Atheist Age

Science and Vaccineophobia

Thanks to Stats Blog for a comprehensive review of this The New York Post article on the tragic persistence of misinformation suggesting vaccination is a gamble between autism and measles.

Once upon a time, pox parties – where children were introduced to other children infected with chickenpox – were a logical way of trying to stimulate immunity to the virus in the absence of a vaccine. As epidemiologist Tara C. Smith noted on her blog Aetiology, “Chickenpox ‘parties’ were deemed a better alternative to potentially encountering the disease as an adult–when the frequency of serious complications is higher. Today, however, that just ain’t so.”

Full piece

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