"Greetings! Are you my old friend?" This was my Facebook message to my childhood friend, Kevin, in December 2009. I was fairly certain I had found him. The profile picture seemed right on, even though it had been about 20 years. With my certainty came surprise that he had never answered me.
Today, I know why. Visiting his page again almost two years later, I saw an update reflecting his passing one month before I had written. He never got my message.
Kevin was an extremely gifted boy when we were friends. I'm sad that we lost touch, and that he's gone before we ever had a chance to share where life had taken us. I know he became a gifted writer, and shared his battle with cancer on his blog. I'll remember him fondly, and I'll always feel a little guilty for the irritation I felt that he never wrote me back.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Vaccines: should you be afraid?
There is a lot of misinformation in popular culture about vaccine safety, and it's got consequences that I believe include tragic deaths. For example, whooping cough (pertussis) was nearly eradicated in this country by vaccination. Due to declining vaccine rates largely fueled by the discredited and retracted vaccine-autism study, ten babies have already died from the resurgence of this disease, when last I heard.
The guy who did the study was found to have a serious conflict--he was paid for the study by attorneys preparing to sue the vaccine industry. The study only involved twelve patients, a woefully inadequate sample size for a scientific study. It later came to light that about half the data was actually faked. Subsequent studies have not backed up its conclusions.
Modern vaccines are so much safer than the diseases they protect against.
I recently saw an article someone posted to Facebook that left the impression that there is a large concern in the medical community about vaccinating pregnant women against the flu. Considering the very real and countable deaths that occur every year from the flu, and the special susceptibility of pregnant women and their newborns, Centers for Disease Control recommends flu shots for pregnant women (see this CDC page, and also this video).
Here is an article I liked that you might find interesting, discussing that vaccine/autism study I mentioned above.
The guy who did the study was found to have a serious conflict--he was paid for the study by attorneys preparing to sue the vaccine industry. The study only involved twelve patients, a woefully inadequate sample size for a scientific study. It later came to light that about half the data was actually faked. Subsequent studies have not backed up its conclusions.
Modern vaccines are so much safer than the diseases they protect against.
I recently saw an article someone posted to Facebook that left the impression that there is a large concern in the medical community about vaccinating pregnant women against the flu. Considering the very real and countable deaths that occur every year from the flu, and the special susceptibility of pregnant women and their newborns, Centers for Disease Control recommends flu shots for pregnant women (see this CDC page, and also this video).
Here is an article I liked that you might find interesting, discussing that vaccine/autism study I mentioned above.
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