Katie Couric Sorry for Anti-Vaccine Segment After Critics Slam 'Anti-Science' Talk Show
Katie Couric apologized for a segment on her talk show last week calling into question the use of HPV vaccines while failing to disclose their safety and health uses. The controversial segment along with the guests chosen- both have connections to anti-vaccine organizations- caused criticism and accusations of sensationalism to boost low ratings.
Katie Couric's apology came in the form of an article written for the Huffington Post titled "Furthering the Conversation on the HPV Vaccine." The talk show host admitted she "spent too much time on the serious adverse effects that have been reported in very rare cases following the vaccine" and didn't show that the Gardisil and Cervarix vaccines are "highly effective" in preventing the STI and cervical and anal cancers that can follow.
Couric did say on-air that she had her two daughters vaccinated against human papillomavirus, but her comments were far outweighed by the emotional testimonies of mothers Emily Tarsell and Rosemary Mathis. Tarsell blamed the HPV vaccine for the death of her daughter, while Mathis, who was accompanied by her daughter, said the vaccines made her daughter bedridden for three years.
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Tears were seen in the audience after the mothers told their story. But Couric's staffers either didn't know or didn't disclose that Tarsell works for the National Vaccine Information Center, which is notoriously anti-vaccine, according to The LA Times. Mathis is the director of SaneVax, which is also heavily anti-vaccine and affiliated with Andrew Wakefield, whose bogus 1998 study linking vaccination to autism is continually quoted by "The View" co-host Jenny McCarthy.
Couric was slammed as anti-science by a variety of critics in Time magazine, Politico, and the Los Angeles Times. They pointed out that although the talk show host has clarified the importance of the HPV vaccine in print, the effect will be overshadowed by the words on-air, which was seen by millions of viewers.
Of the 23 million doses of Gardisil vaccinations given from 2006 to 2008, only 12,424 negative reactions were reported, according to Couric's article. Furthermore, only 772 of those were serious- that's a rate of about 0.3 for every 10,000 doses, which is considered a perfectly acceptable risk by most in the scientific and medical communities.
