Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Dr. Paul Offit, Dr. Richard Pan, and Robert F. Kennedy to name a few.
Dr. Stanley Plotkin was born in 1932 in New York. He credits his career to reading a novel called Arrowsmith, by Sinclair Lewis and Microbe Hunters, a non-fiction science drama by Paul de Kruif. He has almost single-handedly overseen the creation of all modern-day vaccinations, beginning with his creation of the rubella vaccine in 1963. This fact is interesting because he just so happened to be interested in this specific disease, and an outbreak happens in Europe, then America. His career is laden with controversy, as he pioneered the use of aborted fetal cells as a vaccine growth medium; WI-38 was a 3 month gestated female and named after the laboratory, Wistar, and being the 38th human sample. His biggest critics claimed using human cells caused cancer to proliferate, and he stood firm that there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove that theory, claiming they were just being blinded by religion. over half a century later, they have yet to conduct further studies as to whether or not injecting human DNA into a population can lead to cancer (carcinogenic) or genetic mutation (Mutagenic).
Dr. Andrew Wakefield If there were a 'Cliffs notes" for controversy within the vaccine conversation, the first chapter would most likely include that the information used to make "anti-vax" decisions come from the discredited work of blacklisted Wakefield. Born in the UK in 1957 He became a well-respected gastroenterologist whose fall from grace was extremely fast. He had a patient whose mother claimed his gut problems, and Autism correlated with his receiving the MMR vaccine. Wakefield originally was not interested, but then had more parents showing up claiming the same thing, He finally relented. Alongside several other respected medical professionals. For some reason, he was the only one who was ostracized from the medical community, out of the thirteen authors of the study.
Senator Dr. Richard Pan was born in 1965 in the US. He is a California Senator who introduced a very controversial bill, SB277 which passes, eliminating all personal and religious vaccine exemptions in California. He received 95,000 in pharmaceutical campaign cash the year before he introduced his bill. He has recently introduced a bill removing physicians' right to administer medical exemptions, and placing the responsibility into the hands of bureaucrats. This has many parents afraid that case-by-case exemptions are a thing of the past.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Born in 1954 is, yes, one of THE Kennedys. His dad was JFK's brother. He is an author, lawyer, and politician. He fights for the Environment, Minority, and Indigenous rights, Children's health, against factory farms, and is considered a huge political voice for parents of vaccine-injured children. He has his hand in many pies. He is not without his own controversy, mostly revolving around his vaccine hesitancy and his bold statements regarding government malfeasance.
Dr. Paul Offitt was born in 1951 in the US. He is big in the pro-vaccination, and "Vaccines are not related to Autism" faction. He is credited with creating the rotavirus vaccine and has written 130 papers in favor of his vaccine. Something the Anti-vax community might never admit knowing is that he was the only member of the CDCs advisory panel that voted against administering the Smallpox vaccine to tens of thousands of American citizens. He stated that the risks of the vaccine outweighed its current benefits.
Wikipedia.com for most basic information with the exception of:
“Stanley Plotkin, MD.” Stanley Plotkin, MD | History of Vaccines, www.historyofvaccines.org/content/stanley-plotkin-md.
Wakefield, A J, et al. “RETRACTED: Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children.” The Lancet, vol. 102, no. 2609, 28 Feb. 1998, pp. 306–309., doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(02)65615-6.
Hearing so many connections between vaccines causing autism and gut problems remind me of a situation my mom is going through. Her cousin recently had a son who was diagnosed with autism shortly after his birth, and my mom has been doing tons of research to help her. In her research, she found very clear connotations between leaky gut syndrome and autism. She describes the latter as not a mental condition, but rather a physical imbalance which is affected by the former. In turn, leaky gut is provoked by vaccines. She's always been super anti-vaccine, and information like this only helps her case.
ReplyDeleteThere are some things I like about your post, and some things I disagree with. You do a decent job of finding anecdotal evidence to support your point, which isn’t entirely clear, but sound like you are against mandatory vaccinations. You do a good job of giving us a clearer picture of the arguments against vaccinations. Although I disagree with your point, your evidence is a little interesting. The main problem I find with your overall argument is that you rely too heavily on the opinions of outlying skeptics and pretty much ignore the near-universal medical acceptance that vaccines, side effects and all, save lives. Perhaps you could try to strengthen your logic by trying to find a stronger relationship between vaccines and the supposed harm they cause. This is a good start, but pretty much ignores any sort of counter argument about why vaccines are a good thing. Challenging these views with strong evidence could provide for an overall stronger argument.
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