Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/u...tudys-continuing-impact-on-public-health.html
A Discredited Vaccine Study's Continuing Impact on Public Health
FEB. 1, 2015
In the churning over the refusal of some parents to immunize their children against certain diseases, a venerable Latin phrase may prove useful: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. It means, ?After this, therefore because of this.? In plainer language: Event B follows Event A, so B must be the direct result of A. It is a classic fallacy in logic.
It is also a trap into which many Americans have fallen. That is the consensus among health professionals trying to contain recent spurts of infectious diseases that they had believed were forever in the country?s rearview mirror. They worry that too many people are not getting their children vaccinated, out of a conviction that inoculations are risky...
A Discredited Vaccine Study's Continuing Impact on Public Health
FEB. 1, 2015
In the churning over the refusal of some parents to immunize their children against certain diseases, a venerable Latin phrase may prove useful: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. It means, ?After this, therefore because of this.? In plainer language: Event B follows Event A, so B must be the direct result of A. It is a classic fallacy in logic.
It is also a trap into which many Americans have fallen. That is the consensus among health professionals trying to contain recent spurts of infectious diseases that they had believed were forever in the country?s rearview mirror. They worry that too many people are not getting their children vaccinated, out of a conviction that inoculations are risky...