Massachusetts Nurses Association Sues for Right to Endanger Patients

Yesterday, I wrote about how comedian Rob Schneider not only does not know anything about vaccines, but does not seem to understand the Constitution very well, either. Schneider was recently dropped by State Farm Insurance because of his vocal opposition to vaccinations. Understandably, a company that, in part, focuses on public health would not want to be associated with someone who argues against measures aimed at improving public health. The "Makin' Copies" guy has no business going anywhere near health related issues.

As a celebrity, Rob Schneider uses his fame to spread misinformation about vaccines, frightening people away from one of the most successful health measures ever devised. His notions regarding immunizations put others at risk. Public figures, particularly those with some measure of fame, ought to be careful when they speak out on matters of science and medicine. They might think that they are well-informed, but not infrequently, their rhetoric is based on lies and misunderstanding. Though they may seek to help others, they only serve to increase risk. Schneider is but one of the latest actors speaking out on issues for which he has absolutely no qualifications. But he's not the only one who ought to leave well enough alone when it comes to people's health.

MNA - Working to increase patient risk

The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) apparently shares some of Schneider's misguided ideas of personal liberty at the expense of patients.

Rob Schneider, Censorship and Free Speech...and Measles

What is it with the anti-whatever mindset and claims of censorship? It seems to be a feature of these types of people, that they claim their free speech rights are being infringed upon when other criticize what they say or call for them to face reasonable consequences for their actions. I've written about this before, in the case of Jenny McCarthy, when she was being considered to join The View. Jenny McCarthy, as regular readers will know, was, for a time, the celebrity face of the anti-vaccine movement. She held rallies, gave interviews and was all around a very vocal proponent of anti-vaccination tropes. When the news came out that she was going to be on The View, many in the health and science community were concerned that she was being given a platform on which to spew her nonsense, lending her a legitimacy that she had not earned or deserved. They made their opinions known to the producers of the show. The anti-vaccine community, predictably, went into a frenzy, accusing science advocates of infringing on McCarthy's free speech rights and trying to censor her.

The latest D-list celebrity face of anti-vaccinationism is comedian Rob Schneider. He has not been shy, at all, about voicing his opinions on how bad he thinks vaccines are, whether on Twitter or in radio interviews. His public pronouncements on vaccines recently came back to bite him in the butt. And, once again, the tired old false arguments about free speech were trotted out and dusted off.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Arrr. Ahoy there, mateys! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Time t' hoist the jolie rouge. Avast, ye wee creepies, for ye'll have no quarter.

Arsenic and Old Lace Does Not Vaccine Injury Make

Arsenic and Old Lace

In 1939, playwright Joseph Kesselring wrote a play titled Arsenic and Old Lace, which was made into a film released in 1944. The basic plot of the comedy surrounds a family whose members are insane killers, including two elderly aunts who give their elderly male guests elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide, then bury the bodies in the basement. It is a classic piece of theatre and film, whose events may have been inspired by the sort of real life events discussed in Deborah Blum's book, The Poisoner's Handbook.
While the events of the play set the stage for a dark comedy, the real-life equivalents are no laughing matter. In fact, as recently as 2010, someone in Maine poisoned members of their church by lacing coffee with arsenic. Sixteen people tried the coffee, complaining of its bitter taste. Symptoms came on quickly, causing thirteen of the coffee drinkers to seek medical attention, with eight of them requiring hospitalization. One person died from acute arsenic poisoning. The perpetrator committed suicide five days after the event. It's an example of the deliberate contamination of something normally benign to inflict serious injury and death. No reasonable person would look at this incident and claim that coffee is harmful and should be avoided.

Anti-vaccine activists, on the other hand, aren't exactly reasonable people.

Package Inserts - Understanding What They Do (and Don't) Say

With the whole twitter tantrum over a supposed coverup revealed by an alleged whistleblower that really is much ado about nothing, a topic arose that I realized I hadn't written about before, other than in passing. It came up again last week when anti-vaccine activists tried to hijack the Twitter hashtag #vaccinesNOVA by astroturfing it with tons of copy-pasted tweets, rather than actually watching the excellent NOVA episode Vaccines - Calling the Shots and having a mature conversation about vaccines. It's the same tactic they used with the #CDCwhistleblower hashtag. They merely copied and pasted from a list of prepared tweets, rather than offering any original thoughts of their own, because they are convinced that they already know everything and have nothing to learn from a very informative program. If there's even a whiff of pro-vaccine message to a show or post, count on anti-vaxxers to rail and scream, rather than actually watching or reading, let alone understand.

At any rate, I engaged one of those tweeting easily disproved nonsense to #vaccinesNOVA. This individual brought up vaccine package inserts, pointing out that one vaccine insert actually mentions "autism" in the adverse events section. They linked to the insert for Tripedia, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). In their mind, this was ironclad proof that even vaccine manufacturers admit that vaccines cause autism. Of course, this person ignored the other bits in the paragraph that mentioned autism (emphasis added):

Adverse events reported during post-approval use of Tripedia vaccine include...autism...Events were included in this list because of the seriousness or frequency of reporting. Because these events are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequencies or to establish a causal relationship to components of Tripedia vaccine.

In other words, autism was included because it was deemed either serious or was frequently reported, not because there was any causal relationship found between the vaccine and autism. It is far from being the slamdunk "gotcha!" that my interlocutor thought it was. But it prompted me to consider how many people probably do not understand just what the package insert for a vaccine (or any other drug) actually is or what its contents mean.

So here we go, a primer on drug package inserts and what they mean for a lay audience.

Integrity and Honesty, Part 2

J.B. Handley

Integrity and honesty are pretty important to me. If someone gives their word about something, I expect them to keep it. If, through no fault of their own, they fail to follow through on their word, that's one thing. But if they make a promise to do (or not do) something and then break that promise, well, let's just say that it does not reflect well upon them. Even worse when that breach of trust comes amidst other comments that demonstrate a disregard for ethical conduct.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt unless I have really good evidence otherwise. Even if I disagree with someone, my first response, in general, is to assume that they have good intentions and mean well. Perhaps it's a naive approach, but I would rather approach others how I would like to be approached. I don't want to be prejudged, so I try not to do so to others. But that can only last so long in the face of contradicting evidence.

Such is the case recently with J.B. Handley, founder of Generation Rescue.

MMR, the CDC and Brian Hooker: A Guide for Parents and the Media

The anti-vaccine community has been in a tizzy lately over a supposed "CDC whistleblower", Dr. William W. Thompson, who, according to them, revealed fraud at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To bolster their claim, they point to a new study from one of their own, Brian S. Hooker, that purports to show evidence of an increased risk of autism among African American boys who receive their first MMR vaccine late. However, the claims appear to be hollow and unfounded, and so they have chosen to rely on emotional arguments that may sound convincing to those who are not familiar with the issues and people involved. In a truly egregious fashion, they have erroneously and cynically compared this whole thing to the Tuskegee syphilis study, and equated the CDC with Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot, combined.

With that in mind, here is a brief FAQ for parents, news media and others to help them understand what the claims are and what the evidence actually says. The questions below have been raised or implied by anti-vaccine activists. Hopefully, this will prevent inaccurate reporting and help parents feel reassured about the MMR vaccine.