Vaccine Expert Paul Offit, M.D., Counters Anti-Vaccine Message Portrayed in ABC's 'Eli Stone' Premiere

Vaccine Expert Paul Offit, M.D., Counters Anti-Vaccine Message Portrayed in ABC's 'Eli Stone' Premiere

Paul A. Offit, M.D., says that the "Eli Stone" episode to air on Thursday, January 31 at 10 p.m. conveys a highly distorted and confusing message about the role of vaccines. As a fictional courtroom drama in which a heroic lawyer wins a case by arguing that a mercury-based preservative in a childhood vaccine caused a child to have autism, the show may reinforce the fallacy that vaccines cause autism in real life.

The scientific evidence is conclusive, says Dr. Offit: a multitude of peer-reviewed medical studies have consistently refuted any association between autism and vaccines. Undermining public confidence in vaccines, he warns, may have a real-world effect of reducing childhood immunization rates and thereby exposing more children to preventable infectious diseases.

Dr. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he holds the Maurice Hilleman Endowed Chair in Vaccinology. He also is a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

As a vaccine researcher for nearly 30 years, Dr. Offit has published extensively in the scientific literature and has also written three popular books on vaccine topics. He is a former member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Distributing materials to pediatricians' offices throughout the U.S., the Vaccine Education Center, founded by Dr. Offit in 2000, has provided hundreds of thousands of parents with scientifically based, lay-friendly information on vaccines. Dr. Offit has discussed vaccine safety on national news outlets such as 60 Minutes, the New York Times and National Public Radio.

Availability:
Friday, February 1
Limited availability in the morning
Fully available in the afternoon
Please contact Peggy Flynn to arrange an interview time, (267) 426-6080.

Location:
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pa

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Jan. 31/

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Source: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

CONTACT: Peggy Flynn of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,
+1-267-426-6080, Flynnp@email.chop.edu.

Web Site:

http://www.chop.edu/

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