Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (26 page)
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Authors: Paul A. Offit M.D.
BOOK: Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All
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Jim Carrey exhorts crowd at an anti-vaccine rally in front of the Capitol, June 4, 2008. (Courtesy of Getty Images.)
McCarthy and Carrey were a compatible anti-vaccine couple, sharing the notion that vaccines are a conspiracy run by pharmaceutical companies. On April 3, 2009, on
Larry King Live
, Carrey said, “The AAP is financed by drug companies. Medical schools are financed by drug companies.” Carrey also doesn’t trust public health agencies. “I don’t think people that are charged with the public health any longer have our best interests at heart all the time,” he said. “Parents have to make their own decisions: educated decisions.” Unfortunately, like McCarthy and J. B. Handley, Carrey does little to educate them. On the same segment of
Larry King Live
, Handley noted that “twenty-seven countries chose not to vaccinate for the chickenpox.” Carrey knew why. “That vaccine doesn’t work,” he said.
Larry King Live
, Carrey said, “The AAP is financed by drug companies. Medical schools are financed by drug companies.” Carrey also doesn’t trust public health agencies. “I don’t think people that are charged with the public health any longer have our best interests at heart all the time,” he said. “Parents have to make their own decisions: educated decisions.” Unfortunately, like McCarthy and J. B. Handley, Carrey does little to educate them. On the same segment of
Larry King Live
, Handley noted that “twenty-seven countries chose not to vaccinate for the chickenpox.” Carrey knew why. “That vaccine doesn’t work,” he said.
Handley’s implication that chickenpox is unimportant and Carrey’s statement that the vaccine doesn’t work are inconsistent with the evidence. The chickenpox vaccine was first licensed and used in the United States in 1995. Although many people think of chickenpox as a benign disease—a simple rite of childhood passage—it isn’t; every year chickenpox causes children to be hospitalized and to die. The virus, which disrupts the skin with painful blisters, allows entrance of bacteria like
Streptococcus pyogenes
. Dubbed “flesh-eating bacteria” by the press, streptococcus causes serious and occasionally fatal diseases like necrotizing fasciitis (a deep-seated infection that dissects rapidly through muscles, necessitating emergency surgery) and pyomyositis (in which muscles liquefy from massive inflammation). The virus can also travel to the lungs causing pneumonia and to the brain causing encephalitis. Worst of all: you never get rid of chickenpox. Even after people recover from the infection, the virus lives silently in nerve roots, occasionally reawakening later in life causing shingles, one of medicine’s most debilitating diseases. Shingles is so painful that it has at times led to suicide. And shingles doesn’t only affect the skin; sometimes when the virus reawakens it causes strokes, resulting in permanent paralysis. Chickenpox is a disease worth preventing. And, thanks to the chickenpox vaccine, American children are now much less likely to catch it. Since the vaccine was released, twenty studies—performed between 1997 and 2006—have evaluated whether the vaccine works. Every one of them found that it did. Not surprisingly, the number of children with chickenpox—once totaling about four million a year—has declined dramatically. But Jim Carrey never mentioned these data. Rather, he declared to several million people on national television that the vaccine didn’t work—a statement that was entirely false and went completely unchallenged.
Streptococcus pyogenes
. Dubbed “flesh-eating bacteria” by the press, streptococcus causes serious and occasionally fatal diseases like necrotizing fasciitis (a deep-seated infection that dissects rapidly through muscles, necessitating emergency surgery) and pyomyositis (in which muscles liquefy from massive inflammation). The virus can also travel to the lungs causing pneumonia and to the brain causing encephalitis. Worst of all: you never get rid of chickenpox. Even after people recover from the infection, the virus lives silently in nerve roots, occasionally reawakening later in life causing shingles, one of medicine’s most debilitating diseases. Shingles is so painful that it has at times led to suicide. And shingles doesn’t only affect the skin; sometimes when the virus reawakens it causes strokes, resulting in permanent paralysis. Chickenpox is a disease worth preventing. And, thanks to the chickenpox vaccine, American children are now much less likely to catch it. Since the vaccine was released, twenty studies—performed between 1997 and 2006—have evaluated whether the vaccine works. Every one of them found that it did. Not surprisingly, the number of children with chickenpox—once totaling about four million a year—has declined dramatically. But Jim Carrey never mentioned these data. Rather, he declared to several million people on national television that the vaccine didn’t work—a statement that was entirely false and went completely unchallenged.
In October 2009, during the swine flu (H1N1) epidemic, another celebrity threw his hat into the ring: Bill Maher, the popular host of HBO’s
Real Time with Bill Maher
. For those who followed him on Twitter, Maher advised that getting a vaccine to prevent swine flu was for “idiots.” On his television show, he debated Bill Frist, a heart surgeon and former Senate majority leader from Tennessee.
Real Time with Bill Maher
. For those who followed him on Twitter, Maher advised that getting a vaccine to prevent swine flu was for “idiots.” On his television show, he debated Bill Frist, a heart surgeon and former Senate majority leader from Tennessee.
MAHER
: Why would you let them [doctors] be the ones to stick a disease into your arm? I would never get a swine flu vaccine or any vaccine. I don’t trust the government, especially with my health.FRIST:
On the swine flu, I know you really believe that. And let me just ...MAHER:
You say that like I’m a crazy person.
Frist told the story of a healthy thirty-year-old man who had died of swine flu in his (Frist’s) hospital. Maher didn’t buy it.
MAHER:
This is not a serious flu. Let’s be honest. There must be something more to this. I cannot believe that a perfectly healthy person died of this swine flu. That person was not perfectly healthy. Western medicine misses a lot.
Frist told Maher about two recent publications in the
New England Journal of Medicine
describing the high risk of fatal influenza in pregnant women.
New England Journal of Medicine
describing the high risk of fatal influenza in pregnant women.
FRIST:
I know you don’t believe this, but I’m telling you the facts. Because if you send a signal out telling pregnant women not to get this vaccine ...MAHER:
I do.FRIST:
Well, you’re wrong. I’m serious.
One month later, Maher wrote an article for the
Huffington Post
titled “Vaccination: A Conversation Worth Having.” In it, he sounded many classic anti-vaccine themes: for example, that vaccines contain dangerous additives (“the formaldehyde, the insect repellent, the mercury”), that diseases prevented by vaccines were disappearing anyway (“polio had diminished by over 50 percent in the thirty years before the vaccine”), and that common belief is common wisdom (“sixty-five percent of the French people don’t want [the flu vaccine]. Are they all crazy too?”). Then Maher gave his readers the source of his information: “Someone who speaks eloquently about this is Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccine Information Center. I find her extremely credible, as I do Dr. Russell Blaylock, Dr. Jay Gordon, and many others. But I shouldn’t have even mentioned them because I don’t want to be ‘The Vaccine Guy’!! Look it up yourself and stop asking me about it. I’m already ‘The Religion Guy,’ and that’s enough work!”
Huffington Post
titled “Vaccination: A Conversation Worth Having.” In it, he sounded many classic anti-vaccine themes: for example, that vaccines contain dangerous additives (“the formaldehyde, the insect repellent, the mercury”), that diseases prevented by vaccines were disappearing anyway (“polio had diminished by over 50 percent in the thirty years before the vaccine”), and that common belief is common wisdom (“sixty-five percent of the French people don’t want [the flu vaccine]. Are they all crazy too?”). Then Maher gave his readers the source of his information: “Someone who speaks eloquently about this is Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccine Information Center. I find her extremely credible, as I do Dr. Russell Blaylock, Dr. Jay Gordon, and many others. But I shouldn’t have even mentioned them because I don’t want to be ‘The Vaccine Guy’!! Look it up yourself and stop asking me about it. I’m already ‘The Religion Guy,’ and that’s enough work!”
Bill Maher, host of HBO’s
Real Time with Bill Maher
, declared that the novel H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine was for “idiots.” (Courtesy of Kabik/ Retna Ltd./Corbis.)
Real Time with Bill Maher
, declared that the novel H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine was for “idiots.” (Courtesy of Kabik/ Retna Ltd./Corbis.)
When Maher called himself “The Religion Guy,” he was referring to his 2008 movie,
Religulous
(presumably a contraction of the words
religion
and
ridiculous
). Maher took on religion, claiming that religious beliefs weren’t supported by scientific evidence. At the beginning of the movie he asked, “Why is believing something without evidence good?” Maher noted that many scientists were either atheists or agnostics. He was likening himself to them. But that’s where the similarity ended.
Religulous
(presumably a contraction of the words
religion
and
ridiculous
). Maher took on religion, claiming that religious beliefs weren’t supported by scientific evidence. At the beginning of the movie he asked, “Why is believing something without evidence good?” Maher noted that many scientists were either atheists or agnostics. He was likening himself to them. But that’s where the similarity ended.
Maher argued that influenza vaccine was equivalent to “sticking a disease into your arm.” Following his criticism, Maher received letters from doctors explaining how the influenza vaccine was made and how it works—and why it wasn’t like “sticking a disease into your arm.” But Maher didn’t need their help. “I read
Microbe Hunters
when I was eight,” he wrote. (
Microbe Hunters
was written twenty years before the invention of the first influenza vaccine.)
Microbe Hunters
when I was eight,” he wrote. (
Microbe Hunters
was written twenty years before the invention of the first influenza vaccine.)
Maher’s
Huffington Post
entry also contained several inaccuracies. He argued that polio was on the decline before the vaccine. In fact, in 1943, ten thousand Americans suffered polio; in 1948, twenty-seven thousand; and in 1952, three years before Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine, fifty-nine thousand. Maher claimed that the swine flu epidemic was overblown, again unsupported by the facts. Between April 2009, when swine flu entered the United States, and November 2009, when Maher made the claim, forty-seven million Americans had been infected, more than two hundred thousand had been hospitalized, and ten thousand had died, a thousand of whom were children. Finally, Maher wrote that pregnant women didn’t need the influenza vaccine—his most dangerous advice. Indeed, pregnant women were seven times more likely to have been hospitalized with swine flu than women of the same age who weren’t pregnant.
Huffington Post
entry also contained several inaccuracies. He argued that polio was on the decline before the vaccine. In fact, in 1943, ten thousand Americans suffered polio; in 1948, twenty-seven thousand; and in 1952, three years before Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine, fifty-nine thousand. Maher claimed that the swine flu epidemic was overblown, again unsupported by the facts. Between April 2009, when swine flu entered the United States, and November 2009, when Maher made the claim, forty-seven million Americans had been infected, more than two hundred thousand had been hospitalized, and ten thousand had died, a thousand of whom were children. Finally, Maher wrote that pregnant women didn’t need the influenza vaccine—his most dangerous advice. Indeed, pregnant women were seven times more likely to have been hospitalized with swine flu than women of the same age who weren’t pregnant.
Maher argued that if most French citizens didn’t believe that a swine flu vaccine was necessary, then it must not be necessary. Ironically, in
Religulous
, he didn’t extend the same courtesy to those who believe in God. “So, even if a billion people believe something,” he said, “it can still be ridiculous.”
Religulous
, he didn’t extend the same courtesy to those who believe in God. “So, even if a billion people believe something,” he said, “it can still be ridiculous.”
Finally, when Maher wanted to educate himself about vaccines he called on Barbara Loe Fisher (a media-relations expert), Russell Blaylock (a neurosurgeon), and Jay Gordon (an anti-vaccine pediatrician). Not one of his advisors is an expert in immunology, virology, bacteriology, epidemiology, or toxicology. And not one has ever published a single study on the science of vaccines. Whereas Maher argued that science refuted much of what was stated in biblical teachings, he abandoned science when talking about vaccines.
Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, and Bill Maher have used their celebrity to misinform the public about vaccines, putting children at unnecessary risk. Unfortunately, the phenomenon isn’t new. In the 1950s, when epidemiological studies clearly showed that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer, Edward R. Murrow (a broadcast journalist for CBS News) and Arthur Godfrey (a radio and television personality) used their celebrity to argue that the science was contradictory. Both Murrow and Godfrey died of lung cancer.
Although Barbara Loe Fisher doesn’t have a medical or scientific background—and has been unable to provide a biological underpinning for her contention that vaccines cause chronic diseases—the media have viewed her as a credible source of information. She has spoken before congressional subcommittees, served on an FDA vaccine advisory panel, and appeared on well-respected news programs such as ABC’s
World News Tonight
. Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, J. B. Handley, and Bill Maher, on the other hand, are seen as less reliable, less informed, and less credible by the media. Their voices are heard on anti-vaccine blogs and entertainment television, not at congressional hearings or federal advisory committees. Considered great entertainment, if not somewhat cartoonish, these new antivaccine activists have been relatively marginalized. And things would have stayed that way had not two people stepped forward from an unexpected place—two people no one predicted would have ended up on the other side.
World News Tonight
. Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, J. B. Handley, and Bill Maher, on the other hand, are seen as less reliable, less informed, and less credible by the media. Their voices are heard on anti-vaccine blogs and entertainment television, not at congressional hearings or federal advisory committees. Considered great entertainment, if not somewhat cartoonish, these new antivaccine activists have been relatively marginalized. And things would have stayed that way had not two people stepped forward from an unexpected place—two people no one predicted would have ended up on the other side.
Dr. Bernadine Healy was the director of the National Institutes of Health—the single most respected research organization in the United States—during President George H. W. Bush’s administration. Although most people have never heard of her, they have certainly heard of NIH. And every time Healy speaks out against vaccines, the appellation “former director of NIH” follows. On May 12, 2008, Sharyl Attkisson interviewed Healy on
CBS Evening News
. Calm, mature, and seemingly well reasoned, Healy did much to discredit those with whom she had previously worked. “This is the time when we do have the opportunity to understand whether or not there are susceptible children [to autism],” she began, “perhaps genetically, perhaps they have a metabolic issue, mitochondrial disorder, immunologic issue, that makes them more susceptible to vaccines. And I think we have the tools today that we didn’t have ten years ago, that we didn’t have twenty years ago, to try and tease that out.” Healy was right that the past decade had witnessed an explosion in techniques likely to reveal the cause or causes of autism. But she was wrong in claiming they hadn’t been used. Quite the opposite. During the past decade, several investigators, using the sophisticated techniques mentioned by Healy, have found several genetic defects in children with autism. Others have found structural differences in the brains of autistic children—differences likely to occur in the womb, not following vaccines.
CBS Evening News
. Calm, mature, and seemingly well reasoned, Healy did much to discredit those with whom she had previously worked. “This is the time when we do have the opportunity to understand whether or not there are susceptible children [to autism],” she began, “perhaps genetically, perhaps they have a metabolic issue, mitochondrial disorder, immunologic issue, that makes them more susceptible to vaccines. And I think we have the tools today that we didn’t have ten years ago, that we didn’t have twenty years ago, to try and tease that out.” Healy was right that the past decade had witnessed an explosion in techniques likely to reveal the cause or causes of autism. But she was wrong in claiming they hadn’t been used. Quite the opposite. During the past decade, several investigators, using the sophisticated techniques mentioned by Healy, have found several genetic defects in children with autism. Others have found structural differences in the brains of autistic children—differences likely to occur in the womb, not following vaccines.
In her interview with Sharyl Attkisson, Healy continued her attack against vaccines, arguing that children might be susceptible “to a component of vaccines, like mercury. I think the government or certain public health officials in the government have been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick. We should never shy away from science.” Healy’s rant against public health officials ignored several facts. For one thing, at the time of the
CBS Evening News
interview, the preservative that contained mercury (thimerosal) had been removed from all vaccines given to young infants. For another, far from being unwilling to study whether parents’ concerns about mercury were real, public health officials and academic investigators had performed many studies to determine whether mercury in vaccines caused autism or other problems. It didn’t. And those studies cost tens of millions of dollars to perform.
CBS Evening News
interview, the preservative that contained mercury (thimerosal) had been removed from all vaccines given to young infants. For another, far from being unwilling to study whether parents’ concerns about mercury were real, public health officials and academic investigators had performed many studies to determine whether mercury in vaccines caused autism or other problems. It didn’t. And those studies cost tens of millions of dollars to perform.
Healy concluded her interview by ignoring recent history: “I do not believe that if we identify a particular risk factor that the public would lose faith in vaccines. I think people understand a polio epidemic. I think they understand a measles epidemic. I think they understand congenital rubella. I think they understand diphtheria. Nobody’s going to turn their backs on vaccines. I don’t believe the truth ever scares people.” But some people
have
turned their backs on vaccines. They’ve turned their backs on MMR vaccine to the point of measles and mumps epidemics. And they’ve turned their back on Hib vaccine at the cost of their children’s lives. The problem isn’t that public health officials haven’t performed studies or tried to educate the press and public. The problem is that certain people in the media, such as Sharyl Attkisson, Oprah Winfrey, and Larry King, have dismissed these studies, choosing instead to scare the public, presumably to enhance the entertainment value of their shows.
have
turned their backs on vaccines. They’ve turned their backs on MMR vaccine to the point of measles and mumps epidemics. And they’ve turned their back on Hib vaccine at the cost of their children’s lives. The problem isn’t that public health officials haven’t performed studies or tried to educate the press and public. The problem is that certain people in the media, such as Sharyl Attkisson, Oprah Winfrey, and Larry King, have dismissed these studies, choosing instead to scare the public, presumably to enhance the entertainment value of their shows.
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