NOVA, “Vaccines — Calling the Shots”
9 p.m. EDT Sept. 10, PBS (check local listings)
In the opening scenes of NOVA’s new “Vaccines — Calling the Shots,” young mothers in a California park express concern that the vaccine schedule recommended for their children seems like too many injections in too short a timespan. Another young mother, thousands of miles away in Australia, worries that unvaccinated children are putting her son at risk: The boy has a rare genetic mutation that makes vaccinating him dangerous. Instead he must rely on herd immunity — the collective protection from many diseases that only results when 95 percent of the population is vaccinated — to prevent potentially deadly infections.
Examining emotions that fuel vaccination fears, University of Michigan researcher Brian Zikmund-Fisher looks calmly at the camera and says: “Is it OK to question? Of course it is.”
In the debate over vaccinations, parents’ genuine concerns — and scientists’ answers — are too often drowned out by extremists on both sides of the divide: “anti-vaxxers,” who believe the shots cause everything from autism to sexual promiscuity, and staunchly pro-vaccination voices who attack anyone not in lock-step with them.
