Category: Vaccines
Battles over non-medical exemptions to vaccination festering in state legislatures
Bills to eliminate, as well as to add, non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements are pending in state legislatures. Some bills make harder to claim an exemption. Others discourage vaccination by requiring “misinformed consent" and weakening public health officials' ability to act.
Corrigendum. The week in SBM for 1.22.2017
Not every article and study that pops up my feeds in the world of pseudo-medicine is worthy of a complete blog post. But they need to be noticed and commented upon: Liver toxicity from herbs. Popped lungs from acupuncture. Chiropractic does not help scoliosis. Yoga is just exercise. There are eight kinds of wind: Great Feathery Wind, Scheming Wind, Hard Wind, Great...
Trump Meets with RFK Jr. To Discuss “Vaccine Safety”
Trump and RFK Jr., both with anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs, met to discuss forming a presidential panel on vaccines and autism. The exact outcome is uncertain, but the possibilities are frightening.
The Medical Director of The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute spewed antivaccine misinformation last week. Why is anyone surprised?
A social media firestorm erupted over the weekend after Dr. Daniel Neides, Director of The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, posted an article full of antivaccine misinformation. The Cleveland Clinic promptly disavowed it, but shouldn't have been surprised that one of its "integrative medicine" leaders is antivaccine. If you "integrate" medicine that teaches that "toxins" cause disease and "detoxification" is the cure, antivaccine...
“Donald Trump’s presidential election win stuns scientists”
Scientists in the U.S. and from around the world are weighing in on Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the most powerful country on earth: Trump will be the first anti-science president we have ever had . . . The consequences are going to be very, very severe. Michael Lubell, director of public affairs for the American Physical Society in...
Measles More Deadly than Previously Thought
One of the common tropes of the anti-vaccine movement is that vaccine-preventable diseases are not all that bad. Perhaps the most direct manifestation of this is the self-published children’s book, Melanie’s Marvelous Measles, by Australian author and anti-vaccine activist Stephanie Messenger. Throughout the book Messenger claims that measles is nothing to be frightened of and in fact makes the body stronger. This...
California legislature should repeal naturopathic licensing
On January 1, 2018, the California Naturopathic Doctors Act will be automatically repealed unless the California Legislature deletes or extends that date during the 2017 legislative session, which convenes on December 5, 2016. In addition, according to California law, the Naturopathic Medicine Committee of the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, which regulates naturopathic doctors (NDs), is subject to review by “appropriate policy...
When should I get the influenza vaccine?
I was asked this question by one of my infection control practitioners. We started offering the flu vaccine the first week of October and some have delayed getting the shot for fear that immunity will not last the season. She pointed me to this NPR article, “Yes, It Is Possible To Get Your Flu Shot Too Soon,” as driving the fear of...
Infectious Diseases and Cancer
With apologies to my colleagues, but infectious diseases really is the most interesting specialty in medicine. There are innumerable interesting associations and interactions of infectious diseases in medicine, history, art, science, and, well, life, the universe and everything. ID is so 42. A recent email led me to wander the numerous interactions between infections and cancer. There are the cancers that are...
No Compromise on Vaccine Refusal
A new position paper released by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests taking a hard stance against nonmedical exemptions to immunization. I agree, and the evidence suggests such a stance would increase vaccination rates and reduce the outbreaks of diseases.