Yesterday, I posted on an amusing article by The New Republic's Julia Ioffe about her case of pertussis, or whooping cough–which she blamed on the celebrity anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy.
Ioffe wrote that she had been vaccinated as a child, but that the vaccine had worn off, and therefore she had become vulnerable to catching whooping cough from unvaccinated children.
Later in the day, the science writer and blogger Tara Haelle, a senior editor at dailyRX, noted in a comment that Ioffe's whooping cough might not be McCarthy's fault. The comment links to a lengthy, solidly reported post on her blog Red Wine & Apple Sauce, where she writes of Ioffe:
…Her case is weak, she is uninformed, and her article could actually backfire. You see, Ioffe blames non-vaccinating parents and anti-vaccine advocates such as Jenny McCarthy for her plight, but, for once, this is misplaced blame. Ioffe is correct that whooping cough has come “roaring back,” but it’s because of problems with the current vaccine. Anti-vaccine sentiment has helped the resurgence along, but it’s not the primary culprit. And frankly, if Ioffe were following current recommendations, she would have had her booster and would have been less likely to catch the disease.
The current pertussis vaccine–known as DTaP, for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis–came into use in 1997, replacing a vaccine, known as DTP, that provided better protection against pertussis. It was adopted because it was less likely than the DTP vaccine to cause high fevers and seizures. But it wears off in three to six years, Haelle reports.
The problem with Ioffe's story, according to Haelle, is that the misinformation it contains further threatens public trust in vaccines, which can add fuel to the anti-vaccine movement. "I’ll be the first to point the finger at the anti-vaccination movement for outbreaks when blame is due, but I will not oversimplify my message or the science simply to make a point or cast blame," she writes.
I don't know that Ioffe oversimplified her story to make a point. My guess would be that she was so sure that what she was writing was correct that she didn't bother to Google the CDC and other sources to be certain.
Still, Haelle is correct that misinformation, even in a well-intentioned story, can be harmful–especially when the story deals with such a highly inflamed subject such as this one.
-Paul Raeburn
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