The Vaccine Debate: Vaccines, Autism, and the Vaxxed Documentary

The vaccine debate may be the most polarizing topic in the medical community today.

The first ten seconds of this podcast recording proved that to me as the Director of Public Health at Yale, Dr. David Katz refused to debate the issue.

His statement: by engaging in such a debate "the scientist fosters the false notion of equivalence between someone with actual content knowledge based on years of study, and someone who simply believes what they prefer to believe"

The Vaccine Debate

Let me make this clear from the start, for me, it's not about being anti-vaccine. It's about truth, science, and seeking the safest, healthiest way to move forward.

Unfortunately, the modern medical orthdoxy, including the CDC and pharmaceutical companies are making the path to pure scientific discovery murky.

The original plan for this episode of the OPP was a debate showcasing opinions and evidence from both sides of the aisle between Dr. David Katz, Director of Public Health at Yale and Dr. Jack Wolfson, known as the Paleo Cardiologist and a previous guest on the OPP.

Dr. Katz is outspoken in favor of vaccines and has written compelling pro-vaccine articles, citing what he calls "Epidemiology over Ideology" as a major argument for vaccines.

Dr. Wolfson has been equally outspoken against vaccines as you'll hear on the show.

The debate never materialized as Dr. Katz refused to "pretend that there is a legitimate debate" and excused himself from the recording.

As the Director of Yale's Public Health Program - a position likely funded by the medical orthodoxy - I understand Dr. Katz's reluctance to be seen entertaining the question that vaccines may be unsafe.

But I also see this a huge red flag. As I told Dr. Katz in a follow up email, the eagerness of the anti-vaccine contingent to talk is matched only by the stonewalling of the pro-vaccine side.

When the entire medical industry, CDC, and pharmaceutical companies refuse to disclose 100% of their information to Congress, it's unlikely I'll get them to be 100% transparent with me. (As you'll hear in the podcast, a CDC scientist has confessed to data tampering and documents being destroyed).

If there is nothing to hide, why can't we have an open, honest conversation. That's the question I'm left pondering.

Since the recording, Dr. Katz sent this response via email:

"Ryan - there is a prevailing tendency in our culture to presume that someone with whom you disagree must be ignorant and uninformed. I encounter it routinely.

I have read arguments on both sides of the immunization debate, just as I have looked at the arguments of "intelligent design." In both cases, there is an obvious conclusion to reach. I have reached mine not for want of information- but rather for following the weight of evidence where it clearly inclines:

Evolution by natural selection is real

The Earth is >4 billion years old, not the biblical 3500

Climate change is real, we are complicit in it, and we are going to pay a very high price for blinkered denialism

Immunization can of course do harm, as all medical interventions can, but does massively more good- and is not meaningfully implicated in autism

By participating in such a debate, the scientist fosters the false notion of equivalence between someone with actual content knowledge based on years of study, and someone who simply believes what they prefer to believe. Indulgence in just such folly has given us a modern population with a medieval mentality; despite flying in planes, and beaming electrons through cyberspace as you and I are doing now- more Americans believe in angels than evolution.

As you invite me to consider the counter-arguments to immunization, I invite you to consider the counter-argument to propagating such false equivalence and science denialism, and the very real costs of it- measured in years lost from lives, life lost from years, species expunged from the planet's native biodiversity, and quite possibly- a planet soon to be inhospitable to our own species. Perhaps we deserve that last one.

All best,

DK"

Ok, Ryan again...

I am undecided in my personal opinion on vaccines as I don't feel like I have all the information. Before taking a stance one way or the other, I want to be confident that I have seen all the facts - and I can't say that I have done that (not for lack of pursuit of said information).

My intention was - and is - to gather as much information as possible and to simultaneously share that discovery with you so that we can all make informed, intelligent decisions.

What I will say is that something about this issue doesn't sit well with me. There is too much smoke, and too much posturing for the ultimate answer to be "nothing to see here". We're not getting the full story...

Listen to the full interview here:

See the video here:

Links & Resources

Dr. David Katz Website

Dr. David Katz on Huffing Post

Dr. David Katz on LinkedIn

Dr. Jack Wolfson's Website

Wide Awake Movie

Research to Ponder:

Vaxxed Documentary

CDC Whistle Blower File Release

Interesting story: Robert DeNiro (father of an autistic child) planned to show Vaxxed at his 2016 Tribeca Film Festival but changed his mind at the last minute. "He’s been taught a lesson. Don’t go up against the medical cartel. Keep your mouth shut. Suffer in silence." See more here or watch DeNiro's appearance on NBC's Today Show (Go to 2:13)