About.com: Science Denial for Beginners

Normally I would put this over at my personal blog, but if you look at the methodology and roots of the anti-vax pro-disease movement, you see that they are cranks of the same order as many other denialists.  I thought this article would be a good one to share with folks here then, since one of the denialist targets is mentioned directly in the article.

Science Denial for Beginners - How to Deny Science

Denialism is growing problem in America today. We large numbers of citizens who are in denial about one or more basic fields of science: evolution, vaccinations, climatology, etc. Denial is a means by which people hold on to ideologies that are threatened by reality and preserve a sense of control over a world they cannot directly manage. Every form of denial tends to make use of the same tactics. This is may be because no matter what the topic, denialism stems from common mental processes.

1. Conspiracies Everywhere!

Being a denialist means not only being in a minority, but knowing that you are in a minority. You can't be an effective denialist if you don't understand that most people, and especially those with any sort of authority, disagree with you. Denialism requires that you be able to effectively explain this and the best way is also a time-honored one: it's a conspiracy!
No matter who disagrees with you and no matter what reasons they offer, the "real" reason is always that they are part of a massive conspiracy against you. There is a nefarious plot afoot which is designed to suppress the truth in the service of some ideology — an evil one, of course. This makes you a brave warrior fighting for truth, justice, and the people.

2. Cherry-Picking Evidence

It may become depressing to keep finding evidence that supports the conspirators' case, but if you're persistent enough you're bound to stumble across little nuggets of information which, if presented just right will appear to support the real truth. Yes, it's strange that the truth wouldn't be more obviously supported by the evidence but this is just one more sign of the extent to which the conspiracy against the truth has been successful. The lack of obvious evidence is proof that the world needs you to cherry-pick any evidence you can find.

3. Logical Fallacies

If you allow your arguments to be limited to the rules of logic, you'll be playing by the rules of the conspirators — and when you do that, you're almost guaranteeing that you'll lose. That would be unacceptable! You have a duty to truth that far outweighs any minor importance that logic might have. This means that if you think you can better make your case with a logical fallacy, then you shouldn't hesitate to do so. Most people don't have a clue about logic or logical fallacies anyway, so the chance that anyone will notice is small. Convincing more people of the truth is what matters, not how you do it.

4. Fake Experts

Despite the fact that all the most important authority figures are part of the evil conspiracy against you, it's only natural that you'll develop some envy for the credibility that their authority brings them. You can counter this by creating your own fake experts — and it's OK to have "fakes" since it's really in the service of a "truth" that's being suppressed. Most people don't know the different between legitimate experts and fake experts anyway, so what's the harm? It's better to use fake experts who have no real authority or expertise than to let the truth be silence any longer.

5. Impossible Standards

Given the size and power of the conspiracy against you, it would be unwise to play fair. Remember that the conspirators are try to suppress the truth and that it's your job to stop them. You shouldn’t make it easy on them by giving them easy standards of evidence or logic to meet. Instead, you should make the standards impossible, always making things harder if they ever appear to be coming close to the demands you place on them. The harder you make things on the conspirators, the harder it will be for them to maintain their lies.

6. When in Doubt, Encourage Doubt

Sometimes you won't be able to convince people of the truth, but you can at least get them to doubt the conspiracy that is so popular. Preventing them from being blindly convinced of the lies spread by the conspirators is itself a victory! Get people to believe that the so-called "authority figures" don't all agree with each other. Get people to believe that there is equal evidence for both sides. Prey upon people's sense of "fair play" by hyping the importance of teaching "both sides" of any debate. It doesn't matter whether you really believe any of this; what matters is that the interests of the truth are furthered.

Vaccine Times: Qualifications? Schmalifications!

A bit of an opinion piece in prose.  Something that I have been an advocate of for a long time.  Suppose I could add a line about asking a bad actress, and former playboy bunny, for medical advice?

Qualifications? Schmalifications!

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT SHELLITY.BLOGSPOT.COM

Because there’s no such thing as a Masters of Pretending to be Useful.

Would you want a clown to check your teeth? A vet to fix your car?
A rectal surgeon mixing cocktails at your favourite bar?
Would you fire your accountant and use tap dancers instead?
How about a chaplain messing ‘round inside your kiddie’s head?

Would you ask a mime to paint your house? A chef to groom your pet?
A famous escapologist to fly a jumbo jet?
Would you ask a Weimaraner for directions to the station?
Or a farmer’s wife and mother for advice on vaccination?

Would you trust a pimp to cut your hair? A nun to make your tea?
A prima ballerina to re-format your CV?
Would you trust your local chippie to negotiate world peace?
Or a self-proclaimed clairvoyant to advise the state police?

When a child needs trauma counselling, he doesn’t need a priest.
See a doctor for good health advice, or clinic nurse at least.
Even dogs help murder cases more than useless psychic woo,
So if you need help, choose somebody who’s got a frikkin’ clue.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT SHELLITY.BLOGSPOT.COM

Vaccine Times: 4-year old NY boy dead of flu-related pneumonia

Again, if the anti-vax pro-disease nutters had any empathy, they would be at every single one of these funerals...  Instead, folks like us who know what real science says about vaccines mourn the unnecessary loss of life.

4-year old NY boy dead of flu-related pneumonia

A 4-year old New Rochelle boy has died of a flu-related pneumonia infection, according to the Westchester County Health Department. The boy fell ill in November; he was previously healthy and had not not received the flu vaccine this year.

“Any death is tragic, especially in one so young,” said Dr. Cheryl Archbald, acting commissioner of health. “The best protection we have against influenza is the annual flu shot, which is recommended for individuals six months of age and older.”

The flu sounds innocuous however, in some instances it can lead to life-threatening complications, pneumonia being one of them. Vaccination is the best protection we have against the flu. Please refer to the CDC website about the flu, or my previous FAQ blog entry about it.

Our hearts and thoughts go to the family of the little boy; we are very sorry for your loss.

Vaccine Times: New Meningitis Vaccine Brings Hope of Taming a Ravaging Illness in Africa

I love it when science does things like this.  There are millions of people that just don't see any hope, and most are doomed to die young, or lead horribly crippled lives.  No one seems to care, and pretty much any other segment of humanity has nothing for them.  And then there is science!  And the thing is, with our understanding of evolution, these sort of advances are actually possible.  If we didn't use evolution as a bedrock of biology, none of this would be possible.

New Meningitis Vaccine Brings Hope of Taming a Ravaging Illness in Africa

READ THE FULL ARTICE AT NYTIMES.COM

By CELIA W. DUGGER

Published: December 4, 2010

JOHANNESBURG — For over a century, epidemics of bacterial meningitis have swept across Africa, arriving with the dry harmattan winds to kill with terrifying speed. But on Monday, a drive starts to inoculate tens of millions of West Africans with a new vaccine in what scientists hope will be the beginning of the end of ravaging meningitis epidemics.

The aim is for these immunization campaigns to spread from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, bringing the disease under control and saving an estimated 150,000 lives by 2015 in a belt of 25 nations that girds the continent.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are still needed to accomplish that goal, public health officials say. But the meningitis vaccine itself is a milestone in developing inexpensive vaccines against neglected diseases that afflict poor countries, experts say.

More than a million cases of meningitis have been reported in Africa over the past two decades, and the vaccine works against the group A meningitis strain that causes more than 8 out of 10 cases on the continent. Moreover, it costs less than 50 cents a dose. In the United States, Novartis and Sanofi Pasteur market a single dose of meningitis vaccines against multiple strains of the disease for $80 to $100.

“Wow, that’s remarkable!” exclaimed Dr. Gregory A. Poland, head of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, when he heard how little the new vaccine would cost.

Bill Gates, whose foundation largely financed the endeavor, contrasted the undertaking with the development of vaccines for measles, smallpox and polio.

“All those things were created because rich people got sick,” he said in an interview. “This is the first vaccine that went through the whole process where there was no rich world market, and it had to be optimized at a very low price.”

The meningitis vaccine relies on a technology that was devised by researchers at the Food and Drug Administration and donated by the United States government at the cost of only token royalties. It is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, a major vaccine producer, and it was developed independently of the major American and European pharmaceutical companies.

READ THE FULL ARTICE AT NYTIMES.COM

Vaccine Times: Polio death toll in Congo surpasses 200

Polio? Wasn't that nearly eradicated?  Well, yes it IS, in areas where people get the vaccine!  Of course, the anti-vax pro-disease nutters don't think that preventing death is worth the risk, however imagined it may be.  And I must quote a blogger by the name of Science Mom that had this scathing and accurate observation:  If you go to some of the anti-vax sites, it's like watching 7 year old children having a conversation about sex. The wild speculation, with merely grains of fact to work with, lead to frightening results!  How true!  I think this may be one of my favorite quotes in a long time!  Expect to see it a lot.

Polio death toll in Congo surpasses 200

The death toll from the polio outbreak in Congo has surpassed 200, according to the UNICEF. When I last reported on this outbreak, a little over a month ago, the death toll was a little under 100, and it has doubled in a little over a month. A three-round emergency immunization campaign was launched in the wake of the outbreak. This week marks the end of the second wave of the campaign with thousands of health workers and volunteers working hard to vaccinate the entire population, regardless of gender, age or past immunization status. Most of the victims so far have been in the age range of 15-29 years.

The good news is that the number of new cases appears to be slowing and the mortality rate has decreased slightly, from 47% at the beginning of the outbreak, to 42% in the beginning of December, but the situation is still worrying. UNICEF has procured 18 million doses of Oral Polio Vaccine to be used in the campaign, but the logistics of actually reaching all the population are daunting to say the least.

Vaccinating a whole population is not an overnight task and comes at a cost,” said UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa Dr. Gianfranco Rotigliano, who visited Pointe Noire to support the nationwide campaign.

More funds are needed for the third wave of vaccinations which are scheduled for January.

With the support of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF and the World Health Organization, $4.5 million in funding has already been committed, in addition to a government allocation of $2 million. UNICEF is seeking an additional $3 million to support the third round of the campaign in early January.

Given how world governments waste hundreds of billions in much less worthwhile projects, I can only hope that raising the $3 million needed for the third wave will not be a problem. The payoff in saved human lives and reduced suffering will be immense.

Lastly, more kudos to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, yet again in the thick of things right where help is needed most. They are true pro-health heroes in my book; donating their time, efforts and huge, huge amounts of cash to help those people who need it most.

The Vaccine Times Oct-Dec 2010 Issue

Just doing my part to spread the word about this great project.  If there is any support that you can offer, even just sharing this link around, please do so.

The Vaccine Times Oct-Dec 2010 Issue

Hello dear friends; The Vaccine Times team would like to wish you a happy and safe holiday season. It is with great pleasure that we share with you the brand new, second issue of The Vaccine Times (Oct-Dec 2010). Please click the image below to download.

The Vaccine Times Oct-Dec 2010

Your continued help and support is still needed

Over the past few months we have received a lot of support from friends, such as yourself, in the pro-health community. Interest in our publication has been fairly high and the feedback has been positive. We are extremely happy to inform you that we have surpassed 100 free subscribers, on target with the goal we had set for us for the second issue. The number of subscribers to the free e-mail list is crucial, if we are to attract prospective customers who might want to buy ad space, so the new goal is to reach 200 by the next issue. You all can help us meet this goal by spreading the word in the Internet, via Facebook, Twitter, websites and blogs.

However, the Times is not yet financially viable; we have been unable to secure any funding so far, which would allow us to spread the pro-health message to the largest audience possible. As such, we extend an appeal to any organized skeptical, medical or other organizations in the pro-health community who want to support our efforts and help use make the print Vaccine Times a reality by advertising with us. If we can raise just $1,000, that would guarantee printing and mailing of the smallest order the printing company will accept, for one full year. Anything over that would possibly enable us to advertise in some other print publication and help us reach prospective paid subscribers. Anything over that goes towards my yacht.

What is new with The Vaccine Times

Since the first issue was released, this website has been set up, which also replaces the Vaccine Central Blog. We are also present on Twitter as @VaccineTimes. The Vaccine Times blog is available now, as a subscription for Amazon Kindle. We are also thinking about setting up The Vaccine Times newspaper as a Kindle publication, although we might need some help from people with XML skills to help us set it up properly. If you have skills in that area, please get in touch with us.

An online Cafepress store for Vaccine Times branded merchandise is now available; you can support the project by purchasing merchandise bearing our designs. A small commission fee goes our way, so if you feel that is something you’d like to do please visit our store.

We are working to have everything in place to start taking print subscription orders at the beginning of the year 2011. We hope that between ad revenue, subscription revenue and merchandise revenue we will generate enough funds to make The Vaccine Times viable. Please keep an eye on the blog and on Twitter for announcements regarding paid subscriptions.

You can help

We are very grateful for your support so far, without it we would’ve probably called it quits a while back. Nevertheless, you can do more, at very little cost to you, to help us. Besides subscribing to the paid printed version when it becomes available, there are a few other things you can do to help us that will not cost you anything (besides a few minutes of your time). Here is a short list:

• Share ideas on how to reach our target market – As you may know, our target market for the paid print Times are pediatricians and other medical professionals. We need ideas about where to get a usable list of pediatricians, and how to go about reaching out to them, all while keeping in mind that cost is a major limiting factor at the present time. Any idea is welcome, no matter how remote you might think it is; please e-mail us at vaccinetimes@gmail.com .
• Subscribe to the Vaccine Times blog RSS feed – If you use an RSS aggregator to stay in touch with the latest news, please consider adding The Vaccine Times feed to your list. It is free, and a growing number of subscribers, and hopefully commenters, does wonders for motivation.
• Follow @VaccineTimes on Twitter- Twitter is the best way for us to communicate with each other. We do not want to abuse the privilege of having your e-mail address on our list by inundating you with too many e-mails. Twitter makes it easy to send out small announcements and requests. If you have a Twitter account, following @VaccineTimes takes literally 5 seconds. If you do not have a Twitter account, you should consider setting one up. It is free, and it is a great way to stay in touch.
• Spread the word – Post a Facebook update with a link to vaccinetimes.com; post a Twitter message with the same content; Print copies and leave them hanging around on the copy room at work; give them out at church; give one to your baby’s pediatrician and tell them you’d better have this available as reading material than People Magazine in their waiting room etc.
• If you work for a major skeptical, or other pro-health, organization – You can help by convincing your organization to:
  • Order a batch of 25 (or more), for about $200 (or more), and hand them out at your next local event (e-mail vaccinetimes@gmail.com for details)
  • Purchase some add space. Do you have a skeptical event, or some other event, you want to advertise? Send us the ad in JPEG format and we’ll include it in the next run of the Times. Check out this link for current prices.
  • If you are a podcaster, plug the Vaccine Times in your podcast (and let us know so we can return the favor on the blog).
  • If you are a blogger, link to vaccinetimes.com.
  • If you are a commercially successful podcaster or blogger, then you can support The Vaccine Times, by buying up a quarter-page, half-page, or full-page ad.

Vaccine Times: Why The Controversy? Vaccines Save Lives

A question I ask myself all the time!  It is a FACT that vaccines save lives.  Yet the lies and distortions of the anti-vax pro-disease nutters are killing people, mostly children.  And they think that they are performing some sort of public service...  While I am a staunch supporter of free speech, I abhor "free lies" and these people need to be silenced and exposed for the charlatans they are.  They are not entitled to their own facts, and that's what they think they have with each lie they spread.

Why The Controversy? Vaccines Save Lives

On December 16, 2010, in ALL POSTS, NEWS, by Leart Shaka

READ THE FULL ENTRY AT WGBH

Now that flu season is almost upon us, debate rages about the safety and necessity of vaccinations. Molecular biologist Adam J. Ruben says the flu shot is not only safe and necessary for you but is vital for the health of the public.

A few weeks ago, my sister asked a simple yes-no question on her Facebook page: She wrote, “should I get the flu shot?” She might as well have posted, “should I fillet this kitten?” Friends replied in droves, arguing every aspect of what, in this country, has become a fierce and unnecessary debate.

Last year, when H1N1 reared its head, the public demanded a quick, safe, reliable way to prevent the disease. “Here,” said science. “We’ve made this vaccine!” And the public said, “Eh … what else have you got?”

The government bought about 200 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine and worried whether these would be enough. But many sat unused, and tens of millions of doses were incinerated when they expired this summer. Now, there’s nothing unusual about a vaccine surplus being destroyed, but I was struck, both last year and this year, by what the destruction represented: that millions of people — with the vaccine widely available — had chosen to forgo the shot and tough it out on their own.

I happen to think vaccines are the single greatest invention of humankind. In the middle of the 20th century, the world saw 50 million cases of smallpox every year. Thirty years later, thanks to a successful vaccination campaign, that number fell to — and has remained at — zero.

READ THE FULL ENTRY AT WGBH

Vaccine Times: Measles kills 11 children in Pakistan

One thing that really dismays me about Americans is that they could generally care less about the goings on in the rest of the world.  Especially if something horrible is going on outside of Europe, and there seems to be a general consensus to ignore stuff if people suffering have a different skin colour compared to most Americans.

Measles kills 11 children in Pakistan

On December 16, 2010, in ALL POSTS, EPIDEMICS/OUTBREAKS, Measles, by Leart Shaka

A recent measles outbreak has killed 11 children in Pakistan’s district of Dadu, according to Spero News. Health workers in the affected area have demanded new immunization centers to reach as many children as possible. Fortunately it appears the situation is under control, and over 4,000 children in the area have been vaccinated during the last couple of weeks in November. One woman in the affected area, has already lost 3 of her 4 children to the outbreak:

Gulann watches with empty eyes as the WHO doctors check the children’s arms for the vaccination mark. Her five year old daughter Sapona, half asleep, holds her tightly, as if afraid that she too would vanish from her life. Gulann has lost three of her four children in the measles outbreak, and Sapona all her siblings. Despite the sadness that grips everyone in Karapur, the women bring colorful fabrics and drop them on a “charpai” – a low wide hammock- for their WHO guests to sit, attesting the resilience of Pakistani hospitality. Dr Laghari uses the charpai as his examining coach to check Sapona’s temperature, her skin and her arm. “She is doing fine, and she has been vaccinated”, he says, his face openly relieved.

Gulann explains to the team that she had brought her kid to a doctor in the fish market “Aneela, woke up one day with a high fever and diarrhoea, and then I saw that she could not breath normally, I knew it was bad so I took her to the doctor. He gave her medication and admitted her in the hospital but she died. Ayaz and Kajul got sick later, and they died last week. They were not even admitted to the Hospital”. Too often hospitals are overcrowded and do not have a proper isolation room for contagious diseases. Admitting a case of measles could put at risk the rest of the patients. Gulann looks at her daughter with painstriken eyes “I have only Sapona left with me now” she whispers, caressing her daughter’s fingers softly.

I cannot hardly imagine a greater pain than what this mother must be living through right now; words fail me. Children shouldn’t be dying of a vaccine preventable disease, no matter where in the world they happen to live; and those lucky enough to live in countries where a live-saving shot is but a short car ride away should think twice before denying it to their children and putting their lives at the same risk, Gulann’s children’s were. Please, stop playing Russian Roulette with your children’s lives.

Vaccine Times: Flu "fatigue"

Flu makes lasting impact on mother and daughter: They’re telling their story to overcome public ‘fatigue’ about flu dangers

On December 16, 2010, in ALL POSTS, Influenza (Seasonal), VACCINE PREVENTABLE SUFFERING, by Leart Shaka

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY AT MLIVE.COM

KALAMAZOO — The Welch family of Comstock Township is spending this Thanksgiving together, and that situation, they agree, is really something to be thankful for.

Last Thanksgiving Day, Amie Welch was sitting at her daughter Cailey’s bedside in Bronson Methodist Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Welch had just been released from the hospital herself, having spent a month on a ventilator, but Cailey, then 10 years old and admitted just a day after her mother, was far sicker.

It wasn’t some exotic disease that laid both mother and daughter so low. It was the flu.

At times during her six-month hospital stay, Cailey’s survival was in doubt. “Several times, sitting in her room, we were watching them lose her,” Welch said.

Cailey was on a ventilator for months, and the high air pressure needed to keep her alive did serious damage to her lungs, her mother said. “Her lungs will be always be scarred from that,” Welch said.

Cailey, who turned 11 in January, still requires oxygen 12 to 14 hours a day, her mother said, and it’s administered through her nose. “We don’t go anywhere without it,” Welch said.

Cailey also has had “surgery after surgery” to remove tissue that had built up as a result of a tracheotomy she received in the hospital, her mother said. The tissue has to be removed before the tracheostomy stoma can be closed.

Cailey has not been able to return to school at Kalamazoo’s Edison Environmental Science Academy, where she would have been in sixth grade. Instead, she is schooled through a program for homebound students run by the Kalamazoo Regional Educational and Service Agency (KRESA).

Amie Welch, 34, has suffered permanent lung damage, too, although Cailey’s is much worse, she said. “I have a little bit of scar tissue that will always be there,” she said. Its impact is that she becomes winded very easily.

Because of their experiences, the Welches have been working with the American Lung Association to spread the word about the importance of getting flu shots. Amie Welch said she agreed to share their story because “if anything good could come out of what we had to go through, we want that to happen.”

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY AT MLIVE.COM

Vaccine Times: Pro-health website of the day : The History of Vaccines

Pro-health website of the day : The History of Vaccines

On December 15, 2010, in ALL POSTS, NEWS, by Leart Shaka

Our pro-health website of the day is The History of Vaccines a website set up by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest professional society in the United States. Its mission includes: “to increase public knowledge and understanding of the ways in which vaccines, toxoids, and passive immunization work, how they have been developed, and the role they have played in the improvement of human health.” a very worthwhile goal in my opinion. The site is very attractive visually and has loads of great information, and my personal favorite is the Timelines portion of the page which provides a nice visual of the history of vaccines and a great jumping point to do further more in-depth research.  I encourage everyone to bookmark and to peruse this most excellent website.