By Erin K Costello The anti-vaccination community targets several pro-vaccination professionals regularly with their vitriol. One of these professionals is Dr. Paul Offit. The main reasons for this hate against Dr. Offit is due to being a pro-vaccine advocate, and for being the co-creator of of a rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, currently sold by Merck. This vaccine has earned Dr. Offit a substantial amount of money. For this reason the anti-vaccination movement does not trust Dr. Offit. Despite the fact Dr. Offit never tried to hide his association with Merck or with the creation of RotaTeq, those against vaccinations see Dr. Offit as a corrupt profiteer. Because of this I can’t help but to wonder; if the anti-vaccination community find the openness of Dr. Offit’s association to a vaccine as a nefarious conflict of interest, then why is it these same people don’t apply this same skepticism to Andrew Wakefield? I am going to go through a time-line of Andrew Wakefield’s actions both before his 1998 press conference heard around the world where he all but claimed the MMR vaccine caused autism, and after his 1998 press conference.
0 Comments
By Erin K Costello Last week a fellow page admin discovered a thread in an anti-vax Facebook group. This was the kind of thread we always fear finding. A mother had posted a comment informing the group her 5 week old baby had recently become very sick and was currently in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was discovered the baby was experiencing a subdural hematoma, or bleeding in the brain. The baby’s blood was unable to clot and because of this the little girl needed surgery. The mother revealed she had refused the vitamin K shot at the time of birth, and had done so in part because of the things she had read about vitamin K from inside this group. After her daughter became sick and was admitted to the hospital, she changed her mind and allowed the vitamin K to be administered. Sadly, the efforts of the NICU proved unsuccessful since the mother updated her post to say her daughter had passed away. By Erin K Costello and Emma Sands As usual, this time of year we see an increase in posts asking for advice concerning animal bites and rabies. This is most likely due to spring and summer arriving (for those of us in the northern hemisphere anyways), bringing with them the beautiful weather needed for enjoying things like camping, hiking, walking outdoors, and other forms of activity that brings us humans, and our pets, closer to wildlife. Sadly, the advice being given in the anti-vax echo chambers is frightening. Many of these anti-vax groups and websites have an agenda to push, something we here at What’s The Harm, can relate to since we too have an agenda. Although, unlike the anti-vax communities, our agenda is solely the health and well being of our readers, regardless of how it is that you find this health and well being. We don’t have an anti-science message so we won’t judge if you use modern medicine, or alternative methods to achieve good health. If it works for you, great! We only become concerned when people are hurting themselves, their kids, or other people by chasing lies and ineffective treatments. Because of this, we feel it’s important to provide the facts concerning rabies, and inform readers what the medical community advises for those at risk of possible exposure. As always, if you have any concerns, questions, or fears, please consult your physician to discuss any further actions. By Erin K Costello This week’s MAM blog post is brought to you by the words vaccine, vaccines, vaccinate, vaccination, immune, natural remedies, and sugar. Once again these words are links in her post that will bring you to MAM’s book, A Practical Guide To Children’s Health, listed on Amazon, however this week the word “sugar” will bring you to an Amazon listing for organic sugar. The reason I am covering a MAM blog post from 2014 is because MAM has found some reason to push this older post of hers among her group members. That reason still eludes me at the moment but it likely has to do with either HB559 or some product of MAM’s that she’s hoping to sell. Either way it doesn’t change the fact that her blog post, one which appeared on Modern Alternative Health, is full of crazy bat shits. The blog post, entitled Growing Up Unvaccinated: Scary Potential or Healthy Reality, is MAM’s idea of a “break-down” concerning an article posted on Voices For Vaccines called Growing Up Unvaccinated. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do a break down of both posting. I may refer to the original article on Voices For Vaccines but only to provide context for MAM’s claims in her posting. Let’s begin! MAM begins with, By Molly Frank - The Silky Mom. Ahh, Kat Von D. The anti-vaxxer hero of the day. But why?!? TL;DR version: Kat makes a living injecting people with heavy metals, and poorly studied chemicals that could cause cancer. Yet she’s an anti-vaxxer? Color me confused. Aside from the fact that celebrities are hardly the best people for giving lifestyle advice. Especially one that used a satanic ritual as a wedding theme[1], (which really had me scratching my head knowing that Christian folks make up a large portion of the anti vax community). A lot of people still, unfortunately look up to celebrities. I’m pretty sure there are flocks of woman still steaming up their vajaja’s in the name of Gwyneth Paltrow. Kat has used her platform to help promote the anti-science/pro-disease movement. And the antivaxxers have found a new host to leech onto for a while. But why?!? By Erin K Costello As advocates in the pro-science/pro-vax community on Facebook, many of us often see or hear of a situation that reminds us exactly what the harm is in alternative medicine. One of the latest trends to gain popularity is the refusal to seek medical care, either in part or in full, while pregnant. Some women want no intervention at all, some insist only on holistic care, and some will pick and choose which mainstream options they will allow. The following story is about what can go wrong when routine medical care is absent, even if done so by the provider. Sadly, this comes to us from one of our own readers. Thankfully no one was killed throughout this ordeal, though I can not say that no one was harmed. |
AuthorWhat's The Harm? Archives
May 2020
Categories
All
|