Where Is the Evidence that Celebrity Autism Advocates are Causing Drop in Vaccination Rates?

Whenever information surfaces showing a drop in vaccination groups in any geographic area or social demographic group the media and public health authorities blame celebrity autism advocates for the drop. TIME magazine does exactly that in commenting on the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Report indicating   that a drop in vaccination rates is occurring amongst children of wealthier parents while rates  actually increased amongst children of poorer parents.

TIME Magazine,  in an article titled Vaccination Rates Drop in Wealthier Kids: The Autism Rumors Take a Toll, stated:

Wealthier families, meantime, are getting too much of their health advice not from doctors and epidemiologists, but from talk shows, the blogosphere and the rumor mill, all of which are filled with vaccine scare stories. Making things worse is that the kind of folks spreading the tales are precisely the kind we find hardest to ignore.

"Very articulate, very good-looking movie stars or personalities ... are giving out information about how bad vaccines are," pediatrician Robert Frenck of the Cincinnati Children's Medical Center told the online health news service HealthDay. "Frumpy middle-aged doctors" find it awfully hard to compete with that.

   

The NCQA web site in a news releaase titled NCQA REPORT: QUALITY, SPENDING NOT LINKED; AUTISM FEARS SUSPECTED AS CHILDREN'S VACCINATIONS DECREASE IN PRIVATE PLANS states:

"Childhood vaccination rates in 2009 declined by almost four percentage points in commercial plans.

A possible cause of this drop is commercial plan parents may refuse vaccines for their children based on the unproven, but increasingly popular, notion that vaccines cause autism. Celebrity activists are outspoken advocates of this view. Interestingly, we see vaccination rates in Medicaid – the program serving the poor – continuing to steadily improve.

“The drop in childhood vaccinations is disturbing because parents are rejecting valuable treatment based on misinformation,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “All of us in health care need to work together to get better information to the public."

Neither  the TIME Magazine article, nor the NCQA news release, reference any studies which provide evidence that the drop in vaccination rates amongst children of wealthier parents is due entirely, or in part, to celebrity autism advocates and bloggers ....  good looking or not.

Insulting parents of autistic children (and celebrities) has not worked to restore confidence in parents that vaccines are safe generally or that they are NEVER involved in causing autism in ANY cases even amongst children of women injected with mercury containing vaccines while they were pregnant. I have commented previously (1) (2) on the insanity of continuing with this failed strategy while hoping for a different outcome yet the NCQA and TIME continue to do so.

Unlike the intellects at TIME and NCQA I will not assume that they will ever learn their lesson. I do not expect public health authorities, or TIME, to learn that maybe it is time to start treating the public with respect and make their case with solid, credible studies both as to the cause of drops in vaccination rates and on whether vaccines contribute to autism or any other disorders. Former NIH Director Dr. Bernadine Healey has stated that comparative studies comparing autism rates amongst vaccinated and existing unvaccinated populations should be done but no such study has been attempted. Instead excuses are offered by public health authorities who continue to dismiss, and attack, anyone who asks questions about the efficacy or the safety of vaccines.

There is no evidence that TIME or public health authorities will ever change their view of the public as ignorant, unwashed and incapable of understanding serious issues. It appears to be far easier for public health authorities to blame the public, or good looking high profile members of the public, than to convincingly demonstrate the safety and efficacy of vaccines.