Obama Climbs On The Vaccine Bandwagon

Obama Climbs On The Vaccine
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/obama-climbs-on-the-vacci_b_97969.html
Posted April 22, 2008 | 11:29 AM (EST)
Breaking Home News

Note from Ilena Rosenthal: First McCain ... now Obama ... thank you to
the brave vaccination awareness advocates who have refused to be
silenced ... www.ilenarose.blogspot.com

Barring some big Clinton blowout in Pennsylvania today, the next
President of the United States will unequivocally sup****t research
into the growing evidence of some link between vaccines and autism.

Republican John McCain has already expressed his belief that vaccines
and the mercury containing preservative thimerosal could be implicated
in what he has rightly termed an "autism epidemic."

Yesterday, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama had this rather
surprising thing to say:

    "We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are
suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included.
The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."

So there you have it, our next President will share the views of such
radical fringe crazies as, well, me, Democrat Robert Kennedy, Jr.,
Republican Joe Scarborough, former NIH and Red Cross chief Bernadine
Healy, and several researchers at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the
Universities of California and Wa****ngton and elsewhere.


All of us agree: Current evidence suggests that vaccines could be a
contributing factor in some cases of autism, and more research is
immediately required.

And yes, now the comments to this piece will come flying in, repeating
the tired mantra that "this case is closed," that vaccines and
thimerosal have been "completely vindicated," and that people like me
are just trying to scare the public and drive them away from vaccines,
leaving their children vulnerable and sick.

Of course, none of the above is true. So stay tuned.

To begin with, government researchers are currently looking into a
number of factors that may trigger autism, including vaccines, their
ingredients and the crowded vaccine schedule itself.

Secondly, on April 11th, I attended a top-level meeting in Wa****ngton
where vaccine safety officials discussed all of the above issues, and
more. Included on the Federal Draft Research Agenda for vaccine safety
are now questions such as:

    Can vaccines cause neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism?


    Can vaccines in children with mitochondrial dysfunction cause
significant "neurological deterioration?"

    Can the combination live-virus measles, mumps and rubella vaccine
cause seizures and long term damage in children?

    Can vaccines cause autoimmune disease?

    Can thimerosal cause tics or Tourette syndrome?

    Can attenuated viruses in vaccines cause asthma in children?


So, no matter who is President next year, top government researchers
will be examining the role of vaccines in autism and other childhood
illnesses. Thus, the declarations of both McCain and, now, Obama, make
good scientific sense.

But there is more.

Dozens of autism cases (and perhaps more) currently filed in so-called
Vaccine Court will almost certainly be compensated this year. Why?
Because a little girl named Hannah Poling with a supposedly rare
mitochondrial condition was recently compensated for her own vaccine
injuries, including autism and epilepsy.

But I have personally identified at least a dozen (and there are
re****ts of many more) children with cases in the court who meet the
exact same medical criteria as Hannah, and whose cases will almost
surely be compensated as well -- each time with the attendant media
fanfare.

My prediction is that, by Election Day, few Americans will still
believe there is absolutely no evidence to link vaccines to at least
some cases of regressive autism.

So the remarks by McCain and Obama not only reflect good science, they
reflect good politics as well.