Paul Offit Quotes & Sayings

The pediatrician Paul Offit mentioned to me, during an interview about his work, that he had recently seen two children hospitalized with influenza. Both had been immunized against everything on the childhood schedule except the flu, and both ended up on heart and lung machines. One lived, and the other died. "And then the next day, when someone comes into your office and says, 'I don't want to get that vaccine,' you're supposed to respect that decision?" Offit asked me. "You can respect the fear. The fear of vaccines is understandable. But you can't respect the decision - it's an unnecessary risk. — Eula Biss

Flu vaccine is far and away the most underutilized. — Paul A. Offit

I've never seen this level of anger at parents who've chosen not to vaccinate their children. — Paul A. Offit

One bacterium has 2,000 to 6,000 proteins. — Paul A. Offit

Vaccines are not traditionally big money makers. They're given once or a few times in one's life, so they're never going to be blockbusters. — Paul A. Offit

On January 18, 1897, Indiana state representative Taylor I. Record argued in favor of changing the value of pi. Pi, which can be rounded to 3.14159, is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Tyler believed that the number was inconveniently long; in House Bill 246, he asked that it be rounded up to 3.2. The bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate when the chairman of Purdue University's math department successfully pleaded that it would make Indiana a national laughingstock. The value of pi in Indiana remains the same as in every other state. — Paul A. Offit

Pneumococcus is a fairly common cause of pneumonia and [raises the] risk of death in older adults. — Paul A. Offit

Today, however, anti-vaccine activists go out of their way to claim that they are not anti-vaccine; they're pro-vaccine. They just want vaccines to be safer. This is a much softer, less radical, more tolerable message, allowing them greater access to the media. However, because anti-vaccine activists today define safe as free from side effects such as autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots - conditions that aren't caused by vaccines - safer vaccines, using their definition, can never be made. — Paul A. Offit

The flu can definitely set you up for bacterial pneumonias. — Paul A. Offit

Physicians who care for adults generally don't think about vaccines as much as pediatricians do, and adults think of vaccines as a kid thing. — Paul A. Offit

For most mothers, vaccinations become a matter of faith - faith in pharmaceutical companies, faith in public health officials - and I think there's been an erosion of faith. — Paul A. Offit

What really reinvigorated vaccines was Prevnar, the pneumococcal vaccine that prevents against meningitis and ear infections. Here was the first vaccine to cross the billion-dollar mark. — Paul A. Offit

People are reticent to give a newborn the hepatitis B vaccine and often delay it. — Paul A. Offit

If you've had a cough that lasted weeks, a cough that just doesn't seem to go away, chances are it was pertussis. — Paul A. Offit

Your child can die from chickenpox. — Paul A. Offit

When you're in the womb, you're in a sterile environment. When you enter the birth canal and are born, you're no longer in a sterile environment. Very quickly you have bacteria living on your skin, in your nose and throat. — Paul A. Offit

Pertussis is a disease that adolescents and adults give to children. — Paul A. Offit