Shot of Prevention

By Amy Pisani

I encourage everyone to check out  the msnbc.com article by Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, “How a zealot’s word led us astray on autism.” 

Excerpt: ‘The [Lancet] language was probably not strong enough. The Wakefield paper killed children and left others deaf and disabled from preventable diseases as their parents, in an effort to avoid autism, left them unvaccinated.”   

Dr. Caplan, I applaud you, because I completely concur that the Lancet has not done nearly enough to rectify the damage that has been done to the credibility of vaccines worldwide in major part due to their irresponsible decision to print the “research” conducted by Andrew Wakefield.  It doesn’t take a degree in metaphysics to recognize that the outcome of a study consisting of a handful of subjects perhaps does not represent the larger population.  And that was only one in the many, many faults of the Wakefield study, which has never been replicated, try as several researchers might.

Don’t miss this piece, it may be my favorite of the decade!

By Amy Pisani

Alison Singer, co-founder and president of the Autism Science Foundation, has written an opinion piece for CNN describing how the Wakefield study, and later the disrepute of the study, has impacted her life as a mother of a child with autism and as an advocate for autistic children. Singer explains that when her daughter Jodie was diagnosed with autism, she, like many other scared parents at the time, decided to break up her second daughter’s vaccinations. After reading the study carefully and realizing Dr. Wakefield’s many conflicts of interest, Singer re-evaluated her stance. She realized that not only did her decision leave her daughter vulnerable to disease, but also that the discredited vaccine issue was taking much needed research funding and attention away from finding the true causes of autism. Singer now runs the Autism Science Foundation, a group whose mission it is to support legitimate autism research by providing funding and other assistance to scientists and organizations conducting, facilitating, publicizing and disseminating scientifically sound autism research. As you can imagine, Singer is glad that Wakefield’s research has been formally discredited. However, the consequences of this ordeal have yielded devastating results. Singer wrote on CNN.com, “Once you put a scary idea in someone’s head, it is very hard to reassure them, even in the presence of compelling science. Anti-vaccine autism activists continue to view Wakefield as a hero willing to take on the establishment and fight for their children. In the meantime, his research has had a lasting negative effect on children’s health in that some people are still afraid of immunizations. In some cases, the younger siblings of children with autism are being denied lifesaving vaccines, despite mountains of scientific evidence indicating no link between vaccines and autism. This is the Wakefield legacy.” Please click here to read Alison’s full piece on CNN.com, which also includes very promising findings in the field of autism research.

[Ed. note: this just ran in the New York Times Motherlode Blog. An amazing piece on the recent decision by the GMC on Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the infamous doctor who published a 1998 study in the Lancet suggesting that the MMR vaccine caused autism. His study, which was later discredited, has led many parents to falsely believe the MMR vaccine may be dangerous and refuse it for their kids.] 

New York Times 

The False Prophets of Autism 

When Dr. Andrew Wakefield — the British doctor who linked vaccines to autism — was found to be “dishonest,” “irresponsible” and acting “contrary to the clinical interests” of a child by a medical misconduct panel last week, it was the latest controversial moment in the medical mystery that is autism. 

…Click here to read the full post at the New York Times: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/the-false-prophets-of-autism/?emc=eta1  

By Amy Pisani

Tonight my small town in Eastern Connecticut will yet again host an immunization clinic at a local high school to provide H1N1 vaccine to the public. Special efforts have been made by our health district to reach out to young children who have not yet received their second dose of vaccine.   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children nine and under need two doses in order to be fully protected against the virus.  I am somewhat mortified to admit that I have been remiss in getting my nine and a half year old that second dose.  My son’s story has been told by me on numerous occasions, he was hospitalized as an infant for complications from influenza, an experience I do not wish on my worst enemy. 

I am a consummate supporter of timely vaccination of children.  What is my excuse then?  It seems that work travel and after school activities took priority again and again as clinics were scheduled.  During a recent clinic, I traveled to D.C. to accompany Luke Duvall, Arkansas H1N1 survivor, as he spoke to the press and his Senator about his harrowing experience.  I’ve reiterated his story countless times in an effort to urge friends and neighbors to get vaccinated.  It’s nearly unconscionable that I would then allow this lapse in my own family.  My embarrassing point is that if I am remiss, how many others who do not live and breathe vaccines daily are simply blowing off the CDC’s and Health and Human Services pleas to the public?   I must assume that this number is in the millions based on the number of doses still available.  So tonight I am volunteering at the clinic and my husband and son will be vaccine recipients, come hell or high water!

[Ed. Note: I just wanted to follow up on my recent post on Haiti relief, Small Change Can Make a Big Difference in Haiti, and bring attention to some of the great work that CDC is doing in Haiti right now. Below is some info that I received from them and thought was worth sharing. It's important that we continue to raise awareness and do what we can in light of this crisis.]

As CDC continues its public health mission in Haiti, we take a look at its role, the priorities of the mission and the public health dangers through an interview with CDC’s incident manager for Haiti, Scott Dowell, M.P.H., M.D. (CAPT, USPHS), medical officer with the Global Disease Detection and Emergency Response Branch, Office of Global Health.

Read Full Q&A

What is CDC’s role in the Haiti relief effort?
CDC in Atlanta is gearing up to become a fairly large part of the Haiti relief effort in the upcoming weeks and months. CDC’s public health role was small and back-seat in the initial three or four days of search and recovery after the earthquake, but has become much more prominent as attention turned toward potential public health disasters that are looming in the weeks and months ahead. Our role is to help prevent tropical diseases, airborne and waterborne, from spreading through the population.

The key point is that this earthquake struck what was the most precarious public health system in the entire hemisphere. So even before the earthquake hit, Haiti had the lowest rate of immunization of infants, had the highest rate of mortality during childbirth, and had other serious public health problems. When you add the earthquake disaster to that, you have the potential for outbreaks of disease and other public health problems in the coming weeks. So one of the first priorities that we’re focusing on is public health information because it’s the quality of that information that’s going to guide the response and sort of avert these more predictable mortality risks.

Read Full Q&A

By Amy Pisani

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help people all over the world lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, they focus on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.

The Gates Foundation has once again proven that their words are more than simple rhetoric with the recent announcement of a pledge of over $10 billion over the next ten years aimed at helping research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries.  The Gates have already committed $4.5 billion for vaccines through the Foundation.  “We must make this the decade of vaccines,” said Bill Gates. “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries.  Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.” 

The Gates anticipate that their donation, combined with commitments from U.S. and foreign governments can prevent the deaths of nearly 7.6 million children under age five from 2010-2019.  Bill Gates made it clear that they also need the increased generosity of rich-world governments, increased commitments by the developing nations who need to improve the quality of delivery systems as well as prioritize vaccines within their budgets, and support from other public-private partnerships including the drug companies.  “They need to put their best people on the projects and we need their expertise in order to be successful”.

“Vaccines are a miracle-with just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime,” stated Melinda Gates during the official announcement made during the World Economic Forum in Switzerland January 29^th.  The Gates’ also stressed the need for rapid introduction of malaria vaccine beginning in 2014 and the need for tuberculosis vaccines which could save millions more lives in the future.  “We’ve made vaccines our number-one priority at the Gates Foundation because we’ve seen firsthand their incredible impact on children’s lives” said Melinda Gates. 

Learn more about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and view video coverage of this unprecedented commitment to vaccines by following the link the Gates website here.