Nature magazine editorial: Trump's vaccine-commission idea is biased and dangerous

[highplainsdem]

http://www.nature.com/news/trump-s-vaccine-commission-idea-is-biased-and-dangerous-1.21310?WT.mc_id=GPL_NatureNews?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

Trump’s embrace of the tiresome and discredited anti-vaccination movement is no secret. He has tweeted and publicly discussed his concerns that childhood vaccines may be linked to autism. He has previously met with like-minded activists, including Andrew Wakefield, a father of the ‘anti-vaxxer’ crusade who has been barred from practising medicine in the United Kingdom for professional misconduct.

Given the people Trump has chosen to listen to, his suggestion of a Kennedy-headed vaccine commission should be no surprise. But it remains difficult to grasp how someone in his position, with unlimited access to the world’s best resources on vaccine safety, would selectively choose to overlook them all: the studies, the commissions, the scientists who have spent a lifetime studying vaccines. What good is another investigation of speculation already so thoroughly analysed and debunked — unless it is being set up to reach a different conclusion? It is a clear waste of money and effort. Much more frustratingly, it fuels an anti-vaccination movement that puts children and elderly people at risk.

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All the evidence shows that it is actually misconceptions about vaccines — such as those promoted by Trump — that cause serious harm. The United States has already experienced a series of outbreaks of preventable diseases. In 2014, measles affected 667 people in the country, primarily those who were unvaccinated. The outbreaks are expensive, too: in 2011, it cost public-health institutions up to US$5.3 million to cope with 16 measles outbreaks that made 107 people ill.

-snip-

Scientists, medics and commentators who have fought vaccine disinformation in the past must take a deep breath and return to the fray. There is no need to wait for this commission to be announced officially. There is no need to wait until it issues its findings. There is no cause to be surprised if it shows little regard for science — or even if it targets scientists who speak out in favour of vaccination. Those who claim a link between vaccines and autism can do so only by discrediting the scientific evidence and, often, the scientists who gathered it. Kennedy’s reference to investigating vaccine safety “and scientific integrity” provides ample warning of what is to come. Scientists should get their retaliation in first. Lives are at stake.

[mountain grammy]

1. I think about the 80's and all the friends lost

because of anti science, anti medicine superstition and religious stupidity. I dread this idiot president, surrounded by idiots. Stay healthy my friends.