"Last night I attended an event at NYU about how the media report on health controversies, such as the real effectiveness of flu vaccines," says ACSH's Jeff Stier. "The two speakers were Michael Specter, author of the new book Denialism on which I have a review coming out soon in the Weekly Standard and Shannon Brownlee, who wrote a controversial piece for The Atlantic about our need for more data on the efficacy of the seasonal flu vaccine and how effective it is in protecting people in different age groups.
"Because of her article, which raises valid questions, Brownlee was welcomed by the anti-vaccine crowd, even though she's not anti-vaccine. We have a similar experience at ACSH when we speak out against rodent tests used to predict human cancer risk. We are embraced (for the wrong reasons) by those who simply object to all testing done with laboratory animals. In reality, we are not against animal testing, we just think the use of high-dose animal tests to predict human cancer risk is without scientific basis, but that position still seems to attract radical animal rights groups.
"Brownlee is not anti-vaccine, she just thinks that all the data on the vaccine's effectiveness across the age-spectrum isn't in yet, so she is calling for more studies. There is widespread concern that older Americans, most at risk of disease and death from the seasonal flu, are least likely to benefit from the influenza vaccine, as their immune response to the vaccine is not particularly robust.
"Specter related a story about when he was AIDS reporter for the Washington Post: it was 6pm and he had an article on AIDS funding for the following day. His editor asked him if he had it finished, and he told the editor he was waiting to hear from Rep. Dannemeyer (R-CA), who believed that AIDS was a form of God's punishment for wrongdoing. Specter's editor told him, 'There aren't always two sides to a story.' You have to keep in mind that while a reporter may want balance in a story, sometimes the other side is just wrong, like the anti-vaccine crowd."