Web-based Article Reliability : Measles Out Break
Kelvin Vu
Kat Gray
English Composition II
February 9, 2015
Web-based Article Reliability
Measles have been known to have been eradicated since the year 2000. There has been very rare cases of measles popping up in the U.S. It was no longer a threat to the American society. In the recent decade the question as to why autism has shown an increase in the number of cases every year has lead people to pointing fingers at vaccinations. The belief is that giving vaccines to little kids disrupts their brain development causing them to have autism. Since there is no real explanation to the steady increase of autism cases over the years, it becomes easy for parents to blame vaccinations for their child’s autism.
The source of my article comes from Forbes,com in their Pharma & Healthcare section. The author of this article is Steven Salzberg and the article contains a link to his biography which tells me that he is a professor that teaches biomedical engineering, computer science, and biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University. So when looking at his command and authority on the subject matter, he seems to be reliable. He is not just some random guy that wants to talk about the importance of vaccines, he is an educated man in medical field and is still relevant since he is still in practice. I am discussing a guy that has written over 200 scientific papers and has done research on virus and bacteria, not to mention he got his PhD at Harvard University. His resume is looking really good.
As far as accuracy goes, the article is pretty straight forward in presenting it’s facts. Salzberg includes a bar graph detailing the huge increase of measles cases in the year 2014 in comparison to other years as well as some statistics that come from the CDC. The CDC is the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and chances are they are accurate with their facts because if they are not, then you really have no where else to trust on the subject matter. So unless Forbes is allowing this guy to use false information under the name CDC, his facts seem reliable. However, even though the chart huge increase in cases jumping from around 150 in 2013 to 650 in 2014 it is still a relatively small amount of cases in comparison to the population in the U.S. which brings up the question, “should this really matter to us?”. Salzberg really does a good job of blowing up this concept with words such as “2015 is already on track for being worse”. He presents this issue as something the entire population of America should really be worried about and should stand up for even though it is irrelevant for most people since they cannot contract measles. The only people that is relevant to his post is probably less than 10 percent of the kids in the U.S.
When it comes to appealing to his audience he doesn’t just focus on parents that are anti-vaxers, he presents the topic as a community issue, one of which we should all work towards a change. He uses emotional appeal to reach to every person reading by using statements such as, “Anti-vaxxers don’t recognize the threat their behavior poses to others, especially to children whose immune systems aren’t functioning properly” He make the issue more than just about the parents that don’t want their kid vaccinated, he makes it a community topic by saying their actions will cause harm to others. He talks about children whose immune systems don’t function properly, which is basically saying “think about the children” the statement that always gets a person thinking differently. Lets be honest here, how many kids do you know have functional problems with their immune systems? Unless he is referring to allergies, I’m sure there is not a huge number of those kids out there for it to be detrimental. Those kids are most likely taking medication to compensate for their immune system anyways. He even brings up an extremely specific cases of a 6 year-old child who has cancer and because of it, has been “wiped” of his immune system saying that if he contracts measles, he might not survive. This is quite clever of him since for most people, cancer cases in little kids really hits home for them and really makes them sympathetic. When looking at the facts, he’s talking about a possibility of a very rare occurrence in the first place. He also presents anti-vaxers as ignorant to the topic to persuade his audience that anti-vaxers are misguided and “breathtaking science denialist”. This could be seen in the quote, “Crystal McDonald, who refused to vaccinate any of her four children, after ‘researching the issue’ by reading anti-vaccine websites”. Although he doesn’t bluntly say it, he is implying that anti-vaxers don’t know what they are talking about, and maybe they don’t, however this brings up subjectivity instead of objectivity which means he is bias.
When it comes to evidence to back up his claim, “Vaccine don’t cause autism”, there is none. Literally his response to all the anti-vaxers he is referring to, “they don’t”, that is all he says . He says that there has been 15 years of research to prove that vaccines don’t cause autism. He got real specific with the case of the 6 year-old cancer patient that could contract measle, but he could offer up and evidence explaining how vaccines don’t cause autism? I’m sure it is probably very complex however all answers can be simplified. For example he could have said, vaccines don’t affect the nervous system therefore making it impossible to harm the brain.
Given the credibility of Forbes and the authority the author has, I believe what he is saying is relatively true, vaccines are safe, unvaccinated kids are getting measles and parents should reconsider getting their kid vaccinated. But if you’re looking for solid evidence to back up the claim, “vaccines don’t cause autism” I highly suggest you look for a different source because you won’t find any solid scientific evidence here.
Web Citation:
Salzberg, Steven. “Anti-Vaccine Movement Causes Worst Measles Epidemic In 20 Years.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 01 Feb. 2015. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
Link:
