Nancy Snyderman Stands Up For Science: Vaccines Do NOT Cause Autism
This news from Gary Schwitzer’s excellent blog:
Dr. Nancy Snyderman of NBC News appeared on the Today Show with Matt Lauer last week, profiling a physician-author who has written that the best science does not establish a causal link between childhood vaccines and autism. 
Lauer, in a followup question, mis-spoke and called it a “casual” link – not causal. One wonders whether he truly knows what the words mean.
Snyderman talked about how the physician-author, Dr. Paul Offit (author of “Autism’s False Prophets”), has received death threats. Snyderman herself said she had been physically ambushed by those who contend that vaccines cause autism.
As Snyderman was wrapping up the segment, Lauer said – in typical anchor throwaway language:
“Controversial subject …”
Snyderman immediately shot back, “Not controversial subject , Matt. …It’s time for kids to get vaccinated. The science is the science. It’s not controversial.”
You can see the video here or here.
Kudos to Snyderman for educating her big-bucks anchor colleague live on-the-air.
For a full review of Offit’s book, please check out this link.
Kudos for Dr.Snyderman. So much of the hype that folks read are due to the media. I’m glad she didn’t let them off easily this time.
In my rose-colored world, people have the sense to see the difference between emotionalizing an issue and good science. Obviously that’s not reality, but I still get surprised by that sometimes.
Thanks for your great blog. It’s always interesting.
I often wonder if those affected and afflicted with autism in their lives have been ‘pushing’ this issue simply because they want an answer to the ‘why did this happen to me/us/him’.
Sometimes the best answer for some is the only one given to them, even if it’s false.
You know what’s interesting is if you go on the MSNBC link to see the video/transcript, the title is “Doctor Disputes Vaccine-Autism Link” where it should probably read “Doctor Defends Vaccine Safety and Science”. The title as it is implies there IS a link and this doctor is just out to refute it.
Thanks for the post, (sadly) we are working very hard to get nurses re-energized about the good things vaccines can do, and a lot of that is because of the proliferation of stories and headlines like this in the media.