Last month, Dr. Paul Offit, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the vaccine industry's most outspoken activist, warned Huffington Post readers not to "risk going unvaccinated."
When presented with conflicting information on a critically important health issue I generally follow two simple rules...educate myself on the issue and "follow the money." When it came to Dr. Paul Offit, and the credibility of this advice, this was an easy assignment.
I normally wouldn't waste my time responding to Dr. Offit. After all, he is entitled to his opinion. However, this man's relentless campaign that includes attacking concerned parents and the dissemination of false information needs to be exposed for what it is.
Dr. Offit has been on a very aggressive crusade in defense of vaccines for years. With what appears to be unlimited resources, Offit is routinely granted ample unchallenged opportunities to mount his campaign in newspapers around the country.
In recent years, Offit has become the "go-to guy" on all things related to vaccines. While other physicians, civic leaders and even members of congress are denied the opportunity to share their views on this issue, Offit is frequently provided with generous op-ed space to promote his views on the safety of vaccines, the need to take away vaccine exemptions, and the need to protect vaccine manufacturers from any liability. In short, if the word vaccine or autism appears in the article, so does Dr. Offit.
In his recent Huffington editorial, Offit continues his attack on worried parents who choose not to vaccinate their children, or even just spread them out a little, which the CDC says is okay to do. He blames them for the relatively small outbreaks of childhood diseases. In this case, last year's 135 cases of measles.
...the reason that some parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children is based on the mistaken notion that vaccines cause autism; or that vaccines cause diabetes or multiple sclerosis or asthma or allergies; or that vaccines weaken or overwhelm the immune system; or that vaccines have not been adequately tested. Many studies have addressed these concerns and should have reassured parents. But there appears to be a rift between studies that exonerate vaccines and the public's knowledge of those studies.
First of all, Dr. Offit is quite frankly, "full of it." The reason some parents are choosing alternative vaccine schedules, or to not vaccinate their children, is because they have lost confidence in the safety of vaccines and the people who recommend them, like Dr. Paul Offit. The level of distrust is evident in the nearly 500 comments posted in response to his article.
There are also some children who have serious medical conditions, or have experienced severe life-threatening reactions to previously administered vaccines, which make them vulnerable to subsequent adverse vaccine reactions. In consultation with their physician, some children are given medical exemptions because the risk of vaccination may be greater than the disease. Does Dr. Offit think he knows better than a family's personal physician when it comes to what is best for an individual child and that a child should be vaccinated anyway?
Since we have Dr. Offit's Huffington piece, let's look at the credibility of his professional opinion and see if he is really providing parents with good advice.
According to a 2008 study, it is Dr. Offit who might be "mistaken" when he claims vaccines don't cause diabetes. Vaccine Induced Inflammation Linked to Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, published in the Open Endocrinolgy Journal.
[the study] shows a 50% reduction of type 2 diabetes occurred in Japanese children following the discontinuation of a single vaccine to prevent tuberculosis.The current data shows that vaccines are much more dangerous than the public is led to believe and adequate testing has never been performed even in healthy subjects to indicate that there is an overall improvement in health from immunization. The current practice of vaccinating diabetics as well as their close family members is a very risky practice," says Dr. J. Barthelow Classen.
Multiple studies suggest Dr. Offit might also be "mistaken" when he says vaccines don't cause asthma or allergies. One by researchers at the UCLA School of Public Health published in 2000, examined the effects of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DPT) and tetanus vaccines and found an asthma and allergy association in vaccinated children compared to unvaccinated children.
The odds of having a history of asthma was twice as great among vaccinated subjects than among unvaccinated subjects (adjusted odds ratio, 2.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.59 to 6.74). The odds of having had any allergy-related respiratory symptom in the past 12 months was 63% greater among vaccinated subjects than unvaccinated subjects (adjusted odds ratio, 1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 2.54). The associations between vaccination and subsequent allergies and symptoms were greatest among children aged 5 through 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: DTP or tetanus vaccination appears to increase the risk of allergies and related respiratory symptoms in children and adolescents.
In another study published last year, Canadian scientists found childhood asthma could be reduced by 50% if the first dose of DPT is delayed by more than two months.
It is Dr. Offit who is again "mistaken" when he says vaccines don't cause multiple sclerosis (MS). Published in 2004, a prospective study from the Harvard School of Public Health examined the potential link between the hepatistis B vaccine and MS.
Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that immunization with the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine is associated with an increased risk of MS.
Just last month the US government's Court of Federal Claims, also known as "vaccine court," rendered a judgment awarding compensation to a woman who received the hepatitis B vaccine, developed multiple sclerosis and then died. Several more similar cases have been awarded since 2006.
This is just another example of the thousands of claims awarded compensation by the special court set up to review injuries caused by vaccines. It is an indisputable fact that over the past 20 years, the vaccine court has dispensed close to $2 billion in compensation to families whose children were injured or killed by a vaccine.
Dr. Offit is also "mistaken" when he claims vaccines don't "overwhelm the immune system."
Last year, government officials conceded the vaccine injury claim of a young girl with autism named Hannah Poling and agreed that the family is "entitled to compensation" from the federal vaccine injury fund. [Ga. Girl helps link autism to childhood vaccines]
In a second decision for epilepsy, medical officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined Hannah's "autistic encephalopathy" was "caused" by an "underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, exacerbated by vaccine induced fever and immune stimulation that exceeded metabolic reserves."
The problem with Dr. Offit is he apparently sees no problem in misleading confused and concerned parents or his equally concerned colleagues. He routinely insults the intelligence of parents with a condescending attitude about their ability to make an informed decision. In an effort to bolster the safety of vaccines, he repeatedly cites a select group of studies he claims support his opinions and ignores the ones that don't. Each one of the epidemiological studies Offit relies upon has been discredited by experts in epidemiology for their methodological flaws and the conflicts of interest of the authors involved in those studies. None of the studies he points to have ever studied what is called "regressive autism" or examined how multiple vaccines given at the same time may affect sensitive populations.
Former NIH Director, Dr. Bernadine Healy, made this very important point abundantly clear when interviewed by CBS News.
I think the government, or certain public health officials in the government, have been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick. I haven't seen major studies that focus on three hundred kids who got autistic symptoms within a period of a few weeks of a vaccine. I think that the public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational without sufficient studies of causation. I think that they often have been too quick to dismiss studies in the animal laboratory, either in mice, in primates, that do show some concerns with regard to certain vaccines and also to the mercury preservative in vaccines.
Just to be clear, I am not against vaccines and my own child has been vaccinated. But I share the growing concerns of many parents that have studied this issue closely and question the number of vaccines given to children under today's recommended schedule, some of the toxic ingredients in vaccines, and whether we know enough about the synergistic effects of multiple vaccines given to immune compromised children and during critical developmental windows.
A vaccine profiteer personified -- he is now a multimillionaire from his partnership with Merck -- Dr. Offit doesn't share these concerns and continually makes intellectually and factually dishonest remarks regarding vaccine safety.
In a 2005 article in Babytalk magazine, Dr. Offit irresponsibly claimed a "healthy infant could safely get up to 100,000 vaccines at once." By anyone's standard this is a sensational and stupid statement that has no basis in fact, and speaks volumes about Dr. Offit's objectivity.
As a consultant to Merck and patent holder on the Rotavirus vaccine, Offit has built a career, and perhaps a fortune, defending vaccines. He is also affiliated with several industry-funded organizations like Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases (PKIDs) and Every Child by Two (ECBT). In short, a highly visible, very well paid public relations machine for the vaccine industry.
Offit is the embodiment of Upton Sinclair's theorem; "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
Whenever I read yet another Offit editorial I am immediately reminded of the massive propaganda campaign waged by the tobacco, asbestos and lead industries. It is called "manufacturing uncertainty," and has been an essential industry marketing strategy for decades.
David Michaels, a former Assistant Secretary of Energy and professor at George Washington University School of Public Health explained this strategy in The Art of 'Manufacturing Uncertainty'.
...By definition, uncertainties abound in our work; there's nothing to be done about that. Our public health and environmental protection programs will not be effective if absolute proof is required before we act. The best available evidence must be sufficient. Otherwise, we'll sit on our hands and do nothing.
Of course, this is often exactly what industry wants. That's why it has mastered the art of manufacturing uncertainty, of demanding often impossible proof over common-sense precaution in the realm of public health.The tobacco industry led the way. For 50 years, cigarette manufacturers employed a stable of scientists willing to assert (sometimes under oath) that there was no conclusive evidence that cigarettes cause lung cancer, or that nicotine is addictive. An official at Brown & Williamson, a cigarette maker now owned by R.J. Reynolds, once noted in a memo: "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public."
Toward that end, the tobacco manufacturers dissected every study, highlighted every question, magnified every flaw, cast every possible doubt every possible time. They also conjured their own studies with questionable data and foregone conclusions. It was all a charade, of course, because the real science was inexorable. But the uncertainty campaign was effective; it delayed public health protections, and compensation for tobacco's victims, for decades.
The tobacco industry, left without a stitch of credibility or public esteem, has finally abandoned that strategy -- but it led the way for others...Decades from now, this campaign to manufacture uncertainty will surely be viewed with the same dismay and outrage with which we now look back on the deceits perpetrated by the tobacco industry. But will it be too late?
To say Dr. Offit has a stake, professionally, financially and perhaps legally, in dispelling the risks associated with vaccines in general, and refuting any association between vaccines and autism specifically, is a colossal understatement.
We can all learn a great deal by simply looking back on history and remembering how corporations, whose products are linked to serious diseases, employed scientists, physicians and public relation firms to disseminate misinformation and manage the business of "damage control." By doing so, we realize that we have seen Offit's act before.
More than ever, as more vaccines are recommended, parents simply want safer vaccines and a more individualized vaccination schedule.
Dr. Offit does nothing to repair the confidence chasm regarding vaccine safety. In reality, he makes matters worse with his patented brand of hubris so overbearing and uncompromising, that he undermines his own credibility and the credibility of the vaccine program he so desperately seeks to protect.
Of course this is just my opinion.
While it's fair to question to question the timing of many of the mandated vaccines, it's not fair to put infants at risk of whooping cough?
Publishing a diatribe against someone who trying to illuminate the urban-myth nature of vaccine-phobia doesn't really help understand what is going on. Dr Offit may be full of it, but nothing in this piece demonstrates an understanding of the scientific approach to a complicated problem. Pretty good rhetoric, though, cliched as it is.
Re-read what you just posted.
"sadly, the petitioners in this case have been the victims of bad science conducted to support litigation rather than to advance medical and scientific understanding of autism."
The petitioners were the Cedillo family. The bad science refers to the plaintiff's "expert" witnesses (including the Geier's, Deth, Etc.). Litigation has been driving this mess. Money lawyers can get out of the tax payer VICP fund by swindeling naive and distraut families with autistic children.
"That and the fact that they got a lot of info from Brian Deer who knows nothing about the diagnosis and sequeli of autism."
They got NO info from Brian Deer. His name was not brought up once in the MMR portion of the proceedings. Deer and Wakefield are involved in a court case in the U.K., not the U.S.
" I don't think you even have kids so you do not understand a parent's dilema regarding this decision to vaccinate or not."
Nonsense!
What was the words you used? Willfully ignorant?
Thimerosal hasn't been removed from vaccines. It is still used in the production of most vaccines and remains in "trace" amounts, and it is in most flu vaccines, which are required now by many states.
Also, I think it could just be the combo vaxes period. the mercury may contribute but it just may be that we are not meant to encounter six viruses in the same day. I don't think that would happen very often naturally.
Oh where oh where will the goal posts shift to this time?
And you are supposed to be a doctor and caregiver? Sadly, you've lost all respect I had for you.
It needs to be pointed out to you and others...you too have been misled. And you continue to want to buy into the BS they are selling you. Kirby, Olmstead, Stagliano, Handley, and Imus. They are perpetuating a fantasy, an act of deception, or a horrible error, all at people like yourselves expense.
How long will it take for some of you to realize your "theory" is wrong? What will it take for you to actually stop and say to yourself, "gee, maybe I do have it wrong"? My guess is you won't. Luckily, society will continue on and policy will be made without you.
The best evidence was in. It was shot down, crashing in flames.
You need to realize that these people are making their business from propagating this BS! Why can't you accept that?
And my sympathy and respect for parents with autistic children is independent of what their views are on this issue. Science is science. Facts are facts. What one person wants to believe, even in light of all the evidence to the contrary, is not reinforced, in any way, by their personal circumstance.
Thank you for your article. I am one of those "educated" people. What would you personally do when it comes to vaccinating our children. Any input that can help with finalizing my personal position regarding how I want to vaccinate my 1 year old would be appreciated.
Here is what we have done and our personal opinion:
- didn't want to do hepatitis B - don't believe we need to worry about STD's or blood transfusions - Still submitted in hospital and at pediatrition as an "accident".
- at 2 months he received combination shot bec at the time we were persuaded that we didn't want to take the risk just in case, and I was not "educated" enough. Combination included Polio, DTP, Hib Hepatitis B (HB) (except we thought hepatitis B was not included). With our next child I will not vaccine at 2 months, but much later.
- At 5 months we gave him HIB - ACT HIB we researched was one of the safest brands.
- At 7 months DTP
- At 8 months HIB
- At 9 months DTP
I am against Polio bec. due to so few cases.
Next - we need to get more info on MMR. We are done with DTP and HIB
Since every shot gives you a certain degree of protection, I don't see why we have to vaccinate to the fullest 100%, considering the few cases there are.
I would love to here any vaccine schedules you /
Hey Stefi. Here's some advice, ask a qualified, practicing health care practitioner!
These illness are troubling - especially if their incidence is rising, and might be prevented. Moreover, I can't imagine a greater sorrow than to see one's beloved child slip away into confusion and disability. HOWEVER - magical thinking and boogeymanism will not heal your loved ones.
No one can claim that science has not made mistakes or promoted dubious agendas, but it is indisputable that MILLIONS of lives have been saved and incalculable misery has been prevented by the use of vaccines.
If your child dies from eating a strawberry or is harmed by peanuts, does that make strawberries or peanuts evil? What if the strawberry is tainted with methyl bromide or the peanut by salmonella?
Perhaps this vaccine interacts with that food additive - IF one has a genetic susceptibility AND/OR there are toxics in the water in a given area. Perhaps this number of vaccines on this schedule is optimal, and harmful if the number exceeded. These thing are clearly subtle and exceedingly complex - but that is the nature of modern life. But to sink into cultism will not help solve these problems.
Read the article carefully for the tell-tale signs of cultism - exactly which "civic leaders and members of congress" have been prevented from expressing their views? In another place, that might be called paranoia.
It can't be radiation, pollution, or diet, right? It has to be the vaccines - and the vaccines only. THAT is cultism...
But my son could not handle it- and I was given the choice between crappy polluted vaxes or none. WHY?
We are not nut cases- just give me a better choice, PLEASE BIG PHARMA GIVE ME A CHOICE I CAN TRUST!
20 years ago, when my daughter had vaccines, she received 9 vaccines by the time she hit 5 years old. So I thought all would be fine with our twin boys -- but so much has changed since then!
Our twin boys, now 5 years old, received FORTY vaccines by the time they hit 4 years old! :
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5064/camvaxrecordsaddednotesyg0.jpg
Cameron started showing odd behavior around 34 months old that became more frequent. He gradually regressed and we had no idea what was going on until the doctor admitted shortly after they turned 4 years old that he had Autism.
Here is what the schedule looked like that our pediatrician strictly followed from 2003 when our twins were born (born 4 weeks premature to boot as well):
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/64/kaiser20022003smallqy6.jpg
Compare 2003 to the latest vaccine schedule for 2007-2008 showing several more mandated vaccines:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/185/kaiser20072008vk2.jpg
IMHO, it is TOO MUCH TOO SOON. And by the time you realize something is going terribly wrong, it is too late. And I kick myself for it every day...
The Effects of Vaccines Recommended for Universal Use in Children in the United States (pre and post vaccination data) :
1. Smallpox decreased from a peak of 48,164 annual cases to 0 cases in 2003, a 100% decrease
2. Diphtheria decreased from a peak of 175,885 annual cases to 1 case in 2003, a 99.99% decrease
3. Pertussis decreased from a peak of 147,271 annual cases to 8067 cases in 2003. a 94.52% decrease
4. Tetanus decreased from a peak of 1314 annual cases to 14 cases in 2003, a 98.93% decrease
5. Poliomyelitis (paralytic) decreased from a peak of 16,316 annual cases to 0 cases in 2003, a 100% decrease
6. Measles decreased from a peak of 503,282 annual cases to 42 cases in 2003, a 99.99% decrease Mumps decreased from a peak of 152,209 annual cases to 194 in 2003, a 99.87% decrease
7. Rubella decreased from a peak of 47,745 annual cases to 8 cases in 2003, a 99.98% decrease
8. Congenital rubella syndrome decreased from a peak of 823 annual cases to 0 cases in 2003, a 100% decrease
9. Haemophilus influenzae type b decreased from a peak of 20,000 annual cases to 207 cases in 2003, a 98.97% decrease
From Mandell, Bennett, & Dolin: Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases,6th ed. 2005
Measles: approx 1 in 2,720,000
Mumps: approx 1 in 702,842
Rubella: approx 1 in 747,252
Polio: approx 1 in 0 or 0.00% or 0 people in USA. (4 cases a year vaccine induced)
Hepatitis B: approx 1 in 362
Chicken Pox: approx 1 in 2,254
Diphtheria: approx 1 in 272,000,000
Tetanus: approx 1 in 6,800,000
Whooping cough: approx 1 in 36,731
Meningitis: approx 1 in 10,879
Tuberculosis: approx 1 in 14,814
AUTISM : approx 1 in 150 (and RISING FAST)
In Oregon, where we live, apparently based on the year 2006- 2007 it is 1 in 88:
http://www.fightingautism.org/idea/autism-state-rankings.php
Maurine Meleck
I don't have an objection to one word written here. It only makes sense.
How we get from there, to blaming vaccines for autism is where I get lost.
A pediatrician can insist his patients be vaccinated; as long as all the "legitimate" groups involved with this question side with the safety of vaccinations, that doctor is essentially immune (pardon the pun) from accusations of malpractice...even if the child subsequently suffers irreversible neurological damage. But if that doctor says to a parent, "There are serious concerns and I would wait," and that child subsequently suffers injury or death from a disease for which a vaccine exists, that doctor is exposed to potential charges of malpractice.
It is deeply disturbing that the medical industry is being allowed, unfettered, to whip the public into a frenzy of fear to keep parents vaccinating. Nobody is saying, “Don’t vaccinate, period.” But the Amish do not vaccinate and as my wife likes to ask, “Where are all the autistic Amish children?” (Last I looked, there were three cases.) But at over 35 childhood vaccinations and counting – with each vaccine adding about $1 BILLION to a company’s revenue – it is time to step back and examine the risks a little more critically. If we don’t, we’ll be at Dr. Offit’s “100,000 vaccinations” in no time. What will our autism rates be then?
Of course, Dr. Offit says there is no link. And why would he lie?