Some blame media for public fear of vaccine-autism link

From the New York Times:

A new book defending vaccines, written by a doctor infuriated at the claim that they cause autism, is galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United States.

Dr. Paul A. Offit is being called a lightning rod in a debate that has featured such celebrity vaccine foes as former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy and her companion, actor Jim Carrey. Other than Offit’s book, the official response from public health experts has been “muted and couched in dull scientific jargon.”

Some experts blame journalists for stoking the vaccine controversy by “acting as if there were two legitimate sides in the autism debate.”

Many doctors now argue that reporters should treat the antivaccine lobby with the same indifference they do Holocaust deniers, AIDS deniers and those claiming to have proof that NASA faked the Moon landings.

Offit is the author of “Autism’s False Prophets.”

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(Photo from New York Times)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 3:14 pm and is filed under autism, books, celebrities, media, public health, 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.