Researcher caught between controversy, daughter’s autism
July 3rd, 2008
From The Washington Post:
Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher whose daughter Rachel has autism, grapples with her condition against the backdrop of the escalating controversy surrounding vaccines and autism. Hotez is president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and chair of George Washington University’s department of microbiology, immunology and tropical medicine.
The notion that a vaccine expert would deliberately cover up the cause of a growing public health problem cuts Peter Hotez to the quick. That narrative suggests that someone like him — with firsthand knowledge of the devastation autism can cause a family — would stand by idly as medical science knowingly allowed thousands of Rachels to be put through the suffering that she and her family have endured
While the experts continue to examine the links between autism, mitochondrial disorders and vaccinations, Hotez expresses increasing frustration with the tendency of society to “point fingers and find blame” instead of urging Congress to help families with simple things such as respite care.
(Washington Post photo)


