Tara Haelle

Last updated
Tara Susan Haelle
Born (1978-01-20) January 20, 1978 (age 46)
Alameda County, California, U.S.
Occupation Photojournalist, educator, author
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Education University of Texas at Austin (BA, MA)
Website
tarahaelle.net

Tara Susan Haelle, known professionally as Tara Haelle, (born January 20, 1978) is an American photojournalist, educator, author, and science writer. [1] Haelle, along with co-author Emily Willingham, published The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years, which examines several child raising controversies. [2] She examined the history and science of vaccines in a 2018 book entitled Vaccination investigation. [3] In addition, Haelle has written several children's educational books, including Edible Sunlight, [4] and Seasons, Tides, and Lunar Phases. [5]

Contents

Biography

Tara Haelle was born in Alameda County, California in 1978. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Arts in photojournalism, also from the University of Texas. [6] She has also written four articles for Scientific American. [7] [8] [9] [10]

Haelle and Willingham's book, Informed Parent has received generally positive reviews from various book reviewers. [11] [12] [13] [14] According to noted vaccine researcher, Dr. Paul Offit, "In The Informed Parent, journalists Tara Haelle and Emily Willingham manage to answer everything a parent could possibly be worried about during pregnancy, birth, infancy, and toddlerhood. What makes this book different from every other book on this subject (and there are many) is that the authors take on not only the science of what concerns us, but encourage us to think along with them—giving us the tools to answer other questions in the future. It was like reading the answer sheet before the test." [15]

Haelle co-authored a paper that examined the effects of images in vaccine newspaper and magazine articles. It found that one in eight articles had negative images of vaccines. [16]

Blogs

She is a writer at Forbes.com, [17] Everyday Health, [18] and numerous other websites. [1] Haelle blogs about science, child rearing, childbirth, and vaccines at Forbes [17] and Red Wine and Applesauce. [19] Much of her writing is about vaccine controversies, [20] usually examining and reviewing published articles about various vaccines. She has criticized noted anti-vaccination activist Dr. Bob Sears [21] [22] [23] [24] and critiqued the controversial documentary Vaxxed. [25]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccine</span> Pathogen-derived preparation that provides acquired immunity to an infectious disease

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and recognize further and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smallpox vaccine</span> Vaccine against Variola virus

The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to have been developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox virus. Cowpox served as a natural vaccine until the modern smallpox vaccine emerged in the 20th century. From 1958 to 1977, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a global vaccination campaign that eradicated smallpox, making it the only human disease to be eradicated. Although routine smallpox vaccination is no longer performed on the general public, the vaccine is still being produced to guard against bioterrorism, biological warfare, and mpox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccine hesitancy</span> Reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated or have ones children vaccinated

Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using certain vaccines but not others. Although adverse effects associated with vaccines are occasionally observed, the scientific consensus that vaccines are generally safe and effective is overwhelming. Vaccine hesitancy often results in disease outbreaks and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, the World Health Organization characterizes vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats.

Generation Rescue is a nonprofit organization that advocates the scientifically disproven view that autism and related disorders are primarily caused by environmental factors, particularly vaccines. The organization was established in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley. Today, Generation Rescue is known as a platform for Jenny McCarthy's autism related anti-vaccine advocacy.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), founded under the name Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT) in 1982, is an American 501(c)(3) organization that has been widely criticized as a leading source of fearmongering and misinformation about vaccines. While NVIC describes itself as the "oldest and largest consumer-led organization advocating for the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections", it promotes false and misleading information including the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism, and its campaigns portray vaccination as risky, encouraging people to consider "alternatives." In April 2020, the organization was identified as one of the greatest disseminators of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccination schedule</span> Series of vaccinations

A vaccination schedule is a series of vaccinations, including the timing of all doses, which may be either recommended or compulsory, depending on the country of residence. A vaccine is an antigenic preparation used to produce active immunity to a disease, in order to prevent or reduce the effects of infection by any natural or "wild" pathogen. Vaccines go through multiple phases of trials to ensure safety and effectiveness.

Vaccination and religion have interrelations of varying kinds. No major religion prohibits vaccinations, and some consider it an obligation because of the potential to save lives. However, some people cite religious adherence as a basis for opting to forego vaccinating themselves or their children. Many such objections are pretextual: in Australia, anti-vaccinationists founded the Church of Conscious Living, a "fake church", leading to religious exemptions being removed in that country, and one US pastor was reported to offer vaccine exemptions in exchange for online membership of his church.

The National League for Liberty in Vaccination is a French anti-vaccine advocacy organization which opposes all government vaccine requirements. It was formed in 1954 to oppose tuberculosis vaccines. The organization denies the benefits of vaccinations while promoting misinformation about their dangers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Offit</span> American pediatric immunologist

Paul Allan Offit is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases (1992–2014), and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny McCarthy</span> American actress and model (born 1972)

Jennifer Ann McCarthy-Wahlberg is an American actress, model, and television personality. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. McCarthy then had a television and film acting career, beginning as a co-host on the MTV game show Singled Out (1995–1997) and afterwards starring in the eponymous sitcom Jenny (1997–1998), as well as films including BASEketball (1998), Scream 3 (2000), Dirty Love (2005), John Tucker Must Die (2006), and Santa Baby (2006). In 2013, she hosted her own television talk show The Jenny McCarthy Show, and became a co-host of the ABC talk show The View, appearing on the program until 2014. Since 2019, McCarthy has been a judge on the Fox musical competition show The Masked Singer.

Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years". The fraudulent research paper, authored by discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet, falsely claimed the vaccine was linked to colitis and autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010 but is still cited by anti-vaccine activists.

A vaccination policy is a health policy adopted in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease. These policies are generally put into place by state or local governments, but may also be set by private facilities, such as workplaces or schools. Many policies have been developed and implemented since vaccines were first made widely available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Wakefield</span> Discredited British former doctor (born 1956)

Andrew Jeremy Wakefield is a British fraudster, discredited academic, anti-vaccine activist, and former physician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autism Speaks</span> American advocacy organization

Autism Speaks Inc. is an American non-profit autism awareness organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States. It sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. It was founded in February 2005 by Bob Wright and his wife Suzanne, a year after their grandson Christian was diagnosed with autism. The same year as its founding, the organization merged with Autism Coalition for Research and Education. It then merged with the National Alliance for Autism Research in 2006 and Cure Autism Now in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in France</span> Overview of health in France

Life expectancy in France at birth was 81 years in 2008. A new measure of expected human capital calculated for 195 countries from 1990 to 2016 and defined for each birth cohort as the expected years lived from age 20 to 64 years and adjusted for educational attainment, learning or education quality, and functional health status was published by the Lancet in September 2018. France had the ninth highest level of expected human capital with 25 health, education, and learning-adjusted expected years lived between age 20 and 64 years.

Robert William Sears, known as Dr. Bob, is an American pediatrician from Capistrano Beach, California, noted for his unorthodox and dangerous views on childhood vaccination. While Sears acknowledges the efficacy of vaccines—for instance, he supports the claim that Chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria have all disappeared because of vaccines—he has proposed alternative vaccination schedules that depart from accepted medical recommendations. His proposals have enjoyed celebrity endorsement but are not supported by medical evidence and have contributed to dangerous under-vaccination in the national child population. While he denies being anti-vaccine, Sears has been described by many as anti-vaccine and as a vaccine delayer.

Emily Jane Willingham is an American journalist and scientist. Her writing focuses on neuroscience, genetics, psychology, health and medicine, and occasionally on evolution and ecology.

In the United States, an alternative vaccination schedule is a vaccination schedule differing from the schedule endorsed by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). These schedules may be either written or ad hoc, and have not been tested for their safety or efficacy. Proponents of such schedules aim to reduce the risk of adverse effects they believe to be caused by vaccine components, such as "immune system overload" that is argued to be caused by exposure to multiple antigens. Parents who adopt these schedules tend to do so because they are concerned about the potential risks of vaccination, rather than because they are unaware of the significance of vaccination's benefits. Delayed vaccination schedules have been shown to lead to an increase in breakthrough infections without any benefit in lower side effect profiles.

Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise, and that vaccine ingredients do not cause autism. Vaccinologist Peter Hotez researched the growth of the false claim and concluded that its spread originated with Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent 1998 paper, with no prior paper supporting a link.

The Informed Parent is a parenting book written by Tara Haelle and Emily Willingham and published by the Penguin Group imprint Perigee Books on April 5, 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tara Haelle | ScienceWriters" . Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  2. Tara Haelle; Emily J Willingham (2016). The informed parent : a science-based resource for your child's first four years. New York, NY: TarcherPerigee. ISBN   9780399171062.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Haelle, Tara (2018). Vaccination investigation : the history and science of vaccines. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN   978-1-5124-2530-7. OCLC   972640214.
  4. Haelle, Tara (2016). Edible sunlight. Vero BEach, Florida: Rourke Educational Media. ISBN   978-1681914411.
  5. Haelle, Tara (2016). Seasons, tides, and lunar phases. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Educational Media. ISBN   9781681914374.
  6. "Amazon.com: Tara Haelle: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle, Amazon.com: Books". Amazon. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  7. Haelle T (2015). "Transfusion Solution". Sci. Am. 313 (1): 20. Bibcode:2015SciAm.313a..20H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0715-20. PMID   26204705.
  8. Haelle T (2014). "When good proteins go bad". Sci. Am. 311 (4): 19–20. Bibcode:2014SciAm.311d..19H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1014-19. PMID   25314857.
  9. Haelle T (2014). "The face behind the skull". Sci. Am. 310 (6): 15. Bibcode:2014SciAm.310f..15H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0614-15. PMID   25004562.
  10. Haelle T (2014). "Coughing up clues". Sci. Am. 310 (2): 13. Bibcode:2014SciAm.310b..13H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0214-13. PMID   24640324.
  11. Macintosh J. Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years, by Tara Haelle | Booklist Online . Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  12. "Nonfiction Book Review: The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years by Tara Haelle and Emily Willingham" . Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  13. Richler J. "Book Review: The Informed Parent | Brain, Child Magazine" . Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  14. Dell’Antonia, Kj (2016-04-15). "From Sleep to Sushi: Guidance for Confused Parents". Well. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  15. Haelle, Tara; Willingham, Emily (2016). The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years: Tara Haelle, Emily Willingham PhD.: 9780399171062: Amazon.com: Books. Penguin Publishing. ISBN   978-0399171062.
  16. Wu AG, Shah AS, Haelle TS, Lunos SA, Pitt MB (2018). "Choosing the perfect shot – The loaded narrative of imagery in online news coverage of vaccines". PLOS ONE. 13 (6): e0199870. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1399870W. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199870 . PMC   6021096 . PMID   29949630.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. 1 2 "Tara Haelle". Forbes . Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  18. "Tara Haelle" . Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  19. "About « Red Wine & Apple Sauce" . Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  20. "Measles cases are spreading, despite high vaccination rates. What's going on?". Washington Post. 2014-06-23. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  21. Haelle, Tara (June 18, 2015). California Doctor Invokes Holocaust Analogy, Compares Non-Vaccinating Parents To Persecuted Jews . Retrieved 2016-05-06.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  22. Haelle, Tara (2018-07-01). "Pediatrician Bob Sears Punished For Questionable Vaccine Exemption". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  23. Haelle, Tara (2016-09-11). "Dr. Bob Sears Could Lose License For Medical Negligence – Not Vaccine Choice". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  24. Haelle, Tara (2015-02-03). "Sears and Gordon: Should Misleading Vaccine Advice Have Professional Consequences?". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  25. Haelle, Tara (March 25, 2016). "Robert DeNiro Just Broke My Heart". Forbes . Retrieved 2016-05-06.