The best defense vs. medical nihilism

THE MARCH 4 op-ed by Ivan Oransky, "Medical nihilism and the HPV vaccine," mentioned Merck's rotavirus vaccine in a reference that may have confused readers. The FDA notification of last month was not warning of a problem with the vaccine. The notification is part of the routine monitoring and reporting done to ensure that healthcare workers have the latest safety information for vaccines used in the United States. In fact, the number of cases of the reported side effect is fewer than the number expected to occur in children without vaccination.

Dr. Oransky is correct about the toll of rotavirus, which kills an estimated 500,000 children a year, 90 percent of whom live in developing countries. Vaccines offer the best hope for saving the lives of children at risk from this disease and, with so many lives at stake, the global health community is taking action to ensure that rotavirus vaccines are made available to the children who need them most.

The best defense against the medical nihilism that Dr. Oransky refers to is a strong offense and, in the case of rotavirus vaccines, the global health community is responding far faster than ever before .

JOHN WECKER
Seattle

The writer is director of the rotavirus vaccine program for PATH, a nonprofit international public health organization.