Last night I attended the screening of Vaxxed at the Naperville Independent Film Festival. I was sure glad I did, and I’m eager to share my thoughts with you.
Premise
This film is not about whether or not to vaccinate, and does not take sides as I thought it might. Instead, this film uncovers a scandal within the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that occurred 2002-2004 that is still unraveling now. This film was directed and produced by the key figures in the film: a doctor, a medial journalist, and activist parents.
Story
The basic story is the truth about the study conducted by the CDC on the MMR vaccine. One of the five scientists involved leaked the data to an outside scientist, Brian Booker, whose son is severely autistic. Their phone calls were recorded, and documents were exchanged that show a statistically significant correlation between autism and the MMR vaccine.
The movie is broken into sections by the pieces of evidence and by autism trends. One trend in the data that was manipulated showed a very significant causative link in African-American boys who received the vaccine on time, meaning according to the CDC’s mandated schedule, and autism. The other trend is Isolated Autism, which is when an otherwise completely healthy child, meaning a child without any other health issues, is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. This rate was also significantly higher for those who received the vaccine on schedule.
Takeaways
The film is not shy to implicate the people involved with manipulating the data and actually destroying the documentation of the original findings. I kept expecting to hear that the whistleblower, Dr. Thompson, was assassinated, but luckily that hasn’t happened. It really becomes a his word against theirs, except that Dr. Booker has evidence.
I was moved to tears at one point as a mother describes how her son was accidentally given an overdose of the MMR causing autism.
One insight driven home in the movie is how vaccines are drugs, yet the CDC refuses to do the gold standard study of double blind placebo that is done for all other drugs. They even include footage of a US legislator asking the CDC director involved if they’ve ever studied vaccinated against unvaccinated children, and after beating around the bush she answers no. The scientist in me is appalled that the American people overlook this huge elephant in the room.
Get Involved, Be Informed
I highly recommend that everyone see this movie and talk about it every chance you get. There is lots more information about what we can do to get this properly investigated at vaxxedthemovie.com. In another blog to come, I will discuss a Washington Post article debunking this film, as there is always another side to a story.
