October 19, 2007

Last week I wrote an op-ed on vaccine litigation for the Washington Post's Think Tank Town - specifically, on claims that vaccines are linked to developmental disorders like autism. The issue is a passionate one for many parents with autistic children, despite the dearth of scientific evidence supporting the link.

For anyone who wants more background on this contentious debate, the New York Times ran a terrific article on the subject in 2005. The last question in the article is the most haunting:

"It doesn't seem to matter what the studies and the data show," said Ms. Ehresmann, the Minnesota immunization official. "And that's really scary for us because if science doesn't count, how do we make decisions? How do we communicate with parents?"

The reality is that vaccine critics will probably remain unconvined by the science until there are more successful treatments for autism available. In the meantime, we must reign in the vaccine litigation juggernaut.

Posted by Paul Howard at October 19, 2007 11:26 AM

Comments

Post a comment