Elizabeth Warren schools the vaccine deniers
Elizabeth Warren, Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a liberal Democratic politician who is a darling of the American progressives. She came to the forefront while serving as a professor of Law at Harvard University, advocating for changes in financial regulation to benefit consumers.
However, this article isn’t going to be about Senator Warren’s progressive bonafides, because, this I don’t usually blog about politics, except in context of science support or denialism. And with respect to vaccines, science denialism is hallmark of the left and right, though lately it’s been some sort of lunatic rallying cry of the Libertarians, you know, those crackpots who think that there’s too much government. They want to go back to the time of dirt roads, children working when they’re 8, no rules, no regulations, and other such 1700’s thinking.
Rand Paul, Senator Warren’s colleague in the US Senate, babbled about mandatory vaccinations, saying it was an issue of freedom, despite the fact that the kids, who are usually the victims of vaccine preventable diseases, have no choice in the matter and lose their freedom to live healthy lives as a result of their ignorant parents. Then, Senator Paul doubled-down on his lunacy by stating that vaccines cause “profound mental disorders.” Of course, real science says that they don’t. Once again, just because one has an MD (or whatever degree), doesn’t prevent them from evolving into a science denier. On the other hand, Senator Paul has no clue about the age of the earth.
On the contrary, Senator Warren is a firm, solid advocate and supporter of the need, effectiveness and safety of vaccines. And Warren is not some recent convert to the vaccine debate (it’s not a debate) just to make a vaccine denying physician Senator look bad. Back in 2013, Warren was pushing for increased research funding into new and better vaccines. Last year, she was arguing that the government shutdown would affect quick development of ebola vaccines. So, she’s no johnny-come-lately to the issue of vaccines.
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http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/elizabeth-warren-schools-vaccine-deniers/
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