"Although it is often accepted by the general medical community as being untouchable, the concept of herd immunity, the foundational premise of compulsory vaccinations, is highly suspect."
No. Denying herd immunity denies observed fact, and mathematics. The "evidence" given against herd immunity is "discussions" with other anti-vax/pro-death doctors.
Herd immunity is also regularly verified with other species, and easy to simulate even with high-school level programming skills. The relevant Wikipedia page even links to a simulation at https://www.software3d.com/Home/Vax/Immunity.php .
"The paper is a identical version of a paper briefly published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2016 before being disowned by the publisher."
"the lead author of the study, Anthony Mawson, is far from an impartial player in this debate: he is a vocal supporter of Andrew Wakefield, a controversial doctor who is arguably the the father of the anti-vaccine movement."
"Mawson’s vaccine study was funded by two anti-vaccine groups"
"The journals that published the study are just as a problematic as the donors, though for different reasons: both journals have been accused of predatory practices."
"But even if the funding sources and authors’ histories show bias, they still could have designed a careful study with high-quality research, right? In theory, yes. But in practice, the study design was riddled with flaws."
"Right off the bat, the pool of participants in the study differs demographically from the U.S. population as a whole."
"The study’s authors also made no effort to track who received the survey or what percentage of people from different demographic or ideological groups ignored calls to participate"
"In short, the study’s design was flawed from the start."
Comments
"Although it is often accepted by the general medical community as being untouchable, the concept of herd immunity, the foundational premise of compulsory vaccinations, is highly suspect."
No. Denying herd immunity denies observed fact, and mathematics. The "evidence" given against herd immunity is "discussions" with other anti-vax/pro-death doctors.
Herd immunity is also regularly verified with other species, and easy to simulate even with high-school level programming skills. The relevant Wikipedia page even links to a simulation at https://www.software3d.com/Home/Vax/Immunity.php .
The text cites "The Mawson Homeschoolers Study" in the Journal of Translational Science. Snopes has an entry on the article, at https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/05/17/vaccine-study-autism/ . Some quotes:
"The paper is a identical version of a paper briefly published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2016 before being disowned by the publisher."
"the lead author of the study, Anthony Mawson, is far from an impartial player in this debate: he is a vocal supporter of Andrew Wakefield, a controversial doctor who is arguably the the father of the anti-vaccine movement."
"Mawson’s vaccine study was funded by two anti-vaccine groups"
"The journals that published the study are just as a problematic as the donors, though for different reasons: both journals have been accused of predatory practices."
"But even if the funding sources and authors’ histories show bias, they still could have designed a careful study with high-quality research, right? In theory, yes. But in practice, the study design was riddled with flaws."
"Right off the bat, the pool of participants in the study differs demographically from the U.S. population as a whole."
"The study’s authors also made no effort to track who received the survey or what percentage of people from different demographic or ideological groups ignored calls to participate"
"In short, the study’s design was flawed from the start."