Has Obama Renounced his Vaccination Comments Yet?

[Rolfe]

sorry for expressing my oppinion

Dr. Rolfe....

OK, so if it's your opinion (by the way, can't you get an English-language spell-checker?) as well as (apparently) Obama's, would you care to defend it?

Is calling for "more research" always good? As you said, it shows he's not jumping to conclusions. Some will say that calling for more research demonstrates open-mindedness.

But then we have to ask, how much "more research" do we need? Do we always need more? Is more always good?

This repeated, apparently virtuous, apparently open-minded, call for "more research" has a very serious drawback. It implies that no conclusions can ever be reached. It implies that we never reach a point when we can say, we now know something about this subject, and we can thus come to some informed conclusions. Thus, in effect, it implies that the research is always fruitless!

Conclusions are good. Conclusions which are arrived at as the end product of good and fruitful research should not be dismissed as something a bit suspect, being "jumped" to. If we never came to any conclusions as a result of good research, we'd still be wondering whether insulin might possibly be a useful thing to treat diabetes. We'd still be sitting looking at two sticks and wondering if perhaps they might be used to make fire.

So, Dictator. Tell us why coming to some conclusions about the role of vaccinations in autism is something that can be castigated as "jumping". Tell us what's missing from the currently-available body of research on the subject that makes you feel no sound conclusions are justified, and that even more research is needed.

That's your opinion. Justify it.

Rolfe.

 

[Mojo]

How much research do you want, for goodness sake?

Saying "we have to research it" is no substitute for reading and assessing the research that has already been done. Especially when that research is of enormous volume and almost complete unanimity and would lead most readers to conclude that the jury was already in.

This statement merely demonstrates ignorance of the amount of research that already exists, and its content.

Maybe someone could just direct him to pubmed. That's the sort of thing lawyers describe as "research".

 

[Darth Rotor]

I see that Obama has equivocated (at best) on vaccines and autism.


link


Has he reversed this stance yet?

No, he widened it.

 

[dudalb]

With all the problems Obama has, somehow I think clarifying his statments on Vaccinatiion should have a low priority.
And I have been as big a critic of Jenny McCarthy as anybody, but..please.This is a freaking minor issue compared with everything on Obama's plate.

 

[marksman]

Agreed. Which is why the clarification should come from Obama's NIH appointee or Surgeon General. But it should still come. Given that Obama's science team are reputable distinguished scientists, I am very optimistic that it will.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

The FDA was sufficiently concerned about Thimerosal (the mercury containing preservative in vaccines some have linked to Autism) to remove it from childhood vaccines (except for Flu shots). Flu shots have been shown to decrease your chance of getting influenza from 3% to 2% a whopping 1% (JAMA 1994;272:1661–5).

One investigator has reported that people who received the flu vaccine each year for 3 to 5 years had a ten-fold greater chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease than people who did not have any flu shots (Int J Clin Invest 2005;1:1–4). (The brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease display three pathologic hallmarks: neurofibillary tangles, amyloid plaques, and phosphorylation of tau protein. Brain cells grown in test tubes develop these changes when exposed to nanomolar doses of mercury, doses similar to the amount of mercury a person gets from a flu shot.)

So it would seem reasonable to be skepitical about what health officials are injecting into ones body, especially considering (in the case of the influenza vaccine at least) that they are injecting Mercury (a known neurotoxin) into your body for a negligible benefit.

Oh god, not another shill for the anti-vax crowd.

Why do you write as if you think that no-one on this thread has any idea of what has happened. Like most anti-vaxers you obfuscate and distort. Failing to distinguish, for example, between a compound and an element. The inability to do even that small thing sort of renders your thought process - well, brain-dead would be a good description.

 

[The Atheist]

No, he widened it.

All the better to kick him in the nuts!

With all the problems Obama has, somehow I think clarifying his statments on Vaccinatiion should have a low priority.
And I have been as big a critic of Jenny McCarthy as anybody, but..please.This is a freaking minor issue compared with everything on Obama's plate.

When the subject is one which could potentially cost hundreds or thousands of children their lives, I'd love to know what's more important.

 

[peptoabysmal]

"We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it." --Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Rally, April 21, 2008.

"It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise among children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines." --John McCain, Texas town hall meeting, February 29, 2008.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/dr_obama_and_dr_mccain.html

February - April

Meh... Obama was possibly parroting McCain, not wanting to be left out on an issue.

What would have been really cool is if Obama had tried to claim that the vaccines were engineered to target black children.

 

[Tim Moen]

Oh god, not another shill for the anti-vax crowd.

Why do you write as if you think that no-one on this thread has any idea of what has happened. Like most anti-vaxers you obfuscate and distort. Failing to distinguish, for example, between a compound and an element. The inability to do even that small thing sort of renders your thought process - well, brain-dead would be a good description.

I don't think I'm an anti-vaxer, I'm not sure how you got that. Both my kids are immunized against serious diseases. I do have some concerns however about injecting my children with a compound containing mercury without an appreciable benefit. Would you inject your child with everything the FDA recommends, or, would you approach the recommendations of those who would gain financially from the sale of pharmaceuticals with some healthy skepticism?

Can I ask why such venom? "Oh god, another shill, brain dead anti-vaxer." You must be intelligent enough to know you catch more bee's with honey. Maybe you can set me straight on thimerasol, but, I won't be as apt to listen to you if your communication style is to attempt to insult and demean.

 

[Tim Moen]

Yes, the absolute reduction will depend upon the baseline incidence, and what you report as cases. The incidence of serological influenza was a difference of 9% and 4% ("a whopping 5%") in that same study. Looking at the combination of clinical influenza (the 3% to 2% reduction that you chose to report) plus serological influenza showed a 58% relative risk reduction. Please note that 'serological' and 'clinical' refer to how the case was defined, not to the extent of the illness (i.e. 'serological' cases were not without clinical findings).



Did you copy that without reading the reference (a bad idea since people ******** about the contents of research articles), because there doesn't seem to be an International Journal of Clinical Investigation or anything like it that fits that reference. The only reference I can find to that study comes from an anti-vaccination site, whose author curiously chose to convey the information with the exact same wording as you. It looks like it's made up.

Linda

Thanks for setting me straight, and (blush) catching my plagiarism. What would your advice to parents be about innoculating their children against influenza with a thimerasol containing vaccine?

 

[Jeff Corey]

Here's some information that might be helpful: http://www.fda.gov/CBER/vaccine/thimerosal.htm
And about the "plagiarism", just put quotes around the stuff you cut and paste with a reference at the end. It isn't like you are writing a dissertation.

 

[fls]

Thanks for setting me straight, and (blush) catching my plagiarism. What would your advice to parents be about innoculating their children against influenza with a thimerasol containing vaccine?

Go ahead. It's a non-issue.

Linda