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Congressional Committee Casts a Harsh Eye On Vaccination Science

Posted by timothy on from the are-you-or-have-you-ever-been dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "A recent hearing of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform became a bully pulpit for antivaccination rhetoric when Representatives Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) made speeches connecting vaccines to autism — a connection that medical experts have shown does not exist. Although there were actual medical researchers there as witnesses, they were mostly berated by the Congressmen on the panel. Vaccines are one of the most successful medical advancements in human history, having saved hundreds of millions of lives, and after copious studies have been shown to have no connection with autism. Despite this, a vocal antivax lobby exists, including, clearly, members of Congress. In part this is why preventable and potentially fatal diseases like pertussis and measles are once again on the rise."

10 of 858 comments (clear)

  1. Congress Sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Enough said...

    1. Re:Congress Sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, instead we get people denied life-saving treatments because the insurance company bean counters refuses to pay for it and people going in debt hundreds of thousands of dollars since the other choice is death.

    2. Re:Congress Sucks by Bengie · · Score: 5, Informative

      The NHS example is just another extreme, which is effectively a strawman for the universal healthcare as an idea. NHS is just a poorly implemented version.
      I was in the ER recently and while waiting around, I got to talk to a nurse who told me that most of the people they see in the ER are just people who could not afford their regular check-up, so they just come to the ER claiming to have a problem.

      The hospital is ethically and legally obliged to take them in and run tests, which cost A LOT more than a regular check-up. Because the price is too high for the patient, the hospital just soaks the loss and raises the prices for everyone else who does have insurance, which causes insurance rates to go up, which causes more people to lose insurance, which causes more people to come into the ER instead of getting regular check ups.

      Do you see the problem? It's a positive feedback system that reduces efficiency and increases costs.

    3. Re:Congress Sucks by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah, I typically have to wait in the US to see a doctor for anything non-emergency. And definitely to see a specialist.

      I guess there might be some super-premium service where you pay tons of cash out of pocket and get concierge-like service. But if you're a normal person with a normal health plan from your employer, you play by their rules to get scheduled.

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    4. Re:Congress Sucks by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Informative

      Is Germany going broke? What about Finland, Sweden, Norway? Canada, Australia, NZ?

      Countries that are broke are not broke because they have public healthcare. They're broke because they didn't balance their books. You can do that with overspending on healthcare, but you can also do that with e.g. overspending on military while fighting pointless wars all over the world *cough*.

    5. Re:Congress Sucks by ilsaloving · · Score: 5, Informative

      Cite sources? Look north for pete's sake. As a Canadian, you will take my socialized medicine from my cold dead hands.

      It's not perfect, but at least I don't have to worry about being bankrupted by the cost of cancer treatments because insurance wouldn't cover it, saying that that wart I had when I was 5 constituted a 'pre-existing condition'.

      Honestly, the entire *world* looks at America as a fantastic example of how NOT to run a national health care system.

  2. Understanding Burton by kadams54 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is mostly a side note, but I grew up in Dan Burton's district. He has a grandson with autism and has made the anti-vaccination a personal cause. That's not to excuse his ignorance, but rather to help provide understanding. Powerful emotions are at work here, which is why confronting them with rational logic will not work. To be honest, I wish his constituents would vote him out of office; his district includes a number of employees at the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (headquartered in Indy) and his anti-vaccination stance puts him at odds with their best interests.

  3. this is an old, old, story by crgrace · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anti-vaccination rhetoric is nothing new... in fact at the turn of the 20th century there were huge struggles regarding the smallpox vaccine. It's a fascinating instance of the struggle between liberty and social responsibility and the rights and the responsibilties of the individual with respect to the state.

    There's an amazing book about the early-20th-century smallpox vaccination campaigns and the associated anti-vaccination campaign called Pox: An American History.

    I can't recommend it enough. Says so much about the United States and how people's opinions have change (and how for some, they haven't!).

    Anyway, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Pox-American-History-Penguin-Life/dp/1594202869

  4. Re:Hasn't this been solved? by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Informative

    More than debunked, Andrew Wakefield (I refuse to use the epithet Dr. for this vile repugnant and thoroughly evil man) has been outed as a con artist who was attempting to undermine the use of MMR vaccines so he could push his own vaccine combo.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  5. Re:Hey! Now we know by Lurker2288 · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're a little off. It is possible to be vaccinated but not immunized--the vaccines aren't perfect, after all, so maybe you got the shot but you're still susceptible to infection if you're exposed. Herd immunity protects you by decreasing the odds that you'll be exposed. The same goes for people who are vaccinated, but who are immunodeficient for some reason--even though their immune systems might recognize the pathogen it may not be able to mount a robust response. So it's not just the people who aren't vaccinated who benefit.