For child vaccine questions, go to experts, not celebrities

IT'S a sad statement on our culture that important issues sometimes don't get much attention until a celebrity attaches a big name to the topic.

Such was the case when actress Jenny McCarthy, in a book and appearances on talk shows, goosed the myth that vaccines cause autism. This, despite the fact that a host of studies have found no association with vaccines and the developmental disorder that affects about one in every 150 children — a view shared by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Enter Amanda Peet, a starring film and stage actress, with a very different view. She pumped her brother-in-law, an infectious-disease specialist, for information about vaccines after her daughter was born. Eventually, Peet was talking to national experts about the link with autism.

She was persuaded enough that vaccines were safe to have her baby vaccinated and has become the spokeswoman for Every Child By Two, a nonprofit organization promoting vaccinations for children.

Peet wants to encourage parents, who are declining to vaccinate their children for fear their children will develop autism, to reconsider. The anti-vaccination trend poses some danger for a society that has worked to eliminate diseases, such as polio and measles, that killed or injured many people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported for the first six months of this year, measles cases numbered 131 — higher than in any year since 1996 — and 15 of those patients were hospitalized. Of the 95 patients eligible for vaccinations, two-thirds were not vaccinated because of their or their parents' beliefs.

While Peet brings some star power to answer another celebrity's assault on vaccines, she urges parents not to take the word of a celebrity for it. Rather, she urges people to seek information from authentic health experts.