Stepping Up: Combatting Antivaccinationist Misinformation

Remember ABC Engaging in Shameful, Outright Anti-Vaccination Propoganda, the Eli Stone opening episode? The American Association of Pediatrics sent a very strong letter to ABC demanding that ABC cancel the episode, and wrote in a press release

A television show that perpetuates the myth that vaccines cause autism is the height of reckless irresponsibility on the part of ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co.,” said Renee R. Jenkins, MD, FAAP, president of the AAP. “If parents watch this program and choose to deny their children immunizations, ABC will share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths that occur as a result. The consequences of a decline in immunization rates could be devastating to the health of our nation’s children.”

The "autism is mercury poisoning" crowd reacted predictably, howling Censorship! and Forget the evidence! We know what our parental intuition tells us! I won't link to those people, but Kristina Chew has a masterful summary and Orac has a long and thoughtful post on "balance in science reporting".

On February 13, the AAP launched a drive to counter the anti-vaccination hysteria.  As part of that effort,  AAP's Division of Media Relations are seeking responses from two sets of parents:

• Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders who support immunization and who do not believe there is any link between their child's vaccines and his or her autism.
• Parents of children who suffered a vaccine-preventable illness. This could be a parent who declined immunization, whose child became ill before a vaccine was available, or whose child was ineligible for immunization.

I hope some of the parents of children sickened in the San Diego measles outbreak will speak to the AAP.

The Director of AAP's Division of Media Relations is Susan Martin; you can email her directly at ssmartin@aap.org

Below the fold, the full e-mail from the Division of Media Relations, and a list of bloggers combating antivaccinationist misinformation and supporting the AAP's efforts.

The email from the AAP:

From: Susan Martin    

Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 2:29 PM    
To: SPOKESPERSONS@LISTSERV.AAP.ORG    
Subject: parent spokespersons

    Hello,

    As part of our ongoing response to media stories regarding autism and vaccines, the AAP communications department is compiling a list of parents who support the AAP and are available for interviews. We are looking for two types of parents who could serve as spokespersons:

    Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders who support immunization and who do not believe there is any link between their child's vaccines and his or her autism.

    Parents of children who suffered a vaccine-preventable illness. This could be a parent who declined immunization, whose child became ill before a vaccine was available, or whose child was ineligible for immunization.

    We are asking for your help identifying parents who would be good spokespersons. They do not need to be expert public speakers. They just need to be open with their story and interested in speaking out on the issue. We will contact candidates in advance to conduct pre-interviews, to offer guidance on talking to reporters and to obtain a signed waiver giving us permission to release their name.

    If a parent were placed on our list, we would offer their name and contact information to select media. We hope to build a list of parents from a wide range of geographical areas.

    As the Jenny McCarthy and "Eli Stone" stories illustrate, this issue is likely to recur in the national and local media. The AAP is committed to doing all we can to counter such erroneous reports with factual information supported by scientific evidence and AAP recommendations.

    The anti-vaccine groups often have emotional family stories on their side. The ability to offer a reporter an interview with a similarly compelling parent who is sympathetic to the AAP's goals is a powerful tool for our media relations program.

    Please contact me if you have any questions or to suggest a parent to interview.

    Thank you,

    Susan Stevens Martin    
Director,
Division of Media Relations    
American Academy of Pediatrics    
847.434.7131    

Bloggers On the AAP's Request for Parents to Speak Up:

• Marla Baltes blog
• One Dads Opinion
• Telstra
• RunMan
• Mom Not Otherwise Specified
• Whitterer on Autism
• Club166
  
• Autism News Beat
  
• Respectful Insolence
• Autism Vox
• Terra Sigillata
• Good Math, Bad Math
• Left Brain/Right Brain
• Grey Matter White Matter I
• Grey Matter White Matter II
• Maternal Instincts--Flying By the Seat of My Pants

Bloggers on the need for better science reporting

• Mike the Mad Biologist on NYT autism reporting policy
• Stats Blog on how not to create a scientifically-credible consumer report
• Confessions of a Pediatric Practice Consultant on the need for the AAP to do a better job of informing parents about the true risks and value of vaccination.
• Science Based Medicine debunking the "toxins" in vaccines meme.
• Dr. Gwenn Is In on the Eli Stone episode
• VaccineEthics on NYT autism reporting policy

And I am the Giraffe has a memorable post on Autism Speaks and vaccinations and the rest of the biomedical treatments.

These days, when it’s normal for children to survive childhood–instead of succumbing to those diseases that have been virtually eradicated in the Western world because of widespread immunization–we as parents simply can’t relax and enjoy it; we have to be hypervigilant about every possible danger that remains.  At some point it becomes like superstition:  If I watch my children closely, if I feed them the right foods, if I buckle all their seatbelts and make them wear their bike helmets–then my children will never get sick, will never swallow poison, will never get hit by automobiles, will never be abducted or harmed by others.  If I wait to immunize my children and don’t let the birth attendant clamp their umbilical cords, they will not be autistic.  Of course no one thinks this simplistically, and the fact that we aren’t in complete control of our children’s health and safety does not render the use of seatbelts, child locks and appropriate nutrition pointless.  Similarly, perhaps it’s prudent to immunize your children when they’re older and not to clamp umbilical cords willy-nilly.  I wouldn’t know.  I just know my child has autism, and I don’t like to hear about your pediatrician, who started insisting that his patients follow the modified immunization schedule five years ago, has recently had his first and only case of autism.  If it really is his first and only case, I tend to think your pediatrician has gotten lucky.  At least his patients have.

Comments

[Maddy]

Thanks for reposting this petal!