At first I wasn't going to write this post since I believe that a film that appears to be (at least in part) based on thoroughly discredited, fear-mongering nonsense should get as little attention as possible.
Then after browsing several anti-vaccine and conspiracist websites I found as I suspected, that this has already exploded and whatever I write here won't make matters any worse.
The film 'Vaxxed' is directed by Mr Andrew Wakefield, a former physician who lost his medical license after research that he had authored, was found fraudulent (containing as I understand it, both methodological and ethical flaws).
Just watching the trailer for this film elevated my BP into dangerous territory. How is it that this man keeps promoting the same debunked data to this day? Hasn't it caused enough harm already?
It seems that anti-vaccine proponents span the entire spectrum from sadly misinformed to clearly unhinged. However, no matter what their individual motivation happens to be, they are in my opinion dangerous. We have fought a hard battle against diseases that today are vaccine-preventable. Millions of children have died in the past and some still do, to this day. We don't see much of it in first-world countries due to the success of vaccines. Anti-vaccine proponents seem to believe that the "olden days" were better. I think it's deeply worrisome.
In my escapades around the internet, I've found all sorts of scary blogs, clips and opinions relating to childhood vaccines.
This YouTube clip rather amusingly (in a sad way) has 90 likes and zero (!) dislikes (probably because no rational person would even click on it in the first place). (I'm not sure what this says about me)
Anyway this women thinks that nagalese (an enzyme) is added on purpose to vaccines in order to induce autism, cancer and type 2 diabetes in vaccine recipients. And the doctors who discovered this were subsequently murdered to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
(It seems that alpha-N-acetylgalactoseaminidase (referred to as nagalese in the YouTube clip) can deglycosylate vitamin D binding protein (DBP) and DBP plays a role in the immune cascade response. So it seems that alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase can interfere with the immune response. While some cancer cells can release alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase, I've found no proof that injecting them into humans induces cancers, never mind autism and DMII. I will however admit that I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time researching her theory).
I admit that this last video is a bit extreme. But this woman and other "anti-vaxxers" have one thing on common. They are willing to accept something as true, even when there is no supporting evidence available.
Serious questions:
* Why are some people so vulnerable/susceptible to flawed logic and poor research?
* What can we as nurses/healthcare professionals do to ensure that our patients base their decisions on sound evidence-based facts or at least have the opportunity to do so? Or should we just reconcile ourselves with the fact that a portion of the population will base their decisions on questionable or outright false information, misconceptions and fear?
De Niro was originally going to have it show at the tribeca film festival but pulled it. He has an autistic son but doesn't buy into the anti-vax hysteria.
Too answer your question about why, I'll tell you what I think.
Some people are mistrustful of the government. They are suspicious of the relationship between government and profiteering drug companies. They also don't trust the medical establishment to always tell the truth.
I have an old friend on Facebook who has gone a bit off the rails with many conspiracy theories, including the vaccine ones. People can, and do get more extreme as they get older. The internet has added fuel to this phenomenon.
I feel for parents whose child is diagnosed with autism, it must be confusing and very upsetting to hear this diagnosis. I wonder if when they are grasping for understanding, if it is easier for some parents to believe that their child's autism is related to vaccines, rather than their own advanced paternal/maternal age.
Or, completely blameless, or unknown to us thus far.
This topic just sends my blood pressure up. I have a certain family member who was being very 'vocal' on Facebook about anti-vax nonsense UNTIL another family member died from meningitis. (The 16 year old only got prevnar-7).
I cannot stress enough how important vaccines are.
Too answer your question about why, I'll tell you what I think.
Some people are mistrustful of the government. They are suspicious of the relationship between government and profiteering drug companies. They also don't trust the medical establishment to always tell the truth.
I have an old friend on Facebook who has gone a bit off the rails with many conspiracy theories, including the vaccine ones. People can, and do get more extreme as they get older. The internet has added fuel to this phenomenon.
I do think this, but I also think that parents are so scared that it may have been "their fault" that they reach to blame anything external.
Surely your incredibly biased description of insane "anti-vaxxers" with similarly absent research negates your argument? As there is little research to prove either argument I would say that discussion about the topic should be welcomed until such time that a determination can be made. I believe what I've seen, and from experience I've done many plasmapheresis treatments on people suddenly struck down by Guillain-Barre syndrome after having the flu shot. Research? No. Suggestion? Yes, lots. I don't want to get the flu shot but I am mandated to do so. I am anti forced vaccination. Everyone should have a choice over what goes into their own bodies and that of their children. You dismissing them as some kind of nut-job automatically makes me want to disagree with your argument purely because you dismiss the opinions of other who don't agree with you. We need more research. I'm all for debate, but perhaps your argument would carry more weight without the ridicule. All sides of the argument have extremes. There are degrees of separation and some arguments are more valid than others. I'd love to hear more evidence from both sides.
Nurse;8970569]This topic just sends my blood pressure up. I have a certain family member who was being very 'vocal' on Facebook about anti-vax nonsense UNTIL another family member died from meningitis. (The 16 year old only got prevnar-7).
I cannot stress enough how important vaccines are.
I feel for parents whose child is diagnosed with autism, it must be confusing and very upsetting to hear this diagnosis. I wonder if when they are grasping for understanding, if it is easier for some parents to believe that their child's autism is related to vaccines, rather than their own advanced paternal/maternal age.
Hmmmmm, really? I thought the "advanced parental age" myth flew away with the "refrigerator (cold) mother" myth. Sad to see that it's still out there.
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Hmmmmm, really? I thought the "advanced parental age" myth flew away with the "refrigerator (cold) mother" myth. Sad to see that it's still out there.
It's been dispelled. Advanced maternal has increased risk for known genetic conditions such as trisomy 21 but no direct connection to autism especially with the five twenty something parents with children of varying levels of severity in ASD I know personally totally dispelling the link to parents being over age 35 at time of conception
The controversy is not about Dr. Andrew Wakefield, nor his retracted 1998 Lancet retrospective case series analysis. Rather, a senior CDC vaccine scientist Dr. William Thompson lawyered up and issued the following public statement on August 27, 2014. Thompson is ardently provaccine, and his statement shows that; it also says:
My name is William Thompson. I am a Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, where I have worked since 1998.
I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed."
Nurse;8970569]This topic just sends my blood pressure up. I have a certain family member who was being very 'vocal' on Facebook about anti-vax nonsense UNTIL another family member died from meningitis. (The 16 year old only got prevnar-7).
I cannot stress enough how important vaccines are.
...annnnd THAT's when the public runs to get the word out about getting vaccinations-it's unfortunate.
I feel for parents whose child is diagnosed with autism, it must be confusing and very upsetting to hear this diagnosis. I wonder if when they are grasping for understanding, if it is easier for some parents to believe that their child's autism is related to vaccines, rather than their own advanced paternal/maternal age.
I agree-except the advance paternal/maternal age.
In this day and age, one can determine their fertility levels...a 42 year old can be healthy fertility wise as a 22 year old and vice versa.
Autism determination ratio is determined by genetic testing.
)
to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B
2,942 Posts
De Niro was originally going to have it show at the tribeca film festival but pulled it. He has an autistic son but doesn't buy into the anti-vax hysteria.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/movies/robert-de-niro-pulls-anti-vaccine-documentary-from-tribeca-film-festival.html?smtyp=cur&referer=http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEV1vYXflWRBMAjhRx.9w4;_ylu=X3oDMTByNXM5bzY5BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1459211865/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.nytimes.com%2f2016%2f03%2f27%2fmovies%2frobert-de-niro-pulls-anti-vaccine-documentary-from-tribeca-film-festival.html%3fsmtyp%3dcur/RK=0/RS=zBGFpuhCw1a0DEMPcMC1nE5MSl8-