ER/Vaccines/CAN response in Newsweek

[Guest guest]

Saw this on another list, thought some might be interested (I was excited to

see it came from Newsweek!)

Judy (Mike's mom, AS)

‘ER’ Uproar

An episode of the hospital drama angers some parents

By B. J. Sigesmund

NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

  Feb. 23 —  Last week’s “ER†made a small group of

people sick. Â

 THE FEB. 15 EPISODE, which touched on the current debate

over

childhood immunizations, was seen as extremely one-sided by antivaccine

activists. On the show, a young mother brings her ill child to the

hospital.

When asked by hospital staff if he’s had his vaccinations, she

responds, “No

.... he hasn’t had any immunizations, none of our children have.†Dr.

Chen

(Ming-Na) looks away in disgust. Later, the child dies of measles. It

is,

ostensibly, the mother’s fault.

    Over the past few years, some parents have come to believe

there may

be a connection between childhood vaccinations and autism. Though

studies

have yet to prove a correlation, a small number of parents have stopped

giving their kids immunizations, especially the common MMR

(measles/mumps/rubella) shot. The episode angered some in the

autism

community. But what further infuriated them was a commercial for

Prevnar,

American Home Products’s new vaccine for preventing bacterial

meningitis,

which ran directly after the scene in which the mother learns her kid

has

measles.

    As it turns out, American Home Products bought the spot last

May.

When the company learned of the episode’s story line through a

“screening

report†last week, the ad buyers asked to have their commercial placed

specifically after that tense scene. (NBC says it’s common practice to

let

advertisers know the content of shows beforehand, in case they want to

pull

out of controversial programming. “A screening report is basically

used to

make sure an ad is not running in an inappropriate place,†says NBC

spokesman

Cory Shields.)

    NEWSWEEK’s B. J. Sigesmund spoke about the episode and the

ad with

Shestack, a cofounder of the Cure Autism Now (CAN) foundation

(www.cureautismnow.org). Shestack is also a Hollywood veteran; he

produced

“Disturbing Behavior†(1998) and “Air Force One†(1997). One of

Shestack’s

three sons, his eldest, has autism.

   Â

    NEWSWEEK: When did the “ER†episode first come to your

attention?

    Shestack: [“ER†star] , who’s

on the CAN

board of directors, had told us about it a couple weeks ago. A week or

so

before, everyone in the autism community seemed to be aware of it.

   Â

    What did say?

    I don’t like to speak for , but he felt pretty

strongly that

this was an extremely one-sided and dismissive look at the issue. But,

of

course, he is an actor on the show. He doesn’t write the stories. This

is a

story Wells wrote and directed. Obviously, he felt very strongly.

You

will notice that ’s character doesn’t figure at all into the

story.

   Â

    What did you think of the episode?

    I was dismayed. I fully understand the public-health issues

behind

universal vaccination. And I understand why it’s so important that

people get

vaccinated. On the other hand, there are very legitimate concerns and

questions about vaccines and vaccine safety. And the show was terribly

dismissive of the parent who had those concerns. In fact, basically the

subtext of the show was, “Don’t question conventional wisdom about

vaccination, and if you do, you’re an idiot and the punishment will be

that

your child could die.â€

   Â

    Tell us how vaccines and autism could be related.

    There are many different views about vaccination in the

autism

community. Some people believe absolutely that their child’s autism

was a

reaction to a vaccine. Many feel it wasn’t. Some people believe it was

the

immune load of so many shots during such a short period of time, in

particular the MMR vaccine, that may be a factor in autism. Other people

believe that thimerosal, a mercury-based additive that’s been in

vaccination

formulas for years—and is now being removed—is the guilty factor.

But what

everyone can agree on is it’s an issue that needs to be looked into.

If in

fact there is evidence that there’s a connection in some cases of

autism with

vaccination, this is something that can be addressed, either by changing

the

formula of the vaccine or my vaccinating a little later, or by splitting

the

vaccines into several injections.

   Â

    Do many parents in your community feel dismissed by doctors?

    Yes, and that dismissiveness is so hurtful and insulting. And

what you

should keep in mind is people have a long history of getting bad advice

from

the medical establishment. In the 1940s, autism was blamed on bad

parenting

or trauma and thought to be the fault of the mother. Treatment, when

there

was any, consisted of separating the children from the parents, or

psychoanalysis for the parents, to figure out why they’d screwed up

their

kid. So you can understand why families might be a little upset to have

their

concerns and fears dismissed in such a high-handed fashion.

   Â

    Are incidences of autism on the rise, or is it just being

better

diagnosed?

    It’s pretty clear [to CAN] there’s been a dramatic rise

in autism in

the United States in the last 10 years. California reports a 273 percent

increase. Florida, a 500 percent increase. These numbers are not all due

to

changing diagnostic standards or better reporting. There must be

something

else involved. Families look for an environmental cofactor, something

that

works with genes. One of the things they’ve come up with is vaccines.

The

vaccine schedule has intensified. Kids get more vaccines spaced more

closely

together than they used to 15 years ago. At CAN, we don’t have an

opinion on

this. We have no idea if there is a connection between the vaccination

and

autism. But we’re certain it’s something that bears serious study.

The fears

of the families should not be dismissed. It seems more than possible

with

good research, and a reasonable amount of money spent, to get an answer.

   Â

    Was it irresponsible of the producers of “ER†to air this

episode?

    On the show, there’s a good mother, an educated parent who

did her

best to understand the issues, but the show treated her like an idiot.

This

is another hot button for families with kids with autism. The typical

experience is they take their kid to the pediatrician and say “he’s

not

talking, we’re concerned.†The typical response from doctors is,

“he’s

fine, you don’t know what you’re talking about.†The parents

aren’t idiots,

but pediatricians in America are not trained in how to diagnose autism.

Any

parent of an autistic kid can walk into a nursery school and in 20

minutes

pick out the kids at risk.

   Â

    What do you think of the commercial for Prevnar and its

placement?

    Advertisers get advances. It was an unfortunate coincidence

that made

the families feel worse and the network feel sillier. But I don’t

think it

was part of a vast conspiracy, other than the vast conspiracy of the

world we

live in, which is first sell product, then do no harm.

   Â

    Any final thoughts on the matter?

    [We feel] the Feds are a little bit hiding their heads in the

sand.

Their fear is that if they really look into this seriously, and open it

up at

all for discussion, families will fail to vaccinate in droves, and that

will

cause a national health emergency. But the problem is we’ve all looked

at the

same facts and they’ve come to the wrong conclusion. By not dealing

with this

seriously and finding the answer in the solution, they’re risking many

more

people declining vaccination than might happen if they just got the

answers

and made the changes accordingly.

   Â

   Â

    © 2001 Newsweek, Inc.

   Â

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