Vote for more childhood disease
Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, wishes people would not talk about vaccines at presidential “debates.”
Questions about vaccines and autism were asked not only of Donald Trump, but also of the two physicians taking part: Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, and Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist. The doctors, at least, should know better.
Here are the facts:
Vaccines aren’t linked to autism.
The number of vaccines children receive is not more concerning than it used to be.
Delaying their administration provides no benefit, while leaving children at risk.
All the childhood vaccines are important.
Then he provides evidence for all four claims. On the second claim –
It’s also not correct to call autism an “epidemic,” as Mr. Trump often seems to do. Autism is more prevalent as a diagnosis than it used to be. But much of that in recent years is because we’ve changed the definition of what it means to have “autism spectrum disorder.” For instance, 10 years ago, two-thirds of children diagnosed with autism had below-average intelligence. But today only about a third of those diagnosed with A.S.D. do. The fastest-growing group of children with autism have average or above average intelligence. We’re being more inclusive in the diagnosis.
It’s not that it’s happening more, it’s that it’s being diagnosed more. Donald Trump please note…but he won’t, of course.
And no, none of them are “optional.”
All of the shots recommended by the Centers for Disease Control have been judged to be important. I know of some people who think that the varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine is one of the “less important” ones. Tell that to my father, who contracted the illness as an adult when my siblings and I did, and almost needed to be hospitalized. Or tell that to the many babies who might catch the disease before they can get the shot and become severely ill.
In one of my favorite studies on this topic, researchers looked at how many children died of varicella before and after the introduction of the vaccine in 1995. Between 1990 and 1994, more than 45 children died with varicella as the underlying cause. From 2003 to 2007, only 10 did. Even more significantly, in that latter period only one child younger than 1 died with varicella as the underlying cause, and none after 2004. Remember that not one of those infants was vaccinated. That result came about only from herd immunity: when enough people are vaccinated to protect those who can’t be.
This shouldn’t be politicized in the first place.
This is just one more example of politicians trying to seem like “real” people. They pander to the common man, or rather, to their image of the common man, and say ridiculous things in order that they won’t appear too “smart”. At this point, I don’t think there is much danger of Trump appearing too “smart”. He has to get past the reality that he is a billionaire, which most of the people voting are not, and position himself as “one of them”.
If I had a dime for everyone I heard say “I don’t want a president smarter than I am”, I would have enough to buy a car. I don’t understand that. One of the things I definitely want is a president that is “smarter” than I am – or at least more qualified. What other position can you think of where people trying to get a job elbow and shove to try to prove themselves the least qualified?
I wish I could find this funny. Unfortunately, there is a real chance one of these people could end up being our president. Will we have a president who dismisses his constituents as “ugly”? Or one who thinks the Bible tithing system is the best guide to how to do taxes? Or one who thinks that women are really just incubators and should sit down and shut up? (That last is almost guaranteed if we get a Republican president).
I remember teaching a section in Canadian Women’s History where we discussed an apparent rise in prostitution in Toronto during a particular 3-month period. I asked the class to think of reasons why the numbers of arrests had risen to precipitously during this time (May to July, can’t remember the year).
“It was summer and prostitutes were outside/more visible.”
“People were on vacation, so they were frequenting prostitutes.”
“A mill closed and women were forced to take up prostitution.”
And so on. It never occurred to anyone that the reason was simply that the police decided to start arresting prostitutes during May – July. There was no reason to assume that there weren’t just as many sex workers in April and August, they just weren’t reflected in the statistics because the police didn’t notice them.
The simplest answer is always the best answer. If autism diagnoses are up, is it because we are diagnosing more people as ASD or because the actual instances are up? Until someone shows the simple answer is wrong, why would you jump to a bunch of convoluted conclusions?
I think this is the classic example of the “what you see is all there is” heuristic.
Parents should be required to watch videos of children with measles, polio, whooping cough, etc.