It’s a shame, because I had hoped he might be at least somewhat pro-science (unlike “W”)–I mean, he’s pro-stem cell research, if nothing else (and there’s not a lot of info out there to go by), but apparently he is at the very least science-illiterate if not science-ignorant (if not anti-science). Phil Plait, writing at the Bad Astronomy Blog:
… then I present you with the newest evidence: he says that “there’s stong evidence” that vaccines cause autism.
If you haven’t heard, the idea that vaccines are linked with autism is one of the biggest example of medical antiscientific garbage there is. Vaccinations have been tested over and over again, and no link whatsoever has been found. None. Nothing. Nada.
I couldn’t agree more with the following:
McCain used to make sense to me, up until recently when his pandering to the far right wackos turned into a nonstop dizzying spin that seems to be made of him trying to take both sides of every issue imaginable. His garbage stance on evolution was the first time I heard him brown-nosing the antiscience crowd, which was bad enough. But the antivaccination people are on a trajectory to do real harm to people all over the world, and the ones most likely to be hurt first are kids, who need vaccinations. Ironically, they want to help kids — many true believers are, incredibly sadly, parents with autistic children — but in the end, by grasping onto fantasy as opposed to reality, they are achieving the exact opposite.
[Emphasis and links in original.]
[via Bad Astronomy Blog]
