On this page, you will see various feedback I’ve received and for which the author gave me permission to post. I’ll try to keep things organized into “The Good” (positive responses), “The Neutral” (responses that are neither good nor bad) and “The Ugly” (vitriolic responses). If you would like to send me a comment, please e-mail me at todd [at] flurf [dot] net. I will only post your comments here if you give me your permission.
The Good
This site is very helpful–I am forwarding it to my colleagues. We are the largest pediatric group in the state of Nevada. Every single day I have patients worried about vaccines, or refusing some or all, or spreading them out, thanks to Dr Sears. BTW, I just recently reviewed his alternative vaccine schedule, and waiting on Prevnar vaccine until age 2 is criminal. Clearly some of the vaccines are more important than others, but I can’t believe he recommended waiting on prevnar.
Thanks again—this kind of information and countering the dangerous Jenny McCarthy types may literally save lives. If you ever come to Las Vegas I would love to personally shake your hand.
Blair Duddy, MD, Director of Pediatrics, Fremont Childrens Clinic – Las Vegas, NV, USA
My friend casually mentioned in passing he and his wife had not vaccinated their children (ages 3 and 5) because they didn’t think vaccines were safe, and didn’t trust what was in them. I chatted with him a bit on the phone then on email I linked them to Todd’s site, sent them some information from the CDC, showed them the risks versus benefits. He said he and his wife would read it. This was about 3 weeks ago.
Tonight I received an email saying they just started the children on their vaccinations today. The oldest thought it was cool, the youngest put up a bit of a fuss but was okay.
A big thank you to Phil, Todd, and other posters, as well as other bloggers like Orac, who over the past few months have taught me where to find this information, and have made it readily available through their links. I’m grateful.
Daniel J. Andrews, Wildlife Biologist – Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Thank you for your wonderful site.
I am not a scientist’s bootlace, but I’m involved in the Australian campaign against anti-vaxxers. I operate at a local level, with much assistance from those who are more educated. Your site is an excellent resource for myself and others. There should be more like you. We’re getting there.
Warmest thanks to you,
Peter T. – New South Wales, Australia
Hi Todd,
Great job on the antiantivax site. I’ve added a link to your work in my antivaccination movement entry.
The antivaxxers are getting crazier by the second.
Bob Carroll, The Skeptic’s Dictionary
Hi Todd –Great post/site…Two more links to Canadian websites for you: Ours , http://immunize.ca, as well as the Public Health Agency of Canada http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/vs-sv/factsfigs-eng.php (somewhat equivalent to your CDC) and a link to a very popular resource/pamphlet http://resources.cpha.ca/CCIAP/data/1688e.pdf that we use to counter myths (thus explanations in plain language and can be useful on some ‘non-sciency’ blogs, etc).Let me know if you have any questions.Keep up the great work.Liisa Vexler, Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Todd,Great job on the antiantivax page. But more than that I want to complement you on how well you respond to antivax arguments in blog comments. You do a great job of presenting facts without becoming petty or insulting. I am a pediatrician in Iowa who is fascinated with the evolving culture of vaccine misinformation and enjoy debating on news pages and blogs. I always try to remember that my primary audience is not the person whom I am debating, but the audience of readers who might become misinformed. Even though science wholly supports vaccination, perception is still important. By staying calm and rational it makes our position look intelligent, and almost always forces the opponent to make crazier and crazier arguments. Your posts are excellent examples of this approach.
Keep up the good work, and thanks for the information on the site. I have it bookmarked to use as a quick reference.Dr. N.B. – Iowa
Very informative site Todd. I will add this to the list of places I send parents looking for sound information on this topic.Bill Ahearn, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Director of Research, The New England Center for Children
You have compacted so much solid info in one place, I am grateful and impressed at the same time!I’m a public health nurse who gives lots of vaccinations and your research is excellent and clearly written!Jennifer L. Schmidt, RN, BSN, Public Health Nurse – Rural Missouri
Just read your antiantivax page, after hearing about it in the comments on a PZ post.The page is excellent. Thank you for your work and time.
I plan to add a link on my “Vaccine Song” page, http://thevaccinesong.org
Cheers,
Ted Willmore
Thanks for the excellent and well organized “AntiAntiVax” site. I teach a course in vaccine science at Brown and have added a link on my course page.Best,
Rick
—Richard Bungiro, Ph.D., Lecturer in Biology, Brown University – Providence, RI
It’s heartening to read informed and tested information so concisely laid out.I love your extensive use of links instead of post-scripted references, tremendously handy.I am genuinely saddened at the state of affairs when uniformed opinion and correlation bias trumps scientific knowledge.I have intelligent people who work for me and are convinced the government and big-pharma are out to get them.My business writes and edits scientific and technical reports.Truly astonishing.Thanks.Peter GoddardBurlington Ontario Canada
The Neutral
fine. but to make your blog stronger you should address the contaminant issue. The original polio vaccine was pulled in 1961 because of prevalence of SV40 (a monkey virus most likely introduce by the method of duplicating the vaccine serum in the ground up organs of monkeys. SV40 now is often found in cancerous tumors. The CDC simply says “you can’t prove SV40 causes cancer” on shaky grounds but doesn’t bother with the question, how the heck did a monkey virus get in a human cancer cell?
[Link redacted: Article titled “Millions of Americans Received Contaminated Polio Vaccine Between 1955 and 1963” on projectcensored.org]
If you really want to make your anti anti vaccine website airtight, I suggest you tackle the issues raised by the excellent Janine Roberts book Fear of the Invisible. Too many of those cheap comments on Bad Astronomy are based on a distortion of what anti-vaccination people actually are wary of. Most likely because no one commenting bothers to go beyond a quick read at wikipedia or the CDC (as if they have nothing to hide).
I DO appreciate that you seem to have done some actual research, though I respectfully disagree with many of your conclusions. Aren’t honest debates rather than kneejerk name-calling more fun?
Sincerely,
Jennifer – Chicago, IL, USA[Todd W.’s note: I will do some research on SV40 and add info to the main page as I find time.]
The Ugly
None received yet.