George - 29 April 2009 12:43 PM

JRM5001 - 29 April 2009 09:25 AM

It’s disappointing that people would just take the word of an attractive, sincere, well spoken celebrity on such an important issue.

Maybe all that is needed is an attractive, sincere, well spoken celebrity who will speak for the vaccines. This part of human nature—wanting to be like the famous, rich, powerful and beautiful people—should never be underestimated.

They recently got one

http://www.vaccinateyourbaby.org/

Nice website, full of facts. And Amanda Peet is lending a celebrity face.

Hopefully she is famous enough to get people’s attention — I have never heard of her.

I had not heard of her either, until this campaign. But I’m sure to take note of her work in the future, knowing she is helping a cause that no other celebrity volunteered for. 

I had never heard of Amanda Peet until I started watching Studio 60 ( a short lived but really smart backstage drama about a Saturday Night Live type show). Her public service messages about vaccines are excellent. Unfortunately she is not quite as well known as Jenny McCarthy and her new sidekick robot Jim Carey, and she doesn’t seem to get as many talk show invites as those two idiots. Hopefully more celebrities will join the cause with Ms.Pete, but it seems like most celebrities are drawn more toward the pseudosciences. Ms. Pete is a bit of an exception. She can act, she’s intelligent and she has the courage to speak her mind even if it alienates her from many in her industry.

It is very unfortunate that many people would rather take parenting advice from the playboy bunny who bases her parenting decisions on what crystals align with her kid’s aura (no joke). Meanwhile the intelligent and talented actress who takes advice from doctors and scientists gets less of an audience to hear her speak about sound vaccine advice for children.

I really liked her website, or rather the website she is featured on (the link I posted earlier.) It has excellent and easy to understand language and F.A.Q.‘s for nervous parents. Why vaccines are safe, how they are different from vaccines of long ago, why it’s OK to have so many today when we grew up with just a few. Very simple and clear explanations. If I meet a mother who is nervous about vaccines, I will refer her to that site.

I agree that its an excellent site Jules. I think it would have been better if the web address didn’t give away their bias on this issue since that may put some parents off, but its a minor issue and the work they are doing is invaluable. Thanks for posting the link.