Q&A: Seth Mnookin on vaccination and public health
Seth Mnookin, an assistant professor of science writing and associate director of MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing, is the author of "The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy" (Simon and Schuster, 2011), an acclaimed book that examines how inaccurate scientific reports linking vaccines to autism have reverberated through the media. The book won the the National Association of Science Writers' Science in Society Award in 2012. Mnookin spoke on the significance of the recent and ongoing measles outbreak in the U.S., and the current status of vaccination acceptance. Why are measles and the measles vaccine getting so much attention in the media at the moment? Mainly because of a measles outbreak that began late in December in Disneyland and has now spread across the country. As of Feb. 20, there have been 154 measles case reported in 2015; between 117 and 133 of those have been tied directly to the Disneyland outbreak....