Olmsted on Autism: Healy Hit's 'Em With 'Heavy Duty' Hep B!
Posted Apr 11 2009 12:00am
BY DAN OLMSTED
So many good things happened on Larry King last week that it's taken me a while to zero in on one that I want to make sure we don't overlook. It is, as far as I know, the first time anyone in the mainstream medical world has singled out a vaccine on the current CDC schedule as needless and, implicitly, downright dangerous.
For that we can thank -- as we can for so much else -- Bernadine Healy. Here is the passage, with the "Jesus" reference left in for its seasonal relevance and general cheekiness:
"HEALEY: I think we haven't had the come to Jesus session yet that says, wait a minute, this polarization is very negative. It's not good for the children and it's not good for the science. Quite frankly, Larry, there is no such thing as anti-vaccine and pro-vaccine. We are all pro-vaccine. We know what Polio is. We know what Meningitis is. We know what we want to avoid.
"But there are some vaccines here -- let's forget about autism. There are some vaccines here that one -- a parent can legitimately question: giving a one-day old baby, or a two-day old baby Hepatitis B vaccine, that has no risk for it. The mother has no risk for it. That's a heavy duty vaccine given on day two, at two months, at four months. I think those are legitimate questions. I think there has to be more flexibility and we need to have people smiling at each other, saying we're hearing you, let's move forward."
So many good things happened on Larry King last week that it's taken me a while to zero in on one that I want to make sure we don't overlook. It is, as far as I know, the first time anyone in the mainstream medical world has singled out a vaccine on the current CDC schedule as needless and, implicitly, downright dangerous.
For that we can thank -- as we can for so much else -- Bernadine Healy. Here is the passage, with the "Jesus" reference left in for its seasonal relevance and general cheekiness:
"HEALEY: I think we haven't had the come to Jesus session yet that says, wait a minute, this polarization is very negative. It's not good for the children and it's not good for the science. Quite frankly, Larry, there is no such thing as anti-vaccine and pro-vaccine. We are all pro-vaccine. We know what Polio is. We know what Meningitis is. We know what we want to avoid.
"But there are some vaccines here -- let's forget about autism. There are some vaccines here that one -- a parent can legitimately question: giving a one-day old baby, or a two-day old baby Hepatitis B vaccine, that has no risk for it. The mother has no risk for it. That's a heavy duty vaccine given on day two, at two months, at four months. I think those are legitimate questions. I think there has to be more flexibility and we need to have people smiling at each other, saying we're hearing you, let's move forward."
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