Science and the Courts

I've been following the reactions to this week's decisions by the special vaccine court set up to hear cases of alleged vaccine injury. In all three of the cases decided this week, it was determined that the plaintiffs were not injured by vaccines. The reaction by the anti-vaccine camp has been over the top, as usual. J.B. Handley was quoted in the NY Times calling it an "incomprehensible injustice," then his lawyer lackey referred to the supposed ongoing autism epidemic as a "holocaust." Now, maybe I haven't been around as long as Mr. Handley, but I know a little something about injustice and what is generally referred to as a holocaust, and both terms are way out of line here. 

But enough hyperventilating - let's get to the issue at hand. That is, the resolution of scientific or medical questions by the courts. As anyone who's been involved with it knows, the legal process - particularly in the civil courts - is notoriously slow and inefficient. Add to that the fact that judges and/or juries, who are usually not trained in science or medicine, are asked to evaluate competing claims that are based on complex technical evidence. In essence, they are often left to determine who's expert witnesses are more "believable." 

Now, given the state of the literature on vaccines and autism, coupled with the fringe nature of most of the "experts" on the anti-vaccine side, I really see no other way these decisions by the vaccine court can come out. Furthermore, the threats of Handley and others to move into more traditional civil litigation will also be dead on arrival, since there is no good science to back them up.

Why I'm Starting This Blog

Hi Folks, 

After some thought, I've decided there need to be more voices out there advocating for evidence-based medicine and health policy. The anti-science movements have gained too much ground in recent years, and it scares me. More specifically, I have been disgusted by the ugly anti-vaccine campaign waged for some time now by JB Handley and his associates. In future posts, I will lay out the case for vaccines - why they are an important tool for public health in our increasingly crowded world. I will also not shy away from saying that they are not perfect. However, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Finally, I will attempt to make sense of the alleged increase in autism and what the underlying causes are of this developmental disorder. 

Sincerely, 

A Scientist