For a while, the media has been filled with claims that vaccines cause autism. These claims have been amplified by public figures like the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, R. F. Kennedy Jr., as well as other public health leaders. Now a parent, Greg Scaduto, whose child is autistic, has come out to explain why such thinking is misguided and does more harm than good.
He explains that these false narratives are founded in a failure to understand the difference between correlation and causation. He says many people quickly, and falsely, jump to the conclusion that when two trends occur at the same time, one must be causing the other.
In this case, those who peddle the theory that vaccines cause autism think that because vaccination rates have gone up and this has coincided with a rise in autism diagnoses, then it must be the vaccines triggering the uptick in autism cases. Scaduto say nothing could be further from the truth since it is just a coincidence that the two trends have gone up at the same time.
To illustrate the fallacy behind this thinking, Scaduto points out that at one time, the number of people that died in swimming pools annually coincided with an uptick in the movies released starring Nicolas Cage. For those that reason that correlation means causation, it would be easy to say that movies featuring Nicolas Cage caused swimmers to drown in pools. But, is this true? It is simply a coincidence that is bizarre to say the least, Scaduto asserts.
He says that in a similar way, it is erroneous to claim that because rates of vaccination have gone up at the same as cases of autism, vaccination should be causing autism.
The parent says those pushing such claims are doing more harm than good to kids because many children will likely die or suffer from diseases that would have been prevented if the available vaccines were administered to the children.
He says numerous studies have been conducted to establish whether vaccination causes autism but no concrete proof has been found in the different countries like Denmark, the U.S. and other developed countries where such rigorous studies have been undertaken for several decades. It is therefore important for public health officials to stick to evidence-based findings when informing the public about important matters instead of substituting scientific facts with political or personal views.
As more voices join that of Greg Scaduto in clearing the air about these unsubstantiated claims or fallacies mistaking correlation for causation, entities like Soligenix Inc. (NASDAQ: SNGX) that focus on developing novel vaccines against numerous biothreats will be strengthened to ramp up their R&D programs geared at helping humanity deal with the threats posed by rampaging infectious diseases.
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