While putting together the paperback edition for Hard News, my book about the scandals that rocked The New York Times in 2002 and 2003, I decided to include a corrections section. As I wrote at the time, “I knew that the book would come under intense scrutiny because of the nature of the story. For that reason, and because I hoped readers would not only find the book enjoyable but also might learn something, I tried to be as transparent as possible. … I have had almost no complaints about mistakes. I did, however, make some errors, and in an effort to continue with this transparency, I’m offering up a relative rarity in the world of publishing: a correction section.”

My next book, Feeding the Monster, was about the Boston Red Sox — and while baseball fans can be sticklers for accuracy, I felt I risked appearing haughty and/or supercilious by including a corrections section in the paperback edition of that book. As a result, I posted the corrections online.

For The Panic Virus, I’m once again posting a corrections section online. Because this is an issue that has been marked by enormous amounts of misinformation, I’ve also included several clarifications and some additional source notes. The corrections are organized by chapters; the page numbers refer to the book’s hardcover edition.

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In the Introduction: “I couldn’t help but agree with a federal judge who presided over an omnibus proceeding” should read “I couldn’t help but agree with the ruling in an omnibus proceeding.” (p. 11)

Also in the Introduction:”Once I’d arrived at the conclusion that there was no evidence supporting a link between childhood inoculations and developmental disorders” should read “Once I’d arrived at the conclusion that there was no evidence supporting a causal link between childhood inoculations and autism spectrum disorders.” (p. 12)

Also in the Introduction: “each year rubella infections resulted in more than twenty thousand infants who were born blind, deaf, or developmentally disabled” should read “during the 1964-1965 rubella epidemic, there were more than eleven thousand miscarriages or therapeutic abortions, two thousand infant deaths, and twenty thousand children who were born blind, deaf, or developmentally disabled.” (p. 20)

In “The Polio Vaccine: From Medical Miracle to Public Health Catastrophe”: “By 1945, when Roosevelt died just over a year into his fourth term in office” should read “By 1945, when Roosevelt died just a few months into his fourth term in office.” (p. 42)

In “Fluoride Scares and Swine Flu Scandals”: Among epidemiologists, there is considerable debate as to the case-fatality rate of the 1918 flu pandemic. (There’s even debate about how to define the pandemic — and how to determine what should be classified as a death caused by the flu.) As a result, I’ve excised the reference to the percent of people infected during the pandemic who ultimately died as a result. I’ve also changed the estimates of the total number of fatalities from “fifty to 100 million” to “twenty million to more than fifty million.” (p. 62)

In “Autism’s Evolving Identities”: Leo Kanner’s paper “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Content” detailed Kanner’s work on eight boys and three girls, not eleven boys. (p. 76)

Also in “Autism’s Evolving Identities”: Bruno Bettelheim was not a medical doctor; he was a child psychologist. (p. 78)

Also in “Autism’s Evolving Identities”: In writing that Freud and Jung were “behavioral pioneers,” I may have given some the impression that I was claiming they were “behaviorist pioneers.” As a result, that phrase should be changed to read, “psychoanalytic pioneers.” (p. 79)

In “Thimerosal and the Mystery of Minamata’s Dancing Cats”: “Thimerosal was formally approved for use back in the 1940s, and while it did receive a second safety review in 1976, the scientific understanding of toxicity had improved considerably
since then” should read “Thimerosal began to be used as a preservative in vaccines in the 1930s, and while it did receive an FDA safety review in 1976 the scientific understanding of toxicity had improved considerably since then.” (p. 123)

In “The Simpsonwood Conference and the Speed of Light”: The footnote described the purview of the Special Masters who preside over the Vaccine Court was imprecise in its description. It should read, “Typically, the term Special Master refers to someone who has been granted the authority to carry out a course of action designated by a court. In those instances, Special Masters do not need to be judges: Kenneth Fineberg, an attorney specializing in mediation, acted as a Special Master when he oversaw the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 created a distinct category of Special Masters, who are appointed by the United States Court of Federal Claims, to rule on vaccine-related claims.” (p. 148)

In “The Case of Michelle Cedillo”: “It wasn’t just that the disorder was not listed as a table injury and hadn’t shown up in the VAERS reports that served as an early warning system for vaccine reactions—it hadn’t even been the subject of any significant discussions” should read “It wasn’t just that the disorder was not listed as a table injury—it also hadn’t shown up in a significant way in the VAERS reports that served as an early warning system for vaccine reactions.” (p. 179)

In “How to Turn a Lack of Evidence into Evidence of Harm“: “where the conversation would hinge on impressions gleamed from sound bites” should read “where the conversation would hinge on impressions gleaned from sound bites.” (p. 207)

In “A Conspiracy of Dunces”: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is the second oldest son, not the eldest son, of Robert F. Kennedy. (p. 221)

In “Medical NIMBYism and Faith-Based Metaphysics”: The total cost of containing the 2008 measles outbreak in California was $176,980, not $10 million. The error was the result of multiplying the total cost of each case by the number of exposed persons (839) and not by the total number of infected persons (11). (p. 272)

In “Baby Brie”: Pertussis is not a virus; it is a bacterial disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. Therefore, the sentence that reads,”Because it often goes undiagnosed, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to track the virus through a population,” should read, “Because it often goes undiagnosed, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to track the disease through a population.” (p. 280)

In “Casualties of a War Built on Lies”: “Throughout their careers as federal judges, the Special Masters presiding over the Vaccine Court had worked as impartial arbiters” should read “The Special Masters presiding over the Vaccine Court had been trained to work as impartial arbiters.” (p. 283)

In the Notes and the Bibliography: “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Content” by Leo Kanner appeared in The Nervous Child, not Pathology. (p. 326 and p. 381)

In the Notes: The title of Leo Kanner’s 1949 paper was “Problems of Nosology and Psychodynamics in Early Infantile Autism,” not “Problems of Nosology and Psychodynamics in Early Childhood Autism.” (p. 326)

In the Index: The entry for “Birt, Matthew” should be removed. In its place, an entry for “son Matthew and” should be placed under the pre-existing entry for “Birt, Liz.” (p. 413)

Additional source notes

In addition to the above corrections and clarifications, I added several new source notes to the paperback edition, as indicated below:

20 During the 1964-1965 rubella epidemic: Pan American Health Organization, “Public Health Burden of Rubella and CRS,” EPI Newsletter, August 2008;XX(4). (p. 317)

123 Thimerosal began to be used as a preservative: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Thimerosal in vaccines,” n.d., www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228. (p. 336)

123 an FDA safety review in 1976: Leslie K. Ball, Robert Ball, and R. Douglas Pratt, “An Assessment of Thimerosal Use in Childhood Vaccines,” Pediatrics, 2001;107: 1148. (p. 336)