authority. But if the average citizen is afraid of "the government" or "big pharma" it might not be such a big deal. But when Bill Maher says to millions of viewers that they can't trust the only known method we have of fighting a global pandemic - then Bill is no longer funny, only a dangerous mouthpiece of ignorance, every bit as misguided as the 9/11-Truthers he skewers on his show.
Just a few days later in this segment Maher starts out by claiming he doesn't deny the germ-theory of medicine, but watch how quickly he steps back into conspiracy mode. (Warning - this video does contain some adult language and I would characterize it as not safe for work. And considering the bad-science it contains, perhaps not safe at all.)
Is the H1N1 vaccine dangerous? Are all vaccines dangerous? Do vaccines cause autism? (No, No and No.)
In this clip Maher seems very confident in his ignorance. Frist is armed with the facts. H1N1 is a dangerous virus and is incredibly contagious. But Frist is a doctor. How can the average American know what the truth is?
Science works by testing its ideas. In America we test our medicine before rolling it out to the public. Our drugs and procedures are rigorously tested with blind studies and clinical trials. As much bias as possible is removed from the process, and studies are conducted on patient outcomes. The point is that it is demonstrable whether or not something is safe or not. It isn't just a question of blindly drinking new potions like a lab-coated madman in a bad Jekyll & Hyde film.
In the case of vaccinations we have come a long, long way from the time of the earliest vaccinations. There are vaccinations which use dead virus. There are vaccines which use weakened versions of the virus. And there are vaccines which use genetic material which mimics the virus to cause immunity. The vaccines have saved countless lives, and prevented countless suffering. Modern Americans can probably not accurately imagine what the world would be like without vaccines.
Most people under forty probably don't have a good idea of what Polio victims look like. And smallpox is so rare that it is effectively wiped out. And all this improvement is from the scientific method being applied to build drugs and vaccines to fight disease.
But that's just what I wrote here - how can you know whether that is true?
It is difficult to do but you could do what your doctors do. They subscribe to peer-reviewed medical journals and read the case studies and discuss with other doctors the latest findings and also keep track of what works in their own patient's medical records. This sharing of what works best is called scientific consensus. Please don't confuse scientific consensus with a democratization of truth. It doesn't take a majority view to overturn this consensus, just good evidence. It might be unnerving to realize that science is not a solid, monolithic source of truth - but it is the adaptive quality that makes it so powerful. Science (and through science, medicine) is self-correcting.
Skeptics tend to view the scientific consensus as truth, to the best of our collective knowledge. When we say vaccines are safe it is because thousands of hours of testing and decades of evidence tell us that vaccines are safe and they work. But many of us don't have time to do the research that doctors do. Often people get their medical advice from magazines, TV shows and radio. What do most journalists and TV personalities know about medicine? Not enough.
This is why the best person to get medical advice from is your doctor.
Vaccines save lives. Getting a vaccine isn't just about avoiding getting sick yourself, but about the dozens to hundreds of people you might come into contact with while you're contagious from avoidable infections. When a majority of the population is vaccinated people who aren't can enjoy herd immunity. This simple means it is statistically unlikely that an unvaccinated person will come into contact with a contagious person. In the case of H1N1 we are nowhere near having any herd immunity. Is the H1N1 vaccine right for you? Probably, but ask your doctor.
So just a few pointers:
Vaccines are the best method for fighting viral disease.
Vaccines are safe and effective.
Vaccines do not cause autism.
Flu Vaccines help protect you and all the people you might infect.
H1N1 is a global pandemic and is widespread throughout the entire continental US.
Only your doctor can tell you whether particular vaccinations are right for you.
As for me and my family, we're all going to get our flu-shots this weekend. And if the H1N1 vaccine is available, we'll be grabbing that too.
Vaccines may cause forms of autism. It is dangerous to not recognize this. "(NaturalNews) Rates of autism have skyrocketed 1000% since 1990, yet defenders of vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry keep scratching their heads in confusion: What could be causing this? Lots of clues point to vaccines as one of the primary contributing factors to increased rates of autism."
Hi Réne. If you have peer-reviewed studies that show a link to autism and vaccinations please post the links. Otherwise please do your research. The increase in autism is likely an artifact of increased diagnosis and recognition of the condition by doctors.
There have been no studies (to the best of my knowledge) that have shown such a correlation. The only one I can think of that showed such a link was by Andrew Wakefield, and that was subsequently shown to be (at best) wrong or (at worst) faked.
Vaccines against pertussis (whooping cough) have been lagging because of misguided anti-vax activism and this is literally killing children.
I have a child who is autistic and my whole family went out for the flu shots today. Yay science! Our chances of getting the flu are now greatly reduced. And if I had more children I'd have them vaccinated too. Science is the best method we have for discerning the truth - and all the conspiracies in the world still require evidence to be
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!
Comments
Vaccines may cause forms of autism. It is dangerous to not recognize this. "(NaturalNews) Rates of autism have skyrocketed 1000% since 1990, yet defenders of vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry keep scratching their heads in confusion: What could be causing this? Lots of clues point to vaccines as one of the primary contributing factors to increased rates of autism."
Hi Réne. If you have peer-reviewed studies that show a link to autism and vaccinations please post the links. Otherwise please do your research. The increase in autism is likely an artifact of increased diagnosis and recognition of the condition by doctors.
There have been no studies (to the best of my knowledge) that have shown such a correlation. The only one I can think of that showed such a link was by Andrew Wakefield, and that was subsequently shown to be (at best) wrong or (at worst) faked.
Vaccines against pertussis (whooping cough) have been lagging because of misguided anti-vax activism and this is literally killing children.
I have a child who is autistic and my whole family went out for the flu shots today. Yay science! Our chances of getting the flu are now greatly reduced. And if I had more children I'd have them vaccinated too. Science is the best method we have for discerning the truth - and all the conspiracies in the world still require evidence to be
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!