Guest Work • May 12, 2018 •
Arthur Kary, UNSW; Ben Newell, UNSW, and Brett Hayes, UNSW It takes more than just robust science to convince people to take on a certain point of view – consider topics such as vaccination, genetically modified foods and climate change. Our recent study looked how at the balance of evidence … Read More
Guest Work • Feb 12, 2018 •
Ayesha Verrall New Zealand is in the grip of its worst mumps outbreak in decades. The outbreak started in Auckland early last year and was initially focused on five schools in the West of the city. Since then there have been over 1000 cases with some spreading to other centres around the country. Mumps causes a fever, headache, muscle … Read More
Guest Work • Dec 13, 2017 •
Nicholas Wood, University of Sydney As a medical researcher and parent of two teenagers there is one bug, Neisseria meningitidis, that really scares me. This is mainly because of the speed and severity of the infection it causes, called meningococcal disease, and its predilection for infecting healthy adolescents and younger children. Meningococcal is a rare but very … Read More
Alison Campbell • Nov 30, 2017 •
So, another All Black has come down with mumps and the comments threads are once more awash with those opposed to vaccines, posting the usual mix of pseudoscience and misinformation. Honestly, I would post a link on the Stuff FB page to this excellent commentary by Dr Mark Crislip, but I just know that the … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Nov 13, 2017 •
The perception of risk is greatly influenced by the media and related to the relationship between hazard and outrage, or Risk = Hazard + Outrage (Sanderman). Basically, the risks that can kill you are often not the risks that get you all alarmed. I am a bit scared of things with at least six legs but genes dictate it … Read More
Alison Campbell • Nov 06, 2017 •
On that FB thread about dropping vaccination rates in New Zealand, one commenter proudly proclaimed that she and her four children had all had measles. Over in a week, no problems, stop yer whining. Well, lovely for her – and if the illness indeed lasted only a week per person then they were lucky; 7-10 days is the norm for … Read More
Alison Campbell • Nov 06, 2017 •
Aaron Leaman’s excellent storyA in the Waikato Times and in Stuff used those words, and I’m sticking with them – because those adjectives describe the majority of the comments on the relevant FB page. When Aaron interviewed me for that story, I commented that it’s essential for scientists and doctors to continue to confront the waves of anti-vaccine … Read More
Helen Petousis Harris • Sep 15, 2017 •
Vaccine scammers I call them. They prey on people with a sick kid. Perhaps they want to flog dietary supplements or bleach enemas but today I refer to the proponents of a variety of fake syndromes, which they claim have been induced by vaccines and/or vaccine adjuvants*. The most infamous vaccine scammer in this case is Andrew Wakefield, but this … Read More
Alison Campbell • Sep 14, 2017 •
The latest news reports indicate that the mumps outbreak in Auckland is spreading. As you might expect, the very first commenter on the FB page for that story is someone claiming that vaccines don’t cure mumps and offer a significant risk to health. (I wish Moveable Type allowed the Comic Sans font…) The only reason I bother dipping … Read More
Alison Campbell • Jul 21, 2017 •
Chickenpox “parties”. They had their day – and that day was before the chickenpox vaccine came on the scene. Because chickenpox can be much worse in teens and adults, back in the day it did make sense to contract the disease in early childhood. In fact, it was almost unavoidable, given the epidemic nature of this virus. But a vaccine … Read More