EDITORIAL

A matter of science, not debate

Posted 2/5/15

It is of no small concern when people in public life make pronouncements on subjects they have no qualifications to speak of and the latest ginned up controversy about the dangers of vaccination for …

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EDITORIAL

A matter of science, not debate

Posted

It is of no small concern when people in public life make pronouncements on subjects they have no qualifications to speak of and the latest ginned up controversy about the dangers of vaccination for children is a perfect example.

Thirteen years ago, a British doctor conducted a study that he said proved that there was a connection between childhood vaccinations and the alarming increase in the number of autistic children being diagnosed over the past 20 years. The doctor has been discredited, it being discovered that he had planned a business venture on the back of his so-called study. The British medical establishment attempted to duplicate Andrew Wakefield’s research and found they could not because he had made up much of his data, had not used adequate controls and intentionally wanted to throw doubt on the vaccinations to further his own financial interests. He was barred from practicing medicine in Great Britain and his study exposed as a fraud all over the world.

In spite of that, there are people in this country who want to keep that scare alive because, like the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of they world have realized, you can get very rich in this country by inventing conspiracies that don’t exist and selling them to people who can’t imagine that someone whose politics they admire would actually lie to them.

It’s one thing when an airhead like Jenny McCarthy declares that vaccines are harmful to children, but when the Governor of New Jersey, who seems to want to be president, says vaccination is a matter of opinion and a U.S. Senator who is said to have started the National Ophthalmology Board to guarantee that he would be “certified” when the American Board of Ophthalmology came up with rules he didn’t like, says he’s heard of profound injury to children who were vaccinated, that brings political cynicism to a brand new low.

If even one child dies because his or her parents believed in Chris Christie and Rand Paul more that their own doctor, they should both be charged with aiding and abetting ignorance of a subject that can have deadly implications for an innocent child.

Both these men know better than to propagate such nonsense and both should be held accountable in any debate about their political futures.

Angry old men and women long past the capacity to reproduce can afford to entertain such fictions. Young parents do so at the risk of their children’s health.

Vaccination is a matter of science and not a subject for debate.

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