Saying that you should vaccinate your kids is not the same as saying that doctors are never wrong or that every medication or surgery is always necessary.

Between this and the harassment campaign against Kristen Bell, I suppose it's time for a vaccine safety thread. This is my perspective as someone who sues drug companies. I don't trust them at all. But my kids are vaccinated on schedule. Let me tell you why. /1
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851436789653507

NEW: CDC is sending experts to help this tiny Pacific island fight a deadly and growing measles outbreak where 32 children have died. Island has been target of anti-vax activists. Our story.
https://twitter.com/bylenasun/status/1199475475606839298
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/11/26/deadly-measles-outbreak-hits-children-samoa-after-anti-vaccine-fears/

Our system relies on drug companies to do research on their drugs, and the most common shady thing drug companies do is hide damaging studies or simply not do them. The drugs thus appear to be safe, because the study that would reveal a problem was hidden or doesn't exist. /2
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851446767886338
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKa6h8aWwAEoUgd.png

Drug risks are thus often revealed slowly, first through Adverse Event Reports (most events aren't reported), then through epidemiological studies done outside the company, like case-control or health record database studies. Here's an ongoing example, PPIs and gastric cancer. /3
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851453407539201
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKa6iQ_WsAAlLYA.jpg

With all of the schedule vaccines, however, the situation is quite different: a massive amount of research has been done. @DrPaulOffit maintains a resource listing much of it, sorted by topic, everything from adjuvants to timing. Read it yourself. /4 https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety-references …
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851458939826177
https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety-references

Moreover, unlike normal medications, where either you can't sue (generics) or lawsuits are expensive, prolonged, and risky (branded prescription drugs), the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has a no-fault, attorney-fee-paying system that encourages claims. /5
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851471359152131
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKa6i6vXYAAyHNI.png

In all of the drug lawsuits I file, I can tell you (a) what studies show a risk, (b) what studies the company should've done or should've disclosed, and (c) what's missing due to under-reporting or a lack of research funding. For vaccines, there aren't any of these gaps. /6
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851473103921153

We have a wealth of robust, publicly-available data about vaccines showing them to be extremely effective at preventing terrible diseases, and to have few (and also rare) side effects. Thus, as a parent, despite what I know about drug companies, it was an easy decision. /end
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1199851473846312960