Letter to the Editor – “Confronting the myth-makers about immunization”

I’ve just responded to an Editorial in the “Other Views” section of my local newspaper and it’ll hopefully make it into the paper in the next couple of days and with a minimal amount of changes. Anyway, I’ve decided to let my readers here at Skepacabra read it first:

“Regarding “Confronting facts and myths about immunization” (Other Views A-13, Sept. 18), Thank you for publishing this wonderful article by Mary Ellen Schoonmaker on the myths about vaccination being perpetuated in the popular media. I hope to see many more articles like this in the future.

My only disagreement is that Schoonmaker advises, “Parents should never be criticized for wanting the best for their children and wanting to protect their kids’ health and safety.” Normally this is a sound policy but leaders of the anti-vaccination movement such as David Kirby, Dan Olmstead, and Jenny McCarthy have crossed the line with organized campaigns of misinformation, as evidenced from their constant appeals to conspiracy theory that vilify all who disagree with them including Dr. Paul Offit.

Regardless of whether they believe their own propaganda or whether they happen to have autistic children, these movement leaders waste no time in making baseless public conspiracy accusations against the nation’s leading medical minds and organizations without considering the serious consequences of their libelous claims. And for this, they should receive harsh criticism for their poor character and judgment as well as having their arguments challenged. It’s the response we’d expect for any other propagandist and they should not receive special treatment because their children have autism.

I hope The Record continues to expose the misinformation of anti-vaccinationists while also elaborating on the details of the studies that have falsified these myths so that the science is demystified for readers who’ll have a better understanding of how we know what we know and see science isn’t authoritative like Kirby, Olmstead, and McCarthy think it is.”

There it is. I think I hit on a couple of good points there and gave positive feedback to the newspaper. So far I’ve got a pretty strong track record for getting my Letters to the Editor published there except for the last one, which might not have been my best.

Anyway, I encourage everyone to take advantage of the Letter to the Editor section of their local newspapers, especially if they live in small town neighborhoods because then they’re more likely to publish your work. And I know the circulation of my local paper far, far exceeds my blog readers.