I guess the newspapers have figured out that it looks weird that Paul Offit is the only guy willing to say that vaccines are always safe and that autism is purely genetic. Now they've found another quote machine in Peter Hotez, the holder of patents for two hookworm vaccines. (I wonder if/when we'll see them on the CDC's recommended schedule for all American children.)

 

Here he talks about how his daughter's regressive autism had nothing to do with her vaccinations, and gets confused between prevention of diseases through improving the quality of life for the poor, and vaccinating the hell out of healthy middle-class children: "Peter Hotez told his wife it was amazing how much attention the media was paying to unfounded fears, when it paid so little attention to neglected diseases affecting the poor in the United States and other countries."

 

Here he says that there is nothing to worry about when DC police were accidentally given double the dose of H1N1 vaccine: "When we're doing clinical testing to determine the safety of the influenza vaccine, human volunteers will often get twice the normal dose -- three times the normal dose. So we know this vaccine is safe in twice (or three times) the normal dose. This should not present any unusual problems at all."