For the second and third posts to my autism and vaccines blog, I wanted to take a look at a couple of seminal books by Paul Offit. An expert on vaccines who in fact has developed a couple of his own, Offit was one of the first scientific authors to provide a critical view of anti-vaccine claims in a format appropriate for the general public.
Autism's False Prophets was released in 2008 and received overall positive reviews in the press. Paul Offit was one of the first to explain the problems with the arguments of the anti-vaccine camp, as well as to demonstrate some of the risks involved in foregoing childhood vaccinations. He also spelled out the financial interests behind the anti-vaccine movement, reversing the claims that vaccines were simply a money-maker for the pharmaceutical industry.
Another interesting aspect of Offit's first book is his description of the political aspect of the anti-vaccine debate. He describes how he received death threats and hate mail from angry parents. That kind of vitriol against the medical community historically has been reserved for abortion providers and stem cell researchers. How odd that it should be aimed against physicians whose primary concern is the prevention of devastating childhood illnesses through sound, proven, and uncontroversial medical science.
In this video, you can see Paul Offit giving an interview, shortly following the release of Autism's False Prophets:
In the interview, he talks about how vaccines have often served as scapegoats for unsolved medical issues, not just now but throughout history. It's an interesting introduction to his book.
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