I can write about the importance of childhood vaccinations all week long, but I don’t know why I should when we’ve got Stephen Colbert to debunk the vaccine myths in his usual deadpan fashion:
“I’m entirely motivated by fear.”
“Can’t we put those people in a plastic bubble?”
“You’re playing the children dying card. How am I supposed to fight that? Let’s keep this intellectual.”
Those quotes come from The Colbert Report on Monday night, which featured Dr. Paul Offit, vocal critic of the antivax movement who wrote this book, among others.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Paul Offit | ||||
|
||||
Antivax folks who don’t like Offit often question his motives by pointing to the rotavirus vaccine he co-invented and collected royalties from.
But they usually leave out the part where his vaccination saves the lives of thousands of infants and children every year and is based on solid, credible research rather than rumors and manipulated data, a la Andrew Wakefield.
——–
Front page photo: U.S. Army
Also, for the Canadian readers: You can go to the Comedy Network website and watch the episode here. If I recall correctly, the Offit section is on Clip 3.
Canadians can’t watch stuff on Comedy Central (or the American Discovery channel, much to my irritation – I want Storm Chasers, darn it!), but fortunately, the Comedy Network runs the Colbert Report.
But then, as far as I know, you guys can’t get CBC, so fair’s fair, I guess.
I really enjoyed that video clip. If you purely look at risks and benefits it makes good logical sense unless you have allergy to vaccine components and/or immunosuppressed. I have missed a few flu seasons due to latex-contaminated vaccine supplies but thank goodness for herd immunity!
I choked on my iced tea and then emailed this to my ped. H-ilarious!
This is sad, the media never bothers to check the science and read these vaccine studies. If they’d do any due diligence whatsoever they’d see the studies are fraudulent and they aren’t preventing the diseases they claim to. Shame on Colbert. I lost all respect for him.