Shot of Prevention

By Amy Pisani

Tonight, author and long-time New Yorker journalist Michael Specter will be appearing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss his new book Denialism.  Specter’s book explores the notion that Americans mistrust institutions and especially the institution of science more today than ever before. In one chapter, he takes on anti-vaccination activist Jenny McCarthy and other anti-vaccine advocates who persist with their theories about vaccines and autism despite epidemiological studies to the contrary.  He cites these people as examples of “how irrational thinking hinders scientific progress, harms the planet, and threatens our lives.”

 A couple of weeks ago, NPR’s Weekend Edition interviewed Specter about Denialism in a piece entitled “Refusing Flu Shots? Maybe You’re A ‘Denialist’”.  Specter discussed parents who refuse vaccines for their children, saying that when parents make that decision, they focus on the one-in-10-million chance that a vaccine could kill a child and ignore the one-in-1,000 chance that a disease will do so. “These people retreat into denialism,” he says. He points out that diseases like measles, which had almost been eradicated in North America, are now coming back.

 I encourage you all to tune in. I am glad that Jon Stewart/The Daily Show are addressing the topic of scientific mistrust. It should be a great show!

By Amy Pisani

December 1 is World AIDS Day 2009.  USAID and its partners throughout the globe are using this day to spread success stories in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  New discoveries in both treatment and vaccine research bring hope to those dealing with this crisis, particularly in the developing world where lack of financial resources strengthens the virus’ ability to wreak havoc on the lives of millions.  Click here to read about a new breakthrough in research for a vaccine against HIV discovered by scientists from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).