#159 - Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.: Evolution of the anti-vaccine movement, the causes of autism, and COVID-19 vaccine state of affairs

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.7 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2021

⏱️ 115 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Peter Hotez is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. In this episode, they first follow up on the podcast episode (#158) with Brian Deer (the investigative journalist who exposed the complex and disturbing story behind the infamous 1998 Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield linking the MMR vaccine and autism) with a broader discussion about the origin and evolution of the anti-vaccine movement. They explore some of the specific claims being made around vaccine additives, the timing of when vaccines are given, and claims about issues with the HPV vaccine specifically. Next, Dr. Hotez shares his own journey as a parent of an autistic child and speaks of the challenges of diagnosing autism, what could account for the seeming increase in the prevalence, and whether there is any support for the notion that environmental triggers play a role. They close out with a discussion on the state of affairs with respect to COVID-19 vaccination, comparing the various vaccines as well as the challenges that emerging variants of the virus may present. This episode was originally recorded on April 2, 2021.

We discuss:

The stubborn persistence of anti-vaccine sentiment (3:00);
A closer look at claims about thimerosal and vaccine spacing causing autism (12:00);
The Hib vaccine: An example of the profound difference a vaccine can make (23:30);
The controversy surrounding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (30:45);
The growing anti-science sentiment, COVID vaccine hesitance, and the basis of the anti-vaxx movement (39:00);
The origins of autism, and Hotez’s personal story as a parent of an autistic child (1:02:45);
The challenge of diagnosing autism, increasing prevalence, and a potential parallel to Alzheimer’s disease (1:14:15);
Comparing the various COVID-19 vaccines and the impact of emerging variants of the virus (1:30:00);
Global vaccination challenges and “vaccine diplomacy” (1:40:45); and
More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, welcome to the Drive Podcast.
0:13.0	I'm your host, Peter Atia.
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0:33.2	in depth content if you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level.
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0:41.0	more now, head over to peteratiamd.com forward slash subscribe.
0:46.3	Now without further delay, here's today's episode.
0:51.0	My guess this week is Doctor of Peter Hotes.
0:53.4	This may be a familiar name to a lot of you because this will be Peter's third time
0:56.6	as a guest on this podcast.
0:57.9	I wanted to have him back for two almost unrelated reasons.
1:01.1	The first is I wanted to do a follow up to the discussion last week with Brian Deere.
1:06.2	In that discussion, we focused very heavily on one particular claim around vaccine and
1:11.2	autism, namely the NMR vaccine.
1:13.6	But I wanted to have a broader discussion around the evolution of that theme.
1:17.8	We get into that in great detail.
1:19.2	We explore the controversy around thymarasal and other additives along with the timing
1:24.6	of vaccines and specific vaccines like the HPV vaccine and the concerns surrounding infertility
	...

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