The Amish come up quite a lot in discussion about vaccination, typically from people making (false) arguments about how there is no autism in Amish communities.
But less attention is paid to exactly what Amish beliefs are around vaccination. So I reached out to Cory Anderson, who describes himself as "a social scientist of population health and [who identifies] with the broader 'plain Anabaptist' religious tradition (which includes Amish)." He's researched Amish attitudes toward immunization, and his findings, which he describes in a fascinating First Opinion this week, shed light on the confusing intersection of religion and public health. "For many religious objectors, including Amish, vaccination rejection is a situational interpretation of religious doctrine, not a direct theological mandate," he writes.
Ultimately, according to Cory, the exact reason for religious objections can themselves vary widely between Amish sects, communities, and even individuals, making it more difficult for public health to respond: "Health professionals must continue cultivating awareness of how some religious objections will be beneath the surface — difficult even for adherents to articulate — but nonetheless legitimate and motivating."
Also: It's STAT Madness time! STAT Madness is "our annual bracket-style competition in which readers vote on the most important and impactful biomedical and health research published in the past year," as Amanda Erickson described it. Learn more about STAT Madness here, and cast your ballot here.
Recommendation of the week: In a popular series of memoirs, a couple wrote about how bad luck and a terrible medical diagnosis led them on a lengthy hike in the U.K., where they eventually found healing. It even became a movie starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. Except, according to the podcast "The Walkers: the Real Salt Path," very little of it was true. The final episodes, about the potential damage done by telling people with serious medical conditions to walk it off, are particularly enraging.
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