(via bradofarrell)

I’m posting this here for two reasons:

1. If you haven’t seen it, Desiree Jennings’s case of Dystonia is tragic, unreal, awful, heart-wrenching, and just straight up bananas.
2. The media’s coverage of this story is equally horrible.  Because Jennings developed the condition 10 days after getting a flu vaccination, the majority of news outlets are spinning her story to be part of the anti-vaccination propaganda that has reemerged lately.  I totally sympathize with Desiree and her spouse, and would probably be pointing to the correlation if I were in their shoes, but the fact is that there is no known causal link between her condition and the vaccine, and it’s irresponsible and exploitative for the media to suggest that there is.
   
   In an article titled Woman Disabled by Flu Reaction, WTTG Fox 5 suggests that reactions like these are just something that happens in really rare cases, and in the video above, Inside Edition alludes to it being something that happens to “one in a million.”  But with no causal link, isn’t it just as reasonable to assume that “one in a million” just happen to develop a horrible condition shortly after they get the flu shot, for reasons that are potentially unrelated?
   
   I’m saddened to see lots of people jumping on board with activist groups like Generation Rescue, not only because these groups instill an unnecessary sense fear in the public, but because assuming things based upon weak correlational connections is counter productive to really finding out what causes conditions like Dystonia (and Autism, Generation Rescue’s main focus).  They have bits and pieces of legitimate points, and if they could only approach them from a skeptical perspective they could potentially work towards understanding the legitimate links between things like vaccines and certain disorders (if any), rather than focusing their energy on phasing out things with no scientifically proven severe side effects. That’s just about as crazy and unproductive as thinking that Jennings is faking it.