Thursday, March 17, 2011

I'm dismissive, so why won't you go away...

So the podcast "Parenting Within Reason" did an interesting enough interview with Dr Amy that I decided to give a very open minded listen to their hour long FAQ on vaccines, on which they are pro. Sadly, I found them to be barely coherent, smarmy sneering idiots on the topic, knocking down strawman after strawman and even giving outright misinformation (sterility is a *common* complication of mumps. Is 1 in 10,000 what you would call common?) And they brought up Andrew Wakefield's shortcomings as proof that vaccines are safe. Strawman strawman strawman.

Now, I'm willing to reconsider a lot of things. I will listen to reason. But before you and I talk vaccines, I'm afraid you'll have to pass this quiz I have formulated to screen out morons who don't know what they are talking about, or at least know less than me - in which case, why would I listen to you? Here we go:

1. What is the epidermis and what its role in protecting the body from enviromental toxins?

a. Where is approximately 80% of the body's immune function located?
b. Name at least one major filtration system in the body that a vaccine would encounter when injected into the body? (Note: this is a trick question)
c. In light of this, is there any merit to pointing out how many environmental toxins a normal, non-intravenous drug using person encounters every day/how much aluminum there is in formula/breastmilk/a tuna fish sandwich during a vaccine discussion?
d. Would you consider a pureed tuna fish sandwich a safely injectable substance? Why or why not? (Note: If you answered yes, please put down your pencil and hand in your paper. We are done talking.)

2. Who is Russell Blaylock and what is his profession?

3. Who wrote the paper entitled "Tobacco Science and the Thimerosal Scandal"?

4. What is glutathione?
a. What is the effect of Tylenol on glutathione?

5. Discuss the origins of herd immunity theory.

6. What does VAERS stand for?

7. Where did Bill Gates receive his medical training? (Note: also a trick question)

8. What is the safe level of aluminum in mcg for IV solutions for newborns per day according to the FDA?
a. What is the maximum cumulative amount of aluminum in mcg that a 2 month old following the CDC immunization schedule could receive in one day?

9. The vaccine industry touts the statistic that 50,000 Americans die from vaccine preventable diseases every year. What disease makes up the bulk of this statistic and in what age group?

10. What is the efficacy rate of the flu vaccine?

11. Is the flu a vaccine preventable disease?

12. What other condition mimics autism almost exactly? So exactly in fact, you'd swear they were the same thing?

13. Autism is one thing anti-vaxxers are concerned about. Name at least 5 other conditions that are a concern to them.

14. Would an anti-vaxxer be more worried about vaccinating their son or daughter and why?

15. At approximately what age does the blood-brain barrier develop?

16. What common vaccine still contains thimerosal?

17. Name 3 vaccine ingredients besides aluminum and thimerosal.

18. When was thimerosal removed from the MMR?
a. Please explain why this is a trick question:

19. When was the last case of Polio in the US and how was it acquired?

20. Please explain what a live virus vaccine is and name two vaccines that are live virus.

21. What is an adjuvant?

That's enough for now. I'll add more later as I think of them.

2 comments:

  1. I don't think pro-vaxxers get irony...

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  2. One of them also discussed how her fully vaxxed son has speech delays... umm... you're not helping your case. At all.

    ReplyDelete