Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.
That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)
DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.
To contact Orac: [email protected]
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11 replies on “More ammunition against the anti-vaccine movement”
I would hope that it wouldn’t need to be added to as time goes on. Sadly, it will.
Orac, You are planning to write a piece on HPV vaccine right including how the media and public don’t understand VAERS?
Since we are in the mood for “Open letters,” let me add mine:
Thank you heaps for this. We’ve had measles outbreaks in NZ (Christchurch & Auckland) & some burning stupid comments in the press to do with the evils of vaccines & also (argh) homeopathic ‘vaccines’ for measles – it is great to have this SBM resource available to use in countering this nonsense.
To follow up on the MM comment, the Gardasil vaccine is under attack, based on an editoral and 2 papers in JAMA. I found no evidence for the sudden fear of this vaccine. Dr. Timothy Johnson for ABC has created a state of fear, recommending that parents not give the vaccine, evidently based only on his reading of the JAMA editorial.
Stoking the already rampant anti-vaccination fear, the comments on the ABC web site range from the normal (“the injection made me pass out” to “I am afraid my baby will have birth defects”.
Does anyone have an idea for a motive behind this?
The motive is basic anti-vax fear (“baby will have birth defects” for a vaccine given only after age eleven?), and because they think that once the girls get the vaccine they will go and have wild sex because they are protected from one sexually transmitted virus!
MM, I wrote a little something on the subject of Gardasil and the alleged deaths associated with its use.
Regarding the original post – this is a wonderful new resource. Thanks, Dr. Novella and SBM!
I saw the ABC article by Radha Chitale about Gardasil, and the first person I thought of was you. It seems the other commenters have already mentioned it, but I’d like you to see your input.
Looks really great. With health care reform in the news, maybe studies looking at the effectiveness/efficiency of various forms of health care would be an appropriate topic as well?
Chris –
You miss my point. The hysteria is being raised by JAMA and some practicing ob/gyn’s. What is JAMA’s motive for the terribly misleading editorial they wrote?
The medical community is not part of the anti-vax community, so why is it feeding it?
Sorry, I was commenting on the ABC comments you were mentioning.