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NEJM: The Age-Old Struggle against the Antivaccinationists

 

 

 

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A perspective article today in the NEJM  by Gregory A. Poland M.D. and Robert M. Jacobson M.D. of the Mayo clinic on the long history of resistance to vaccination by activists and those fearful of their side effects.

 

While I don’t usually print them, I frequently get `drive-by’ comments to this blog by adherents to the anti-vaccine movement, mostly parroting the same tired arguments that are grounded in neither science or common sense.

 

Debating these people is largely a futile endeavor, since they dismiss all scientific evidence that doesn’t support their position as the product of the `evil’ pharmaceutical industry.   

 

As I’ve stated many times before, vaccines aren’t perfect. It doesn’t happen often, but they can, and do cause occasional serious side effects. 

 


But then, you can say the same thing about over-the-counter NSAIDs, non-Rx cold remedies, antibiotics and practically any other medicine on the shelf.

 

Overall, vaccines have an excellent safety record, and they have rightfully been called the greatest boon to public health in the last hundred or so years.

 

But despite the proven value of vaccines, anti-vaccine activists continue to disseminate injurious propaganda demonizing these miracles of modern medicine.

 

Even the British Medical Journal’s debunking of Andrew Wakefield’s studies on the supposed link between autism and the MMR vaccine hasn’t cooled their rhetoric.  If anything, it appears to  have strengthened their resolve.

 

For more on the history of this anti-vaccination crusade, read:

 

Perspective

The Age-Old Struggle against the Antivaccinationists

Gregory A. Poland, M.D., and Robert M. Jacobson, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2011; 364:97-99 January 13, 2011

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