Comments on: What’s the Harm? http://blog.belm.com/2009/01/16/whats-the-harm/ Random spurious persiflage Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:51:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David http://blog.belm.com/2009/01/16/whats-the-harm/comment-page-1/#comment-8 David Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:44:35 +0000 http://belm.com/blog/?p=249#comment-8 I sent an email to Obama's transition team urging them not to appoint RFK Jr. I guess it worked. I predict that within the next five years we will see a class action suit in which parents of vaccinated schoolchildren sue a group of parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated, citing negligent exposure to treatable diseases like measles. If only more vaccines worked like the Sabin oral polio vaccine: the attenuated virus passes into the water table, resulting in passive immunization of entire communities. I sent an email to Obama’s transition team urging them not to appoint RFK Jr. I guess it worked.

I predict that within the next five years we will see a class action suit in which parents of vaccinated schoolchildren sue a group of parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated, citing negligent exposure to treatable diseases like measles.

If only more vaccines worked like the Sabin oral polio vaccine: the attenuated virus passes into the water table, resulting in passive immunization of entire communities.

]]> By: Bryan http://blog.belm.com/2009/01/16/whats-the-harm/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Bryan Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:20:45 +0000 http://belm.com/blog/?p=249#comment-5 Hi Dave--Terra told me you had a new blog, and I see you haven't had much commentary yet, so I thought I would fix that. I've actually been following the autism/vaccine debate a little--I read the blogs on the scienceblogs website, and some of the bloggers there have been pretty vocal about it. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the notion that RFK jr, who's been a major voice in the antivaccine movement, might get a position in the new administration. I have to wonder if some of the problem has to be that vaccines have, in fact, been overall successful at controlling diseases. Today's parents of young children don't remember the terror previous generations had of, say, a polio epidemic coming through their town, so they don't really have a visceral understanding of the risks of not vaccinating. It is annoying to hear Obama saying that it needs "further study," which is distinctly reminiscent of the way the Bush administration talked about global warming. Especially since he's made some good choices in other science-related areas. He clearly wants to have a more "reality based" administration (not that that would be hard), but that doesn't mean he is going to be free from other political considerations. Hi Dave–Terra told me you had a new blog, and I see you haven’t had much commentary yet, so I thought I would fix that. I’ve actually been following the autism/vaccine debate a little–I read the blogs on the scienceblogs website, and some of the bloggers there have been pretty vocal about it. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the notion that RFK jr, who’s been a major voice in the antivaccine movement, might get a position in the new administration. I have to wonder if some of the problem has to be that vaccines have, in fact, been overall successful at controlling diseases. Today’s parents of young children don’t remember the terror previous generations had of, say, a polio epidemic coming through their town, so they don’t really have a visceral understanding of the risks of not vaccinating.

It is annoying to hear Obama saying that it needs “further study,” which is distinctly reminiscent of the way the Bush administration talked about global warming. Especially since he’s made some good choices in other science-related areas. He clearly wants to have a more “reality based” administration (not that that would be hard), but that doesn’t mean he is going to be free from other political considerations.

]]>