Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, refutes an earlier column by David Kirby in which Kirby linked childhood vaccines with autism. Both columns appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

David Kirby’s March 20 opinion column, “Give Us Answers on Vaccines,” misinterpreted available information about a case before the National Vaccine Injury Compensation program and may have parents wondering what is best for their child when it comes to immunizations. That is unfortunate, given that our nation’s childhood vaccines are very safe and are proven to protect and save lives.

… Our nation’s high immunization rates are the reason why very few children suffer from vaccine-preventable diseases that in the past used to harm them in large numbers. These high rates show that parents realize the importance of childhood vaccinations. CDC is committed to maintaining that high level of support as well as making sure all our efforts are working to foster the health of children.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 8:07 am and is filed under autism, commentary, public attitudes, vaccine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.