Chicago – Numerous websites are using false scientific evidence to promote an anti-vaccine philosophy, as revealed by a study presented on Tuesday at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago. By analyzing their content the researchers found that they proclaim that vaccines cause disorders that affect one’s communication and social skills.
There is a lot of misinformation among nearly 500 blogs, Facebook pages and health websites, which were found by using search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask Jeeves. The researchers typed terms like “vaccine danger”, “immunization dangers” and others were provided by Google Trends.
Researchers found that anti-vaccine messages are being used with highly effective persuasion techniques in order to spread the idea that vaccines lead to serious diseases, especially among children. 65 percent of the studied websites affirm that vaccines are dangerous, cause autism (62.2 percent) and brain injury (41.1 percent). Not only did the websites used scientific evidence (64.7 percent), but they also used anecdotes (30 percent) to argue their case. The persuasion tactics took values like choice, freedom and individuality into account.
Scientists certify that by avoiding vaccines children increase the risk to get sickened from potentially fatal diseases. They insist on the idea that risks of outbreaks raise when people in general are not vaccinated.
Although the scientific evidence used by the websites were real, researchers discovered that it was misinterpreted and misrepresented so they could make people believe that vaccines led to serious health issues. The scientific data was indeed solid, but the interpretation was imprecise, as explained by study author Meghan Moran, an associate professor in Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society.
Mistaking correlation for causation was one of the most common mistakes researchers discovered in their investigation. Some of the websites involved in the study showed that rates of immunization and autism diagnoses increased simultaneously. “Just because two things happen at the same time, that doesn’t mean that one is causing the other,” Moran commented. Even though it is true that those events raised over the same period of time, it is false that the immunizations were causing autism, according to Moran.
Health officials and researchers agree that they “need to communicate to the vaccine-hesitant parents in a way that resonates with them and is sensitive to their concerns,” declared Moran in a statement.
Source: American Public Health Association
Do a study on the level of corruption within the CDC, the AMA, the FDA, and the EPA and how much these institutions are taking payments from Big Pharma, and then do the other research — if it was not already nullified, that is.
Do a study of the dangers of vaccines, their ingredients, the amounts given in a single well child visit and compare health of vaccinated vs unvaccinated. Then get back with me Ms Moran, Pulse Headlines and “Chicago”! That is all.
“Do a study of the dangers of vaccines, their ingredients, the amounts
given in a single well child visit and compare health of vaccinated vs
unvaccinated.”
There have been thousands. Most of the big and important questions were answered decades ago. Was there something in particular you wanted to know about?
Actually there hasn’t been one. If you say so, link one.
Apparently links aren’t passing moderation.
Which topics in particular would you like me to link to?
Here’s an old one (25 yrs ago), that reviewed literally hundreds of vaccine safety and efficacy studies. It’s just one example, but it includes several studies that compare vaccinated vs unvaccinated, ingredients, vaccines administered individually vs in combination etc.
Thousands more studies have been done since then.
[http:// www(dot)ncbi(dot)nlm(dot)nih(dot)gov/books/NBK234363/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK234363(dot)pdf]
So now you know that any time someone tells you there’s never been a study done, they aren’t telling you the truth.
Answered decades ago? Last I checked, the accepted scientific process was to continue checking at regular intervals, to determine if the original assumptions were correct. Often they are not. For example, cigarettes, asbestos, leaded gas, DDT, aspartame, MSG, fluoridation, and the list goes on…
Yup, answered decades ago. See the link I provided below that reviewed vaccine safety and efficacy studies from the 70s and 80s. I lists a bunch of things learned during that time period, as well as areas of research to focus on.