Judy Harvey Scores an Own Goal

Thanks to a contributor we see the following.   On an Australians #LameSteam media site there is yet another argument raging about vaccination.

Thanks to be shared on various anti vaxx echo chambers this discussion has seen an influx of the brains trust of the anti vaxx cult. One of which is Judy Harvey a serial pest found all over these discussions.

As part of this discussion she posted this:

It says:

We have the Insititute of Medicine admitting that vaccine studies and entirely inadequate:
“The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety: Stakeholder Concerns, Scientific Evidence, and Future Studies.

Committee on the Assessment of Studies of Health Outcomes Related to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Institute of Medicine.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2013 Mar 27.

In summary, few studies have comprehensively assessed the association between the entire immunization schedule or variations in the overall schedule and categories of health outcomes, and no study has directly examined health outcomes and stakeholder concerns in precisely the way that the committee was charged to address in its statement of task. No studies have compared the differences in health outcomes that some stakeholders questioned between entirely unimmunized populations of children and fully immunized children. Experts who addressed the committee pointed not to a body of evidence that had been overlooked but rather to the fact that existing research has not been designed to test the entire immunization schedule.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK206938/

Now a cursory glance at her page indicates she is an older Australian, so the use of this page which is an American one would be interesting had we not already known that Australian anti vaxxers rely on American pages as the Australian Government is stricter on the spreading of bullshit and organizations including anti vaxx groups hiding behind the charity status can face action if they put up bullshit.

I believe she did not create the post, but rather she has copied it from somewhere else, it contains a link to a single paragraph mid way through the document under “health outcomes” and completely fails to address the conclusion, copied here:

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

The committee’s efforts to identify priorities for recommended research studies did not reveal an evidence base suggesting that the childhood immunization schedule is linked to autoimmune diseases, asthma, hypersensitivity, seizures, child developmental disorders, learning disorders or developmental disorders, or attention deficit or disruptive behavior disorders. Although stakeholder concerns should be one of the elements used to drive searches for scientific evidence, these concerns alone, absent epidemiological or biological evidence, do not warrant the initiation of high-cost research studies. The committee concludes that the use of existing data from database systems to conduct observational studies offers the best means for ongoing research efforts about the immunization schedule’s safety.

The committee found no significant evidence to imply that the recommended immunization schedule is not safe. Furthermore, existing surveillance and response systems have identified known adverse events associated with vaccination. The federal research infrastructure is a strong system. A key component is the VSD project, which with ongoing support will be able to feasibly address the committee’s research questions identified in Box S-2. Although the committee concluded that protecting children from vaccine-preventable diseases is of higher importance than testing alternative immunization schedules without epidemiological or biological evidence indicating a safety problem, VSD should continue to examine the health outcomes of people who choose alternative schedules.

Looking to the future, the committee supports the work of the federal research infrastructure to ensure that stakeholders are involved in all stages of the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of the immunization schedule. As electronic medical records become more commonly used, they may provide an opportunity to capture complete immunization data linked with hospital discharge records, which will be useful to future studies. Newer initiatives such as the National Children’s Study and the Post-Licensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring (PRISM) program also hold promise in providing further study opportunities.

The childhood immunization schedule may become more complex over time as scientific advances are made and new vaccines are developed and incorporated into the schedule. Feasible research approaches to study potential adverse health outcomes will emerge only with sustained and substantial federal commitment to research on vaccine safety.

So what she has done is provided us with evidence that anti vaxxers are wrong, and that vaccines are safe, effective and do not cause the myriad of medical issues anti vaxxers claim they do.

Thanks Judy Harvey!