The Book Vaccine Whistleblower: The Core of the Movie Vaxxed Examined

The movie Vaxxed has been widely reviewed. There is nothing new in the movie that had not been extensively analyzed, starting in 2014. Many of the people who think the film is important seem unaware that the substantive content of the movie had been published in book form in 2015.  

This book, Vaccine Whistleblower, was reviewed in 2015 by a number of knowlegable people: ScienceMom; David Gorski MD PhD; epidemiologist René Najera MPH; and law professor Dorit Reiss.

Here are their reviews.

1. Monday August 24, 2015: Catherina at Just the Vax: "Vaccine Whistleblower": A Review of the Preface and Foreword

   This book is so bad that it's good, so good in the sense that it contains such demonstrably false information and a re-hash of previously debunked claims that I have chosen to review it in parts, the first being the Preface (Boyd Haley) and Foreword (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.)),

2. Monday August 24, 2015 David Gorski MD at Science-Based Medicine Vaccine Whistleblower: An antivaccine “exposé” full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

   The funny thing is, nothing in Vaccine Whistleblower actually demonstrates [wrongdoing at the CDC]. All we have are the words of a very angry man, William Thompson, who clearly has been nursing a grudge against his former colleagues since at least 2003 and is willing to make accusations without significant evidence at them. All we have from this very angry man are a highly select number of transcripts, only four out of over 30, in which this bitter man makes his accusations. It’s all very one-sided, and unfortunately the CDC, probably because Thompson has lawyered up with one of the best whistleblower attorneys in the country, is being painfully vague and discreet in its response:

   CDC is aware that employee Dr. William Thompson has raised concerns regarding an article he co-authored that was published in 2004 in Pediatrics. Consistent with CDC’s existing policies and procedures, the agency, through its Office of the Associate Director for Science (ADS), and in coordination with the HHS Office of Research Integrity, is reviewing these concerns. The agency will provide further information once the review is completed.

   The bottom line is that this book is nothing more than propaganda, and deceptive propaganda at that. The sad thing is that a formerly reputable scientist, William Thompson, provided the grist for the propaganda because he apparently has an ax to grind against his former co-investigators.

3. Monday August 24, 2015 René Najera at Science-Based Medicine Vaccine Whistleblower: BS Hooker and William Thompson try to talk about epidemiology

   Let’s start by reviewing BS Hooker’s credentials. He is a bioengineer and chemical engineer, not an epidemiologist, despite what the author of the book wants you to believe:

   With the publication of Kevin Barry’s Vaccine Whistleblower: Exposing Autism Research Fraud at the CDC, any claims of credibility for the CDC’s science has collapsed. Barry built his book upon four legally taped conversations between CDC senior vaccine safety scientist Dr. William Thompson and Simpson College professor and epidemiologist, Dr. Brian Hooker.

   Later in the book, in the transcript of one of the conversations between BS Hooker and Thompson, BS gets a list of things he needs to do to earn an “honorary” degree in epidemiology. Among those things was to look at some of the earlier studies that Thompson had coauthored. And BS did. He would go on to write a flawed paper that I critiqued here and ended up being retracted, as I told you about here. That paper alone should tell you everything you need to know about BS Hooker’s epidemiological understanding, but the transcripts given to us by his camp in the form of the book really reveal his ignorance.

4. Monday August 24, 2015 Dorit Reiss at Science-Based Medicine Review of Vaccine Whistleblower: A Legal Perspective

   This post addresses some legal issues raised in the Vaccine Whistleblower book. The first part explains whistleblower protections and how Dr. Thompson’s allegations fit into them. The second part addresses Dr. Thompson’s suggestion of an independent research agency. The third part explains why the book’s claim that school mandates violate international human rights is incorrect.

Backstory #1: At the blog Harpocrates Speaks, ToddW has kept an updated guide for parents and media over the story: MMR, the CDC and Brian Hooker: A Guide for Parents and the Media

Backstory #2: January 4, 2016, Matt Carey at LeftBrain/RightBrain Autism:  The William Thompson Documents. There’s no whistle to blow. "Congressman Posey released the documents to a journalist recently and, given that they are now in the public domain, Dorit Reiss and I requested that they be made available to us as well. Mr. Posey’s office graciously granted our request and I have spent some time going through them." 

Here is what you need to remember:

Also, consider this: before Thompson, Wakefield and Hooker didn’t talk about the issues of racial/ethnic minorities. For the most part, the entire “autism is caused by vaccines” community have ignored minority communities. Why? Because [the racial/ethnic minority autism figures] are a clear example that the vaccine hypothesis is a failure. Prevalence estimates for racial/ethnic minority groups have been typically much lower than for Caucasians (Hispanics are diagnosed at a rate of 1/3 that of Caucasians in California. And this has been consistent for over 10 years.) This presents a huge problem for the likes of Hooker and Wakefield. If vaccines are a major cause of autism, why do minority groups have such low prevalences? If they were honest about their own beliefs, they would be calling for a study into the “protective” effect for minorities. But they don’t. More importantly, if they were real autism advocates they would be calling for better diagnosis, better awareness, better services for these under served communities. Instead they have just ignored these minority communities. That is, until they could use them as part of their campaign against vaccines.

Don't forget that last point. In the last two decades "vaccines cause autism" community has demonstrated no (0, null, zero) in engaging with the needs of non-white, low-SES families affected by autism

Comments

[Adelaide Dupont]

What I meant to say is "Vaccine Whistleblower is a horrid little book" and I am glad Gorski et al said what they said.

Why didn't Wakefield have Black and Minority Ethnic children in his 1998 study?

Didn't have access to this 360 view at the time [24.8.2015].