Double-Edged Sword: Swine Flu and Vaccines
by ilene - November 6th, 2009 1:26 am
By guest author Terry Doherty and Ilene, your editor
Terry Doherty is the Research Program Coordinator in the Depts of Biomedical Sciences and Academic Affairs at Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles, California.
Double-Edged Sword: Swine Flu and Vaccines
There’s plenty that is unknown about the swine flu and the swine flu vaccine. If searches on the internet are any indication, deciding whether or not to be vaccinated may be a tough, emotionally charged decision for many people. So how – without having the background to write a swine flu grant proposal, conduct the research, and get the thing published in the New England Journal of Medicine – do we decide whether or not to get a swine flu shot?
One way is to attempt to evaluate and weigh the risks of the vaccine against the risks of the flu. That is how I approach the subject, but it’s easier said than done. As is often the case with medical interventions, the risks are not fully known. And even if we could carefully assess the risks, our underlying assumptions may be wrong. Percent risks are averages collected by studying large populations. We may not be one of the statistical average. Then there are the gaps in the available data, and own biases and belief systems. Our view of the world affects our analysis and often we are not even aware of how large of an effect those biases may play.
In Vaccine War: Autism, Flu and Science, TIME, Maia Szalavitz discusses how emotion and biases play a large part in our risk-benefit assessments:
Just in time for the national roll-out of the new H1N1 flu vaccine, Wired Magazine and the Atlantic have weighed in on the ongoing vaccine war: Wired has a profile of Paul Offit, a vaccine researcher and pediatrician who has consistently spoken out in favor of vaccination and pointed to the lack of evidence linking vaccines and autism; the Atlantic checks in with a piece questioning the science suggesting that flu vaccines and antiviral drugs prevent people from dying.
Both articles have elicited heated debate all over the Web: Amy Wallace, who wrote Wired’s piece, excerpted below, has received vitriolic criticism and attacks from vaccine opponents, setting records for page views…
This debate over vaccination doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon. For critics, vaccines…